yarn-along v

On the reading front: I finished Franz Molnar's Prisoners last week. It was a little slow at first but wasn't hard by the midpoint to get hooked. I'd like to believe that a bit might be lost in the translation from its original written language, but even then the imagery is beautiful. When I have to put down the book for a bit to sigh and say ..wow, you know it's a good sign.

Hagakure's made quite a few appearances over the last couple of yarn-along posts, and it's for that same reason. That little book's full of really deep words and passages. It would be unfair to not sit and ponder what's been said every few pages, and that's why this little book is still in the currently-reading pile by my bed.

Lord of the Rings is a slightly different story. I'm looking at at least a thousand pages of book to get through, and the size of the thing makes it a home-only type of reading deal. Because it's the kind of story that requires that I set at least an hour aside to focus on it, this book hasn't had very much attention from me.

As for knitting, I'm about 65% done with my Hermione's Everyday Socks!

 Might have said this before but I'd love to work this project once more in the future with a more solid colored yarn. This self striping yarn looks really lovely in this pattern, but the texture looks like it needs a chance to hog the spotlight in a pair of its own.

I'm also working on a number of lovely knit pieces for Bapsicrafts--my hope is to build enough stock to  take part in a craft show or farmer's market, which will take a real while to do!

This post is made alongside many others in Gsheller's Wednesday Yarn-along!

Click-through the image for more information on this yarn-along,

and let me know if you decide to join!

natural history museum in la, dino exhibit

I've got a real knack for taking photos and never sharing them! A few short months ago Jason and I went to the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles. Much of it changed since I last visited for a class, and he's never been at all, so it was must-go kind of day.

The main attraction for us was the new dinosaur exhibit. The specimens were breathtaking and the exhibit itself really impressively designed! I also finally caught a photo of his Christopher hat in action[repair and all]. He hardly lets it leave his sight, so I can't complain about not having a proper shoot done for it to show off my handiwork. :]

My most admired part of the dinosaur exhibit is how the lighting really brought out the little details and textures of these bones. Close friends know that I have a real soft spot for anatomy, so spending time here was a real treat.

Sometimes it really hits you that all of these fantastic things are real--there's a lot that's beautiful in this world. Makes me honored to have such a large bank of imagery and information to draw from, both as a concept artist and designer for knitwear.

I invite you to come by if you ever have the chance--I was really attached to the dinosaurs and animal exhibits, but there is much more to see [and maybe in a million years, pics of those things might find themselves on this blog too].

tink tink tink

So after exactly 48 rounds of the foot of my sock, I realized my gusset decreases were way off. There was no way around it. No notes to make for the next sock to match, no nothing. I had to rip back.

And then the rows were gone. It's crazy how all my hours of work can quickly be undone--just like that.

I know this isn't the first time I've experienced this frogging frustration, but I struggle to remember exactly which projects left me feeling that way. The joy of binding the projects off seem to overwrite the memory of all those little [and big!] drawbacks, and knowing that is enough to help me feel better about the mistake. All I need to be is a bit more careful next time, and count my stitches often before proceeding to the next big step in the pattern or lack thereof.

Besides, I had a great opportunity wind a nice little cake out of my yarn, and while digging the winder for it I found a second set of size 1 dpns that I didn't even know I owned. If it makes little difference between needle material I might just cast the second sock on and spare myself of second sock syndrome to speed things up.

Tonight might not have to be such a big step backward after all.

marly nillas and another wip already

pattern : TDTU Vanilla Sock by Rachel Roue 

yarn : Patos Kroy Socks FX in Grey Brown Marl 

needle : US 1[2.25mm] 

size : 9.5

This is my second project using Rachel Roue's fantastic and easy to understand pattern and I had as much fun with it as I did the first. What really added to my enjoyment was seeing how each loop coming from the skein translated into the stripes I see now. There's really something about seeing self striping yarn transform into these lovely unique things that I find really hard to explain, but I know that I'm going to see much more of this type of yarn in my stash box in the future.

The cuffs for these socks reach up to about mid-calf, which is quite a bit shorter than I expected them to be while still knitting them. I owe it to both the small gauge throwing me off and the length lost when the ribbing stretched to fit my legs [by the way. the idea to learn Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off for the ends of these socks was a great one. I don't know how I could have gotten these around my legs If I used my standard bind off method!].

This project and my shops orders have been a real opportunity for me to learn how to pace myself. Between knitting and art[which would be my day job], I've been putting a large amount of strain on my wrists and hands. It really paid off to listen to the advice of my fellow artists and knitters to take frequent breaks and stretch regularly. If you feel a niggling pain in your wrists after a long day of knitting, I highly recommend you make stretching during some downtime in a queue or in the car part of your daily life. Even a 5 minute stretch a day will make knitting noticeably comfortable. :]

It's really only been a night but I'm already quite a few repeats into another sock project from the stash! I was a little unsure of what pattern might work well for a color scheme with this much contrast but I settled with the really nice Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder. The repeating texture of the body of the sock brings something really nice to stripes I think, so it works pretty well with the intensity of my yarn instead of distracting from or competing with it. Excited to see how it turns out!

I'm already noticing just how stretchy the material is--hopefully it will fare well during the summer. I'm planning to wear it out really often.

I'm stoked about these socks UGGGH! With every month I've been a pair closer to a fully handmade sock drawer!