Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Owww!

Our car is C-R-A-P. It's a 1995 Buick with power locks that randomly, on occassion stop working. OK it's not like the transmission's on its last legs (I hope) and the alignment is good despite hitting 6 crooked speed bumps at 20MPH 6 times a day to get to and from my apartment. I'm just mad because I had the bright idea that maybe one of the fuses was jostled by the speed bumps. So I went to push on all the fuses and these metal battery looking things which turns out were freakin' hot!!! I've been branded! The tip of my right index finger is now callused, sore, and imprinted "30 V." I'd take a picture, but my camera can't get in focus close enough. Anyway, it's slowed the pace of the my fingerless garter stitch mitts from the One Skein book by Liegh Radford. They are my "just for me" project to reward myself for the holiday rush. I'm half way though the first one.

I'm knitting them up out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the now discontinued Ravenswood colorway. Oh and that might look like a spagetti noodle, but it's really a 2.25 mm bamboo needle. I am totally phobic about snapping them! They are not easy to find, but thank goodness for my LYS. Even if Jennifer doesn't have more in stock she can always order more.

Oh and good news! After seeing all the cool stuff that I made as gifts with crochet, my best friend Lisa has decided to take up the hook again. She taught herself a while back but never really committed to it, same goes for me teaching her to knit. So I gave her an H hook and a book, The Cool Girl's Guide to Crochet by Nicki Trench. Now I'll just sit back and wait for the magic!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Presents !!

Well, X-Mas is finally here! Looky some of the cool stuff!
A harrisville lap loom from Soluman.


Look, I even started a bit!

This DPN case was made my friend Denise from the stitch-in. This and other needle cases available at Wild Fibre in beautiful downtown Savannah!

And this is the bath set for my best friend and her husband.
And this is the one-skein scarf from the Happy Hooker Stitch 'n Bitch for her.

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

AMIGURUMI !!!



I finished the li'l guys! They're awesome! Yea! The second one is appendageless to save a bit of time, not so much that it took lots of time to make the pairs, but it takes a lot to crochet the first leg/arm, get 3/4 through the second, realize that it's a bit wider, rip it back to the suspected increase, and go at it again. Anyway, it's supposed to be more abstract, after all, it's a 'doll' for a 17 year old guy. Whew, and with 3 hour to spare before the dinner tonight! I gotta go get ready now.

New Name

OK so since the first post, I have changed the blog name from "Bint Knits" to "Stitchin' Bint." Again, I felt that 'knit' in the title was a bit misleading since I tend to crochet more often and I don't want any hardcore knit-bloggers to flog me with their merino as a knit poser. I think stitch better describes my ambi-yarn crafting ability. Anyway, I'm working on posting some pics but I use Adobe Photoshop and it is giving me crap. I promise this will be a better blog soon.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Can It Be "Uncool"?

My boyfriend of 4 years is utterly convinced that most people, especially young men and teenagers, don't think knitting and crochet gifts are "cool." I was thinking of a quick gift idea for the teenage cousins of a friend of mine, since we'll be having dinner with them on X-Mas Eve. They are very smart and a bit eclectic, so I though they would appreciate a nice hand-made accessory. So I opted to make a cellphone/ MP3 player case for the 17 year-old Thomas and a headband for Megan, who is 15. I shared my ideas with my BF and he basically said that they would never use them because knitted and crocheted accessories for teenagers are not cool. I couldn't believe it. Has he not seen all the volumes of hip new designs on my bookshelf? Does he have such little faith in my ability to choose good gifts (I am a pretty good gift selector, if I do say so myself)?? I even started to suspect that my assumption of knitting and crochet being cool has been cruelly thrust upon me by the yarn industry and knit/crochet designers.

I was a bit irked by he assertion, but then I realized why he likely thought such things. As a teen in the late '90's, knitting and crochet were for old ladies, not teenagers and twenty-somethings. Grandmas would make or buy frumpy sweaters in obnoxious colors and gaudy cables. And don't forget the doilies. I can remember being in junior high wearing bright orange, turquois, teal, or purple cable-knit sweaters, handed down from my sisters who wore them 5 or 6 years earlier. I kinda liked them then, but once I got to high school, I wouldn't be caught dead in them. The ol' BF was quite the goth back in the day: long hair, black clothes, make-up, and a Cure fan. Of course! Since he didn't like that stuff at their age, he thus assumes that they won't either (BTW they are not goth). And because he and his friends would've made fun of stuff like that, he assumes that their friends would make fun as well.

Still he had a point, what if they didn't like it? What if I pick the wrong colors of it just isn't their style? So I decided on a non-accessory, but I didn't have the time for a scarf and I'm a bit bored of the boy beanie from the Happy Hooker book. So I was cruising through www.crochetme.com and I found the perfect idea: amigurumi dolls! They'are fast & easy, yet new and fun. I already have the head and torso complete. I should have the other done before X-Mas Eve dinner.

Monday, December 18, 2006

So Many Knit Blogs

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon! I will forwarn you though, I'm not the most faithful of posters, especially once the semster starts up again. Actually the title "Bint Knits" is a bit misleading since I've been crocheting mostly, especially when I need a quick project on a deadline (read "last minute X-mas gifts"). I recently picked up both skills this summer. I'm not exactly sure what possessed me with this urgent need to learn to crochet and knit. I
was in botany class over the summer and I had already been thinking about learning to knit or crochet when we were learning about fungi. We were on the ascomycota reproduction and Dr. Thorne informed us that a particular clump of cells was known as a "crozier formation" meaning hook. Crozier, crochet... I made the link and that day I got out of class, went to B&N, got some books taught myself crochet. About 2 weeks later I wandered into a newly discovered (by me) LYS, Wild Fibre during their stitch-in. I was so shy, I hadn't even tried to make a real project yet, just practice swatches. I'm glad that I joined them. The next week I had finished my first scarf and they 'oooed' and awed sincerely, even though they themselves were making far more spectacular things. It was exactly what I needed to keep me motivated and I've been going ever since. I was the only vanilla crocheter at the time, so I forced myself to learn how to knit a few weeks later. So that's my "origin story". I've been very busy cranking out small X-mas projects these days. I'll post some pics of current projects soon.