Giving it a Spin

Hey Kate,

Last night, I watched crime shows and drafted the roving I've had for over a year and never did anything with. It's not the softest in the world, which made it not as pleasant as it could have been. In fact, by the time I was done with most of the drafting, I had pretty much decided that spinning may not be for me. Too fiddly. But I reserved judgment until doing the actual spinning.

This morning, I turned on The Art of Megan's spinning video. (Megan has been a huge help.) While I was following along, The Spawn came over and "helped". She was fascinated by the entire process and giggled and cheered and made the whole thing a great time.

So, I've decided to make it a Mother/Daughter activity and continue with the yarn making. Sure, The Spawn is a hindrance during the drafting part, currently, but that's a good activity for TV. And she'll get better at "helping" as she matures.

I've also decided that the whole process doesn't have to be that fiddly. If I have fun making it and if the end product is only for our consumption, then who cares that it's not even in the same universe as perfect?

In the knitting front, I'm almost done with my summer driving mitts. Will post when done.

Later!
Robin

My New Appendage

Hey Kate!

The Spawn is modeling my new iPod armband. After all of that searching and kvetching and teststitching, I ended up cannibalizing my first, unfinished sock and crocheting a pocket to sew on it. It isn't particularly fetching, but it is useful and fun and surprisingly more comfortable than I was expecting. The yarn is discontinued from Knit Picks -- a sock yarn that I think was called Dancing. I don't remember. It's stretchy.

That's all I got.

Later!
Robin

Mitts for The Spawn

Hey Kate!

Yes, it's 80 degrees out, but I don't care. I'm still happy I finally finished the mitts for The Spawn and so is she. It should have been an hour project and they should match better and be better knitting, but when you knit and reknit and drop the project and pick it back up for months, stuff happens.

I used this nice and easy pattern and the lovely Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Delft Heather.

Now I need to make myself some nice cotton driving mitts. Or maybe another skirt for Kira. Or maybe my birthday present raglan thingy. Or maybe... Well, the possibilities are endless, but one thing is for certain: Knitting makes me feel better and that's a very good thing.

Later!
Robin

Patience!

Hey Kate,

I'm out of it right now because The Spawn is just so bouncy! But I'm happy with the results and here they are: a new bracelet!
That's all I got.

Robin

Tidbits from Ada: Part 2

Hey Kate,



There are boarded up homes and businesses everywhere. Emme found a tree swing.

Later!

Robin

Tidbits from Ada: Part 1

Hey Kate,

I don't really have time to do much of anything here, so I'll just have to send little tidbits. We're staying in Ada, Minnesota with my Mom.

This place is interestingly named because there is no valley to view. Flat flat flat.

Emme found a bee.

More (hopefully) tomorrow!

Robin

The Monday before our departure

Hey Kate!

Things are hectic around here while we prepare for Emme's and my Big Train Adventure and I'm so excited we'll be seeing you so soon! In the meantime, here's some randomness:

• What to do while waiting for Diablo 3
• Is Lando looking for love?
• Click on "Why is the world so screwed up?" on Matt's page.
• This game looks fun and makes this comic hysterical.
• I think I need this. I think I need this now.
• I didn't realize how important 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night (no more, no less) is.
• Ah, the things we learn from scientific research.
• Dude, I had no idea.

I suppose I should add a little knitting content, too:

• I want the bag at the bottom.
• The outcome of the dyelot disappointment ended up being lovely, though I would still be pretty unhappy about the color difference.

Unfortunately, for Thor, no place is safe from the camera...


or from the Two-year-old:


See you Thursday!

Robin

Nothing to do with pirates

Hey Kate,

As the subject says, this post has nothing to do with pirates -- not that there's anything wrong with that. It is some more randomness, however, because you know I love the random links. Let's get right to it:

• This is a fun movie list. Nothing to get angry about there. Unlike that other time.
• If there's one thing the Chinese government knows how to do, it's deal with riots. [via Joe The Peacock]
  
• The guy who does Diesel Sweeties has a cat.
• Yoda hat!
• Gah! Dye lot error!
• This book looks great and is now on my wishlist.
• So cute!
• And this is a great parenting list. The Spousal Unit linked it to me, which makes me very happy.

And now for the random picture of Emme to go with the random links:
Emme thinks she looks like Tweety Bird here. You can't make this stuff up.

Later!

Robin

Happy day before Independence Day!

Hey Kate!

If you think that title is random, wait till you see this blog post!

• Let them eat cake!
• I am not left handed.
• I want to make this even though I have nothing to wear it with. And it is not because the picture was taken on top of a page from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It took me 5 whole seconds to notice that, so I definitely saw the collar first.
• A list! A list!
• Whitney strikes again.
• Before we make any trip through time, we'd better go shopping here.
• You buy a house in a nice neighborhood so that your family will be safe. And then you find out that the government never expected anyone to live there. Of course, you should have read the notice that was publicly posted in the filing cabinet behind the door marked Beware the Leopard! Or was it tiger. I forget. Don't make me look it up.*
• And because I think all blog posts should have at least one picture, have some stash sitting:

That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

*I looked it up. It's Leopard.

A rant about boucle

Hey Kate!

Because the patterns in my sampler are all lace from charts, I decided to start with the simplest project for practice since I'm a charted lace noob.


Unfortunately, that means working with the yarn I least wanted to use in the sampler: the Crayon. Crayon is a cotton boucle yarn. It's soft. It's machine washable. The colors are nice. And now we're done with the nice things to say about it, unless "it's not terrible for a boucle" is a nice thing to say. It's a very odd choice for a lace project.

Who invented boucle yarn anyway? I couldn't find it (though I didn't look that hard) but it seems to be from the French for buckle. So I blame the French.

Other than a gratuitous picture of Emme...


... that's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Potential and finished projects

Hey Kate!

I got my Victorian Sampler and kneedles yesterday.


And I finished my hat! The seam is too visible and the top has too much fabric, but I love it just the same. It's mine, MINE, MINE!

Except when Emme is wearing it of course.

I still have half a skein of Malabrigo left over, so I'm just going to have to make a camera cozy and a DS cozy with it. I know. Life's hard.

That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Attempted Stash Dive

Hey Kate!

I know I have enough projects to work on right now, but I got the urge to make a Short and Sweet and decided to go stash diving. After checking my living room stash...

I went into the bedroom to check out the less favored stash, just in case there was something usable only to find it guarded again.

Cheese!

That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Emme's got a new bag

Hey Kate!

As usual my F.O. pales in comparison to yours, but I'm still pretty proud of Emme's new purse.


And as usual that's all I got.

Later!

Robin

In progress

Hey Kate!

Your spring looks lovely. Unfortunately, we went straight to summer. But enough whining. I have progress pics!

Here are the Bramble Stitch Neckerchief (Ravelry link) and the Urara handbag. I love working on both projects, though I must admit I've been distracted by my favorite MMO lately.


That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

P.S. Gratuitous Emme smile.

The long and short of it

Hey Kate!

So I finished the Fetching.


I love them. It's such a great pattern.


I also finally got around to weaving in the ends and washing my enormous crocheted Kimono shawl.


The pattern is from the 2006 Crochet Pattern a day calendar and I've forgotten what it is really called. It came out much better than I thought it would and I really like it. But it is HUGE.

Emme loves it too, but she doesn't want to pose. She just wants to walk around wearing it like a princess.


I'm currently working on that cute Japanese bag, a Bramble stitch neckerchief and an Amanda Hat, but I have no pics yet.

That's all I got!

Later,

Robin

The prodigal project

Hey Kate!

I finally dug out the Lacy Top and unsewed the backward panel. After re-sewing it and all the other little pieces, it was a lot of fun crocheting the border. The yarn was Knitpicks Shine Worsted, which is very yummy though it does split very easily. And I used an I crochet hook, not that it matters very much. Crocheting is just so much less kneedle dependent than Knitting. I use a cheap metal hook and love it, but I am such a kneedle snob.



From now on, before I fall in love with a pattern, I must look at how it's made. This one had too much sewing and it requires a snap (which I don't have) to make up for poor design. In crocheted goodies, this is what I like to stitch, not things like this lacy top.

Regardless, it is adorable. It's big on Emme, but that was as intended.

Later!

Robin

Wall o' pics

Hey Kate!

I'm a bit hopped up on homemade orange glazed biscuits. You have been warned.

So here's the progress on the Apprentice Beanie.


Emme knows where it goes.


And here's the beginning of my Happy Sock.


So Mr. Loki! How does it feel to be the furniture?


That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Double the fun!

Hey Kate!

I'm a weirdo. Ok, this isn't news. But I have to say, I love double knitting. Granted, I haven't gotten that far, but I'm having a great time.

Here is the beginning of the Apprentice Beanie, as demonstrated by Emme. I'm using Cadena in Tide and Natural. The Tide is prettier in person. I think what I find fun is the fact that I'm throwing the main color and picking the contrast color. I'll be keeping you up to date on this project.


Later!

Robin

Videos and more videos

Hey Kate!

Have you seen the new how-to videos at the bottom of our site? It's got a yarn ad on it and everything! I know. I haven't watched any of them either. Who has the time?

Besides, I've got this new video right here. This one isn't distorted. I'm having a hard time connecting it to yarnie content though. I'll think of something... In the meantime, watch Emme do her thing.



Emme just informed me that she was watching Abby (the fairy character on Sesame Street) when she was watching herself. Interesting.

Later!

Robin

It's all about Emme

Hey Kate!

So I took some video of Emme today and have been having issues with it. I took it sideways, so I had to get some software to rotate it. Then I uploaded it to YouTube and found that they squished and stretched it so it looks terrible. But too bad! Here it is!



She's wearing the poncho you knit her and the hat I knit her. There. Now there's knitting content.

Later!

Robin