WIP: Petunia Tote

I am an idiot. Really.

Making this bag is ridiculously simple. Y'know what I did? I somehow managed to ignore the left-hand side of the pattern chart for three rows. Meaning I have to go back 552 stitches and do it all over again - this time including the second flower pattern.

How the heck did I miss that?!?!?!?!

Grrrr.

Add-on @ 8:22 p.m. on March 26: Okay, so that wasn't a big deal at all but I was in the mood to rant. lol

The never-ending list of things I want to knit

I have browsed many, many, knitting books in my short lifespan as a knitter. Or should I say Knitter? I see things I want to knit everywhere. And when I don't see it, I think "hey, I could knit this and come up with the pattern myself." While at Chapters today I realized I had already browsed most of the knitting books they had. In fact, I had already scoped out what patterns I eventually want to follow or modify or steal ideas from. I am not bothering to write all of them down on my sidebar list because it is scaring me how much there is out there that I want to knit.

WIP: Petunia Tote

Warm Weather Knits

I bought my supplies for the Petunia Tote today. I'm using Cantata Cotton Crepe DK in colour 3853 lot 219610 (for my own reference.) I bought a pair of 60cm 4mm Pony circs - shorter than what they called for - because the "right" size wasn't there.

Mai and I trekked to Romni Wools and I tell you, I have found my new favourite store. It is ABSOULTELY AMAZING. There is so much yarn! AND books! AND classes! AND a basement that I did not check out. It was simply lovely. They were incredibly helpful and friendly and I really can't wait to go back again, finished project over my shoulder, ready to get some more yarn. Man. It's THAT that makes me want to get a job. So I can afford yarn. Forget everything else!

Afterwards I checked out The Knit Cafe which is small but nice. I don't think it'd be good for our RyeKnits meetings (yeah... it's going to happen...) because it's too small but it'd be nice for four of us or something. It's also really randomly located. Like seriously. In the middle of nowhere.

Either way, Queen St. West is my new favourite place. We passed a gazillion and one fabric shops, button shops, paper shops, art galleries, art supply shops, unique fashion stores, used furniture, new furniture... EVERYTHING. Honestly. It killed me how tired we were coming back ... I couldn't even go to some of the places. Next time, I guess.

It looks peachy here but the colour on here isn't so accurate.

iPod Cozy #2

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Yesterday I was dying to knit and I looked at the very little odds and ends of yarn that I had, and settled on making another iPod cozy... but that doesn't mean that my red one will be retired! Nope, it's going to hold my camera now (as it fits quite well.) The new one, INCLUDING FAIR ISLE, will hold my iPod. The colourwork was actually a lot simpler than I thought it'd be. It seems kinda silly now that I made another cozy since it's springy and all but whatever, it can offer some padded protection in the realms of my backpack.

What the inside of all that fair isle looks like.

What I'm About to Knit

I plan on knitting the Petunia Tote from Interweave Knits Spring 2007 edition. I can't decide if I'm going to buy another type of yarn or what. I need to figure this out. I want to get on it this week. I feel empty with nothing on the needles.

After or while I'm knitting the bag - depends how my attention span is - I want to follow this AMAZING tutorial on how to knit socks. The first one will be super-plain and then maybe I'll attack that ever-growing list on the right. Online I've seen some cool sock yarn that makes it look as though you did some crazy colourwork/intarsia as you go along simply because the yarn variates in colour in strategic ways.

Teaching

I taught a nine-year-old to knit yesterday. It felt good. She learned way too quickly.

iPod Nano Cozy

Keeping you cozy

I was trying to see how my ribbing was awhile ago and was making an armwarmer. Then realized I made it too small and could make it into a bracelet. And then I realized it was the perfect size for an iPod Nano.

Excellent.

Irish Hiking Scarf

A short relationship

So I've been a bit behind on updates despite thinking about knitting and crafts 24/7 these days.

After finishing my armwarmers I had a skein and a bit left over so I decided to make the matching scarf but instead of making it three cable repeats wide, I made it two. Perfect for spring. At least it was until I lost the armwarmers. Sigh.

Ah well. I still have a scarf, I guess...

It's much brighter in real life and is almost 5 feet long (and even though I was going to make it longer, I didn't as I ran out of yarn.)

Yarn Harlot

I love to read crafty blogs and diaries. It's neat to learn from other people's mistakes and to find out about possible frustrations that await you in a project. When I picked up Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's The Secret Life of a Knitter - Yarn Harlot I didn't realize I'd chuckle so much. I loved it. Only funny if you knit, I guess. Even though I'm a beginner and have no experience to relate to much to, I was entertained. I particularly liked her list of ten ways to anger a knitter.

She wrote:

Ten quick and easy ways to make a knitter angry:

1. Consistently refer to her work as a "cute hobby."

2. When the knitter shows you a Shetland shawl she knit from handspun yarn that took 264 hours of her life to produce and will be an hierloom that her great-great grandchildren will be wrapped in on the days of their birth, say, "I saw one just like this at Wal-Mart!"

3. On every journey you take with your knitter, make a point of driving by yarn shops but make sure you don't have enough time to stop. (This works especially if there is a sale on.)

4. Shrink something.

5. Tell her that you don't know why she knits socks, that it seems silly when they are only $10 for five pairs and they're just as good.

6. Tell the knitter that you are sorry, but you really can't feel a difference between cashmere and acrylic.

7. Tell her that you aren't the sort of person who could learn to knit, since you "can't just sit there for hours."

8. Quietly take out one of every set of four double-pointed needles that she has and put them down the side of the couch. (You can't convince me that you aren't doing this already.)

9. If you are a child, grow faster than your knitter can knit. Requesting intricate sweaters and then refusing to wear them is also highly effective.

10. Try to ban knitting during TV time, because the clicking of the needles annoys you.