Knittin' Time

So I know I'm all hook happy and just a little stuck up about knitting... And I know I frequently rant about knitting, knitters, and everything needle-ish.

But I'm also tired of looking at awful, awful crochet patterns, and wondering "What the hell...?" And waiting for Interweave Crochet to come out, only to have the 'Carmen's Jazz Scarf' on the cover. What is wrong with the crochet world that this scarf is on the cover of our fanciest magazine? WHY?!

Look I'm all for motifs and funny colors, but no one in their god damn mind is going to wear this scarf. Unless you're 80. And if you're 80, then go ahead and stitch this, but, there is a whole new generation of fiber lovers out there and if crochet mags keep putting this crap on the cover, we'll never grow.

--End Rant--

Anywho... I started knitting because I want to make the cute patterns that I see on Ravelry all the time. I started by using wooden straight needles and just started knitting a scarf-y thing. After doing this for a week, I got the hang out of it, and I started to be able to read the stitches so I thought "Hat time!" Enter the "Regular Guy Beanie" from Yarnman Knits.

This hat is meant for double point needles and I used circular, but in the end, it came out really cute and with very little cursing. I used Vanna's Choice yarn (and by the way, knitting takes waaaay less yarn), so I could see the stitches well. If you're an avid crocheter and you're going needle-y, its important to learn to read your stitches before you throw yourself into a pattern and using a yarn you can see well is absolutely necessary.

And now I'm working on knit hat #2. I'm using Malabrigo yarn (drrrrroooooool). I'll keep you updated!

photo: Interweave Crochet

Hello again!

Alright, I know its been a long time since I've updated; but to be fair, I moved across the country...

I am now officially an Ann Arborite. Which is a pretty significant change from the Rocky Mountain Wonderland that is Salt Lake City, UT. There are no mountains here and while there is a blizzard raging against the Wasatch Front, its sunny and brisk here in the Great Lakes region.

Two months after we moved to Ann Arbor, my lovely man friend and I went to California and got ourselves hitched, and that was pretty life changing too. It was a very successful marriage and the weather was beautiful.

All this life changing stuff made it really hard to update the ol' blog. But don't think that I wasn't hooking and knitting and spinning. That's right... I was knitting too. Because I have no friends in Ann Arbor, I decided that my new best friend would be fiber.

First and foremost, I ventured into the land of home decorations and made a curtain for our kitchen. Living in an apartment complex is really f-ing depressing, and Pete and I didn't even have furniture until October, so anyway, I decided that yarn would make my kitchen feel better and it did.

I got it out of Special Techniques and Stitches and it worked up really really fast (I

actually crocheted it during my lunch breaks at work). It was a pretty easy pattern, but it did eat up a lot of yarn.

When I was done in the kitchen, I decided the try my luck at a new hat. Its pattern that's always evaded my understanding and patience, but I was feeling stubborn...

Its the Lattice Hat, by Sarah Arnold. Its a really unique pattern, and the hat you end up with is thick and oh so warm. But you have to really read the pattern. It gets a bit tricky when you first start to lattice, but once you pick up the pattern its easy and very quick. This is a yarn eater too, so make sure you have a lot before you start in on it.

The pattern also calls for an H hook for the body and a G for the ridge, but I went one hook bigger because 1) I have a huge head and 2) I crochet on the tight side. If you're a little looser, then by all means go with an H, but I would gauge this one out if you don't know your hooks terribly well.

Finally I went into Christmas land right around Turkey day and made Pete and I

Lauren Osborne's Stuffable Stockings to spruce up the fireplace. I got the Pattern from Crochet Today, and while their patterns tend to walk down the cliche road, this one is cute and not stab your eyes out with a blunt object annoying.

I used scraps from my yarn shed and they came out very nicely. When I did the first one it took me a solid five minutes to figure out why my sewing was being so annoying. I then realized I am left handed. And being left handed means sometimes (always) your patterns come out backward. So if you're crocheting on the left side of life, don't get disgruntled, and take a deep breath before you start to sew.

Anyway, I think that's all the space I have right now. But don't fret my friends, I will be updating regularly again! Being alone in the midwest makes fiber arts 1000x more important.

Keep on hookin'!