Wednesday WIP

Oklahoma went straight from Winter to Summer with temperatures soaring to the high 90's every day. Lovely for enjoying our swimming pool...which we have been. But doesn't help the want to hold yarn.

Nevertheless, I have been crocheting.
Working on 2 Pokemon plushies for daughter's birthday (thanks to Wolfdreamer!). I need to get these finished by Sunday.

But most of my spare time has been spent playing with beads.

I have a chart underway for a beadweaving design that has been vegetating in my head for over 2 years. It seems like time for it to evolve beyond an idea, eh?
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Flower beds are starting to look like.....well, FLOWER beds. ha! Gladiolas have started to bloom despite the heat.


And another calla lily has bloomed.
Maybe I can do this gardening thing after all?

Wednesday WIP and tornadoes

After spending the past weekend with bronchitis, I am now rushing to finish this WIP. It's suppose to be published later this year in a Creative Knitting issue (happy dance)


Aother WIP I'm doing is for fun. Daughter has always been a Pokemon fan. I was delighted to find this blogger's site filled with wonderful crochet patterns of pokemon. So I started one for DD's June birthday (sssshhhhh!! Don't tell her!)


Wolfdreamer is truly an amazing artist with the hook.

And I'm knitting hanging dish towels for the RV. Not only do I need dish towels for the kitchen but I like the idea of being to secure them while the RV is in motion.


The last two WIP are part of my attempt to de-stash before the fall buying begins. That will be my 2 year anniversary from my self-imposed yarn diet. I am SO tired of this yarn diet. I see all this new stuff coming out and have to remind myself that I really do not need more yarn (of course, when did need have anything to do with it in the first place?)

Anyway, I am tired of talking myself out of the new yarns. As this fall is the 2 year anniversary of my self-imposed yarn diet, I plan to be happy that I have trimmed it down as far as I can by then. And I will allow myself to purchase yarn for specific projects. That's the stipulation - must have a project planned for the yarn I want to buy. I think that's fair. :)

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Big hug to all the friends and family for worrying about us this past Monday as tornadoes swept through our town Choctaw, OK. We were in the storm cellar when the sirens went off , and luckily the tornadoes missed our neighborhood.

Wednesday WIP and "Wii Knitting"

I've spent the last week primarily working on this sample knit for Knit Picks.



Part of the *deal* of being a sample knitter is that you are not allowed to blog about the pattern, and I'm not. Well, except for this part - I've learned a new way to do sleeves of sweater and want to find more information about it.

The sleeves are knitted first and put onto waste yarn until the body is knitted to the bottom arm hole. Then the sleeves are attached by knitting them on. There is a great deal more involved, including decreasing at armhole, but I won't go into that as that might be pushing the limits of what I can discuss about the sample. But IF you know what this type of sleeve knitting is called, EMAIL ME! I have some references to research once I have more time but it's fairly daunting without an exact name of the technique (or phrase to use).

What I did run across in the few minutes of research I did was the method of picking up stitches along the armhole of the body and knitting the sleeves using short rows to shape them. Barbara Walker's Knitting From the Top discusses this technique. And it's just in time for for me to use in the sweater I've swatched for myself.

As I'm still knitting from my stash (can you say YARN DIET?), I have to find patterns that work for the amount of yarn already on hand. (And let me tell you - this is getting mighty old!) In the stash is 10 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay (now discontinued) that is enough for a short sleeve sweater in my size...maybe....depending on the pattern.

This pattern showed up in my in-box earlier this week. I like it! And if I use the short row shaping method of doing the sleeves, I can make the sleeves shorter if the amount of yarn I have won't work. Good plan.

Swatch is done.
I'm casting on as soon as I finish the sample knit.
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I recently came across this comic. Wii Knitting!!

Love it! hahaha

Wednesday WIP and earthquakes

I am terrible at blogging! I immerse myself into projects or real life, and before I know it a week or two flies by without a thought to blogging.

Perhaps if I have a regular topic to blog about, I might be better (ya think?). So I thought I'd do a Wednesday WIP (work in progress). Hopefully a guaranteed topic will help me to blog weekly (at least!), and encourage people to visit and perhaps to comment.

This week's WIP is a bead crochet bracelet (most likely) . I have considered using it as a necklace/chain for an amulet bag. Time will tell.

I'm using size 11 green beads (favorite color and reminds me that Spring is here) that have a gold luster finish, which I've enhanced by using gold color thread. Sparkly!

It may be awhile before this one is finished. But it's such a treat to be beading again.

Bead crochet is one of my favorite crochet techniques. It combines two mediums that are near and dear to my heart. Plus I love bracelets - specifically bangles

I think the most difficult part of bead crochet is stringing the beads. There are two different methods I use for getting the beads onto the yarn.

1. If the beads are loose, I use a bead spinner. You can make your own with these instructions.
   
2. If the beads are in a hank (pre-strung), I use floss threader as a bead needle to take the beads from the string and onto the yarn/string I intend to crochet with.
   
   
   Floss threaders are inexpensive and easy to find (local drug store). They have a large "eye" so that any size yarn can fit in it. And the eye is collapsible so that almost any size bead will go over it, and onto the yarn.

A good learn-to-bead-crochet video can be found at Bead Wrangler's site (she also has great options for thread). There are also many books on the subject including my favorites from Judith Bertoglio-Giffin

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Having lived in Southern California, I know about earthquakes. Experienced quite a few.

I was surprised to find that Oklahoma has them too. But in Oklahoma, I can hear them coming. Seriously. This morning, just before noon, we had a little one (only a 2.5). But I heard it a second or two before I felt it. Sounds a little like cattle stampede....then they wallop you! The epi-center is more shallow here then in California which makes the shaking felt more.