Yarn Yarns

Happy New Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T12:57:00.001-05:00

dragon2, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I took a little time out to crochet this little guy. The late magazine knit.1 had a set of Chinese Zodiac amigurumi several years ago. I've been making one each year. This one joins the ox, tiger, and hare. I should take some time out to learn my camera better. The dragon is actually a traffic-light green.

I'm pretty much over the mitten mania. I made five pair. What I have been working on is the epic Tardis afghan. I'm motivated by wanting to start the Great American Aran Afghan. It has been on the back burner because I was looking for a bargain price on the wool. It takes something like 4000 yards. I found some at Discontinued Name Brand Yarns. It is cones of New Zealand wool. I'm expecting it'll be a bit scratchy, but I think that'll be okay. Even with the shipping it was half the price of the next cheapest option.

Gnome and gnome mittens

2012-01-15T09:29:00.001-05:00

pair4, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Another pairing of Mochimochi Land and Spilly Jane.

Note to self

2012-01-11T17:29:00.002-05:00

No more mystery sock knitalongs.

Today in icons

2012-01-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

I can has mittenz!

2012-01-09T14:50:00.001-05:00

pair3, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

High fiber, fat free cheeseburgers, what could be better?

Mochimochiland and Spilly Jane both offer whimsy that I enjoy. Watch this space for another pairing.

Yay, yarn in the mail today

2012-01-05T15:32:00.001-05:00

melodypond, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

This is the latest offering from Sheepy Time Knits Time Traveler sock yarn club. It makes me think of the prayer leaf that Amy was given by that girl from the Gamma Forests. Yes, normal people, I know how geeky that sounds. Ignore it and look how I got a relatively good picture of the color for once. You can even see the golden sparkles if you look really hard.

Coloway: Melody Pond.

Paris Mittens

2012-01-01T15:26:00.001-05:00

parisright, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I got such a kick out of making this mitten that I had to blog about it with the second mitten yet to start. The second one has just the Eiffel Tower on it,but it'll still be fun to do.

It is quite long. My wrist hits at the base of the Tour. The cuff goes up the arm a couple of inches. It is a good design for cold places.

FO Friday

2011-12-30T13:35:00.001-05:00

ramb, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

These are my final 2011 finished object. There's a long boring story about why I did the pattern and used this yarn. It comes down to wanting to do the pattern even though I don't care for it and using up some handspun. They aren't anything fancy, but they'll be warm and comfy.

Mitten Mania getting more intense

2011-12-29T18:39:00.000-05:00

I've got at least a half-dozen pair of mittens queued for mitten knitting month. That's plenty, even for an obsessed knitter with a good deal of free time. I keep running across new ones and the queue keeps growing.

The latest was a pair of Paris mittens I spotted on Ravelry. I've got this obsession with Paris, so anything with that theme is tempting. These are black on white with a cute picot edge. There are fleur de lys (don't know enough French to know the correct plural) on the cuff and thumbs. Both mittens have the Eiffel Tower on them. One has a stripey palm. The other has a banner that says Paris that goes across the Eiffel Tower. The palm of that one has a biplane which is towing the Paris banner. So clever! So Parisian!

Needless to say, they're now #1 on the queue.

Happy Whateveryoucelebrate

2011-12-24T12:59:00.001-05:00

advbanner, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Here's my advent banner. Today's pattern, a tiny wrapped present, will be knit later today. Eagle-eyed readers will note a snag in the lower left side. A cat sitting on the couch can reach that point. Both of them decided to do that at different times. Silly felines.

Mitten Mania

2011-12-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

There aren't any Nerd Wars activities next month, so I'm preparing myself for NaKnitMitMo. It's a month of manic knitting of mittens. I'm obsessing over this because 1) planning projects is usually more fun than making them, 2) Nerd Wars is frustrating me currently and 3) I needed an excuse to buy a bunch stuff from Knit Picks.

I went through my set of Knit Picks dpns with a needle sizer and was baffled by the results. There were two size 2.0mm and eight size 2.25. That's four needles that weren't what they should be. Four needles makes me think that maybe I've got a project on the 2.0s, but why would I have four extra 2.25s? It's a mystery. I ordered a set of 2.0s because I have to have a complete set. Since I didn't want to order just needles and pay a big shipping fee, I had to buy more yarn. Then I had to add a sock yarn sampler so I didn't have to pay any shipping.

I've got several SpillyJane patterns queued up plus one of Daniel MacBride's Ukranian Roses patterns. The SpillyJane patterns involve gnomes, cheezburgers (spelling intentional), and phases of the moon. No, not all on a single mitten. There are a whole series of Ukranian designs available, but I managed to only commit myself to one so far. I want to go cast them all on right now. Instead, I shall finish a half a sock and dream of January.

Advent Calendar

2011-12-08T17:00:00.001-05:00

banner1, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Here are the first 8 ornaments for the advent calendar. There are a few modifications, notably day 5. I crocheted a snowflake to replace the one in the pattern. I tried the pattern and it looks like a dead mutant spider.
The original is cute, so it is clearly my work that failed.

There hasn't been much Nerd Wars progress. I still am not clear on what is required for a couple of the challenges. I've decided to enter what I think meets the challenges. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, fine. It is simply not worth getting upset about.

Tournament 3 Round 3 Blues

2011-12-02T16:44:00.001-05:00

It is only the second day of this round of Nerd Wars and I'm already having troubles.

One challenge involved finishing two WIPs. I'm going to have to finish a third WIP because the knitting portion of my second project was completed before I started finishing it. Does that make any sense?

These are DPN holders that look like gnomes. They had all been knit and felted/fulled and the finishing work was all embroidery and stringing elastic. Embroidery and stringing elastic are not Ravelry crafts, so the finishing didn't count.

One challenge involves trying something you haven't done before and you find challenging. I've been knitting and crocheting for about half a century. There isn't much I haven't tried. I wouldn't say that I do them all well, but doing most things doesn't challenge me.

And then there's this one:

Craft an item that is inspired by the physical landscape of your nerddom. Please include a pic of the item “in the wild” (IE:your FO shown in the type of landscape that inspired your challenge!)

I've read through pages of questions and answers about this one and still have no clue at all about what would be acceptable.

My head hurts. I think I have the dumb.

FO Friday 11/25/11

2011-11-25T10:57:00.000-05:00

A hat for The Doctor (Doctor Who):

I thought it matched the current Doctor's outfit. His outfit was auctioned for charity in the past week and raised something like 50,000 pounds. Crazy! Speaking of The Doctor's clothing, I nearly lost my tiny mind when I saw Alton Brown on that Food Network Thanksgiving special last week. He was wearing what looked like a tweed jacket and a bow tie the same color as The Doctor wears. I later saw a Tweet where he said that he was wearing a bow tie so he could look like a time lord. It's fun when fandoms intersect.

I kept knitting those Christmas balls until I ran out of red and white yarn. There is one more pair that needs to be steamed and stuffed.

Work in progress: I'm using my spindle to spin some gray baby alpaca for a Nerd Wars challenge. As a spinning break, I'm working on a garland for an advent ornament thingy. Frankie Brown is a designer I found on Ravelry. She's releasing a tiny ornament pattern every day from December 1-24. The ornaments can be hung from the garland. The pattern for that is already available. Oh, and the patterns are all free.

Christmas Balls

2011-11-19T21:44:00.001-05:00

balls, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

These are my first attempt at patterns from 55 Christmas Balls to Knit by Arne & Carlos. The basic pattern's pretty easy. I haven't gotten the stuffing quite right yet, but hope to get there next time. Arne & Carlos recommend using wool roving for stuffing.

They are fairly quick to knit. This makes them fun for colorwork practice. You can try out Scandinavian designs without committing to a pair of mittens, let alone a sweater. They have a lot of potential beyond the book's nice patterns. I'm thinking of using some of the stranger textured yarns in my stash to see how they come out. You can make your own designs.

I got the book and a related kit from Paradise Fibers.

Drops Christmas Advent Calendar 2011

2011-11-15T19:02:00.001-05:00

I noticed that a bunch of people were checking out an old post for the Garn Studios/Drops Christmas calendar. They're doing it again this year and here's the link for the American English version. There's a British English version as well as a number of other languages. I am really impressed by any site that offers their information in lots of languages. Garn Studios is in Norway.

The calendar gives a free pattern every day in December leading up to Christmas. There are lots of other things on their site including patterns and yarn. I'm going to head back and check out their Christmas Studio patterns to see if there are any I need to make.

By the way, there are both knit and crochet patterns in the collections.

Yay!

2011-11-11T12:19:00.001-05:00

I figured out how to make the editor save my changes after months of not being able to do it.

Now the big challenge is to find out why the Ravelry project slideshow doesn't work.

FO Friday 11/11

2011-11-11T11:58:00.002-05:00

wtdia, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I've got more stuff done than this but no pictures of it. This is the latest from the Wee Tiny sock club. It's a Day of the Dead sock. That's a skeleton head with marigolds in the eye sockets. It's kind of hard to tell.

I'm really tired of the lace scarf I started for my Nerd Wars dissertation. I was telling someone on my team that we were in the same boat. She wanted to work on her challenge (monthly) projects more than working on her dissertation. Someone implied that we were letting the team down by not working on the dissertations. That made me decide to not work on it at ALL unless I felt like it. Which I don't right now. This is a game, not negotiations for world peace.

I get emails from lots of fiber places and am usually able to delete them without indulging myself. There were two recent exceptions. Amy Gaines released a pattern of crocheted Christmas ornaments. There are reindeer and mushrooms and other things you'd find in the forest. I went into the new Michaels that opened near me and bought a bag full of Red Heart. I've been working on these instead of Nerd Wars stuff.

The other indulgence was from Paradise Fibers. They featured a pattern for felted bunny slippers that I had to have. One of my many odd obsessions is with bunny slippers. This may finally get me to tidy the house up enough to get a repair person in. My washer's been broken for ages (required for felting the slippers). I also ordered some yarn and a book for making these Dale of Norway Christmas balls. Do I need these things? Of course not. They are lots more fun than the same 24 row laceweight repeats in that darn scarf.

FO Friday 11/4/11

2011-11-04T14:55:00.001-04:00

hearts, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

D'oh! I posted this on LiveJournal by mistake. Oh, well.

I worked on a lot of different things this week, but this is all that was completed. A Nerd Wars challenge was about anatomy. Since The Doctor has two hearts, my choice was obvious. The picture shows the back and front of the pattern.

FO Friday 10/28/11

2011-10-28T12:38:00.001-04:00

FO Friday 10/28/11, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

The 3 month long project I'm doing for Nerd Wars is a lace scarf. It has been trying my patience, so I've been finishing up other projects in between.

The top two are from a set of 7 anklets from Knit Picks. I'd forgotten them for over a year.

The bottom pictures are of Owlie socks. Do you see the little owls with their beady (pun intended) eyes? These were knit from some Lorna's Laces sock yarn I got from the Cookie A sock club. I don't recall why I didn't use it for one of the sock club patterns.

I attempted to start the Double Heelix socks from Knitty late last night. I nearly threw a tantrum. There are four working threads and they never ended up at the right place at the right time. I think I'll go back to knitting the lace for a while.

FO Friday 10/21/11

2011-10-21T13:07:00.001-04:00

hexsocks, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I am getting better with the camera, but this shows I clearly need more practice. These are the latest from the Cookie A sock club. I signed up for another year of patterns, yarn, and cookie recipes.

I found a bag of projects that were set aside when Nerd Wars began. I'm alternating between them and the lace scarf I'm doing as my Nerd Wars dissertation.

FO Friday 10/14

2011-10-14T13:34:00.001-04:00

FO Friday 10/14, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Can you tell I've been feeling better? I finished all my Nerd Wars challenges already. There's the Allons-y scarf, a crocheted bow tie, a knitted bow tie (failed because I couldn't tie it), a crocheted cover for my camera, a mini K-9, and a pair of Cookie A club socks.

The socks are alpaca blend and I may never take them off. The yarn's from Alpaca with a Twist.

The K-9 has his own haiku (part of the challenge):

A little tin dog
K-9 always saves the day.
"Good dog!" "Yes, master."

FO Friday 10/7/11

2011-10-07T09:56:00.001-04:00

fof10711, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

It looks like I'm going to have to study my new camera's manual to get some better pictures.

The creature is a pteradactyl named Myfanwy, a Nerd Wars project. The pink socks are called Daphne. The blue socks are called Velma. Daphne and Velma are the previous Cookie A sock club projects. The gray socks are the Rose Bridge socks from Knitters Brewing Company.

Camera has arrived

2011-10-06T16:05:00.000-04:00

and the darn thing has to be charged before I can play with it. It has lots more megapixels and is much tinier than my old one. It wants a memory card that I don't have but it has something like 20 meg of memory that lives in the camera. Tomorrow there should be a pile of finished object pictures.

It was the computer this time

2011-10-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

I'm getting better, but the motherboard on my antique computer gave out last week. I got my new computer yesterday. There have been some good surprises, such as how fast it is and how much better some things run. There have been some not so good surprises, such as my antique digital camera not being supported under Windows 7. There's a way around that, but I think I'm going to just replace the camera.

When I got back online after nearly a week, I found out that I won the Nerd Wars battle. It was that game where characters from various nerddoms battled each other in an imaginary tournament. River Song won (of course).

I have been knitting, but with no camera connection to the computer, there are no pictures. Yikes, with Nerd Wars tournament 3 starting today, I had best get on top of the camera situation right away. I finished the last two pair of Cookie A sock club socks plus the Knitters Brewing Company's Brige of Roses socks. Those are challenging and really cute. They've got a trellis pattern with a little bridge on each side. There are green "stems" on them and then you embroider little roses and rosebuds on them. Pictures coming as soon as I have a new camera.

Sunday Afternoon Rambling

2011-09-18T13:45:00.003-04:00

No posts in a month. It's not surprising. I've been fighting this infection and everything else got swept to one side. I think this is the longest I've gone without knitting in over a decade. No worries, though. I'm on the mend. I got myself this groovy cane with a pink flower print all over it. Since it is my frequent Companion, I've named it Sarah Jane.

Nerd Wars update: I melted all my cubes (completed 18 projects for Tournament 2). I think Team Tardis placed third. It is strange to think that had I gotten even halfway on that darn afghan, we could've been second. Nobody blames me but me, but I still feel a little bad. I did decide to play in the next tournament, but I'm putting less pressure on myself. I'm even volunteering to give up my place on Team Tardis so that one of the kids on the waiting list can have a go. I've also decided that the afghan is not going to be part of the tournament in any way. I'll finish it when I finish it.

Elyse and her volunteers have been making Nerd Wars extra fun. I participated in a Nerd Pride swap. I hope the person who got the stuff I put together had half the fun I had with what I got. Among the excellent prezzies was a hand-knit scarflet. I discovered that I really like these things. They're kind of halfway between a scarf and a shawl and drape nicely around the neck. My other most favorite-ist thing from the swap was limited-edition Hello Kitty Duck Tape. I have no plans for it at the moment. It's pink and printed with Hello Kitty and needs no other reason to exist.

The other fun thing right now is a hilarious nerdy battle whose name escapes me. You know how kids will argue about who would win in a battle (Spiderman vs. Batman for example)? The Nerd Wars crew has picked up a tough person from each of the teams' fandoms and set them up in this tournament bracket thing. They did a writeup on each participant. Based on that and prior knowledge, we worked out how we think who would win each encounter. I'm not doing badly so far. It is probably because I end up with River Song winning. She's too much of a badass and a wildcard for anybody to do much of anything against her.

Yarn indulgences have been minimal, but I have managed two. Knit Picks has re-released Time Traveler (self-striping, 6 of the 7 colors of the original Doctor Who scarf). I'm stashing a bunch because I don't trust them not to take it away again. The other is a yarn club. It's my birthday present to myself. I think it is called the Smartass Yarn Club or something like that. Yarn weights vary. You get a pattern. You get something yarn-related that is artisan made. It comes from Canada so who knows when it'll show up. It'll be a nice surprise when it does.

Knitting, yeah, that was what this was all supposed to be about.

Jim the Fish socks. A Cookie A pattern knit from ooak Schmutzerella Yarns. Completed just before my leg started to misbehave, these just need a wash and a block.
Tardis Afghan. Untouched in a month.
Beekeeper Quilt. 45 units. This is mindless knitting that I keep next to the computer. Computer becomes slow, Paula picks up knitting to keep from breaking computer. Many units are completed.
Pair 1 of the current Cookie A sock club have been cast on. That's up to the point where they are joined in a round. They've been set aside for higher priority work.
Shedir cap. I'm using the softest, smoothest cotton silk blend yarn for this. The big C has come back to visit Cousin Patty and I'm pissed off. If you say prayers, visualize healing light, make wishes, or anything else of a positive nature, please include Pat the next time you do.

Tournament 2 Round 3

2011-08-23T17:37:00.001-04:00

Tournament 2 Round 3, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Done! Well, if you don't count the epic Tardis afghan, that is. There's a donation to Pine Ridge, a scarf, a shawlette, a bunch of handspun, a pair of socks (not pictured), four catnip Daleks and a sonic screwdriver (looks like a black blob in this picture).

I'm feeling a bit better about things and am considering playing in the next tournament. Or maybe it's just the coffee buzz talking.

Grab-and-go Project

2011-08-21T16:36:00.003-04:00

As a sock yarn addict, I have a lot of leftovers. The place where I've been keeping it is full. I happened upon The Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits recently. It looks like this will take care of the leftovers plus give me a grab-and-go project. It consists of many little knitted hexagons. The pattern has you stuff each one with fiberfill or something like it. I think that will result in something too heavy to be practical for me, so I'm leaving the stuffing out. It won't be quite as cute, but I think it will still work. The hexagons are sewn together to form the blankie. Since it'll probably be a year before I get enough to do that, I'm not going to think about it now.

I've got a knitted jacket made from Koigu that was an epic fail. I knit it once and it was too big (yeah, even on me). I took it apart and knit it again. It was still a little big and looked horrible on me. I put it someplace where I wouldn't have to look at it. If I can remember where it is, it will be a great source of yarn for this. I can't throw away that much Koigu.

Halfway through round 3

2011-08-14T17:03:00.002-04:00

and things have been not so great. I got sick last week which kept me away from here and away from knitting. When I got back to the epic Tardis afghan, I found a major mistake. I don't know how I missed it but there it was. It took two days of frogging to reach it. It is back on track, but it is looking very unlikely that I'll hit the halfway point by the end of the tournament. I knew it would be tough to finish in three months, just not how tough.

Team Tardis finished round 2 in third place. We'd been first every other time. Hardly anyone seems to care, so I'm not going to let my epic fail on the epic afghan bother me any more.

I'm considering not playing in the next tournament. There are a bunch of things that I want to make that can't easily be used for challenges. I've got three pair of Cookie A club socks that I want to do. I want to try out Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel. I want to knit a baby sock monkey. And I want to work on that afghan without having to work on it.

Tournament 2 Round 2/FO Friday

2011-07-28T23:48:00.001-04:00

Tournament 2 Round 2, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I finished all six challenges again this round. There are earrings knit from wire, a cat cushion with a Dalek on it, a fish hat, a mini Dalek, and a River tam. The last picture was the scientific method challenge involving spinning.

I continue to slog away at the Tardis afghan. I'm about 110 rows in on my second try.

Tour de finished

2011-07-24T14:25:00.001-04:00

Before and After, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

These are before and after pictures of what I spun for Tour de Fleece.

The top one was about half done when I started the tour. It's about 415 yards of what I'm hoping is fingering weight.

The bottom one has about 250 yards so far. That's about a third of the braid.

FO Friday

2011-07-08T10:47:00.002-04:00

Several things are done, but no pictures are handy.

River Tam for Nerd Wars
Mini Dalek for Nerd Wars
415 yards of handspun for Tour de Fleece

The big deal this week was deciding to start completely over on the Tardis Afghan. There's too much work going into it for me to ignore the mistakes. I'll find some way to do the border correctly. This means it's almost certain that it won't be done by the end of the current Nerd Wars tournament. I don't want to let my team down but I want to have fun. So far the afghan's mostly been Not Fun.

Spinning's been fun so I'm doing that. I got through the 4 ounces of alpaca/punta/merino in about a week. Today I get to start in on a big braid of many different colors.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose

2011-07-01T06:43:00.002-04:00

I haven't been knitting much because the edges of that Tardis afghan have been making me crazy. I've analyzed the pattern and made a shortcut chart to keep from having to count out the stitches every row. I'm still screwing it up.

I set it to one side and have been spinning with my new spindle. It goes much faster than my old one. I don't know why. I don't actually have to start spinning until tomorrow, but it is nice and soothing. Maybe the afghan will go better if I'm calmer. Hey, it could happen.

It's the first of the month. I knew that the next round of Nerd Wars started today, yet I was surprised to see the new list of challenges:

Team Spirit: I have an idea for this. It involves The Master.
Nerd Culture: I'm ready to start this one. We do something for another fandom and hopefully tie it to our team. My choice is the Browncoats.
Giving Geeks: do something to make a pet's life better. I'll check to see what kind of donations the local pet shelters will take. My cats are so spoiled that they do not need any life-improving knit toys.
Intellectual: do something involving a myth. Pandora's Box is the obvious choice, but I may do a little research. I think some of the earlier shows may have some good leads.
Technical: knit/crochet/spin with something non-traditional. I may pull the yellow pages out of the recycle bin and crochet with paper.
Scientific: use the scientific method on this project. They haven't given a sample yet of what this will entail. This is probably going to be the hard one. Yes, harder than crocheting with strips of paper.

Nerd Wars: Tournament 2 Round 1

2011-06-26T06:38:00.001-04:00

Tournament 2 Round 1, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

-a pair of baby high tops for Melody Pond, just like her mom wears.
-a Kitchmas Tree. It lights up and plays a medley of songs.
-a Tardis dishcloth.
-a beaded bag.
-a baby gator.
-an Adipose (our whole team made these).

Color

2011-06-23T04:39:00.002-04:00

bflyfiber, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

I bought this braid to have something new to spin for Tour de Fleece. It's 6 ounces of mohair (with a little nylon and merino). The colors are even better in person. I've been fluffing the fiber and there's a LOT of it. The dyeing is amazing. There are no spots of white at all. I'm used to having muddy colored spots where the colors change. There are no spots like that here.

Even if you don't share my wacky taste in multi colors, there are more conventional options. Visit Color Bug Yarnsand see for yourself.

I'm a more than satisfied customer and am not associated with Color Bug Yarns in any other way.

Spindle

2011-06-15T21:39:00.003-04:00

Looky, looky, looky! The top of my spindle's done:

The person doing it is Spinatude on Etsy. I <3 it. The bike's the same shade of green as my very first two-wheeler.

Tour de Fleece

2011-06-09T02:16:00.002-04:00

I wasn't going to participate in Tour de Fleece this year because of all the challenges I'm doing for Nerd Wars. When a team for Nerd warriors was started, I changed my mind.

What is Tour de Fleece? It's a spin-along that occurs at the same time of the Tour de France bicycle race. From Saturday July 2-Sunday July 24, participants will be spinning every day. We get two rest days (7/11 and 7/18) just like the bikes do. We set our own goals.

My goal is to spin for an hour every day. I'm going to use my drop spindle exclusively. Trying to learn to use my wheel will add too much stress and subtract a lot of fun.

I re-glued the hook in my drop spindle, but am not sure that it will survive a month of daily spinning. I'll do a more permanent repair some day because it is too nice not to use. In the meantime, I'm getting a souvenir TdF spindle from someone on Etsy that makes custom spindles.

Balance

2011-06-08T21:18:00.001-04:00

ruffles, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

One day I get one of my least favorite color yarns. The next day I get one of my favorites. I think this is the universe balancing things out. It's inspired by Kaylee's ruffled dress from the Firefly episode Shindig. I'm extra lucky because I had a 50/50 chance of getting yarn inspired by Mal's outfit (probably brown).

Spoiler-Free Post

2011-06-06T22:06:00.002-04:00

jimthefish, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

This is Jim the Fish, a ooak yarn named for a Doctor Who character. I <3 it.

I got the new yarn from the Cookie A club today. The good news is that it is from a company I'd wanted to try. The length of the skein leads me to assume that I'll be able to use the previous shipment's yarn for one of the patterns. The bad news is one of my least favorite colors. There are hints in the recipe file of what this is, so don't read it if you're in the club and are avoiding spoilers.

10% of the afghan's done!

FO Friday 6/3/11

2011-06-03T21:53:00.003-04:00

In no particular order (because I'm looking at html and not the picture) are a pair of origami slippers made from handspun (made from fiber samples), part of my Cookie A PB&J socks, an Adipose, and part of a baby gator. The last two are part of the new round of Nerd Wars.

I'm having a cranky day. I'm much too old to be throwing a tantrum, so I'll just list the things that are annoying me. It's therapy. Don't read any more if it annoys you, or you'll get on the list.

Little bitty ants.
People who have a different definition of the word "spoiler" from mine.
People who don't realize that chocolate is very melty in the summertime.
Myself, for being too lazy to do much of anything.
ETA Blogger, for not letting me comment on my own comments.

I guess that wasn't that much of a list. I'm feeling a little less cranky already.

Fourth Blogoversary

2011-05-29T00:12:00.002-04:00

I only missed it by 12 minutes this year. That's a vast improvement.

I am on Team Tardis again for the next Nerd Wars tournament. I've been happily gathering up supplies for possible projects.

Tardis Afghan. It's more of a bedspread, at 9'6" x 6'4". 5 to 10 rows of 337 stitches per day for three months in addition to the smaller monthly challenges. It's all ready to start. I'll be knitting along with a couple of other people doing the same project.
Adipose. It's a little amigurumi type character. I spun the yarn for this one. A bunch of people on the team plan to do this one, too.
Jim the Fish Hat. Pattern came from Knitty. Yarn will come from leftovers.
Fez TP cover. As The Doctor will tell you fezes are cool. Yarn's left over from a Christmas stocking.
Allons-y Scarflet. Named after a phrase often used by the Tenth Doctor. I expect to use one of my skeins of Dream in Color Starry. Ooooh, shiny!
Wavy bag. It's a knitalong with several members of the team I've got some stash yarn and beads from a frogged project for this. We hope to work this into a challenge.

I'm off to print off some more patterns.

Checking In

2011-05-21T18:22:00.002-04:00

I've been kind of lost without Nerd Wars. I thought I'd be getting all sorts of things done between tournaments, but that hasn't been the case. Most of my efforts have involve ant squishing and spraying. There have been a few new fibery things here and there.

Only Ewe and Cotton Too is the most local of the four LYS here. It's even more local now. If you know where The Silos are*, that's where it moved. I haven't been there yet.

I finished one pair of my Cookie A club socks. I (re)started the second pair. Then the mail showed up and I got distracted.

The distraction was a fluff box from Phat Fiber. After a year of trying, I finally got another box. I gathered up all my little fiber samples and have been spinning them on the spindle (still too chicken to try the wheel again). They're going to be slippers eventually.

*The Silos are near The Castle. The Castle is a favorite of mine. From the intersection near The Silos, go west on Arnold Mill for about a mile. It's on the left. Watch for the garden gnomes.

11 Reasons...

2011-05-13T18:33:00.002-04:00

...why I should get a place on Team Tardis for Nerd Wars Tournament 2.

My second choice, the Browncoats, is also a Very Popular team.
I don't have enough detailed knowlege of Battlestar Galactica to be a good player on Team Viper (third choice).
The outgoing captain wants me on the team.
The incoming captain says I'm Team Tardis' franchise player. I'm told that in the sports world, this is a player that can't be traded to another team.
I already have the yarn for my dissertation. It is in the Team Spirit category so it will only work for Team Tardis.
Two other potential team members also plan to do the same dissertation and we'd like to support each other.
When we submit our dissertations, there will be serious questioning of our sanity. It'll be easier to keep track of three crazy people if they are in the same place.
I'm going to do the dissertation project no matter what happens, but it would be much more fun to get points for the team for doing it.
It makes me happy that I'm wanted. If you've ever been picked last, you'll know how important this is.
I have nine skeins of yarn that match the Doctor Who theme. I do have three or four that would work for the Browncoats, but they've got lots of potential players (see Reason #1)
I would be very sad if I was on another team. I haz enough sad already.

Happy Yarn Day

2011-05-11T22:55:00.000-04:00

No, it's not an actual holiday. It is a day that I got a bunch of yarn and it makes me happy.

There aren't too many things more dangerous than feeling a bit blue and having a PayPal credit balance. I've been trying not to reach SABLE (Stash Acquisiton Beyond Life Expectancy), but sometimes you just have to ignore that and go shopping.

The turquoise/pink/etc color is a yummy 50/50 silk/merino from Nerd Girl Yarns. It's called Bibbity Bobbity Boo and was the most indulgent in the pile.

In front of it is the latest shipment from the Big Damn Sock Club. I didn't know what was going to be coming for the club. The only yarn that I "needed" right now was something in a purple semisolid with more yardage than the average skein. This has 490 yards. It put the happy in happy yarn day.

The yellow yarn with the sparkles is Meta-crisis, also from Nerd Girl Yarns. It's Doctor Who themed (Meta-crisis = DoctorDonna) so I needed it for Nerd Wars. It's irrelvant that I won't know for a couple more weeks whether I will be on Team Tardis again or not. Well, not relevant to me. At least not very relevant.

The other two yarns are also Doctor Who themed (see above for why I had to have them). They, along with the Big Damn yarn are from Schmutzarella Yarns. The white with pale lavender is called The Fat Just Walks Away. The green/red/etc is called The Legs, The Nose, and Mrs. Robinson. Whovians will understand why that one makes me laugh.

Enough with the mittens already!

2011-05-05T19:30:00.001-04:00

camilla, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

The Camilla mittens are appearing again, because they have been honored. They have been nominated for a Nerd Wars fan favorite. There's no way in the world that they'll win, but it was a nice surprise to be nominated. It's no false modesty. There's this jacket that someone on the Babylon 5 team did that is freaking incredible. It better win. I hope it's a comfort to Team Rangers, because they are going down. It looks like they are the closest competition to Team Tardis. Close, but no banana, Team Rangers.

What have I been up to? I got out my drop spindle. I now have about 300 yards of mystery fiber. I think there's alpaca, bamboo, something shiny, and maybe more in it. I started the harder of the two Cookie A patterns in the latest club shipment. It's really challenging. Two different patterns come down at a diagonal and form an X on the front and the back of the leg. It's not going to win any prizes, but I'm having fun.

Doctor Who Swap

2011-04-30T16:45:00.003-04:00

aka, Best. Swap. Ever.

It is required that swap recipients post their thanks on a thread on Ravelry. I'm going to do that. There are so many pictures that I want to share, though, that I'm going to put most of them here.

I opened my door this morning to find a priority mail box decorated with Tardises (Tardii?) from 1929-2005. Did it come by USPS or by Tardis?

Inside where a whole bunch of packages wrapped in Tardis-blue tissue. They were all decorated with quotes and pictures from Doctor Who.

On top was this wonderful hand-drawn/painted card. Inside it said:

Enclosed please find fantastic artifacts of the Doctor. Enclosed please find wonder, romance + intellect. Enclosed please find astonishment, terror, and glee. Enclosed please find a pile of good things to help balance your pile of bad things.

I found all those things. Well, maybe not so much terror, but that's okay.

There was a skein of Peace Fleece wool/mohair DK in the colorway Blue Jay. I've always wanted to try this brand of yarn and now I can.

There was a batt of blended merino in beautiful lavender and green from One Lupine Fiber Arts.

Those two square things are magnets, made from rows of plastic beads. How cool are they? One's a Tardis and the other a Dalek in Ironsides mode. To the fridge with you both!

Next we have a dishcloth that cracked me up. It took a couple of tries with the camera (it is perfectly clear in person), but you should be able to see the bow tie and the word COOL.

The handmade wonders just keep on coming. I kept this rolled up so I could get it all in the photograph. It's a double knit scarf. Since my Who knowledge isn't always detailed, the quote attached to the package clued me in on exactly what it was:

If you ever see a little blue box fly up there in the sky, you shout for me, Gramps. Oh you just shout.

It's Donna Noble speaking to her grandfather and the scarf is the one she was wearing in that episode. Love it!

This about made my head go sploidy-boom. In a package labeled "Would you like some tea?" were two Cadbury eggs and this. My spoiler likely caught a quick throwaway post about liking them. They were there because this is a Dalek egg cosy. I took many pictures, trying to capture the detail. it's an Ironsides Dalek. The plunger arm is holding a tea tray. On the tea tray is a tiny cup of tea in a saucer. So freaking cool. If there hadn't been anything else to open, I'd have been beyond happy. But there was more.

I'd posted that I'd like Doctor Who publications and that I didn't own any. Wow, I do now! I got a book called Torchwood: Another Life. Yay! I miss Torchwood. I got a copy of Doctor Who Magazine. I was just thinking last night about seeing if it was available in the US. I got comics (that's what us geezers call graphic novels) of Four and Eleven, my two most favorite Doctors. Happy, happy. I got a Gallifrey Road tshirt. This was offered by teefury when buying another Who tee shirt would've been overindulgent. I'm delighted to have it. I got coffee mug with Daleks on it. A Doctor Who mug I don't have to hand wash, yay! Not in this picture but also happily received is a bar of Trader Joe's organic milk chocolate truffle.

I knew from the shape of the last package what it was likely to be. What I didn't know was that it was the best of the best in this package.

If I was a decent photographer with a decent camera, this would be better (and it would show the front of the Tardis, not the back). This has been beautifully knit in fingering yarn. Maybe you have to see it in person to appreciate it, but it nearly brought a tear to my eye. It's that great.

I'll err on the side of caution and just say, thank you, Spoiler. You did an amazing job. My pile of good things today is huge.

Mittens are done

2011-04-29T23:36:00.002-04:00

mittens, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

These are the mittens for my last Nerd Wars challenge for this round. I am very tired and am looking forward to not knitting. Well, maybe more like not feeling like I have to knit.

A week from today...

2011-04-24T16:43:00.001-04:00

1wk2go, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

...this mess of mitts and mittens should be transformed. The goal is to have four completed pair and written instructions for making them. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I am looking forward to having a month off from Nerd Wars. I plan to think about Doctor Who only on Saturdays at 9 pm. I plan to knit both of my newest Cookie A sock club patterns and maybe nothing else.

Farewell Sarah Jane

2011-04-21T18:20:00.005-04:00

Time out from work on the Doctor Who mittens to say goodbye to Elisabeth Sladen. The actress portrayed one of my favorite characters, Sarah Jane Smith. The cartoon won't mean anything to many folks. If you're a Doctor Who fan, you might end up with tears in your eyes as I did.

Nerd Wars: Tournament 1 Round 3

2011-04-16T14:29:00.001-04:00

Tournament 1 Round 3, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

With half the month to go, I'm done with this round. I'll be working like crazy to finish my 3-month-long dissertation project. There's a month off of the Wars in May. I'm having fun with this, but am looking forward to not having to do anything on a schedule for a while.

Team Tardis is still in the lead. I expect we'll win the first tournament.

2KCBWDAY7

2011-04-03T18:05:00.000-04:00

Your knitting and crochet time.

Most of my fiber crafting time is in front of the tv. I've got a favorite spot on the couch. Getting a seat at that spot usually involves convincing a large gray cat to relocate to the arm of the couch. Once I'm settled, the cat drapes herself over my arm.

The coffee table in front of me has drawers stuffed with tools: Altoid tins full of stitch markers, multiple tape measures, a pincushion left over from my cross-stitch days, scissors, and more. The top of the table is chaos: patterns, my knitting journal, leftovers from previous projects, my Ouch! pincushion, TV guides, and a couple of remotes. I have my mother's knitting basket and it holds needles and UFOs. There's a Frieda Kahlo bag my brother brought me from Mexico. It's full of Knit Picks Palette and partly completed mittens. There's usually a Coke Zero at hand and sometimes some snacks (popcorn or chocolate).

I watch a lot of British tv (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Coronation Street, BBC America offerings). I get DVDs from Netflix. I'll have just about anything on if I'm absorbed in a project.

2KCBWDAY6

2011-04-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

Something to aspire to.

I aspire to knitting better. I'm right-handed. I was taught to knit by me left-handed mother. I also learned to knit after I learned to crochet. This resulted in a knitting style that is unique and fast, but doesn't always give me the results I want. The problem appears to be with how I purl. It is hard to describe, but it is like my knit stitches and purl stitches don't match. The sizes and shapes are a little bit different. I've gotten around (heh heh) this by working in the round. The knitting looks fine when it comes from just knit stitches.

I expect this will continue to only be an aspiration for some time to come. It's going to be a while before I want to give up a decades-old skill, even if it doesn't serve me well.

2KCBWDAY5

2011-04-01T02:40:00.001-04:00

ffool, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

And now for something completely different, a fiber fool's day.

2KCBWDAY4

2011-03-31T04:00:00.002-04:00

Where are they now?

I decided to look for something I'd posted about in the early days of this blog. Unfortunately, my computer is old and slow (much like its owner). I lost patience with Blogger and switched over to Ravelry. It was pretty easy to find early projects there, but finding the actual physical project was another tricky adventure. I'm a process knitter. Once the sock knitting process is complete, the socks get stashed in whatever sock stashing location still has room in it.
I pulled out a big dresser drawer full of socks. I didn't find any early socks in it. After removing a cat from the place where the drawer was supposed to go, I headed for the closet. The plastic bin full of currently used socks didn't have anything old in it. I tried a suitcase. I found a cute pair of origami slippers that I'm currently wearing. I found a couple of pair of socks that I really liked and have zero memory of making. At the bottom of the suitcase, I came up with these Snowflake Socks by Anni Design. They were part of Sockamania, a knitalong where Anni provided the pattern. I don't know if these knitalongs are still going on, but they were in 2007 when I made these and a couple of other pair.

The green has now bled into the white. The white's quite soft and makes me think it may be the merino with a little silk in it from Knit Picks. I didn't record the yarn in Ravelry for some reason, so I can't be sure.

There's no big dramatic revelation as a result of this exercise. I've learned that if I've got something with holes in it, I should toss it out and dig something new out of the bottom of a suitcase.

2KCBWDAY3

2011-03-30T16:27:00.001-04:00

Tidy mind, tidy stitches

I like having things organized. Sometimes I like the organizing process better than performing a task with whatever it is I've organized. I think that's why I enjoy Ravelry so much. It fits right into the organizing scheme.

When I get some new yarn, I take a picture of it and enter the information on Ravelry. I have a bunch of buckets that used to hold cat litter and now hold fibers. The yarn gets stashed in the appropriate bucket. A note of which bucket is included with the Ravelry information.

Patterns are not quite so tidy. I keep as many as I can in my Ravelry library and try not to print anything out until I'm going to use it. I've got three or four big binders full of patterns in plastic sleeves. Most of them are grouped together where I can find them. (We won't talk about the stack of unfiled patterns that are piled up next to the binders.)

Crochet hooks live in a vintage silver baby cup, in a drawer in the coffee table, or hidden in the bottom of a yarn bucket. All dpns smaller than US4 live in the knitting basket, along with my Knit Picks interchangeable circular needles. I made a hanging needle holder following directions in one of the Stitch 'n Bitch books. It lives in a closet and holds most of the rest of my circulars. I rarely use straight knitting needles, but I still have a bunch of them. They live in a needle case that someone gave me a long time ago.

This blog is a part of the organizing process. I created it pre-Ravelry, when I was getting back into kntting a lot. It started out as a place for me to go on and on about whatever I was working on at the moment or something new I'd discovered. I still do that. Lately it has become the last step for many projects. My inner child wants to say, "Look what I made!". I let her show it off here.

2KCBWDAY2

2011-03-29T13:14:00.001-04:00

Skill + 1UP

I've always been drawn to knitting in different colors. I've tried it many times, but did not have a whole lot of success with it. The floats (yarn that floats behind the active stitches when a color isn't being used) were usually too short and tight. Over the last year, I've managed to improve. It involved a lot of little things:

Reading how-to documents. There are books and blogs and videos that explain and demonstrate techniques.
Practice. I worked on my tension. When I learned about yarn dominance, I concentrated on that.
Yarn. Knit Picks Palette yarns seem to work the best for me for colorwork. I bought a kit for an Andean Earflap Hat that included that yarn. It was the first thing I'd made using multiple yarns that I was happy with. I promptly made a second hat and then designed and knit a third.

If I can improve at colorwork, maybe someday I'll be able to do ribbing that looks reasonable.

2KCBWDAY1

2011-03-28T17:42:00.000-04:00

A Tale of Two Yarns

One of my favorite yarns is Socks That Rock lightweight by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The people who dye these yarns are very talented. The colors and color combinations are terrific. The base yarns are spun in such a way that I don't split the yarn when I knit. The skein length is what keeps me from using it more often. A STR skein is 360 yards which is a shorter than many of the skeins in my stash. Patterns usually just list the yarn used to knit the sample, not an estimate of the actual amount of yarn you might need. If a pattern calls for a 400+ yard skein, I won't take the chance of using Socks That Rock.

One yarn I haven't enjoyed using was Knit Picks Comfy. It's a 75% cotton/25% acrylic blend. I knit the Susie Hoodie with this yarn and absolutely hated the resulting garment. It weighs a ton and I'll never wear it. I wouldn't put the blame on this specific yarn, but I would put it squarely on anything cotton. Cotton has no elasticity and I do not like it. I knit the similar Central Park Hoodie with Poems by Wisdom Yarns. That's 100% wool and I like the garment. Cotton's great for dishcloths and mop covers, but it's on the no-fly list for any more clothing.

Nerd Wars, Tournament 1, Round 2

2011-03-21T16:23:00.001-04:00

I am done with this round. Yay!

FO Friday 3/18/11

2011-03-18T13:16:00.001-04:00

wipquest a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Per usual, there are several projects in the works, but this is all that was completed in the past week. They are donations to the Knit-a-Square project and one of the Nerd Wars challenges.

Half a sock and several crocheted flowers will complete this month's challenges. The project after that will be to finish the main mitten design.

Mittens sounded like a good idea when I first thought of it in January. It's supposed to be 80 degrees today, which makes them a little less interesting.

FO Friday 3/12/11

2011-03-12T18:50:00.001-05:00

FO Friday 3/12/11 a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

It's Saturday, but these were all done by Friday. These are all part of the current round of Nerd Wars.

Project bag with crocheted trim. I got this adorable 11 Doctors fabric from Spoonflower. The challenge was to combine at least two crafts. I also made three other project bags this week. They all have their purposes, but some of them are super sekrit.
Disappearing Tardis dishcloth. The challenge was to demonstrate capillary action. Dishcloths soak up water. This one was made to look like the Tardis on my coffee mug does when it disappears.
Weeping angel. The challenge was called In Like A Lion, Out Like a Lamb. The point was to show two differing sides of something. I took someone else's idea of crocheting a Christmas angel to look like a stone angel. I modified it by embroidering the scary face and stuffing the arms with chenille stems. The weeping angel is well known to Doctor Who fans.

I chucked the sweater for the KAL in the frog pond and resigned from the KAL. One problem was the yarn. It was allegedly worsted weight, but was really somewhere between sport and DK. The other was the lace panel. When doing lace, I need to have a chart to see which way the stitches are leaning when they are knit together. This one didn't have a chart and my feeble attempts to create one were not successful.

Next in the queue: two pair of socks, two wee tiny socks, and a half dozen flowers.

To My Doctor Who Swap Spoiler

2011-03-08T23:50:00.002-05:00

I'm guessing that I've been less than inspiring when it comes to things to make. Here are a few suggestions:

Toys/amigurumi. A Doctor doll, a stuffed Tardis, K-9, a Dalek, or something else. I like toys.
Charms. I like the little dangly things on stitch markers and earrings. However, I never use fancy stitch markers and rarely wear earrings. If you make things like this, leave the marker rings or earring hooks off. I'll like them.
Wearables are a little problematic because a) it doesn't get all that cold here and b) I'm hard to fit. Someone made me some socks once and I still feel horrible because I couldn't wear them. I wear hats sometimes. Hats are cool. Big head: 23".
A pillow or a pillow cover (I could get a form for it to go over) with a Doctor Who theme.
Decorate a little box or Altoid tin with something Who-related. I like tins and boxes and use them to store various knitting supplies.

I hope those will give you an idea or at least launch you in the direction of one.

If shopping was also part of the problem, that's a little easier:

Look under my Ravelry profile for a link to my Amazon Wishlist. There are several things on it that would work.
If you're still on Amazon, do a search on Doctor Who books. I don't have any, so click on any paperback.
Yarn. If you've seen my stash, you might not think I need any more yarn. Need, maybe not. Want is something else. Fingering weight in any color or combination of colors (no red or orange) in wool or a blend of wool or something else. I will like it.
Spinning fiber.
Check my Ravelry queue wishlist for patterns I want and don't have.
Who-themed mugs (other than the disappearing Tardis because I already have 2).
Fridge magnets.

Knit and Crochet Blog Week

2011-03-06T13:46:00.003-05:00

Knit and Crochet Blog Week will occur at the end of the month. Bloggers will write about a specific topic each day for a week. If you'd like to do this, click on the link. If you'd like the fun of reading what multiple bloggers have to say on a particular topic, click on the link. I plan to participate.

Now for something completely different:

Team Tardis is in first place after the first round of the tournament. I am proud to say that I contributed 94 points to the total. Finishing all six challenges earned me the lovely icon you see here. It's the most fun I've had in a war.

UFO Friday

2011-03-04T14:07:00.002-05:00

It's a Friday that has no finished objects, just many in progress or in the planning stages.

The second round of Nerd Wars has begun. I'm way behind on my dissertation, haven't much of the Titania sweater done, and am still a few hours away from having my first challenge done. The challenges are harder this time. I have to remind myself that this is supposed to be fun. If it is not fun, as a LOL cat might say, URE DOIN IT WRONG.

I'm doing a Doctor Who swap. I know I swore off of them for awhile, but this one was too good to miss. The coordinator did an exceptional job in matching people up. My spoilee (person I send to) is so similar to me in her Doctor Who likes and her yarn likes, I could've filled out her swap application with my answers and it would've worked fine. I'm doing two handmade things for her (swap requires one). I think I've come up with a way for one of them to count as one of my Nerd Wars challenges, too. I had big fun yesterday, ordering supplies and goodies.

I wanted to knit the second pattern from the Cookie A sock club, but that project's on the back burner until I get some of this other stuff done. I got the ingredients for one of the cookie recipes, but haven't baked them yet. I think I'll make it a reward for when I finish that sweater.

Ice Ice, Baby

2011-02-23T14:42:00.002-05:00

ice
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I bought some more yarn. Big surprise.

My current obsession is with Nerd Wars. The Head Nerds have declared that there will be a KAL for all warriors of the Titania Sweater in the next round. Everyone who finishes will get full points plus bonus for this project. I want to get full points for my team and I want to knit along with everyone.

The Tatiana Sweater is a pretty, lacy pullover sweater in a number of sizes. However, the design looks best on slender bodies with cup sizes in the very beginning of the alphabet. Neither of those qualities applies to yours truly. Some people in my situation are modifying the pattern. Having seen pictures of larger women in this sweater, there's no way I'm going to do it. It makes me think of that saying, "Just because they make Spandex clothing in your size doesn't mean you should wear it". No offense meant to those who do. I just don't do negative ease.

I still want to do the sweater, but do not want to invest a lot of money in something I'll be giving away. I Googled bargain yarns which got me to Yarn Paradise. Yarn Paradise appears to be where all the novelty yarn comes from. It also has some exceptionally inexpensive prices. The bag of worsted weight cotton/lycra yarn in the picture was $5.99. Not $5.99 a ball, $5.99 for the whole bag. Shipping was more than that. Even if you factor that into the price, the whole project is going to be around $16. I ordered the yarn over the weekend and it got here on Tuesday. From Istanbul.

My only regret is that I didn't pick a different color. This looked more green on my monitor. I conveniently ignored the more accurate description of the color.

Nerd Wars: Tournament 1 Round 1

2011-02-18T14:04:00.003-05:00

The challenges for this round are:

Team Spirit: Valentine's Day. I made a hat for Amelia Pond.
Intellectual: Prime Numbers. I made Wilf's Hat, modifying the pattern to use the prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, and 43.
Scientific: Nebulas. I'm working on a pair of Helix Nebula Socks, inspired by the Saturn Nebula. (No bonus points, couldn't link this to Doctor Who).
Technical: A Bonding Experience. I knit a pair of Medusa Cascade socks with sock yarn and blending filament.
Giving Geeks: Cold Hands, Warm Heart: I donated four pair of mittens I made last month to charity. (No bonus points, couldn't link this to Doctor Who).
Nerd Culture: Nerdwarscon. The challenge was to make something that you might use at a convention. I did a badge holder. Whovians will get the link to Doctor Who and probably why I chose the person I did for the name part.

I've got the yarn I need for my dissertation, the project that will go through all three months of the first round. I have a good idea of what I want to do for this. All I need now is to do a bit of research on mitten and fingerless mitt sizes.

It's not yarn (yet)

2011-02-14T19:32:00.002-05:00

happyvd
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

When I resolved to not add to my yarn stash, I probably should've expanded that to include my fiber stash. This is a grab bag I got from Silver Sun Alpacas. Yes, I read the words "grab bag" and lost my mind. Again.

It was worth it, though. The colors are gorgeous. I especially like the aqua color in the middle bundle. It's soft and full of shiny stuff, so I'm a happy girl.

Finished Object Friday

2011-02-11T14:58:00.001-05:00

FOFriday 021011
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Tea Cosy Swap: the recipient is a Doctor Who fan, so I knit this from a Who-related sock club yarn. She's in the sock club too, so she may recognize it. I was so low on appropriate green yarn for the leaves that I Russian-joined strands of it cut from the yarn. The tea cosy I'm getting in exchange is so cute that her toddler pulled it out of the shipping box and cried when it was taken from her. I'll probably go crazy over it. I'm relieved to hear that the child will be getting one of her own.
Nerd Wars: The Bow Tie Cloche is a Valentine's Day gift for Amelia Pond. The bow tie is meant to remind her of her friend the Raggedy Doctor. This earned me 13 points for my team.
Wee Tiny Sock Club: This is so much fun. The socks are tiny but they involve interesting techniques. This one is a Wee Tiny Steeked sock. I actually made a steek to create the button bands. I was doing this in the middle of the night and missed the instructions for wee tiny buttonholes, so the buttons are sewed into place. D'oh!

I am a winner

2011-02-08T11:24:00.002-05:00

Lately I've been feeling like the whole world is looking at me with their fingers up in the L for loser shape. I don't mean to whine. It's just that I keep getting ideas and trying them out and then they fail. That's why it was nice to actually win something.

A week or two ago, I posted about a farmer in Vermont who lost nearly everything in a barn fire. Shepherd Susie at Juniper Moon Farm put together a fund raiser that brought in bunches of wonderful prizes. It also raised over $11,000 when the goal was 10,0000. How cool is that? It's even cooler when you win one of the prizes. It's a very pretty hat from Kate at positive purls. I can almost guarantee it won't fit me (smallish hat, biggish head) so I'm adding it to the door prizes.

Busy!

2011-02-04T14:38:00.002-05:00

I ~~can barely~~ can't keep up with everything. At the moment:

I want to check out the blogs of all of the lovely people who've commented on my OWOH post. I've only managed about 10% of them.
I'm replacing the tea cosy in the previous post. If the intended recipient appears here, no worries. I think the replacement will be much more to your liking. Unfortunately for my other projects, this is going to the top of the queue.
Nerd Wars: I'm almost done with a hat, I need to research colors and order yarn for my dissertation project, knit a pair of mittens, find someplace that wants mitten donations, and come up with up to four more projects for the remaining categories this month.

You can stop laughing at me any time now.

Tea for Ten

2011-02-01T22:47:00.001-05:00

t4t
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I decided to finish the tea cosy rather than start a new one. It's not what I pictured, but I've been looking at it for so long I can't decide if it's too odd. The striped background is meant as a salute to the tenth Doctor Who's pinstriped suit. The roses are meant to bring to mind the person I though was his favorite companion, Rose. I tried to design the body so it would fit teapots of varying sizes.

If my partner doesn't like it, I hope she'll at least appreciate the effort. Now I've got to come up with some goodies to send along that might take the edge off in case she doesn't.

Sigh.

One World One Heart 2011

2011-01-31T03:15:00.003-05:00

One World One Heart 2011

Winners
The random number generator has spoken. The recipients of the giveaways are:

Martha in Toronto
Halle in Minnesota
Theresa in Conneticut
Eileen in New York
Jo in Cheshire

If you're one of these people, I've emailed you.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. Thanks also to Lisa, organizer of the One World One Heart events.

Welcome to my blog. I'm Paula and I'm obsessed with fibers. I'm currently into knitting mittens and my latest non-fiber thing is Doctor Who. I'm semi-retired which translates to I would work if I could find a part-time job I liked but I can't so I'll hang around the house and knit.

If you've just happened upon this post, then you might not know about One World One Heart. For all of the details, click on the link below the picture. The object of the exercise is for bloggers to visit other blogs and maybe find some new blogs to read. Participants entice people to visit by offering door prizes. Here are mine:

Malabrigo sock yarn, colorway Turner. 440 yard of fingering weight merino wool.
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, colorway Wool in the Woods. 420 yards of fingering weight merino wool.
Crown Mountain Farms sock yarn, colorway Born to be Wild. 400 yards of fingering weight 50/50 merino/tencel.
Knitter's Grab Box. I have a lot of things around here that I'll never use but are much too nice to toss. I've popped most of them in a little blue box. They include: a pair of cherry wood knitting needles, size 17, a yarn ball key chain, a stitch counter, 4" scissors, a Ravelry Olympics Bobicus Maximus pin, 20 stitch markers from 6 different sources, and a combo ruler/bookmark/metric needle sizer.
Not pictured are three Cookie A sock patterns (Summer Sox, Maelstrom, and Stricken). These are duplicates of patterns I already had and are NOT reprints.

The drawing is open to all active bloggers worldwide. To participate, leave a comment to this post with a way to contact you if you win. A link to your blog so I can visit would be great!

Winners will be picked on February 17 via a random number generator. Winners will be contacted individually and a list will be posted here.

Edited to add another prize:

See my 2/8/11 post for the story behind this.

More than I can chew

2011-01-30T15:56:00.003-05:00

I'm overwhelmed with projects that I want to work on. When this happens, my brain seizes up and I end up ignoring everything and hanging out online. (This also happens with housecleaning. You do not want to see what this place looks like right now.) The list looks like this:

Mittens: NaKniMitMo is over tomorrow. I have a pair of Camilla mittens started and a pair of Selbu gloves started. Neither will be completed in time. I'd ignore them, except they are both taking up space on dpns that will be needed for other things. There are at least two other pair I want to knit and am trying to forget.
Family Jewels mystery sock KAL. I decided to do this before the mittens started calling to me. I have the kit. I won't be knitting along with this one, but am grabbing the pdfs for each clue as they appear.
Cookie A KAL. I'm in a forum where there are monthly KALs from her new book. Again, I thought I wanted to do this before the mittens came to call. I might jump in on this in, say, six months.
My Self-Inflicted Sock Club. I think I knit a pair in November. This is on hold until I can get my act together.
Tea Cosy swap. In a moment on insanity, I signed up for this. I didn't even have a tea pot at the time, that's how crazy I am. It did give me a chance to go buy one. It looks like a little beehive and is very cute. I did make a tea cosy for my partner and can't decide if it is good enough to send. Rework the one I have or make a completely new one?
Nerd Wars. It is kind of hard to describe this, since I'm not sure yet how it will work. I'm on Team Tardis. We'll be competing against teams of people in other nerdish areas, making stuff. I'm attempting to do a special three-month-long project called a dissertation in addition to the team projects. The dissertation's nearly ready to post, except that I have to justify it taking three full months. Maybe I should link to this list?

Take a chance

2011-01-25T19:59:00.002-05:00

Shepherd Susie of Juniper Moon Farms posted on her blog about a person in need. He's an organic farmer in Vermont who lost nearly everything in a horrible barn fire. She started a modest fund raiser, with some prizes that would appeal to fiber fans. The word started to spread and she's gotten prize donations from all over the place. Go and check out the whole story and the list of prizes. You'll find a convenient donate button there. Take a chance and help someone in need.

Oh, and if a donation is too much for you to manage right now? You can still be in the drawing. Read down toward the bottom of the posting and it'll tell you how.

The fiber community is freaking amazing.

FO Friday

2011-01-14T00:25:00.001-05:00

fo fri 1/14/11
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I have been knitting this year. I just haven't used up an entire skein of anything so I haven't gotten around to calculating the yardage. I've got at least four more pair of mittens I want to make. I know it is a little crazy, but it is a lot of fun.

Goodies!

2011-01-06T18:33:00.001-05:00

cthgoodie
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is the goodie bag that I got from the Cherry Tree Hill sale. I've bought grab bags from them before, so my expectations for a free bag were not high. I thought I'd end up with a bunch of orange cotton, a hunk of bulky yarn, some novelty yarn, and patterns I won't use. Still, I made sure I got an order in early enough to get some goodies (first 200 orders starting when the New Year began got these).

I was pleasantly surprised. I did end up with patterns I won't use. I did get some novelty yarn called Spangle (white in the picture), but I might actually use it. I did get a cotton/rayon blend (green in the picture), but I think it'll be good for weaving and the color's nice. I did get something partly orange, but it's wool sock yarn. The nicest item was 50 grams of laceweight alpaca in a purple semisolid. Pretty good for free.

The Year of Living Stashfully

2011-01-01T14:58:00.004-05:00

I was feeling a little down on Christmas Eve, so I did some yarn shopping.

It was all on sale at Little Knits and The Dizzy Sheep. It was all semi-solids which I could use more of. It's Dream in Color Starry, Madelinetosh Sock, and Malabrigo Sock. It's just that I really don't need to be indulging myself like this. I've got a lot of yarn that I wanted as much as I did these and I need to start using instead of buying. I let myself buy a few more skeins of Cherry Tree Hill at the Supersock Store sale early this morning. (I bought all semi-solid, it was half price, and I get a Goodie Bag for being one of the early birds at the sale). That's it. I am not buying any more yarn for myself for any reason for at least until spring. I am not signing up for any more swaps that require me to buy yarn this year (upcoming Doctor Who swap is the only exception).

Mitten Mania

2010-12-28T14:49:00.003-05:00

I don't think I've worn mittens in about a half century. I rarely need anything on my hands where I live now. When I do need something, I dig out an ancient pair of Isotoner gloves. Why would I have a sudden desire to knit mittens?

I'm a little bit tired of socks at the moment.
There are many cute and challenging mitten patterns.
It's all about the process, not the product, for me.
January is National Knit Mittens Month (NaKnitMitMo).

I've got several projects lined up for NaKnitMitMo. I couldn't wait to get started, so I knit these to keep myself from starting those project prematurely. The pattern's called Love Bytes.

Cookie Functionality Enabled

2010-12-18T15:37:00.002-05:00

The title's a little joke. Blogger frequently tells me that my cookie functionality is disabled. It isn't, but that's Blogger for you.

Cookie A is one of my very favorite sock pattern designers. When she announced her new sock club, I knew exactly what the Santa Sheep was going to bring me for Christmas. Every other month we'll get two sock patterns (one easy, one more challenging), 100 grams of yarn, and two cookie recipes. If this sounds like fun, go here to sign up.

Betty's Vintage Christmas Stocking

2010-12-11T00:22:00.002-05:00

xmassock
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

My mom knit these Christmas stockings for a whole bunch of children back in the mid-1950s. I finally dug through my files and was able to reconstruct the pattern.

She's been gone nearly 15 Christmases, but her stockings live on.

What do I do with it?

2010-12-09T18:54:00.001-05:00

tardisinside
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I joined the Who's Your Doctor yarn club from Nerd Girl Yarns. In the foreground is the first yarn shipment. The picture in the back is the inside of the TARDIS Day card I received. This is obviously the inspiration for the yarn.

The orange and green are both about 15" long and separated on each side by gray about 6" long. The repeats are orange, gray, green, gray. What can I make with this? The skein's a generous 490 yards.

FO Friday

2010-12-03T13:56:00.001-05:00

monkeydog
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is so cute I can hardly stand it. It's a Doctor Who-inspired monkey with his pet space dog.

All Done

2010-11-30T16:02:00.002-05:00

This completes my annual NaBloPoMo daily posting for a month. Sometimes the goal is to be creative. The last few months have not been good, so setting out to do something every day and actually doing it is a success.

It has been a day for finishing things. I saw the last episode of the original Doctor Who last night. I am (almost) finished with my sock monkey made from some of the leftover yarn from my mini Doctor Who scarf. I think I'm finally through with doing anything more with that yarn for a while.

Yarn from Amazon

2010-11-29T18:30:00.002-05:00

Did you know that there are a lot of different kinds of yarn that you can buy via amazon.com? I was ordering a DVD from them yesterday. I always want to get free shipping, so I needed to put a little something more in my cart. I'd seen a few kinds of yarn there previously, so I did a search for yarn. Big mistake. I nearly got some really groovy Claudia Handpaints sock yarn when sanity returned. I don't need more sock yarn!

The Santa Cat will be bringing my felines a new scratching box. They sell pet supplies, too.

Organizing patterns

2010-11-28T17:40:00.002-05:00

I have got to come up with a way of organizing my knit and crochet patterns. I've got patterns in magazines and books. Those are organized automatically by being entered in my Ravelry library. The problem's with the pdf/computer patterns and the miscellaneous paper patterns. I bought a duplicate pattern yesterday, which annoys me no end. Some of the pdfs are stored in my Ravelry library. Some are stored on my computer in the directory where they are meant to go. Some are printed out. Some are in all three places. Some are in none of these places.

Sounds like time to build a simple little database. Now if I could only remember to check it before I buy something, that would help.

Bears are ready to go

2010-11-27T15:23:00.001-05:00

haitibears
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Yay! The bears are ready to travel. they are going to Canada and from there they'll go to Haiti. I hope they bring some comfort and happiness to children who've been short on both of those things.

Monkeys and Santas and Bears, oh my!

2010-11-26T16:24:00.002-05:00

I'm at it again. Nearly everything I want to knit has no practical purpose. Okay, the teddy bears are not totally in that category. They're nearly done and will be in the mail by my goal date of December 1.

Monkeys, specifically sock monkeys, are a relatively new obsession (I did not play with them as a child). Someone in a Doctor Who crafts group on LiveJournal was showing off her monkey the other day. She was making a gift for a friend who likes both Doctor Who and sock monkeys and combined the two. I am planning on taking her idea of using up leftover scarf yarn and knitting up a monkey from it.

Mochimochi Land is giving away a tiny Santa pattern with purchases over the holidays. It was the perfect time for me to buy that dust bunny pattern that I ~~need~~ want. It's for a little project. As long as I was there, I picked up one of the tiny thing collections (the one with the teeny garden gnome). I hope I've got sock yarn in all the colors I need for these.

Thankful

2010-11-25T14:27:00.003-05:00

In honor of Thanksgiving Day, here are some fibery things I'm thankful for:

I have all the tools I need for my projects
I have more than enough yarn and fiber, and can afford to buy more if I have to
I have more than enough patterns and ideas for projects
there are four Local Yarn Shops within 20 minutes of my house
there are a zillion (approximately) places for acquiring yarn and fiber online
Ravelry and other places for interacting with fiber fiends

Mochimochi semifinalist

2010-11-24T00:51:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Mochimochi Land patterns. There's a group on Flickr where people post pictures of things they've made with the patterns. Last year, a picture I did of slugs and snails was honorably mentioned in the annual Mochimochi picture contest.

I got another honorable mention this year with my candy corn. I was surprised to also make it to the semifinals with my bowling snowmen. I'm sure it won't go any farther than this. There are some pretty, clever, and hilarious pictures taken by people with far more photographic skills than I have. There are glow-in-the-dark bedbugs hanging around a sleeping child. There's a Boo the Bat with a gorgeous background. There's a tiny frog leaping between two cell phones. Go see them, they're a lot of fun.

Happy Tardis Day

2010-11-23T13:14:00.003-05:00

I'm going through an obsession with Doctor Who. It's a British television show that was first broadcast on this day 47 years ago. I wasn't watching it then because I've always lived in the USA. I do remember the day because it was the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. Those of us of a certain age tend to remember that whole weekend fairly clearly.

What does this have to do with yarn? Lots. Those who are fans of The Doctor and of yarn are frequently making things relating to the show, especially scarves. In celebration of the day, a group of us were involved in a swap. Here's what I received. It's a beautifully knit Tardis scarf.

On my feet

2010-11-22T13:10:00.003-05:00

What are you wearing? That's today's NaBloPoMo prompt, not the start of a naughty chat. The only handmade thing I'm wearing today is on my feet. Actually, that should be things. I'm wearing a pair of purple Feet Eaters. The pattern's on the cover of Knitting Mochimochi. They are warm, comfortable, and silly. When you put them on, it is like putting your feet in a monster's mouth. I've been wearing them a lot since it started getting cold and they are holding up very well.

Do/Redo

2010-11-21T13:30:00.002-05:00

I'm working on teddy bears. I think the first couple I made should've had bigger heads, but they look cute so I'm not going to redo them. I will do bigger heads going forward.

I did a square for International Women's Day, but I don't like it. I'm going to frog it and use the yarn for teddy bears. The redo square will have some kind of lacy pattern in it so it is more fun to knit.

Yes, things are this boring today.

Projects in the works

2010-11-20T16:35:00.002-05:00

I'm actually going to have to buy yarn for my next two projects:

Gargoyles: My brother bought me a gargoyle for Christmas a long time ago. Ever since then, I've been drawn to the ugly-cute things. They can be found on bookshelves (musical snowglobe with a gargoyle in it) all the way into the kitchen (fridge magnets acquired in Paris). I found the cutest darn knit My Little Gargoyle pattern on Ravelry and now I must make it. I've got good buttons for the eyes, but no DK weight gray yarn.

Christmas socks: I have portions of a Christmas stocking pattern that my mother made about 50 years ago. She made them for all the kids in the extended family and for the offspring of many of her close friends. I want to reconstruct the pattern and post it online. No red, green, or white worsted weight wool.

Hmmm, which LYS do I visit?

FO Friday 11/19/10

2010-11-19T16:59:00.001-05:00

docsox
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

These are the socks made with the Time Traveler yarn. I tried them about four times and still don't have quite what I intended. My colorwork isn't anything to write home about, but it is improving.

Yay Ravelry!

2010-11-18T18:38:00.002-05:00

Ravelry won .net Magazine's award for 2010 community site. Rav won over finalists Twitter and Facebook. Pretty freakin' cool (and not at all strange. :) ).

Late

2010-11-17T20:08:00.002-05:00

I'm behind in everything else, so it is no wonder that it's after 8pm and I'm attempting to come up with a post here. Here's the Italian Market Bag I made last week. The real color is off white with little bits of a mauve-pink in it. It is stuffed full of spinning fiber and there's still room for more.

Twist Collective

2010-11-16T14:35:00.002-05:00

I spent an enjoyable time this afternoon, checking out the Winter 2010 issue of Twist Collective. I'm always surprised by just how many patterns they have! There were a lot of sweaters. There were a few that I'd consider making, but they all were great to look at. If I was young and slender, I'd be making a lot of them. The hat and mitten sets made me almost wish that it got colder here. Almost.

There was a really cool section on patterns that designers would most like to make for themselves.

The biggest temptations were two sock patterns. I didn't check out the details, but they both appeared to be twisted stitch designs. I also will be going back to check out the button-up cape pattern in more detail. I might have to make it.

One Hundred Million Stitches

2010-11-15T13:20:00.003-05:00

A group in Scotland is getting people to knit a 100,000,000 stitch blanket in honor of International Women's Day. The details are here.

I think I'll thin out my leftover sock yarn buckets and do a square for the event.

Disagree (1000000)

2010-11-14T18:37:00.002-05:00

Some squirrel over at the Huffington Post listed Ravelry among the 19 strangest social networking sites. Hey Huffington, I'll bet there are fewer strange people on Ravelry than there are who write for your site.

One Million Ravelers

2010-11-13T11:47:00.002-05:00

Yay, Ravelry! The one millionth person signed up this morning.

::talking in geezer voice:: Yeah, I remember back in '07 when you had to wait for weeks and weeks for an invitation to join Ravelry. Those were the good old days. There was a place where you could get an estimation of how long it would be until your invitation arrived, and I'd check it every day. I think I'll go dig out my "I Swatched Ravelry" tshirt and wear it today. You can't get those any more.

Commercial

2010-11-12T20:16:00.002-05:00

I've been watching tv and not doing much else. I hurt my arm somehow and it interferes with any fiber fun. I rubbed some stuff on my arm to make it feel better. Now one of my cats has decided that she likes the arm stuff and has spent a good deal of time trying to lick it through my sleeve. Why don't I move her? It hurts my arm to do that.

Anyway, as I said, I've been watching tv. I happened on a commercial with fibery goodness. Conan O'Brien is in the far east somewhere, maybe India. He picks out some (silk?) thread and weaves a whole bunch of fabric. He dyes it, too. In the last scene, he's about to go out on stage, and the fabric he's created is the stage curtain. Pretty cool.