Happy Birthday Grandma!

, originally uploaded by trifarina.

I made a little something for you that would easily slip in an envelope, a needle felted butterfly! You can sew it on your jeans, put it under your pillow, or just leave it out to keep you company. Have a great day!

Ricker wavelet cozies

005, originally uploaded by trifarina.

These beer bottle coozies were Knitted in trade for some critical assitance with a particularly tricky synthetic to seismic well tie. I tried needle felting the patch, but it looked kind of tacky. I ended up embroidering and the wavelets looked much nicer. One zero phase wavelet and one quadrature wavelet (his and hers) were provided so they can tell the beverages apart.

Slow and steady

002, originally uploaded by trifarina.

I have been working through a very long list of projects to finish. Hopefully I will do a better job in the next few weeks posting. This shawl was knitted for a good friend getting married in early June. You may recognize the pattern from marina's winter mystery shawl knit along... I love that pattern!

Unraveling

It's very relaxing... Goodwill cashmere sweater to yarn.

Dyed and Gone to Purgatory

Here's that last cowl after my feeble attempts to make it look a little less country.  I still can't decide if it ended up looking cool or even worse, but I gave it away so it's not my problem anymore.  The prize for the cowl KAL ended up being another cowl pattern.  While not unexpected, I must admit to some disappointment due to the fact that I may never knit another cowl again.  5 in 50 days was too many.  6 might just kill me.

Ollie Owl Hat

A great instant gratification project - baby hat in chunky yarn!  The eyes were needle felted so there was anger management therapy involved as well.  Score!

The 5th and final cowl

I am officially cowled out. Having finished "Blueberry Scowl", I am done with this medium for awhile.

 I can't decide if this one is worthy of presentation to a value friend.  The buttons pictured are temporary, and the color is a bit more dowdy in real life.  It's along the lines of country-kitchen cute to be accompanied by geese festooned with mauve bows.  It also blocked out really long.  I will dye, shop for buttons, and re-evaluate.  (back to knitting lacy wedding shawls in the meantime.)

Cowl #4

This is the 4th cowl in the KAL... cowls were getting kind of old by this point...

Cowl KAL - the pictures get blurry

Due to the tight deadlines, I end up finishing the cowls during the week and have to post photos as proof of my completion immediately.  Fortunately, I have a job.   This means I cannot photograph in the daylight.  Here's what you get... Cowl #2:

 Cowl #3 (not even dry):

I did a reshoot of #3 later, but #2 is gone.

Cowl Knitalong

I have been slaving away on the feministy.com cowl knitalong from designer Liz Abinante the past few weeks or so.  (Thanks to Redshirt Knitting for the tip!)  The deal is, there are 5 patterns (all cowls) and 50 days.  If you finish cowl #1, by the stated deadline, you receive the pattern for cowl #2 free.  If you finish cowl #2, you get the pattern for #3 for free, and so on.  If you finish all 5 by March 24th, there is a special prize.  I was unable to resist the challenge and cast on cowl number one (Flurries pictured above) as soon as I heard.  I just finished #4 and am eager to receive the final pattern on Monday.

Mystery Solved

I finished Marina's mystery shawl and it is the bomb-diggity.  I think my favorite part is the tulip border.  I plan to cast on the second one when I finish the feministy.com great cowl KAL.  (More details on that front forthcoming...)

Mystery Shawl Update

Here's another picture of the mystery shawl in progress.  I had just finished clue 3 of 6 in the photo.  The knitting was complete as of 8 Feb... but the blocking?  Blocking will have to wait until next weekend I think.  I have a few spots in the lace pattern that are completely goofed up, but on the bright side, I will have a chance to do better next time.  This was a practice shawl for one I will knit in blue for a friend's wedding.  She wanted one to match her bouquet, and given the flower lace themes in this pattern it would be quite apropos.  Plus now I know approximately how long it will take to knit (about a month), which should ease some of the pressure.  I have plenty of time for the June nuptials.

To Weave, Weaving, Woven

I "finished" my first woven object!  (The quotations indicate that while the weaving is finished, I still have some work to do on the fringe...)  It's a scarf/table runner/thing.  back to knitting to catch up on my mystery shawl!

Lost but not forgotten...

This scarf in progress was lost to me when I moved from California to Texas in 2009 and I was nearly prepared to chalk it off as a win for the chaos of the universe, until I found it in November.  It was a nice low brain power project for the holidays while transfixed by the magic of Showtime original series.  (The whole family needed to get caught up on Dexter and was transfixed by Homeland.)  I was glad to have rescued and finished this project and am thrilled every time the recipient wears it while interpreting well logs.

Warped

Le sigh.  

 After the minimum 2 weeks my schedule required to complete loom assembly, create the warp, and dress the loom in between work and other tasks like the hunting and gathering of food, I sat down last night to weave.  If you have limited experience with this particular branch of fiber-y goodness, like myself, it may not be readily apparent that there is something seriously awry with the project illustrated above.  This lovely 32" Kromski Harp rigid heddle loom has been warped backwards.

If you look closely at the business end where I have started to weave a little bit, you will see a beam that is totally in the way.  When you try to beat the yarn in place... you cannot.  This is when I looked back at the plans and discovered my folly.  The heddle blocks are also backwards in this configuration, but I could have worked around that.  I'm not sure what to do.  I have to somehow unspool the 15ft of warp threads from the "back" beam (actually the front beam), flip the heddle,and spool them on the "front" beam (actually the back beam).  I think this is possible.  I would hate to chuck all that yarn and start over.

Winter Mystery Shawl

I'm working on my second ever mystery shawl knit-a-long, the Winter Mystery Shawl by Marina Fitch at the Swift Stitch in Santa Cruz, CA.  I must say that this mystery knit-a-long is going much better than the last.

The pattern is complicated enough to keep my interest and clue #2 was actually a surprise!  That's the fun part!  Here is my work through clue #1:  (the picture isn't great, but it's not blocked either...)

I'm not sure if I'll make it through clue #2 this week because I pulled jury duty and was horrified to learn that knitting needles are prohibited at the Harris County Courthouse.  After briefly considering the repercussions of contraband smuggling, I have decided to start a crochet project for my day in court.

By the Way...

Dookie loves his new sweater!