It BEGINS!

K...so I let bf talk me into making our Halloween costumes for this weekend's party. I haven't sewn in years and even then I wasn't the greatest but I love doing anything crafty. Although I will be getting a sewing machine for my birthday (sorta because of this). Except this deadline is pretty tight and our costumes are complicated enough, especially his. I just spent 3.5 hours cutting out a bought pattern, transferring outlines to cloth, then cutting those out. This is for the simpler costume. For his, I have to design the pattern myself. Alright not so much design, rather I have to use my brain and figure it out...and then the rest.

Oy! What have I gotten myself into?

One more in the "bag"...

The Drops Cable Bag is complete! Looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself, and fairly close to the sample on their site. I was somewhat careless and sewed the bottom seam a little twisted from the top. Oh well. It'll hold a couple paperback novels but anything more would significantly stretch the bag body and straps. Perhaps a light sweater could be stuffed in it for one of those windy autumn days. This will make a nice, useful & casual fall time accessory.

Up next: Swell hat w/ skull logo & 1up Mushroom Headband

Michaels had a yarn sale...I couldn't resist. Got 3 balls of Bernat Softee Chunky (Soft Taupe, Natural), 3 balls Patons Poochie (Auburn, Wheat Field, Sherling) and 1 ball of Bernat Satin (Ebony). All for the super thrifty price of $21.06 after taxes. WOOEEE! That'll go to a fun sweater for my lovely puppy and a pair of gloves for me which will serve as another skill builder project. Yes...my knitting time is all planned out.

Painting with Yarn

Last night about 3AM, I was standing outside having a cigarette. I looked out into the distance, you know how sometimes the horizon has a glow from whatever lights are below. It was a beautiful graduated wash of grey, like a water color painting. The way the clouds twisted reminded me very much of knitted cables made of the softest cashmere.

Then I looked up further into the night sky, dark and mesmerizing with specs of starlight like a deep-shaded tweed, I imagined the whole world made of knitted textures.

One day, I will knit a "painting" and hang it over the couch in the living room.

More interesting Knits

This is friggin' awesome! Anyways, just surfing the net looking for interesting knitting related things, of course. :) Found out about Microrevolt and their interesting (to say the least) form of activism. I suppose it's art. It probably does an adequate job of informing the public, at least knitters, about their cause but in terms of the effectiveness to cause change, I guess that remains to be seen and I shall not comment any further. Definitely some very cool knitted pieces linked on this site.

Fall/Winter Knits

I know knit-wear is very fashionable right now and that's great for us knitters. In fact, I think the boom in knitwear as a fashion trend was probably influenced somewhat by the birth of a new wave of knitters and designers because the internet gave us a breeding ground to congregate and grow. The funny thing I find about "fashion" is that it just costs so much. I understand and respect the ingenuity of new designs, luxury materials, fine(r) tailoring, etc. so while "fashion" even on the so-called lower cost ends of ready-to-wear are still out of my budget, I accept the justification for its cost.

For knit wear? Okay let's face it!. I am never gonna knit a whole sweater out of lace-weight yarn. I am also not a huge fan of chunky knits. Bulky weights I think should be reserved mostly for accessories, except on the odd pattern that is fitting. There are however lots of fashionable designs that could be knit up even by a slow knitter like myself before the season is over. Here are a selection of interesting pieces I discovered on Shopbop. If I could deconstruct the pattern (and right now I believe I can but not really up to it), these could easily be made in as little as 1 night to 2 weeks. Check out those Mischa Lambert hats & scarves in the super chunky boucle yarn. The colors look delicious and they are hand-knit but DUDE! Every single one of those "things" cost no less that $160 US! If I buckled down, I could probably make 10 of those on a weekend! Sell them off on ebay @ $100 a piece minus materials, I'd probably make $700!!! And that is being very modest in my calculations. Man...I should really jump on this knit-wear bandwagon!

I just realized, any single item from 4 of 8 of these sweaters costs more than I have spent in total on yarns & notions. Yea...I'm not cut out to drape myself in real "fashion".

** Note: Just roll-over pictures to see the brand. Prices are as listed on Shopbop. Enjoy!

I can't help it...I just have to rant. The models on the Shopbop site are sickly-looking skinny. If it weren't for the knits making them look like they have a bit more meat on them, they look like somebody plucked them out of the crazy crack addicted homeless part of town and said, "Here! Put these clothes on and you'll get a dollar, or summore crack." Maybe that accounts for the odd "hungry" looks they have on their faces. Yes...sometimes I am mean.

Current Knitting $$$ Tally

Since I am doing lists...I figured I would tally up my total knitting spending up to this point just to get a rough idea. I'm a little curious as to how much I've put into this hobby since February/March. Note that I am rounding slightly up in many cases to include tax.

$20 - Learn to Knit kit
$45 - yarn for Afghan
$25 - yarn for Barcelona bolero & bag
$100 - yarn for cable bag, secret project, yoga bag, shell scarf
$60 - Denise Interchangeable needles
$10 - set of sock DPNs
$15 - crochet hooks
$10 - sock yarn
$5 - size 4 DPNs
$10 - Sugar N' Cream yarn
$50 - Knitpicks stuff (yarn, notions)
$10 - knitting/sewing notions
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$360 TOTAL / 12 projects = approx. $30 per project
8 months since start = $45 per month spending

I suppose that's not too bad. It could be a helluva lot worst. From now it'll mostly be yarn spending anyways since I pretty much have all the needles I need and I am too cheap to buy expensive yarn.

An update on current project(s): started knitting the cable book bag pattern from Garns, ordered stuff from Knitpicks which should be here by now and I am getting super antsy.

Knitto Relaxo

I decided to compile a list of projects I have completed to include on this blog. It seems pretty short. For 7-8 months of knitting, THAT's all I made? I guess I love knitting but not in that frantic gotta-knit-and-finish everything ASAP mentality. That and I'm not very fast at knitting still. If I go faster, pay a little bit less attenion and it's a guarantee that I'll screw up and end up frogging. I found though that if I don't let myself get too wound up about "finishing", just knit and keep knitting, when I make a mistake and have to unravel, it's not half as frustrating. There's no such thing as a waste of effort or time. It's merely about knitting.

Although I would like to have finished more projects just because I have ideas brewing yet I feel guilt that my previous ideas have not yet come to fruition. Whatever...I love it enough to be relaxed about it. This way I can be at peace.