Fiber Tools

 I've been listening to Fat Squirrel Speaks (a knitting vlog) for a bit now (discovered via TheKnitGirllls) and in one of her more recent YouTube posts, Amy (aka Fat Squirrel) had mentioned a random stripe generator. I found it fascinating in part it would be helpful in destashing some of the yarn I've had for waaaaayyyyyy too long. The blog the random stripe generator is on also offers a weighted version, so that way if you have more of one color you can tell the generator to create more rows of that color (i.e. give more weight or precedence to said color).

That's all for now, I'm still knitting a slouchy hat for myself, testing out a knitted pull over robe that I'm making the pattern up on the fly, and I've kind of stalled on a crocheted virus shawl (mostly because I've been focused on the robe and hat). And this is all in between working, required reading for a group I am apart of, and trying to be inspired to go out Geocaching (the current promotion they have isn't doing anything for me).

Happy 2023! Yarn Stuff and Life.

 Happy 2023! I do realize its a little over 1/3 into 2023, but it still can be a joyous thing. I know we need that more than ever now. I'm going to just leave it at - life as we know it has changed over the last couple of years.

I'm still knitting and crocheting. Not as frequently as I would like, but still going at it. Most of it are on the smaller side of things (scarves/cowls/gloves/etc vs sweaters or blankets). I was turned onto Kumihimo a few years back and have enjoyed the results from that. I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my knitting/crocheting projects.

Also, to help keep me inspired I've created a knitting bingo card. Some of the spaces are for specific areas of the body (like for your head, for your hands, etc), playing around with yarn (like using only 3 shades of color or rainbow colors only, or play yarn chicken). Some of the ones I'm interested in are the 2 destashing squares (one is for 5lbs and the other is 10lbs) and finishing a WIP (looking at you crochet blanket I started in 2009). I am also hoping to post some of my finished stuff here.

We've been doing a garden-ish thing for the last couple years, nothing too serious, mostly growing tomatoes. This year I was hoping to get some herbs growing. Might not be TOO late for some. Idk. I do enjoy drying herbs and using them in loose incense. I am hoping to be able to create my own incense cones or sticks. I do have some catnip growing and hoping to use it for the cats. 

Anyway....here's to keeping up the blogging!

General Chit Chat.

 Here's to getting back into blogging again! Wheee!

The last couple of years have been a bit of a blur for me, but I feel like it's been that way for a lot of folks.

I want to be able to show off some of my knitting and crocheting. And possibly other creative stuff. So here's a start!

Yarn Yarn Everywhere

Yeah! A long awaited blog post! *The crowd goes wild*

So. I'm a knitter. I also crochet. I also have too much yarn. Way too much....not quite to the point of hoarding - it hasnt spread beyond my bedroom.

I am excited to say I'm going to do a Knit Down Along with a knitting group I attend. WOOT! This means, I may actually *HAVE* stuff for family members, etc for Christmas presents.

Good for stash busting, trying new patterns, having something on hand for gifts, and poissibly have a cleaner bedroom.

We'll see how well this works out for me.....

TTFN

Winning Left and Right!

OK. August is when my local county has it's Ag. Fair and any county resident can enter stuff to try and win ribbons (and nominal amounts of $ - first place usually garners somewhere around $3-$5, well, the knitting & crocheting categories at least).

This year I've entered about 6 pieces into the county fair and all have won ribbons.

I made these pair of fingerless mittens in like a couple of days. I was highly impressed with my speedy efficiency.


I was so relieved when this scarf was finished! It seemed that it took FOREVER to finish but I was happy with the end result. I unraveled the edges for fringe and was tickled pink (ha ha) to see how well the fringe held up (and actually TWISTED) after a cycle in the washer and dryer. I don't have a pic with the fringe (finished the scarf just in time for the county fair) but these other photos give a good idea.






Crocheted Octopus. 100% wool - dyed with kool-aid. 'Nuf said.


This is a had that I saw in the movie "Golden Compass" (the books are 1,000,000 better than the movie version - granted movies can not capture 100% of the book version, but you can get the essence of it and still maintain a reasonable stream of logic). But I liked the hat.


Cookie Monster Hat. I think this won 2nd place to a hat that had more color. Meh.


Last but not least, my glove hat. With this one b/c i had so many hats going into the county fair, I needed something to qualify it to go into another category. So, it's a had and fingerless glove set.





They all won ribbons (the pink scarf got first) and I'm glad that I have another year to make more stuff.

Oh Thank Heaven!

I've been finishing the ends of things for the county fair. Slowly, but still finishing things. The most recent thing that I finished is the Amigurumi Octopus I've been working on for WAY too long (5+ months I think. It was all but finished 4.5 months ago, but it waited patiently for it's remaining two legs).

Here's a pic of it!


Yes, that's an air freshener it's sitting on. It was the closest thing I could find to prop it up. It's in my brother's bathroom, where the motif is oceanic. A mini note on the octopus, it's made of wool, dyed with sugar-free koolaid.

I also made another Amigurumi, this time its a frog.


It looks identical to the photo (granted the photo isnt mine). I'm not entering it into the fair b/c it's for my moms birthday. Hrm. Maybe I'll just enter it into the fair instead of the octopus. I dont know. I'll have to look into it. Maybe surprise her when we go see what of my things won.

My pink scarf is getting longer. No photo b/c it's just the same picture, only the scarf is longer. I will take one final pic before I do the fringe just to give a perspective of before and after.

I was thinking of making a doll's sweater or a small childs/infants sweater. I will see how much tim I have.