A knitting blog by a girl who breaks things for a living.

A proud announcement that a photograph of a yarn I've created and sold via Etsy.com is now on display at the Yarn Museum! When you get a chance, please take a look here - http://yarnmuseum.com/gallery_shows_changing/birdandbeast_gallery.html.

Spinners, I encourage you to take part in their wonderful menagerie of displays. It's a great site hosted by many talented spinners :)

Well, the weather wasn't too great so no sitting by the canal. But! I can say that the bento was extremely tasty and of perfect portions. It got a lot of comments from my coworkers too. I think that Craig and Eva are both getting bento boxes - I'll have bento buddies very soon!

Below is tomorrow's bento:

Labels: bento, yummy

So, I've been obsessing over BENTOOO for the past few days. I'm not sure what started it, but I've been looking at pics of bento, bento box auctions, and everything else bento. After buying a bento box online, I broke down today and went to Uwajimaya with Jer and Eva and got another box. And accessories. And as soon as we got home, put together my first box. First, the goods:









Overall, I think doing this is a great thing because I'll be eating healthier and in smaller portions, and I'll be saving money in not buying $10-$15 lunches every day. Tomorrow's lunch is nigiri sushi, salad, and some sweets (red bean cake and koala yummies). Lookie!











I can't wait to eat it tomorrow! Hopefully it'll be nice out and I can sit by the canal and watch the boats go by. Squee!

Oh my GOODNESS it's a nice day outside today. Reached about 80 degrees, sun all day, little to no wind. I dressed for crap weather (jeans, t-shirt, jacket), so needless to say that when I got home, I stripped all that off and am now donning board shorts and a sleeveless mock Hawaiian tank top. I say to this weekend: Aloha! I hope it's as nice tomorrow and Sunday as it was today.

I've been working on a pair of socks recently - cast on at a bar during happy hour this past Monday, and it's been slowly coming along ever since. I'm done with the toes now, and working on the foot. The yarn I'm working with is extremely pretty, and works up really nicely! If you ever get the chance I definitely recommend getting sock yarn from cherryblossomfibers.etsy.com.


I have also been enjoying the bird and the bee recently. Was exposed to them at a recent Lily Allen show here in Seattle, and was turned on by their electronic backdrop against pretty soprano lyrics. They dropped some buttons during the show, and I snagged one up, which is now pinned to my ArrrrPirate bag. If you are interested in listening to their album, I have it streamed here.

Labels: happy, music, nice weather, sock knitting, the bird and the bee

This above question is something that I've always wondered about. Most of the patterns that you see out there call for much more yardage than 100 yards (dk, worsted weight). This has been, as someone who appreciates handspun yarns but is apprehensive in purchasing them because I don't think that I would have enough for a "real" project, a downer.

However, in delving into the world of handspinning my own yarns within the past 4-5 months or so, have created a couple skeins of ~100 yarns of yarn to see if one can really can make something out of this yardage (and, mind you, not mixed with any other yarn type to extend the total yardage). Can this be done?

The answer? Yes!

Example 1

Using a ~95 yard skein of worsted weight navajo plied yarn, I was able to make a 3" x 5' garter stitch scarf, like-a so:





Example 2

Using around 90 yards of this handspun yarn...





I did a "mock" Calorimetry FO...





In short: Don't fear the handspun! :)

This past week I've fallen in love with making socks all over again, mostly due to the neatly colored sock yarn purchases made over the past month comprised of Trekking XXL and handpainted sock yarns from Cherry Blossom Fibers. Another thing has rekindled the flames of love of sock-making too - knitting two socks at once!

Let's face it - after all the time and effort in making one sock, making the second sock (for me, at least) is a rushed chore more than it is a pleasure to do. I can't tell you how many socks I've made that are just one - lost somewhere in the apartment because I never bothered to make the second. By making two at once, there's no guesswork in making the socks consistent. And, once the first one is done, the second one is "magically" completed too. Huzzah!

The current socks are using Trekking XXL color 107 (reds and greens). Working with these colors has been a treat because the change in color is so gradual and magical. These socks aren't made from any pattern per se, but I am following these basic guidelines for my size 8 feets...

1. Take the skein of sock yarn and divide it into two center pull balls.

2. Cast on using figure 8 cast on method with US 1 40" circular needles, 13 stitches on each side of the sock (26 stitches total for each sock). Use one ball for one sock, and the other ball for the other sock. Work each round like you would for one sock using the magic loop method.

2. Once cast on is done, apply M1 at the beginning and the end of the "row" (or side of one sock) until the total stitches for the side of the sock reaches 30 stitches (60 stitches total for each sock).

3. Work rounds for both socks until the sock reaches 4" (or when the entire foot minus the heel is covered). Now it's ready to make the heel of the sock!

4. Using only one side of each sock, apply this nifty short row formula for heels without holes.

5. Continue to knit in the round until desired length. At this point, if wanted, apply K1P1 rows of ribbing for 1". Cast off using favorite method. Voila!

Labels: knitting, socks

I got a craving for carrot cake sometime yesterday, so I ventured out after seeing Children of Men (probably one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen) and got the ingredients! Finished it about 5 minutes ago. The first piece? GONE. Mmmmm, tasty!







Also, new yarn on my Etsy site! Huzzah!