Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

Here's some stuff I found while answering sizing questions on the Rudy socks. I'm probably going to add at least 1 smaller size to the pattern. I did most of the math for somebody yesterday, but I'll still need to put it in a consistent format and maybe test the heel turn. All this information is for socks with a heel flap. Heel math for socks between 40 and 80 stitches around (in 4-stitch increments)- From socknitters.com. Has numbers for 6 heel types- v heel , round heel , rounder heel , square heel , modified square heel, & strap heel. Also explains how to get those numbers Knittinggeek.com has examples of what those turns look like here. Generic sock recipe from Knitty Gritty (good for beginners). Illustrated beginner's guide to the tricky parts. I've used fleegle's lace yarn spreadsheet a LOT recently. I just discovered that our meetup group's own Suzi has a list of sock yarns arranged by meters/100g. This is really useful for sugge...

February in Tacoma Handspun Laceweight , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . 2-ply, about 30 WPI. From a Tactile batt bought at Stitches West. I was worried about the bits of silk noil being obnoxiously obvious, but it turned out really nice after plying. I think I've got about 500 yards, enough for an Evelyn Clark style triangle. I've got a bunch of books on lace design checked out through Link+ right now. I picked up some Mermaid at Green Planet when my meetup group was there last week. It's cotton, merino, silk, and seacell. I'm thinking I'll use it with my tweedy handspun for some kind of top-down raglan mini cardi. Of course, I'll have to finish something first! Here's one of the hibiscus photos I promised. Whee! Spray bottles are fun! Cat discipline, quick blocking, pretentious nature photography. . .

Bryan's doing a lot better, but I've been really busy with work lately. This week, one of my co-workers is on vacation. Next week, another one has jury duty. I've been working on a shawl version of the Rose of England and I've taken in some finishing work. The only purely personal project I've touched is the cape. I've been trying to do 4 border repeats every day, so I should be finished soon. I've fallen in love with a few different yarns over the last few days and I have some design ideas I want to play with, but they'll have to wait a little. I've been doing lots of photography, but not for the blog. Tomorrow I might actually make it to a SFSI shift for the first time in months. My college roommate & significant other are showing up in a couple days to stay with us. I have to respond to two sizing questions on the Rudie socks, clean the garage, and try out my new SpotBot pet edition. Stupid puke cat. I lost the Dream in Color shrug a...

My husband had orthognathic surgery last week to fix his open bite . Now he has a bunch of screws in his head. I saw the x-rays. The surgery went fine, but I've been busy trying to feed him 6-8 liquid meals every day. I don't know why I thought I'd have time to knit! I finished the Dream in Color Shrug at the hospital last week and talked to a couple of nurses about knitting. In the surgery waiting room I talked to a really outgoing quilter who was doing some hand sewing to finish a machine quilted piece. It was really cute. The quilting was done in a fancy heart pattern that was programmed into the machine. There was also a nun crocheting something, but she didn't join the conversation. I made some progress on the Lady's Cape and Catriona , but I forgot to bring extra balls of yarn. I decided on a needle size for the socks I'm working on, though. 1 1/2 were too small and 2 1/2 were too big. I got some 2 (2.75mm) and I think they'll be per...

Handspun Singles from Tactile Batt , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I've finished the first of two bobbins of singles from the Tactile batt I got at Stitches. It's a really nice blend, but I could do without the silk noil since I decided it wanted to be laceweight. Fiber details: 2 oz February in Tacoma batt. 53% Alpaca, 25% Merino/Bamboo, 11% BFL, 3% Tussah silk, 3% yak down, 3% silk noil, and 2% angora. http://www.flickr.com/photos/buxtrosion/2299346742/ This fiber's been really fun to spin so fine since it has so many components. It never gets boring. Since I wanted the singles thin and even, I used a short draw for more control and to more closely examine the yarn. I didn't smooth the yarn with the forward hand like I would for true worsted spinning.

Circular Cape , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I haven't been very talkative online lately (Bryan switched keyboard to Dvorak), but I've been lurking. I've also had a bad case of startitis. I've been forcing myself to work a little on older WIPs every day. The body of the Circular Cape is done, and the border is going very quickly. This is by far the quickest lace project I've knitted. The body is just a feather and fan variation with a lot of resting rows, and it only took me a couple of repeats to memorize the border. There's not enough progress on Catriona to take a picture, and I'm debating changing needle size a self-designed sock. This is my new WIP , the Dream in Color Shrug (Classy in Dusky Aurora). The Dream in Color yarns are so gorgeous!

Ruffled Roses Scarf , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Ruffled Roses by Annie Modesitt http://www.ravelry.com/projects/spinalcat/ruffled-roses Awesome! 3 colors of Misti Alpaca Worsted and a partial ball of ONline Linie 194 Solo (a ruffle/tape yarn). Pattern (free) available at Yarndogs. Or check the designer's site for a shop near you. Mods/Notes- For me, the purl rows of the tape were the right side. Subbed dark green for red-brown yarn. No problems with stitch count. I think other people got confused because the stitch count for the center lace pattern is given. There’s stitches on either side of that for a garter stitch edging. I used this tutorial for a similar ruffle yarn to help figure out how to use it. Think whip stitch, not running stitch. I used the 3-needle bind off after figuring out how to graft in ribbing and then realizing that it would always be offset by half a stitch because the pieces were both knit in the same direction.