Love at first glance

I signed up for a 5-issue subscription to Interweave Knits a while back when they were having a special: 5 issues for just $19.00! Considering it's $6.99 an issue in the bookstores, that's quite a bargain. I could have gotten the issue that was out then, the Spring '06, but I didn't really like all that many of the patterns. Luckily, I was able to ask the customer representative at IK to make my subscription start with the summer issue.

My Summer 2006 issue of IK arrived today in the mail! I'd scoped out the preview online, but it's much better in the flesh, as it were. I was going to post a picture of the cover, but then I realised that there's a subscriber-only password on it. So many things I'd want to knit - it's a damn shame that the summers are probably pretty short up here.

I love sweaters, I truly do. I like them when they're warm and snuggly and soft and fuzzy in the winter. I like fluffy, delicate mohair, the luxurious bloom of cashmere and alpaca, the clearly delineated lines of cables, the big and small textures of guernseys, the intricate yet natural colour schemes found in Fair Isle knits - I love them all. But I just don't enjoy the winter all that much. I don't like bundling up in layer upon layer of clothing just because I can't take the cold. I hate schlepping a huge overcoat around when I'm shopping inside a mall. I'm really annoyed by the fact that I can only fit about a quarter of the clothing I would squeeze into a suitcase in summer when I'm travelling. Yes, during the winter I really miss the freedom of spring and summer clothing.

That's why these light, little numbers appeal to me so much! This lissome Bias Corset by the master of shaping, Annie Modesitt. Can a girl ever have too many camisoles? I don't think so! We need them in every colour and design under the sun, to go by themselves or under shrugs, jackets, blazers and cardigans. And can I help it that they made it in my favourite colour, a sigh-worthy powedery lilac-blue?
Ooohh.....and look! Laaaaaace! How can anyone resist lace? I love the look of it, and I've definitely fallen in love with knitting it. Of course, I'm not all that impressed by the coloured embroidery on this Bonita Shirt by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark. I consider it a little de trop. But otherwise, this definitely looks like something I would enjoy making and wearing. And this issue of IK has various articles on lace! There's even mention of my blog-idol, Eunny Jang, whose blog See Eunny Knit is always an inspiration to me.
Here's picture of the Lotus Blossom Tank (by Sharon Shoji), which appears on the cover. More lace, and in South West Trading Company's Bamboo yarn, which I've been dying to try, but couldn't decide what I wanted to make with it. Now I know!

Yup, definitely drool-worthy. So here's extra motivation to find a regular job that pays well, get a car so I can drive around hunting for LYSs, and finish my WIPs and UFOs so I don't feel guilty for starting another (or another five or six) projects!

Excuse the poor photography. The postman folded the magazine up in the mailbox, and the crease really caught the light. You can see all the other projects in this issue here.

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Crochet at 5/05/2006 06:22:00 PM

Blanket Guilt Trip

What, you ask, have I been doing these past few weeks? It seems as though all us bumbling bees have gone quiet. I know Moocow is busy with final papers and projects, but what are Kea and Greenwithenvy doing?

Well, I think I'm about 85% moved in and settled into my new place at the moment. Why just 85 percent? I'm missing a few critical items of furniture and storage/organisation items, so I still have stuff in boxes that I can't put away and, with no car and not much money, that probably won't be changing for a good while yet.

I've been looking for jobs, interviewing and goofing around at home, although I worked yesterday and the day before. Uninspiring stuff as a receptionist for a law firm, whose phone system is whack and makes my life, and theirs, extra difficult. It seems they want me to go back next week and, even though I'm reconsidering the thought that any job is better than sitting at home, I'm not really in a position to turn down work.

But I wasn't idle while I was at home. Seriously, my stash of UFOs was constantly reprimanding me. Especially that crocheted baby afghan, which I've been working on half-heartedly since sophomore year of college. So I've been working on it with a vengeance, even though all those rows of clusters were beginning to get to me. Here's a close-up of the stitch pattern.

So, as you can see from the picture at the top, I've finished the body of the afghan and have finally started working on the edging. (In the background, you can see my desk and parts of my new home!) But now that I'm nearing the finish line (on round 4 of eight rounds of edging) I can see that I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish!

Thinking back quite a ways, I am almost positive I got the yarn from the Ames that used to be in Ithaca. Well, it went out of business and closed down. Fortunately, I don't believe this yarn should be too difficult to come by; it's just some RedHeart Baby Sport Pompadour. Since I'm already at the edging, I figure a slight change in shade from a different dye-lot shouldn't matter too much.

Of course, I could just leave the edging as it is now (see there, on the left?). It looks like a decent edging, doesn't it? Of course, the finished edging would look much better. Should I try and hunt down some more yarn, given that I'm transportation-challenged now?

And does anyone have a baby I can give this to?

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Crochet at 5/05/2006 12:34:00 PM

Blue backpack (of doom)

This is the backpack I made. I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went along.

It's all done in single crochet, using two big discount bin Red Heart Super Saver balls of double worsted (I think), and one large ball of unidentified black fuzzy stuff I bought off the street in Mong Kok. I crocheted it using a 6 mm hook with two strands taken together - either 2 blue strands, or one blue and one black, to create the stripes. I don't think it matters what you use as long as it's pretty strong. Pick a hook that gives you a pretty tight weave. The goal is to make the holes as small as possible. Cotton would have been a good idea, but I had all this leftover stuff. I also put the hook through both the front and back of the stitch, which makes it sturdier.

I first crocheted a rectangular base, about 11X10 inches. Then I went around and around to make the body of the bag, about 13 inches high. I put the seam in the middle of the back so that it can't be seen when the backpack is worn. I also discovered that if you turn the bag around and crochet back the other way with every line, the seam won't creep diagonally. (Does that even make sense?)

Then you do the flap (line the centre up with the seam). I made mine 6 inches wide and 6.5 inches long. It's tapered up towards the end. (Decreased 1 stitch on either side for the last 6 rows). Then make a loop at the top for the toggle button to go through. I haven't really figured out a good way to do this. I braided some yarn and wove it in, but it comes loose sometimes.

I did the straps by attaching (doubled) yarn to the bottom corners of the bag and making a chain 24 inches long, and attaching the other end to the top. Then you crochet into the chain, chaining both ends into the body of the bag as you go along. I made them 4 rows wide.

Then thread in the drawstring, sew on the toggle, and it's done. I also recommend sewing a lining for it, just in case.

I wouldn't put anything really heavy, like books, in it. But it does fine for my wallet and keys and moisturizer and pens and lip balm and business card box and the other junk I carry around every day.

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Posted by Kea to Bumbling Bees - Crochet at 4/01/2006 11:38:00 PM

Pat's Christmas present

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Posted by MooCow to Bumbling Bees - Crochet at 3/26/2006 11:06:00 PM

Desiree's Birthday Hat

My friend Desiree's birthday was back in January. The day before we were to have her birthday tea party at Alice's Teacup, I went to Seaport Yarns in NYC for the first time and bought some lovely Araucania Atacama 100% alpaca to make a hat for her. Since I hadn't decided on a pattern yet I wasn't sure how much to get, but the very helpful ladies at Seaport suggested I get two hanks, and they even let me wind one up myself using their yarn swift and ball winder! They're such fun - I definitely have to save up for ones of my own.

Seaport Yarns is just amazing!!! I spent hours there, going from room to room admiring their selection of yummy yarns. There's so much stuff in there, they take you on a speedy tour when you go in and they find that you're a first-time visitor. But what amazing self-control! I only came away with the Atacama, an issue of Vogue Knitting, a special issue of Rebecca and some Clover Chibi needles.


After staying up all night to finish the hat - crocheted from a pattern in my copy of Lion Brand Yarn's Just Hats (the Basic Crochet Hat with the top knot) - I wrapped it all up nicely in a box lined with dark brown tissue paper. "Lovely, if I do say so myself," I thought. I could barely wait for her to unwrap it and try the hat on. I just didn't realise that it would look so much like.....a condom.....that first moment when she picked it up, by the knot, out from the box!! Why had the resemblance never struck me before? Was it a creator's love for the cute, little top knot, the alpaca, the colours, that had blinded me? (By the way, the pattern said to make that top knot 4 inches long - even then, I thought that would be slightly obscene! I only made mine about an inch and a half.) Anyway, Desiree professed to love the colours, and we all had a good laugh over the top knot, so I will consider my time well spent and not inquire as to whether or not she actually wears it. I'll try not to, honest!

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Crochet at 3/04/2006 09:46:00 PM