A True Dedication to Knitting

An Afternoon Club in Mersham, England has completed a knitted replica of the village. The project took 23 years! Now, that's dedication!

Have a look - The Knitted Village

Fluid Knitting

Fluid Sculpture from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.
This is a really cool and inventive use for surgical tubing. Extreme knitting you'll want to watch again and again.

A Horrific Yarn

One of my favorite art blogs is Bent Objects.

His most recent submission is entitled "A Horrific Yarn". As a knitter, I found it amusing.

Eat Your Veggies. Now.

I finally am able to put up a picture of the garden veggies I made for the conference. The only exception are the carrots, which Mom made.

This display was in front of the podium at the head table.

The cauliflower and the bumblebee are my own design. Everything else was borrowed from Alan Dart (ladybugs); Corn and Tomatoes, with some slight variations, from Garden Variety via MagKnits; Small Onion by Catherine Lindsay; and the Pumpkin by Magenta Lizard

Knit Juvenile Sea Nettle

I just found a new free pattern for a juvenile sea nettle. It is from the CRAFT magazine site. Download it here!

Veggie Update

The June convention is fast approaching and I'm getting busier making fruits and veggies for the displays. One display will be a knit/crochet picnic layout. Another will be a display of the edible bounty that can come from out gardens. Some of the patterns will be my own designs, I hope.

So far, I have completed a pear, a strawberry, a pumpkin, a banana, an orange, cucumber slices, an onion and broccoli and cauliflower florets. For the picnic, I need to create a picnic basket, plates, cups, silverware, a picnic blanket, sandwiches, and an apple, plus some other surprises.

The garden bounty display will also feature radishes, carrots, turnips, a few more onions, and some other items I can't think of right now.

When I'm done, I hope to be able to post some links to the patterns I have used as well and write up the ones I design.

Knitted Easter Eggs

A great easter project to knit. I'll put it on my WIM list and maybe get a few done by next year!

At least these Easter Eggs won't get broken.

Knitted Shields

Knitted Shields, to prevent radio wave emissions from appliances from entering the air, not the kind used by knights of old. Talk about being technophobic! Anyway, the end result in the kitchen is pretty neat.

The imagination of some people.... or, should I say, the paranoia.

Stripes or not...

Moms just informed me that she purchased a table-top loom for Christmas. I am excited to be getting it, as it will allow me to further my skills in the fiber arts. I won't be ready to try a spinning wheel for quite a long time - I'll leave that to Moms.

So, will this new, soon-to-receive addition, I thought dyeing my own yarn, spun by Moms of course, would be pretty interesting. I found this tutorial, which is more for knitting and crocheting, but who's to say I couldn't use the same technique to dye yarn for weaving.

You can check out the tutorial and learn something really cool! Thanks, Eunny!

I'm doing it again!

I said that I wanted to take a break from swaps, since I have so much else to do. Well, I didn't listen to myself again! I just joined another swap. It's Knit & Crochet Tastey Goodies. Fortunately, my swap partner likes minitures, Harry Potter and rainbow colors & color graduations.

I have an idea of what to do, thankfully. Now, I just need to get it done, amid the million of others things I must do!

Hogwarts Swaps!

Since both of my swap partners have received their packages, I can freely post pictures of what I sent. One swap was for Hogwarts House Pride. The other was for Weasley Household Items.

The first picture is of Arnold, Ginny's pet Pigmy Puff; Pig (Pigwidgeon), Ron's pet owl and golden snitch knitting needle point protectors. Arnold & Pig went to Astra and the point protectors to Lindsey.

The second picture is of Arnold in his home - Arnold's Abode. I gave him a water dish, a crocheted sleeping mat and a piece of crocheted celery. (The real stuff would have rotted! - Yuck!)

The third picture is a close-up of Pig.

The fourth picture is of a cauldron containing "third-eye" filled chocolate candies and Ravenclaw stitch markers. Some of the candy was "charmed" to give the eater a temporary "third-eye" in the middle of their forehead. Astra got a cauldron and candy and Lindsey got the cauldron, candy and stitch markers.

I told Astra that the cauldron was a toy cauldron used my Ron & Ginny to copy their older brothers and not harm themselves in the process.

I told Lindsey that the cauldron was travel size and could enlarge and shrink with the appropriate charm.

The last picture is a close-up of the stitch markers. They are done in Ravenclaw colors (movie blue & silver) with an eye on the middle bead. The eyes watch out for the likes of Cornish Pixies who like to unravel or knot-up works. Lindsey got the markers and point protectors because she likes to knit.

The only item I did not photograph was a 3-D snowy owl I made out of paper. I named her Astra and said she was Cedric Diggory's pet owl. Cedric is the most famous Ravenclaw, was Hogwarts original Tri-Wizard tournament champion and was killed by Peter Petegrew on the old Riddle estate.

The swaps were fun, but I'm not going to do two in one month again! I had to make these at the same time I was making the crochet tote for my sil!

Whew!

Tubular Cast-On

Casting on stitches for sleeves and the like without using waste yarn has its advantages.

You can find a simple tutorial for this at FluffBuff.

Scroll down the page and you will see a quicktime movie of this technique.

Machine Knitting for a Techie

Here is one of the coolest knitting machines I have ever seen. Now I do have an Incredible Sweater Machine from Bond, but I haven't even begun to master it. (Too many projects and way too little time!)

Well, here it is!

Knitting Scouts - Are you one?

I recently found a group to which I truly feel I belong - the Knitting Scouts! I've included my earned badges below to the right. Now, I just need to get them stitched and I can proudly wear them. Some are a bit out of my reach (thankfully!), and I'm sure there are more to come, but the irreverency of it all.....

Until such time, you can read more about what each means at the Knitting Scouts info area.

In case anyone has any doubts about the continuing popularity of knitting, then you should read this article by the Yarn Harlot (a TRULY best selling author of, yes, KNITTING books). It's humorous and soooo true! I just love how she calls non-knitters MUGGLES! *Harrry Pottter!*

Now, don't take that as a severe slam against non-knitters. I have several good friends who are such and I don't consider them Muggles. Muggles are meant to be more of a people who don't believe in the "community" of Magic as in J.K. Rowling's novels or Knitters as referred to by the Yarn Harlot.

ITE Knitted Bag

Here is the knitted bag I made for the International Tote Exchange. The pattern is from the June issue of Simple Knitting.I made some modifications, due to the yarn I was using. It called for wool, and since I am allergic.....

I added a surprise - photochromic buttons. They change colors from white to purple. She said she likes color, but not neons, and likes textures. I hope the recipient likes it!

Crochet-based Economy

I read this blog entry from one of my fav email lists, Crochet Partners, and I just had to respond! I have copied my response below, but in the interest of the rights of intellectual property, I request you click on the link to read the original post to the blog.

http://crochet.craftgossip.com/the-proper-care-and-feeding-of-the-crochet-based-economy/2007/07/09/

Here is my response:

"I am so glad I am not a traitor to the cause! One project at a time?!? Blasphemy!!!

For those of us cross-breeds (both knitters and crocheters), I would add NAS = Needle Acquisition Syndrome as well as the general NAAS = Needlework Accessory Acquisition Syndrome, we can't forget all those lovely gadgets that help us create our works of love, if not, art. BAS (as stated by Bonnie) and FIPAS (Free Internet Pattern Acquisition Syndrome) I would freely include in the PAS, lest we get too confused by too many abbreviations.

And, on the topic of ecology, many of us also recycle those grocery bags to use in projects. Plus, we have encouraged yarn manufacturers to create yarns with other such renewable resources as corn, soy, bamboo, sari fabric, etc. Yeah for us needleworkers who assist in the global economy as well!

This is not to forget those independent designers, who have been encouraged to create more patterns to feed our addiction. And several of those designers have become published as a result of the internet and our societal needleworkers support.

And then those ball winders, that necessity to aid us in keeping order of our stash. Or, at least, attempted order. Plus the act of winding can be meditative, as well, as addictive.

And for the computer programs, we also need them to keep a list of our WIP, WIM and to aid us in calculations and conversions. So, computer programmers are a portion of *another* industry we support.

You are so right! Without us crocheters (and knitters, too!) our economy, as well as our society in general, would completely collapse!

Thank you for putting into words what so many of us feel!

Happy Hooking!"


Oh, and I forgot to include this comment from the CP list:

"LOL JD too funny but you forgot we also help with the housing boom
because as George Carlin says we need stuff, then a place to put our
stuff, then more stuff to put our stuff in, then a bigger house so we
can go out and buy MORE STUFF!

The blessed Law of Stuff!"