hanging

dunno about you, but i find the storage of certain yarn-related tools to be a particularly frustrating endeavor.

sure, some tools are easy to maintain--i own several sets of kollage usa square dpns sold in neat paperboard sleeves, which are easy to pop into a cylindrical object. bam, done.

crochet hooks are similar--arrange them in a container and tuck this into a fabric drawer. done deal.

but then you have the circular needles, bane of organized knitters!

i prefer fixed circular needles (they're sturdier, to my mind), which means i own several different pairs of varying lengths, all dangling and clinking and impossible to keep in any kind of order. the size of my needle collection is fairly modest (twelve sets as of last count), but even so the disorder wears on me.

research was conducted as to possible organization options:  there was this holder, and this case, and this pouch, but none of them particularly grabbed me once i read customer reviews or saw the product in person. resources tapped out, i let the idea of needle wrangling go for a while and focused on other things (despite all evidence to the contrary--e.g., shamlessly not blogging for nearly a month--i have be knitting. rather a lot. to be revealed soon, swearsies).

then, as fate should have it, one evening found me parusing blogs and pintrest for interesting d.i.y. inspiration when i stumbled upon this peice of brilliance:

i even had a small panel left over from some wire shelving cubes, just awaiting a new purpose.

initially i contemplated using this idea for work to hang event photos and such, but then another idea struck me...

organization, at last!

the new system categorizes the needles based upon their length--16" needles are grouped in the lower left, 24" needles directly above, 32" needles in the lower right, and 40" needles directly above these (the sock blockers are there simply because they don't fit into my yarn shelf and i grew tired of having them propped against the side).

at present this suits my needs quite well and allows the needles to hang freely without being coiled or otherwise crammed in such a way as to kink the cables. should i obtain a large amount new needles i may be in for some trouble, but i am rather satisified.

everything just where i can find it.

toy-spiration

i realize that i have enough projects (in progress and upcoming) to keep me busy through early summer, but in the past few days i've been thinking rather a lot about toys.

i've always been a great lover of toy knitting and crochet--it's a large part of why i got into both crafts in the first place. my residence has a special corner dedicated to the display of handcrafted toys, and i've also given away a fair few to friends and paying customers.

so how can it be that in the past months i haven't been interested in making a single toy for myself? the most recent creatures to slip the surly bonds of string and touch the face of ravelry have been derpy and rainbow dash, ponies for a brony friend. and while i know there is a veritable herd of other characters said brony would adore having, i'm just not sure i feel up to a pony-making jag right now.

frankly, i shouldn't feel up to any yarncrafting jags right now on account of my current situation, even if it would be comprised of instant-gratification objects.

but there's another outside factor that's fueling this resurgent desire to get back into toy-making: i have several small batches of 'bare' patons that could be dyed into small lots, perfect for toys (these bits being left over from the memorable kool-aid dyeing library program).

so the desire and available yarn are accounted for; what's stopping me from getting my toys on?

often my inspiration for toys comes from one of two things:

• the irrisistability of the pattern (i.e., it being massively cute)
• the pattern's association with a fandom i participate in

in the instance of cute things, there are only so many of any item you can have until you have no need for another. i mean, i think the mini crabs are cuter than most other animals (yeah, i love me some cold-blooded creatures), but i have over fifteen. i truly do not need another. most things i find cute i have at least one of, if not multiples.

in the instance of fandoms, mine haven't been terribly inspiring of late:

futurama (new season in june), the legend of korra (new season sometime later this year), the hobbit (new movie in december), sherlock (new season gods know when), the avengers (new movie in 2015?), it's mainly a waiting game for fresh content. maybe once airdates get closer i'll feel like making a batch of avengers bunnies or a brainslug, but for now i simply feel blah about it.

so what's a toy enthusiast to do? if anybody has a suggestion for awesome knit or crochet toy patterns (or inspirations i could improvise a pattern for) let me know!

export

having posted rather a lot about yarn acquisition and not much about the usage of yarn (certainly not in large quantities, anyway), i am happy to announce that recently my stash was purged of 2,640 yards that no longer held purpose for me!

   
all of the above yarn is lovely (andean treasure being like fluffy kittens and elegance like silky kittens), however, i'd already used treasure to knit sidewalks and streets. what else was there to do with a sport-weight alpaca in colorways already represented in my shawl wardrobe (shawls never held much interest for me as a garment to knit or wear until moving to florida. they are perfect for the overly air-conditioned buildings that populate this state and typically don't require the yarn or time commitment of a full sweater)?

as for the elegance, well... that heap of skeins was purchased by the bf years ago when he intended to knit me a surprise sweater. i had no idea this yarn even existed until one of our moves, at which time he exumed it from a closet and gifted the lot to me. i figured i could come up with some use for it in time and then never quite managed it; seeing all that yardage neatly lining a storage cube filled me with guilt of the 'undiscovered potential' variety.

but no longer! a ravelry user has taken it upon herself to purchase the yarn and it shall be shipping out soon.

so there you have it, over 2,500 yards of yarn moving out. which means it's totally legit that i just bought two balls for dad's socks over the weekend, yes?

leaping

it comes a a surprise to nobody that i'm a serial project jumper; recently i've moved from knitting age-old socks to a slightly less age-old sweater, diverted to a pony-gurumi, moved again to a mess of baby hats, and found solace in a pair of toe-up socks for the bf.

in fact, there is really only one general category of yarncrafting i'm not particularly fond of--deadline yarncrafting.

my distaste for deadlines is fairly obvious:

that pair of age-old socks? socks are a winter thing in florida. i couldn't wear them now if i wanted (flip flop season having begun about a week or two back), but by the time they are done it may well be winter again.

the slightly less age-old sweater? see above. the high today was 84 F (apologies, cold-weather dwellers who may possess envy...); however, thanks to the magic of air-conditioning, a sweater like this will be seasonal whenever i finish it.

dat pony? just for lulz. it wasn't even a gift!

the mess of baby hats? charities can be found in either hemisphere where the weather calls for wool hats, regardless of when the scrapdown ends!

the only project that is associated with a deadline is obviously the bf's socks, intended as an xmas present. note that i began these socks well in advance, knowing that i will pick them up and put them down repeatedly until they are large enough to fit properly (a juncture in time i strongly hope aligns with the general holiday season).

but as happens to all who ellude the inevitable, eventually a project with a tight deadline finds us, no matter how skillfully we project jumpers run or hide. and so it was that recently i recieved a knitting request from my mom, who has a birthday coming up in addition to mother's day. y'know, like, next month.

she has asked for a very specific trio of objects--sachets for her closets and fabric stash storage. these are not particularly hard to produce, but the limited amount of time remaining between now and then leaves me uncertain if i'll be able to deliver. now, being a mother i am certain she would graciously overlook a belated gift, but i still feel the building pressure to get my sticks in gear...

in response to this knitting challenge, this weekend i did the obvious thing: went to a smaller local yarn store to browse their selection...


and walked out with yarn to knit my dad's xmas socks.

uh, i can explain! ...no i can't.

and this week i've been working steadily on...the bf's socks. this i can excuse away by insisting that this is the only portable, easily picked up and put down project i currently have on the go.


there are only three weeks left in which to knit these sachets, however...

knitcroblo update

as so many yarn bloggers undoubtedly know, the fourth annual knit and crochet blog week (knitcroblo) is fast approaching (and if you don't know, it's scheduled for april 22-28 and all the details can be found here).

for the past three years i've taken part (located here, here, and here), dutifully describing my color preferences, yarncraft skill arsenal, most dreaded project, and more. it's always been great fun to go about reading all the posts from various bloggers and also observe the traffic and comments this blog receives during these weeks.

however, knitcroblo is also a lot of work and typically requires some advanced preparation, particularly if you're the type of blogger who tends to go on and on, includes lots of pictures, and obsesses about formatting (the blogger app for the ipad is lacking in formatting features. i have to code by hand, people. by HAND).

furthermore, i've read over the prompts for this year and must confess that nothing quite grabbed my interest. eskimimi's done a good job diversifying the topics--the house system is definitely unlike any year prior--but i personally feel 'meh' about it. meh enough that i will not be participating in this year's knitcroblo per say. i do want to get back into blogging more regularly with actual fresh content, though, which is why during next week i will challenge myself to post a new entry every day, ideally one that keeps with the spirit of knitcroblo--taking a look at my crafting 'personality' and such, but without adhering to a prompt.

this might be more difficult to execute than i'm anticipating, but i'm going to attempt it. if you feel like reading something slightly different next week i welcome you to check out what i come up with.

xmas is coming!

though the concept is lost on non-crafters, it is undeniably time to start thinking about xmas knitting when you know in advance you'll be making gifts at a small gauge. gifts like socks, which are pretty much an established tradition for the males in my life.

thus, it is perfectly sensible to have put aside lightly caffeinated and stripes!tonal in favor of casting on a new pair!


the yarn is knit picks stroll handpainted in the tree fort colorway, which includes the browns and greens you would expect, but also a good bit of teal and light blue (because one can see the sky from up in a tree?). i like all the colors, personally, but don't know if it's exactly what most people would associate with days spent holding secret meetings or fighting off invading sky pirates from up in your tree house.

regardless of your tree house color associations, these are playing off one another to interesting effect now that i've begun knitting the first sock in the round rather than back and forth. each color is aligning into coordinated areas: light and dark hues of green and blue stripe with one another each round, separated by swaths of deep brown, all of which are spiraling gradually up the foot.


this isn't uncommon for handpainted yarns if ravelry is any judge, but i had yet to experience it for myself until now. apparently 102 stitches per round (ooooh yes, you read that correctly. these be wiiiiide feet) is the key to unlocking this hank's ultimate spin attack.

and the novelty of watching the color pattern develop has yet to wear off. i'm interested to see just how it develops as progress is made--will the spiral be maintained after knitting the heel? will the second sock match (i did go to the trouble of locating where the two balls had identical color patterns and cast on each toe in the same spot) or be a fraternal twin?

it's up to fate and chance (and my ability to knit two socks with reasonably even tension)! this task would likely be easiest if both socks were knit in close succession. only one problem: my mom's birthday AND mothers' day are fast approaching, and she's put in a request for knit items.

...looks like my best laid plans may have to be shelved for a little while.

oh hai.

hey, remember when i posted about the much-commented on alchemy of blocking lace? it might have been way back in february, but it was there.

well, now--two months later--i finally managed to arrange for the bf to take finished object photos. allow me to present for your approval, raining on my face, so named for the many frustrations knitting it gave me:


knitting frustrations aside, this is one fine shawl. as of its completion i've worn it out a handful of times (including to a nearby yarn store), shamelessly shown it off to friends and coworkers, and begun the process of forgetting how much i hated knitting parts of it.


(more substantial blog content to resume next week!)