1/31/13

Frog Pond

Okay, so I have an inner knitter, you know that little voice that goes "Don't you think that sock might be a little big?" Yeah, her? I tend to ignore her while working on socks for guys. She goes nuts on me sometimes, I'll check the gauge and it'll be fine, and yet she wails on and on. Fun times. So tonight, I idly pull out the rest of the ball for my gift socks to find I'm far closer to the end of it than I really should be. So at about 6:40 or so I have this:
30-40 minutes later, I have this:
Really, I only have myself to blame. I did have a moment of "Doesn't that look a little big to you?" and promptly ignored it. Partly because this is a sock for a guy, and partly because it's already really late. Yeah, so I did check my gauge, I had 7-8 stitches more than I should have. Now I have to knit like the wind. I can finish a pair of me-sized or brother's girlfriend-sized socks in a week. How long to make a pair of guy-sized?
(actually, on that needle size, for 8.5 inch midfoot and 9.5 inch foot length, it takes 17 hours of knitting time for a pair of socks.)

Daily Devotions

Yup, pagans do them too. Just happen to be in our own way. I tend to do a little writing at night before I go to bed (though I should also meditate, I'll get to that at some point). I have a notebook on my bed for that very purpose.
 And what do I write? Poems. Poems that I write in honor to my Lady or my faith. Maybe some day I collect a few I think are shareable and make a book. Granted, nothing in it is edited at the moment, but there's one I'll share now.
I have a pack of pens I've devoted for this notebook of for writing in my book of shadows (which is actually a pile of notebooks).

Back to the knitting next time. Bright blessings, everyone!

1/30/13

Sock and Blocks in the snow.

Well, we had a sunny day today, so I thought it best to run outside and snap a few quick pictures in the snow. (I generally don't wear gloves so my fingers/hands are the coldest part of me right now.) Also, I didn't feel like opening the curtains and making the living room cold. So up first is a retake and new block of the crazy pants pic that was really dark last time.

That blue block between the two green ones? That's new. It wasn't in the old picture. I didn't really want to mar the "perfect" untouched snow so I mainly just threw them on the snow (I didn't see any nice shrubs to lie them on, maybe I'll venture to the park in search of shrubs next time) and be happy with where and how they landed.
And the sock. I've made some progress... I know I have a little ways to go yet before starting the toe. The bag has the yarn (well, duh), and often times I'll have the bag clipped to a belt loop and forget I'm attached when I get up to do something and don't notice until the knitting falls on the floor, or I think I'm attached when I'm not. Maybe I need hot chocolate to cheer myself up.

Bright Blessings and hot chocolate wishes!

Sorry for the whine, and a new (to you) project

Honestly, I don't know why I was tired of the socks yesterday. In reality, I work on three projects a day: crazy pants, the gift, and whatever my planner tells me. If you check my side bar you'll see not all my projects are socks.

Any-who, last night happened to be my altar cloth. A nice soothing knit. just enough pattern and rhythm to need a bit of attention, but not so much that I couldn't do my bedtime reading still. ( which currently is about witch trials. how is it bedtime reading? No clue, but it's really not that bad.) after quick glance at my altar, I have a ways to go on this.

if people want to see my altar leave a comment, I'm willing to indulge peoples curiosity. you'll just have to put up with me removing an item or two I don't want in the shot.

Gotta run, I've got work and it snowed during the night so I'm heading out early in case the roads are bad. Bright blessings and be safe if you have hazardous weather in your area.

1/29/13

The gift sock


Right, so I have been working on it. The pattern is fairly easy so I like to have some sort of something else to put my brain on while my hands just do. (Hey, I learned to knit about 16 years ago, there are some perks to having knit that long.) The sad/scary part is I want this project done. I'm a little tired of socks, socks, socks. Or maybe I'm tired of knitting things for other people. Scary because this is just the first sock. Really, I want to start Hunter or Crystal of Chimental. I think I'm tired of the slightly mindless following a pattern from a book, even if that's not what I'm doing, where as most of the Mass is me winging a pattern as I go. (Oh, I should have said that a couple posts back...oops.) Anyhow, I'll keep plugging along on these socks, I mean at some point they'll be done and I can start on Hunter, right? (Look to the right bar to find a list of current projects in process, I kinda want to bring that down to a smaller number, maybe something a little more manageable.)

Bright Blessings and see you guys later.

Crazy Pants Afghans

This project was inspired by the gift of all four of the Barbra Walker Treasuries by my parents. I decided 6x6 inch blocks would be large enough to get a feel for most of the patterns, and I'd adjust for the rest as necessary. When I first started showing people on G+ I only really had a handful of blocks done.
(That picture's from January last year, for an American I like my dates weird.) I have a knack of forgetting about social networks for periods of time, or at least not actively remembering that they're there, and a good while when by where I was still working on blocks, but wasn't taking pictures of them. That and it wasn't a high priority on my master list of "Crafty Things I'm Working On Right Now." So, about seven to eight months later I had only made about twelve more, even though when I push myself I can make at least a block a day.
Then again, this project tends to get set aside in favor for projects that as a whole will be finished much faster than this one will. Yet, I know that if I don't work on it, it won't get finished. I mainly blame a double block you'll see below for sucking my mojo on this, and just life in general.
Sorry about it being dark, we aren't having a good picture day today. I'll try to remember to give it another go on a sunny day. Once I feel I have enough, (which I'll have to re-math out) I'll start sewing them together. And I'm planning on sewing up the double one sideways.

Catch you guys later!



1/28/13

Chimental

Okay, I've talked about it twice. The Chimental project was started on the request of a friend, and it's to hand craft each of the members of the Mass Chimental. Um, there's over sixy members, the link takes you to the site that has them all listed (pack a lunch). I have four done at this point.

The first is Alpha:
 He's, well, the leader of the Mass. In plushie form he's actually not much taller than a pop can. I actually had someone call this complicated knitting, and maybe it is. I didn't think it was, I knew what I wanted and how to make it. Well, I did have to research to remember how to make that centered double decrease...

Next Acey and Deesee:
I call them improbably shocky hamsters. They are slightly static electric.

Finally, of the finished, Rouge:
Right off, he's a gorilla with two sets of arms. See the white? That's the smaller, bandage-wrapped arms. From what I know, he's a no-nonsense type of gorilla.

That's all I got on this project. If enough people speak up I might add a list to this post that I'll update as I finish members. EDIT: posting the list anyhow, because I want to.

  1. Alpha done!
  2. Duchess
  3. Hunter
  4. Crystal
  5. Rouge done!
  6. Sage
  7. Luna
  8. Levi
  9. Demon
  10. Chris
  11. Eco
  12. Boss
  13. Siren
  14. Biome
  15. Wildfire
  16. Acey and Deesee done!
  17. Rev
  18. Ace
  19. Skull
  20. Colonel (fun fact: a character on the island was calling Colonel "Golden" at one point and got me all confused.)
  21. Honey (and probably some other bees)
  22. Goliath
  23. Jolt
  24. Jack
  25. Eric
  26. Pollen
  27. Mirage
  28. Libra
  29. Don
  30. Mason
  31. Cleo
  32. Eve
  33. Vigil
  34. Sorceress
  35. Shadow
  36. Tetanus
  37. Admiral
  38. Carrie
  39. Tempest
  40. Beau
  41. Lee
  42. Derby
  43. Father Finn
  44. League (have an idea for this one, just need to get everything)
  45. Nox von Luminari aka Dr. Nightlight
  46. Malda
  47. Tsu
  48. Bog
  49. Marsha
  50. Takashi
  51. Hax
  52. Incisor
  53. Mech
  54. Ascii
  55. Pixel
  56. Jet
  57. Solar
  58. Camille
  59. Rosemary
  60. Frostbite
  61. Aura
  62. Zeta
  63. Sponsor

1/27/13

Christmas Socks

Uh, yeah, not working on Christmas stuff for this year, I'm still a little behind from last year. Not that starting Christmas knitting now would be a bad idea... Then again I only remembered about Christmas and that I needed to make stuff for family about a week before the actual date. Yes, I'll be able to knit four gifts in a week with a slightly bum wrist. (I somehow did something bad during NaNoWriMo, it hurt, I wore a brace and was nice to it.)

This is the last bit of holiday knitting I have to do. At least once I finish the last round of the repeat I'm starting the heel of the sock, but it's the first sock... But after this project is done I can move onto other things like Project Chimental or something like that. (No, really, Chim will be so happy and squee if I show him a post about the project.) But I should probably get back to that whole knitting thing...

Oh! Though I am pagan, the rest of my family is Christian and I celebrate family togetherness and all that with them on Christmas. I celebrate my own holy days on my own on those days. Just so you know.

Hi there!

Okay, I have to admit, I sometimes call myself pagan instead of Wiccan or Wicca. I'm a solitary at this point in time, though if I was able to find a coven that felt like it meshed well with me I'd jump on it.

Mainly, I'll be using this blog for talking about my current knitting projects (I have at least a couple of long term "projects" that will pop up from time to time, like the chimental project or my crazy pants afghan), musings on my faith generally on holy days or the full moon, and something from my real life might sneak in from time to time as well.