KnittyKnome

skirt

2011-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Isobel skirt from interweave knits.

I hope this isn't you

2010-12-26T21:34:00.000-08:00

Hand felted soaps. Easiest gift ever. Buy fancy soap, add fancy wool, DONE!! Posted post Xmas just in case someone reads this!

off your overcoat, off with your glove

2010-12-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

I built a gingerbread terrace house for dad.
Aunt Lois helped decorate it.

Now we've begun to eat it. Nom Nom NomHey who remembers my first sweater!!??? No one? that's cause it sucked. But aunt Lois made it fit better, her solution: Make it a pillow!!

yay sweater pillow!!!

coffe house knitting

2010-11-30T15:59:00.001-08:00

Once a week every week I got to Bardo Coffee to knit. It's one of the simplest, calmest parts of my week. I'm not at work so I'm not freaking out. I'm not at home ignoring chores or freezing in my bedroom. I don't have to talk to anyone, but if i'm chatty I can start up a conversation with the barista or a total stranger. And best of all I'm focused on my knitting and nothing else. It's the best time for me to work on complicated things like my shawl, or designing my own pattern or fixing stupid mistakes.

I never spend more or less than 3 hours at the coffee house, makeing it my own private craft afternoon. Afterwords I head over to Fancy Tiger's Craft Night, and show off what I've made, or bemoan what I've unmade. Hooray for coffee house knitting!

How to sew your way out of a paper bag

2010-11-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you have a project that has you saving materials for months, if not years. It takes up space in the corner taunting you with it's potential, whispering "I'm gonna be awesome! You'll have time to work on me any day/month/year/decade now!".

So gradually you keep adding materials to the pile, going so far as to hoard items that would be better suited to other projects; even prehaps buying things for it and placing them lovingly in the pile of potential. All the while you are envisioning an ever greater and more beautiful project. A project to end all projects, it will inspire endless jealousy in all your friends, bringing you fame and accolades all over the internet! Just as soon as you finish it ...or better yet start the damn thing.

You keep putting it off because you think maybe you don't have all the equipment for it, or you don't have the skills for it, or the time to do it justice... but really these are all just excuses for what you know deep down in the depths of your heart:

This project is going to suck.

Because after all this time nothing you make can live up to the potential that you've built up in your head.
Because your not excited about it like you were 2 years ago.
Because you went out and bought the big-box-store equivalent of it.
Because you've started and finished and started dozens of other projects in the meanwhile and you need to work on those first.
Because your friend had the same idea and finished their version months ago and you know you're just not as detail oriented as they are, and yours is going to be haphazard at best.

But all that is OK because today is the day! You've had coffee, and got nothing better to do! You're not going to put the bloody thing off anymore and to hell with the quality! You're sick of looking at it, at moving around a great big unused pile of potential and you're ready to GET CRAFTING.

So carefully you set up your work area. Lovingly readying the martial and ever so carefully making the first cuts, basting your edges, pinning your seams ...It looks like this might work out after all!

...Yep it's going well!

...Sorta.

...Kinda

...Well maybe if you fudge this seam...

Nobody is going to look at it this closely right?

Then comes the point in this project where all your doubts just sort of crystallize. This project sucks. You went at it in a desperate kamikaze hoping to pull some skill and inspiration out of your caffeine addled brain. But really, even as you desperately try to sew a straight seam, you know the truth.

You will never finish the project.
You need to stop now and salvage what resources you can.
You are teetering on the edge of sanity.
You need to stop. right. now.

If you're lucky the power will go out, a hurricane will strike, or the universe will end. Otherwise you've just spent your weekend on a piece of crap.

Sock Fail

2010-01-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

I knitted a sock, and got all the way to the heel turn, and finally resigned myself to what I had known all along; this sock was 14sts too small. :(So I pulled, and pulled and pulled and pulled.
and now it's all gone. just yarn again with no purpose.
and hey, stuff in Hati sucks right now, and it's safe to say that it's still gonna suck there even if you're reading this months or years later. So help some people out and give to Doctors With Out Borders or something. Cause really, earthquakes suck.

My work is Awesome.

2009-09-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

that is all.

introducing MR. KNITTYKNOME!!!!

2009-09-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

So I finished some socks. The yarn is actually three different sock yarns, all of which were pathetic on their own, so I spun them into a SuperYarnCakeOfDoom. The resulting 3ply was awesome.

At work I found a gnome, his name is KnittyKnome, and his greatest ambition is to take over the world using only string. Here he is helping me through a bit of a snag, the yarn he's working on is some of the yarn used in the socks pictured above.
and here is Mr. KnittyKnome working on his first scarf. Like many of my friends, I introduced him to knitting with chopsticks. Manly because I couldn't find my sz9 DPNs for him to work with.
Also I've begun making wallets using scraps. so far there's five.
this is the most recent and complicated one. It has a zipper salvaged from a pair of pants, and my very first button hole. All of the fabricsclothng it features come from FancyTigerCraft

Flirty Skirty

2009-07-23T23:24:00.000-07:00

so for work I have 3 choices for what to wear, black pants, kaki pants or a skirt. So I made some skirts. I have 3 done so far, though I only have pictures of two. Above is the second one I made with the Amy Butler Barcelona pattern. I chose it simply because I love the way David Tennant says "Barcelona"(1:o9seconds).

Above is the Barcelona skirt just barely pined together on the left side. I'm currently using the floor for a cutting table and it sucks. I hope someone donated a good table to work soon so that I can trash my cruddy too small desk.Above is the fist skirt I made, the Amy Butler A-line that also comes with the Barcelona skirt pattern I like it, but I have to learn how to make darts because it is a little too big.

below my mom is holding up the Log Cabin quilt I'm working on. I stole the pattern from The Yarn Harlot, but the yarn it's made of has been intended for a blanket for a looooooooong time. Currently it the blanket is too big and hot to work on efectively in the summer.

KICKASS BAG OF AWESOME DOOM!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Pattern is High Street Messenger Bag by Amy Butler

This bag took me about 3days to make. I got all the materials from Fancy Tiger except the snap which I alredy had.

This is the inside of my AWESOME bag. It's got pen holes and everything!

The inside pocket of the bag hangs on a flap, so it can flp out for easy access. This is my favorite part of the bag. In the bottom left corner of the flap is a darker square. In the original pattern that was just negative space,but I decided that a coin pocket would be good and added a 4th zipper pocket. The zipper was cannibalized from the fly of my favorite pair of pants from a few years back, that unfortunately wore out beyond all repair in the butt.

This is the back of the bag, I find it to be very exciting in that the picture came out clearly. that is all.

This is the first time I ever used a Zipper foot. It was awesome, there's all sorts of things that you can do with a zipper foot. Not only is a zipper foot good at zippers, it's also great for making sharp edges on the edge of the material. Almost as sharp as store bought stuff, only my hands made it sort of wobbly .

Addition; I haz it.

2009-03-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

this week I am addicted to:

Bobbles!! and wtf is up with that? I hate them, but I can't stop making them.
Dish/wash-cloths! again wtf? why are they so addicting and why did no one ever tell me this before?
Knitting backwards!(right to left, rather than left to right) do you know how much easier this makes my life? Especially with bobbles and short rows? Thank you dyslexia!
Daleks!!! DALEKS ARE SUPREME. OBEY. OBEY. EXTERMINATE!

The result of all the new addictions is multiple repetitions of EXFOLIATE

Here Come the Drums

2009-02-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

I started some more socks with my Malabrigo, the pattern is Red Herring by Cookie A. who's new sock book I am anxiously waiting for. Anyway here are the socks so far, it's been a while since I've worked two-stranded so it took me awhile to get the hang of it again.Now I've got a good rhythm and a little chant that I sing under my breath "red, red, green, green; red-green; red, red, green, green"

crunk t-shirts

2009-02-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

Little Bro moved out and left behind all his old t-shirts. the ones that were too sketchy for the goodwill or just cool enough to fit me with some alterations, got sliced up and turned into this:

7 tshirts worth of 'yarn' which I tried to knit on my sz19's. The 19(as thick as my thumb) were too small for the type of fabric I wanted so I frogged it, and pouted on twitter. Lucky someone on twitter had a pair of sz50's they wanted to get rid of, and they happily mailed them to me. I was so excited I got this much done in about 10 minuets.

and by the end of the day I had knit up all of the 'yarn'. Unfourtnetly it ended up being the size of a bathmat, so I now have three choices, 1)marry bigfoot 2) rip it out and make it into a bathmat, or 3) go get some more tshirts!!!! I think I'm going for door no.3.

the epic tale of the birthday present of monkey w!n

2009-02-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

So I realized that mom's birthday was in a week and three days and that I had totally forgotten what I wanted to get her. So I freaked out about it for a day or so and then thought "what has mom been complaining about for ages?". Most of the answers were things like how messy my room was or how the house is too big; not really b-day present material. And then inspiration slaped me like a fish to the face: DUH! Knitting! Mom is ALWAYS telling me to knit her stuff, or fondling stuff and saying "If I could knit..."; It's kinda obvious that something knitted at the very least will be appreciated, or even activity lusted after.

The next step figuring out what to knit, was easy; a sweater would have been too insane to even contemplate, so that was right out, and I've alredy given her mitts so a repeat would have been lame. A hat and scarf set would have been alright, except that she alredy has many of both and I would rather chew glass than seriously attempt a scarf (except the Doctor Who scarf) and a shawl would have been in the same basket of crazy as the scarf. A purse or bag could have worked but people are always so picky about their bags, and they remind me of how Grandma would always sent me unwanted purses when I was a kid. So that left only socks and knitted pants, and nobody wears knitted pants.

After this magical epiphany I consulted my mates on Twitter about the feasibility of this venture, and after some deliberation we decided that it was doable so long as I stuck to something I alredy knew. The only successful pair of socks I have completed to date are Monkey Socks in Malabrigo (completed just a few blog posts ago!) a fine choice, except I thought I ought to do something different. Then I came to my senses, and realized that experimenting with a new sock pattern while on a deadline would only lead to tears, frustration and disaster. Serendipitously, several people on Ravelry had decided just that day that it would be a great idea to have a Monkey KAL in honour of Charles Darwin's birthday on the 12th. So I wasn't exactly alone in my ambition.

So I went to Fancy Tiger, and picked up a ball of Malabrigo 'lettuce' and cast on. In one evening I had completed the cuff and 2pattern repeats.

By day 2 I had 4 pattern repeats and some cupcakes.
By day three I had 6.5 repeats, but then I had to hide it and work on something else 'cause I hung out with mom all day at a quilting expo. Then I came home and hid in my room and worked very hard on them. I make a huge mistake, fixed it and knitted on. I came to the heel turn and began the heel flap, overjoyed at my own awesomeness, and decided to take another picture to show off! This is what I ended up with:Yes, as you knitters can see clearly above, the left sock is full of beautiful, beautiful FA!L when compared to the sock on the right. You non-knitting heathen muggles are a bit confuse here I'm sure.

"Why is there anything to complain about?" you ask, "Clearly the nommy green yarn is by far the superior in both colour and consistency of stitches. Sure it appears to be longer than that fine red sock, but who cares? we like longer socks anyway"

The answer is in the circumference of the socks. The length merely hint at how ridiculous the discrepancy between the socks is. The red sock, while a bit tight, can comfortably fit an adult woman size 7-8. The green sock on the other hand, can can comfortably stretch to fit an entire baby. If your leg was the size of a baby, that wouldn't be a problem, however most adult mammals are far thinner, so the sock simply slouches into a horrifying crazy cat lady style.

"oh noes!!!" you all cry "How could you have let this monstrosity get so far out of hand???"

And again that is a simple answer, the scrunchy lacy pattern of the Monkey socks conspired to hide their true evil nature for as long as possible, the better to drag out my false hope that I would knit something right start-to-finish for once.

"But is their nothing you can do?" you might wail to me, hoping that I might somehow pull a miracle skill out of my buttock as genies are wont to do. I wish I could tell you that your confidence in me at this point was well deserved, but I am very sorry my dear reader to tell you that, there are but two terrible solutions:

1 Marry sasquatch in the hopes that his foul hygiene will force my mother to disown me
2 Frog it. Rip it out. Sacrifice it to the knitting gods, and cry a thousand tears of frustrated sorrow.

I chose option no.2, and frogged the whole thing. That meant that I now had to find needles that would give me the correct gauge. The red socks were done in 2.25mm and are slightly tight on me. The disaster was created on 2.75mm, meaning that I need 2.50mm. I called 3yarn shops before finding one that carried them in metal DPNs (NOT wood, I thrash the wood). And then stupidly said "I have to go to the yarn store"

Mom: "Really? I'll go with you! Why do you need needles?"
Me, "Sure, I'm feeling lazy."
Mom, "what do you need them for?"
Me,"ummm.... mitts? The ones I was working on the other day?(aka the ones on sz4 DPN's which are HUGE by compairison.)"

Well we went to the yarn store and I go the needles, then freaked out that THEY were too big, before finaly relising the perfect solution: Knit the ankle with the 2.25mm because that's what fit me and Mom's ankle was probably the same size, and then knit the heel, foot and toe with the 2.5mm to make the foot slightly larger. It took me 4 and a half days to finish the whole pair; most of that time was spent avoiding her in the basement.

the final Result:

check out my first cheese cake^

The Beast has put his Mark upon me

2009-02-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

Yay! 666 posts on Ravelry!!!!!! and I have cheese cake in the oven Yay!

Doomsday mits

2009-02-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

So I finished my Doomsday Mitts pretty quick. The Doomsay Mitts are based off of Billie Piper's Rose Tyler costume in Doctor Who. After seeing the last episode of season 2 I just HAD to make these, they were the only thing that kept me from sobbing through the last 10 minuets. I originaly wanted to make them a sort of "mauve" colour (an inside joke from dr.who s1) but I am aparntly an idiot when it comes to telling reds apart, so I ended up with this sort of dusty rose colour.
Some nice pictures of Rose Tyler from the Doomsday episode. This is the end bit at Dårlig Ulv Stranden, AKA Bad Wolf Bay, where she wears the mitts, and makes me cry because it is just so sad.
I love the pattern for these mitts, it's got all the best elements of a knitter life: cables and seed stitch, with a nice swath of stockinette across the palms.
I'm not too thrilled with the colour, or the gauge, so I gave them to Emma and cast on for another try. I went to Fancy Tiger today and found some different yarn, this time in 'boysenberry' which is closer in colour to what I want.

EXTERMINATE

2009-01-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

Woot! The photos of my journal that I promised!

Allons-y!

2009-01-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

WOOT! I finally managed to
a)update this blog
b)with my own pictures from my own camera
c)and have a nearly finished project that doesn't suck!

Pictred above are my Bloody Monkey Socks! All I've got left to do is the left toe!! yay!!! I would 100% recommend this pattern especially as a first sock pattern, it just flies by like butter. If your wondering what's on the TV in the background it's the new Doctor Who my new obsession. I am SO in love with David Tennant and Billie Piper (again a 100% recommendation)
My other new fun thing is my Wreck This Journal, I'm going to try to get some pics of it up here, but for now I'm going to finish my monkey sock and watch some Doctor Who.

my cookies taste like bricks

2008-11-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

I don't have a camera, and the house one is busted so that's why I haven't updated at all this year. I have also gotten heavily addicted to Ravelry where I get the same feed back as a blog, and the same info as from other blogs with 90% less effort. However I will try to update more this upcoming holiday season. I have to sign off now- my horrendous cookie experiment hads just failed and I need to attend to it.

more animals

Bug off! you little buggers!

2008-08-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

I had a not so pleasant surprise while cleaning my room today, my wool stash had little larva in it!! eww! I freaked out and scoured the internet for advice. most blogs advise freezing the stash in ziplock bags, which sounds alright, but I was more interested in prevention. There are several herbs and spices that bugs are known to avoid, so I went through the kitchen an gathered as many as I could. I also needed something to put them in, but I don't have any lace or mesh material at hand, so instead I invented Stash Tea.

Stash Tea
for keeping bugs out of your wool, and making it smell nice.

materials:
Coffee filters
sewing machine
ribbon(optional)
markers, crayons ect.

herbs and spices:
sage
rosemary
cinnamon
basil
nutmeg
cayenne
lavender
rue
wormwood
ceder chips

If you don't have all of the herbs listed, don't worry. Just use what you have on hand, or whats available in your super market. Also be sure to check for allergies.

Mix about a table spoon of H&S into your coffee filter, adjusting for supply (IE. if you have a lot of basil and just a bit of sage, use more basil)

sew the top of the coffee filter shut with a skinny zig-zag stitch.

fold the rest of the packet in to interesting shapes and sew the ceases, or cut off the extra paper.

decorate with ribon and markers, or whatever else is at hand, and your done!

Eta: the cameras have been absconded by my mother, so there's no pictures for at least a week :(

Dogs Can't Look Up.

2008-07-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

'lo everyone- all three of you- and welcome back to another sporattic addition of my blog. I'm currently digesting a large bowl of cereal, and eying the cheesecake-cupcake in front of me. I wish that I had a camera so that you could wish that you were having what I'm having. mmm.... blackberry and strawberry topping....

Anyway if you haven't been to the Shoppe yet your missing out, cupcakes, coffee, cereal, boardgames, cartoons on a flat screen, and cute Japanese toys- what more could you want(other than a bigger stomach and infinitely fast metabolism)?

yes people I am still knitting, if I remember, I'll take pictures when I get home, current projects are Rouge Hoodie(1/2done), b-day socks(3months late 3/4done), green giant strip-afghan just begun, and a stack of roveing that needs to be spun(it's not stash, it's pre-stash!) I also have to put one more thumb on my thrummed mittens, and restart that goddamm dragon shawl.

mmm.... cheesecake...

I also have a half finished pair of refurbished Converse shoes that I'm working on, but I need oil for the machine, because it's slowing down badly, and that's the only thing I can think to fix it.

While searching for The Shoppe today I found a new Comic book store that had a much better feel to it than Mile-high, it's more skeezy and homey at the same time.

anyway that's all I can think of for now, please remember to send me $$$ for no reason, and if you really love me you'll get me a puppy/angora rabbit/kitten/all of the above.

BSG for all!

2008-04-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

If at first you don't succeed, try something completely different

2008-03-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Woot! I’ve just cast on, on my favorite sizes of needles, (5+7), in my favorite weight of yarn! Although it’s not in my favorite colour, it’s still an awesome colour (I’m sometimes afraid of knitting only in green). Above you can see that I have everything I need ready!! Uh.... why am I bogging an not knitting?

Incredible One-try Longtail Cast-on

2008-03-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have figured out the Incredible, One-try Longtail Cast-on! That's right folks, I got 176st on to the needles in one try how did I manage this incredible trick? It's simple! Just follow the steps below:
First you need your tail, I like shorter tails, but for safety's sake you should make the tail a little longer than you normaly would. It's no fun to get to the last 6 stitches and realize that your going to be short, or that your tail is only 2cm long. This happens a lot when people stretch the yarn out while measuring, so be careful.
In this case the tail is about 8in, although I normally prefer a 4in or 5in tail (it was a good thing I pulled it long too, if you look at my finished cast on the tail is about 2.5 in.)
Tie a slipknot at the top of your tail, and put something in it to keep it from slipping out (scrap yarn , toothpicks, and sporks work well). Next, wrap the yarn LOOSELY around the bodypart, object, whatever, 3 times, OR just once, and then double the yarn back on itself twice (like an "N"). You need 3times the Circumference of the Object to cast on, so if my hand 7in around, I'm going to need 21in of yarn to cast-on, plus tail.

(O*C)+t=perfect cast-on

At the top of your perfectly measured out long-tail, tie a slipknot onto your needle, and cast-on with the longtail cast on. It's amazing how much time and frogging you save yourself!

There must be some kind of way out of here; said the joker to the thief

2008-02-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

So until I get a my own camera to match my new computer, the posts are gonna be picture-less for awhile.

My current project is a HAT ATTACK hat. HAT ATTACK is a knitting game where I knit a hat, send it to someone and they DIE(but not really). At the same time, someone else is knitting a hat to kill me, and someone is trying to kill them, and so on and so forth.

I got up at 6:20 on Saturday, to get the pattern as soon as it came out, and now I'm wishing that I'd just slept in. My rarely apparent perfectionist side has clashed with my dyslexia, and now I'm on my fourth version of the hat. I need to finish before tomorrow or else I'm hosed.

In other news, school has taken over my life and I'm lucky if I can finish a few stitches on a sampler, let alone a hat, or socks with really freaking small yarn. I can't believe how out of control all of my craft stuff is. Just looking at the SE conner of my room makes me cringe. It's just one huge pile of sewing, and kitting and spinning that are taunting me. And I can't get rid of any of it because I might need it someday. stupid pack rat tendencies

What I really want to do is knit and felt a bag for my laptop. I have the most awesome pattern picked out too, but I swore I wasn't going to buy any yarn until I had finished what I have (except HAT ATTACK). Right now that means one HAT ATTACK, one pair of socks on freakishly small needles with a retarded lace pattern, one pair ofalmost done mittens, and the DRAGON SHAWL, which I had to restart. I think that I can do it if I just finish the hat and mitts, restart the sock and work them in STST in class, and set aside a half hour everyday for the shawl....and when at least 2 things get done I'll start the laptop bag as a reward, and when three things get done, I'll justify getting the KnitPicks Interchangeable needles.

uhhh... ya. that's all fokes.
(ps, Sarah Connor Chronicles ROCK!!!!!)

No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

2008-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

Quick little post here, I meant to have all of this up after Chrifmas, but got distracted. Anyway I've just turned twenty one this week, and I have lots of fabulous new yarn, and a new spindle. in the spirit of a new year, I made a new bed-buddy cover that matches my current room rather than the one I had 10years ago. (a bed-buddy is a pillow filled with rice that you heat up in the microwave, and then chuck under your covers)
I felted a Polar Bear, just for kicks.....

And here are some mittens I'm knitting, from from yarn I hand spun. They're all fuzzy on the inside because they're thrummed.

Fuzzyman, gotta plan for the something wonderful

2007-12-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

After a very sickly November, in which I posted absolutely nothing, I return, just in time for the Holidays, when no one has time to read blogs. Above is our tree, and my first successful needle felting project Fuzzy the Woolman. Fuzzy was inspired by the marshmallow men the girls made last week when they were complaining about how fast the snow melts.
Also I started a new pair of socks, one of which is done sorta... I have to redo the heal. That's It for now, although I did finish some other stuff...I just can't remember what it was, and I don't have photos. Hopefully stuff will start getting done after I finish my finals. Also theres a minor blizzard going on now- they've closed the highway, so thats another excuse to craft away.

Meet Catbarf (but not the icky stuff)

2007-10-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Meet Catbarf, my very own Stupid Creature. He's made from two socks that have been haunting me for months. What happened to there counterparts I've got no clue, but who cares now? Because isn't this guy so cute? I named him Catbarf because....well I have no clue, but it's stuck now.Grandma Gene sent me the white sock, it had Hedwig from Harry Potter on it. The blue cat sock was from Emma for my b-day a few years back. Sassy dose not like her new friend licking the back of her head.

Ravelry

2007-10-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Woot! I finally got my Ravelry invite today!!!!!!!!! So I'm at home, updating it, while trying to get stupid World Series tickets for the Rockies, with no luck. As soon as 1:30 rolls around, I'm givin' up and going downstairs to play around on Edna. I want to make some Box bags, (and dammit. I just relised that I forgot to grab zippers for them) and a sling bag for my gi.

....chitai....

2007-10-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

I knitted my self an itty-bitty, tinny-wennie little dino. Just for laughs. With embroidery thread. So, even though I feel like I haven't finished anything in forever, I really have. I've just been so swamped with school and aikido, that I haven't had time to work on the dragon shawl, or my pink sweater, but last night, I went to Lamb Shoppe's PJ party and and got a few rows done on both of them.

Wheel of Scrabble

2007-10-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've got some Iron-on letters lying around left over from my Inconceivable hoodie, and they need to be made in to words. So I challenge you to make some phrases and super fun words, with the letters I provide you. Perhaps there will even be a prize in the form of a scarf or some such.

Here are the letters avalible.

A(x3) I(x2) R(x4) Z(x2)
B(x3) J(x2) S(x4)
C(x2) K(x2) T(x4)
D(x2) L(x3) U(x4)
E(x2) M(x2) V(1)
F(x2) O(x3) W(x2)
G(x2) P(x2) X(x2)
H(x2) Q(x2) Y(x2)

Use up as many as possible, and don't worry about how strange or insane you sound...in fact crazy might be better. Bonus points for Sci-fi and pop culture reference. And try hard because there will be a knitted prize for people who are smart and can think of awesome quotes/phrases/words/onomatopoeia ect. Just post your ideas as comments, let me know who you are, and leave a way for me to contact you if I don't already know. Feel free to post multiple times.

SPOLIERS

2007-09-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wooooo! Bionic Woman rocks! Katee Sackhoff is Hot!, Michelle Ryan is growing on me, and why did nobody tell me that Aaron Douglas and Mark Sheppard were in it too? I was all OMFG! Chief Tyrol! Badger/Baltar's lawyer! That's three Battlestar Galactica stars!
What I want to know, is could Jamie+Sarah have any more subtext in the bar scene? Could Katee's hair+makeup look more butch(mullet+cake of eyeshadow=smeared lipstick)? Could the writers give Katee worse dialog, and could she be more sarcastic about it?And could Jamie get any more Emo?

I predict season 2 will see Jamie spontaneously rejecting her implants, via a nefarious plot by that white haired chick(see below), who I kept getting confused with ~~Starbuck~~. Oh wait, they did that on Dark Angel, which BTW, also had an evil blond chick. Is blond like the new chic evil look or something?
Anyway, the only thing that can keep me from this show is English class....and the teacher seems to have the same taste as me, so I can foresee us getting out at 7:30, 7:45 on a regular basis, with just enough time to get home. I missed the first act when I was on my way home, so tear, but they should have it online like Heroes....or an encore....or a huge mail box for me to send angry mail to, until they do have it online. What I wanna know is why the hell Ellen Degeneres isn't pimping the hell out of this thing, the way she's doing Heroes.

Other new shows.....
Kid nation:looks like summer camp to me
Chuck: funny, it has Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame(the man they call Jayne!)
Heroes: makes me love cheerleaders, and Hero and swords.
Journyman: Tru Calling+Early Edition
Reaper: havn't seen it yet, but It's got Missy Peregrym. I'm thinking Dead Like Me+ Tru Calling+Buffy
Aliens in America: Why didn't we wright this? Without the religious shit?
Cavemen:WTF!?
Pushing Daisies: again, DLM+TC+Ghost Whisper
Moonlight: Angel+CSI+Supernatural+Laura Hamilton= emo show from hell.

Cozy and warm.

2007-09-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm officially giving up on the Fetching gloves, and have just done them up minus the cable. Without the cable they only took like 4hours. I still have plenty of yarn left over from them, so I'll try again next time I need a simple project to take with me somewhere. I did these up last night at the Mercury Slam. It was tiny! Only three poets! I haven't gone in forever, so it was nice to fall back into that pattern, but I prefer it when it's super crowded, and there's more poets than you can shake a stick at.

In another insane attempt to make winter come early, and to help quench my thirst for snowboarding, I am designing a snowboard ~~condom~~ cozy.
Here's my new board, and the trial nose cover. I knitted it up on sz19's with four strands. It took forever to wined the yarn back on it's self twice. I think version 2.0 will call for 2skins of superbulky redheart in a way cooler colour, and smaller needles... like 15 or 17. I really liked the fake seam that I added at the last minuet, and the 'whoosh' edging on the bottom. The final goal of this is to add straps so that I can carry my board to the car easier, and cover the edges so that I don't have to worry about them when I take it on the bus to Eldora.
I'm still working away on the dragon shawl, I'm on row 57/300, not including the boarder. There's about 45000 stitches in the body, not counting all of the stitches that I add, and then knit together, and also still not counting the boarder. Right now I've knitted about 1600 sts, so theres only 43400sts to go! So right now it looks like a tiny complicated mess. As soon as I finish the fist page of pattern(row 81ish), I'll block it out on the needles so that you can see just how far I'm not.

Kitty Kitty, Meow Meow

2007-09-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

Weeee! My yarn finally came in! So I spent all weekend starting it, and look how far I am! Ok, so that's not very far at all(there's 10 pages of chart) but weee! still excited!

We went camping this weekend, and look what we saw! A cat! Who's ever hears of a camping cat? Anyway, tommy boy was sooooo cute. and cuddly. and came when called. He also keep trying to get in my tent. So, so cute. I wish we could get Sassy to do this.

Onward!!!!!!!!

2007-09-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been fretting all day on weather or not to return some ill fitting cloths, and then go buy yarn. I had just decided that no I would not, I would save the cash, but then Lamb Shope called and YA!!! yarn is finally in!!!! so, I'm gonna go spend cash'ola on yarn. Squee! gotta catch the bus now!

Inside and Out

2007-09-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Nope, your not seeing double, it's just me messing around in photo shop. The picture is of one project, two views. on one side is the brown the other purple. I'm using Double Stockinette stitch, Witch is two strands of yarn knit as either McK1, CbP1*; or as K1 Sl1p* one round, P1 Sl1p* one round. I think I made up the second way but it's easer for me than a K1,P1, which bugs me even when I don't have to change colours.

Anyway, this is a picture of a pair of mitts I'm going to make. All I'm gonna say is that it involves Steeks, and don't be surprised if you never here of it again, because it's my very own brain child, and that leaves a lot of room for error. But I'm pretty confidant all will be well. So cross your fingers for me.

thinking cap

2007-09-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well here's a hat. It's gray alpaca that I spun myself, and blue wool that I spun when the alpaca ran out because I spun it too thick. The picture is of me sideways because I'm using mirrors to get the shot. eh...still dead on the knitting front. and the spinning....I intend to try to ply tomorrow on a drop spindle so that will be entertaining.

I'm going to go surf the knitting blogs now...I need inspiration...or a suporrt groop....only two days till Tuesday craft night, and I haven't been in weeks, and this is my last chance till mid October because of the karate classes. If someone trys to stop me, I might just stab them- with my OOOO's so that it doesn't leave a mark(don't ask how I know, just think OW!)

where have I been?

2007-08-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

man, I'm all crafted out. I've got 3pair of socks going and I have all the inspiration of gutter. Second sock syndrome has set in in triplicate. I have embroidered a few arrows on to my converse, but right now, I'm mostly occupied with school. On the 11th I'm registered for a beginning karate class so I'll be missing craft night for 6weeks. bummer, but also YAY! because I've wanted Karate scince I was old enough to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Chuck Norris movies.

and now, a map of every state I've ever been in....although the east coast is a bit hazy because I wasn't paying much attention when we were there.

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Nothing here but jack'a'lopes

2007-08-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not even looking at any of my knitting right now. gar. It can all burn in flaming hell. Spinning is good though, it can stay in my good graces for the time being. especially since I added my ghetto ass cardboard whorl to the bottom so that the stuff that I've already spun doesn't fall off the end.

Also I've gone back to school so 'ya' me.

spinning around

2007-08-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

Gandhi used a spinning wheel, did anyone else know this?

First off, new exchange student from Germany. Second off, new yarn from Germany. It's 12 balls of dark pinkish/Red Violet, defiantly a kool-aid dye. I'm mostly sure that it's 100% wool but the label says "Ren ny uld" so that could mean kangaroo for all that I know. It is also very likely to be handspun, but I can't say for certain, but the single ply and the chunky/semi-bulky twist look a lot like what I got the first few times I tried to spin. There is enough for a top-down sweater which is awesome because I wanted to start one before Katrin leaves the country because when I need help, she's already got tons of experience.

I've begun seriously looking at spinning wheels, because I finally looked at the amount that I have in savings, and realized that I've got enough to get a fairly decent wheel. I'm going to take my sweet ass time looking at them, I don't intend to commit to anything until late September or October. This will be a very important decision, because I don't want to feel like I've made an impulse buy on something beautiful but impractical, nor do I want to end up with a serviceable yet fugly duckling. An hour ago, I wanted an Ashford castle wheel, because they are the ones that I see the most at shows, but now after browsing a bit, I'm not so sure.

There are two kinds of spinning wheels, castles, which are more common among modern spinners, and saxony, which is the more traditional spinning wheel that you see in old European paintings. The Castles are smaller, and easier to transport, but they aren't elegant like the saxonies.

I'm also unsure about brand. My first drop spindle was an Ashford, but to me they always appear to go for the ultimate utilitarian style. Normally, I'm all over that kind of simplicity, but I took a look at the Kromski's and they are much more detailed(also, they're from Poland).

Even more confusing is figuring out whether I want a single or double treadle; And if I want a single or double drive. And if I want a big or small wheel.

So far my favorites are:

Kromski Polonaise so, so pretty

Kromski Minstrel pretty, and practical

Ashford Traveler Simple and efficient.

Majacraft Professional an interesting and simple shape to this one

Jensen Debbie Gossip Wheel This one is particularly interesting because two people can use it at once

Coolness at craft night

2007-08-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

T'was awesome last night at craft night, we were talking about shawls and how my stupid yarn was taking forever to ship in, when I mentioned this gorgeous shawl that I wanted to make. I was describing it, and the lady asked me what book it was in. So I told her it was "Folk Shawls". She pointed to the woman next to her, and lo' and behold it was Cheryl Oberle the author! Ain't that cool!

Also, I started and finished off another baby sweater, and started a blanket with the scrap yarn I've accumulated. It's fairly simple, I just knit 333stitches, then switch colours, and knit back leaving a long tail. I'm also working a pair of socks still, and I've got second sock syndrome so there taking a long while.

Follow the bouncing ball

2007-08-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was fun, I went to the Buffy Sing-along! wee! It was supper fun being less rowdy than Rocky Horror, and more lewd than Sound of Music. A happy medium. There were goody bags with "grr-arg" finger puppet monsters, kazoos, vamp fangs and bubbles. Plus I got to it with the original NYC cast, four of whom are from good ol' Denver.

I've started the second brown/green/purple sock, although I'm only half heartedly working on it...same with my spinning, and all my other projects. I wish it was winter already, or at least fall so that maybe I could find some motivation.

finally, a project ignites.

2007-07-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm getting somewhere on a bleeding project. After what feels like forever I've picked up the needles and begun working on something that looks like it's got some memento behind it. And I'm swearing by all the knitting gods to never lose my DPN's again. So i picked up this nifty bag at Fancy Tiger, that perfectly fits my casein needles, and closes with magnets so that there's no with snaps or yarn getting tied into the fastenings.

Five and one half hours

2007-07-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, people you've heard it right, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows forty minunits ago! It was wicked awsome, but no worries I shalt tell thee nothing of the plot or details. I've got a very limited time hear- work is in twenty minutes- so I shall say only that this is my very favorite book, followed by the fourth, the third, then the first and second, then the sixth, and finally the bitchy boring one, number five(which happens to be the second best movie so far).
Right now I'm barely running off, two cups of coffee, and a shower, and I'm torn between reading HPDH again, or Cast Off a knitting book that seduced me while I was in line. Hope every one has as much fun as I did with the Harry Potter dynasty; era has ended and I shall count myself forever lucky to have participated in it.

Sob Story: a tale in two parts.

2007-07-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

All of my knitting needles have a very simple story. I see a project, I go to Michael's/ Jo-Ann's, and I buy needles. Simple easy and boring. Except this one time, last year when I first started to knit, I began a pair of striped socks. I went to Jo-Ann's and got four, eight inch 3.00mm DPNs. And I knitted up the first sock in no time(my very first sock!) . I began the second just as we embarked on a family trip to California.

I knitted my way through Wyoming and and most of Utah easy. I knitted to stay awake during the night terrified that someone was going to fall asleep and drive into oncoming traffic, and I knitted through a crunchy hundred miles of Mormon crickets. I knitted mostly to stave off the boredom and restlessness of a car trip. It was wonderful, especially during a particularity horrid stretch in Utah where I had to wait to pee for 45min while the road zigzagged back and forth through farmland. The only civilization was just barely visible twenty miles away as the crow flies, but out of reach of the highway until you had driven along two sides of every farm for seventy miles. That sock really helped kept my mind off of my bursting badder.

Eventually we reached a small town in Nevada, just 10 miles from the California boarder. Hungry and cramped we went to a Jack-in-the-Box for tacos and a bathroom break. I put down my nearly finished sock, and scarfed down a hamburger while we drove on to our destination. And that's when I experienced every knitters worst nightmare. Finishing my meal, and hoped up on caffeine in a very small space, I reached for my knitting to calm down, and found only three needles.
I looked on the floor on the rental van. No needle.
In my seat. Nope.
Under a pile of luggage at my feet. Nu-uh.
In my shoes, under my brother, in the cooler, behind my ears. Zip, Zero, Nada, Nilch.

I spent the rest of the trip Spasticly jamming my hand into random crevasses every five seconds, and flipping myself over to search under the seats.

Long story short, we pulled every movable object out of that damn van looking for the needle, and came to the sad but logical conclusion that it had fallen into the parking lot of Jack-in-the-box never to be seen of heard from again. Of course no one in our Californian family was a knitter, and they couldn't help me. Half-hearted suggestions of Walmart were made, but they were of course lacking in everything but boring mainstream basics, the DPNs had a pathetic selection. Then, out of the blue, a stroke of luck! In my mom's box of San Fransisco walking tours, there was a mention of a knit shop in the Castro. Hazah! I was saved!

I waited three agonizing days for out detour to SF, listlessly trying to finish the sock with only three needles, but the large number of stitches, cheep acrylic yarn, tight stitches, and my beginning skills weren't up to the challenge. So instead, I read books, went swimming, and reverted to my anti-social ways.

Finally, we went to SF. Along the way we passed an Ikea, drove over some famous bridge, and listened to my mother reminisce about her childhood. My brother, cousin, and I were turned loose upon arrival, while my mother and father went to see Uncle Jess. Us kids wandered through China Town, the Levi store, and Mission St. I slowly and bluntly led us toward the knitting shop through the Bart, and a unnecessarily long walk up Mission St and through the Castro. We stopped at and art supply store, where I bought a book of graph paper for intarsia, a Comic book store where I bought my very first comic book(my other vice) and an S&M store where we traumatized my cousin. Eventuality we arrived at imagiknit and I bought my wonderful new needles.

After that I took less than a day to finish the socks, lose my temper, frog them, and start all over again. My relatives were mildly impressed with my new skill, and my parents were pleased to see me become suddenly social(because everyone knows that kitting is good for hiding awkward silences, all you have to do is start counting stitches at random)
.......................
And that is the tail of my very favorite needles. Why did I suddenly rehash this? Witch you have to know to share my pain to the fullest extent. Because today, I went to Boulder, to Shuttles, Spindles, and Skins, for a new drop spindle, and found a DPN point protector that held all my needles together perfectly. So perfectly in fact, that I managed to LOSE THEM ALL!!! At the same time!!!! Somewhere between getting in the car, and getting dropped off, all four needles and holder dropped off the face of the planet! There not in the car, on the curb, in the gutter, on the sidewalk, in Fancy Tiger, my bag or my pocket. I had them in the car and now they're gone! I walked into craft night, realized that I didn't have them as soon as I sat down, and called Alex to come back to drop them off. But they weren't in the car! Or any where I looked! Gah! This is impossible!! I'm going nuts! I've looked everywhere!

Seriously! WTF is going on with me and loseing needles lately! That was all my last post was about too! I'm going nuts! I don't think my poor heart can take it anymore! My favorite needles! Do you know how many socks and gloves, and tiny bags I've made with them? I want them back!!(sobs pathetically)

I am holding out hope that I just didn't see them in my frustration, and that some kindly person will find them, recognize them for what they are, and bring them in to FT where they will be happily reunited with me. But I'm also having this idea where Felix(the car) ate them for spare parts or maybe dropped them through some hole in his floor.

In the end I wanted to start my next pair of socks so bad, I bought a set of green casein needles(milk protein). They're kinda fun, but I still want my gray metal ones back...

and hey look I got some spinning done. And look at my shiny new drop spindle (the small one on the left) . It can make lace weight yarn!and here is my one pathetic finished project. A little bag to hold my dice. The dice are for 10,000(AKA Farkle), a game where you try to roll 10,000 points. It's like 500, poker, and yatzee but super simple.

zombies munched my brain

2007-07-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Eh....I'm in this odd sort of limbo waiting for the shawl yarn to come in (STILL!!!!) and I can't seem to get inspired by anything. Sigh..... I'm working on the cabled mitts again which is kinda hard seeing as they've lost me one of my favorite needles, and both of my small cable needles. Also I'm having trouble getting them to fit my skinny writs snugly, but not cut off the circulation in my fingers.

I've also just lost my large crochet hook, while working on a bag made of scrap yarn....this is inspired my my reluctance to return to my bag'o'bags. This is a bag, made up of other bags cut to ribbons and then knit together into a new creation. It just takes a bleeding long time to cut up each bag, and then knit each bit of ribbon and weave in the ends. gah.

So mostly I've been spinning, and thats going well. However I really want a tiny lace weight spindle, and the only place I know to get one is Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder. And thats a three hour round trip that I just don't feel like taking in this heat. grr....

I've begun watching Deadwood on DVD, it's all right, although Calamity Jane is portrayed as the village idiot which is off-putting, and all of the other women are drug addicts and/or prostitutes so thats not very encouraging. for contrast I picked up BSG again, and I'm listening to the podcasts. Katee Shackhoff and Edward James Olmos just never get boring.

Lost&forgotten

2007-06-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

I forgot the camera on the counter today, witch really, really sucked, because I went to the Estes Wool Mart. It was awesome, there were sheep(smelly! and loud!), goats(kinda scary and also smelly) llamas(smelly, and huge), angora rabbits(so cute!) and my favorite, alpaca! It was quite odvious that the alpacas were the best of all the animals. I they didn't make annoying noise like goats and sheep, didn't smell up there tent, charge at you(like the goats), chew up your stuff(goats and bunnies) or spit on you(llama). The alpacas were just shy and cute, and begging me to get an acre of land so I could take them home and love them for ever and ever....

Aside from the lovely alpacas there were oodles of things to buy. When we went to the dealers barn one woman exclaimed "Hold on to your wallets ladies!", and boy oh boy she was right! I just barely managed to keep to budget, and away from the pretty yarns. I got roving, and some new buttons for my hat, and that was it. However, there was sooooo much stuff, that I wanted, I can't help but recheck my bag over and over, hoping stuff will just magically appear... heh, ya right.
Since it was a long drive to Estes, I brought my knitting and I managed to get from here....
To here! All finished! The heal might need a little work, but I want to get the other one all started first. Unfortunately, I lost one of my knitting needles somewhere, so my set of five is now four :(
And finaly here's a picture of Sassy, sulking because I took her to get groomed, and waiting for everyone to come home from vacation. She showed me how much she loved her hair cut last night, by throwing up all over the end of my bed. Gee... cat, thanks.

one sock on

2007-06-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

The lace sock is finished!!! I have to some how loosen the cuff up from where I cast on badly,
Also, below, a knitting survey, and the dread dragon shawl.

Hee!!!! I bought the Here be Dragons shawl pattern today!!!!! Yee!!!! You too can lose years of you life to 1750yrds of yarn and 300sts on sz2(3.00) needles by emailing web2 @aurora-alpacas. com(remove the anti-spybot spaces!). I can't wait to get started, I just need to find sz3 circle needles...or really long straight ones. A knitting survey
Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing. My comments are in--(parentheses)

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch--(duh!)
Knitting with metal wire--(pain)
Shawl--(dragon!)
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn--(ew, and itchy)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat--(it sat pretty cunning)
Knitting with silk--(dose silk/wool count?)
Moebius band knitting --(ops!)
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn--(dose it count if you've frogged the same fracking sweater five or six times?)
Slip stitch patterns
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn--(splits too easy)
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Knitting with corn yarn
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with cotton
knitting with Chitin yarn (made from shrimp and crab shells)
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks---(oh dear god! The mind numbing terror!)
Knitting art--(isn't all knitting art?)
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac(diamond socks)
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO--(god I need this as evidenced by my last sock)
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting--(wtf?)
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair---(here kitty kitty kitty... would owning an alpaca count?)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public--(all day Saturday!)

International Knit in Public Day

2007-06-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

bored now... I've been out all day KIPing (Knitting In Public) with folks from the Fancy Tiger, and City 'o' City. I'm exhausted now, because I woke up first thing to babysit for two hours this morning, and then hauled butt up to the farmers market in Cherry Creek for the first event of the day. Only four of us showed up, which was fine because chairs were scare (I ended up on the ground anyway).
After that, I swung by the bank, and then continued on my way to the next spot, the benches in front of the art museum. There was a radio station out there so we had (awful)music, and also a lot of people meandering around some sort of colouring tables that were set up. People kept asking us if someone was teaching a class, or if we were a regular group (like stitch&bitch).
After all that excitement, we adjured to Cityo'o'city for vegan pizza with tofu sausage, and the best onion rings I've had in awhile. We had a long chat about how the most depressing books in a book store are in the Young Adult section, and how people from Toronto are apparently rather stuck up(not that I would know). And of course there was the usual chatter about what cast-on was better, what projects were haunting us, and how milk protein needles are awesome, except for the taste(although no one would actually admit to putting them in there mouth).
My project for the day was of course, Jamie's sock. I re-turned the heal (it was crooked) and finished the insole. All that's left is the toe, and that should take an hour or less in the morning. My love of socks, however, suddenly includes lace, and this evening, I took a break from Jamie's sock to start one for me, while I wandered around downtown, and LoDo with this evening.
I am using the jewel of my stash, a wonderful rainbow wool. This yarn, is the yarn that has mocked me for almost a year now. I first purchased it about a year ago, on my first trip it the Shivering Sheep, and it has taught me two things: 1.) yarn can get very, very, expensive, and 2.) if you don't know what your going to do with it, you'll end up afraid to use it.
I have used this yarn once before to make a cellphone cozy, for my mother's Christmas present, and at one time there was a baby booty on the needles(which has since been frogged for mocking me), and now I'm afraid that I won't have enough for even two ankle socks (I'm aiming for mid calf!). Lucky I happened to notice some skeins of it at the Lamb Shoppe, so if worst comes to worst I can get more, although I doubt it's the same dye-lot.

My yarn is problematic.

2007-06-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I've abandoned the toe-sock idea, at least for now. At the rate I'm going I just want to get to the heal-flap before Tuesday night. I finally got some roving, but now I think I need more, because at the store I was like "Pink and Blue! how pretty!". Then I got home and was and wondered what the hell I was thinking. Its so cliché it's ugly, because pink and blue have been pounded into my head a baby colours. So later this week I'm going to pick up some black(for the pink) and green(to go with the blue).
I'm currently trying to untangle this mess. the green was just as bad, and took me three hours to undo while I was watching Ms. Henderson Presents. Grrr... I was going to do striped socks with these colours, but that was before I saw this awesome dragon shawl. Although trying to do it in two colours might just kill me. Also, If you've had trouble trying to leave a comment previously(it's telling you that you have to login) I've fixed that, so you should have no trouble.

I'm just gonna lie here and be ironical.

2007-05-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hoo-boy. I hate new bikes. hate them. hate them. hate them.
I took the new bike my dad got this weekend out for a bit of a test ride. On the way there it was fine, but the whole time I kept thinking "damn these brakes are tight, gee I should stop and loosen them." heh, ya, the key word in this sentence is should. So I'm crusin' down to fancy tiger, to get some roving, when this guy walks out in front of me. I hit the brakes, miss the guy, and cruse along the sidewalk on my elbow. yes ow. and yes, several expletives were issued, and quiet poetical if I do say so myself. Lucky i was infront of Minager's (an art supply store), and they gave me lovely band-aids and water. I'll get them a card and candy of some sort.

But no worries. I am mostly unharmed ('twas but a flesh wound!). I just called Alex, went home, and enjoyed my comics. Then, in an effort to convince myself that pain is objective, I watched Million Dollar Baby for the second time, and cried like a baby, just like the last time I watched that movie. Jeez they did a good job with that film, the last time I cried at the movies, I was like, seven.

Mom just walked in, and being the totally awesome person that she is, (and that we should all aspire to be), she brought me some Tofutsies yarn! and a cute note from Jamie.

tippy toes

2007-05-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hee! toe socks! I got some awesome sock yarn form Jamie in exchange for knitting her a display sock for her shop. The yarn is so finely spun, and soft, that it is perfect for toe-socks!!!!! I've got all the toes cast on, and now I've just got to knit up. Yee! I'm so excited! The yarn, Tofutsies, is partly spun from shrimp and crab shells, I kid you not(it also has wool and cotton). Also I finished my previous pair of socks, and wore them all day yesterday, because it was cold and my wool socks are oh-so-warm.
I has a bit of fun this morning, ironing letters onto my hoodie. It says "inconceivable", as in "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means."I'm still spinning out the llama, it's taking awhile because it's so hot, and my hands get all sweaty, but it drafts out very nicely. I also learned a new technique from a girl at The Lamb Shoppe; when I spin my yarn counterclockwise I should flick it clockwise. it spins up so much more evenly and a lot thiner. I have no idea what I'm going to knit with it when it done beccause it's rather bulky and llama is very hot. Prehaps a pair of felted slippers....
Everyone meet my new pet....he doesn't have a name because I couldn't think of a good one fast enough, and now I'm scarred that if I do name him, it won't fit, and the Angel of Death will come by and flush him. but he's very beautiful, you can't tell by the picture, but he's mostly purple.

P.S. you all should leave me a comment, and let me know if anyone out there is listening to me, because I honestly can' t tell if I'm talking to myself or not. Here I'll make it easy for you, you can answer a question that's been bothering me all week: If your glass is half full/empty, what is it half full/empty of?

bannana's in pajammas....

2007-05-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

I gave my camera to a bored little girl at the PJ Jam at Lamb Shoppe last night, these are the pictures that show too, that came out. It was a fun night. I finished my Socks, worked on some fingerless gloves, and spun half of the llama/wool roving. I'll have the pictures of the finished socks ect, latter, but right now my camera is else where.

If you want some thing intellectually simulating right now, I suggest you go to Whedonesque, and look at Joss's latest post. It's about women and how they are viewed in society. It will make you think about how you see the world, and how the world is. Plus it's Joss, and therefor ironic and profound.

Who hoots?

2007-05-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hoot, hoot! Wow, it's been a super busy week. I finished off this super fun owl, last night for the Fancy Tiger KAO(knit along on). On Tuesday, Emma and I went to Fancy Tiger, She worked on her purse, and I untangled a massive ball of yarn, grrr. On Wednesday, I picked up my comics, (Y: the last man! yay!) and I went to a double craft night at City 'o' City. Jamie from Fancy Tiger, always has a minor craft night there on Wednesdays, and the Denver chapter of Stitch 'n' Bitch just happened to meet there too. I managed to finish the insole and calf of my sock. unfortunately, I bound off the heal-hole way too tight, so I ended up pulling it out last night, and reworking it.
I also made a yarn-ball bag on Edna. It has a draw string, and a rope-clip, and everything. It works great for dragging around socks. Speaking of, I wanted my heal and toe to be red, so I dyed the leftover blue with kool-aid yesterday morning, and I'm realy happy with it.
Scince I've been spinning so much yarn lately, I've pulled a few skins together, and created my own line of hand spun yarn. I call it Soko is loco and it has a Kangaroo for a mascot.

Serendipity

2007-05-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

I finished my Star Sweater, on Saturday, although I still want to add a pocket, and hood.

I was visited by serendipity on Saturday, when Mom told me that there was an alpaca show at the stock show complex. So Dad drove me out, and on the way there, we swung by a yard sale. It was small, and not very interesting, except a trunk in the back full of wood stuff. I found two top-whorl spindles, hand carders, and a ball winder. Sweet! So when I got to the show I was able to get not only roving, but also 3oz of fleece to play with.

And now for something completely different, the Llama Song, and a Monty Python sketch because they're just hilarius.

Mushaboom

2007-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

I baked a pound cake on Wednesday, it was great, except that it didn't bake all the way through again, and I charred the leftovers trying to get it to bake. If anyone has a clue as to why that keeps happening please tell me cause I'm goin' nutters.
I cleaned out my yarn stash, or more aptly, yarn trash. I'm slowly culling out the half used acrylic and replacing it with lovely wools. Thank god I'm not allergic to sheep, because wool is just straight up better.

I spent this rainy afternoon, working with Edna, sewing up this yarn tote. I got the pattern out of Stitch&bitch, and it's alright. super simple anyway. I'm thinking of adding pockets, and I have this burning need to be able to close a bag, so I'm thinking of a zipper, or some drawstrings.....I'm not really sure at this point. I got the material, from this skirt I made way back in the day, and have never worn. I like it much better as a bag.

I have been slowly finishing the sleeve on my sweater, but the closer I get to finishing, the less I want to knit. I pulled out the other sweater I was working on last summer, and have started frogging it. I was almost done with It, but I just hated the sleeves and shoulders. there was no way in hell I was gonna were it, so I'm starting over. I just hope It doesn't drive me insane because its Joann's Rainbow Boucle on sz5's. That means tons of stitches and very, very small rows.

I've also started reading Beowulf, and so far it's quite good. It goes really fast but I have to read it out loud because it's in verse. My other media comment, is that Feist is at Starbucks! How cool is that! If you have no idea who I'm talking about, Feist is a Canadian singing person, who is has a nice melancholy tone. Kinda like Dido, or KT Tunstall. Anyway, we were over at the 24/7 Starbucks on May 1st and I'm not really listening to the music, but then, I recognize it, and I'm like "Holy S***! This is Feist! I love this chick!" and then I started singing along to My Man My Moon while waiting for my coffee. It was fun, but I think I freaked out the barista with my enthusiasm.

Lucky Stars

2007-05-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

I've been working up a storm on my sweater, I have only one sleeve left and the finishing. I'm not sure if I'm going to sew it together by hand or with Edna, and I don't know if I want to try to attach a hood and a pocket after that. For right now I'll stick to the happy song of "Lalala...Only 10in to go! Lalala!".

Frog in a bog.

2007-04-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Aww.... It's a cat in a hat.... anyway, it rained on Tuseday, and snowed a bit, and hailed. Basically it was wet and cold.
It was the perfect type of day to knit and what not, so i started a pair of gloves, and worked on my sweater. It took me all weak to get to my blog, so I just shoved the time-elapse photos into a sideshow. Gloves are almost done, only the tails need tucking, unfortunately hand is child sized, even thought the fingers fit perfectly. I'm going to felt them, so that they shrink a bit, and then ether sell them, or foist them off on a lucky kid.

I also started resizing my t-shirts. this one was gianormas, but now it fits fairly well. I did it all on my sewing machine, and I now understand pesky things like tension, stitch with, and length, and how to thread the needle sixty billion times. I've also named my sewing machine Edna, because I keep getting it confused with the brand (Elna) and it's easier to yell obscenities at an object that has been personified.
And I put patches in to my pants, I put the Pegasus patch on my beige pants but it was too obvious,(deep blue on glaring white+beige=ick) so I'm going to switch it out for the viper patch(blue on harpstring). I learned my lesson with patches last year, when I put Skeleton Jack on a hoodie, off center and couldn't get him off- the lesson is this: iron scrap material on to the back of iron on patches, and sew them on for real, that way they don't fall off, leave stains, or stick permanently.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

2007-04-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Oh snap! I'm in the Denver Post this week, for an article on the fancy tiger! It's probably the best picture of me I've seen in a while, mostly because I forgot about the camera.
Well, I went to Starfest this weekend, so not much was done on my sweater, however I have finished the first half. the challenge now is matching the other side up.
I also got my grandma's sewing machine up and running properly, so I can start on the patchwork quilt I've always wanted. All I need is one of the mats with the rulers on it, and the razor sharp pizza cutter thing, like on the quilt show.
I'm also need to check out a book on altering t-shirts because I got a bunch of free ones from Starfest. I did buy the blue one from last year, the rest I got for free in a bingo game and from the Horrorfest free room.

I talked to Kate Vernon/Ellen Tigh from Battlestar Galactica for about three seconds on Saturday when I was getting coffee. I was a big dork, and said some thing along the lines of: "I know they showed four of the final five, and Starbuck is probably the last one, but I really hope it's you instead!". She just kinda laughed, and said she didn't think so, but thanks. She plays the semi-evil manipulative wife of Col. Saul Tigh the XO. I have a love/hate thing for her character, because on the one hand she drives the plot along, softens her husband up, and is absolutely human; on the other hand, she makes Saul do a bunch of stupid stuff, and she's super selfish. She also reminds me of people who I like right up until the point when they get drunk. I forgot to get a picture with her when we were talking, because I was so excited and hopped up on caffeine, so here is a lame one of her at the autograph booth, and a good shot of her from BSG.
I also ran into Sarah from book club with her chihuahua puppy Nix, and her beau Ryan. She was pimping out OPUS con which comes in May.I got patches for my pants pockets. I wanted a raptor pilot patch to complement the viper patch, but they were kinda lame.
Ever since mom got a Subaru, they seem to pop out at me, even in the most unlikely places.
And check out the working droid! It was zooming down the corridor wicked fast. I had to run to catch it for a photo.
and finally, the random crowd shots.

and some shots from last year too.....

It came form the Vastly Deep....

2007-04-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I am detail cleaning my room today- opening all the little boxes and dumping every thing on the floor, and so I keep finding missing, and abandoned projects. First off was the yoga socks from my sock drawer. The pattern can also be used to create afterthought heals and toes. That means I can go back and put them in afterward witch is good, because when the heal and toe where out, I can put in new ones and still keep the body of the sock.
Next up we have Clair's penuin. I satarted this last year or possibly the year before...? anyway I had only crocheted the body, and wings, but I couldn't figure out what to do with the face. I also ran out of yarn and couldn't sew on the tail. It was a disaster, not to mention the whole thing was stuffed with socks that had lost their mates. The socks were actually the reason this got finished to day, I was looking for this purple cat-sock and it was driving me nuts, so on a whim, I riped out the top of the bird looking for it, (no luck) and ended up restuffing the thing with polly-fill. Then I forgot about the missing socks and continued finishing the bird. My inspiration came partly from the fact that I now have a better idea of what I'm doing, and partly from watching Happy Feet for the first time, so penguins were on the mind.
I think that the next WIP that I want to finish will be my painted Converses. One side down, three to go....oy vey.

Graphic Novels

2007-04-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

I picked up a box for my comics finally, It's taken me almost one year to need one at a rate of about four books a week. I've been keeping them on my book shelf propped up with a CD's, but this is much neater, and easier on the books, so they'll stay in good condition. Sassy was a good cat and helped me sort every thing out by laying on it; then that she decided it would be fun to chew on my labels, bite my fingers, and use the box for a scratching post. Don't worry, no comics were harmed in the making of this blog.

No more tiny rows!

2007-04-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hazah! I finished seaming the rainbow sweater last night, at Chris & Jerry's house, while we were playing Yahtzee and I sewed the buttons on first thing this morning. I hope to sell this one at the craft fair my mother and her friend are planing for November.Now I'm makeing another doomed foray into crochet with the left over yarn. I can usually make a circle, that gets bigger and smaller, so this will be some sort of ball creature like the parrot.... I'm not really sure what exactly.

Buffy Intarsia, and a puppy

2007-04-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Heres a few intarsia patterns I made up, in case anyone wants them. there not too clear because I did them in my notebook, so if something doesn't make sense, just comment or email me.

Faith's tattooAngel Investigations
"Stylish clothing" or "jiangjiu de fuzhuang" in Chinese.
and finaly a puppy, I've named him Heart, and I recommend giving him button eyes.

Here's a finished picture of the puppy on one of Jacob's baby sweaters.

Stinkin' cell phones....

2007-04-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a happy Easter over here, I got a solid white chocolate bunny from Mom, and isn't it adorable? We also went to Cinnamon's house for dinner, and I finally gave her Jacob's other sweater, and luckily he's still to small to even fit in to it(I was worried that it would be too small)
I also began my next spinning project, I'm going alternating between purple and orange, about every five to six feet, and I have about 10 to 12in of overlap between the colours because I love the spiral in between.

and here's the baby sweater that will never ever end. I'm finally at the collar, but I've had to rip it out because I keep working it in StSt instead of garter. Last night I basically gave up on the garter, so we'll see how it looks when its done....I can always rip it out again :)
and here's my sweater, but It's on hold for the week because I forgot my Stitch 'n' bitch at the Fancy Tiger on Tuesday, and I need to start the sleeves next....Hopefully nobody jacked it, and because I wrote all over the inside of it, and who knows what kind of embarrassing notes I left myself? I just keep loosing stuff this week, I left my cell at a pool hall and when I went to go get it the manager was all like "cellphone? we ain't got no stinkin' cell phone!" even though they had call my house with it the night before and left a freaking message! Well after a little scavenger hunt, they found it exactly where it was supost to be- the lost and found- and I got it back.
Also, I rearranged my room again, here it the before pics......
....And the after.....

stary morning

2007-04-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the sweater I was working on last night, it's the skully patten from Stitch 'n' Bitch except I'm doing stars. I'm going to have to pull it out for the third or fourth time, because it is waaaaay too big. I think I'll be alright if I just rework it in the Small size instead of the Medium.

And also here is my next spinning project, aren't these colours just super!

Stary Night...

2007-04-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ya, I'm hanngin' out, watching BSG, and knitting, but my fingers need a break, so I'm taking this quick test and I got super happy results, because I got my favorite character, Starbuck! Woot! Of course I might have been aiming for that, and I might have fudged my results a little bit.....so in the end I'm probably more like Apollo. I don't have my camera on me right now, so pictures of my knitting will have to wait till tomorrow.

Lt. Kara Thrace(Starbuck)

75%

Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo)

75%

CPO Galen Tyrol

75%

Commander William Adama

63%

President Laura Roslin

56%

Dr Gaius Baltar

56%

Col. Saul Tigh

50%

Lt. Sharon Valerii (Boomer/Athena)

44%

Number 6

44%

Tom Zarek

44%

Clean room!

2007-04-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well, today was hectic, we had book club(Crazy in the Kitchen), and a dinner with a bunch of mom's friends and there itty bitty kids. It was the perfect motivation for me to FINALY clean my room. After all that cleaning, I was feeling crafty, but not in a string's and thing's kind of way, so I had my dad help me build a knitty-noddy. It's not perfect, because it measures 52in around instead of 36, but whatever, a little math never killed anyone.....that I know of anyway. The noddy itself is made from a plunger handle and an old fence post.

Here is the Dino with eyes, he looks much cuter, and a bird I crocheted a while ago. The bird is stuffed with dryer sheets, and unmatched socks, because I was too cheap to go buy a four dollar bag of polly-fill.....just nod your head like you understand. and finally, I have the name tag I'm working on for the Fancy Tiger Tuesday craft night. I'm also going to embroider my name in Greek and Chinese.

Super Sweet!

2007-03-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my mostly finished pink dino, and there's another one on the Fancy Tiger blog. Now it just needs eyes.

Spin, Spin, Spin

2007-03-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the spinning I started yesterday, the colours remind me of something, I just can't figure out what.....

Also did anyone else see Battlestar Galactica last night? OMGs!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap that was awesome! I ended up watching it twice just because it was so fraking awesome! Wow! It sucks that we have to wait until 2008 for new episodes.....I don't know if I can take the suspense. Anyway, here's the last four minuets or so that made it awesome.

Mellow Yellow

2007-03-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I finished the yellow yarn off this morning, I got 26 yards out of 1oz, which is a vast improvement over the 31 yards from 4oz. And here's the pink dino that I'm working on, the camera sucks at close-up's so it's quite blurry.
and here's my yarn out to dry in the yard, the red was still a little damp.

Dead Dino.

2007-03-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished Dino. Yes, I know, he's totally freakish, but I ran out of green yarn, so he ended up with patches and seams all over the place. Of course it didn't help that the black yarn is only 2ply and the green is 3.
I Think I'll call him Frank, as in Frankenstein. Perhaps he'll use his zombie powers to attack Sassy and eat her brains.....oh yes Sassy looks so pleased with this idea.

I really do like this stuffed dino thing, so I've started another one in Hot Pink on sz3's instead of sz7's, and I also switched to left and right increases instead of the m1's that the patten calls for, witch should eliminate the stupid holes in the neck where the stuffing pokes out. By the way, do you know that bag of poly-fill is only 4$? I am so going to be churning out stuffed animals by the pound now....

And here's my spinning, one ounce of yellow fiber from the Fancy Tiger, for practice, and also to put a big flower on that baby sweater I'm working on. My spinning has gone from an uneven lumpy huge to a mostly even spin, although some parts are wicked thin, and I still have a lot of over spin.

Because it never comes out right the first time.

2007-03-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Well. I was so pleased with my yarn dyeing until Emma came over yesterday, and she pointed out the obvious, as soon a you started poking at the yarn, you could see a bunch of white. So here's the yarn all untied and pulled apart, it now looks like a broken candy cane.

So I turned it inside out and fluffed it up a bit, and retied it.......
....and back in to the pot it goes with the left over packet of koolaid.... .....but I think I need more, there are still massive white spots. :(
So I hung it up outside, and now I'm going to go get like 2 more packets, try again, and after that I give up! On a happier note, I'm almost done with Emma's first dinosaur. This will be a stegosaurus.And it's a beautiful day out side so I'm gonna go get some comic books, some more spinning fiber, and the koolaid. Ta y'all.

WIP's, UFO's, and Buffy- Oh my!

2007-03-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is a post about all of my UFO's and projects the just haven't worked out. First up is my first ever project, the alien bag. The front was lovingly crafted from cheep leftover yarn, over a period of three days, followed by two months of frustration and boredom as I knitted the back and gussets. And then, for even more fun, I hand sewed a patchwork of leftover felt together, and lined the inside. After that, I had even more fun sewing in a zipper! After all was said and done, I just hated the shape of the bag, because it was too hard to get to stuff inside. So now it lives on my windowsill as a cat bed. Sassy sure dose love it.

Next up is the Pumpkin bag. This was a random project, just something to let me breath after I ripped out another sweater. It's purpose in life is to hold yarn balls when it's clipped on to my belt with the carbine. It works alright, but I ran out of scrap yarn, and had to bind it off earlier than I wanted is it's kinda small. However, I really love the random design that I put in, it reminds me of Native Pottery. Here is a WIP, a patch work afghan. It will be made up of just random squares that have 2 sides. In this picture we have all the Buffy themed ones because I am a huge dork. At the top is the Buffy "B", below that is Faith's tattoo, and on the right is the logo for Angel Investigations. Below that is some more love for Joss Whedon, it's some Chinese from his beloved show, Firefly. It says "stylish clothing". Originally I was going to knit it down the left shoulder of a sweater, and this was the test run to see how all the characters came out. This here is the front and back of a baby sweater for my cousin. It's what I'm working on right now, and the sleeves are taking me for-fraking ever!
Here are some gloves that I made back when my hands were freezing this winter. The yarn is really cheep, so they feel kind of icky, and one of the finger holes is bigger than the other for some reason. I must have reworked the last 2in of these like 5 times before I gave up.

Just so everyone knows what I mean when I say that I have cheep stash yarn, and lots of it, here is a Picture of my said stash. I got most of it at a yard sale this summer, for 7$ along with 2 bags, and a pair of sz19's. I like having the all this crap because when i want to experiment with cables or pictures, I have all this to work with. Then when I really want some thing, I actually go out and buy good yarn, and I don't have to rip it up so much. also, it will evolve slowly into my afghan.

And finally, here's Sassy looking angry that I took her Photo.....

funny kitty.....

It's to dye for.

2007-03-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

And we're back! So here it is, in it's new and improved Black Cherry flavor, my spinning! This picture is of when Emma dumped in the Koolaid, I was trying to get a photo of when it frothed up like some kind of science experiment but the camera was too slow :( However, you can see the mess it made on the stove. And here it is boiling away in the pot, looking a lot like entrails, but smelling much, much better.
And now it's cooling down, you can see how the Koolaid is being absorbed. When I was done the water was clear! It was so cool!
And here it is hanging in the laundry room...
Here's a close up, ain't that a great colour? It was going to be darker, but I only added 3 of the 4 packets, so it's got this flamey red going on. Very pretty! It's still a little damp this morning, so I hung it up outside. I hope my spinning came out as yarn, and not a useless tangle, but I think the dyeing went superbly.

First Spin....

2007-03-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my first spinning project, I took a class at the Fancy Tiger on Sunday, and this is the result. This first picture is of all the yarn stretched out on one of the chairs because I don't have a knitty-noddy, you can also see my shiny new drop spindle, and the living room floor.
and hear is the yarn after I bound it together with some scraps. I am totally documenting this with way too much detail, but that's what happens when I get around to using a camera.
and hear is the yarn again, on the table.....
And then we have the random Picture of the dye I'm going to use, it was so expensive. I used up four shiny quarters.
and hear is me uh...I don't remember what this is called, but it makes the yarn less breaky, so basically I'm heating up the yarn in some water with a drop of soap.

and now it's hanging out side to dry......
and again with a wight on it to help pull out the kinks....

and that's it for now! I'll be Dyeing it later with Emma, so hopefully I'll remember to take pictures. I really want to go and get some more wool to spin with right now, maybe some thing with colour so I don't have to spend time dyeing it. Although I do love this natural colour allot.

Just Starting

2007-03-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well it seems to me that everyone who knits, spins, and plays with yarn has there verry own blog, so I thought I start one too. So hear it is, all shiny and new...... just dont expect too much from my spelling.