Elephant

DSCF3138
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I pulled this guy out of the closet where he's lived lately so that I could take his picture. He's made with a chenille yarn in "crochet on the double" style.

Beady eyes are kind of weird, but I think I'll leave them that way. :)

Here's the info on the book where I found the pattern:
Annie's Attic #873253, Easy Cuddly Critters

Remote Caddy

Remote Caddy
Originally uploaded by ssplam

As our collection of remote controls continues to grow, I decided it was time to build something for them. Tore up a pair of jeans that had a few too many holes for patching (like the big long one that travelled down half the leg), grabbed out my Singer Simple and some pins and gave it a go. I'm so pleased with how it came out and so is the boyfriend. (The big pocket - that's for the xbox controller)

This was my first use of the new machine I bought and I'm so pleased with its output. As long as I could get the fabric height under the needle in the first place, it gave me no trouble pushing through the layers. (about 7 layers of denim seemed to be the max hight allowance).

yay & nay

Yay: I got my fleece from Scott's aunt so I have a new hobby to try out
Nay: I have to do the yucky skirting/cleaning part myself

Yay: I got a raise
Nay: I spent all of my raise and then some (quite a bit of some) on new tires, they cost 400 bucks, looks like I'll be a little bit short for a little while, Scott gets to buy groceries I think.

Yay: It's cooled down a little bit
Nay: My puppy and his family are probably going to have to evacuate their homes for a while. (Stupid Butte fire)


Finally a Yay: It's friday and time to relax for a few days.

World Wide Knit in Public Day

KiP2008i
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I organized (really just made sure the park was open and made a few giveaways) a World Wide Knit in Public Day in Fremont Park for my Sunday morning knitting group. We invited Ravelry members from our area and one of my group invited the Sacramento Knitting Guild. It turned out that we had about 15 women present.

Couple of people stopped in to visit, the guy you see in the picture was (I believe) Jason. He chatted with us for a while and helped Cindy to win 2nd place in a sock/photo scavenger hunt.

A lovely Russian lady stopped by to visit and also helped Cindy in her contest.

We also received applause from another person walking by. It was a fun morning that lasted from 9:30 am to well past morning at 3pm.

Look forward to trying again next year.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

FSM#6
Originally uploaded by ssplam

I finished him and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

My inspiration is from a Flickr Friend's (Pockafwe) creation of the same thing. Slightly different yarns but simple to work.

Pipe-cleaners hold up the eye and the waving appendage, the rest of it is i-cord in a feltable wool, and a free-form meatballs made out of a fabulous boucle yarn.

Rainbow Sock

I finally made it through this pattern one complete time.
I really like the sock. I used the designers suggested yarn (and colorway), however I had to add quite a few stitches to make it big enough.



I am really looking forward to these being finished, worked really hard on them and I really want to wear them.

CBE

For some nicer things, and craftier things.

Been working on what is called CBE projects. This means "Character Building Exercises" and is a crafting challenge to use stash materials for assigned projects.

I've completed 3 so far.
CBE # 1 - Double Flower Cloth
A beautiful round dishcloth that I found worked up fairly quickly, and I really enjoyed it. Pattern here http://www.jimsyldesign.com/dishbout/kpatterns/dblflower.html

CBE #2 is a scarf.
This is not a pattern I would have chosen for myself, but it did work up quickly and it was surprisingly comfortable. Nonetheless it has been gifted to a co-worker who expressed an interest in having such a thing for herself. Pattern here: http://people.delphiforums.com/knit_chat/knitchat/patterns/bowscarf.htm

CBE #3 - simple sock
Again something I probably would not have chosen for myself (or even found I venture). But being worked in worsted weight yarn it moves pretty quickly, just a couple hours and the first one is finished. Haven't yet cast on the second sock, but will do that once I finish my Rainbow Sock pair. They are soft and mostly comfortable, not too keen on the heel. My changes to the pattern however, removed 2 stitches and used size 8 needles. 2 less stitches made for an easy 2/2 ribbing and the larger needles seemed to make the sizing right. I'm finding that "women's sock" in many patterns is not for big foot chicks like me. Pattern here: http://www.woolworks.org/patterns/joannesox.txt