The Stupid Way to Turn a Heel

Before Turning

So on Saturday I decided I had done enough of my heel flap, and I started thinking about turning the heel. I wasn't really sure what that meant, so I did a little Googling. I read a few articles, stared at my sock some, and I was still confused. So, I decided to wing it and hope for the best. Here's what I did:

 What happened was I realized that since I had not really followed the Knitty Gritty Plain Vanilla Socks pattern, I did not have the right number of stitches to use their heel turning numbers. This was a problem, because I didn't know enough theory to make up my own numbers. Luckily, I found this article in Knitty and it just so happened that the example numbers she used for the turning heel section were just right for my sock. I did a little jig, then got down to some serious heel turning.

It didn't go entirely as planned; I ended up with more stitches on one side of the center third then the other and I ended up just purling them all together instead of just two, which is what the pattern said. Then I put loops on a new needle, like it said, but I couldn't figure out how the yarn was supposed to get to the instep stitches so I could work them, but then I realized I needed to knit the stitches I had picked up and I fixed it. Then I went to the other side and did the same thing. And then I did some creative* decreasing and got down to some number around 48. And now I will continue on the foot, hoping for the best!

After Turning

I do have one problem with it, though. The two needles that I picked up stitches on have a row of gaps:

OK, I swear the lighting looked better on my camera, but you can see the gaps, right? Right?

So, the sock continues on, and after more than a little surgery (involving scissors, snipping, and random loops appearing out of nowhere) I hope it goes well from here. Until I have to try grafting.

*random and stupid

A New Breed Of Sheep

As a distraction from the lack of knitting and crocheting, I have a new breed of sheep: LED Sheep! This is an awesome YouTube video that I saw, and watched over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.




Enjoy!

Mad scientists, assemble!

I know I said no more BH for April, but I found this really neat test tube chandelier from Handmade that I wanted to share with you guys. Anyway........

I am making a strip. It is a Waterfall Strip, adding to the collection of other Waterfall things I have made. (Waterfall Wrap, Waterfall Pillow, and a Waterfall Hat that I never posted about. And I gave it to a friend. So it's kind of gone.) It will probably either be another hat like this one, or a wide scarf. And no, I have no idea why I am making warm fuzzies in April.

For the sock update, I give you a conversation.

SJ: Hello Sock, how are you? 

Sock: Well, I was put in a little bag for a week and a half, but then yesterday I was worked on!

SJ: Worked on? How so?

Sock: My heel flap is now half way done! 

SJ: But what about the other half?

Sock: Baby steps, baby steps.

So true, so true.

This is the Magnificent Mantle, a bit of the way into Row 32. This is yet another prime example of me making unseasonably warm things.

Have a wonderful day, and try not to blow up your labs!

Happy Earth Day!

This is a neat video from Mother Nature Network, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Obviously, it's a bit outdated, but it's still kinda cute and interesting.

Ah!!!!!

OK, that seriously just looks like I'm sighing kind of loudly. I meant it to be something more like this: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! That's better. Carry on!

I just want to throw it out there that April hates me, my blog, and all that it stood for the entire month of March. First, I was sick for three and a half days! I am not supposed to get sick! It makes me so mad! (rant over ) Then, it gave me no good material for the BH. I mean, in the rest of the month, we are supposed to celebrate everything from Newspaper Columnists to Jellybeans to Garlic to Shrimp Scampi! And while I have nothing against shrimp scampi, work with me people! I can only even imagine links for the 25th, the 26th, and maybe the 29th. Depending on what kind of mood I'm in. So, for the rest of April, I am officially shutting down the Bizarre Holidays feature. And just for the record, May and June aren't looking too friendly either. I'm just saying.

OK, so since most people probably don't even care, we will just be moving right along.

I have been crocheting. I thought I saw a few knitting needles somewhere in there, bust mostly crocheting. I am on Row 38ish of the Magnificent Mantle, which is coming along just fine. So well that I'm already looking ahead to my next project!

My candidates are:

-The Hot Button Beret from Crochetvolution
-The Magdalena Doll from the Saturday Evening Post
-Pleasance Platypus from ROCKIN4GOD

This was kind of quick, but hopefully I will be able to get back in my posting groove! I would appreciate any input on which project Is hould pick! (Feel free to suggest one you have done or want to do too!) Have a great evening!

Eagle! Birdie!

First, I just want to say that I had a post all written up and ready for yesterday, but the computer ate it and I didn't realize until this morning. Sorry! So here's a combobulation of today's links with yesterday's info, plus today.

OK, I know almost nothing about golf, and I'm not very good at it, but that's not going to stop me from celebrating National Golfer's Day!

Knit:
-I don't play Angry Birds, but these golf club covers are still pretty awesome!
-I like this argyle set because you can very easily make them to suit anybody.
-For those of you with some cabling skills, these black cable covers are pretty neat! (There's a picture if you click the link that says large picture blah blah blah)

Crochet:
-Golf club covers from Yarn Lover's Room. I think. Maybe.
-Along the same line, an adorable gopher golf club cover form Red Heart. It is definitely very cute!
-OK, so I kept looking around on Red Heart, and they also have the very cute and girly poodle golf club covers.
-I promise this is the last one. :) I can't tell what site this is (but it's through the Wayback Machine) but they have these super cool Starry Golf Club Mitts.

This weekend (Saturday night) I decided I wanted to do another big crochet project. Not anything completely huge, mind you, but I had no crochet WIPs and I needed something to do. (Besides my knitting, but I'll get to that later.) So, I started the Magnificent Mantle from Crochet Kitten. I did the first five or six rows, then I stopped to pin it out, then I got up to row 20 last night. Hopefully it won't take me too long. Here's what I have so far:

OK, so knitting. I used up all the yarn I had left for the baby blanket, and now I have a good excuse to not work on it. :) Once I get more yarn, I can do the last four stripes, seam it up, and I'll be done!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: The Secret Project! Here it is...... (drum roll, please!)

Socks! Or more accurately, half of one sock. I just kind of winged the cuff and leg (which is really more of an ankle) and I'm using the Knitty Gritty Plain Vanilla Socks instructions for turning the heel. Which I've never done before. Right now, I am making the heel flap. It hates me. And I hate it. These are socks full of love. :) There is no way I will be able to wear these socks, but that's the whole point of first socks, isn't it?

Have a great day, and get out on the greens!

FO-Tree Skirt!!!!

Oh my gosh!!!!! I'm done, done, DONE!!!!!!

The tree skirt ended up being about fifty inches in diameter-maybe a little less, but still, more than enough. OK, details. 

This is mostly my spontaneity, but it started out being an actual pattern. It has disappeared from Crochet Pattern Central, but since I only used the first row, I think it's OK. After that, I was just increasing on the fly, trying to make it lie flat after each row. When I got to the home stretch, I did a row of single crochet, (it was half-double crochet for almost all of it) then shells. I used the shells from Planet June's Easy Rose pattern. I'm pretty sure I used it exactly but I wasn't looking at the pattern while I did it (just a quick glance before I started) so who really knows? Here's a close-up:

I think it looks really pretty, and certainly better than if I had just left it raw. The overlap, however, did not fare so well:

It looks kind of nasty, but I'll just tell my mom that part goes in the back. :) And finally, here it is, all folded and ready for storage until Mother's Day, which is when my mom is getting it:

I'm thrilled to have this done! And I bet you guys are thrilled you won't have to listen to me complain about it anymore!

Have a great day!

Tree Skirt News Channel

OK, so I was supposed to post this yesterday:

I'm going to change things up a bit today, order-wise, and do the tree skirt first. I'm super excited; I got four rows done on Tuesday! That's right, FOUR! So now, I have a very good chance of finishing the entire thing by next Monday! 

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(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up for the shells, which will be Row 22.)

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I'm not going to photograph it until I'm to the end of the HDCs, which is three more rows, so here it is, an inch and a third shorter than it really is:

Obviously, I never finished that post, so here is today's news:

Oh my gosh!! I am on the shells! Totally, completely done with HDC for maybe forever. It is such a good feeling! I am hoping to finish today, but the shells take a lot longer than the HDC. A lot. I am a third of the way done, maybe? I've got my fingers crossed! And the obligatory chart:

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(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up for the shells, which will be Row 22.)

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 As soon as I finish (and by "as soon as" I mean after I've jumped up and done screaming and danced a little jig) I'm going to work on the baby blanket. OOH!!!! I'm so made at myself. I went to Michael's the other day, and I got everything I needed except baby blanket yarn! ARGH! Okay, I'm going to go do some amazing crocheting. Hopefully, I'll have a FO post sometime tonight! Have a great day!

It's spring!

I know it's been spring for a while now, but I'm really starting to feel it this week. Spring cleaning (lot's of it), warmer weather, birds, bugs, and all kinds of flowers are making their way into everything. Since this month is Records and Information Month, I thought I would share how I organize my crafty stuff!

First up, yarn. YARN!!!! OK, so I have this big white thing that I hold stuff in. Mostly yarn. I don't know how to explain it, but maybe you can see from the pictures. I have the yarn sorted by colors: cool, warm, and neutral. (I got a few skeins of Sugar 'n Cream today, so I pulled everything off anyway. I wouldn't just randomly do this. I swear.)

This is all my warm yarn. It's mostly pink, despite the fact that pink is one of my least favorite colors! (can you see the white metal thing?)

I have a lot of cool yarn. Mostly blue, and it barely fits into one compartment... Is that a bad thing? :)

I have about the same amount of neutral yarn as warm, or maybe a little more. I also have the partial Pound of Yarn attached to the tree skirt.

I also keep most of my fabric in one of the sections. It's mostly fleece, from when I made about a bazillion 18x18" fleece pillows. By hand. I was a little crazy!

This is a really big binder. It has a lot of pockets and secret hiding spots in it. Well, they're not really secret, but that's not the point. I have all of my swatches (that would be a total of one) in one pocket, but mostly I use it to organize ball bands! 

This is something I recently started doing, maybe in August or September? Before that point, I didn't know what those were for.... at all. But now I do, so I cut them out (carefully) and glue them into this notebook, sometimes with one edge flapping up so I can read the back, sometimes with the back rewritten on the page. In total, I have about five pages filled.

I keep that binder on a bookshelf with my craft books next to it. 

I also have bins with my WIPs or random FOs and general supplies (you can kind of see the latter at the left edge of the picture).

And finally, my sewing machine gets a little cupboard all to itself. And the instruction manual. And the pedal and spare bobbins. But other than that, all to itself. 

Alright, that's all for that! (Just a note, if you think there's a lot of pictures now, when I first wrote this there were about two or three times as many. But then I trimmed it down, and the only "fluff" picture left is my blue yarn, because I wanted you to see how much there is!)

****We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.****

Here is a picture of the monstrosity:

(It's getting kind of hard to photograph this thing!)

My goal is to have all the HDCs done by next Monday. That's 7 rows in 6 days, plus maybe a little of tonight. I'm not sure how well that's going to work out, but here's a look at the chart:

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(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up for the shells, which will be Row 22.)

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We'll see! As for other things, not much as been happening. I've really been concentrating on the tree skirt. Toodles!