Crafty Girly

OH MY GOD HIS @$$ IS ON FIRE

Published

on May 19, 2008

. 2 Comments

I have been so incredibly swamped with school work that I really can’t believe how much work they’re expecting us to do in such a short amount of time. I haven’t had much time for anything really. I worked a little on crocheting a “granny square” more for practice than anything. I’m going to keep going with it and make a doggie/kitty blanket out of it for charity. I made it out of some Vanna yarn that I got to make my portion of the charity log cabin blanket that the Betties are working on, so I figured I’d keep going with my charity knitting and use up the cheap yarn for a good cause, but I haven’t finished it yet.

I also started cleaning up some raw merino that I had purchased and oh.my.god the portions I got cleaned have come out so incredibly soft and fluffy! I can’t wait to finish it up so I can play with it some more. It will need to be carded and dyed and then it will be up on Deco Handspun. This little lamb was apparently and incredibly dirty little guy because I’ve had to wash it out quite a few times and some parts of it are still a bit grungy, but the lanolin is out so that’s good. It’s not so sticky anymore. It just need to pick through it and get all the VM out of it and that’s really time consuming because, as I said, this guy was really dirty.

So the reason I wanted to blog today was really because I have a really funny story to tell you all that has nothing to do with knitting but is something I really needed to share, and my boyfriend is insisting on it.

We’ve been cat-sitting this really awesome Siamese cat for the past two months. This guy is the coolest cat ever. We’ve been told by the owner that he’s about 20 years old, so he doesn’t really do much of anything. He usually just lays around the house and every now and then he comes and head-butts us for some petting and then he’ll go around and harass our other two cats once a day and that’s his day. Well, yesterday I had lit one of those giant scented candles that come in a glass container and placed it on the coffee table to make the room smell nice. He decided to come up on the table and nap, which is not unusual for him. He usually makes space up there and knocks everything off the table so he can nuzzle up and nap. Yesterday he came up, he napped, and when he was done napping he decided to walk across the coffee table to try and get some love from us but this cat decided to take the short route straddling the candle. I don’t know what happened but all I remember doing is looking up from my studying and screaming, “OH MY GOD, SUKI’S ASS IS ON FIRE!!!” He turned to me with this, “huh?” look on his face and didn’t realize that he had caught the underside of his tail, right were it meet his body on fire. He looked like Michael Jackson with his head on fire only it was the poor cats ass. Thankfully it was just the hair that had caught and it didn’t get the skin. As soon as I screamed that out my boyfriend swept him up and put out his poor butt. It smelled like burnt hair in that room for a good half hour after this happened.

This has honestly got to be the funniest thing I have ever seen because the cat didn’t realize what had happened to him and even after I had screamed that out he looked at me like, “What’s going on?” He had no clue and he never complained. Well, I can’t say never because we gave him a bath afterwards to get all the blackened hair off of him, and he took that with stride (thankfully) but he didn’t enjoy it very much. He was good as new afterwards though.

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In which school takes over my LIFE!

Published

Lissette

on May 8, 2008

in Everything Else and Fiberlicious

. 1 Comment

The summer semester has started and I’m already frazzled! One of my classes, the professor decided NOT to turn in a list of books to the bookstore and left everyone scrambling for books. One of which must be some kind of super rare book because nobody had it including Amazon, except in their used section. Thankfully I found someone locally who was selling this super rare book on Amazon and I picked it up yesterday. The reason this super rare book drove me crazy is because, after perusing the syllabus for the class, I realized that I basically have to read the entire freaking book by next week! Nice, huh? Meanwhile I’m also taking ANOTHER class (and I wanted to add a third class to my schedule! psht! THAT wasn’t going to happen!) that gives quizzes at the beginning of each class and on the first day, which happened to be Tuesday, the professor had assigned us to read something like 200 pages in three different books and web articles for a quiz today. Mind you the class is from 6:30 to 9pm after work(!) and she acknowledges that most people work, so I guess we’re just supposed to procure this time out of thin air to read what is the equivalent of an entire freaking book in one night! I stayed up til practically 1am yesterday doing my readings, taking notes, and having discussions with my better half on the reasons why feminism is so good for our society, men and women alike (since my class is on women’s studies) and why he better damn well start helping me out around the house! Yeah, I was tired, I’d been reading loads of feminist materials, and although I still think he could wash a dish every so often, I don’t think it was executed in the right way because of the aforementioned groggy/tiredness.

Needless to say because all this has been going on, knitting has come to a screeching halt. On the plus side (or maybe not so plus), I sold some fiber! I sold Underwater Gardens (which i don’t think I actually blogged about, but if you check out my Flickr or Ravelry it’s there), and Glades Gator which is great because extra cash for yarny/fibery goodness is always good, BUT …… I really liked how that fiber came out. Yeah, falling in love with fiber you want to sell is bad, I know, but it’s really nice stuff and the colors! O.M.G. THE COLORS!

I think I’m going to have to dye up a batch just for me then really, really soon, or as soon as I have a spare moment for myself to be able to dye, spin, and knit something up because right now I hardly have time to go to the bathroom let alone knit!

In more good news, I sold some textbooks that I’ve had laying around too! I’m SUPER excited about this because I’ve been trying to make room in our office since it’s looking like something out of a horror movie that’s about to swallow you whole, so getting rid of some stuff was a necessity, and making some cash for it is always great. So, if you need any textbooks, go to my Amazon store and buy stuff!

Hopefully, some time in the near future, there will be some knitting content going up, but for now, please be patient with me as I’m trying to become more learn-ed.

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The latest Spun stuff

Published

Lissette

on May 1, 2008

in Dying, Fiberlicious and Spinning

. 1 Comment

This is the yarn that was misbehaving with me so horribly the other night. It’s still on the bobbin. I’m probably going to turn it into a skein tonight. I have a real bad habit of under-plying, so I’m hoping that this one did not do that because I gave it an extra couple of spins as I was plying to avoid that, but then I reached the areas that were fighting me horribly and I lost track of the extra spins, so I’m not sure if it’s under-plyed, over-plyed, or what. I’ll find out tonight.

This yarn has been a dream to spin up! This will be part of the Miami Collection at Deco Handspun, once I’m done with it, and there’s a batt that I’m still working on that will be part of the collection, along with the fiber that I dyed last night that is a dream! I left it drying by a window when I left for work this morning, so I haven’t seen the colors pop yet, but I know when I get home I’m going to be pleasantly surprised. When I pulled it out and cleaned it the colors were already starting to show beautifully, and I’ve noticed that after kettle dyeing the colors don’t really come out until it’s fully dried. I know this is going to come out gorgeous.

Speaking of dyeing fiber, this was the last one I dyed. I finally snapped a picture of it yesterday and put it up at Deco. I’m calling this Mango Milkshake, because the muted yellows with the red/orange and pinks reminds me of mangos. See…

It’s not perfect, but it’s a close resemblance. I’m hoping to have Key Lime Pie done tonight and hopefully plyed as well. All I have left is a little bit of fiber to spin, so that should be ready to go real soon, and I’d also like to put Twilight (which is the fiber I’m playing with) through the drum carder a couple of times tonight to smooth out some areas that are still a little lumpy. This is my inspiration. This is what I see every night on my drive home, when I’m relaxing on my backyard with a Mojito.

Maybe not so much the beach and palm trees, but the way the sky looks. I’ll try and get a picture of this batt tonight.

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The Crafty Girl goes shopping!

Published

Lissette

on April 30, 2008

in Everything Else, Fiberlicious and Spinning

. 0 Comments

And what does she buy? Vogue Knitting Stitchionary volumes 1 and 2, The Friday Night Knitting Club, and Knitting without Tears, AND she orders Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn Clark. I guess I could take these things off my wishlist then. I’m writing this off as a Mother’s day gift to myself. Yes my boys would have gotten this for me, but in truth it’s more fun if you buy it for yourself!

As you could probably tell, I’m getting stuff to help me design stuff, which is something I’d like to start doing. Since I’ve been in this whole “I want to make these items completely mine” mindset, I figured why not go all the way?! Why NOT get raw fiber, dye it my own colors, spin my own yarn AND design my own patterns? It seems logical to me, that is until I actually get into it and wonder, “what the hell was I thinking?!” like I did last night.

Let me explain.

I finally spun up the fiber from last months Spunky Club. This yarn was fighting me the.whole.way.through. What do I mean by this? Well, this yarn would break at every instance, would not cooperate while being plyed, did not want to be turned into a center pull ball, and tangled to the point that I spent about 2 hours last night untangling simply so I could finish plying the stupid thing. But even through all of this, I overcame it! I conquered it and I finished the yarn! Just in time too because my new shipment came in. In truth, with all the fighting I did, I learned a lot along the way. I learned how to continue plying even when one of the singles breaks, I learned how to find the end when I’m turning a single into a ball from a swift and it breaks, but then you can’t find the end and ditto for when it breaks on the bobbin. I learned that it’s better not to mess with a single, to just ply it off two bobbins because it just makes life *that* much simpler. This one misbehaving yarn gave me a tremendous headache the past two days but in the end I’m more experienced when it comes to handling fiber.

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Fun with a Crock Pot

Published

Lissette

on April 29, 2008

in Dying, Everything Else and Fiberlicious

. 1 Comment

This is one of my latest creations! I learned to use my crockpot to kettle dye fiber and I’m having a blast with it! This fiber came out so absolutely beautiful with the mild variations of greens and yellows, and it’s so soft and fluffy. There’s another fiber that I dyed that I have been unable to photograph. This one I’m calling Glades Gator and will be part of the Miami Collection on Deco Handspun. Why Glades Gator? Well take a look…

This is an image I took while in the Everglades, and I think it’s very fitting name for this fiber. Be on the lookout for the next fiber in the collection, and I’m thinking I may be dyeing some tonight as well.

In other news, UPS left me a really nice package on my doorstep yesterday and inside was this

I’ve been wanting this Lazy Kate for a while, because plying and winding things onto balls with the Lazy Kate my wheel came with is nearly impossible! The thing just spins out of control and drives me nuts, so I dished out some cash for this. Of course, this wasn’t the only thing in the box. There was also this…

I’m already having fun with this. That will be another fiber that will pop up soon on Deco and it’s looking beautiful so far. I’m thinking of calling it “Bayside Twighlight”. You’ll see why soon. I’m also in the process of spinning up some great yarn in Superwash called Key Lime Pie. Wait til you see it! I’ll try to get pictures of it from the bobbin tonight.

On a more personal note, since I’m in between semesters right now I have all this time for playing with fiber that I’m taking advantage of it and I’m learning as much as I can. My best resources thus far have been the internet and trial and error, and I’m looking into some books as well. I’m excited because this is something I’m really enjoying. Playing with fibers, dyeing them pretty colors, spinning them into luscious yarns, and then turning them into something wearable is so incredible to me. I like being a part of this creation process. I like knowing that I can take something like raw fleece and turn it into clothing that will keep me and my family warm or comfortable, and I hope that I’ll be able to share that with you guys through my blogging.

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