Mushrooms!

I have quite a fondness for all things woodland and whimsical, especially mushrooms and gnomes. I just added several wee mushrooms to my Etsy shop. Please check them out and spread the word. I hope to get a couple of gnomes done soon as well. Thanks!

(And a big thank you to Rachel Freitas for the lovely photographs!)

Ravelympics Finish Line:

Well, I didn’t do as well as hoped in the Ravelympics. The combination of my broken finger and the migraines just made me sort of give up towards the end. Plus I was getting annoyed at NBC for not showing events that I was interested in, and that just put me in a bad mood. (AND they didn’t show most of the closing ceremonies because of some stupid marriage advice show. Lame.)

I did finish in one event, though, which was the Platter Lift for all the tawashi I made. I set the bar pretty low, so it’s not that big a deal. I never did complete a Japanese pattern, which was the one challenging thing I set for myself. And I ended up not competing in the Skelegurumi event. I had this wee little fox I was going to make for that event, and I just never got around to it. Oh, well. I do have some cute washcloths to show for it, so it certainly wasn’t a waste. Plus, I got a crochet scrotum out of this whole endeavor, and that’s got to be worth something, right?

Here are the adorable and cheery tawashi that now hang above my kitchen sink:

I got some mug hooks so I could hang them above the sink. I still have one more to finish (in the shape of a lavender macaron), and that will take its place on the empty hook.

See? You’re actually supposed to use the pretty things you make. What’s the point of making dish cloths that aren’t actually used on dishes?

Ravelympics update, or “how I accidentally crocheted a scrotum”

[Note: This should have been posted over a week ago, but we lost the wee dongly thing that lets me take photos from my camera and put them on the computer, so I had to wait ’til a new one came in the post. The next post will feature the rest of the tawashi that I made for Ravelympics.]

I had two major handicaps last week that prevented me from crocheting as much as I would have liked: broken finger was aching something fierce, and a migraine kept me out of the world for three days. I bounced back a little this past weekend, by making a few more tawashi. Two for the kitchen, one for the bath. I made another puzzle knot, like the ones previous, a cookie, and a couple of fruit slices (an apple and an orange).

All that working from a pattern business was making me a little twitchy. I hardly ever use patterns, and my free-form crochet mojo just needed to be indulged. So I decided to make a little wash cloth thing for the shower. I wanted to modify the bath mitt idea. I wanted it to hold the wee pieces of soap that I didn’t want to waste. See, I use expensive and wonderful soap from Lush, so this seemed like a good idea. I started with the bottom of the bag, making a disc shape, then the plan was to decrease from there and continue up the sides in a sort of cylinder type of shape.

First off, I made the bottom disc shape a little too wide. Instead of ripping back and going from there, I decided I’d just decrease a bit more. This turned into a sort of coin shape, and not so much a cylinder. Instead of ripping back, I just kept going, decreasing a little more slowly. By the time I got to the part where I should have bound off, the thing sort of looked like an upside-down cone with the pointy top chopped off. Not what I was going for, but it was good enough to not prompt me to rip back for a do-over. But I still had some yarn left. I knew I wouldn’t use it for anything else, so I decided to just keep going. By the end, it looked like one of those beakers from a chemistry set (the one on the right). Oddly shaped for a bath washy, but whatever, it was done.

It wasn’t very pretty, so I didn’t even think to take a picture of it, or include it among my Ravelympics tawashi. It was just an un-noteworthy one-off experiment. Then I went to use it.

When handmade cotton wash cloths get wet and soapy, they tend to stretch out just a bit. And the formerly firm structure gets a little, well saggy. I washed with it. (It works wonderfully for this purpose, I’d like to note. Wee bits of soap saved!) Then I hung it up by the string at the top. And it just sort of dangled.

This is where I lost it. If I hadn’t been running late for work already, I would have laughed a helluva lot longer than I did. I can’t believe I didn’t notice before. I crocheted a scrotum. A yellow and white cotton scrotum. With which to wash my body.

The week has been devoted to telling as many people as possible that I accidentally crocheted a scrotum. This news, of course, has been met with laughter, incredulity, clever names for the scrubbie, and of course a request for photographic proof. So there you go, world. At first I thought about unraveling it after I’d made my discovery. But now I think I’ll keep it. I’ve sort of resigned myself to washing with a scrotum. It could be a metaphor for life, or something. I dunno.

This, as many of my close friends will remember, is not the first time I have accidentally depicted male genitalia in a crafting experiment. Let us never forget incident with the Venn diagram and dangling oblong shape in the modern art display of 1990. And, just like that eighth grade presentation where everyone laughed at me and wouldn’t tell me why, when I told Jesse about it, he said “Oh, yeah. That’s what I thought when you first showed it to me.”

The next time I accidentally make another set of testicles (and let’s face it, we all know that will eventually happen) please alert me to the nature of my creation. Just tell me: “It’s balls.”

Ravelympics 2010: progress

I finished my first tawashi yesterday. It didn’t take very long once I got going, but I kept getting distracted by looking at other people’s Ravelympics projects, and trying to figure out how to get NBC.com streaming to work on my computer. I’ve had to settle for watching the highlights and what not. I missed the short track speed skating and mogul wins, alas. But I did have a lovely dinner out with friends and finished the first tawashi en route.

This one is called “Puzzle” and it’s in Tawashis in Crochet by Cindy Adams, one of my fellow Ravelers in the Tawashi Town group. It’s a very simple design: make four strips in contrasting colors and loop them together to form a wee square.I used Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream yarn in Hot Pink and Pine Green, which I think is quite fetching. Really, I’m just using up my cotton stash. It came out pretty good for my first one. I still don’t think I understand the instructions for the last row of the strip, so I just improvised. It looks fine, but I have trouble turning written instructions into actions sometimes.

Here’s one of the strips waiting for its buddies:

This one makes a nice splint cozy:

Two strips linked together:

And the finished tawashi, top view:

And side view:

I only have a couple of colors at the moment, and we wouldn’t want to get bored with the same tawashi, would we? No? I didn’t think so. To the yarn store!

Ravelympics 2010 – Days 1 and 2

Opening ceremonies were great, I don’t care hat the haters are saying. That giant bear was awesome, and the super clever use of fabric and lights was amazing, especially the whales. My favorite part of the whole show was of course the one that featured the culture of the Maritime and Atlantic provinces. Tartan and fiddles and dancing and screech. Oh, and sparklers on their SHOES! So great. YAY, Canada! I loved watching the athletes walking into the stadium, especially the US and Canadian teams. Oh, and the teams who only had one athlete competing. How amazing would it be to represent your country like that? I admit to being very child-like and innocent about the Olympics. I am bracing myself for the bitter disappointment that will inevitably come when we learn of some sort of corruption or drug use or whatever. But for now, though, I’m basking in the sportsmanship and honor of the games. I don’t even care if that sounds lame. I love me some Olympics.

I’d like to note for the record that attempting to crochet while injured is proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated. I didn’t realize how much I used my left index and middle fingers. I’ve sort of worked out a system where I keep tension with my left pinky, but it’s really awkward and causes my hand to cramp up periodically. Oh well, that’s part of the challenge.

The tawashi I’m working on first is a series of interlocked strips to form a neat little puzzle ball. Like this one, but crochet instead of knit. I’m doing it up in that same shade of pink, plus dark green. I’m having a bit of trouble understanding part of the directions, because I’m not as familiar with crochet as I am with knitting, but I think I’ve figured it out now. This first one might be a bit wonky, but oh well. I don’t think my dishes will mind.

Ravelympics 2010

I love the Olympics. I love yarn. What better way to combine these two things than the Ravelympics? Ravelry is a really fun social networking site for knitters, crocheters, spinners, and other fiber artists. There are message boards and groups for every sub-genre of yarn enthusiast. Like Joss Whedon and knitting? Join the Big Damn Knitters Firefly fan group, or the Whedoknitters. Like making bento lunches? Ther’s a group for that, too. How ’bout horses? Yup, there’s a knitting group for that, too. (I’ll let you guess which two of the three above I’m actually in.) And hundreds of other groups.

Given the diversity of the members of Ravelry, you can expect that entries into the Ravelympics to be equally diverse. When The Yarn Harlot came up with the Knitting Olympics for the 2006 winter games, the challenge was thus: set a goal for yourself, cast on during the opening ceremonies, and finish your project before the flame is extinguished at the end of the closing ceremonies. This year keeps those same guidelines, but with the use of the Ravelry universe (Ravelverse?) we fiber people have organized ourselves into teams and are aiming to compete in various events. Teams and events loosely sprung up in the 2006 games, but Ravelry helps keep us all organized, and we can more easily check out the work of our fellow competitors.

I had originally joined Team Big Damn Knitters and my goal was to knit as many Jayne hats as I could in preparation for all my upcoming Cons this spring and summer. Alas, I broke my finger and cannot knit. However, I can still crochet. Kinda. Well, I can loosely hold the work in my injured left hand and hold the hook with my right. Anyway, I’m going to try. I joined Team Teami (Teh-ahm-ee, Japanese for “hand knit/crochet”). The events are broken down into broad categories, such as spinning, hats, mittens/arm warmers, etc., except that they have super cute olympic-themed names. For example, I’m entering the Skelegurumi event for amigurumi (cute crochet toys), and the Platter Lift for home goods (Japanes dish scrubbies called tawashi in my case).

I plan on working entirely in cotton yarn, probably Lilly Sugar and Cream, as that’s the most readily available to me. To start with, I’m using patterns for tawashi in this book: Tawashis in Crochet by fellow Ravelry Tawashi Town member, Cindy Adams. I’ve also found some patterns in Japanese, as well as guides to understanding Japanese crochet patterns. We’ll see how that goes.

In 2006 my goal was to learn to spin and then make something from my handspun yarn. My goal this tim is also not so specific. I just want to make a bunch of tawashi and amigurumi (unspecified number), and complete at least one item using a pattern written in Japanese. This time the challenge will be learning how to crochet with my hand in a splint, which may not be so difficult, who knows.

I’ll of course have pictures and links to share along the way, and will keep track of my progress of my adventures in crocheting while injured.

Are any of you joining? What challenges have you set for yourself?

/hibernation

I have been extremely lax in my blogging these last several months. You know how it goes: Busy doing fun things. Not organized enough to put photos on Flickr. No photos = no writing about fun things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I shall attempt to remedy that this weekend by doing a massive upload of photos. I’ll be doing them in installments, starting with last August.

It’s March. Pretty soon we will have ploughed through a quarter of the year. What have I been up to this year? What’s coming up? Hey, look! A list!

1. Coming up on Friday, I have a phone interview for a Project Archivist position at an area library. The lovely folks at MIT have offered to do a mock interview with me on Thursday to help me prep. I’ve also expanded my job search to include positions back in the DC/Baltimore area.
2. I had a whirlwind trip to Maryland and Florida last week. I left Boston for Baltimore on the 20th, caught the Riveters/CCRG bout, spent several days among friends and family in Maryland (met the BFF’s girlfriend, she’s rad), left for Florida on the 24th, spent a few days on the Gulf Coast with my seester and JeT’s dad enjoying the 80 degree weather, caught a Red Sox spring training game, then landed in Boston just as the snow began to fall Sunday morning. It was a bit of a wild week: one morning I woke up to broken glasses and raw patches on my hands and face. I try to tell people that the raw skin was due to extremely dry skin, and the glasses were on their way out anyway. There are some, however, who refuse to believe this and assert that I must have been in a bar fight.
3. I now have new glasses. They are red. And shaped rather like my pair-before-last, slightly cat-eye. Did I mention they are red? And awesome? Yes.
4. PRD is gearing up for the 2009 season. Our last batch of newbies joined in January, and there are only a couple left who haven’t yet passed their assessments to claim their name. This is really exciting! It’s going to be a fantastic season! I shall be continuing as the Rookie Wrangler, and I’ll also be taking on the job of League Archivist. I’m also going to be playing in two away games. In Canada! Also, PRD is playing host to several travel teams this year. The first Riveters home bout is against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby (HARD) on April 11 at the RICC. The Killah Bees are hosting the Skate Free or Die girls at a scrimmage next weekend, and then we play them at a NH bout in April. I’m not going to be playing in that one, though, as I’ll be playing in Ottowa the following week. It’s going to be a derby-filled summer, indeed. (Check www.providencerollerderby.com regularly for the most recent updates.)
5. I haven’t been very crafty though. I did finally finish my SIL’s hat and scarf, delivered only two months late. The BFF has a birthday coming up and I’m working on something for him. I started a hyperbolic plane in blue and white cotton, which was supposed to be a bath pouf. I ran out of the white, half way through the last round. I might just knot it off and call it done, though, since the whole reason for making it was to do a bit of stash busting. I also have to make another Jayne hat for myself, since I lost the one I made last Fall. Once I actually get going on something, I’ll feel better.
6. I have severely neglected my pen pals these last several months. The end of the derby season in September ate up all my time, and then it was fall, and then winter, and now here it is nearly spring and some of them haven’t heard from me in ages. It’s not due to lack of caring, but rather to severe lack of organization. I just need to cart around my little notebook of writing supplies, then I can write while I commute, just like old times.
7. Saw They Might Be Giants a while ago. They were super great, as usual. They played so many songs! And many many were ones I’d never heard them play before, or hadn’t heard in a long while. We made some concert friends, which was fun.
8. We have a new car: a 2008 Kia Sportage, silvery grey. It’s awesome. We can accelerate. Uphill! And it’s big enough to fit my legs! And passengers!
9. Though I have been bringing my lunch to work nearly every day (thanks to JeT who actually prepares and packs the food), I miss bringing super fun bentos. I shall endeavor to remedy this. We’ve been making some new foods, though, so we’re slowly edging out of our food rut, which I’m very happy about. More new foods to come, and of course bento photos!
10. I’ve recently discovered Wild Turkey’s American Honey. If you’re a fan of whiskey or bourbon, you need to try this. Even if you normally hate the stuff, you need to try this. It’s golden awesomeness in a bottle. Highly recommended.
11. Speaking of imbibing, my librarian friends and I came up with a blog idea to help us broaden our beer horizons. We plan to sample a different kind of beer each month, and report our findings on the blog. We’re still thinking of a name, though. I was all ready to go in January, and then I sort of just forgot about it. This should be quite fun, once we get going!
12. I would like to go bowling. And ice skating. And just go out more often. Maybe stay in town for a bit on Fridays or something. I just need to get my act together and play cruise director, I think. I’ve just been so disorganized; I haven’t felt like myself for months and months. I think I’m finally coming out of my stupor, though. I think the sunshine did me some good. I’ll work on my schedule this weekend, and will start planning some outings. I wonder where my planner is… probably under the laundry somewhere.
13. First outing: This Friday, March 6th! Watchmen! Who’s in? JeT and I are going to see it in Boston (on the Common). We’re buying our tix tonight, if anyone’s interested.
14. And then there are a couple of concerts coming up: OK Go! and The Pogues! So excited!

Merry Decemberween!

Merry Decemberween!

I know it’s almost over, but I hope everyone’s December festivities have been super wonderful. We’re down at my folk’s house in MD for the week and having a great time. Christmas was super fun. I love watching the kids open presents. Since there are only two kids in the family at the moment, everyone was putting the pressure on for JeT and I to contribute to the younger population so that there’ll be more kids to watch on Christmas morning. Yeah, probably not anytime soon. Though woo hoo for all the friends who have announced their expected little ones! (You’ve all been busy: there were two baby announcements and one engagement! Hooray!)

I’ve finally uploaded photos from the last couple of months. Geez, we were wicked busy, weren’t we? There are photos from Thanksgiving with friends, the Fancy Schmancy Dancy Birthiversary Party, the Hooray for Repeal Day Party with librarians, the Ugly Sweater Party, snow, birthday, and Christmas. It’s been crazy-fun. There are also pictures of recent crafty projects: felted bags, and a doll of The Dude (from The Big Lebowski). And cupcakes. Yum!

See you all in the New Year!

Ravelry!

How did they know I was going to try to organize my crafty projects this weekend? I got my invite to join the Ravelry community, and I’m a-rarin’ to go. I don’t have a large stash, nor many projects on needles, but I would like to keep track of them in some way other than scraps of paper tossed along with needles and yarn into the baskets.

They’re in the process of moving it from beta to the “grown up” servers and whatnot. I’m glad I wasn’t invited earlier, because I don’t think I would have had the time nor the focus to help beta test as all the others have. It’s a really neat idea, and I hope it keeps up its momentum and turns out to be super wonderful. It’s had a huge response so far and the waiting list has been months in the making. I put my name down sometime during the first week of June, I think, and I got my invite this morning. One of the many cool things about Ravelry is that it’s for crocheters and knitters alike. It’s for yarny people in general and is trying to bridge the rift between the two crafts.

I’ve got to take care of a few things that have been on my to do list for ages, and then it’s off to Ravelry land for me. I’m going to The Knitting Librarian‘s going away party this evening, and staying at the Spinstah‘s, and then there’s the Creative Sugar meeting tomorrow, but I’ll have to find some crafty time in the middle of all that. Should be a fun weekend!

But first, more gnomes

I have much (much, much) to say about the class I’m taking out at Mt. Holyoke on the History of the Book. It’s really fun.

But first, I have to post this. I never knew about this! How could a knitting gnome swap have happened without my knowledge? Answer: the world is a big, big, place, and even us librarians miss out on some awesomeness once and a while.
I must have completely zoned out when this first started (April?), and so missed out. I’m happy to see that other people have embraced the idea of a knitting gnome, even if we were operating independently. And even if my gnomes are crocheted. But still. Wicked awesome.

Right. Back to work.