fishie’s aquarium

I just moved from a 5 bedroom house with ample storage to a 2 bedroom apartment with … none. Until the move, my stash was easily hidden in a closet (not joking, that’s where I kept it), and my yarn diet was more of a joke than anything.

Now? It’s serious. In order to prove to myself WHY I don’t need to buy more yarn (and also to organize it better so I can actually put it somewhere), I pulled every ball, skein, hank, and sweater to be recycled out and arranged on my bed.

Somebody, PLEASE tell me why I’m still compelled to buy more yarn.

In the original storage containers

Me in PJs for size reference

That is a double bed. Also, the pile in the back is not propped up by a pillow. That pile is a pure pile of sweaters, Red Heart, and other nameless thrift store atrocities. There are also 11 cones shoved in there.

Close-up

It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but most of the yarn is piled. I guess if my skeins were epithelial cells, they’d be pseudostratified.

Now, time to start re-organizing it. If doing that doesn’t convince me I don’t. need. more. yarn., nothing will.

I wish the reason I haven’t updated in a month was because I was obsessively knitting. Unfortunately, life has been happening so the knitting has been a little stalled. I think getting so emotionally invested in getting accepted for publication, and then having the book canceled has also affected my knitting mojo quite a bit. Spending money on knitting, however, has been going in full force, in spite of my *cough* yarn diet.

Before I gush about all the yarn I bought at The Fiber Gallery’s anniversary sale, or the fact that I just registered for the Make 1 Yarn Studio Fall Fiber Arts Retreat in the Rockies outside of Calgary, I has to show you this hat:

Yarn is Noro Silk Garden, the pattern is Coronet from Knitty, although I modified it a bit. I didn’t feel the need to have a double layer where the brim folded, and I wouldn’t have had enough yarn for it anyway. Instead, I picked up stitches for the crown with the right side of the band facing, and did a row of purls before I dove into stockinette. I did the decreases a little too soon, so I plan to unravel the crown, spit felt the remaining yarn on, and do a few more rows before starting the decreases. I knit the whole hat in two days. Until I fix up my Styrofoam head to be the same size as my head, it will remain unblocked. But I’ll live.

I’ve also been working on a tank inspired by the Drawstring Chemise in the Spring ‘08 issue of Interweave Knits. I really like the look of it, but if I followed the pattern I’d look like a freaking pregnant woman. Instead, I used it as inspiration. I cast on this tank in mid-March, and I’m just now starting the lace bits on the bottom.

Progress a week ago

Made with three skeins of Rowan Calmer, knit from the top down. It fits reasonably well, although I really should have started doing decreases in the back sooner than I did. I’ll throw it in the dryer when I’m done and hope it shrinks a little. In the beginning, I was doing a great job at keeping notes so I could ultimately write up the pattern for what I was doing… but I’ve gotten lazy and bored, so I stopped. It’s not perfect and there are definitely some things I’d change knowing how my choices in decreases affected the direction of the fabric, but it’s really good practice for when I actually start writing patterns (I SWEAR I will actually do the dress that was going to be in the new Sensual Knits before they canceled it).

Now that I have all that boring knitting talk done with: YARN SALE! I got to the Fiber Gallery Saturday morning, right after they opened, so I could get some good sale merchandise before it was all gone. And I spent WAY more than I’d like to admit, but I made sure to only buy yarn that I had projects in mind for. In fact, I have a cheat sheet I bring with me when I go yarn shopping:

The last time I brought this sheet with me, I bought some Cherry Tree Hill Cotton to make the Yoke Pullover. This time, I bought some Cascade Fixation to make the Basic Slip (I’ll be using the Trellis hanging off the bottom of the sheet for the dropped stitch details), and a ton of Manos Cotton Stria to make Road to Golden. I’m really excited about the color combo. Here’s a general idea:

I do buy yarn for projects not on the cheat sheet. For instance, I bought some SWTC Amaizing, which is 100% corn fiber and some SWTC Bamboo:

But I made sure to buy enough of the Amazing to make a shrug (3 skeins) and enough of the Bamboo to make a sweater (4 skeins). I’m really excited to use my new yarns, even if that means finishing my WIPs.

The real reason I’m making this post isn’t because I felt the need to keep it updated with what I’ve been making. Oh, no. Really, it’s because holy carp. I’m going to the Fall Knitting Retreat in the Rockies. I’ve been dealing with massive amounts of stress in the personal life, and nothing erases all of my worries better than travel. The urge to just buy a plane ticket somewhere and be anywhere but here has been phenomenal lately, but the things causing all of my stress are things that make it necessary for me to stay where I am. Just like I spend hours looking at knitting patterns instead of actually knitting, I’ve been looking up places to go and reasons to go to them. I’ve been especially interested in knitting retreats. I don’t remember how I heard about this one. Maybe it was just through a google search. Who knows. But when I first saw it, I thought, “OH! I want to go! I shouldn’t.” My contract at work ends the week after the retreat, and I really shouldn’t take days off then. Also, I maintain my status as a part time college student to keep my massive student loan debt deferred, and I really shouldn’t miss class, whenever that would be in early November. Also, I would be going by myself, and I’ve never flown by myself before (I’ve actually only gone on two round trips in my life). And I won’t know anybody at the retreat. SCARY. But you know what, all those are just excuses. I want to go to this SO bad. Classes by Stefanie Japel, Cookie A, Amy Singer… The first thing I ever knit from a pattern was the One Skein Wonder. And 7 of the 11 garments I’ve knit have been from Stefanie’s patterns. After seeing Stefanie’s post with the map saying it was 1.5 hours from me to Calgary…

The e-ticket is already in my inbox.

Yeah, it’s not until November. BUT I’M GOING!

I love Craftster Challenges. It seems like they’re the only thing that can really motivate me to get something done, these days. I’ve been itching to sew something lately, and I’ve been wanting to try my hands at making a corset without a pattern. So when the March challenge theme was announced, I knew it’s what I had to do. What is the challenge? Spend $10 or less at a dollar store, and make something awesome.

I’m incredibly pleased with how my corset turned out. I managed to find silk brocade pillowcases at my dollar store, I grabbed a package of zip-ties for boning, and bought a kid’s scarf to unravel and crochet into lacing. I also got an eyelet setter (note to self: you get what you pay for), and a bunch of snaps that I ended up not using.

With my cunning and feminine wiles, I managed to turn this:

into this:

More details (and pictures) are available in my entry on Craftster: Silk Brocade Corset… for $8!

The official Craftster Challenge Page (with the voting poll). Voting is open until Saturday, April 12! There are some pretty awesome entries on there. You should vote ;)

As of the first day of voting at 2 pm PST, I’m tied for 4th place. Not bad, especially considering how many entries there are!

I’ve been having a stressful week. So today, I said, “I’m going to the thrift store!”

Of course, first I had to stop by Pacific Fabrics and grab a size 7 circular needle because apparently I don’t have any. While I was there, I finally fould the perfect contrasting yarn for the Lotus Sweater I have in my mind. The main body of the sweater is a nice, deep ruby, and the stranded lotus design is going to be in this:

Tahki Tweedy Cotton Classic

Then, off to the thrift store. The truth is, I was looking for pants. I’m always cold, and I need pants that will keep me warm until the summer. I only have two pairs and I’m feeling the need for variety, at least until I can do a load of laundry.

But alas, the sweaters were across the aisle from the pants, and I couldn’t help myself, especially not when I found a size large, 100% Cashmere cardigan

or a wool-viscose-angora-cashmere turtleneck, also size large, in one of my favorite colors

After securing these sweaters, I wandered off to the back corner where the Red Heart is dumped. Sometimes there’s good yarn, and although it’s rare, I couldn’t leave without checking.

Good thing I didn’t. I bought 5 huge cones of yarn, two of which are laceweight mohair in a color I don’t mind. This is a big deal. Even better: each cone was only $2.99. There’s a sweater I really want to make that calls for laceweight mohair, but my current mohair stash is all variegated DK of various colorways. Worry no more, I have enough mohair to last me a couple years now.

The other three cones are some as yet undetermined fiber, two are a seafoam-blue-green, one a powdery-blue-lavendar, and they appear to be a light fingering weight. No idea what I’ll do with them yet, but I’m sure I can think of something.

Now, if only I had time to knit…

I hate doing traditional work, and I’m constantly looking for a way to use my creative brain to earn yarn money. When I got into sweater recycling, I realized that I honestly enjoyed unraveling sweaters more than I’d enjoy using the yarn, and being unwilling to directly support people using animals for money meant that I really couldn’t just dye bare yarn and sell it like a lot of people do. Sweaters come in a lot of colors, and a good number are available from thrift stores in white or cream. These colors are easy to dye over.

I’d toyed with the idea a little, thinking that I could have yarns that stuck to my sea theme (”fire coral” for a red and orange yarn, “kelp forest” for a yellow/green), but I never did anything with it. But thanks to this thread on Ravelry, I’m motivated to do it. Not with the sea theme though: I’ll actually use my psych degree to make money for being creative. Now, what color would “Self-Actualization” be?

Once upon a time, I had just learned to knit, and a boyfriend’s crochetting mom gave me a gift certificate for her favorite yarn store. Not knowing anything about yarn, I went there, browsed for a long time, and managed to find one vegan yarn. I bought two $12 skeins. It was very pretty. I wound it up into balls shortly after buying it, lost the tags, and forgot about it.

Three years later, I was starting to become a serious knitter. I had obtained my first real knitting pattern: Stefani Japel’s One Skein Wonder. Realizing I didn’t have enough of that yarn from my first ever yarn excursion to make anything else, I decided to make the the One Skein Wonder. At this point in time, I had four pairs of needles to my name: the pair of size 7 straights I got for a birthday present from my knitting roommate, size 2 and 19 straights I bought for novelty, and a pair of size 6 circulars I also bought for novelty.

I had no concept of gauge, or swatching, or knitting the next size up to make up for gauge. I used my size 6 circs. I finished the shrug, after running out of my main yarn and having to do all the trimming with a some grey acrylic and black eyelash that amazingly didn’t look horrible. It was slightly too small, and I’ve never worn it, but I love how it looks and it’s my first ever garment, so I’m attached.

I’ve always wondered what this yarn was, but never had any idea. I remembered that it was mostly something like viscose and had a black tag, but looking through the worsted weight viscose in Ravelry didn’t turn it up. So I just assumed it was some really obscure yarn and I’d never find it.

Jump forward to two days ago. I was especially bored one night, and started a quest. I WOULD find this yarn. I knew that Noro used black tags, and looking through all the Noro yarn in Ravelry, I found it.

It’s Noro Hinageshi SS. Apparently it’s bulky weight, with a recommended needle size of 8 to 10. And while it’s discontinued, it’s still available for sale in a few online shops, and for less than I paid for it.

My dilemma: Do I unravel my first ever garment, currently unwearable, and use the yarn with the right size needles and make one that fits? Or do I just buy more yarn and remake it? I’m tempted to buy more, I mean, look at colorways 8 and 11, but I’m not supposed to buy more yarn. Can I make an exception for discontinued yarn? Buying yarn would allow me to make one with long sleeves…

I love this hat. It’s Odessa by Grumperina and it’s genius. I cast on Saturday night, finished it Sunday evening. Yarn is Debbie Bliss Pure Silk; I used the needles specified in the pattern.

This was my first time knitting with beads, and I think it turned out wonderfully. I also have a bunch of yarn leftover (see last picture) but I don’t think it’s enough to really do anything with.

My only complaints are the yarn I used was a pain in the bum to wind up (it kept slipping and tangling) and there were thick spots that look noily in the hat, and the size 6 DPNs at the end were pretty fiddly.

The issues I have are completely trivial though, and are 100% due to the yarn. There are very few patterns that I feel compelled to knit again after I’ve finished them, but this one is going to be knit over and over. The stitch pattern was amazing and I’m thinking of making a slinky Odessa-dress.

I haven’t posted in a month, but I have a good excuse: I feel guilty making posts with no pictures, and the computer with my uploading software is in a room filled with asthma attacks. I’ve invested in some handy dust masks from my local hardware store, and so now I have no more excuses.

I’ve been buying lots of yarn and knitting a lot. Despite me trying to use up my increasingly large stash, I received a giant package of yarn in the mail yesterday. This is what happens when I find out that an online yarn retailer sells “mystery bags” of leftover dye-lots and extra skeins and sells them at a huge discount, with the catch being you don’t know what you’re getting:

That’s a lot of yarn. The full list of my plunders:

(1) Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted
(2) Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk !!!
(2) Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet (two different colors, one skein makes a pair of socks)
(2) Lily ‘n Cream Solid, one dark purple, one light purple
(2) Lion Brand Jiffy, one black one red
(1) Lion Brand Wool ease
(1) Noro Silk Garden !!!
(1) Patons Classic Wool Merino
(2) Patons Shetland Chunky
(2) Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran
(2) Southwest Trading Company Karaoke !!!

There were some things that I could have gotten from Joann’s, but some things that I couldn’t have, and since I bought two bags I got doubles on a lot of things (and they’re the same dyelots!). They say each bag has $50 worth of yarn, and I really feel like I got my money’s worth, especially since I’ve been pining over Karaoke for a while and got TWO in a GREAT colorway (it’s purple/blue).

Anyway, I’ve been doing more than just buying yarn, I’ve been knitting too. Remember the Cable Down Raglan I knit for NaKniSweMo? I finally got around to blocking it this week. I had run out of yarn so I had to do half length sleeves, which I hate, and when I tried it on… guess what: It’s too big. Gaaahhhh!

I was gifted some yarn over the holidays, and decided to use the Tahki Taos from Kate for the Cropped Cardigan in Fitted Knits. I had just enough yarn to make it, so I started knitting. Then I kept knitting… and kept knitting… and ended up with a very not cropped sweater coat. Even with some major modifications, it still doesn’t work with the boobs. Ah well. I can always wear it open.

My most recent finished object is my Intolerable Cruelty. I cast on for it on the Yarn Train to Portland (really, I swear I’ll make a post about it!), and I finished it just over a month later. It was stalled in the middle while I was swatching feverously for the dress that was going to be in the sequel to Sensual Knits, but it looks like that book has been moved to the “maybe not” status and so I’m not facing a deadline anymore. So I went ahead and finished the skirt.

I used the recommended yarn (SWTC Bamboo) and only used barely over 3 skeins. The skirt isn’t as form fitting as I was hoping (I have the hip measurements for the small, but apparently my thighs are XSmall), but the drape is amazing. I could flounce around in this all day.

So what am I working on now? This damn scarf:

It’s Liesel, and I love the results, but the process is monotonous but not easily memorizeable. This was going to be my winter scarf, but I think I’ll end up hanging myself with it if I finish it before spring. Last night was the first time I’d touched it in almost two months. I think I’ll cast on for Odessa soon. I’m probably going to try it with the beads, which requires obtaining them. Hmmmm…

No, really, I am. I had an awesome time on the Seattle-to-Portland Yarn Crawl on Saturday (update with pictures coming soon I swear), and among my plunders is some eggplant colored Habu bamboo lace weight. It’s my first laceweight yarn ever, and I’m so excited to use it. I’ve been wanting to knit the Oriel Lace Blouse for a while, and now it seems like a possibility. I’ve also been throwing a couple other ideas around, like the Peacock Feathers Shawl. The Habu has been tumbling in my brain so much that last night, I had a dream that I had knit a bunch of lace-doily-dishcloth things and I was blocking all five of them.

Huh.

I should mention that on the train, I cast on Intolerable Cruelty in hot hot pink SWTC Bamboo. I got through a couple inches of it on the train trip, and as of last night, I have 7 inches knit. Watching a couple of the other knitters on the train made me realize I’m kinda fast.

Huh.

I’d mentioned my plans to get a dressform from Joann’s to aid myself in designing. I’ve used them before, and I don’t think I’d be able to start seriously designing unless I have one of my own. Joann’s handed me a flyer when I went there to buy some emergency #17 circular needles, and on this flyer it mentioned the next week, dressforms would be about half off, starting at $90. That’s a good deal. So I went there with Kate and Charles, since my back is still in need of physical therapy and I wouldn’t be able to carry the box myself. When I asked about one, I found out that not only did the flyer contain a misprint (dressforms were not on sale), but they didn’t have any left, since they were on sale before Christmas.

This left me dressform-less with a deadline. I wasn’t too upset, since I really don’t like the ones Joann’s has: the hard plastic ones that are “adjustable.” That’s great if I’m making things for a bunch of people of different sizes, but I’m really only going to be making things in my size, which is also the size I need to make things for publication. Plus, I prefer dressforms I can stick pins into.

I went onto ebay to see what dressforms were available and what they were going for, and I came across this beauty: One of the squishy ones with adjustable boobs. One of the costume designers at the shop I worked at in college had one of these, and occasionally brought it in to work on. I remember the shop manager saying it was one of the nice expensive ones. I just bought it for cheaper than the plastic ones Joann’s has, with free shipping.

I’m very excited.

Luckily my original craft journal was fairly new, so it took me less than two work-days to move every post over to this one. I’ve got a feed started on LJ in case anybody over there wants to follow me that badly, I started a feed in LJ. Not sure if it’s working though. Hrm. Whatever. It’s not like MY NEW DOMAIN IS THAT LONG. :D

All of my LJ posts are in the “LJ Archive” category over to the left there. And you see that zooming cowfish at the top? I took that picture. Ooooh I’m going to love having this website.

I think I’ll post content soon. I have that cropped cardigan I made that ended up not being cropped at all, which is all buttoned and ready for blocking and pictures. But yeah. This post is nothing other than being being all like, “Oooh shiney.”

I’m done.

I went out a couple days ago and got two more kinds of yarn. I picked up some Louisa Harding Grace from Pacific Fabrics, and some Euroflax from Cultured Purls. Despite them both being completely different weights (size 6 needle for Grace, size 3/4 for Euroflax) I like both enough for them to be my two choices. I had to do a rough estimate for yarn quantities, but it was easier for the Grace since a dress in the current Sensual Knits is made out of it and uses just a little less yarn than I anticipate. The Euroflax at least comes in huge 270 yd skeins, so asking for an extra skein or two really adds up.

Freaking out is settling down a little, and I’m realizing that even though this is a major project, the deadline isn’t that much different than a class on the quarter system. Why would I freak out about the final project if I have all quarter to work on it? Why would I think I wouldn’t have any free time the entire quarter? Seriously, if I worked on the project non-stop the whole time, I’d get done way early, which would mean I’d STILL have free time before the deadline.

My first (and only) design was my first fair isle project, and I finished that pattern in a couple days and knit the hat in one night. Yeah, this is a dress, not a hat, but I think I’m capable of putting this together. I wore the first sweater I ever knit (less than a year ago, too) to a formal party and got compliments from people who didn’t realize I’d made it. I’ve done enough lace projects (uh… two? three?) to understand how decreases and YO’s can be arranged to make something happen, and working from charts became second nature after my first time using them (Cherie Amour was my first, and I got it enough to get through the neckline which is obviously in need of errata).

I have 16 years experience with sewing, and come on, if I can sew this:

I can design a much simpler dress. Yeah, sewing is not the same as knitting, but knowing how fabric goes together to make garments sure doesn’t hurt. Joann’s is having a sale on dressforms next week, and I might just drop the damn $90 to finally get one. I’m also seriously considering sewing a fabric version of the dress I want to knit so I can get measurements. There’s where the autistic “I can’t understand it if I can’t see it” thing starts getting annoying. But still, doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Well, not completely. I’ve complained to Chris that the hardest part of this whole being in a book deal isn’t the pattern or the knitting, it’s figuring out what to say in my bio. I am not good at giving a succinct three sentence summary of me. Unless I can just say, “Alysa is WEIRD,” I can’t be summed up in a couple sentences. I managed to scare away a guy trying to talk to me at a New Year’s party when he asked me who I was, and I ended up rambling on with a friend about how much we loved our cat and dog, respectively.

That part of the bio aside, almost every knitting designer has a website/blog/online store. I have one. It’s uh… right here. My PROBLEM is, as much as I love LJ (I don’t love it as much as I hate change, actually), it’s not very useful for knit/craftblog purposes. People can’t respond without an account unless they do so anonymously, which makes it impossible to know how many people/if anybody reads this. I don’t really want to take up precious space in my bio with karmic-fishie.livejournal.com! especially if it’s not something people could easily interact with me through.

SO.

I’m thinking of moving this blog. The only reason I had it here in the first place was I’d reserved the name for when I changed my madamecacoon name, which isn’t happening now, and I figured why not use it? But now… not so useful, and I might as well switch domains while I have a manageable number of entries. I’ve found a good hosting site, but because of LJ I’m horribly not educated about blogging and blogging software. I’d really like my own domain, and the horribly ironic fishie.net is available. I have the money for pointless things like a domain, and being published will get my name out there and hey! maybe it would motivate me to get off my ass and start putting stuff in my damn etsy shop. I have how many half-finished Beaded Octopus Earrings?

There I go.

Next time I design something, will somebody make sure I’ve already knit it once and written a pattern? Please?

I got an email from the publisher today saying that I need to pick out my top two yarn choices and tell them how many skeins I need. Eep!

In addition to making a post in knitting, which lots of people have answered and helped me out with, I took and extended lunch break LYS hopping with Kate. The only way I’m going to be able to accurately determine how much yarn I’ll need is by swatching, so I’ve picking out my favorite/most likely to succeed yarns from each store I’ve gone to. So far Hilltop East and the Fiber Gallery have been plundered. Alchemy Bamboo (HOLY CARP EXPENSIVE!) from Hilltop, Debbie Bliss Silk from Fiber Gallery.

People in the knitting post have pretty much said no on the bamboo (heavier than I thought, apparently, but I’ll still swatch and make a desicion on my own), and yes on silk, but leaning more towards a merino/silk blend or Euroflax. One of the dresses in Sensual Knits is made with Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool, which seems like it would be a good choice but I’d still have to swatch it it or something VERY similar to determine yardage, and I’m not exactly sure where I would find it.

I really want to figure out my yarn choices soon so I can request it and start designing. This whole deadline thing is SCARY!

A design idea I submitted for the sequel to Sensual Knits got selected. It was something that I completely made up on the spot at work and submitted pictures of my sketches that I took with my phone and emailed myself. It got picked! One of my knitting designs is going to be published. *flaps hands*

Problem is, I think I might have designed something a little… advanced for me. Not advanced for me to knit if it was from a pattern, but to design myself, whoo boy. At least I have until March to come up with the pattern and finish knitting it. I’m sure I’m supposed to keep it under cover until the book is announced/published or whatever, so I’m not going to say anymore about it than I think I’m getting paid a pretty penny for it considering it’s my first published design. And it’s 10 million hotdogs awesome.

Building up to the omg jump up and down excitement of this whole “I’m going to be in a book!” deal, I got some yarn from Kate for Fishmas this year. Kate has a tendency to buy me yarn that is much longer than it should be. It’s like her yards are as long as Chris’ minutes. Previously, she bought me three skeins of yarn that was 200 yards a skein, and I used it to make her a total yarn eater project (the Manitou Passage Scarf). Not only did I only use two of them to make the scarf 6 feet, but I also made her a matching hat and I STILL have some left over.

The yarn she got me this year was 6 skeins of super-bulky Tahki Taos, 60 yards a ball, in Jungle. 360 yards of yarn. I looked through Ravelry and the books I owned, and figured that the Carrie Cropped Cardigan from Fitted Knits would use about the amount of yarn I had. I’m not normally a fan of cropped stuff, but I have a couple tank tops that would go with the colors and I figured it’s just a shrug that buttons in the front.

I swatched on Saturday, but I couldn’t get gauge with the right needle. I moved up to a 17, but got the same gauge as with a 15. I decided to just knit a size bigger than I needed and everything would work okay in the end. It did. Not only did it work okay, but Sunday evening, right before midnight, I cast off a full length sweater jacket, going past my bum. I’d added more increases to the front to encompass my bosom, and decided to make it a little longer anyway. I was expecting it to come right above my navel, which would show off the lacy bottoms of my tanks nicely, but no. I’d used two balls on the body, one each on the sleeves, and still had two left when it came to lengthening the bottom. I added some lacy eyelet-vents in the lower back to add shaping and match the eyelets in the bell sleeves.

The finished product is wonderful. I’m going to buy a couple buttons after work and do the finishing touches, and then I’ll add pictures.

And I think I’ll make Kate buy me yarn when we go on the Yarn Train to PDX.

Poor neglected craft journal *pets it*

Things have been busy. I made a lot of stuff, but I have no pictures because I’ve been too busy to upload them.

I finished my NaKniSweMo sweater, although I had to bind off my last several stitches a couple days into December because I couldn’t find my swatch to unravel. The sleeves are half length, which is annoying because I can’t stand half-length sleeves on sweaters, but if I wanted them longer I’d have to undo the bottom of the sweater and I’d rather have the extra length. I’m thinking I’ll knit armwarmers with the same pattern out of a different color and attach them with buttons or something like that.

I also finished Kate’s hat and scarf (the Manitou Passage/Reversible cable things). The hat didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to, and I’m not sure I’m going to bother writing up the pattern. Too much of a pain and the reversible cables don’t decrease very well.

The first two of my army of cupcake hats have been completed, and I made them to match the baby blankets I made for these kids. The cupcake hats are way too big for their little heads, and since the hats only take me a couple hours to make (once I get past the damn nubbins) I’m going to make a couple that are smaller and can fit the babies now.

Liesel has been cast on, but I’m not that far into it yet, just three or four lace repeats. It’s looking nice, but I’m worried that my mystery vintage yarn is mostly acrylic and I won’t be able to block it. I am planning on making more than one of these, so it shouldnt’ be too much of a problem.

Hallowig has also been completed, and that was finished in about three days worth of spare time. Very easy, very quick. I think Andie will like it.

Non-knitting crafts: I etched some glasses with snowflakes for a gift exchange we had at our party, and they were well received. I took pictures of those before they left the house, and I’ll post them when I have time. Which will hopefully be tonight because I need to upload lots of pictures. My Ravelry notebook is all unillustrated. Can’t have that.

I also might be submitting a couple things to magazines and books soon. I’ve got the submission criteria, all I have to do is come up with the designs…