~DragonKnits~

So, what DOES the dragon really listen to? Well, lots of things, too many to list here, but maybe that will turn into another post. For now, I’ll stick to the fiber stuff.

Just a little background. I am constantly downloading and subscribing to new podcasts almost every day. The thing is that there are only a couple that I really like and will listen to with any sense of regularity. The very first one was Cast On with Brenda Dayne. I was kept busy for quite a long time catching up on around two years worth of episodes. Now, I am like the rest of you, floundering until the next one comes around. The one that came after that was one that is not being broadcast any longer, and that one is Unwound with Kelly Robinson . I was so gullible because it wasn’t until I got to the last one, her goodbye one, that I realized that she was giving it up. Sometimes I am so clueless. Seriously though, it’s still worth the listen. There are twelve episodes to go through and their still accessible. Another podcast that I can’t do without is Sticks and String with a “bloke” from Australia with the most attractive accent I’ve ever heard, David Reidy. Then I really got into Stitch Stud and His Bride, with Charles (forgot his last name) , only to find that he also had to give it up for professional reasons.

***NEWS ALERT***

Just found out that Stitch Stud and His Bride is back on the air!!!! I was searching around for his last name and found out he’s back… too excited to pursue his name because now I’ve GOT to get this post up.

After that came another real favorite, It’s a PURL, Man! with Guido, the man from Boston with yarn issues…. and that monkey still appears to be on his back, though not really because I believe he never finished it.

Gee, this is turning into more of just a little background, but so what!

Then I sort of drifted through all those other podcasts that everyone else was listening to and was impressed by nada. Then I turned the page……

Recently, I started culling my 270+ podcasts on itunes and noticed that I hadn’t heard most of Yarn Thing’s episodes and decided to get the most recent one a listen. Well, all I can say is that I just LOVE her laugh! Marly, it was your laugh that kept your podcast within my radar, so keep it up! Ha.. I know you don’t need encouragement from me to laugh, but it’s so enjoyable to listen to. I love to laugh and I really don’t get to do much of it anymore. Nothing sad, just that my hubby is quite the serious person and if I try to pull a joke, he takes it seriously and gives me a serious answer… ugh… there’s nothing more pitiful than that! If I can’t laugh, then let it be yours that I listen to. Hopefully, my son will grow a sense of humor and then I’ll have someone to lighten up with. He’s three years old, BTW, and it just might happen as he’s serving me up some green eggs and ham right now from off the tray of my Hot Chocolate recipe book that he seems to gravitate to at every chance he gets.

Anyway, I had subscribed to Yarn Thing’s podcast a while ago, listened to a couple of early ones, but had so many to listen to, that she just got put on the side board (sorry, Marly!). The whole reason I started this post is Marly. Sorry that it’s turning into a more generalized post about all the podcasts I listen to, basically just a list; but when I listen to more of you, I’ll have more to talk about… only because I’m really still unfamiliar with your podcast. I’ll just say this: Check out when the last time it was that I posted anything here, OR on ~Dragon’s Yen~, and this should be evidence that you have impressed me quite a bit. Enough to come out of hibernation to post…. or maybe it’s because Spring is definitely here!

Marly, Marly, MARLY!….. You seem like such a wonderful person and someone who would be a great friend. With someone a person could really be herself with and just I wish I lived closer to you… ha, then YOU’D have to change YOUR cell phone number!

Through Yarn Thing, I found (again) the Crochet Dude’s blog. Crochet Dude (I love that name!) has a new Crochet Dude blog and an old Crochet Dude blog. Take your pick, both are very enjoyable to read.

All the podcasts I listen to are so different from each other, so I can’t really say what it is, exactly, that will draw me to a podcast. Music, Voice, Personality, Useful Information? Some or all of these things. I won’t state which podcasts I don’t care for because, well, though they might not be my cup of tea, I admire the fact that they exist; and I appreciate all the work that goes into making one of these. It’s a definite commitment, there, people; and I am grateful to have the luxury of so many choices… which were not available just a couple of years ago.

Thank you, everybody!

Yep, I just mailed out the Hogwarts scarf to my nephew. To me, he always looked like a young Harry Potter so I guess that’s why he ended up getting the Gryffindor Scarf. Here is a pic… that’s the Drake doing a little modeling for me:

Matching hat? I’ll have to wait and see if Peter even likes the scarf before I do something like that. Doesn’t the Drake look cute?

Notice the child-safe implements of safety in just one piece of furniture. That’s the Drake, you can never have enough implements of safety to keep prying little hands OUT of our stuff!

Next up is something called a Helmet Hat I am making for Little D. It’s not a FO yet, but will be in a couple of days. I’m making it with Red Heart Mexicana yarn. It’s feeling much softer than other RH yarns I’ve used lately and it’s pretty bouncy stuff, too. Here’s a pic of what I’ve got so far:

Cool… until I realized tonight that I better get my hynie in gear because this will be the only few months that he’ll be able to actually wear it. So, I am thinking tonight who else can I give it to, after LD grows out of it. I really don’t think that my SIL will let her daughter wear something like this. At any rate, I have six more rows to go before I need to start shaping the head.

1DominicaMuneca (Lamira) over at Ravelry said that this hat looks an awful lot like helmet liners that some folks are making over at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. I’ve included the link because I think this is a great way to donate your time and talent to our people stationed in the cold areas on the planet. It’s also a great way to show our support in our own special way. Please go over and check it out. Hey, if I can make one of these, I think pretty much anyone can!

Okay, one more… though patterns keep finding their way onto my needles and hooks… I have been involved with a Vintage Vertical Stripe Blanket CAL over on Ravelry… see I really DO spend too much time over there. Well, I am almost finished with it, only 5-10 more stripes to go, then will finish it off with a black border. Here are some pics:

Little Drake just loves this blanket, but it’s already spoken for. I’m giving it to my friend, Charlene. I can mention her here because I doubt she even knows I have a blog.

Well, I guess that’s about it for now.  Next time, I’ll be writing a little about my crochet group, I think.  I’ve got PICS, Dee!

Just thought I’d post a few tips and tricks I’ve developed, discovered, whatever. These two are for weaving in ends, though I just saw the knitting one here. I discovered this technique while doing my Lob Cabin Blanket a while back, but I didn’t think to share it…. poo on me.

Weaving in Knitting Ends.

Weaving in Crochet Ends:

What I like to do for Double Crochet, when starting a new row, is to draw the new colored loop through the work, then make the chain with both ends for a thick chain. This makes it look more like an actual DC. Then, for the next few stitches, I’ll draw through both strands, but only use only one strand, the working yarn, to complete the stitch…. and OMG, I’m actually uploading a video to youtube! My very first tutorial! Yeepiiiiii ! Ya’ll can listen to my sick voice because I’ve got a horrible cold right now….. 33% uploaded….. I did take some pics but it was tough taking pics of my TWO hands… ha. So I put my camera on a little box, stuck my hands in front and let ‘er rip….. 53% uploaded… man, this is taking so long.

I’ve got to apologize for some mistakes. I recorded, verbally unprepared, at about midnight. My camera batteries are dead, so after the recharge I’ll make a new video. Here are the corrections:

1. I say, “… Then I go into my next “chain”" but I should have said my next “loop”.
2. Then I say, “and here’s the second one”, but it was really the third or fourth.
3. I made a statement saying to continue until you finish up the the working yarn. Oh man! What I meant to say is, until you finish weaving in the end.

Then I made a statement one should never make on a tutorial video when you want to make something look easy. I said, “it’s so hard”…..GAH! What I really meant was that it was hard to make the video, itself; not that what I was doing was hard to do… geesh.

I was struggling to keep track of what was going on in front of the lens and talking and keeping everything in focus, etc. Wow. I’ve got to put more effort into this the next time around. I was just so excited, too, about actually doing it. It’s actually possible for me now to make significant videos with my digital camera because I lost my first memory stick and when we replaced it, bought a stick packing 2GIG’s… quite a jump from 16MB!

Finished Object Alert

(almost)

A FO is lurking right around the corner! That Hogwart’s Scarf I started eons ago. I had a revelation today… another sort of trick, but it’s so obvious that I want to kick myself in the head for not thinking of it sooner. I am working this scarf in the round, for extra thickness (he lives in New Hampshire) and also to keep the edges from curling. So, this thing had double the knitting a regular scarf would have. Okay, so you get the picture. You know what it’s like carrying up the colors… the strands were forever getting tangled, twisted and I got dangerously close to cutting the yarn just to untangle it. So 25 stripes, 450 rows, and 22,500 stitches later… the light bulb goes off to just tuck the resting ball of yarn into the tube, well below the work area. Simple right? Like I said, I could kick myself in the teeth. Sigh. So that’s my gift to you this February night, cause it certainly wasn’t a gift for me because I’M DONE. But it was nice for that final stripe. I’m tempted to make more stripes just so that I can tuck my yarn into the tube for a while longer… but I’m so done with this project that I can’t wait to mail it out… pronto. Pics to follow when I put on the fringe.

Sorry guys, another short one, but I just have to say that I’ve been riled by too many spammers commenting on my site. I’d rather have no comments at all, than 20,000 spammized comments. For the longest time, I’ve spent time only deleting spammer’s comments… and those were the only comments I was getting. It was no big deal since I get notified of every comment that comes in. Usually I’d simply mark them as spam, but they are getting too sneaky…. ALSO, I am wondering why the same site slipped in even after I marked it as spam. Recently, I had one site, two days in a row, actually post what I would have believed to be a valid comment if I didn’t see something specific.

Not getting into specifics, I’ll say that this annoyance has prompted me to activate the I-Must-Approve-ALL-Comments-Directive. I apologize for any inconvenience to legitimate readers and commenters, but this is now necessary, in my opinion. I feel as though I am taking some kind of action against these leaches. It won’t really be a big deal because I check my email every morning, accompanied by my morning coffee.

I welcome any and all valid comments.

I will not tolerate spammers!

Okay the holidays are officially over. What’s a girl to do? No more deadlines to meet for half a dozen gifts…. well, I am still working on my Harry Potter scarf for our nephew, but it’s almost done, and I feel no pressure. Just a few more stripes (yeah, I said that over a month ago!)

What’s on the needhookles? (needles, hooks)

I am still working on my Comfy Shoulder Shrug, from Creative Knitting, Sept. 2007. I can’t seem to get a picture from the internet, but here is what I had in December. I really love these colors and texture of the pattern. If you can’t figure it out, this is one of the sleeves. You knit your way up the arm, around the back, and down the other arm. I’m stoked because this is my first “real” garment, for me.

Here is where I’m at today:

I’ve got one whole arm done, and a bit started on the back. What really has me bummed is the very noticeable color change when I went to the second skein. The colors are not as dark, or intense as when I first started out. Because I added stitches to bot sides of the arm, I am guessing, is the reason that you can see some pooling of the colors… but I really like that. I’ll have to get over the color change, though, because I’m not about to frog this and start over. Plus, it’s something that I cannot correct because both of these skeins lost their labels long ago. Red Heart is not supposed to have dye lots, but I heard they are having a hard time with it now, and they DO have dye lots for some of their yarns.

I just started a Christmas Afghan for next year. I am thinking about gifting it to someone, but I’ll see. I really love this for myself, too. (Isn’t that always the way?) This is a free pattern that looks like squares of holly leaves. Here is my first completed square. You need 70 of them… whew! I thought I’d be safe starting it from now.

Oh, on a side note, this pattern looks like it was designed with Red Heart Super Saver in mind. Why do I say that? I’m so glad you asked…. It’s because all of the names of the colors match Red Heart Super Saver colors: Burgundy, Hunter Green, Soft White, Cherry Red, Paddy Green, and Soft Navy.

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Okay, so lets finally get to the shameful public display of crochet. So, I attended a bridal shower today. You know how you can get antsy while the bride is opening her gifts? Well, before that could happen to me, I pulled out my burgundy RH yarn and started 8-10 squares for the x-mas afghan. Pretty simple. I didn’t want to have six skeins of yarn with me, so I decided to make the start up color. Oh, and I did manage to snap off some pics of the shower……Pretty decent. Then tonight, I was unexpectedly invited out for coffee at a local diner with my neighbor. As soon as I sat down, I pulled out my crochet and whipped out 8 more. Woo hoo… I’m on my way! Sure I got the usual questions of “what ARE you doing?”… “oh, what are you making,” etc. That part is fun and I get to answer a lot of questions and casually also tell them that it’s SO easy and that they can do it, too. That’s normally when the conversations ends because nobody really seems interested enough to take the next step. I can’t blame them, though, because it took me a long time to get over my fear of more sophisticated than what I was doing, like scarves and unattached granny squares, destined for nowhere.

KNIT IT UP!

edited 1/18/08:  Just realized that the caption from the article did not print here, so here it is:

” Nancy Hilton and her husband, Mack, of Athens, stand Thursday in front of an American flag she crocheted by hand. The flag is 24 x 13 feet, weighs 43 pounds and contains more than 20 miles of yarn.”

Just a quick note. I came across this article first on Ravelry and really want to share it with the world… so here I am. Nancy Hilton of Athens, Texas crocheted an over-sized American Flag in honor for our people overseas fighting for this country. She did it with Red Heart acrylic yarn.

Please read the article and hopefully it will get to the attention of some of our military risking their lives to serve this country…. just to let them know she is thinking about them and appreciates what they are doing.

Link to the article below:

Tyler Morning Telegrah, Sunday, Jan. 06, 2008

Crocheted American Flag

Whew…. Just in time!

Just finished putting the buttons on the Huggable Kid’s Vest. I cannot tell you the joy, the satisfaction that I am experiencing right now. To take something that you’ve made with your own hands and to lovingly place it into a box with tissue paper, and then wrap it in Christmas paper. Didn’t have a bow so I tied a small stuffed snowman as the center of a tied bow. Again, I can’t explain this feeling. I lovingly looked down out my little pink vest and it was like I was sending my child out into the world. It’s pink, it’s fuzzy and boy, is it heavy. I was amazed at how heavy it really is. It was knit by holding one strand, each, of LB Fancy Fur and KP Crayon yarns and knit as one.
I even knit a button band! Something I never thought I’d do because I didn’t think it was an important part of a pattern. Yep, ignorance is bliss until you try to make something. Now I can see that the function of a button band is so that the two side halves will fit together at the bottom point… that is, if the pattern has a point bottom, front. So far, I don’t know if there is any other reason for it. I could not get the buttons I wanted for this project. I wanted gold buttons, but I did not bring the vest with me when I went shopping and I was left guessing.

I was also concerned about buttons adding more confusing to a busy color pattern. Fancy Fur has blobs of color sprinkled throughout, so MC was pink with spots of blue, pink, yellow, aqua… etc. I finally got plain see through buttons with a colored, shiny finish. Know what I mean? Probably not, but I’ll make sure to take a close up of it when the recipient tries it on. Then I put a mauve, matte finish, resin rose button at the very top. Partially because the other buttons came two on a card, and needed a fifth… (that’s how they get ya) and partially because I love the look of having a unique button, out of place, on my tops. I’ll replace buttons like that for the heck of it… but that is not everyone’s taste. I’ll offer to sew on a matching one at the top if they want…. yes, I’ll have to go back for more buttons.

Sigh. I just hope that Isabella likes it, and I hope it FITS her. She is the little girl upstairs from us and sometimes I baby sit her on Saturdays. I don’t have any pics right now, but I hope to snap a pic of her wearing it. It will be touch and go because they don’t get in until late. I just hope that she is awake enough. If not, I might have to wait until after Christmas to even give it to her.

Edited 12/23/07 10:21pm: Queen Isabella says she feels like a movie star in her new vest! I guess she LIKES it! She’s a real cutie pie.

I have about one inch left on the magic socks… my first pair of socks. That, in itself, is exciting… but it looks as if I’ll be knitting them while at my dad’s house on Christmas Eve so that when we get to DH’s sister’s we can give them to my mom-in-law on Christmas Day.

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What is left for tonight is trying to insert lining into a felted sweater tote bag that I originally made for myself, but then to my horror, my dad’s wife took a liking to it, so I think I’ll give it to her for Christmas. That bag is tremendous and I’m a little disappointed, but it means a whole lot more to me to give it to someone that I am pretty sure will love it.

Edited 12/24/05~3:41am: OMG! Just finished this bag and I absolutely love it, despite all my mistakes and cockeyed sewing…. without pins, I might add! I really wish I were keeping it, but I’ll just go out and look for another sweater. Definitely a learning experience! The handles are not really icord because when I made them, I didn’t know what icord was, or how it should be constructed…. NOW I know. So, I twisted the flat straps to make a nice spiral. Oh, I did add a pocket to cover up that neck hole… that is something I won’t do again, leaving in the neck. Now, I’ve gotta get some sleep!

I’ll have up-to-date pics hopefully after the Christmas holiday.

Cheers!

Finally completed two projects… well one is partially completed, but I can wear half of it while working on the other half!

First is a Christmas gift started in September, the Silky Cloche, from “Hooked Hats~20 Easy Crochet Projects”. I started it at my very first meeting with my crochet group, SAH “Sunday Afternoon Hookers”. They are a great bunch of women and we just had our Christmas Party, and I completed the hat during our party… one day before I need to gift it during another Christmas party on Tuesday. Wow. See the white rose? It came out kind of tight, but I think it will be okay. I need to experiment with hooks.

This project started out as something called a “Scrap Wrap” from Gritty Knits. After casting on the Rx’d number of stitches, I realized that it was going to be too thin for a wrap, so I frogged and cast on double the stitches needed… well, it’s still too thin. I like my things big because I like to feel all snuggly. The colors I began working with, then continued with, remind me of stained glass. Then I found LB’s Fun Fur in “Stained Glass” and decided to just stick with those colors in the fun fur… though I do have a pink.

I was going for the stained glass effect, as you can see by all the framing done in black, but not for each stripe. I crocheted a simple black border. I’ve decided to cast on another scarf and then graft them together. The best thing is that I can still use my scarf, and I have, by wearing it to SAH’s Christmas party. The minute it sits on my shoulders, I can feel the warmth, which is amazing because over 90% of this scarf is done with Red Heart acrylics. I really love a stash bust’in project. I am also working on a striped blanket, which started out as a poncho, but it got too heavy. I goofed on the rows and the work got wide enough to put on my bed! No pictures yet.

As a preface, I’d like to say that I frequent Jo Ann’s and have never had a problem gaining access to the store’s bathroom, here in NJ. One thing I’ll say is that they have one of the filthiest facilities that I’ve ever been to…. but at least they let me use them.

Edited December 22, 2007:  I just want to clarif y that the story below is not my own experience.   I found the article below on Digg.com and posted it here.

I was shopping in the Jo-Ann Fabrics store in Logansport, Indiana. While shopping I suddenly experienced unexpected and intense diarrhea. I approached an employee and asked her if I could use the rest room. She said she was not allowed to let me use it…”

It gets worse…much worse

read more | digg story

First thing I want to say is that I am posting this on both my blogs. Readers of DragonKnits, please be patient. I am including it there for the reason that there is Ravelry info on it. I know, I’m too lazy to pen a separate post. I probably could, and maybe will keep that in mind, but I have no idea if I will have the time to do that later.

My sincere apologies for not coming out of the closet sooner… so to speak. It’s kind of hard to concentrate with “Elmo’s Potty Time” echoing in my head all day long… but I’m desperate! There have been several times I had ideas and inspiration to write, but just as fast as they surface, they fade out during my day. I most certainly have that I’ve heard termed as “Mom’s Memory”. If you say it doesn’t exist, well, it doesn’t… the memory, that is.

Oh, before I forget. Ravelry is a community in beta stage right now; which means that you need an invitation to join. More and more invitations are being sent out weekly, the fastest yet. Jess and Casey, the owners of Ravelry, are putting together an Open House tentatively set for January. This will be a period of time when anyone will be able to access the site, with limited capabilities. I am thinking that it will be for more than just one day, but I do not know the details yet. I will be sure to post details as they come through.

As you might know, part of the reason that I am late getting back to blogging here is my involvement with Ravelry, a community of knitters. I should really say “Fiber Artists”, as there are people there from all walks of the fiber world: Knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, dyers, people raising the fiber animals, LYS people (Local Yarn Store). We all come from different walks of life, yet we have a bond. There are hundreds of groups on this community and I belong to something like 80 (+ or -).

As a matter of fact, I belong to several forums online. Well, I’ve gotten in trouble on one of them. Not really a big thing, but it’s gotten me thinking and I do not think that I should air them there… so I’ll air them here. It’s risky business as it’s a controversial subject. As such, I just can’t seem to put together a decent post; and is taking me longer than usual to write. Even with this additional time, I can’t guarantee that it will be agreeable to everyone, but that is to be expected. I just don’t want to get into a heated debate about it. I just want to air my views, and will be willing to discuss them, but I don’t want to argue. This is why I hesitate. What I am going to do is complete my writing, then decide if I still want to take the plunge and publish. I feel that I have the benefit of both perspectives of this topic, but others do not agree. Therein lies the possible storm. Maybe they are right; but on the other side, I believe that they have limited perspective, while I have the benefit of both- at different times in my life. They do not agree.

So I will do my best to be objective, yet get my opinions out, too. This could prove to be a confusing post to read, but this is why I am taking my time about it. Okay, that’s enough for now. Sorry to be so mysterious, but if I even mention it, I might just explode into sharing more than I really want to right now.

Have a great day!