Just say no to long distance deals. If I wrote down all the phonecalls, service visits, misunderstandings, offers to drill through our house, reneging of deals and assorted pricing quotes, we'd have the makings of a great little farce. All we'd be missing is the electrician loosing his pants. Fortunatly that didn't happen. Unfortunatly, I'm internetless...we've had wires crossed, we're at a loose end, and I'm fit to be tied. But I'm getting lots of crocheting done!


As you can see, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of photographing crochet. I now have 21 finished patterns of varying frivolity. Mainly small items, which has more to do with my attention span than with pattern writting. If anyone has clever ideas for photos do tell me. When I get back to Halifax, I'm going to try my hand at a Duct Tape Judy (see previous post) and paint her white. She'll be my model for shawls. I tend to look like a street urchin in them lol.









Luckly I have a gorgeous model in the form of Ginny. If properly sedated (with lots and lots of kitty treats) she is perfect to show off my attempts at baby hats (since I don't know any babies). Here she is in a Rose Chapeau (as seen at Knitting Out Loud).


This is Ginny in my new Sushi Hat. It would help matters if I could try it on a real baby but I doubt it would look quite as cute. Ginny is actually alergic to fish so it's a tribute to her versitility as a model that she pulls it off so beautifuly. Watch out Minou! lol This next pattern is my favorite right now though.







It's an Elizabethan Ruff. Have I lost my mind or is it really cute? I think I'll sell them at the next UFB show. Just admit it; you want to look pretentious too!
Thanks for all the comments, I hate that I can't blog more. Hope to write more soon....
ps. I'm teaching a class Jan 31. Check it out! xoxo
Soundtrack: "Baby" Martha Wainwright

Why can't I get my computer yet? When I do I can post photos. When I do I can stay online for long enough to blog. When I do I can update my ipod. When I do I wont be grumpy. I'm getting the above model in the 12" version which goes with my new idog (named rufus). Yes, I buy computers to go with my toys. Or, I would if I could get my hands on one. Wed. they tell me.

In the mean time I'm working away on crochet patterns. I want to make this free people shawl and if I don't have to fake my way through it, it will be a pattern too. I now have enough written that I think I could put together a book proposal lol. Spesh, when every crochet pattern book I look at is littered with the same old dishcloths and single crochet scarves.
I'm seriously thinking of buying a domain name and selling patterns online ala glampyre. Why not, right? (Well 'not' cause I don't have my &%$*^@# laptop yet). *sidebar: also on this phantom ibook is 'garage band' a program that will let me record my own demo cd. I have started writing songs about crocheting hats already and will slip them to the lads as they try on the hat...maybe not.

A belated happy birthday to my one and only (name withheld) I will make him a cd too; covering all his songs but inserting my name and knitting.

"Left holdin' the slub again
Weaving it in at both ends
Don't believe Fleece Artist is a friend
Chorus:
Thick[yarn], thick & thin[yarn]"

Ok, it needs some work LOL but at least now you know I'm working on finishing a project in FA slub.

I happen to know they listen to Charlie Parker in the tourbus anyway.
On the needles now is a topdown raglan with leafy vines down the sleaves and a low cut square neck. Now hold your breath...I'm knitting it with 8mms and double stranded Red Heart Super Saver. Why? (this doesnt get better) well, I started the project (expecting disaster)in Phentex. See, there's this shade of Phentex acrylic I really like! A mossy green. It is no more. I am heartbroken.
See? Pretty colour right? Anyway phentex must have realized it was too good to be true and was giving their acrylic line a bad name and now it is gone. I will add "Requiem for an Acrylic" to my cd. 
Anyway, I will post photos of this new sweater when I can. Thank you for all the comments about Mum's scarf! I will post photos of that too as soon as we have a glamour photo shoot.happy new year,

Soundtrack:"Love in a Trashcan", The Ravonettes, "Queen Bee", Devendra Barnhart

PS Speaking of favorite yarns, did anybody else get the call for submissions email from debbie stoller?

Xmas Knitting? Bah Humbug. I arrived home safe and sound and well rested(I slept from halifax to montreal station) and here I am in Kingston so far behind (b/c I slept from halifax to montreal station) having missed out on 18 hours of prime knitting time that I want to stab my self with my addis. Oh happy turbo dagger....

Here is Mum's "Emperor's New Scarf" (I can post the full name and link now; there's no way she's reading the blog before I give it to her...even if that ends up being sometime in january...) This is how it looked before leaving halifax. Now it looks....exactly the same but for one hole where I took the brown waste yarn out and tried to scrimp my way out of buying more butterfly cotton and finished the edging in embroidery floss. Don't do this. I found some cording that I'm de-plying from walmart and I think that will work. I just need to sit down and DO it.
Christmas miracle? Yes please. Oh and the omnipresent Hogwarts Scarf? I think I'm knitting a horocrux.

In happier news (happier than my turtley turbos) xmas shopping has tought me that everyone likes an oldfashioned Granny Square headband so I'm off to type up a pattern.

ps. I'm so sorry I missed holiday snb (or kol?) and the chance to see everyone's projects before they were gifted (or saved for next year as the case may be). Hope nobody thought I'd locked myself in the Shambala shrine room again.oops! Happy Holidays!

Soundtrack: "The Twelve Days of Christmas",Bob and Doug McKenzie
 

It's getting to be that time again; packing for the train back to Kingston, eating up everything that could go bad, freaking out over xmas presents, doing copious amounts of laundry, trying to get the tangled mats out of my hair, drinking egg nog for dinner....and celebrating Granny's birthday! Granny's 89 this year and although she asked for nothing but codeine and chocolate, she was very happy with all her prezies (especialy the ones that gave her a chance to pose). Here she is proving once again that she and Mrs Slocombe (of Are You Being Served fame) have more than a little in common.



In christmas crocheting crunch time I'm trying to turn out patterns for The Loop to sell.



The thing is, I need photos to include with the patterns that don't look like snapshots I took for the blog, and also don't look like I took them in my bathroom (I still need to buy windex), and oh yeah, that don't make me look completely egotistical (cause they're all of me so far). hmmmmmm...SnB ladies...want to be models?


Btw, here's what I want for christmas:



Soundtrack: "Words You Throw Away", The Black Crowes

If I had a winners/losers gallery of finished objects (ala Knit & Tonic) this would definitely be filed under 'losers'. It's not really done yet, but I really don't have the passion or drive right now to turn it into more than it currently is: a squid casing.



This seems to be a recurring theme for me *see briggs and little squid casing* perhaps I'm going through my cephalopod period? I'm sure it can be rescued in time (it's supossed to be a top I copied out of teen vogue -good god, right?) and I think the problem is that I tried to seam it during a cross country car ride with Ginny the cat in the back seat. I will pack it away under my bed until I grow enough backbone to give it a vertebrae and hope that it evolves past squid someday.

I've been so overwhelmed with knitting for xmas, and crocheting for classes, that I've been indulging in embroidery. Here's what I'm working on now:




Yes, yes, it's the ubiquitous Stevie Nicks. If you're interested, click here to see how absolutely stunning she is these days. Hooo ha! One day I will be her shawl mistress. I will painstakingly repair the Edge of 17 and Stand Back Shawls and make her a new wrap for Illume 9/11(I saw her on Sept.10-not that that makes me qualified) No, what makes me qualified is....well you don't need to hear my theories about my double parentage or my mean Electra complex (re Lindsey Buckingham). Sigh. Maybe one day I'll post a link to my Stevie site. It used to be one of the top rated ones. (yes, they rate these things)

As for my real Mum, you may remember the jacket she commissioned in the summer (click here) I still intend to make it, but not for a while. In the meantime, I'm making her Lucy's "The Emperor's New ____" for Christmas. (I won't post a picture in case she visits the blog...and I know she wont look up the pattern w/o help from me hee hee! no, no, she knows how, I just hope she wont.) The 'thumb trick' is blowing my mind and I got so excited that I came up with a great idea w/o realizing that it wouldn't work vertically. Duh. Is there a technique that would keep those stitches live, vertically? (vs. casting off and then on again)

ps it is gross outside. I wanted it to snow but not rain as well. grrrr.

Soundtrack: Wiretap, CBC1-this is one of my favorite shows ever. "Choooooo!"

Bad blogger! Bad blogger! I feel really bad about my blogging lull but I hope the following will make up for it!

I noticed this idea on Crochet Pattern Central the other day and made my own version during my first Crochet Workshop (which went really well!) using my ubiquitous flower pattern. Bandless Ear Muffs! Genius! There's a loop at the back that fits snug around your ear. I'm in love.




So I'm at SnB and get to laughing, ha ha, and get the best. idea. ever. I give you...Crocheted Elf Ears!



The pattern is still inchoate but at least I can cross off 'skin graft onto ears' from my xmas list (j/k!)

In the meantime, I think I've finished the raglan cardi. I know I should have a photo of the front, but I couldn't manage one on my own that was flattering enough to be posted.



Soundtrack: "One Way Ticket" The Darkness, "Do You Want To?" Franz Ferdinand

Fibre Adventures! I'm taking a class in Fibre Manipulation and our last class was about water soluble fabrics and plastics and the crazy things you can do with them. I made a sandwich with mine and filled it with lace and roving and tulle and then stitched the hell out of it with a free-form embroidery foot. Here's what it looked like:




Our homework was to disolve the fabric and we're to bring our results to class tomorrow. I took mine over to Granny's where my Aunt and Cousin and I all got stuck in disolving the fabric which turned into sticky snot. Here's Granny having a go:




It's turned out beautiful and lacy (but it's still got the snotty stuff on it-I need to disolve a bit more) and I want to do more!



I've also been working on a custom raglan cardi


It's worked up really quickly in Fleece Artist Boucle and Slub...not sure where it's going to go from here though. I've worked on it some more and had lot's of great advice from the ladies at the loop and at SnB so we'll see!


Soundtrack: "United States of Whatever", Liam Lynch

So official news: I'm going to be giving crochet workshops at the new Halifax knit cafe 'The Loop'. OMG!!! I am so excited! If you're local be sure to stop by and see the shop. It's still being set up and product is still being unpacked but the space is amazing and there's lots to check out. (It may even feature the past Guinness World Record holder for 'World's longest knitted scarf'. I am of course all for anything Guinness. lol. I'll post a link to the store's website again, once it's up and running. Stay tuned!

In the mean time I have loads of WIPS.

This subfusc photo shows my attempt at the errata-filled Saxon Braid from "Knitting on the Edge". It should turn into the cuffs and collar for a jacket. The next photo is a neckwarmer in Noro based on an antique lace pattern (I used the same for some gauntlets a while ago.)


I'm also trying to finish up my version on R2's "Drawn on and Dinky", but it's not going too well. Any tips on machine sewing onto loose knitting????


Thats it for now, I bought some beautiful Baby Alpaca from The Loop which is waiting to become a capelet.

Soundtrack: "Honey Hi", "Take the Skinheads Bowling", Camper Van Beethoven

The Show is over! ahhhhhhh. But now all those things I put on hold (from xmas knitting to cleaning out the fridge-yuck) are looming large and I must relax. It is okay to relax. Need proof? My nerves were so haywire I had to go to emerg. Chest pains, breathing problems, the lot. We tested for Everything and it turns out I've got myself into quite the state and need stress treatment. I was upset that I had gone through all these tests for that diagnosis but then a different Dr came in and asked me what I'm studing. "ummm I'm just doing some niteclasses at nscad right now." "what kind?" "textiles" "do you spin?" "OMG Are you the SPIN DOCTOR?!?!?!?"

You see, there is this dr who works in emerg and to calm down, his hobby is fixing spinning wheels. Someone told me to take my wheel to him but I had put it off. There he was in my little cubical giving me tips on organic purple dyes! I have taken it as a great omen. My first step towards destressing has been to pick out some patterns that need my full attention. Lace and cables. No more making 5 hats while I watch Golden Girls.



Back to the show...there are better photos, but I seem to have messed up my computer downloading too many alpaca photos. The show went really well; you can still find the website here. We got press this time (which was really strange....the interviewer asked me what kind of stuff I make. We were standing in front of my stuff. sigh.) and lots more people. I made double what I did last time ($$!) and I might even have a job (!!) A lovely lady came to talk to me about running crochet workshops. I don't want to get into it too much just yet as nothing's really confirmed. Still, to all the people who said crochet was a waste of time and that you can't make money in fibre arts...ummm.."na na na na boo boo." (this is a family blog you know.) I'm sure I'll be blogging MUCH more about this in the next little while, and maybe even asking for advice.

My Fibre Manipulation class has started up. Last night we did free motion embroidery, but last week we did needle felting and I kind of went crazy...Meet my new pet cat, and my new mascot *blank*. See, it was meant to be an alpaca, but I couldn't get the neck stiff enough and now it looks like a beautiful pony; like rhiannon when she turns into a horse, I think. Either way it needs a name.


So with my little felty friends I am calming down; everything is right in pomoboho land. You can make money crocheting, and trips to the Dr can end in more help than you even imagined. lol 'Spin Doctor'. Only in the Maritimes.

Soundtrack: "99lbs", Humble Pie

So much to post!
I've been doing the swaps at
PurplePinkandOrange and October's theme was 'snacks'. It didn't even occur to me to do halloween, but I got the most amazing treat bag from my swap pal and it arrived on the 31st to boot! Thank you! I got a package from Mum on the same day! Good snackn and good knittn. Note all the crazy japanese candy, and the cans of candycorn pop! Who knew?

In between munching on things I can't pronounce, I've been crocheting cat ears:

Edit:I forgot that I was going to mention how amazing the Holiday VK is! I almost wet myself! K, end of edit....

We had a lovely time at S&B tonite with 2 new ladies! I hope they keep coming. I showed off my 'sweatshop'ish speed at crocheting and decided to post it so that you can all enjoy (and/or be freaked out; even I didn't know I'm that fast). Take that Lily Chin! Here's a movie in two parts showing me making the flower described in the last post. It's really silly. These movies go out to the guy who was taking photos of us at uncommon grounds tonight. I hope you enjoy.

Soundtrack: "Paganini's Moto perpetuo", Bella Fleck