When Fangirls Get Crafty

Or what I did on Friday afternoon.

I mostly like the button machine. It’s sort of mechanical and lets you just enjoy the clank and clump and the assembly line type of working it. True it leaves my hands smelling of metal (ick) but it can be a good arm workout, good mental relaxation and fun.

Plus it makes a good ol’ fashioned mess.

The button jar.

And the fangirling. I meant to make these into magnets but I put the wrong backs on them so they are buttons. These were really more fun than they ought to have been to make. I am tempted to make a bunch of sets up.

Also: Dear People On Flickr Who Are Cleverer Than Me, how do I reply to people’s comments and get their user picture to show up? I did a search for the plug-in but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. So. How? Thanks. Thanks B!

Also also: yesterday this entry was on one of the WordPress.com front pages. It amuses me that my bitching is so widely read.

Also x 3: ‘Song’s Blogathon has started! Flash fiction for 24 hours based on the pieces in the current auction. I am so looking forward to seeing what my piece’s story is.

Hope everyone’s having a great Saturday.

 

Just Looking?

I’m going to put a time limit on Brompton, since I don’t want it to go on indefinitely. I want the cardigan gone, whether frogged or to someone else. Since it’s a long weekend coming up for me (and all the Americans), we’ll say Brompton will be available until July 7. So if you want it, let me know!

Knitting Content:

I’ve sort of come to the realization that I am not really a sweater wearer. Well, not in this country anyway. Here there is no such thing as sweater weather. It’s all about light layers and jackets, not sweaters. I have an autumn cardigan and a spring cardigan. I have a winter sweater. Beyond a sweater and cardigan I want to knit just because I like them (Tree Jacket and Coraline) and the Fair Isle Cardigan I have been wanting to wear yet afraid of knitting for years (steeks, ick), I think I’m ok. Until something gives out anyway. Which is why I am destashing some Felted Tweed (Rav link) at the moment. I have to face facts that alpaca itches and I will never knit the Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

J. needs a sweater or two. And I find that a bunch of shawls aren’t actually as pointless as I used to think. In California shawls are for weddings and parties and scarves are for going to the mountains. Here they are sort of a daily necessity. At least for me. I’m still Californian enough to think that 70 degrees is not tank top and shorts weather. Plus, my neck and shoulder muscles are the worst for tightening up in the cold (fibro related) so anything that stops that is a good thing

That is not why I frogged Favorite Yoke, however. I really liked the fabric that was knitting up. But I pulled it off the needles to correct a mistake and noticed that it was rather large. Huge in fact. Big enough for at least two of me. Yes, I got gauge and no, I have no idea what happened. But we’re talking about 85 inches around here. I am not that big.

Instead I am making Seraphim. And so far? LOVE. Serious, undeniable love.

I also got back to doing the Rainbow Socks. Here’s my offering for Orange, hand dyed by Adriana in a colorway I named Venice Beach. (Which is much brighter than the pictures let on.)

They’re my first toe up socks and I’m using this… unpattern.

Random Pretty:

This guy is hanging out on the ceiling right now. He looks just like a crinkled dead leaf. Very cool.

Hope your day is a good one. I get to spend mine figuring how to use my button machine. Wish me luck!

 

Bad Brain Week

Bad stuff (see last Friday’s entry for a general idea - talking about, even in those very vague terms was harder than I thought) + stressful appointment + feeling rundown health wise + creative drought = UGH!

We’ll focus on the knitting today, shall we?

Past and present.

I tried on Forecast again just to see if it looked any better. And while I was in a very unflattering position whilst snapping away, I think it does look a lot better now. The credit to that goes to cutting out red meat, bread and tons of sugar.

Remember this?

This is the last Wendy Bernard pattern I attempted. (It’s Sizzle.)

Sadly, Sahara seems to have the same problem…

I don’t quite know why this happened. I chose the bamboo yarn thinking it would be comparable in stretch to the pure silk called for. But it’s just about five inches too big, the sleeves are huge and the neckline (which I realize will be smaller if I finished the pattern) hits about my belly button now.

So it will be frogged. What to do with the yarn though? All I can think of is another Clapotis…

And now the weekly thing:

Something Good: This week is over. We see Duran Duran in 24 days.

Knitting: Well now that Sahara is getting frogged, there’s Favorite Yoke, Cloudberry socks and the Shetland Triangle.

Reading: Currently: Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. This week:

• Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote - I liked book Holly better than film Holly but still prefer the film. I’m an Audrey Hepburn fan and love anything with Hannibal in it.
• 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff - Delightful. Will keep.
• Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - Good kitchen witchery fluff. Will keep.
• The Editor’s Wife by Clare Chambers - Eh. Not my kind of thing.
• Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Good but again, not my kind of thing.
• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks - Tear jerking sob fest. So not my kind of thing.
• I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith - Good but I don’t think I’ll read it again.

Writing/Crafting: All attempts at writing this week have been frustrating at best. However, I did make two necklaces.

Another necklace setting for a rather large Wyrding Studios pendant.

Close up of the pendant. Isn’t it lovely?

Second Life Necklace. That’s a charm bracelet converted into a necklace. I like that there’s three ways to wear it: bracelet, anklet or necklace.

This is the part I made. It’s detachable so it can go back to being a bracelet again.

This Week’s Plan: Dr appt on Monday. Otherwise, I don’t know yet.

Hope you have a snazzy weekend. And if you’re going through rough times at the moment remember, you’re not alone.

 

What I Did This Weekend: The Girl Version

Not in chronological order because I’m not that anal today.

1) Took pictures around Winchester for a later post on expat life. (As suggested by Tiennie.)

2) Dug out an ancient copy of Color Me Beautiful (I can hear the groans now) and had a good look through it. As I was asking my mother yesterday, “do you ever look in the mirror and see Frump Woman?” I have been seeing Frump Woman a little too much for my liking lately. I mean I get that I don’t often wear more than t-shirts and pj pants/sweats but there was an underlying current of ick running through my closet. This (according to the 1980s fashion bible) is because I am a Dramatic/Classic Winter who has been dressing like a Sporty/Natural Summer. This has been remedied.

This weekend I went through my closet and jewelry box. My around the house wear hasn’t changed much of course, but my wearing out wardrobe is currently without icky colors that don’t suit me or anything overly casual/sporty. Well, almost. I need to find a pair of tailored linen cropped trousers.

One big surprise was jewelry though, how much of it was too delicate, too casual or the wrong metal (I’m a silver girl yet I had quite a lot of gold for some reason) for me was sort of astounding. I was onto something when I started making Signature necklaces though, they suit everything perfectly. Ditto buying Wyrding Studios pendants, they just suit me very well. (I have just bought two more because they’ve lowered their prices. How cool is that?)

3) I found the perfect red lipstick. I have been on a quest for the perfect red lipstick since 1997. My main problem has been that every makeup counter I have ever been to wants to put me in shiny purple-burgundy or orangey red. But I have discovered the proper formula of variables for the perfect red:

• BLUE red. Orange red = ick.
• If it’s dark, matte is best.
• If it’s light, shiny is best.
• MAC is good.

So the perfect red? MAC’s Ruby Woo. It’s very shocking to see myself in red but it’s got a 1940s flair that I am absolutely loving. When I work out this whole self portrait thing, there will be pictures. (Hi, I am a complete girl.)

4) I finished Kat’s shawl.

• Name: Kat’s Mint Chocolate Hooded Shawl
• Pattern: Hooded Shawl (Rav link)
• Yarn: 2 skeins Cascade Ecological Wool plus a tiny bit of Fleece Artist Aran Alpaca in Spring Awakening
• Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Needles in
• Notes: Fast and easy. I really liked the Cascade Ecological Wool.

This was a 2am grafting job across the hood but it’s done now and I am happy for that. Hopefully Kat will take much better pictures of this on and let me share them here.

5) I made a necklace to go with my Wyrding Studios Intent Pendant.

Those gorgeous green Swarovski crystal beads were a gift from B. Thanks B!

6) Put two new items to list on the FNKS page.

7) Fangirled some more.

Today’s Blogs:

A Room Somewhere: Another design blog, this one features fantastic old pictures as well.

Yarnstorm: This is Jane Brocket’s blog. I adore the pictures, the knitting, the tulips, the everything. I’ve been saving up her book to read for awhile now, I think it will be fantastic just-moved-reading.

Hope your Monday is going smoothly. Mine’s been rather manic and it’s not over yet. (We’re going to look at a car this evening.)

Eeesh.

 

C is for Camera

C is also last week’s letter. But I couldn’t resist this photo, however late it may be.

We’re on to D now and for that, D is always for dictionary.

And on the experiment front, I read this and while I do plan on making one when I get the stuff for it, I grabbed a white card just to see what it would do.

New necklace to por la Etsy (yes, that is a cat stitch marker) was used in these photos. (All ISO 400, white balance manually set to shade)

Without flash:

With flash:

With flash and a white card used to bounce the flash upwards.

I like learning new things. Even if they’re the sort of thing where you hit yourself on the forehead for not thinking of it earlier.

For the record, the crayon picture used the card technique. The dictionary picture was taken on a sunnier day.

 

Pictures Galore!

I got some odd compulsion to take a whole heap o’ photographs today, partly to catch up on all those photo based groups I’ve let slide. So steady yourself, here we go.

Project Spectrum:

I am really excited that this year’s theme is the elements. Unfortunately, I’m not really a fire girl. Air and water, no problem. Fire and earth I have never really resonated with. All the more reason to find myself among fire for the next two months. Today it’s just colors. I hope to find elemental inspiration over the next few weeks.

ABC-Along:

A is for…

Apples

Always

B is for…

Bodhisattva

Blue Necklace

C is for…

Car

Crafty

Phoe Designs: Pendant Setting:

I got these two gorgeous pendants here and here, respectively. And I thought they needed settings that really suited them… and me. So I made my own.

This one came with it’s own necklace which neither suited me nor fit me. I love the big chunky Swarovski crystals and the blue of the stone.

This one needed something very simple and understated to show off the pendant.

Yarn For Swap:

Lots of Fleece Artist Basic Merino Sock. I’m interested in STR Lightweight, Koigu and similarly weighted yarns (too thin and I can’t knit with it). You can also find these listed on my Ravelry stash trade page.

In Cosmic Dawn

In Rainforest

In Rainforest (this was being knit into socks but has been frogged)

If interested, please email me at pfeknitsAT gmail.com. Thanks!

A Finished Object:

• Name: Fountain Hat (by me)
• For: M’s sister
• Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Indigo
• Needles: US 6, 8 and 15. Thank the gods for Denises!

*whew*

Give yourself a cookie if you made it through all that. Two if you actually read it all.

 

One Good Thing, One New Thing and One Old Problem

One Good Thing: I was nominated for the You Make My Day award twice! I just noticed that Adriana of Friends Knit Together nominated me too! Thanks so much Adriana!

One New Thing:

My plan is to make one of these in every color of the rainbow. Purple isn’t a color I wear often but when it looks this nice, that’s definitely something to change.

One Old Problem: They say the first step to recovery is admiting you have a problem right?

I have a problem.

Actually, I have a darn good excuse for these socks. One of the main symptoms I experience from both fibromyalgia and Sjogren’s syndrome is fatigue. And this isn’t tired or sleepy or 72-hours-without-sleep insanity (I speak from experience on that last one). This is bone crushing fatigue that hits out of nowhere. If I am walking or standing when it hits, I literally fall over. I have been at the stove when it hit and blacked out. Thankfully Mr F was around (actually he tried to catch me as I fell over and landed on my hip. OUCH.) It’s the number one reason why I don’t drive in this country. Sure the roads are backwards and the gear shift drives me crazy (I can drive stick. Sitting on the right side of the car and shifting with my left hand is odd. But the gears aren’t swapped around. In my brain first is the gear closest to me. Here, first is the gear farthest from me. Starting up the car and then shifting into fifth to get going? Not good.) But the real issue is the fatigue. If I’m on the freeway and the fatigue hits… I could have enough time to pull over. I could black out and jump the barrier, drive off the side of the road. I am not able to tell when this fatigue will hit for the most part. So I don’t drive. It’s too dangerous. I forget what I am saying in the middle of a sentence. I forget how to spell my name. When it really kicks my ass, after falling over and having to crawl to bed, I just sleep. Other times I’m not able to do a whole lot but I can knit or watch tv. Yesterday my brain could not work out another square of Lizard Ridge. So I gave up and knit socks. I’m still peeved that I have another WIP on the needles though. I was doing so well too.

But Mr F isn’t complaining, these are for him. The man who didn’t “get” handknit socks. Now he’s down to one pair which he refuses to wear because they’ll get worn out and he doesn’t have any new ones. He complains about store bought socks now. I think he might be converted.

Plus, they’re fast. Scarves, blankets and beginner’s attempts at fair isle aren’t.

 

Surprise Yarn, Sparkles And A Birthday Bonanza Contest

A bit long. But it’s worth it, there be a contest at the end!

Why No Short Term Memory Can Be A Good Thing:

So yesterday I mentioned how I liked getting mail. And how yarn in the mail is super duper wonderful. And I mentioned how I had a few packages heading my way. It turns out I forgot one.

Thanks to brain fog and general energy issues I have the worst short term memory. Lists are friends because otherwise I can’t remember anything. And since I had not written down that I was expecting this yarn (I have to write down everything I’m expecting to receive or I will forget), I completely forgot about it.

I was a winner in one of Tiennie’s contests! And my prize? A huge skein of the most gorgeously soft and cushy laceweight mine eyes hath ever seen. So soft! So pretty! So huge! Thanks Tiennie!

Why Mr F’s Desire to Watch Liverpool Highlights Can Be A Bad Thing:

Mr F is a big Liverpool fan. He missed quite a bit of the last game they played so he went online to see if Sky (like cable) was playing any highlights. And it was on this program you had to download which then let you watch whatever you wanted on your computer. And it turns out that this is what has infected Mr F’s computer with the most virulent of viruses. He’s having to format his two 250GB harddrives (which will take forever) and then reinstall Vista. As such I’m going to lose quite a lot of Sims 2 data but as things go I don’t suppose that’s a crisis. More annoying is that I did not backup my iPod. So either I don’t load new music on it for awhile or I lose the newer stuff. Stupid technology.

Why Mr F’s Desire to Watch Liverpool Highlights Can Be A Good Thing:

We were up until nearly 3am last night since Mr F kept having to fiddle with his computer which meant banging around to find Windows disks and such. I decided to get out my jewelry making stuff and make a few new pieces.

Goldstone Signature Necklace.

Lepidolite Signature Necklace.

Pretty, no?

Why Turning 30 and Having A Knitting Blog Can Be A Good Thing:

When I told Mr F I wanted to do something silly for my birthday on this blog, he couldn’t guess what I was on about. But when I told him, he coined it “Phoe’s Birthday Bonanza Contest”. And so it is.

From left to right: Orange, Light Pink, Red, Hot Pink, Purple, Dark Green, Light Green, Yellow, Dark Blue, Turquoise.

For my birthday I have decided to have another contest. In this contest I will give away 10 prizes. The catch of it is that with the exception of possible allergens/non-knitting content, I won’t tell you what you’re going to win. Just comment here with the package color you want to win and I’ll pick the winners on my birthday. Please note that the package color does not necessarily correspond with the items inside.

So what is inside? There’s some yarn and patterns for the knitting folk and a few packages sans knitting accoutrements. Including that Lepidolite Signature Necklace! This is a one time thing as I have no future plans to sell or give away any of the Signature Necklaces. So if you want one, now’s your chance.

Package Colors For Allergens/Non-Knitting Content:

• light pink
• dark green
• dark blue (Allergen/Sensitivity: scent)

Please note that there is wool free yarn in the purple package.

Otherwise, I’m not telling! Comment away and winners will be picked on January 24th which is my 30th birthday.

Also, since this is my birthday and since it’s a rather large contest I would like as many people as possible to take part. I would be really bummed if only three people commented so please spread this around like wildfire. I even broke out that Shag stationery just for the occasion.

So get commenting if’n you want to win. And happy Friday!

 

Not Knitting

Sheesh! You get into a crafty funk and all blogging falls by the wayside. Here to catch up and display crafty goodness is yours truly. First up, the small amount of knitting I have managed to get done over my informal break from blogging. (Warning: It ain’t much.)

Ariann in Araucania Nature Wool. This is a surprisingly fast knit and I’ve already done the waist decreases.

• Pattern: Retro Redux Shrug
• By: Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark from Lace Style
• Size: CO for the large size but used the small size for length
• Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, approx 2.5 balls
• Needles: in sizes called for in pattern. Thank the gods for Denises!
• Notes: This originally had the collar in the pattern but I found it too uncomfortable and frogged that. I find it much more wearable as is.

(Also, notice that my hair looks much nicer now.)

• Pattern: Child’s Rainbow Scarf
• By: Joelle Hoverson from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
• Size: 60″ long
• Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in red, 2.25 balls
• Needles: US 9 (Denise)

There’s a bit of yarn porn:

That’s Buttercream merino laceweight from Yarn Chef in Carribean and Sunflowers. Yum!

And a whole lot of crafting going on. This is just a small sample. And see the new link on the sidebar to my etsy shop, which will be populated with glittery goodness shortly.

From the top: an earring and necklace set for my mom (who doesn’t read this blog) in Aventurine. A pair of gifted gold sunstone earrings turned into a pendant for a necklace. New life in the pendant I wore to my wedding (today is our 4th anniversary, so it seemed fitting). And my favorite piece, a black necklace with Swarovski AB bicones, pewter skulls (not pictured) and a moonstone pendant. I’m calling it Dark Mirror and it seems so perfectly fitting for autumn. This last one will be making it’s way onto Etsy.

So there you go. Crafting and a wee bit of knitting. Blogging gets difficult when there’s not a lot of knitting going on. (The blanket is never going to be done by the deadline. Meh.)

 

World Cup Craftiness (6/01/06)

Occasionally I do other crafty stuff besides knit. So the other day I had an idea and pulled out my beading stuff. Unfortunately, my main idea proved un-doable (not enough bright orange beads) but may make a very cool knitting project once I find the requisite bright orange yarn.

This was another idea I had and it translated quite well. I had to fiddle a bit to get the red stripe to line up even a little bit but it seems to work. Go England!