Originally uploaded by oh_hello
A quickie hat that I made for Brian with extra yarn I had. This is the first hat I’ve ever made him, can you believe it? He didn’t wear hats before, but now that he doesn’t have a mane of hair to keep his head warm, a hat is essential. I was happy to oblige.
I’ve been churning out tons of small knitted things lately. First up, a hat & mitten set as part of my sister’s Christmas present. I gave her the hat early.
The hat pattern is the Icing Swirl Hat by Ysolda Teague. It’s meant to look like a swirl of frosting. Cute. I want one.
These mittens are another thing I want for myself. Just a basic mitten pattern with wool “thrums” added. The top mitten is what it looks like on the inside – those V’s make little fluffs of wool on the inside, which keep your hands toasty. They’re like Uggs for your hands.
I bought the white wool at a craft fair. The farm is in Tolland, CT and the woman had a photo album of her sheep and even the one that this wool probably came from. How cool is that? For non-knitters, wool roving is cleaned, prepared wool that you would then spin into yarn. I have plenty of wool left for more mittens, but making the fluffs before knitting them was a pain in the ass.
Up next… I knit this entire sweater during my 6 day Thanksgiving vacation. Record time!
The Liesl sweater, also by Ysolda Teague. The buttonholes ended up too close together for me, so I just buttoned into the lace hole and it is fine. Although the armholes were loose and fit when I separated them, the sleeves themselves are tight. I’m gonna have to do some bicep curls to make it better.
I’m kind of on an Ysolda spree right now, and I’ve got quite a few of her patterns queued up.
I’m trying to find ways to winter-remix my summer dresses. I think I’m committing some kind of fashion crime here by wearing a white cotton dress to a holiday party in December. I’m not one to live by fashion rules anyway.
For the first time ever, Victoria’s Secret will have an Asian model in its annual fashion show.. Yes, now. In 2009. The only reason this should be newsworthy is because they’ve been doing this since 1995 – almost 15 years – and never wanted an Asian model.
I started my Christmas shopping way early this year. I already started a pile in the corner, and it’s growing a little large. Not because there’s that many gifts, but I’m also saving boxes & packaging. I think I’ve got 8 people down, maybe 5 to go. I did much of my shopping thanks to killer deals: outlet shopping, Woot-offs, Friends & Family sale coupons, and my travels over the summer.
And I just have a few simple handmade things to make:
- sketchbook folios for two little girls
- mittens for my sis (half done)
- embroider an apron for my aunt
- a hat or two for extra gifts
I think I can do it! Now if only finishing my final papers were that easy…
This is the “Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties” from Fitted Knits. I made this sweater to wear with summer dresses, but I didn’t finish it in time for summer. It doesn’t really fit with my style so I think I’m giving it to my mom. It fits her better too. It’s cute, just not on me. It’s been sitting unfinished for so long, I’m glad to finally have it out of the way.
My niece modeled this sweater for the official website & pattern, so I had to make her one for herself. You can see how big she’s grown and how different she looks from when she modeled it! I think she wore the 3 months size for the photoshoot (it was snug) and here she is wearing 12 months and it fits her perfectly. Which means she won’t fit it in about 2 months. It took me longer than I expected to knit.
Surprisingly, it’s only the second sweater I’ve knit for her. But there are some very cute patterns that she modeled for next season’s Berroco collection that I might make. Now I have to look for toddler patterns because my “baby” books only go up to size 12 months.
I finished a few craft projects this month, so I’ll roll out the show and tell in installments.
First up, my sister and I took a graffiti-skateboard workshop at Craftland. We chose a sketch or picture, drew & cut the stencils, then the instructor did the spraypainting. Unfortunately it was raining & really windy that day so that would’ve made spraypainting too hard for newbies.
I chose an image that would commemorate my time here in grad school & Providence. This power plant is one of the city’s many iconic images. I made a technical mistake with the outlining, but I still love my finished board. Here it is with my sister’s:
My niece’s birthday is 8-8-08, so she’s got 3 cookies with the number 8. We’ll hang ‘em on our walls sometime.
Next up, Halloween crafts! I made my own costume, and it was actually decent. I saw someone wearing this and knew I could recreate it. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have.
Heh, red solo cups. Check out my olive hat! The jersey dress was on clearance, $5, in the pajama section of Target. Then I just sewed on the vinyl and glued on the olive. My sister and I spent $25 total on the materials and made two identical costumes.
I saved the cutest for last. I’m bad at estimating fabric amounts and ended up with lots of leftover silver so we decided that my niece would be a robot. I traced a dress she already had and sewed a simple a-line shift. Then my sis put on the vinyl applique.
It’s nothing fancy – the armhole & neck edges are raw & unfinished, the velcro closure on the back was just glued on & reinforced with staples. Disposable, but still pretty cool. The costume cost probably $2 because all we had to buy was a few pieces of felt.
More later!
My friends gave me this Build-a-Bear to cheer me up. Her name is Lotus Blossom Azn. ”We know how unecessarily upset you get over Asian stereotypes, so we got you this panda bear.” They are so funny. I love them.
Oh, and I got a hair cut and went darker (somehow it’s shinier!). Sometimes it looks a Soccer-mom. Sometimes it looks emo. Sometimes it looks half decent even if I don’t wash or comb it from the day before – like today, for instance. See below. Ssshhdon’t tell.
Speaking of Asian stereotypes, I am now an Asian girl who takes pictures with her stuffed animals. How embarrassing.
I’m a little overwhelmed by my life right now. My dad passed away a couple of weeks ago. It was hard, but at the same time I’m feeling very loved and supported by people that I’m close to and people that I had forgotten about.
I’m only taking 3 classes with lighter workloads than average classes, but I have to work in Boston two days a week (instead of one like last year), plus I have to go home to CT every weekend to be with my mom who is having a really hard time. This leaves very little time for actually doing the homework, making dinner, and keeping my house in order. And having a messy disorganized house makes me feel even more stressed!
Looking on a positive side though, I met Norah Gaughan last week when I was hanging around the set of a Berrocco photoshoot. If you aren’t a knitter, that means nothing. But she’s kind of a big deal in the knitting world. The first real sweater I knit was a Norah design; and she went to Brown. I didn’t really talk to her, or Cirilia for that matter, since she was working and I was trying to stay as much out of the way as possible; I was wrangling babies. I got my own private trunk show, trying on the garments they were shooting, which won’t come out until January (! how will I wait that long?!). My sister thought I was crazy because I didn’t exactly ask if I could try stuff on, but I knew they’d be sent to stores and shows for people to try on anyway so I didn’t think it was a big deal. Plus I was extra careful. (um, sorry if this was too forward of me!) The house was beautiful, like a little museum, and the host family (who were also the models) were so nice. My sis and I kept saying how they were like a real-life catalogue family.
I love fall because it’s the best season for knitting & wearing knitted things, so the photoshoot was perfect for kicking off the season. Although the end of Summer Dress Season can make me sad, taking out the box of wool sweaters, winter clothes, and knit accessories make me happy all over again. I can’t wait for the upcoming Stitches East (trade show? conference?) which is in Hartford this year. I’m saving up my allowance for it! I’m knitting a baby sweater, and I only have the sleeves left, which should normally take one week (two tops). But I’ve been so busy that I’ve been working on this one sleeve for over 3 weeks.
Here’s to looking at better days, hopefully.
I’ve moved out of Washington, DC and back home to little Rhody. After seeing what a relatively small amount of stuff I lived with over the past 3 months, I was compelled to do some purging when I came home. Of course, even though I said I had a “small” amount of stuff, it still took me forever to unpack and put everything away. It’s like I had no idea where that stuff came from.
While doing my summer cleaning and forcing myself to throw shit out, I found this Win 98 Boot Disk, from two computers ago at least.
A sampling of other things I found and threw out:
- Stationary that was given to me as a gift and I’ve held onto for at least 5 years. I probably used it twice.
- instruction manuals & install disks for electronics that have long been tossed, plus various USB cords for the same
- a couple of old cell phones
- a bag full of clothes, including 3 pairs of pants that my mom bought me for “work wear” that were terribly unflattering “mom pants”; Sorry mom, but they were dreadful.
I’ve moved a lot and every time I move, I throw stuff out, so I don’t think I have that much excess stuff. Still, two garbage bags worth is good.
I have a box full of old papers & binders from my college years and my previous job that I feel I should hang onto. The papers have professors’ comments on them, which is why I am holding onto the hard copies. They take up a lot of space. I need to borrow a scanner and/or someone to scan it all so that I can just put it on few CD’s instead.
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