Scarfuluppagus.

Thar she is! It's done. After a few slight problems (such as running out of yarn after 32 rows instead of 44) it's done, and I think it's pretty good for having never done any knitting before. Originally it was only going to be one color, then two, but I kept having less yarn than expected =O. The blue was a complete afterthought, and was leftover from a crochet project. Luckily, it was the same weight as the other yarn I was using. I actually think that the colors look pretty good with each other. It wasn't what I started out going for, but I think it has a fun, patch-worky look. To tie together all the colors, I went around the whole thing in the blue with a blanket stitch. It works. Ahm happy wittit! (fambly joke ^^)



I have already embarked on my next knitting adventure, believe it or not. I can't stop!! Last night I couldn't fall asleep because I was so worked up and excited about it. That seems to happen to me often. I guess not being able to sleep because you're excited is better than not being able to sleep for some other reason. The project that I'm working on now is a sweater pattern from the book Stitch n' Bitch. I like it because it's something that I would wear, is not super complicated (good for a baby knitter such as moi) but will also help me develop a few new skills (intarsia, 3-needle bind off, endurance haha ><) I went to a local yarn shop (or LYS as I've been told it's called in online knitter speak) a got the right needles and yarn, and started the front last night. I love that yarn place. It was like walking into a vast array of colors and textures, all piled high in wooden selves and in woven baskets. I wanted to stick my face into every skein to sniff the woolly goodness (although I restrained myself, as I have a cold and it would have been just plain gross for other shoppers) . . .SO EXCITED!!!!!!! Yipeeeeee. I am itching to go and continue clinking my new bamboo needles together.

Away I go, to feed my addiction :D

Ice Crystals and THE New Obsession (which is threatening to take over my life.)

A few weeks ago I got some really neat pictures of the ice formations on the windshield of our car. I never got around to posting them, but they're pretty interesting...and there is a TON of them (so I'm posting them now.) They remind me of peacock feathers. The same patterns occurred on our greenhouse, so I wonder if their formation had to do with the perfect weather conditions? I've never seen anything like it before. My fingers nearly froze off while I was shooting away, but it was well worth it. I edited the colors with iPhoto, for anyone who was wondering. Oh yeah, and my sister just figured out that you can CLicK on a picture and it gets bigger!! I was very excited about this discovery. You should be too. Even if you knew it already :}


















And what is this NEW OBSESSION of which I speak?
Knitting.
I taught myself 2 days ago from the Stitch N' Bitch book, and now I absolutely can not stop. I've been crocheting for years now and have always loved it, but I think that it's important to know how to do both, since they really are totally different. So far I can only knit and purl, but next I'm going to teach myself increasing and decreasing. Yesterday I started my first project, which is a ribbed scarf. It's coming along nicely; the tension looks good, and I've only had one crisis (which I cleverly averted. Gahh, dropped stitches.) Unfortunately, I ran out of the yarn I was using (alpaca, mmmmm....) and the skein I picked up was the last of that color (a gorgeous forest green with a rusty tint). Sigh. I think I may have to bite the bullet and learn how to change colors so that when I go to the store tomorrow and get a skein of a different color all is not lost. Let you know how things shape up. =]

Meet Winnefred.

Say hello to Winnifred.
Hello Winnifred :)

I think she's beautiful.

I have a book on making plushies, and one of the women who designed some of the patterns based her creations on her childrens' drawings. Since I was able to come up with all kinds of crazy critters when I was little with ease, I thought the idea of using them for plushie inspiration was genius. So I dug around in all my old scribbles (all of which my mom has kept :D) until I found one that struck me. I remember the day I drew it- 3rd grade art class.

This is only a small section of the original drawing. In the complete one, she's sitting in some kind of tree with a whole bunch of odd looking birds. I wonder what she was doing up there?

I have a funny thing for fabrics- especially scrap fabric. There is something particularly alluring about all the different colors, patterns, and textures (the same goes for yarn ^^). I wanted to be able to use as many as possible when making Winnifred, since sewing, holding, and working with each unique snippet somehow enhances my appreciation.

I am my happiest when I do things like this. It makes me feel complete. It makes me feel whole.