Love it or Frog it

Music is one of my favourite things about life. It moves me on so many levels, soothes me when my anxiety gets the better of me, calms me when I get angry, amps up my excitement when I am in a good mood. It flows through me, over me, around me.

So why did I wait four whole days to spin while listening to music?

It seems like the two should go together so naturally. Hands moving in time with the music, head bobbing every so slightly, limbs relaxing as fingers flex and release again and again.

Especially when it happens to be new music from one of my favourite bands.

Pure bliss.

Oh. My. God. I did it! I made socks!! They are the Beginner TOE-UP Socks for Magic Loop from www.knitfreedom.com. I made them with Lion Brand Sock-Ease in Lollipop. Pink is not normally a colour I wear, but I love bright, colourful socks, and Lollipop is definitely bright.

It took four patterns and a switch from top down to toe up to avoid picking up stitches (I do not like picking up stitches. At all. It is kinda evil, actually. Until I master it, that is...) before I finally managed to successfully complete a sock! The awesome part? I finished the second sock in just three days!

My next sock project will be a pair for my mom for her birthday this month. I plan to check out some sock pattern generators because my mom is diabetic and I want to make a truly custom fit pair for her. I want to use a faux cable pattern across the top of the foot and possibly try a reverse stockinette pattern on the bottom since she is on her feet all day at work.

Wish me luck!

Do you know what is even more exciting than my successful socks? My Knit Picks spindle arrived the other day, and after reading the book I also got, Teach Yourself Visually: Handspinning, and rewatching the tutorial videos on the Knit Picks website about five times (not exagerating), I finally felt ready to give it a shot.

And I ended up laughing. A lot. My first effort? So bad that I want to shellack it and tack it up in a shadow box just to make me giggle when I am having a bad day.

At first I couldn't get the twist to move from the leader into the roving, and then I found that my roving was still too thick to spin easily given this is all brand new to me. I found that some spots were twisting too the point of kinking while others had almost no twist at all. But I loved it. I loved it SO MUCH, issues and all! So the plan now is to go check out some more resources and search out a few more youtube videos, then I can dive back in.

I want to stain my spindle. My mom makes dollhouses - that is her crafty outlet - so she has quite a few stains on hand that I can poke through and borrow. There is one I am leaning towards already, which is a gel based stain that comes out a rich purplish-brown. She used it for the roof of a rather large house, though, so here's hoping she has some left!

Right now I am going to snuggle up with my little pup, Sophie, who is already snoozing in a splash of sunlight on the floor nearby, and start searching out sock patterns until it cools down enough outside to sit out there and get started on Christmas afghan number four.

Picture update coming soon! The socks, Christmas afghan number three (where I ditched all patterns and designed it myself), and the Karen shawl that was supposed to be my mom's birthday gift but now I want to save for Christmas. And not at all because that knocks one afghan off my list of eight. Nooo, not at all. *cough*

This year I am taking on the (insane) task of making eight mini afghans (or lapghans if you please, but that word has always seemed odd to me) for my immediate family and closest friends. On top of that, I'm making my second Alassë Míriel Hooded Cowl by The Jane Victoria (check her out on Ravelry or Etsy because her patterns are gorgeous), a steampunk style cowl with matching fingerless gloves, and the elegant grey caplet designed by Bernadette Ambergen, two lace shawls for birthdays coming up on June 11 and July 25, and a couple small back up gifts in the form of shawls and cowls. Now add the baby blankets, hats and clothes to the mix. Something will end up having to give, I am sure. Until I start pulling my hair out, just assume I am having fun.

So I am terrible at updating. This much I already knew. Even so, I have some fun news (fun for me, anyway). I've been venturing into the world of creating my own crochet patterns! So far just two, both scarves, but I like them and so did the people they were created for.

With any luck, I will have them up for free downloads here and *fingers crossed as I have yet to look into the how of it* on Ravelry as well.

In other news, I am slowly but surely becoming more adept at knitting. There's a hat pattern that has defeated me not once, not twice, but SIX times now, but I am trying not to let that get me down. I just keep frogging it, spritzing the yarn with water to fluff it back up, and going back at it a couple weeks later. Although I am not sure how much more my lovely sky blue baby alpaca yarn can take... yikes.

My copy of Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook came today! I'm a big fan of Debbie Stoller, starting with her lone crochet book, The Happy Hooker. When I received it as a gift several years ago, I laughed at the title and dove right in. Now I've got the handbook and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation to feed my latest yarn-based addiction.

On the subject of TKH, I have been thinking about "yarn snobs" a fair bit and realized that having started out in the world of crochet when my sole source of income was what my parents were willing to pass my way for some task or other completed around the house, I have no qualms about working with your basic acrylic yarn. Having also come from a home where you are expected to do your own laundry unless you want to run the risk of someone ruining an article of delicate clothing that should absolutely never see the inside of a washer and/or dryer as the case may be, I realize that I pretty much love acrylic yarn for how easy it is to care for. I may aim to seek out the higher quality, softer to the touch acrylics, but who wouldn't want something nice to rub up against as the case may be? ;)

As far as acrylics go, the easy to work with Vanna's Choice has swiftly become my favourite. Soft off the skein to begin with, it gets softer when washed. Add to that a vibrant, well rounded colour scheme and a price that's easy on the budget, and I'm sold.

That's not to say I don't love working with a deliciously soft alpaca or sleek bamboo silk when the pocketbook allows, of course. Who wouldn't? Peruvian wool, merino superwash, mohair... it is all so luxurious and so hard to resist.

I have frogged this thing three times. THREE! The furthest I've gotten? Row three. Wish me luck on attempt number four.