I’m having so many problems writing this entry right now…Seriously, WordPress = usability fail.

Alright! This is not everything that I’ve been working on, but it’s some of it…my excuse this time is that I just moved, and I didn’t do a lot of the packing.  As a result, it wasn’t until last night that I was able to locate the cord for my digital camera.  But the following projects had their pictures taken by the gift recipients, so they were e-mailed to me.  So, without further adeiu, I present to you two crochet gift projects.

“Imaginary Tiger Friend”

This is Imaginary Tiger Friend by Craft Kitten. I saw this patten way back before I even learned to crochet.  I queued it immediately on Ravelry, because I knew that my boyfriend loved Calvin & Hobbes, and that I had to make it for him. After a while, a kind soul on the RAK group on Ravelry gifted me the pattern, and I began working.  It was an epic struggle of “Why aren’t my stripes lining up?” (answer still unknown) and the disappearing crochet hook (my parents found it 2 months later, exactly where I’d looked for it) but I think it came out alright…if huge. I really had no idea how big it would be…so if I were to do it again, it would be a bit smaller, but Scott liked it anyway. It made for a great anniversary present.  It took a really long time…I’d say I started work on it in May and didn’t finish it until July.  Admittedly, I did let it sit for a while, and coudn’t work on it on weekends (since that’s when Scott’s around), but it still kept a while just because it was so big.  Oh, and the whole thing is done in Red Heart Sport Solid.  And I somehow have way more leftover than I though.

(^ Check out Scott’s toes!)

And the other gift I made was for my best friend’s birthday present.  She’s moving and starting law school this month, so I wanted to give her something she could use.  I figured a reusably grocery bag would be great, so I got myself the Eco Warrior Bag pattern by Knitomatic.  I’m not exactly an “Eco Warrior” but I try not to be unnecessarily wasteful either.

It’s supposed to be done in ribbon yarn, but I had some doubts as to a) how that would look, and b) how strong it would be.  And I’ve been having a love affair with CottonEase lately, and it’s definitely durable, so it was my #1 choice.

I went down a hook size (or 2, I don’t remember) and increased the amount of…increases, ha.  And I absolutely love the way it came out. I’m considering making myself one out of the leftovers.  It only took about a ball and a half, and it was super easy.  Great TV crocheting.  If anyone wants a shopping bag, I’d totally recommend this pattern

Coming up soon

• Another CottonEase project!
• Marie gets over Second Sock syndrome
• Llama duck!

According to some of the WordPress information, when you post an entry, you’re supposed to be able to add things like “Mood” or “Music”…and the only place I saw that was when I was editing the “About Me” page. Strike 2 for WordPress’s so-called “usability.”

Anyway, I recently posted my total yarn usage for the month of April in the Stash Knitdown group on Ravelry, so I thought I’d share

2 skeins of Noro for a bag: 220 yds
Some Patons for the straps: ~100 yds
2 skeins of CottonEase for the beginnings of a hoodie: 414 yds
TOTAL: 734 yds

The Noro and Patons are waiting to be felted sometime soon and then sewn together for what will most likely be a knitting bag. I thought that crocheting the bag would make it sturdy enough, but I think if anything with any weight is ever going to be put in there, it should probably be felted.

I’m growing frustrated with the hoodie because I accidentally messed up on one of the sleeves really early on (I started knitting at 12 rows when I should have started at 36 rows, so one sleeve was 24 rows shorter than the other) and didn’t notice until I was done, so I had to rip out the whole thing and start over again. And I’m frustrated with the rest because it’s just going to take a long time. That’s the problem with sweaters. They’re so big. The body’s about 3″ long right now. The pattern doesn’t call for any waist shaping, so I’m improvising by adding some in myself…who knows how it will turn out?

I’m also frustrated with WEBS. They messed up my order and sent me 6 skeins instead of 9. I called last Friday and they said they’d ship it that day…instead, they shipped it on Monday and I still don’t have it yet. Not that I’m crocheting it anytime soon, but they don’t know that! And my apartment is not the best for getting packages, (they once called me to say that I “still” had a package that I was never told about sitting in the office) so I wish they’d give me a tracking # or something. Hopefully it will get here today.

And hopefully I’ll find somewhere to put it… :-/

I must say that, as a graduate student studying usability, for a site that advertises that they specialize in usability, I have absolutely no idea how to use WordPress. I do not find this blog site easy at all, and I’ve been on many blog sites in the past.

Anyway, this it my forray into the world of craft blogging. I knit mostly, but I also crochet, and occasionally sew together strange monstrosities (sewing machines and I do not get along at all). And I even cook, though lately I’ve been too tired and poor to do much with that.

I’m too poor to do a lot of things, and I don’t apologize for that. I see a lot of people on Ravelry who let others make them feel inadequate for using OMG acrylic, or for shopping at craft stores, and it drives me crazy. You can make just as nice things out of acrylic, and if it works for them, then who cares what other people do?

Anyway, I guess as this is the obligatory intro post, I should provide the obligatory intro:

I was taught to knit by a friend–technically wrongly, but I make it work. When I started grad school, I had no friends, no thesis topic and hardly any work to do, so I started knitting more seriously, and there aren’t enough containers in my house to hold the yarn I’ve purchased since then. I spent a lot of time alone on the couch knitting, and now that my boyfriend has moved away, I’m back again! I adopted crocheting this past semester as part of a skill acquisition class. (For my other class, I conducted a study on Ravelry. How sweet was that?)

I’m currently in the process of trying to knit/crochet down my stash to some reasonable amount of yarn…but I just bought a bunch at the webs anniversary sale. Small setback. But I at least know what I’m going to do with all the yarn that I bought….or at least I thought I did. I bought some Cascade 220 superwash that looked olive on the site, a nice neutral. Five days later, I have three skeins of St. Patrick’s Day, Luck of the Irish, Erin go Bragh, Kelley green. Pretty color; not the neutral I was looking for.
…In the process of writing this post, WordPress has sent me an e-mail with all sorts of potentially helpful information. Methinks some user friendly salient links to said information on the site might be a tiny bit more efficient than an e-mail.