2012/365 - Day 198

finished the red scarfy thing!

I had to go to YouTube and find a video to show me/remind me how to bind off, but I did it!  I finished the red scarfy thing for the upcoming project.  Much more details when available. 

Yahoo -- now I am going to make more ropes...enough knitting for me!

Also today...

Ruth and I went over to our really wonderful and helpful and friendly ACE Hardware.  She needed to return a little fan and I needed to get holes drilled in these two wooded balls.

There was already a partial hole for a screw but I need to have them drilled all the way through and then I wanted to countersink the screw.

 I used to have a countersink and I used to know how to do it...but not anymore.  And that might have been for nails vs screws.

ANYway...the people at ACE were great.  The guy used their little drill press and drilled the holes then figured a way to countersink the screw without a countersink by using two larger sized drill bits and drilling out teensy tiny pieces.  If I had done it on my own I would've split the wood and/or sent the wooden ball flying when the drill bit touched it.  

Now I will be able to use the balls as feet at the end of legs for a creature!  Coming soon.

2012/365 - Day 197

working on my list items

Late Friday night I made a to-do list for myself of most of the projects I need to work on.  This weekend I have been doing a little on a lot of them...I just haven't been blogging all of it every day.

the list

This is from this morning.  I spread out the Penciled In collaboration blocks that William Hessian finished up while he was here last month.  

I need to scan each of them separately for the Penciled In blog.  Scanning takes a long time!

I wanted to try to choose the order sort of randomly but I also wanted to keep it colorful if you were looking at the blog to see all of the blocks.

Over the next few days I will add the images to the Penciled In blog and write about this current collaboration with William.  I can only do so many blog entries per day on Blogspot before they cut me off for the day.  I will post about it when they are all up.

I also remembered I needed to make an official prototype for Artists in Cellophane.  This dog is the one I chose for the prototype because Art-o-mat founder Clark Whittington likes dogs ("duders").

I still need to paint the edges of the blocks and then work on the labels and info inserts, etc.  I think this guy is going to be the image for the main box label.

Thinking about this in a practical way, I still have about a week's worth of work to do before I can ship these in to Art-o-mat HQ.

 

In between this and the knitting I did laundry, made up a new soup from leftover meatloaf and some vegetables (and other wacky ingredients), and then I made a quick trip to the grocery store.

 

Off and on today when I took short breaks I worked on the red scarfy piece.  So far I added about twelve inches of new knitting.

The scafy piece is about 6 feet long -- I am going to keep working on it until I go to bed later tonight.

My goal is to keep knitting until the skein runs out...it is a one-pound skein and it feels like I am about a third of the way through it.

2012/365 - Day 192

more knitting progress

Today I have been plugging away at the knitting project(s).  I am really enjoying them, especially the colorful yarn ropes made with the Provo Craft Spool Loom with Hook.

I am not usually a big fan of the color red -- but this scarf-ish knitted piece is really luscious.

Today I added another 12" of work to it.

Last night when I posted the blog entry this yarn rope was a mere 30" long...I worked on it until I went to bed and added another 18".

Today, though...wow.  Today when I stopped (mostly because it was becoming too unmanageable) it is a whopping 12 FEET long!  I had to coil it up and tie it to be able to work on it.

 

I really love the colors of this cotton yarn.  And the Provo Craft Spool Loom makes it SO easy to make even stitches and it is so fast, too!

I am not kidding...this yarn rope is twelve FEET long.

I wanted to try out the larger end of the Spool Loom.  This side has 8 pegs instead of 5.  It was a little more difficult to get the rope going in the beginning...it didn't want to be pulled/tugged with every stitch, but I got it to cooperate after a while.  It would probably be easier with a different yarnier yarn...rather than this cotton stuff that I really like.

This takes longer than the smaller side, so I've only got 23" done so far tonight.  Plus, you have to stop and tug the rope with every stitch with this cotton yarn with this end of the loom.

Here are the three ropes side by side.  The two on the outsides are made with the Provo Craft Spool Loom with Hook.  The middle rose colored rope is made with the "Embellish-Knit!" spool loom that has the crank/handle and four moving needles.  The middle rope is also a yarnier yarn.

I am having a great time making these!

2012/365 - Day 191

knitting progress

Remember that "Embellish-Knit!" that I was so excited about a couple of days ago -- the gadget that makes the yarn rope and you just thread it and then crank the handle until you are done and the little machine does all of the work?

Well, when I ran out of the test/practice yarn that is included with the gadget I tried other yarn(s) that I bought and a couple that I already had.  No go.  I went back to Joann Fabric and returned the first batch of yarn and bought some really cool multicolored cotton yarn(s) because I really loved them and the colors, and because I figured they would work in the little gadget...according to the list of suggested yarns.  Uh-uh.  I tried and tried.  I tried again.  I went online and did troubleshooting.  Tried again.  Uh-uh.  

So today I packed it all up and took it back to Joann Fabrics for a trade-in.  They were very nice and took it back and let me get a new one (which was my idea, they were ready to give me a refund).  While I was there I also picked up a pink plastic gadget that is similar to the old kind I had as a kid but in a new modernized version.  It works just fine!

The new replacement "Embellish-Knit!" won't work with the cotton yarn(s) either.  I am going to keep it, though -- I still really like it.  I just need to get a little bit of schooling on yarn(s).  I am sure it will work just fine with the right kinds.

SO --  Here are a few photos of my progress so far:

This is the actual knitting I've been doing with that original skein of red yarn.

The piece is 13 inches across (40 stitches) and 18 inches long -- so far!

This is the new gadget.  I like it because it has two different sizes you can make.  I will try the larger one with the next rope.

It is working really well...but my hand needs a break.  I want to keep going because it is so satisfying to just have the rope get longer and longer...but really I need to stop for tonight.

I really like this!

 So far this rope is 30 inches long!















 

2012/365 - Day 189

I kinda sorta remember how to knit

A friend has a project that I am doing my bit for.  It entails knitting and I found that I kinda sorta remember how to do some very basic knitting.  Cool.

  

This mess is what happens when you think you know what you are doing and decide to try to do something just a bit different while you are at it.

Yeah...that trick never works...LOL

And besides, I had waaaaay too many stitches on the needles.

 This is more like it.  Not too bad for someone who hasn't tried to knit anything since she was about twelve.  Not that I was a great knitter or anything...but I could switch something around and make a different-looking row...but not anymore.

It really doesn't matter for this project, anyway.

Nothing fancy is necessary.

And while I was at Joann Fabrics I wanted to get one of those little gadgets that I had when I was a kid -- it had nails at the top and a wooden base and you did something or some kind of easy steps and got a tube that came out of the bottom of the wooden base.

Well --  I found this instead!  VERY fun, VERY cool and VERY fast and easy.  And it has a handle that you just crank.  No more moving the yarn/thread over the nails and tugging.  It comes with a weight that you have to keep on the end of the rope...it has to stay taut.

I can make a LOT of these -- but I need some lighter yarns.   Oh -- this gadget is called "Embellish-Knit!".