Crazypants Counterpane

Hello:

From Urbandictionary.com "Crazypants" means:

       Crazypants is a descriptive word that means weird or insane, not insane in the sense that it
       means cool as in crazy cool or thats totally insane! Crazypants means insane as in a mental
       illness.

and a "Counterpane," according to dictionary.com is:

       a quilt or coverlet for a bed; a bedspread.

So I have decided that the afghan I made for Doc for our wedding needs to be replaced.  It is wearing a bit thin after 33 years of marriage.  I have been looking at different patterns for a while now, and even thought of knitting instead of hooking.  But then I got this idea to hook together hexagons.  And not just any hexagons, like the hexagon afghan I am already working on

No, for this bedspread or counterpane, I am going to make hexagonal doilies using size 10 Crochet thread.  I have this old book of 99 little doilies by Leisure Arts Press, the author is Patricia Kristoffersen.  The only problem is that there are only 5 hexagons.

Now I am looking at the circles, and adapting them.

I am honestly not sure if I will complete this project.  Each hexagon is about 6" across (12 - 13 cm), so I will have to make a ton of them to cover a Queen Size bed.  maybe I will get bored/tired when I have finished only 10.

I hope I don't get bored.  If I do, though, since I am hooking them together as I go, I will at least have SOMETHING, even if that something is just a placemat.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in the land of crazy.

If it's Wednesday, I must be Knitting

Hello:

At the regular Wednesday meet-up of the Eastside Stitchers, Chockelet brought her fabric that she is knitting to felt.

Wajio finished her Yellowstone River Scarf, and was adding fringe.  She also brought another baby hat.

GwenS brought the sweater that she is knitting for her OWL.

She is almost finished with the Raglan increases.

Pamela2708 brought her almost finished Wingspan.

BlueBerryMary is working on the fliptop for her cabled mitts.

Tara1682 is knitting a beautiful shawl that uses dropped stitches.

Hvrdmnky has made it to the sleeve part of her twin dresses.

Dreamweaver19 is on the very last color of her baby blanket.

DomesticShorthair was there, too, but somehow I forgot to get a photo of her project.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yarn (too tired to come up with something else.)

Sunday Knitting

Hello:

Our Sunday knitting group continues to grow.  Of course, there are those weeks when only 2 or 3 of us can make it, but last Sunday we had quite a group (not pictured is VanesaPolo who was the photographer).  We took the photo because I had to show my sisters that I was having just as much fun on my Sunday morning as they were.  My sister in Wisconsin sent a photo of her and the  2 seater airplane that she flew in that morning.  My sister in Texas sent a photo from the farmers' market where she was buying ingredients for gazpacho.  My sister in California sent a photo from the cute coffee shop in the Orange Circle, Cafe Lucca, where she and her husband were drinking a cup.  I had to share my Sunday knitting group.  Ok, the sister in Wisconsin might be the winner, but as I get to knit with my buddies every Sunday, and she does NOT go flying every week, I am usually the winner.  Not that it's a competition.

More importantly, what were we all knitting?

JitteryKnitter is knitting a vest for a LYS store sample.

VanesaPolo is knitting a cowl for herself. 

GwenS brought the test knit shawl she had finished for show and tell. The pattern is Fall Classic by Cassie Munksgard, and her yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Sport.

I did not get a photo of the project she was working on. It was a purple shawl.

KelleyR has just about finished the first of a pair of socks.

Well, she has almost finished the tube part.  She still needs to cut the yarn (yes! cut) for the after-thought-heel.

Puzan is knitting a hat.  It might be the Rutherford hat by Veronika Jobe.

 MeshaMarie was there.  She had taken a break from our Sunday group to get married and have a baby!  She brought some of her own designs to share.  This whale hat was one of my favorites.

Hvrdmnky brought the dresses she is knitting for her twins.

VanesaPolo!  what were you knitting?  I missed getting a photo.

Anyway, this Sunday group is such a wonderful way to start my week.  I go to early morning Mass, and am able to head to knitting right after.  Yarn Church!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a yarny Sunday.

Back to School in Corderoy

Hello:

Corderoy
One of the great things about losing weight is that you get new clothes. Or, as in my case, since I'm a very cheap person, you get to wear old clothes that you haven't fit into for 15 years, again.  As my pants size drops, I am finally cleaning out my closet, and finding these pairs of pants that I wore way back when I was GAINING weight. I'm pretty sure they are now considered retro. I found a pair of velour bell bottoms (WHA????) that are too long, and I briefly thought about hemming them, until Moogie said, "No."  I am throwing away all my fat clothes, because I plan to never be that heavy again.  Anyway, I wore these dark gray cords to school on Wednesday.  Since the first 2 days of school are half schedule days (on Tuesday we had periods 1, 3, 5, &7, and Wednesday we had periods 2, 4, & 6) where we spend almost the whole day talking about rules, lockers, expectations, where the bathrooms are, etc.  There is not a whole lot of stuff for me to do, so I spend the periods pacing in the back of the classrooms.  Yep, pacing, walking back and forth.  I am getting my steps in.  If I can't help the teachers or the students, I will at least beat all my friends in our Fitbit challenge for the week.  I don't know if the students are just tired, or intimidated by the thought of Algebra, but they are mostly super quiet.  And, boy, cords, worn by a still overweight woman who is walking back and forth with her inner thighs rubbing together, are really loud.  No one ever said anything, but I was really self-conscious.

More About Weight Loss
Today, I was drinking one of my vegetable/fruit juice concoctions that I love instead of water in the classroom, and a student said, "Ms. Losi, did you just drink those juices all summer to lose weight? Because you look skinnier."  hahahahaha nice of him to notice.

Boredom
Did I mention that the first few days are really boring for me?  It's fun to see my old students, and I love the Math Team at my school, but until we are doing math, and I am helping the students, there is not much for me to do.  I really want to knit or crochet.  I mean REALLY.  I have been leaving my knitting in my car so I won't be tempted.  I usually knit during lunch, and on my breaks.  But I could totally knit simple things while standing/sitting in the back of the room waiting for the teacher to finish the (admittedly cool) pep talk/lecture on not giving up when math gets tough.  However, most of the projects I am working on right now are too complicated to do at school.

I have decided to make a new coverlet/bedspread for our Queen Sized bed.  I have gone off the deep end, because I am going to use crochet thread.  I am going to make hexagonal doilies and seam them together.  I am crazy.  Here is the first motif:

I am going to go back and take out those picots.  I actually made two of these, and hooked them together with the picots, but wow, it was a ridiculous amount of work.  I think I need to just use single crochets for the joining rounds.  I hope to make one or two each week, join as I go, use as many patterns as I can find or design, and repeat when I run out of new patterns.  We shall see how long I am interested in this project.  I might end up with a placemat.  A very lacy placemat.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in corderoy.

Wednesday Night Eastside Stitchers

Hello:

I got up early this morning and was able to take a short walk before heading to work.  I am not on a good sleep schedule for work yet, so walking before I leave is tough.  The Fall Term of the HPKCHC (Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup) started Tuesday.  School started Tuesday.  (Real Life school, I mean.)  Since I am on Gryffindor's Knight Bus team, I stayed up until midnight on Monday, August 31, so I could help open the Knight Bus thread as soon as the term began.  The Knight Bus is our Help Thread, where students can read what the class homework is, and get ideas for how to fit in their projects.  Anyway, the HPKCHC runs on Pacific Time, and since that is MY time zone, all of the challenges start and end at MY midnight.  Needless to say, this made me a bit tired at work on the first day.  Then, I stayed up until midnight last night, too, because I was obsessively hooking a doily, and I kept making silly counting mistakes that meant that I had to rip back about 4 rows three different times.  So, tired again tonight.  When I left for Crossroads, and the regular Wednesday Meet up of  the Eastside Stitchers, I thought that I would have to leave early for sure and get home to bed. But, before I knew it, they were announcing that the mall was closing!  We were having a spirited discussion of baby names, then how we chose the names for our own children, and the weird names that celebrities seem to choose.

Anyway, knitting with friends is such a great way to spend a Wednesday evening.  So, who was there, and what were they knitting?

BlueBerryMary is knitting a lovely beaded lace scarf.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the knitting, but you can see in her box of beads that she is alternating rows with 2 different colors of beads.  This is making the scarf seem to shimmer.  You almost can't see the pink beads, so they just add shine.  It is a really cool effect.

Wajio has made HUGE progress on her Yellowstone River scarf.  I think she must be almost finished.

Anya was pre-drafting some fiber in preparation for spindle spinning.

DomesticShorthair has finished her lace scarf.  The pattern is Quercus Alba by Renata Brenner and is the White Oak leaves and acorns.  The designer is a botanist, and so her lace is a real picture of these leaves.

GwenS has started the sweater that is her OWL for HPKCHC. She is knitting Harvest by Tin Can Knits. Gwen also finished ANOTHER Aviatrix hat.  It will be a gift to a friend with a newborn.

Chockelet is taking a sewing class and is making sewn Moths.  So what is she knitting?

Something to felt so she can then cut it up and sew it into a Moth!

Tara1682 is almost finished with her latest lace wrap.  It is simply beautiful.

And, ReadnitDream has started a pair of fingerless mitts for Anya.  The yarn is her own hand dyed and hand spun!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with warm friends.

Fire Alarm!! Empties Crossroads

Hello:

What a crazy night for the Eastside Stitchers.

I got to Crossroads a bit after 5 pm, just as Wajio was arriving.  We pushed 2 tables together and sat down to knit.  GwenS showed up a bit after, with Darling Addie and her DD in tow.  At about 5:30 a fire alarm started blaring, and the security walked through the mall, ushering everyone out.  Wireknitter had arrived by this time.  So most of us grouped together at the front of the mall, and waited to see how long it would take until the mall reopened.

I had to run home to get something for Wireknitter that I had forgotten, and when I returned, there were clumps of people waiting around the mall entrances, both workers and shoppers.  I saw BlueBerryMary and Dreamweaver19 walking laps around the mall, getting their steps in while waiting.  When the employees told us that the mall would not be opening again that night, we decided to head behind the mall, to a strip of restaurants (Dough Zone is my favorite dumpling house!).  We got food at the various little restaurants

mostly from Fuji Teriyaki (because they had outdoor seating), grabbed a table outdoors, and sat down to eat and knit.

GwenS is swatching a sweater for her Fall OWL.

BlueBerryMary was putting the first sleeve on her lace henley baby dress.  The dress is inside out here, so you can't really see how sweet the lace is.

Dreamweaver19 is knitting ginormous yarn on ginormous needles.  She is making hot pads/trivets.

Wireknitter is knitting another test knit.  I believe it is a scarf?

Hrvdmnky is making a Hitchhiker with some gorgeous striping yarn from Fresh From the Cauldron.

I, too, was swatching for my OWL.  GwenS told me that my fabric is too stiff, so I will move up 2 needle sizes, and knit some more.  This is the purpose of swatching...

When I got home, and logged on to Ravelry, I saw that ReadnitDream and DomesticShorthair both made it to Crossroads, but couldn't find anyone because the mall was closed.  I am so sorry that we missed them!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yarny friends.

Moving to Makers

Hello:
I'm officially insane.

I'm bringing enough stuff to a 3 hour class on designing scarves and shawls with Stephen West and StevenBe at Makers Mercantile, that I might as well just move in.  See, if I have the wrong yarns, or forget to bring a tool, I can't just run downstairs to the Cave and grab something different, so I have to bring all the stuff.

I have 4 project bags.  The green one (which I won on the 2013 North Puget Sound LYS Tour - Woot! yay for me and CathieC) has all the equiptment: my interchangeable needles, 2 extra circulars in size 1 and 1.5 just in case I think size 2 needles are too big for the right tension, scissors, stitch markers and holders, 2 notebooks (one with regular paper the other with graph paper), a set of color markers, 2 pens, 2 tape measures, a pad of post it notes... and maybe more)

The western theme bag (thanks VanesaPolo!) has the yarn for my Adult shawl.

The purple cat bag has the third set of yarns.  Yes, I have put together another set of possible yarns.  These are all from a giant bag of yarn I got at an estate sale.  The knitter actually died 10 years ago, and her son was finally going through all her stuff and trying to sell it.  I waited until the last day and he gave me as much as I wanted for free.  Honestly, if I had agreed to take it all, I think he might have paid me.  I have been really embarrassed for the Doc to see how much yarn is in the bag, so it has been kind of hidden...  A lot of the yarn is textured or bulky, and there is a fair amount of acrylic blends, but I just couldn't resist.  Anyway, for this possible scarf/shawl, I was definitely influenced by Wajio's Yellowstone River Scarf.

The last bag has my Crayon Shawl/Scarf yarn combination. 

O, and I'm also bringing my Advent Calendar Scarf from last Christmas to share.  We are supposed to bring something to share, and well, that's the coolest thing I have ever knit.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with way too much yarn stuff.

I just decided to also bring the latest pair of Simple Socks that I'm knitting for my brother in case I get there too early, so I have something to knit.  Because I will be nervous just waiting if I can't knit.  So now that is 5 bags.  I need to leave before I think of another bag to bring.