Mmmm, Scarfy

Well, good news, we got our electricity back on Friday night. My second thought is that anyone actually reading this who is not a knitter (although the only reason I can think for anyone to read this is if they knit or unless they are my mom) may not know what Ravelry is. The idea is so huge and there are so many parts to it that explaining it pretty much impossible. The only way I can explain it is to call it a knitters Myspace, but so much more. I don't know, if you are that curious you can go to Ravelry and get a tiny idea of what it is.



Moving on, I am getting closer to finishing my Cable Access scarf so I thought I would put up pictures of it now.






Purdy huh?

Woo-Hoo!

I am now on Ravelry!! Check me out yo.

I have been furiously putting my stash, needles and projects in and have had zero time to knit. Partly because of Ravelry and mostly because we had a massive ice storm here last Sunday and have had no electricity since Sunday morning. Luckily we borrowed a generator yesterday and have lights and heat but we still do not technically have electricity. Only parts of the city have power back and the entire place looks like a war zone. Trees either have no limbs or have been completely uprooted. You can finally drive down the streets without having to dodge huge limbs. But if you walk outside the front door everything is black. Also, finals were supposed to be this week but they got canceled. Normally this would be a positive thing, but people can petition to take their finals if they will improve their grades. The way this school does things, I know this will be a huge mess.

Allow me to say that having no electricity for a couple days is not so bad, but by the four or fifth day it gets really cold and is not so fun anymore. Hopefully we will get power back very soon.

One might ask why I am doing this when I actually have the time to knit the scarf that has to be done before Christmas. I would say that is an excellent question and I will immediately stop writing this and go knit.

Update: Ravelry Watch

Alrighty then, I am getting closer, by very tiny increments.

For today:

* You signed up on November 24, 2007
* You are #61819 on the list.
* 2358 people are ahead of you in line.
* 5269 people are behind you in line.
* 87% of the list has been invited so far

Also I have a couple WIPs at the moment. First there is Vinter Lue. My first foray into Fair Isle and then I am working on the Cable Access scarf which is a variation on the Cable Access bag in Not Your Mama's knitting. I couldn't find a link to anything related to this pattern (Hello, that's why I need Ravelry!) so you will just have to trust me that it is flippin' sweet, I just hope I will get done in time for Christmas. I am a little more than a third done with it and when I do finish it and block it I am wanting to rinse with some hair conditioner (the scarf mostly, but maybe my hair too). The yarn is already soft, but fot a scarf a little extra softness couldn't hurt.

Ravelry Watch

I signed up pretty late, even though I had known what Ravelry was for a while. I finally gave in and from what I have read, there is no going back.
As of this minute these are my stats:

* You signed up on November 24, 2007
* You are #61819 on the list.
* 3759 people are ahead of you in line.
* 4376 people are behind you in line.
* 87% of the list has been invited so far

I'm just happy there are finally more people behind me than there are in front of me.

City Cat Attacked By Hippos

The mug shot of the accused:













First Kip came face to face with his attackers. As you can tell, he immediately knew something was not right about the situation.






The crime in progress.












As is expected, Kip became quite angry with these hippos.













Thankfully, Kip got away from the hippos and is now recovering with the help of some canned pumpkin.

This was a huge day for finishing, which reminds me, I really hate weaving in ends. If someone wants to invent a machine that will do that for me I will buy it immediately. The hippos were made with some 1/2 inch black buttons, Lion Brand Wool in color 147 Purple, Patons Classic Wool Merino in That's Pink along with some scrap yarn for the teeth.

The ears were not too hard once I sat down and tried them. I'm not so sure they really look like hippos, I think they are more like pigs or horses with bad teeth, but oh well. I guess I will have to tell the recipient she can decide what they look like to her.

The Whole Gang

You must have played your cards right because you are about to meet the whole gang. They are finally finished, I actually put the face on the last one about an hour ago.

Here they are, from left to right: The Octagon, Dr. Kenneth Noisewater, James Westfall and Dr. Neil Clark Warren. Welcome to the world boys.

Dim Sum And A Little Butta

I've been thinking about making a dog toy for a while now so yesterday that is just what I did. Here is some background for you, back when I had only one cat I took the time to knit him a mouse with catnip and a bell inside, which he of course refused to touch, then I got the other cat and she loved the mouse I made. Then the dog stole the mouse and basically destroyed it. The mouse is still around, but the yarn has been snagged and pulled so now it does not resemble a mouse at all. So I thought I would make him a toy, knowing he would probably never play with it because it was actually made for him. So, looking around on line I found a few things that were OK, not great, until this: Kitty Dim Sum. Awesome, right? So I made the egg roll for the dog.



I had to seam around all the edges, even though the pattern doesn't call for it, because this dog plays rough. Even though it doesn't look like it in the picture (He was sunning himself by the front door, so he was not really in the playing mood).



Then, since I liked the wonton pattern too I decided to make it for the cats. I used the same kind of yarn for the egg roll and the wonton, just some really old really gross acrylic that makes my hands hurt because it is so stiff and tough to knit with. But I did not have enough yarn to make the wonton a perfect square so I changed the plan and made candy instead.























Here is Willow sort of playing with it.



Finally, a couple weeks ago I bought the greatest yarn ever. It is Bernat Bamboo, which is 89% bamboo and 11% acrylic. It is so ridiculously soft. The color is called corn, but to me it looks and feels like butta. So I made it into just a basic stockinette stitch scarf, so it rolls in on itself. Sadly it has not been cold enough here yet to wear it.



Here she is, I'll call her Linda Richman.

Can't Sleep For All My Thinking About Hippos

While I am thinking about it. Anyone who does not listen to the Knitters Uncensored podcast should be ashamed of themselves. To pique your interest, they are three hilariously funny people who live in Germany, knit and drink (among other things). Go to iTunes and subscribe immediately, you will laugh, and who doesn't like that?

All my thinking of how I am going to make these hippo mittens work has lead me to do a google image search (I don't recommend it, unless you want to see the very disturbing picture of "Hippo Man")(Don't do it, I beg you!).

I came up with this really cute picture, which I believe is just as good an inspiration as anything. The ears are the most troubling part. I had planned on using google eyes and then either embroidering the nostrils or attempting the tiniest bit of fair isle for them instead. I have no clue about the ears though. Like I have said, I can see them in my head, but the translation to reality is the hard part.

Ta-Da!

I finally finished my second pair of monster slippers, but they, just like the first pair, still need faces.

Also, I finished a pair of the Later Gator Mitts from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation.


My next project is, using the same pattern as the Gator Mitts, to make purple Hippos and then Armadillos. I have finished the mouths for the Hippos, which are pink, but I have not completely figured out how the ears, eyes and noses are going to work. I can see them in my head, the problem is getting them to come out the same way I see them.

Edit: Mostly as a reminder to myself, just in case all the ball bands around here mistakenly end up in the trash, the Gator Mitts were made with Patons Classic Wool Merino in Bright Red and Red Heart Soft Yarn (I know, I know, it's acrylic but it is really soft, for acrylic that is) in Guacamole, with scrap yarn for the teeth and eyes.

WIPs

I attempted to take pictures, but the camera is low on battery, therefore the pictures were blurry. But I did manage to take a few pictures a while ago when the camera still had some battery left.


This is the first half of the sole for the Felted Furry Foot Warmers From Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. They are made with Lamb's Pride Bulky in Supreme Purple and when I get to that point I will be adding Rasberry Fun Fur. I had a breakthrough while making my first pair and decided to make the second pair at the same time. It worked because now I have finished the soles and they are the same size. Now I am in the process of picking up stitches around the edges. My first pair is mostly done, I just have to finish gluing on the monster face stuff. They are made with Lamb's Pride Bulky in Lemon Drop and Lime Green Fun Fur and I will put up a picture when I am completely finished.

Here is another thought on these slippers, the first pair I made was for me and I wear size 6 shoes, these purple ones are made for someone with size 11 feet. So I figured out that I needed to make the soles two inches longer if I wanted them to be the right size. Since the original pattern says to make the soles 14" long, which is what I did for my pair, and they shrunk 5" after felting, I made the purples ones 16" long. Since I wouldn't really call this a problem, here is my discussion/question: In the pattern the number of stitches you pick up around the edges is set at 120 or something like that, but with these longer ones I really don't want to do any math and figure out how many extra stitches to pick up. Instead I am picking up every stitch, no matter how many that turns out to be. The issue is this: when I get to the forming the toe part of the project, should I bite the bullet, do the math and figure out how to make it fit my modified pattern, or should I just keep it the way it is? Looking at my finished ones, I am not sure if it will make a difference that a couple more inches of sole will be showing. In reality, I'm sure I will be lazy and not change the pattern, I just like to overthink things and torture myself.


This is the earwarmer also from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation, modeled by Kip.











This is a headband/earwarmer I made without a pattern, really I was just messing around and this is what resulted. Yet again, good old Kip is the model, he was not happy with the idea of another earwarmer so he is wearing it as a necklace.






This is another patternless project, i just liked the yarn and wanted to make a simple hat out of it. I am also working on a scarf out of the same yarn, but it was one of the blurry pictures. Kip was becoming less happy as these pictures were taken, here he is at the height of his anger. Although he never ran away, he just likes to give me dirty looks for doing stupid things to him. Oh well, models can be so temperamental.

What's in a name

Just in case anyone actually reads this I thought I would explain who I am. I am Froggy because I usually have to frog everything I start. Generally several times before I can get past whatever is causing me problems. I am a fairly recently turned 25-year-old and I live in Joplin, Missouri, but hopfully that is just until I am finished with school. I have two cats, yes I am the crazy cat lady and I wouldn't have it any other way. Although, just to defend myself, I like dogs too and someday I will have my retired racing greyhound. I become slightly obsessive about things I enjoy, like kniting and The Office (both versions) and music. I work at a horrible desk job where I freeze every day and am forced to listen to the most annoying people I have ever met. I do have a myspace, but until I get my Christmas presents done and gifted I will not be telling anyone I know about this, and will also not be putting a link on my Myspace. After that I will tell everyone I know and force them to read every word of this. Pity them.

First Post

This blogging business looks like fun, so I will attempt it. Hopefully I will write about knitting, and by hopefully I mean I hope I do enough knitting to write about. Mostly I want to keep track of finished projects and talk out, or write out in this case, the problems I know I will have with projects in progress. Because I don't know anyone else who knits, and because no one wants to listen to me talk about doing it, this will be my outlet.

At this point I have crocheted two scarves, one of which is apparently lost forever, knitted two earwarmers, a change purse, two sunglass bags, two fuzzy monster slippers that have literally just been felted and are drying right now, three hats and one armwarmer, I ended up not liking how it turned out so I will not be making the second one until I can come up with some alterations to the pattern and until I get some better yarn. Right now I can't remember any other FO's, but it is very possible that I am forgetting some. Then I have in progress a scarf, a sock, and my second set of fuzzy monster slippers that will be a gift, assuming they turn out remotely presentable.

Here's to more knitting and less homework, hence, more procrastination!