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?

ctl alt del

Life reboot.

Summer has ended. Fall is nearly over. Winter will be upon us shortly.

My brain is permanently wired to the academic calendar. I was a student until I was 30 and now I work at an academic institution, so September always feels more like the start of a new year than January ever does.

Every fall I get a burst of energy and I have to constantly carry around a note pad because I can’t turn off my brain. (Alas, this renewed zest does nothing for the powers of my memory, hence the note pad.) The cooler temperatures allow my brain to actually engage in thought other than “Dear God, could it get any hotter and could I feel any more disgusting?” I’m finally able to accomplish things that had previously only been vague plans. The summer is always so busy what with parties and derby business and such, that I never get the time to work on any of my other fun projects.

The fall is actually even busier for me, but somehow everything seems easier than it does any other time of year. Fresh perspective, ideas, adventures, parties… it all seems to fit together so much better than in the spring or summer. I usually just feel overwhelmed with all of my obligations, but during the fall, I feel like I can accomplish it all and still maintain my sanity.

I have a zillion and one things going on as per usual, but I think it can still be managed. All it takes is planning. And stamina.

The last year has been very busy and still managed to have a flavor of stagnation about it. It’s been a very disorganized year, to the point where I have felt disconcertingly out of control at times – as if I were treading mud – wearing myself out and not really getting anywhere. It’s been an especially non-crafty year, too. I’ve had the odd project here and there, but I haven’t spent this long away from craftiness… ever, I think. I’m finally getting my crafty mojo back, about which I’m very happy, indeed. The same with reading.

Actually, it’s been more than just this past year. Maybe the last two years. I’ve been out of grad school, and playing roller derby. Two major events (one ending, and one starting), never mind the grueling (and seemingly never-ending) job search, so it’s no wonder it’s taken me a long while to figure out a good rhythm for my life. I use my commuting time to catch up on sleep, instead of reading and crafting as I had done before. Oh, and the place is a wreck, so nothing I need for various projects is within easy grasp. My default is to just zone out on the computer rather than to actually accomplish anything useful at home.

But I’m beginning to (slowly) get my life resembling some sort of slightly organized mess. Anyway, here’s a list of what’s been going on in the recent past, and what’s planned for the near future:

1. Rollah Derby, Hey! It was a great season. The Old Money Honeys made it to the home championship, but lost to the Rats. No worries, though, because I won MVP for my team. It was a pretty sweet moment. I wasn’t able to play in the last two Bees bouts (against Rochester and Pioneer Valley), so my season ended a wee bit earlier than everyone else. We’re in the off season now, tidying up the loose ends for this season and planning for the next. We’re in the height of recruiting at the moment, and I’m on the recruiting committee. It’s been crazy. I’m answering derby-related emails at least two or more hours each day. We’ve got over 100 people on our recruiting list, and at least 40 of them have been coming to our recruiting events, and will most likely stick around for tryouts in January. Yes, we’re having tryouts this year! We’ve got so may people interested that we can’t possibly take everyone. That means that only the most motivated will stick around, which is pretty sweet. I’m definitely looking forward to the 2010 season. I’m also going to Philadelphia for the National Championships. It’s going to be so much fun!

2. Work – MIT has hired me nearly full-time (still a no-benefits part-timer, but it’s WAY better than before and I’m breathing a little easier for having the extra hours). I’m now doing more collections-type work, in addition to the reference assisting (which consists mostly of photocopying for researchers). I get to help with new accessions and some processing. So far the learning curve hasn’t been that steep, but it’s been a little wonky due to shifting work-flows and what not. The short version is that I’m really enjoying it and get to use my brain. I’m also there five days a week, and I’ve got my own desk in a cube with a big window. In other work-related news, I survived my first SeptOber working King Richard’s Faire. It was tremendously fun. I met some really great people and made a few new friends. I’ve even been invited to work at a few Cons next year (steampunk and sci-fi), which is probably one of the coolest and geekiest things ever. I plan on documenting those adventures in a photoblog of sorts.

3. Craftiness – After ages and ages of non-knitting, I’ve finally got projects on the needles (on which I’m actively working) and I’m finally back at the wheel. I ordered a bunch of fiber from Cranberry Moon Farm (a few different wools as well as a wool/alpaca blend) and have been getting back into the groove. I’ve been invited to do a spinning demo at AHA Night next week. On Thursday, November 12, from 6-9pm I’ll be at TL6 The Gallery (100 William Street, New Bedford, MA). If I get enough spun I’ll have a few skeins to sell (though I doubt I will). Maybe I’ll have some other things done up to sell (gnomes and mushrooms, perhaps?) The details are still loose at this time, but I’ve been invited to sell my stuff there, and I’ve got to put myself on a production schedule, because I’m absolutely useless without deadlines. I also borrowed a sewing machine and can therefore get caught up on some of the derby-related clothes I’ve been trying to make these last few months. I still haven’t gotten my screen printing stuff together, though, so they won’t be ready for sale until I get that all set up. Soon, though, especially now that I’m getting my work space a bit more useable. I sense an intense house-purge very soon. We have too much crap. We also have a ton of awesome stuff, which tends to get lost among the clutter. And Christmas will be upon us very soon. Luckily I’m only knitting for a few people, so it shouldn’t be too terribly taxing (she says with much trepidation).

4. Currently reading – Andromeda Klein (Frank Portman), Juliet, Naked (Nick Hornby), as well as a few others that I’ve picked up and put down in recent weeks. The first two, though, are ones that I’m actively reading. So far I love both. Portman is responsible for one of the best books about high school kids ever, King Dork. While KD was told from a teen boy’s perspective, AK has a girl protagonist, and I love her. It’s also got tarot cards, ghosts, and other spooky things. Plus it’s wicked funny. Juliet is great, too. Hornby does what he does very well, with the music and the characters and what not. I just have to remember to actually one of them on the train with me so I can actually finish reading them. I’m also starting a book club with a friend, so that’ll keep me reading. The first pick is Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles. It looks like an interesting read. And if I hate it, at least I’ll have something to talk about at book club. (We’re also most likely going to be a rather boosey club, seeing as how the members thus far are fellow derby gals. Perhaps I should use one of the clever names I had on reserve for my non-existent booze blog? How about the Literale Society?)

5. Socialite – I have no unplanned weekends from here until after the New Year. It’s been that way since Labor Day. It’s insane. But I love it. I am much better about keeping my calendar and planner up to date these days to keep up with all the parties and stuff. Halloween was a blast! I’m so glad so many people made it to our party. I didn’t really know how many to expect, since there were birthday parties and other Halloween parties going on the same night. The next event Chez Nous will be a game night. I want to play Arkham Horror, but if there are more people coming than can play that game, we have a bunch of other games to have several going on at once. Plus, we have darts, too. Mark your calendars for Friday, November 20, 7:30 pm. Potluck. I’ll make a Facebook event invite thingie. I also have plans to travel to Maryland for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I was terribly homesick last year on my birthday and Christmas, so I’m planning ahead this year.

Whew. That’s the news for now. As usual, I have a bunch of pictures from this Fall but have not uploaded any of them to any sort of photo sharing site. I’m lame. I might get to it. Maybe. Pretty sure I need a functioning Time Turner to get all this done, but we’ll see how I do. Oh, and I could use an airship. Some jerk stole mine, and I haven’t gotten it back yet.

Chrononauts AWAY!

“running just to keep the pace…”

Feeling a little behind on nearly everything lately. Here are a few tidbits:

1. Job search: I check the RSS feeds and message boards daily. Right now I have two (possibly three) open applications. The rest I’ve given up on, or have been notified of a rejection (I’d rather know than not know, you know?)… but at least this is one area where I’m actually on top of things.
2. Roller derby: Being the newbie wrangler isn’t that difficult, but I’ve got a new batch of potential skaters coming in, and I’ve only just realized today that I probably won’t have enough gear for them to borrow. I’ve put out a call to arms on the forum, but we’ll see. I’m trying not to think about what will happen if it turns out I cannot scrounge enough gear for them to use. It makes me not able to breathe when I think about it, so I’ll pretend it doesn’t exist and maybe the problem will go away. Generally, I love this job, because I get to meet the new people and interact with them, and make sure they have a smooth entry into the league. But at clinic time, I get a little stressed out. I have to remember to breathe.
3. Oh, and we also had the PRD awards banquet Friday night! I got the OMH “up and comer” award! YAY!!! I didn’t expect that one, and I’m very happy! It’s on my bookshelf in front of my fake mantle. (Ok, so it’s a real mantle, but there’s no fireplace, so I wonder if that counts.)
4. Work in general: I spent two days this past week working on a part of a collection, only to realize an hour before leaving at the end of the week that I was using the wrong list. *sigh* The proper list has been found, but I feel really lame for not noticing sooner. Also, I was very distracted at work this week. I didn’t get enough sleep, and kept getting distracted by the news websites all week. I’ll do better this week, promise. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I was a slacker. (Because at work, I’m totally not. At home… well, that’s another story.)
5. Home: I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I figure if I put it out into the public eye, my shame may be great enough to motivate me to fix the problem. So here goes: we’ve been sleeping on the futon in the living room for the last week or so because our bed is completely covered in laundry. We just keep washing it and adding it to the pile. See? Embarrassing! Ok, so it’s not really earth shattering, but still. Wicked domestic slackers.
6. Craftiness: I cleaned out my WIP basket and finally frogged several projects and re-wound the yarn. I also chopped up that felt bag and giant disaster of a felt bowl into coasters. Now I have a ton of coasters that I don’t know what to do with, but at least I don’t have those dumb projects taking up space. And by frogging a bunch of stuff that was still on needles, I’ve discovered that I have three pairs of size 10 circulars, two pairs of size 8s, and a pair of size 4s that I didn’t remember having at all. Amazing! It’s like shopping without spending money! I also organized my megre yarn stash. Hat boxes and baggies. I think it will work fine. And actual WIPs now occupy the aforementioned basket.
7. Finally got around to joining Facebook. Friend me if you wanna!

I think that’s the news for now. I just feel all sorts of scattered. I think once the newbie clinic is over this week, things will settle down a bit and I won’t feel so freaked out.

Le Tour de Fleece: Day 6

This is the first ball of two-ply that I’ve finished in the TDF. I bought the roving from a woman at the Apple and Peach Festival in Acushnet last September. If I could remember the name of her business, I’d post that, but alas, I lost the receipt ages ago. I have a hank of handspun that I bought from her, too… if I can find that in my stash and if the tag is still attached, I may update with her info. Because really, her color sense is really great.

This yarn has way more yellow in it than you can tell here. because I wound into a ball instead of a hank. I need a niddy-noddy at some point, and soon. The next batch of yarn I’m spinning has way more lanolin in it than I expected, and I’d like to try to wash some of that out before I knit with it. It’s still coming out pretty good, though, despite my inexperience with sticky wool. It, too, is a two-ply. Behold:

The grey wool came from Rhinebeck last October, and again, I can’t remember the name of the seller. They’re the ones who sold their roving in cute nesty-like balls. I’m sure I have their name somewhere. You know, it probably wouldn’t take too much time to look all this stuff up, but if I put it off, I’m never going to update on the progress of this project.

I’ve decided that “spinning every day” means spinning for at least fifteen minutes. It’s a short enough time to commit to, and long enough to get a nice amount spun. Granted the two balls shown here were spun and plied on Sunday, when I spun all day, but still. The bit I have going on the bobbin right now gets added to each day, and I’ll have longer time on the weekends to get more done. Thus far I’m happy with my progress.

None of the channels we get show any coverage of the cyclists, but I check in each day to look at the standings of each stage of the race and what not. It’s the first year that I’ve actually paid attention and sought out information on the race as it progresses, so that’s a novelty. I’m not much of a cycling enthusiast, but it’s actually quite entertaining.

Le Tour de Fleece: day 1

I fixed my bobbin problems and began spinning today to kick off le Tour de Fleece challenge.

I bought my wheel in October at Rhinebeck, and I spun one bobbin full of yarn, and then abandoned the wheel for months. The main problem was that I couldn’t remove the bobbin. I know. Lame. But in my defense, I didn’t know upon which bit to apply the brute force necessary to remove the bobbin from the flyer assembly, and I didn’t want to break the thing. I could take the flyer/bobbin thing off, but couldn’t figure out how to free the full bobbin and replace it with an empty one.

A few posts back and forth on the Ravelry spinning forum and I had the necessary information to get the bobbin off. It took me months to ask for help, while the wheel lay dormant, and then another few months before I actually put their advice into practice. I just have had so much going on this year that I never got around to it. Well the Tour challenge lit a fire under my bum and I had to fix the bobbin situation in order to participate.

A few tugs here and there and the thing came apart and I was able to change the bobbin. But then the yarn wouldn’t wind onto the bobbin, argh. Another round of Q and A on the forum, and I was good to go. It was a lubrication problem this time.

So, after my newbie setbacks, I’m ready to spin. I did a little bit this morning and was reminded of how much I love spinning. I can tell this is going to be a big thing for me. And with an outlet for to sell all of the delicious yarn I’m going to make, I won’t even have a stash problem (theoretically).

Happy Spinning!

You spin me right ’round

I have taken up the Tour de Fleece spinning challenge! The idea is that you set a goal for yourself, start on the 5th and finish on the 27th, spinning along as the cyclists do their thing. My goal is a two-parter:

1. Spin a little each day, using up my meagre stash and buying locally for the duration of the tour. There are some wool producing farms in Middleboro, I think, and will get my wooly fix from them.
2. At the end of the tour I want to have a few nice hanks to send to a shop for sale. I have an opportunity to sell some of my wares in a brick and mortar shop, and I don’t want that chance to pass me by.