I’ve got some info for you…

Hello! It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for a Yarn Along post. So here’s my most current wip made out of the yarn I showed you yesterday - said Berries & Cream socks. I’m hoping to make some more progress by the end of the week and I’ll share any updates with you as I progress.

As to reading – sorry, I’m not reading much these days. Instead I’m spending a lot of time writing – both online and offline. And of course I’m writing &  experimenting with the blog as part of the Knitting & Crochet Blog Week. So, without any further ado here is today’s assignment:

Day Three (Wednesday April 24th): Infographic
There are many ways of conveying information on a blog; text and images being the two most widely used. Many infographics combine both these elements to provide a visual way of presenting text information. [...]

The whole point of this topic is to experiment with infographics as a way of sharing facts, information and ideas, and to explore another tool in a blogger’s arsenal of communication options.

Honestly, I’ve never really thought about making my own Infographic. I’ve pinned a whole bunch of the on Pinterest, so much so that I have a separate board for Infographic pins. When I first read the assignment I started looking for the opt-out post – in the past years there’s been a wild card assignment to swap out a day’s assignment. And yes, while I could just draw an infographic I actually need to have an idea as to what to draw. But I was stuck.

waiting to be knit up…

And then I decided to go the House of Bee path. Given that I like to have multiple projects on the needles, I decided to look at my ginormous queue.  I use my queue like an inspiration board. Whenever I come across a pattern I like I just queue it. The first few pages of my queue contain the patterns that I plan to make sooner rather than later. But otherwise my queue is pretty much a mess, so nowadays I also tag patterns. That way it’s easy to look through them and search for, say, a fingering weight sweater patterns if I want to knit a sweater out of Wollmeise. I should go back and tag old projects, but given that my queue is  46 (!!!) pages long – that’s 1375 patterns – that’s not going to happen.

So – I’ve decided to share my knitting evolution with you: How my knitting and knitting skills have progressed, what my queue looks like when looked at more closely, and what actually happens to the projects. Nope, I’m not much of a selfish knitter – most of my projects are gifts. I also started taking a look at the colors I like to work with, but more on that tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the Infographic! I spent a ridiculous amount of time on it. I bow to all the people who come up with all those gorgeous, complicated Infographics. And mad props to Piktographic – I used their free templates to make this Infographic – it really gives you a great starting point. Then you have all kinds of customization option but you really need to spend some time with elements and layers – like in PowerPoint and Photoshop.

Leave me a link to your Infographic in the comments and I’ll swing by and check it out. And all of you Yarn Alongers, here’s the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

Where’s my Wednesday at?

Hello fellow Yarn Along-ers! Yes, I’m still around, and yes, it is high time for another Yarn Along post. Especially since I have a new wip to share with you. I managed to finish my Paraphenalia socks – yay! – and decided to cast on for something new instead of finishing up one of my old wips.

But first things first. Were you able to figure out what I’m reading? Yes? Or are you distracted by the image of the luscious lemon square? I can tell you that I have a serious hankering to bake some right now. I may just head out to the store later to buy some lemons… I guess that’s the mark of a good cookbook, that it serves to inspire you.

So – in case you didn’t guess, this is the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I’d actually planned to attend one of the book signings, but life interfered. In the end, I guess I was better off not going, given how overcrowded and incredibly long the book signing was. And so I ended up borrowing the book from the library… I have to say, I do enjoy it, but it after all they hype, it wasn’t the best thing since sliced bread. A good cookbook but not the best one ever. It didn’t knock me off my socks. I know, heresy. Especially by me, an avowed Smitten Kitchen lover.  I do like it, but I think I’ll be just fine with the website. Unless of course someone wants to gift me with a copy of the book – I won’t say no (hint hint, family).

I guess that’s the problem with hype – it raises your expectations to a level that will almost always cause a let-down when you encounter the real thing. I’ve felt the same way about Argo or Forrest Gump. Really good movies, but the hype was just way too crazy. I was kind of disappointed after watching them – although I actually enjoyed Forrest Gump more the second time around. I’m guessing that’ll be the same case with Argo.

Back to the knitting. I’ve been on a yellow kick lately – the color just makes me happy. Plus it’s perfect to put you in a spring kind of mood. And even though the original prototype of the pattern sports a shawl knit in red and grey – MadTosh tart! – I decided on yellow. A mellow yellow, matched with a mellow grey so the scarf would be easy to combine with all kinds of clothing. I’m really happy with the final color selection. The yarn is MadelineTosh fingering merino light, in the colorways Whiskers and Winter Wheat. Pretty!

The pattern is Elinya – it’s a scarf/narrow shawl with  alternating stripes, knit in garter stitch. This is definitely a good design for beginners. As to me, I’m already bored out of my mind, and I’m only 30 stripes in. Oy. And this brings me to another point. This is a pattern you have to pay for. $4. I thought there’d be some short rows or some kind of shaping, something worth paying that much for. And yet all it consists of are garter stitch stripes, with increases at the beginning and end of each row. That’s it. I feel ripped off. I could have come up with that on my own, thank you very much. Sigh. But more on the topic of patterns, and pattern pricing another day.

And now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

 

Another Wednesday, another Yarn Along post

Hello there!

I hope you haven’t given up on me! I know, it’s been a month of almost no posts, apart from the Weekly Photography Challenge. But I have a good reason: I’ve been dealing with a ginormous move, all the way across an ocean and a continent, and I’m only now starting to settle in. My stuff is partly here, partly in storage, partly on its way, which has made things difficult, knitting-wise. Almost all of my yarn is in storage, plus various knitting paraphernalia like knitting needles, my swift and ball winder, and other knitting do-dads. Is that a real word, do-dads?

twisty and pretty cables

Given all that’s been going on, I haven’t been reading much of anything. But, I’ve managed to get one project started. Currently on my needles is a sock. Yes, only one sock, the other one hasn’t even been started. The pattern is Paraphenalia, and includes ribbing and a few cable twists. Nothing too complicated, but a fun little project that I can pick up anytime. I’ve just turned the heel, so I’m actually a bit further along that the photograph. Let’s see how much progress I’ll make by next week – I’m hoping to have this sock finished and the second one at least halfway done. It’s always good to have goals, even if you don’t reach them on rightaway.

Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday,  and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

Wed-nes-day

Source: clarewbrown.files.wordpress.com via anji on Pinterest

Sheesh. It’s already Wednesday? And it’s almost February? Where does the time go????? I know I’m late in putting up my Yarn Along post, but that’s because I haven’t been in the mood to blog today. Shocking, right? I mean, I’m a blogger, that must mean that I want to blog, right???? And yet, I’ve been in the mood to knit today. Knit, knit, knit. Typing = blergh.

And yet, yarning along means that you’re writing about knitting, so there. I’m just fulfilling my mandate. And apart from that, I’ve been on a blog posting spree over the last few days. I actually though of joining up with the WordPress 2013 Post a Day, but I know there are a few things on the horizon where I just won’t manage to to post every day. Plus I want to keep the blogging fun for me – and you! – and I don’t want to turn it into an obligation kind of thing. I have enough of those going on.

Preparing the armhole steek (sorry for the blurry photo!)

But back to the actual topic, the knitting – I’m still working on last week’s project. And I’m actually making a good amount of progress on my Hurricane vest. I’m actually at the armhole part, so I’ve set up my steeking sections. I can see how it’s supposed to work, but the actual steeking will be an adventure… Next up is finishing the armhole shaping and creating the V-neck steeking. Then shoulder grafting, cutting the steeks, and creating the armhole & V-neck ribbing and voila!

Source: life.time.com via anji on Pinterest

Instead of talking about reading, I want to add another note (especially since I actually haven’t read much of anything over the past week). If you’re generally interested in the whole “On This Day…” kind of thing, you might have noticed that today’s the anniversary of a number of important historical events. The one I want to highlight is that today, in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian freedom fighter and proponent of nonviolence, was assassinated at point blank range. Gandhi was a key figure in India’s move to independence, and I’ve been thinking back a lot on India’s development since its modern day origin as an independent state. The whole Delhi rape case has brought a lot of the social and societal issues forward, a lot of them unresolved from the time pre-Independence, but also a lot of economic developments have additional tension in India. Gender issues and ensuring that its poor partake in the economic growth are topics India will have to tackle. I’m planning to write a follow-up on the Delhi rape case, so look for more information and discussion there.

Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

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• Nothing Better than New Yarn (stitchknit.wordpress.com)
• Eek! Steek! (manainkblog.typepad.com)
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What’s up, Wednesday?

Yup, it’s Wednesday! Even though I’m traveling, I thought I’d let you know what’s going on with this week’s knitting.

I’m sad to say that I haven’t made much progress in my knitting. I guess that’s just what happens when you spend a lot of time with young kids – there’s just no way I want to have pointy needles around that might just poke someone – or worse. Plus, I’m sure I’ll get “help” with my knitting, which’ll probably result in a tangled skein. In fact, my nephew tried to “help” me once by pulling on my yarn – the green Quince & Co Puffin that I’m using for the pea soup blanket – and my working yarn broke under the skein. Fortunately it was far away enough from the actual knitting that I didn’t have any problems like my stitches unraveling, and I did a quick felted join so that wasn’t a problem, but now I’m waaay more wary with my knitting around little kids. But they already associate knitting with me. In fact, I stopped by a yarn store with the toddler the other day, and he carried a skein of Malabrigo sock in a lovely shade of green around while I was in the store. He was quite disappointed that I didn’t buy it. I didn’t look to closely at the skein or I might have been tempted to buy it. At least he didn’t ask me to knit socks or something else for him, otherwise I totally would have caved. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he figures that out soon.

Back to my actual knitting. I’ve knit a few more rows on my Indian Red scarf, but apart from that I’m working on the Germany baby socks that I was working on last week. I just haven’t made that much progress. I’m about to transition into the black section – the next stripe – but the socks are definitely not long enough, so I’ll be knitting up at least two stripe set repeats. I’m knitting the socks in a spiral for extra stretchability so he can actually wear them for a longer time, so I might make the socks even longer so he can wear them as a toddler. The knitting two socks at a time method is nice in that you don’t worry about making the socks equally long and so on. And you avoid second sock syndrome. But really, I’ve never had problems knitting the second sock. I guess I just buckle down cause I want to actually wear the socks. Knitting one sock at a time on two circular needles is still my favorite sock knitting method – it’s just so much faster.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what I’m reading – I’m not. I’m still reading Curious George stories at nighttime. I’m looking for summer reads recommendations – anything you guys would suggest? I’m not the horror story (or horror movie) kind of girl, but I’ll read just about anything. I was thinking about reading the Game of Thrones books. I’ve heard great things about the series, and I generally like reading books before watching their film versions. That can of course be disappointing if the movie doesn’t live up to the books expectations, but apparently the series does a good job translating the books to the screen. Plus, Sean Bean‘s in it. Love Sean Bean. He’s such a great actor. If you think about it, he’s been in so many different good movies, including great series, portraying all kinds of different characters.

Anyway, that’s me for this week. Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

Wednesday, Wednesday

The book I’m currently reading is not so much my reading but my nephew’s reading – it’s his good night story. You might have recognized Curious George from the bookcover – and the book itself is called ‘Curious George Storybook Collection.’ This version is very much so based on the TV series, with the same kind of graphics, and really big pictures. It’s quite cute but just doesn’t have the charm of the original stories. I wish they’d stayed consistent with the beginning of the original stories, you know, where it says: “George was a good monkey but always very curious.” Oh, and btw, have you ever wondered what the man with the yellow hat does for a living? Well, I wonder – and given that many of George’s adventures result in big, expensive messes, I wonder if he’s on an unlimited budget. For example, the donut delivery story in this Storybook Collection volume. George buys 100 dozen donuts instead of one dozen donuts. One dozen Krispy Kreme donuts is approximately $6 (dependent on your location), that would mean, that George bought $600 worth of groceries. And the man with the yellow hat accepts that without blinking an eye. Sheesh.

And in the meanwhile, I’ve made some progress, over the past week, and the end is in sight on my Indian Red scarf. Very exciting. It’ll still take me a while to finish it, but I can see how this pattern design is going to work out. I’m concerned that the scarf will be to small, so I’ll probably have to steam block it aggressively, or wet block it. The problem with wet blocking is that it is hard to find a space where I can leave something to dry. Plus, wet blocking doesn’t have that instant gratification effect that you get from steam blocking. I’m going to double check my gauge, and maybe I can add a bit more length in section H… Time to check out the modifications people have made to the scarf. I really really love Ravelry – it makes it so much easier to find that kind of information.
And now, since I’m probably responsible for getting the “Monday, Monday” song stuck in your head, here’s a video of the original song:

That’s it for this Wednesday. I’m participating in this week’s Yarn Along – there are links to other great Yarn Along posts there, with information on how to participate yourself. You can also find a link to this post through Tami’s Amis, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) series.

We can work it out

It’s Wednesday! That means it’s another Yarn Along day. Well, this past week has been a mix of knitting, blogging, and everyday life. I spent some time hanging out with my friends and my god-daughters, hanging out at the grandparents garden, way outside of the city. I’d hoped to get some good knitting time in, hanging out in the sunshine but instead I was occupied with kids, who had a blast. Have you ever seen two kids competing to get into a hammock at the same time? No? Well, it’s pretty hilarious.

I’d hoped to get more knitting done this past week – remember that knitting marathon? I’ll have a post up in a few days on how I did. I’ve made some progress on my Indian Red scarf. I’m now on section D-E-F-G. You basically knit all those sections at the same time, some in garter stitch, some in stockingette and some in reverse stockingette, and as you go you increase or decrease the sections. It’s a very unusual construction, but now I can kind of see how this will work out.

I need a plane read, and since they really don’t like you reading an ebook during take-off and landing, I was looking for a paperback. I’ve started reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan – I’m just at the beginning, but it’s a really interesting read. The subtitle is “A natural history of 4 foods” – he looks at the food production of four different foods. It’s a very interesting at the food industry, looking at food chains from beginning to end, tracing what we eat. He asks ‘What should we have for dinner’ – a simple question, but which becomes more and more complicated. Hence the omnivore’s dilemma. I’m looking forward to reading more – I’m sure it’ll be interesting, shocking and disenchanting at the same time.

Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

As you might have guessed, the post title is inspired by “We Can Work It Out” by the Beatles.

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crack that w(h)ip

Well hello! It’s Wednesday wip time. And, as Devo said, it’s time to “Whip it! Whip it good.” Oh 80s, sometimes I miss you. Not the fashion, for the most part, more the music. Remember that hair? The perms? The scrunchies. Yikes. Unless you’re out to have extra fun with it – like with an 80s tribute band. Meet the Legwarmers, who are exactly that. I went to their New Year’s Show, and another time for my birthday. Definitely one of the best parties I’ve been to. Just check out their promo video below, and there are more images on their website. It’s a pretty much a requirement to dress up for the concert, so you almost get an 80s overdose there I think it’s the best fun you can have with the 80s without actually bringing the 80s back. Imagine if people dressed like that all the time…

So, let’s look at my knitting (and reading). Well, would you look at that! I’ve actually managed to make some progress on my Erin Go Bragh shawl! I’m almost done with the last part of my Color Affection shawl. It has lingered and lingered around here. Which is kind of weird since it’s a fun project. By now the project has taken on dimensions that make it difficult to take it along. It’s no longer a “on-the-go” project. And I have other projects going on that have been getting knitting time, both my Indian Red and my steel sings scarves. But I’ve been trying to finish up my Color Affection, and I’m almost there!

I think I’ll finish this one today since I’m participating in Cheryl Marie’s Knitting Marathon. That’s 26.2 hours of knitting, May 23-24. I won’t be able to only knit in that time. Obviously I have to sleep. And then there’ll be lots of other things going on like eating, blogging, household stuff and so on. (I love that blogging comes second – although I’m scheduling my Wednesday and Thursday posts). But I should definitely make some inroads with my knitting. I think my Erin Go Bragh will be finished, and I’m hoping that I’ll maybe even finish my Indian Red scarf. Want to join in too? Shall we see how much knitting we can get done? I’m sure you can start later and then correspondingly finish later.

And the read, that’s a comfort read of mine. I read Tamora Pierce‘s Alanna series as a teen, and I loved it. A girl that wants to become a knight, and despite all the challenges, having to hide that she’s a girl from almost everyone, and so on, she succeeds and forges her own path. Who hasn’t dreamt of being a knight? I loved that series, and I still have my books. This series is a set in the same universe as the Alanna quartet and tells you the story of Keladry of Mindelan, the second girl to try for knighthood. She does it publicly, without having to hide her gender like Alanna, and the book talks about the different set of challenges she faces, the prejudices, but also her successes. I’m currently on book 4 in the quartet, Lady Knight, and I still have aways to go. I like rereading books – good books, that is – you know what is coming but you don’t remember all the details, and it’s like saying hello to an old friend.

Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. Check out some of the other awesome wip posts.

This was not how I was planning to get more knitting time in…

I was having a lovely dream. I won’t bore you with the details (partly cause I don’t remember them all), but it basically encompassed the life story of this old woman, whose husband had died a few years ago. She missed him, and wanted to go visit their favorite place, on some little island, and she’d asked me to take her there. And then she wanted to leave a la Titanic (the movie) style, but suddenly she was trying to convince me to move on with her. With a big serrated bread knife that she was trying to stab me into my stomach with. Grandma had turned into a deranged little lady. Which was when my dream turned into a nightmare and things evolved into all kinds of horror scenarios with this sweet little old lady trying to use various means to kill me while ranting at me. Yeah.

I should add, I’m not the horror movie kind of girl. I have a way too active imagination. I end up freaked out with nightmares. If I end up trapped in a situation where I just can’t leave – I really hate those horror movies, no matter how well they’re done – I end up sticking my fingers into my ears, closing my eyes and mentally singing lalala. I can’t read stories with horror elements either, much less full-blown horror stories. I was translating the beginning of Stephen King’s “It” for a friend (she was reading it to improve her English), and I was so freaked out by that damned clown that I started to imagine it in all corners whenever I was walking home late. Ugh.

I know that some people love horror stories, and there are some really funny campier ones out there too, which should be totally up my alley, but no. I can’t do horror. And there was no reason for this dream either – I’d been blogging and planning recipes to try out and reading, So this came out of nowhere. But hey, thanks to the dream I woke up at 4am and didn’t fall asleep. I mean, what’s a knitter to do – there’s no reason this shouldn’t be knitting time, don’t you think?

I continued knitting on my Indian Red scarf, plugging away at sections D & E. I was all proud of myself, feeling righteous when I realized I’d made a mistake. I won’t bore you with the details, but basically, I needed to go back to section C and redo sections D & E. Grrr. So instead I thought I’d work on one of my Arts & Crafts projects, a decoupage picture frame made with paper napkins (my Father’s Day gift). I did a base coat, and after I’d finished with the various parts, I got up to wash my hands – and manage to put my foot through the glass. Yay. A huge mess of glass, and a puncture and a cut. I threw in the towel.

So, there’s not much progress to report on. Sigh. But I will finish my Erin Go Bragh shawl before next Wednesday. I’ planning to work on my Indian Red scarf, and the blanket, well, it’ll have to take a back seat for a while. It’s just to warm to work on it. Here’s a peek at my Erin Go Bragh – I just need to finish the last few short rows, the final wedge of color and the bind-off. That’s manageable, I really should have this done by Wednesday.

Now for the blog hop part: I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along, this week’s Tami’s Amis WIP Wednesday, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long. See you next Wednesday!

Farewell, Maurice Sendak

I had a post all drafted for today’s Yarn Along, but then I saw that Maurice Sendak died yesterday. How sad. You might have heard of Maurice Sendak, especially in the last few years. Maurice Sendak is the author – and illustrator of the great children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are.” It’s a lovely story about a boy, Max, and his imagination which leads him to the land where the Wild Things are. It’s a story without many words, but it still conveys the story beautifully through the wonderful combination of the words with the matching illustrations. The book received the Caldecott Medal, which should tell you something right there. In 2009, Spike Jonze created a movie treatment based on the book, which was released to good reviews. He made sure to work closely together with Maurice Sendak – he stated in an interview that he want to convey the atmosphere of the book, and that the greatest compliment was that Maurice Sendak. Watch the trailer and see for yourself.

I think by now you can guess which book I’m currently reading. Or more accurately, rereading.

That’s my reading, and here is my knitting. I still have four wips waiting for my attention: the pea soup blanket, the Erin Go Bragh shawl, the steel sings scarf and my Windward scarf featured in my “Tale of Two Needles” stop motion animation. I’ve managed to complete section A to C on the Windward scarf – a bit of progress, but not as much as I’d like. Part of the reason is life, and the other reason is that I’m participating NaBloPoMo this month. NaBloPoMo is a challenge where you blog every day. Yup, every day. That really takes a lot of time, especially since I take quite a bit of time to write my blog posts. To make my life easier I’ve been writing my posts ahead of time and scheduling them – that way I have posts going on without too much every day work. And I can still insert a post on what’s currently going on. But the whole writing ahead of time has reduced my knitting time this week.

And I’m still trying to finish my pea soup blanket by the end of the month. Yeah, I think that’s pretty much an unattainable goal.

So, that’s it for this week. I’m linking up with this week’s Yarn Along – there are links to other great Yarn Along posts there, with information on how to participate yourself. You can also find a link to this post through Tami’s Amis, through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) blog-a-long.

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