Post ACen Progress

Well, technically I finished this hat before ACen, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. My co-worker Abel commissioned this from me, and the logo is from his favorite Mexican soccer team the Pumas. It is based on the House Color Hat found in Charmed Knits. This was also my first time using the double knit technique. It was fun and interesting to learn, but I'm not certain if I will make another double knit object in the round. My tension when purling is much looser than knitting, and it impacted how the hat looks on the yellow side.


You can kind of see the change in gauge on the yellow side above the logo, which is where I switched from working in double knit to separating the sides of the hat and working them each like a basic stockinette stitch hat. If I write up the pattern for this hat I will be shifting the placement of the image or logo so that it doesn't fall right below one of the decrease points.

I was also able to finish knitting the gloves and socks that Belldandy wears in Ah! My Goddess to go with my costume for ACen. Pictures of these will come an another post.

But now my next project (other than continued progress on the Cozy shawl for my grandma) is designing my first amigurumi. I've decided to make the Fox-squirrel from Nausicaa.



I have the yarn and a couple of test knitters/crocheters lined up. Now all I need to do is get started, which I hope to do either today while watching all of the Indiana Jones movies with my husband (before we see the new one tomorrow) or tomorrow afternoon after my job interview.

And my husband is helping me to brainstorm more ideas for amis. I'm so lucky that he supports my craziness.

Accomplishment

The mushrooms are finished and Ryan is thrilled, so that makes me happy too. I really like it that he understands my need to make things, and that he supports me and is always thrilled with what I make him.

I think as soon as I finish everything for my cosplays and things that have already been ordered I'm going to make something for myself. I haven't really tried lace yet, and I found a beautiful pattern through Ravelry that I think will be easy enough for a beginner.

With work being slow as molasses (so far only 10 days of work in 3 weeks) I have all the time in the world to knit and crochet, but no extra money to do so. At least I have enough of a stash to get me by for now, and Ryan's schedule has been enough to help us get by, but it's still not easy.

I keep wanting to put myself out there and start my crafting business full time, but my fear of failure keeps holding me back. I have so many dreams and ideas, but I very rarely do anything about it. Maybe it is just a dream. Maybe I can make it a reality, but sometimes I really doubt that I can do it. Unfortunately the pessimistic side of me tends to do most of the talking lately.

But I should probably get off of the computer and run the errands that Ryan wants me to take care of before he gets home from work. My younger brother is stopping by tomorrow with some things for us, including the Serger sewing machine my grandma no longer uses and is giving me. I had offered to buy it from her, but grandma wouldn't listen.

In a rut

Now that Claude the Cactus is finished and sitting on my desk I've started to develop a little bit of project apathy. I have so many things that I want to or need to work on, I just don't have the drive to do it right now. This probably has to do with this being the second day of Spring and having like 4 inches of snow on the ground. Bah! I hate winter-type weather, except when it's not blocking my driving.

On my project to do list:
Mushrooms in red, green, and purple for Ryan's ACen Shyguy (Mario games) costume
Fingerless gloves and Yoga socks for my Belldandy costume
Belldandy dress and accessories
Finish Robin coat
Fix Robin pendant
Grandma's Shawl (hopefully done in time for her birthday in August)
Gryffindor Hip House Scarf

And that's just the short list of things to finish within the next 5 months.

My queue on Ravelry has over 250 projects that I want to make (3 will be moved from queue to projects once I finish the short list.

Procrastination is Fun!

I still haven't finished typing up the pattern for my dishcloth. Too many fun things to distract me.

I'm still plugging away at my cosplays for ACen. I should have my Robin coat finished in the next day or two.

But most of my attention has been taken by an adorable crocheted cutie named Claude the Cactus (pattern available for free via Ravelry and the designers blog). Too much fun, but crocheting that tightly has really hurt my hands, so the original designer has given me permission to develop and publish on this blog a knit version of the cactus. First I just need to finish my own Claude.

Finished!

I have finished modifying the pattern for my Stargate dishcloth and test knitting it for a second time - and it is perfectly square! Yay! I'm so excited in so many geeky ways!

On to a picture:



Later today while my husband is at work I hope to get the pattern typed up and converted to a PDF. Then I will be off to design more geeky dishcloths! Or working on cosplays. Most likely working on cosplays.

Thank goodness for test knitting

Well I've finished up test knitting my Stargate dishcloth, and I'm really glad that I did before posting the pattern. It is so not a square dishcloth. The way I wrote the pattern originally it came out shorter than expected. I've found a couple of spots where adding a couple of extra rows will help to make the cloth closer to square and to add more definition to the symbol itself.

When I haven't been knitting I've been researching reasonably priced yarns to make striped scarves (a-la Harry Potter) featuring the school colors of local schools. I'm trying to offer the scarves in a variety of yarn types (wool, cotton, acrylic, etc.) to accommodate preferences, temperatures, and allergies. All while keeping the end product affordable. Which is why I will be getting a circular knitting machine (most likely a NSI Innovations) when my husband and I receive our tax refund.

Though, my attention is currently taken with working on my cosplay costumes for ACen 2008 in May. I'm really hoping I get the days off of work, though if it comes down to it I might just beg my manager.