Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

Last night we saw the Nekromantix in San Jose at the Blank club. This was our 6th show since moving to the Bay Area, but our first in San Jose. The Blank club is pretty tiny. It reminded us of the indoor stage at Emo's, but with the bar taking up less room, and no giant poles to get smashed into in front of the stage. If we feel nostalgic for giant poles, we'll go to Slim's. I didn't realize until a couple of days before the show that the Lower Class Brats (from Austin!!!) were going to be opening. I think they may have been at the first show we ever saw in Austin. We've seen both these bands about a jillion times. My verdict: totally awesome. I didn't see much of the crowd, but Bryan said they didn't seem that excited. Their loss. More room in front for me! Bones and Nekroman are both extremely entertaining front men. I had an insane amount of fun. You really haven't lived until you've seen the coffinbass. :) I forgot to take a camer...

Traveling Stitch Swatch , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I finally got to go to a Knitspiration guild meeting! The topic for this month was traveling stitches. This swatch will go in the big pile of collected squares (not actually square) for charity blankets. This is the stitch pattern that Mary brought in from the book Bauerliches Stricken 3. I finally worked out a method of swapping the order of stitches that worked for me. I just used the right needle tip to grab the stitch that needed to be worked next, from the front or from behind depending on which stitch was going in front, pulled the left needle tip out of that stitch and the one it's trading with (leaving 1 stitch off the needles completely), and putting those 2 stitches back on the left needle so they are ready to be worked in the new order.

Handdyed Self-Striping Yarn , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . If you look closely, you might be able to see one of the 20 or so knots. Apparently the yarn got chewed on between skeining and dyeing. Serves me right for being a procrastinator. This is my first time with acid dyes, and my first time dyeing yarn black. The black came out better than I expected. I've heard people griping about black dyes before, and I've seen a few skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn in stores that had issues. How much more black could it be? None more black. I actually said that to Bryan when I finished dyeing. The yarn is Knit Picks Bare merino sock yarn, and I used Jacquard acid dyes in Fire Red and Jet Black. I was actually going for a real red, but it was taking forever to exhaust. I actually really like the hot pink, though. I wound the yarn to be self-striping on a sort of warping board. Here's the links to the resources I used for that. I had some plastic pegboard with wooden...

2 Skeins of Llama , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . After fulling by shocking in hot/icy water and thwacking on the edge of the tub (thanks, Jasmin ). There's still a lot of fiber left in the bag. Not sure what I'm going to do with the yarn. Probably a simple warm hat. It's in the vicinity of worsted weight, spun woolen-ish. My first time using the long draw . It's like magic! Especially when done unsupported (one-handed).

Coachella Back , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Coachella is done. I ended up making the medium with bust shaping. I love the back, but I'm not sure how I f eel about the front. I may attempt surgery to remove the short rows. The worst thing that could happen is I'd have to rip back and reknit. Ok, so I've snipped and ripped out the short rows. Now I have to knit a few rows, graft, and hope for the best! The boob job is complete! I think it's a big improvement, but I'm still not 100% in love with the front of this top.

Richard Gere , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/MNAS101V1O.DTL

Jester Sock Cuff , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I knit these samples in Tofutsies for SWTC last summer. I LOVE this colorway. I never made photos public because I didn't know when/if/how they were going to be releasing the pattern. The pattern is available for download here and there's more pics of my sample sock! I don't remember the designer's name, and it's not on the SWTC site or Ravelry, so I suppose I'll go rummaging around in my folder of old patterns to get more info.

Handspun Socks , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . After reaching mid-calf, the first sock has been set aside. The second sock, currently ankle-high, is going much faster. No ripping back at all! Eventually I'll have to decide whether I want 1 pair of tall socks, or 2 pairs of "normal" socks.

I'm trying to decide what to make with the Rowan Pure Wool DK I got on sale at Knitting Arts the night of the meetup.  I want something a little sophisticated (or at least with clean lines).  It also should be a tee, tank, or vest.  I only have about 1230 yards, and it's warm outside anyway.  I like Rusted Root , but that's usually done in yarn that has at least some cotton, and I'd probably prefer a different color for that pattern.  I thought I'd definitely want to go with green, but I like some of the pinks on Ravelry.   I like the sleeves and being top-down, though.  Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece is the original yarn and it's pretty cheap, so I may do this pattern as intended at a later date. Zephyrgals photo from Flickr. I've also found myself getting obsessed with cables.  I liked the Gwen shell from the Louet catalog Margit gave me, and I'm pretty sure I'd have enough yarn.  The downside is the pattern's no longer free.  It looks l...

 Firstly, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is co-sponsoring a series of (free!) lectures in Palo Alto on environmental reproductive health.  The other co-sponsors are Acterra  (a local environmental group that seems pretty cool) and Reproductive Health Technologies Project.  More info here .  The first lecture was on early puberty and breast cancer, featuring speakers from Breast Cancer Fund.  Their publications on causes of early puberty and environmental determinants of breast cancer can be found here .  Haven't finished reading all the way through yet, but they look like pretty solid reviews of the literature.  The puberty report in particular cites a whole host of studies that I really want to get my hands on. The next lectures in the series are The Impact of Environmental Toxins on Infertility and the Developing Fetus on April 24 Pesticides and Playgrounds- Chemicals in Our Children's Everyday Environment on May 7. I've posted links on the sidebar to a whole lot of organiz...