Crafty Bird

Welcome to my nest of fibre, fabric, paper, and beads...

Name:
Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Thanks for dropping by! I have a passion for all sorts of crafty goodness. Creating items with my hands and heart is a perfect complement to my working life.

Friday, January 26, 2007

The long-awaited River post


Well, I think it's about time I posted about the long-finished River Shawl! I really love my finished River and have worn it a number of times. I did manage to finish it for my partner's Christmas party in December, which was my main goal, and have worn it as a scarf on other occassions. The yarn, Kid Silk Haze, is so lovely...not scratchy at all! It is wonderfully warm as well so I'm sure I'll get much use out of this knit!

The pattern is fairly simple, but took me forever to finish (due to many stops and starts on my part). So my start date was sometime in early 2006 and my end date was December 2006. The pattern is from Rowan Magazine no. 38 and was designed by Sharon Miller. I used a little less than 2 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Black and the shawl was knit on 7mm Aero needles (no I don't mind the cheap plastic needles!).

I did not make the little scrunchy thing, but might in the future with the remaining ks haze.

I just wanted to thank those of you who patiently drop by here looking for a post...so sorry for the long pauses between postings!

The lack of light when I am home has prevented any decent picture of current projects, but I have been working on my Hedera socks (turning the heel on #2); Icarus shawl (slowing plugging along in chart 1); Jarrett sweater (yeah! I started a sleeve to see how the sizing will work out); Fetching gloves (yes, I started another project!). It looks like the forcast this weekend is for sun so I hope to get some fab pics of my knits soon!

I wanted to give a big heartfelt Yeah! to Ellen and Dana and Ruth-anne who have come together to form our own little Victoria knitting group! I just love getting out for an evening to chat and knit with these wonderful women!

And Happy B-day to Kathy -- all the best to you dear!

Take care all!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Resolutions and lists

I've been reading numerous posts about resolutions for the new year. I too have many goals and wishes and have resolved to start a journal and write some of them down (check). I am hoping that the permanence of ink to paper will solidify some of my thoughts, goals, and decisions so that they seem more feasible and concrete. I think that in defining the goal it will allow me to see how I can manifest it more clearly and allow me to outline the steps necessary to reach the goal. I have many personal life goals, but since this is a crafting blog after all, I'll outline some of my goals in that realm:

1. Knit from my stash. Yes, my stash is busting at the seams. I recently purchased a dresser to hold my growing stash in style and I want to keep all of it in this one dresser. I have yarn for a few sweaters that will give me some much needed room and allow me to really consolidate all of my fibre in one place. I thought about joining Wendy Knits' Knit from your Stash along, but, I really suck at any "alongs" so I will be a virtual participant - less pressure that way!

2. Keep better track of what projects I have on the go - preferably in some form on this blog. I must get one of those project tracker thingies. Here are the projects I have started at the moment:

- Witterings : summer hat pattern by Anna Bell knit with black and white cotton. I started this project in the summer and have promptly shelved it due to non-sunny weather.

- Ene's scarf from Scarf Style in some lovely Fiddlesticks handpainted silk yarn. Love this pattern. Don't love that I made a mistake in the 3rd row. As per usual, I tucked this project away in hopes that it will miraculously fix itself. No such luck so far. I will make this one, but may have to start over (argh - it has a cast on of 375 stitches).

- Norwegian Stockings by Nancy Bush. I must have a pair of these socks...must! I even joined the Stranded Colorwork challenge. Of course, since joining the knitalong I haven't worked on the darn things once (told you I don't do well at these "alongs" things).

- Embroidered Stockings from Fall 2006 Vogue magazine. I have the socks finished, but haven't even attempted any embroidery.

- Hedera socks. Just started these recently and am working my way down to the toe of the first sock. I seem to do pretty well at staving off second sock syndrome, so I have high hopes for this project. Plus their so lovely, and their for me :) Here's a pic to keep you visually entertained:

- Jarrett sweater from Vintage Style. Not ringing any bells? Well that's because I am just swatching for this project. I promised my sweet man a sweater many months ago and this is the one for him. Here's a pic of the swatch on 4mm needles. I also did a swatch with the 4.2mm Denise, but the Rowanspun DK (in colour 737 Rush) begs for metal needles. If this project does look familiar, you probably read Brooklyntweed's blog. Love his projects!

I have a few (*snort*) other projects in the queu; however, since I don't knit full time for a living I think I'll focus on getting some of my current projects completed. By the way, yes I do have knitter's ADD.

3. Spin! I have recently acquired some roving and would like to practice spinning.

4. Keep my crafting / knitting purchases to a minimum (see also #1). Possibly set a monthly budget? Before doing that though, I must go on a buying spree ;) Opps! Already did that.

5. Learn something new. Last Fall I took a lino cutting course and loved it, so this year maybe I'll take another course (painting? bookbinding?)

6. Learn more about fibre. It seems there is a lot to learn about fibre and yarn! I'd love to increase my knowledge in this area.

Well, thanks for hanging in there so far with this wordy post. I'll get to posting pics of River next time around. For now, here's another seed stitch beret I knit for myself.

It's done in the same Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk yarn as the beret I knit in December for my mum. This time around I extended the brim to 5 inches from the cast on edge (the previous one was 3.5 inches) to make a slouchier hat. I used the Debbie Bliss pattern that I received as a gift for participating in her now-defunct club; however, it is very similar to Wendy Bernard's free Le Slouch pattern found on her site (it's on the left sidebar...just scroll down a bit and you'll find it). The five inches made my hat pretty slouchy for my smallish head, but it makes for a hat that is nice and warm - perfect for those blustery winter days here on the Island.
Au revoir!