PICS..for a change.

This is a painting which I thought was done..but
when I looked at the photo, I noticed that large
white splotch...which is far more noticable in
photos, than in real life. But online, it's photos
that count. So I need to fix that white splotch on
the leaf on the tree in the front. Painting is oil and
oil pastel on paper...and very darned big, for paper.




Then we have some yarn that I got from a
thrift store sweater. Bill and I are sharing it.
That's his swatch for the hat he is making for me.
I love my husband.





And while we are talking of spouses who make
hats...this is Bill's balaclava, which I made.
He got to test it out today..our first real snow this year.
He says it is almost TOO warm.
Yay.
Again..no pattern.





I also made myself a scarf and ...hmmm.it's kind
of like a hat with no top.
I didnt have enough yarn for a hat, but this
works very well. The yarn is a beautiful
wool/mohair/nylon mix...
I am VERY tempted to buy more.
Not appologising for the paint shirt, nor
for the blurry pic, nor for the mean face I'm making,
nor for being fat.

Also I am not appologising for the mess in the next photos.









This is large rug that I made from 6 smaller ones.
It goes in that room perfectly.( my family room)
Mom seems to think that we need doilies in
that very ...not-a-doily kind of room.
I have made a chair set that DOES match...
I just need to finish it up.
And yes..the wall not pictured is blue.
And yes..there is art all over it.

trees?

I get freakin' weird ideas sometimes.

I wanna make big white papier mache trees.
Ones with no leaves.

I wouldn't mind making them water proof 
and putting glitter on them, etc..and decorating
 them with snow flakes and using them in the
 front yard.

I am a bad girl..I not only bought more yarn. But I also
bought the entire first season of Star Trek Deep Space 9
...for over 50 bucks.
I shouldn't have...
my Mom might need that 50 dollars for a bounced
check or something..or just because she "feels restless"
Which basically means "give me money or I'll sit here and
tell you how depressed I am... capped off with how everyone
abuses me."


No really..I love my Mom.

I do wish she didn't eat 4 times more than
anyone else in the family.

I knitted for Christmas.
I also left my camera batteries and
charger at my sister's house.

In addition to finishing the other mitten for Becca,
I started a pair of cabled fingerless mitts for me.
They're pink!
I'm not using a pattern.
I think I have actually used a pattern...
hmmm
I made "nautie"
That's one reason I don't slam out FO's like other people.
Most things I have a formula for..and they go quick enough.
Other things...alot of swatching. Alot of trial and error.
AFTER alot of sketching.
But the fingerless gloves...that's easy.
I just picked up my tools and let 'er rip.

Yanno....I see all the time on Amazon and
other places where books are reviewed...under
the knitting catagory...
the reviewers feel the need to say.
"This is not a book for beginners." ,
quite often.
It sounds to me like they are saying.
"I know this fact because I myself am an expert."
and
"As an expert I can and will say what books
are suitable for beginners."

I would love to think it's just a case of an
experienced one wanting to steer the innocent
newbie away from the perils of intermediate
writings.
But...
there is rarely a reference to a book that IS good for a
beginner.
And there is generally reference to all that they can do in
one form or another


Now..if that doesn't make you angry...

What is it with yarn snobs!?
What really cracks me up...acrylics that
are acceptable if they are put out by some
"fashionable" company.
What also cracks me up are "fashionable" yarns
that are pure crap!
No..I'm not the world's biggest fan of Red Heart Super Saver.
But...acrylic in general, has it's place.
And people who knit with it...and who knit with Lion's Brand, Red Heart, Paton's, Caron's....STOP LETTING YARN SNOBS MAKE YOU FEEL YOU SHOULD APPOLOGISE!



 

Look Ma...no flap!

I did indeed use my hands...and Mom doesn't care.
But I couldn't think of a better title.

A short row heel...

Why doesn't everyone do this?
It's way nicer!
Perhaps like me, they thought it was something really
difficult.

By the way, my answer to the holes...
cause the wrapping just so doesn't prevent them
...unless.. 

yes...there is an "unless"...

You have to pull the holy heck out of them as you knit the next stitch after the wrap.
I mean PUUUUULLLLLL.
HARD.
Like.."I can't hold her together much longer Captain!"...that hard.
So hard you think you could break the yarn.

Blogger is being an ass..I just barly squeezed these pictures in Captain.
Dont push her any furthur.

( you gotta use your best "Scotty is in my head again" reading voice for much of this post....you can do it.)

Ofcourse I need to edit.
I think something is wrong...
Would it KILL me to use a pattern?

I cant figure out what to do now. I dont make a gusset do I?

Off to look at socks patterns featuring short row heels.

Just a sleeve and button bands..

then I am done with Donna's sweater!
( I also need to sew on the buttons)
Now if the warmer weather holds, I can 
get her coat to a seamstress this week to replace the zipper.
I dont know how to do that. I do good to sew a straight
line.
The zipper isn't broken, it's just a POS and slides down.
The coat is in good shape, so I figure it'll be perfect if I
can just get the zipper fixed.


 

I need a new face

to this blog, that is.
First...I maintain the position that knitting and other textile and needle ...crafts are simply art in a different form.
They are as valid to me as painting.
So...
All the art is going to live together.
I want this to be a compilation of all my thoughts, writing, and whatever else I spit at you.

I have seperated myself from myself for too long.
Maybe I thought that if I put each part in a box, it would get easier to figure out...but it isn't.
I do know one thing..I have let others influence my art too strongly. I have let others tell me what is or isn't art.
I may argue, but I complied in the end.
It's funny. I was praised for color usage. Then I was told that I should be insulted by that.
I was praised for imagination...but when I did realism people seemed skeptical.
So I went on to try and prove my abilities there.
When noone responded, I just didnt know what to do.
I listened to my Mom when she more or less told me I wasn't all that good.
I got upset that I paint in the style that this person or that person paints.
I let other's tastes, skill, and opinions dictate how and what I paint....and knit....and every other creative pursuit.
I have to stop.
No one is going to tell me what, how where, or why anymore.
I dont care if DiVinci himself comes to haunt me and tell me it's wrong.
In fact...the more I think about it..I dont need a new face..
I need MY face.
Anyone that doesn't like it can look elsewhere.

Hmmm..I had a new name for this blog figured out...then I forgot it.
Sigh..I hope it comes back to me because it was really good.

OK...the girls want to go out...I would rather cut my tongue out than go out right now ( or any other time generally speaking).
But you do things for your kids that you dont want to.
You just do.

It's about time!

I dont know what was so hard about a simple heart...even without a chart...why did I have so many problems!?
Well...true...the first time issues weren't about the heart at all..more about my inability to count.
By the way...this is a cardigan for my youngest. Ms Tiny Butt Donna Rae Lopez.
Nah..I dont worry that you'll look her up now that you have her full name. Not unless you want shot.

And then I screwed it up again!

Bill was trying to rip the sweater from my hands as I began to rip again the back of this freaking sweater that should have taken about two days!
I am knitting in a large heart...and ...
God it's embaressing..

lets just say, I didnt measure or chart one damn thing..

heart was too low on the body.

As for Bil..he has never seen intarsia being done before..he saw all the tangled yarn...yeah....fuck bobbins I say!...

anyways...

he says "Honey...can I do something..you need me to hold something?!"

Poor man was truely alarmed...

I ofcourse have this "what the hell is your issue" look when I am doing something wrong and get called out on it...

A look that says "YOU have the problems buddy...not me!"

I have no idea why I'm not divorced yet.
I cant figure out how Bill has not seen me for the sub quality human that I am.

Oh well..some other time I guess.

Acceptance

I screwed up the guage with a cardigan sweater I am knitting for my youngest daughter. I had to rip out 3/4 of the finished back and both front sides.
My husband died with each pull of the yarn, even as he himself helped me to rip it out.
But I knew there was no point in proceeding...it wouldn't have fit her until she was 40 at the size it was turning out.
I easily accepted it as a part of knitting.

Bill is knitting a bit better. But he isn't yet a knitter.
He will be.

acid green teddy

My lid loves him..bought him with her allowance. Plus he was handy.

So, he had his great knitwear modeling career launched today.

I present to you..acidboy wearing ...a cat sweater.
This is the finished product from the last post.
It really is a shame that he is not posable on all fours...and that he is too small for the sweater.
Oh well..then he would want to keep it..and it isn't his..so there.

And on the bottom is the back to sweater number two...which is in the middle of being seamed. I needed to stop for a minute though. I may need to stop until tomorrow..I am passing a damn kidney stone...well..actually, I am TRYING to..and it just wants to stay put and be a ..pain. A screaming nasty pain.
Add that to the toothache that I have, and I needed some pain meds...
they are making me tired..
I doubt I could sleep much anyways..and I really do need to get this sent by tomorrow.

Look..I knit leaves!

back of cabled kitty sweater- swap spoiler-caution

ok..if you are my kitty swap partner..you know what I'm making..but still, dont look.
Not like you would...anyways.

This is the back of sweater number one..lord I hope I can get two done by send date!

The pic of the cable close up isn't quite accurate in color..the pics of the entire back, as well as the ribbing and part cable are darn close. ( second and third pics)

She did not want wool..I always worry about blocking acrylic but shouldn't be too big a deal, it will have edging and be seamed to another peice...edging at the arm holes..seaming to the chest peice..which I am going to cast on for..right now!

Well..I have finished all but the toe of Becca's Magic splotch sock..I do both toes at the same time. This way my urge for an FO stays with me. That yarn sure is..big for sock yarn..all in all..it is about the worst sock that I have ever made..but..here it is.

I got some much nicer yarn..Parade from knitpicks. I think they should have named it "mermaid". It goes so well with the pic that I have been working on.

Ms Mermiad isn't done yet so technically, noone is supposed to be seeing her. So you saw nothing here..ok. I would have to kill you other wise.
ok

I also got a knitting bag..I LOVE this thing. It's huge. It's clear. It's fully packed.



ok..this is prime knitting time that I'm cutting into by farting around on the internet. ( "The kids are in bed..hurry..knit! They'll be up in about 10 hours!" )
Sweaters for hairless cats dont knit themselves. ( It's a swap thing)

magic splotches

ugh..I wrote this whole thing out and then when I was about to finish up..Opera 9 beta crashed and I couldn't recover my post.
That's what I get for using two betas to blog, I suppose.

Anyways..I was talking about Lion Brand Magic Stripes.
I LOVE the colors..they are all so cute.
But the yarn has issues that mean it will be fine for socks for me and the girl people in my family..Bill doesn't do..stripes..magic or otherwise...
but it will not be good for the light verticle striped sweater that I have always wanted to knit for myself.
It is for one thing..rough. I have heard it softens after washing...I was thinking some hair conditioner.And it IS reasonable for socks if you knit at a guage of 28 stitches per 4 inches or less..for shits and giggles I guaged with a size 1 US and it was a bit unfriendly feeling.

But the bigger problem is in the dying. I have twice in a short amount of yarn used found undyed spaces mid stripe..and there are splotches and flecks from where the yarn of one stripe colored area touched another.
This makes it look like you are knitted in a splotch in the cases of bigger areas..and dirty when knitted up when it was just a small fleck.

I now am coming to the pic part..and will copy and paste this text. The crashing in the last attempt for pic uploading related, I am sure.



The above is a sock for Becca and my multi needle playing around swatch..NOT a guage swatch..just fooling with the yarn.
I frogged the sock, and started with another pattern that had fewer typos and mistakes in it. ( funny how someone SEEMS to be so clever until you actually READ what they wrote..but that is another issue..one I will not eleaborate upon, because I dont believe in being nasty for nasty sake.) I also was kind of astounded at how poorly I knitted the ribbing and couldn't live with such uneveness..and people would know for all enternity that I knitted that.
Anyways..see that splotch..and the kind of dirty look?

That's why for the sweater I always wanted..I will keeping searching for a self striping yarn..or just do it the less magical..old fashioned way..intarsia verticle stripes or sideways as I would do if using the self striping yarn..The world wouldn't end. I just like the less yarn and bulk with the self striping.
I also wonder..if I knitted the stuff up and down..would the stripes be cut short..and I would have kind of jagged irregular stripes? Worth playing with I think.

by the way..still waiting for my knitpicks order..oddly enough, it is taking some time. I live in the same area as they are located and assume that is why I always recieved pretty quick. But they just did send out yesterday, and FedEx hasnt even dropped it off to the US postal service yet.
This is upposed to be a time saving method..maybe just money saving..dont know. I qualified for the free shipping ( my order was well over 40 dollars. *blush* so if knitpicks can save themselves some money this way, I'm ok with that.

all a freakin' twitter ( this is gonna be pic heavy)

ooo..new blog..ooo


ok..the post I was going to make at the new blog when I FINALLY decided to get off my vitual butt and figure why for the last week that I have been having log in weirdness.

It was due to a sort of forced sales pitch to offer me the chance to do the Beta..

which not being a proper nerd, always makes me think of this ( runs to google..or maybe my pic files somewhere?):



(pic is from here)

so..yeah..Blogger is growing up..if only it would start knitting, then I could be so proud.

Anyways.

I was looking at my desk here..and counted very quickly at least ten things that could be thrown away.

About an hour and a half later I needed to reboot ..which takes about 9 years on my laptop..so I actually decided that I am going to REALLY throw away those 10 things!
And I found this..and I remember it..I SAVED it!





What in the world did I think I was going to do with THAT?
Is that not pitiful?
You know what's worse?..I still havent thrown it out.

On to less shameful blogging.

I am making an internet friend the baby kimono from Mason*Dixon knitting..for her daughter. Is it not the sweetest?
This is a finished one picked randomly from a Google search and was knitted by nsdis

Who also makes some mighty fine bags as you can see by his/her Flickr account..go nsdis!
We love you and your baby kimono/bag making prowess.



so..this is the basic idea( why do I suck so bad at getting to the point?)


And the blue is my KIP ( kimono in progress)


(I hope this works
I am now having some layout problems..but onwards and upwards..ah I think I fixed it.)

So..I made Nautie from Knitty
for my daughter's 5th B-Day. She also recieved this butterfly condo thing..but naturally turned it into a Nautie  Condo!






And last but not least..the "270" is about 2/3 done..I really feel like renaming it ..the "2/3 done"..giant pain in the ass thing that it is. But it is for my beloved Bill...he bought me an entire house and provides me with sex and entertainment 
( I make it sound like sex and entertainment are two different things!) ..least I could do is knit him..that thing..in that yarn he chose.
I swear my guage has not changed, as it appears in the photo..it really IS the yarn!
( God how I hate it.)


ok..this has been quite possibly the longest blog entry that I have ever posted.
Not sure what has gotten into me.

It's Kimono knittin' time!
Cya!