Dainty Kitty

The Knitter's Hunk

Hee hee!  I won!  Much thanks to Alan Rickman for the inspiration and Kim for running such a fun contest!!   

A Wool Gathering

I almost went to the Wool Gathering again today.  I think I felt like I didn't spend enough.  I didn't buy any yarn (or come home with an angora rabbit which were selling for only twenty-five bucks - can you believe that?).  I'm sure that seems strange but I did buy a drop spindle and some wool roving to learn to hand spin with.  So far?  Tremendously difficult.  I got a book at the library today, though, that I think will help me out.  I also bought a merino/alpaca blend to spin when I actually get good at it.  If there's enough (and there should be), I'm going to use it to knit the Bainbridge Scarf.

Jake bit the bullet and went with me which was nice but he didn't really have a good time.  He liked talking to the ladies from the weaver's guild (one showed me how to use the drop spindle but I'd forgotten how to by the time I left - I should have asked if I could actually try it myself), a man who raised the border collies that were doing demonstrations with geese and a woman who raised alpacas.  It would have been more fun to go with some knitting girlfriends but...you'll have that.

Yesterday while waiting for Jake to get his hair cut in Yellow Springs (down the street from where the Wool Gathering was held), I worked on a crocheted hat using Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in Purple Mountains. It's a gorgeous yarn to work with out in the sun but the hat was floppy and not very hat-like by the time I had it nearly finished so I frogged it.  I've also finished the arms, ears, tail and part of the head of the Hep Cat pattern from the Elisabeth Doherty book but I'm stuck for the moment as I don't have a hook tiny enough to make the eye patches.  So it's been a weekend of fiberous stalls and false starts.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not but there's a tie between another blogger and I for the Knitter's Hunk.  Both of us had nominated the winner, Alan Rickman.  Kim, who ran the whole thing, put together an assignment for us in order to determine the Grand Prize and Second Place winners (I love that we're winners no matter what).  It was an essay question of sorts (ahem, she's a teacher): You have to knit one (ONE) thing for your favorite Alan Rickman character. For whom will you knit? Why? What will you knit? Explain your choice of project, including color(s), yarn(s), etc.

My submission?

My character choice was easy. Who needs something knitted for him more than cold, dead Jamie from Truly, Madly Deeply? This was the movie that made me love Alan Rickman, after all. I had crushed on him after seeing Galaxy Quest but…oh Jamie, baby.

But what to knit? Fingerless gloves to make cello playing easier? A hat? A scarf? A sweater? 

No, no, no…I wanted to knit something that would bring us together.  Therefore, I chose a soft, warm blanket - perfect for snuggling and cuddling. 

I searched and searched. Finally I came upon the Luxurious Bedcover from the Suss Cousins Home Knits book. It’s beautiful – I fell in love instantly. The book wasn’t kidding, though, when it said this blanket was an investment of time and money. Completely knitted in seed stitch with forty three skeins at $12.50 per means Jamie and I aren’t eating for a month (wait – do dead people eat?) but he’ll have lots of time to watch his classic films while I knit and…he’s more than worth it.  

I thought about switching to a less expensive yarn but, after doing some research, I realized nothing would make this blanket quite as…well, luxurious as Suss Butterfly. I was a bit unhappy with the color choices, though. The orange is stunning but not very masculine. The black is beautiful but it doesn’t pick up the contrast as well. I would have loved to have found a brown to match Jamie’s hazel brown eyes but they, unfortunately, don’t make Butterfly in any shade of brown. Blue it is – at least it’ll match my living room! 

So when body heat doesn’t keep us warm enough, Jamie and I can cuddle under this insanely warm soft blanket. 

Naked. 

‘Cause Alan Rickman’s awfully sexy for a dead guy....

* * *

I wrote it up in Word and added a couple of hunky photos.   Yeah, I was that kid in high school who used a large font size when tying a paper in order to make is seem longer.  And I was an English major!  I  liked my English classes, I just  I hated writing papers.  It's silly.  My emphasis was on creative writing - I wanted to write books, not write about them.

Anyway, we'll see how I do!

Also, this is my 101th post on this blog.  I've had several blogs over the years (Diaryland, LiveJournal, Blogger) but I think I'm happiest here.  I've made some great friends on each and every blog, though - the crafty web world is a very good place.

To celebrate my mini anniversary, I put up another one of Bertha's amazing banners and changed the look a bit.

I think I heard my phone ringing with Elvis Costello's "Monkey to Man" a few minutes ago which means Jake called.  He's making turkey burgers tonight and introducing me to the world of Battlestar Galactica...I have my doubts but I'm going into it with an open mind (and a crochet project).

And in closing, a sweet smile from a fella I met at the Gathering yesterday....

 

Isn't It Nice to Have Someone to Come Home to?

When I came around the corner today I spotted something  sitting in the tree outside of my apartment. 

It was my friend Mesmer the Little White Monkey!

He was just waiting for me to get home as his family had dropped him off on their way to Georgia for a little alone time.  I must have missed their letter; I had no idea he was coming.  Luckily, Mesmer enjoys watching traffic so he was content to hang out in the tree and watch the cars go by.

Right now I'm going to go pour the little guy a bowl of monkey chow.  The amigurumi book I've been waiting for, Amigurumi! Super Happy Crochet Cute finally came in and I'm dying to sit down and take a closer look at it - the quick flip through in the car doesn't count! 

Some News and Links to Love

 

Don't these look fantastic?!  Coffee Cupcakes and Homemade Doughnuts topped with whipped cream by the Cupcake Bakeshop by Chokcylit.  I'd really like to get into baking - I make a mean chocolate chip cookie followed by my yummy snickerdoodles - and give these and a few other cupcake recipes I've found recently a try.  Some day, maybe. 

He won!  Alan Rickman is the Official Knitter's Hunk!  Thanks to anyone who may have wandered over to Kim's blog to help me out by voting.  :-)

And this is a link that I've been meaning to post for a couple of weeks now.  The web craft world has recently gotten a little bit bigger!  Meet Miss V of Miss V's Hobby Adventures: a brand new, self taught knitter, a maker of dishtowels, a lover of cats, a fan of the Cubs and someone I just like a lot.  I also have to point out that her very first project was a dish towel made using a basketweave stitch!  Click over and say hello!

Lessons Learned: Following a Pattern

I finished two projects this weekend.  First I finished the crocheted stripey scarf I was working on.  The pattern called for rows of 147 double crochets which was way too short (when looped over my neck that would have put the ends about mid stomach) so I added an extra 225.  Um, yeah, the thing ended up about seven or eight feet long.  I also used double crochets for the whole thing even though you're only supposed to use them for the four stripes of green and then half double crochet for the last three stripes.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but crocheted yarn is a lot less giving than yarn that is knitted so it wasn't comfortable. 

The difference between this project and others that didn't turn out so well?  I frogged this one yesterday morning and started over this morning with the required amount of stitches.  After two rows I decided it really was too short so I'm going to tear it out again and add 50 - 75 stitches.  By doing that and sticking to the pattern for the rest of it (using hdcs when I'm supposed to) it should turn out perfect.  I'm learning.

I also finished the monkey from the Mr. Funky book.  I used solid white button eyes which has made him a little spooky looking.  Jake said he looks like one of the Kodama from  Princess Mononoke (which would make a good stocking stuffer along with some Elder Clean Soap).  This  almost made him want to learn to crochet  and for a moment I thought I had him...but not quite.   Anyway, I'll take photos of the scary little guy tomorrow.

The rest of the weekend: lots of lounging, gyros and pastries from the Greek Festival and hours of The Office.  Um, and I've gotten my craft room back in order and have actually managed to keep it that way that for three days.  Pretty proud of myself for that....

And the photo is just a random one of Mina that I took some time ago.  I just thought the post needed a picture.   

The Knitter's Hunk - A Plea From Your Pal

There's been a little contest running at Hand Eye Crafts for the Knitter's Hunk.  There are currently three very heated ties that need to be broken.

Colin Firth vs. Alan Rickman

Johnny Depp vs. George Clooney

Mike Rowe vs. Ewan McGregor

I'm encouraging you to vote because it's fun (and rather addictive) but also because I really want Alan Rickman to win this round.  Hee hee! So if you have no preference between Mr. Firth and Mr. Rickman, do your old pal Emily a favor and vote for Rickman. 

Thanks for your support!

Picnik

I found a new toy (even though it's been around for ages, I'm sure).  Picnik - for editing photos and doing lots of cool things to them.  This is a photo of my brother and I last Thanksgiving in Charleston, South Carolina.  I never liked it but now that I've "Lomo-ish"ed it, it's more appealing.  Neither of us look very happy for some reason.  We were, I'm sure, though....

I'm wearing my favorite five dollar Target Halloween t-shirt.  A little trivia: Wanda Sykes (as Barb) wore one on an episode of The New Adventures of the Old Christine.  I always buy one or two Halloween shirts per year and they already have them out but I don't remember being wowed by any this year. 

Hmm, things are pretty boring around here.  Crocheting is getting in the way of keeping a clean house, though.  I'm neglecting all kinds of things as I finish the monkey from the Mr. Funky book as well as a scarf I started the other night.  Egads, crocheting is so easy and satisfying.  I borrowed the first two seasons of News Radio from the library and have been happily crocheting as I remember just how good that show really was. I have two knitting projects - the Booga Bag and the fingerless mittens that have totally been set aside.  I glance at them as I dig through my tote bag but haven't picked either of them up for a long time.  I do want to finish the bag before I leave for Florida at the end of the month, though. 

A rep just brought me a piping hot piece of pepperoni pizza from Flying Pizza (yum) so I think I'm going to take a moment to enjoy it before it gets cold....

 

The Hill Family Barn

I've wanted to post photos of this ever since my parents finished building it but it wasn't until Friday night that I was able to get a really decent picture.   Last summer, my dad designed this small barn (or your basic lawn mower/gardening shed/storage area disguised as a barn) and built it with my mom - and with additional help from my brother, Dad's brother and Mom's Dad. 

My dad is pretty amazing - it's hard to believe that he designed this himself.  I especially love the addition of the Ohio Star (which was my mom's idea - she's the quilter).

It's prime allergy season for me right now.  I've spent the entire day in utter misery, cursing ragweed and the entire month of September.  If I'm this bad off tomorrow I'm going to go ahead and make an appointment for an allergy shot.   This is ridiculous.

Luckily, Jake thinks my pink nose is cute.  He found it especially adorable that, even though I was miserable, I was still crocheting away.  I started Mr. Funky's monkey and I know I followed the pattern for its head but...it's huge and oddly shaped compared to the body.  I'll be interested to see how it looks once I stuff it and sew the two parts together.

Now I'm off to attempt to sleep as it's the only way I can escape Dr. Evil Itchy Nose....

My First Crocheted Hat

Lesson learned today: it's really hard to get a good picture of your head.

On-The-Go Water Bottle Bear

This morning I finished my first project from Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful.  I was, unfortunately, too lazy to do a photo shoot until about seven p.m. so the photo doesn't give justice to the bright blue yarn or the beautiful day we had today. 

I might try again tomorrow. 

Anyway, I also made my first crocheted hat (also from  Mr. Funky) today.  I was going to save this project for vacation but I had a couple of balls of the Lion Brand Landscapes it called for and I was bored.  Good thing because we wouldn't have even left Ohio before I finished it had I waited.  So maybe I'll make a different hat or finally tackle a flower scarf.   I'll take a picture of the hat tomorrow....

Egads, we've been watching Veronica Mars for several weeks now and we watched five episodes tonight.  Pile that on the three episodes I watched this morning to catch up with Jake and I am way Veronica Marsed out.  It's a good series but I've discovered that doses of one to two episodes are much healthier.   I also watched the first season of Entourage this week (so that I could get my Netflix discs back in time for the release of season three of The Office) - it's good but the episodes are way short.  I feel cheated at the end of each one.   Once we finish season two of VM and season three of The Office, Jake is going to introduce me to Doctor Who.  We watched one episode - one from the seventies - and all it managed to do was make me want to knit his scarf.  We'll see what I think after watching it from the beginning, though.

Yeah, yeah, all I've done this week is watch television and knit or crochet.  Tomorrow, though, we're going hiking so I don't feel too awful bad.