Thursday, July 28, 2005

3rd Hat done!

Ok now have one hat for each child :) I hope they like them..
Here's number 3!

sorry I'm not smiling, it was right before I went to bed

I have extra yarn so I'm making one more. don't know quite what I'll do with it yet though! it will be dark pink and bright yellow.

I've given up on my neon green cotton yarn for now, it didn't want to be a halter top. At least, not right now. I think I'm going to make a really weird hoodie from some red heart I have lying around, mostly just for pattern purposes (who would actually want to wear red heart? god, i've turned into such a fiber snob :P )

I've noticed that I post a picture every post. Also, I tend to not read people's blogs so much unless they have lots of pictures. Who wants to hear about a new hat when they cant see it?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

2/3

Second of three hats finished! I am loving making these :) I hope the kids like them, they're pretty wild! also I hope they fit.. i have a pretty small head, and all of kohki(the youngest child)'s hats fit me, so I'm making them to fit me, and they could stretch bigger. They don't fall off though, so they should be ok.
Blue-Orange hat modeled by me:

and again on Mr. Fishes:

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

New Hat!

Tday even though it was nearly 90 degrees outside (and inside) I sat and listened to some of Chuck Palahnuik's (sp) new novel "Haunted", which is really good, and knitted up the first of 3 hats for the kids I have been working with for the past 9 months! I may knit up hats for my host mom and dad too, we'll see. ALSO this is the super sale yarn I got on my birthday, so this is a $2 hat! (not indluding time, of course).


The brim is garter stitch with a double strand of this SUPER soft thick-thin wool, and the body is the brand-less ball of chunky grass green I found that is kindof scratchy, but fine for the middle of the hat. Knitted on 8mm 40cm circular needle. It's my first plastic needle and I really like it a lot! It's Clover brand.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Birthday Loot!

So yesterday was my birthday (I'm 23! whee!) and I was in downtown Fujisawa and stopped in at my local LYS to look for discounted wool to make hats for the 3 brats I've been taking care of for the past 9 months, as a thank-you gift for all they've done for me. In the center of the store was the usual sale-bin, with nothing really good in it, but as I turned around to leave I noticed baskets and baskets of discontinued sale yarn along the fall wall! whee! Most of it was only single balls of any color or brand, but since I want to make bright crazy kids' hats that was just perfect :) Especially since a whole bunch of it was chunky thick-thin yarn in wicked bright colors, all for $1 or $2 a ball! (this is yarn that would normally sell for between $5-10 a ball). Each ball is small in yardage, but I think I got enought to make 3 kid hats.
PLUS I found a few random balls of mohair including a lovely varigated lavender-pink-green one (that I will pair with some pink wool for a skinnyscarf I think), and a ball of black mohair-blend, AND a ball of NEON GREEN mohair! I couldn't resist it, but what exactly does one do with one ball of bright green mohair?
AND I also found two more balls of Muschio in the colors I needed, so now I have enough to make my mom a hat :)
14 balls of yarn for about $20! score!


ALSO I just created a fantabulous links/reference page with free patterns I like, more knitting blog links, and tut/trick links. please check it out!
RedThreadReferences
The link is also in the sidebar under Links.

To read the full account of my Birthday Adventures go to my Livejournal page:
Alizarinorchid

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Back on the Horse

So since I've gotten utterly tired of my washi bag and my green-top-that-doesn't-want-to-be-made, I started a small felt purse, of my own design. It's in a houndstooth check that is very pretty and very fun :)

the red is actually more of a berry, and the black is charcoal gray.

Only problem is that fair-isle takes a lot of yarn, and I don't have much, so we'll see if I make it! I can't get any more, it was discontinued colors of Filatura di Crosa Primo 100% merino, it's nice stuff ;) I bought it with a hat in mind so I didn't think I'd need very much.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

future projects

The new Knitty is up.. I must say I'm not impressed.I guess I was hoping for some fun summer stuff, and most guys stuff tends to look the same to me. The belt was cool though. and the cigar gloves are clever. And I've met the woman who did Kumo.

Anthropologie, however, has been much more inspiring! There fall catalog is out now and it includes some gorgeous and inspirational stuff like these:
Short Sleeve one-button cardigan
An Openwork Cardigan that looks like fun but I wouldn't wear it
And this Frilly Thing looks fun but a lot of work.
THIS however, I am definitely going to try to figure out a knitted version of though.

As for WIPs I've hit a wall. I ripped out what I had for my tank top for the 3rd time or so because my gauge was off. That's my biggest problem right now: Sizing! It's a royal pain. I really want to do this though so I'm going to cast on again (with fewer stitches) after my yarn has a bit of time to unkink from my last attempt. I must say though that this cotton-rayon stuff is holding up well to all the abuse! In the meantime I think I'm going to start a small felted purse.

And this is just perfect :) I will have to do it.
Maye if I get bored I'll save and re-upload these pics so I can post them here :P