Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Crochet Blog Week’

4KCBWDAY6: Wheel of Yarnfinity, Turn, Turn Turn

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Competition, Knitting, Spinning, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2013 | 36 Comments »

I’m participating in the fourth annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week hosted by Eskimimimakes blog. 

Today is day six and the theme of the day is: A Tool To Covet. The task is to write about my favorite crafting tool.

I have a lot of crafting tools I really love. I love my Addi-clicks interchangeables. I love my light-as feather place markers, perfect for delicate lace knitting. And I love the cute little black embroidery scissors my mother gave me when I was teenager: somehow, after all these years, I’ve managed not to lose them (it’s a miracle).

These things are all wonderful, but the true apple of my eye these days is a magical wheely-bopper.

It’s a truly special tool that enables me to spin as much as I want on my trusty Lendrum, and then free up my bobbins for more spinning without having to make troublesome decisions about what to ply with what. I’m talking, of course, about my splendiforous Schacht bobbin winder.

winder2

The wheel of yarnfinity, which enables me to spin almost without ceasing.

Just yesterday, I finished spinning 8 oz of this lovely variegated green BFL/silk from Sweet Georgia. Yummy.

Green wheel2

But I wasn’t quite ready to commit to the next step. I had two bobbins full. Do I want to just ply them together off the bobbins? Do I want to split the yarn up into four equal amounts and make a four ply? Do I want to hold onto these until I feel brave enough to try chain plying? Agh! Who can decide?

Bobbin winder to the rescue!

white bobbins

I grabbed a few of the plain plastic storage bobbins (They come in large packs of about 20!).  I just realized I’m almost out. Already. Gack!

winding2

Then I set the bobbin winder up on the desk, impaled a plastic bobbin on the winder, and commenced a-windin’.

green on bobbins2

In no time at all I had spun two very full plastic bobbins. Oooh, they’re so pretty. And my wooden bobbins were stripped and ready for wheel spinning again. Joy!

By the way, I have a runner-up favorite that I just can’t resist sharing. I took some glamour shots this morning and now I can’t get this sexy little thing off my mind.

I’m proud to present: Purple Heartwood Golding Spindle. She spins like a dream.

golding 1

Golding 2

Read Full Post »

4KCBWDAY4: Color Review – A Statistical Moment of Truth

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Competition, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 25, 2013 | 10 Comments »

I’m participating in the fourth annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, hosted by Eskimimimakes blog.

houses

Today is day four and the assigned topic is Color Review. The task is to discuss my favorite colors used in my crafting. What do I have in my stash? What do I actually knit with? Is there any significant relationship between these two sets of data?

Here’s a peak into my stash (partial, I assure you):

my yarn 1

And here’s a  look at some of the projects I’ve made:

projects 1

A quick glance tells you there’s a pop of yellow in each collection, some red, a bit of pink, and a healthy dose of green. But it’s hard to tell if there’s any significant relationship between the two collections.

Statistics to the rescue.

Here’s a bar graph showing the distribution of colors in my yarn stash:

yarnAnd here’s a bar graph showing the distribution of colors in my projects on Ravelry:

my projectsDo these graphs look similar? Hardly. There are a few colors that seem well represented in both groups: red, green and gray. But the rest looks like a muddle, doesn’t it?

Now, this is where I could get all weasley and say: “There’s a little overlap, isn’t there? I mean, green here, green there; yellow here, yellow there. And look at how gorgeous those yarns colors are. Surely there’s some justification for the differences based on beauty alone!”

“I’m not here to talk about beauty or to justify your wild spending habits,” growls statistics, menacingly. “I’m here to answer a simple question: Is there any relationship between the yarn colors you buy and the projects you knit?”

Comparing the distributions: A comparison of the distributions of  these two variables (yarn colors and project colors) shows the distributions are significantly different  (significance 0.020, p = 0.05). What this means is that the pattern of colors amongst my yarn collection and the pattern of colors amongst my projects is not the same.

Conclusion: Color Review FAIL

Read Full Post »

4KCBWDAY2 – Shakespeare is full of two things: knitting and monkeys

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2013 | 17 Comments »

I’m taking part in the fourth annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, hosted by Eskimimimakes blog.

Today is day two and the topic of the day is: Mascot project. The task is to choose a project that embodies the approach and values of my chosen house (Monkey).

I think the intent was for this to be a knitting or crochet project …but all I could think about was monkeys. And then I thought of monkeys knitting. And then I thought of monkeys typing Shakespeare. And then I thought of a wonderful question: I wonder how many instances of the words “monkey” and “knitting” occur in Shakespeare?

Monkey: There are 214 separate references to monkeys in Shakespeare. Some of my favorites include:

Now, God help thee, poor monkey. ~Lady Macduff, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 2

One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. ~ Tubal and Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 2

Say ‘a day,’ without the ‘ever.’ No, no, Orlando; men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but sky changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen, more clamorous than a parrot against rain, more new-fangled than an ape, more giddy in my desires than a monkey: I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyen, and that when thou art inclined to sleep. ~ Rosalind, As You Like It, Act 4, Scene 1

Note: I just discovered that today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day. What a fun coincidence.

Knit or Knitting: There are 457 separate references in Shakespeare. Some of my favorites are:

No, girl, I’ll knit it up in silken strings, with twenty odd-conceited true-love knots. ~Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 2, Scene 7

O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence! Love takes the meaning of love’s conference. I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit, so that but one heart we can make of it. ~ Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2 Scene 2

Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,’ the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,  Chief nourisher in life’s feast.   ~ Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

How many references are there to both monkeys AND knitting? Sadly, none.

Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber, Inc. Untitled, (monkey knitting), 2009 Image from: http://www.richardhellergallery.com

Related articles

Read Full Post »

3KCBWDAY5 Headline News

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Competition, Humor, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2012 | 28 Comments »

I’m participating in the 3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Today is Something A Bit Different challenge day. Enjoy.

 *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *     *         
Click on the image to view it at full size.
I had fun with this one. It all started with imagining what a knitting/crochet themed version of The Onion would look like. It spiraled from there.
 
If you enjoy this post, please vote for it here.
 *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *        
And just because I had so much fun making these, and because I promised the designers I would credit them and, while I was at it, link to their blogs, here you go:
All five of my Crasher Squirrel Ravelry images.

Color Affection by Veera Välimäki. Thank you for your kind permission to use this photo. Check out her blog: 100-rain.blogspot.com/

Tootsie socks by Lara Neel. Thank you for your kind permission to post this photo.
Check out her blog: http://www.journalgazette.net/craftyliving

Pirates by Elizabeth Phillips. Thank you for your kind permission to use this photo.

The pattern is by Gudrun Johnston but the photo is property of Jared Flood. Thanks for your kind permission to use this photo.
Check out Gudrun’s blog: theshetlandtrader.com/blog/
While you’re at it, check out Jared Flood’s blog too: http://brooklyntweed.net/blog/

Aranami by Olga Buraya-Kefelian. Thank you for your kind permission to use this photo. Check out her blog: olgajazzzy.blogspot.com/

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *     *     
Incidentally, if you happen to spot Crasher Squirrel on one of your project pages, please pass along the image. His mate and 4 little kits miss him. Plus, he’s in breach of contract with National Geographic. (If this reference to Crasher Squirrel confuses you, read more about Crasher Squirrel here. He was kind of a “thing” a couple of years ago, but if you missed that thing, here you go.)
Related articles

Read Full Post »

Juicing Things Up – 3KCBWDAY1

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2012 | 7 Comments »

I’m participating in the 3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Today is all about color.

I love warm colors. I love cool colors. I’m attracted to anything that inspires a strong positive emotion (pumpkin orange, you and I are the best of friends). I’ll even admit to a grudging appreciation for those colors that incite a strong negative response (Chartreuse, we’re going to have to agree to disagree).

A quick snapshot of my Ravelry favorites folder reveals project after project in calm, neutral hues. I’m shocked. There are a few items in bright, punchy colors, but for the most part, my favorites folder is graysville USA.

Hannah Fettig's Rocky Coast cardigan. Pretty pattern but very bland.

Gemini T. Again, lovely details. But it's gray.

Line Break by the invincible Veera.

A snapshot of my projects folder–the stuff I’ve actually knitted–tells a different story. I have shawls in vivid grass green and deep rhubarb pink. A yellow cardigan that glows like a candle. Cowls in golden plum, heathered green and pumpkin orange. How on earth does this jive with the contents of my favorites folder? Each and every one of these patterns lived in that folder for at least a little while. What gives?

My pumpkin honey cowl.

Vitamin D cardigan

Rhubarb shawl in progress

The answer lies in an analysis of the patterns of origin for each of these knitted projects. A cowl pattern that started out in a cool minty green was knitted in vibrant pumpkin. A shawl originally designed earth toned autumn colors is twice transformed in colors straight out of the produce department. There is only one project that I actually knitted in the same color shown in the pattern (the yellow cardigan).

I’m a juicer. I can’t help juicing things up. I see a pattern and immediately imagine how much more awesome it would be in another color. I can’t leave well enough alone. There’s no such thing.

Read Full Post »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,012 other followers