SnarCraft

I finished it! I just want to start by saying that, despite it being two weeks since I last posted (more on this below), I finished that infernal blanket about that long ago, too. I wove in the ends and sewed on the accents and practically chucked it at The Pirates. I also warned Claire that if anything on the blanket broke I wasn’t fixing it for at least 12 months. She understands, she has these feelings sometimes too. It’s why we jiive so well. ;o) Here’s the finished product. It looks more like an albino toucan than a narwahl, in my opinion, but pirates also have birds so it’s still on brand. I’m calling it a win. Remember, I’m not a crocheter, the fact that it looks remotely like an animal, let alone one that I can reasonably argue would fit logically into a pirate family, is a win for me! I think that crochet project zapped me of any knitting mojo I might have had for anyone else. I have a theory that trying to bend yarn in ways that feel very unintuitive for me  (I s...

Baby, you're doing my head in! I mentioned last year about this blanket (at least on Twitter and Instagram, if not here, too) – it's the Stuffed Animal Blanket by Amanda Saladin. I made one for my best friend last year and I was blown away by how easy it came together, how quick it stitched up, and how I remarkably didn't feel like setting the entire project on fire at any time during its creation. (I don't find crochet relaxing, though I do agree it can make some beautiful things.) That  version of the blanket came out  looking like the cutest, dopiest koala and everyone I showed it to wanted to give it a cuddle. THAT  version of the blanket came together in one go, no frogging, no worries. This one? Well... I'm on attempt #5 in almost 10 months and it's still giving me trouble. I should have known I could only get away with crocheting something once before the universe realigned itself. I'm pretty sure it's the yarn. See, it's a silk...

We hosted a very important birthday party this weekend. It involved a horde of teenagers, a day long outing to the beach, a sleepover and breakfast on the lawn. It was delightful, no one died and the house is still standing in one piece. I am, however, still exhausted and appear to be making triple my usual number of spelling errors. I also tried to work on the crochet blanket some more yesterday, when I was presumably even more exhausted than I am today, and the magic no-mistake streak I’d been on was gone. I had to stuff it into a bag and ignore it pointedly for the rest of the evening. So, I’m going to leave you all with the write up I did previously of last month’s Sunday Shenanigans with Nicola and Alysha. I’m going to go have some more coffee and see if the blanket is ready to be a team player again. It’s 37C outside today, I’m not going to try doing anything other than sit in front of a fan with a cold drink. See you later in the week, when the weather cools down and I...

So what has happened since last October? Well, like I said in my last post, we’ve moved into a house! It’s a lovely little federation style home, with grass and a porch and actual hallways and windows and head space. Bascially, it’s got all those things that I learned quickly to assume I’d never have again when I moved to Sydney and learned what inner-city-ring housing looked like to an Australian developer. To further underscore just how excited I am about being in a house, rather than some ‘boutique 2-bedroom unit’ (they mean matchbox with no ventilation and no space for amenities, btw), I did a jig when I learned we got what’s known here as a Hills-Hoist (it’s a rotating washing line, my fellow PNWers). I’ve heard some interesting stories from Liebling and some of my Aussie friends about the uses of one of these contraptions….but I’ll leave that bit to your imagination unless you ask directly. All I really thought about when I saw it was how much yarn and fibre I can dry on ...

The season is turning, the temperature changing. The air is tainted slightly with smell of smoke and earth. Corn and berries abound, and fog slinks in with the night. Welcome Great Pumpkin! Halloween is coming up, which means that it’s still cool enough in my part of the world to be knitting larger-ish items, and it’s cooling off everywhere else. Autumn is my favourite time of year, and I truly miss the changing of the colours and the smell of spiced cider in the air. This year, even though I won’t be in a location to join in the proper worshipping of the Great Pumpkin with the requisite Corn Maze runs and bonfires, I thought I’d host a Make-Along to soothe my feelings of homesickness. The Great Pumpkin Make-Along goes for the length of October in which fellow Fibre Fiends will make something in honour of the coming of the Great Pumpkin on the 31st. Make use of all that spooky movie time and work up that grimm project you’ve been hiding in the closet! Additionally, each wee...

I am happy to report that the Tyrannosaurus Rex Mittens survived surgery and are now on their way to New Zealand to make another special nephew very happy. Followers of this blog will remember the Triceratops Gloves I made last month for someone’s special nephew? It was a romping good play at hacking a pattern and flying blindly by the seat of my pants, listening to my gut assure me that everything would be fine, only to have it all be SPLENDID at the end. When I blogged about the gloves I was also most of the way through knitting the mitten portions of the TRex mittens. I was feeling pretty darned accomplished after kitchernering the top of the second mitten, and I laid them out together to snap a photo.   Yeah….I should have known better than to knit them individually. I was annoyed enough with myself that I had to set them aside for a little while to let the air clear. I was very certain that I was not going to knit another mitten from scratch. No, no, no. There was ...

Dear Yarn Stash, Please don’t hate me. I promise I haven’t been intentionally neglecting you for the yarn I met while on holiday in Melbourne . I’m sure you can agree that new relationships come with a little bit of new relationship euphoria, but that doesn't mean you still don’t have a special place in my heart. I think the fact that I have not supplanted any of you guys from the Shelf of Showing Off, is testament that the new yarns have not replaced you in my eyes. Yes everything I have cast on since returning from my holiday has been from the yarn I brought home, but I have not frogged a single pre-existing project to poach needles or cables. These new projects are merely experiments with new techniques, that I’m perfecting before I try them on your beautiful skeins. The lattice work sock that I just completed? It means nothing! Like I explained when I got home, I cast-on that project while away because I needed something to work on during the Stitch Nights in Melbourne....

 It’s Friday! You know what that means Cosplayers and Geek-chic knitters! Time for another installment of Friday Fibre Watch! !SPOILER ALERT! For those of you joining for the first time these little recaps do contain spoilers. If you like to do things in order, you can check out Season 1 Friday Fibre Watch posts here . We wrapped up Season 1 of Stranger Things last time, so we are on to Season 2 today. So, so, SO, many great fibre finds in this episode, guys. I can’t even! In fact, I couldn’t even to the point that I’ve had to split this post up into more than one part... Got your eggos and bevvie of choice ready? It’s been three-hundred-and-fifty-two days since El disappeared and Will was rescued from the Upside Down. In the near year since the big showdown with Papa, Hawkins Lab cronies, and the big bad Demogorgon Joyce has gained a boyfriend (not the one we all thought), Chief Hopper has gained a daughter (not that either of them realise it yet); Dustin is sporting ...