Blog gripes

First and foremost, I want to apologize to anyone who had to sign up for a Vox account in order to post a comment on my previous blog. My blog was originally on Livejournal, then I moved it over to Vox without really researching it much, and I didn’t realize that this was the case.

That said, I got kind of annoyed with Vox… it has some cool features but it’s missing some crucial elements I really want (the ability to add custom html content, for starters). I’m really regretted not being on WordPress… almost all my friends use WordPress, including my husband. I was debating making another move, but right now WordPress only allows one to easily import blogs from Livejournal and a couple others, but not Vox. Similarly, Vox does not have a feature where I can export or back up my entries (another annoying thing). So I basically either had to start fresh or manually copy and paste each entry into WordPress…. which actually turned out not to be that bad considering I only have like 17 posts to date. In fact, it only took me about an hour to get everything transferred!

I’m going to make this blog’s look different than my last one. The pink was starting to annoy me. It’s so weird… I go through such strong “color phrases” where I’ll love one color one month, and can’t stand it the next.

There was one year I wore almost nothing but blue. Most recently I was on an orange kick. Right now I’m totally digging purple, which is weird for me because that’s never been one of my favorite colors before.

In other news, I’ve ripped out all my progress on my two-at-a-time Belle Epoque socks. I can live with a few flaws in my knitted work, but the mistakes were starting to pile up – particularly in the sort of lacey-cablely part of the pattern. But now that I have a “feel” for the pattern I’m going to start again and go more carefully this time.

I also went to my LYS last night for their weekly Stitch N’ Bitch and somehow found myself walking out with this:

A Namaste Zuma bag in peacock! I’ve been wanting a good knitting bag for a long time and I think I’ve finally found it! I am a total bag-a-holic. While I don’t own any bags that are “designer” or pricey, (this Zuma is probably the most I’ve paid for a bag), I do have a closet full of them. But out of them all, there isn’t one that really works for holding my projects when I’m on the go. The big ones all have zippers or too few pockets, and the small ones are… well, too small.

The Zuma is deceptively small on the outside, but it really holds a ton of stuff. I love the magnet closures and the front pocket has mutliple slots which are perfect for holding my circular needles and iphone. Right now it’s holding my dreaded Avalon hoodie and my Noro striped scarf!

Now I need to plan more outings so I can use it more. (One of the setbacks of working from home is that I don’t get out very much…)

Crafting Guilt…

I was getting ready, late last night, to prep some stuff for shipping before Christmas – namely the three market bags I crocheted for my aunts in Pennsylvania. But I couldn’t do it. I just could. not. do. it.

The reason? One of the market bags I made was so hideous, I knew I could not, in good conscience, give it away as a gift. It would be borderline insulting.

I made it using the same pattern as the other two,  but the yarn seemed to sag and grow with every row. By the time I finished, I realized the thing was almost as long as my body! But it took just enough time to make that I was reluctant to rip it out. So I did the next best thing: I stashed it in my closet and didn’t look at it for a month.

Yesterday I pulled it out again and realized that time did not make the heart grow fonder. It was just as awkward and elephantine as I remembered. Plus, it looked really plain… it was just a blah tan color with a dark brown rim and strap. It definitely wasn’t as cute as the other two bags I made.

But, rather than face the problem for what it was, being: the bag was just too big and saggy, I decided to attempt to cover it up by embellishing it. And let me just say that embellishing is not my strong suit.

I crocheted some scalloped lace edge to go around the rim. Let’s just say it looked more elegant in my head than it did in real life.  Still not satisfied, I figured it just needed more bells and whistles. So I crocheted 3 different sized flowers and sewed them randomly on the bag.

I then took photos and couldn’t fight the nagging feeling that I perhaps made it even more ugly with my embellishing.

I tried to justify it by reasoning that the intended aunt is eclectic and has a funky style, so she would probably really like the bag, though deep inside I knew this was a lie.

And my husband only confirmed it when I showed it to him later and he whistled through his teeth and said “Sorry… but that’s really ugly.”

“But my aunt will like it, right? She’s got a sort of cool, mismatched style! Right?” I replied, desperate.

“….Sure…” my husband replied tentatively.

So that sealed it. I knew I could not send the bag to my aunt like this. And even though the Priority Mail deadline for Christmas is tomorrow (talk about last minute), I knew I had to fix it.

So I sat down and took the time to rip out half the bag, add a new border and strap, and add one new flower made of the 3 previous flowers to make a bag that was smaller, simpler, but much better.

I’ll admit … it’s still not my favorite crafted item, and the yarn is still saggy so it’s still bigger than I wanted. But at least it looks like a bag I can see my aunt using and not like a deflated dinosaur bladder!

And now: Comparison photos!

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Long Time, No Blog

I am a very bad blogger. I just realized that I haven’t updated this blog since February! Well, despite the fact that I haven’t been blogging I have, at least, been continuing to work on projects.

I admit my 2-socks-on-one-circular-needle experiment never reached fruition. I was optimistic that by attempting to complete 2 socks simultaneously that it might somehow stave off my boredom. But, no. I have just accepted that socks are not for me. I still have several skeins of lovely DK yarn that, at one time, I had dreamed of turning into luscious socks. But now I am eying those same skeins with new possibilities – namely, clothes for Blythe.

My Blythe collection has grown quite a bit since I last posted about them. I now have 12, count them, twelve dolls! And I still anticipate each new release with a whetted appetite. But I am currently on a strict “Dolly Diet” after acquiring my two dream girls: a Darling Diva, and a vintage Kenner. For the time being, at least, I am content with my big-headed family and of late I have been venturing into the scary realm of pattern-designing. I figure I may as well start small, since there’s less time invested and it’s easier to whip up multiple attempts while I work on perfecting the pattern. I admit my confidence at first was a little shaken. I wasn’t sure I was “qualified” to create my own designs as I’m self-taught and relatively new to knitting and crochet. But once I dove into it and began keeping notes as I went along, I realized that it’s not so intimidating after all. In fact, by paying closer attention to what I’m actually doing, while I’m doing it, it’s actually helped me become a better crafter.

My goal is to start an Etsy shop where I’ll sell my creations. And then, once I grow bored of making a particular design over and over again (which will happen, trust me, especially given my attention span), I’ll start selling the pattern instead so people can make their own. Or maybe I’ll just be charitable and give the patterns away for free. I mean, it’s not like I’m really in this to make money. It’s all for the love of Blythe!

At first, I was a little iffy on my Blythe-clothes-making skills and I didn’t dream of selling any of them. Instead I participated in various swaps in which actually made me feel a little worse. Because I would often receive amazing items from my swap partners that my own crafted items just didn’t live up to. But over the past year, I’ve kept at it and I realize that my biggest problem was that I was using yarn that was too thick for Blythe’s little body.

Chunky yarn works great for some items, of course, like Blythe hats and scarves etc. But for dresses and tops, I was getting frustrated with my results until I switched over to ultra-thin Crochet thread and sock yarn. It really makes a difference, let me tell you!

Anyway, here’s one of my favorite Blythe creations of late:

I think I’ve definitely come a long way since I made this abomination!:

Besides Blythe stuff, I’ve been keeping busy with lots of other projects as well. I finally finished my mom’s infernal scarf in time for her birthday (never mind that it was April in Atlanta and she couldn’t even use it at the time), and my best friend gave birth to a baby so I took that opportunity to make some baby items, which was fun. All those projects can be seen on my Ravelry Projects Page!

My proudest accomplishment was a Latvian fair-isle bag that I made during the Olympics for an event my LYS was holding called “Amanolympics”. I think it’s safe to post a photo here because I don’t believe my mom knows about this blog – I intend to give it to her for Christmas this year.

Speaking of my LYS, I’ve finally found one that I love. It’s A Mano Yarn Center! This is the fist yarn shop that I’ve ever felt truly welcomed and comfortable going to. I’m pretty shy, so at first I felt a little awkward when I showed up for their bi-weekly “Breakfast Club” event, or their Stitch N’ Bitch nights, but the ladies there quickly made me feel welcome and now I look forward to going there every couple of weeks to knit and crochet for a few hours. I kind of want to go in more often, but I’m worried I’d never get any work done! (It’s hard enough working from home as it is!) But I’m glad to have a place that I can call my “LYS” with pride. 🙂

Anyway, I’ve also been working on a few other things, but this post has been long enough! I’ll try to post again before too long!

Long Time No Write!

So I haven’t updated this blog in a long, long time – but a TON of things have been going on! First of all – and the biggest thing- is that my husband and I moved to California! We’re living in Venice, only a mile from the beach! It’s such a different lifestyle than NY, I was really worried I would hate it…. but to be honest, I’m enjoying it quite a bit! I do miss being near my family, and I miss autumn and changing leaves and the way the air smells right before it snows… but I can’t complain about the weather here! At first I was bummed because I didn’t think I’d be able to make any more warm scarves or hats, but there have certainly been some chilly nights that have called for some extra layers!

Secondly, my workload has increased considerably. I’ve taken on another comics-related job in addition to my main gig, so my schedule has become MUCH more hectic! Unfortunately, that means less time for crafting… which sucks because I have so many things I want to make: sweaters, socks, hats, gifts, Blythe clothes, amigurumi… the list goes on and on!

However, I have managed to complete a couple projects since I ‘ve moved: I finished my Cobweb scarf, my Jolly Roger Sweater, and I completed a project from Twinkle’s Book of Big City Knits! I also completed the seabird bag from Andean Folk Knits and several Blythe outfits for my own dolls as well as swaps I’ve participated in!

Here are some pics of my FOs!

Oh, and back to life in California, I’ve made some friends including the talented and inspiring Cecily Keim, co-author of Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting! She’s always introducing me to new, fabulous yarn and has the most lovely crocheted swatches that look good enough to eat! I can’t stop geeking out over the fact that her patterns appear in magazines, including the coveted Interweave Crochet! I feel like I can learn a LOT from Cecily about crochet!

Anyway, along with her and my husband, and a couple other pals, we’ve created a sort of weekly crafting club or get-together called “Craftonite” where we meet up, eat, drink, and make stuff! And we’ve had such a good time doing it, we’ve were inspired to apply for a table at Felt Club this past November, and we got in! Woo! We also made a Craftonite website! There’s not much on it yet, but we’re planning on opening an etsy store at some point. Anyway, Felt club was quite a success! We sold crocheted amigurumi budgie buddies, Cecily sold lovely snowflake ornaments, and my husband and I sold our Dollar Dreadfulswhich are short stories inspired by the original dime novels. Oh, we also had prints and buttons and I sold my knitting comic ashcan! We were all worried about getting enough stuff done to fill up a table, but we actually had almost TOO much stuff to fit on a table. It was a fun day!

In other news, I recently got into Ravelry. I haven’t had much time to play around with it yet, but I’m really looking forward to using it to organize all my projects and yarn! There’s nothing I love more than organizing chaos, so that will be fun!

As far as Blythe goes, ever since getting my first doll, Lemony, back at the beginning of the year, I’ve become hopelessly addicted! I’ve now got 7 dolls!!! I used to say that 3 was my limit. But now I’m thinking maybe 9 or 10  is a good cut-off point. I don’t want to get TOO many because then I won’t have enough time to  play with them all, but they’re all so unique and they all have their own personalities that I can’t resist! I’m really excited about knitting and crocheting more things for them because I want to update their wardrobes with something other than Barbie clothes, and because making little hats and sweaters is so quick and satisfying! I want to get back to sewing as well, but I haven’t yet unpacked my sewing machine. I do have a little crafting room in our new place (um, more like a converted closet!), but it’s a bit of a train wreck at the moment! One day it’ll be very cool!

Anyway, that’s the general update. I’ll try to post more often about the various projects I’m actually working on. (Right now, I’m tackling my first pair of knitted gloves! Yikes!) And now that I have a shiny new bike I keep wanting to adorn it with a cool bike cozy! Stay tuned!