CrafTBQ

I need a new bag.  My weetiny and adorable purse is on its last legs.  It was a good purse in that it held just what I needed it to hold.  But what I also want it to hold is current knitting projects.  This will take some experimentation.

I had a purse once that was certainly big enough, but this thing could’ve carried a small child.  Way too big for every day purse needs.  I’ve since converted it into my crochet bag:

It currently holds all my crochet hooks (except the one I keep in my knitting bag to catch dropped stitches), scissors, practice yarn, tapestry needles, and the totally confusing crochet booklet that steered me so wrong all those years ago. (I THROW NOTHING OUT).

As a crochet bag this works pretty well. The little pockets inside are quite spiffy for putting my tools into, and the roomy inside is plenty of space for yarn and projects and books.

But no way am I hauling something this big around in my daily life. 

So off to buy a new purse I go. No clue if I’ll find something, but think of all the extra knitting I could get in if I’m successful!

ETA: The Girl From Auntie has a great collection of posts about Deb Stoller vs. Sew Fast Sew Easy over the use of “Stitch N Bitch.”  Recommended reading for anyone interested in that whole kerfuffle.

I finally sat down with the new class schedule for my LYS and sadly the only two classes that were tempting me (a cable purse and a sock class) fall on days that I’m working so I can’t go.  Phooey.

On the upside it does say that the crochet group that meets every 2nd Wednesday is still going to be doing that from 6-8, even though the store hours are changing for the summer. I guess they’ll be staying open just for them?

Anyway, something for me to keep in mind on the odd chance I feel like trying to do a SnB with a crochet group instead of knitters.

Worked on the swatch last night. Would much rather be at home doing that then at work right now.  Depending on how my head feels as the day goes on, I may do just that.

Current projects are doing more work on the scarf and getting ready to swatch something for a friend (*waves hi to my best enabler*). In the meanwhile I post links of note, interest, and general funitude. I figure this works better than posting the boring links that even I don’t care about.

First up, I point towards the Village Knittiot again as she posts links to different ways of looking at our consumption as part of her Summer of Knitting Naturally. I’m particularly interested in The Omnivore’s Dilemna as I find food culture to be utterly fascinating and the idea of tracking four different meals is a creative way to approach our current eating system. I mention it here both to remind myself to read it, and to point it out to friends who might share similar interests.

Next up, and along the lines of a completely different for your now for something needs, CrazyAuntPurl posts a review, with pictures, of Sexy Little Knits which has a title that’s fairly self-explanatory. (She also talks about loving to look at patterns even if she doesn’t make them, which goes far to comfort my guilt issues about doing the same.)

SLK reminds me of SKC which is the Sexy Knitters Club which I may try to join at some point. Possibly in the near future if they pick a project that I’ve been hoping to do already. I notice a few of their nominated patterns are ones I’ve had my eye on, so I’ll have to keep watching.

I’d post a link to my LYS but in spite of them swearing that they’ll do so, they have not yet updated their website since the Carter administration. Which is amazing when you consider that the store itself only opened a few years ago. The good news is that they’ve got new classes, and I’m sorely tempted to take some if they fit into my schedule. The bad news is that they’re moving to summer hours, which cuts down on my ability to scoot over there after work on Wednesdays. (Granted this might be good news for my wallet, but still.)

Turns out it wasn’t that I forgot to charge the batteries in my camera, it’s that the batteries aren’t holding a charge. I’m trying again just in case I did it wrong, but in the meanwhile I loaded some regular batteries in and was able to take some pictures. First, the scarf I am currently working on:

I realize those are two very similar photos, but the first shows the color and the way it hangs better, and the second shows the actual - whaddyacallit- ribbing.

There is more to the scarf but you must wait and suffer with not knowing until I’ve finished it. In the meanwhile simply admire the beauty of those basic ribs, the soft yarn, the exquisite gauge! Also the cute left hand which belongs to me, obviously.

Other things worked on of late include this:

Which is the cheesecake I made as a combo Mother’s Day/Happy Anniversary present for my Mom and Dad. It contains Oreos, chocolate chunks, it’s topped with ganache and it was quite yummy. I got the recipe out of some magazine I have no idea how long ago, and this was the first time I had a chance to try it out. Very easy to make and totally worthwhile.

BGAL’s been given a start date of June 1. I figure that should be enough time for me people to get supplies, ideas, etc. I’m going to post it up on that KAL list I found a while ago too.

Current project is still the simple ribbed scarf. I’m up to skein 2 on it. No pictures yet because I was a big dork and let the batteries run out in my digital camera. Once they’re charged up I’ll take some in progress pics.

I did most of my knitting on it while watching Texas Ranch House. That show simultaneously made me want to throw my remote at my TV and get out needles and work on crafty stuff. Guess we can say that’s entertainment.

In case you missed the updates on my LJ, BGAL now has its own blog. My perfectionist nature is still twitchy about some aspects of it, but I’ve decided to throw people at it and see if it breaks. Right now we’re still doing sign-ups. Sometime soon I’ll update with a start date and what have you. (Down, perfectionist nature, DOWN!)

Speaking of alongs, I thought some of y’all might be interested in The Summer of Knitting Naturally (more info to be found here). I’d probably join in myself but with enough knitting and crochet projects on my plate one of the ways I can reduce my impact is by not buying more than I need to. I am fascinated by those links, though. I may chat more about them when I get through Knitting in America which references one of the yarn sources she talks about.

Finally, lest you think this too texty for words (…is that a pun?) I give onto you pictures of the infamous zill holder:

This was a project done by me to basically give myself practice working with size 3 dpns. I modified the pattern based on the bag you can see on the cover of Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The modification was very easy once I guesstinated my gauge. At which point I have promptly forgotten just WTF I did. This is where my knitting journal would’ve come in handy. Whoops.

The yarn was sock yarn that was given to me by Zortified (I miss that LJ code whem I’m blogging). I assume it’s wool. I used it since I liked the colors. On the whole it was a quick and easy project once I got past the point of ZOMG this size 3 wooden octopus is going to stab me in the EYE!!

At some point I’ll make another one so I can recreate the pattern. I’m also contemplating doing further modifications like adding in cables. I suppose one modification could be to use larger yarn and needles, but at that point I think it’d miss out on a lot. Plus the holes might be too big to make it useful. I use this for zills but nothing’s saying you couldn’t throw other weetiny things in there.

As for the question of “WTF are zills?” here ya go:

Which is admittedly a better picture of the holder to begin with, IMO. Anyway, hence my desire to make more. Not only do I stubbornly wish to recreate the pattern just because it’s driving me nuts that I forgot it, but this could make for a very easy but still nice gift for my belly dance instructor. Hence why I ponder ideas like fancying it up more with cables or even beads.