Quietish

I’ll warn you now that I’m in a mood to whinge, so the post below will follow accordingly.

I shouldn’t complain. Life is good. Really.

But the crafting? Not so good.

Knitting goes. It’s fine. I’m just a bit uninspired and when I am inspired, I’m too busy to do anything about it. I would be tempted to cast on every project I have the yarn for, but I would like to keep on with my tactic of not exploding my head.

I would like to quilt. I want to try paper piecing like Jen does. I want to make up crazy HP themed appliqué designs as well. The problem? I have a very lame fabric stash. It’s a stack of highly-patterned fat quarters, mostly. This makes it hard to find anything worth cutting into tiny pieces to sew back together. And if I did have a fabric stash, I’m not sure where I’d put it anyway.

I have been daydreaming about beading. Beads are beautiful. I want to loom bead. I want to learn the peyote stitch. I want to work with tiny, tiny Delicas. I don’t know how to start though and, as is usual around here nowadays, I don’t even have time to put the research into it. Although I think I’m hitting the bead market with Susan.

Yeah, you’re right. I have so much to do that not only can I decide what I want to do more, I don’t even have time to consider. So, it’s knitting by default I guess. I can cast-on a new project in my sleep.

I’ve managed to squeak a little reading in lately, but it’s still not enough! And my little dream of one day actually writing again? Just as I lost my ability to speak German with any fluency when I quit using it, I fear I will not know how to string a sentence in English when I finally do sit down and try to put something out. I can picture showing up for my first day back in college classes (maybe next year? gulp) all eager and happy-go-lucky with pencil in hand, only to have my brain leak out my ears when the Freshman Comp professor assigns the first essay.

This last weekend I spent a few hours in the tattooing chair of a very good artist that’s working in Oklahoma now. People that do such good work always make me wistful about art. I’m annoyed that I quit back when I was in the right place to keep going with it. Now I’m all rusty and feel like I’ll never catch back up. The idea of trying for art school now is laughable. I can’t find time to sketch even weekly.

While I’m at it, I suppose I could go ahead and mention that this year I’ve also had weekly guitar lessons. Full disclosure and all that. I’ve been at it since February, when I decided that I’d been wanting to play for as long as I could remember and should finally just go for it. I’m happy, I love it, I look forward to every session. It is VERY slow going though, I assume because my practice-at-home time consists of a few minutes here and there of grabbing the thing up and playing a few bars before having to put it back down. I really am not used to not being instantly good at something. (Double negative, wheee!)

As is consistent with my above statements about not knowing how to write anymore, I shall now end this post with no real point. I’m frustrated and while I know that you all will have great advice and wonderful words of encouragement, I’m just gonna have to live through the frustration for awhile. It’s just part of my regular cycle and when it’s done I’ll pick back up and happily move along. I just like to whinge about it now and then.

At least I’m thinking about creative things, right?

Thanks for listening. For sticking around, I’ll post the pic of a hat I started last night.

Ciao.

As countless other knit/crochetbloggers have reported, Ravelry has proven to be quite a time-eater. I am not complaining. Ravelry is completely awesome.

However, I’ve also noticed that keeping track of my projects and finishes on there makes me a little less punctual about actually posting them here. For instance, last week I remembered my sister-in-law’s birthday was coming up a little too quickly. So I made her a bag. Then I finished it. In like, a day. I promptly posted it on Ravelry.

Sarah called me yesterday to thank me for it, and I remembered that I had a blog in which to show off such items.

Pattern:
Larger than Life Bag by Cecily Keim, Interweave Crochet - Spring 2007 (scroll down for pic)
Yarn:
Random wool leftovers. Mission Falls 1824 and some Dalegarn I think.
Comments:
I’ve been eying this pattern for awhile, but haven’t picked a yarn for it or anything. Since it was on the brain when I needed a small project, I made 2 of the squares, constructed a small purse and made a lining. Tada! I love it.

Edit. Surely you want to see the inside!

Reason #845033 I can’t wait for Ravelry to go live: I can link directly to pattern information on that site rather than dig up an obscure picture when I can’t find an official page or website.

Here is a little something I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. I started my first Gryffindor bag in response to Norah Gaughan’s Intricate Stag Bag, which is awesome but constructed in an odd way. Once I got thinking about doing the whole thing in the round, I then began to feel like I should use my own fair isle design as well.

Then I of course felt like I should share the finished pattern with everyone else.

(Check back at this page for errata and updates.)
Edit 08.26.07: Added circular needle length.

Pattern:
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Birds of a Feather pattern

So I made a doll quilt, and took my time getting the binding on it.

Now that I look at it, I should say that it is made up of fabrics that Julie sent to me in a fit of get-rid-of-everything. I love them and when I came across them while rifling around in the closet I just had a sudden urge to make something.

Why a doll quilt? Well I don’t think I’m really all that much of a quilter, but sometimes have the urge to make something. I’m not really into potholders or place mats, but the small size is ideal for someone like me who would not usually devote weeks or months to a quilting project.

The online crafting community has recently seemed to explode with doll quilts. A quick search through my bookmarks shows plenty of inspiration:
Hillary Lang’s quilts
doll quilt swap on Flickr
doll quilt CrAzY on Flickr
memewatch: doll quilts - Whip Up

Fun! After all the HP craziness has passed and once my current projects have either been finished, I’m thinking I might like to play around with applique. Wheee!

As a bonus, here’s what happens if I don’t pick up my posterboard backdrop directly after I use it.

Yay for scrap denim!

There was a time that I’d save all of my/our old jeans in case I had a use for them. At some point I went so far as to cut out a bazillion 5 inch squares for a scrappy blanket. I never finished it though and eventually tossed the 8 tons of squares and scraps.

It helps to have something you can start and finish quickly so there is actually a finished object and little waste.

Today I probably should work a little on something that is in danger of becoming a unfinished object (UFO) if I don’t get past my frustration and learn to do binding neatly. As opposed to Rosemary-typical, half-assed, slapped-on binding, which makes the project as wasteful as a UFO.

One final point: I have not exactly been thrilled with my webhost for the 3.5 years I’ve been with them, but they have redeemed themselves a bit this week. When the Yarn Harlot randomly links to your site and it doesn’t blow up from the massive amounts of people opening your “closet door,” you know your host is pretty good afterall.

I may have a little craftiness to show off tomorrowish. But just a little, don’t get too excited.

You know, small thing = cute. However, multiple and similar small things = tooooo cute.

I was distracted this weekend with these, otherwise I would have had my current sock finished. (Pictured below in my late and rather lame webcam sps.)

While in Phoenix Rising, I handed out a few of these friendship bracelets. I hadn’t had time to make loads of them, but I did manage to friend a few special people anyway. I thought it’d be nice to share directions to make them.

A classic knotted friendship bracelet in colors and pattern inspired by the “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” style scarf.
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Okay, one more owl before Phoenix Rising. That’s it for now though. Promise.