Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Today Was Rough

So after yesterday's ridiculous heat, I was excited that today would be in the 70s instead of the 80s. I was even looking forward to the idea of a rainy day inside, since we were supposed to get thunderstorms (which we did... eventually).

Unfortunately, pretty much as soon as I started to go to bed, someone got into an accident and knocked out power to my block.

At 1:20AM or so.

For seven. Hours.

Seven.

In the first hour or two, we still had internet, so I reported the outage to the power company (which is owned by Spain for some stupid reason... a country over 3200 miles (5150km) away from me.

The linemen are all great, though. They're local folks and they do their best with what they're given.

It's not their fault that the power was out for 7 hours.

Somehow, the freezer stayed 100% cold, though! When I checked after the power came back on, yeah the strawberry cheesecake ice cream was soft, but the lemonade bars were still frozen solid.

I don't do well when there's a crisis going on like the power being out. I prefer to know what's up, and I largely lose the ability to find out what's up when I don't have reliable internet access.

So I had very little idea what was going on, when the power would be back, etc. Especially since when the power first went out after 1, the outage map said it'd be back by 3:45AM...

I texted my folks at 6AM because they were out of town, let them know the fridge would probably be a loss and that the power was still out. Apparently the outage map had updated with a new time, which my dad relayed to me via text: 9AM

Tomorrow.

Uh...

Yeah I just about lost my mind. I don't like power outages - I'm afraid of the dark (my eyes and brain really like making shapes in the shadows...)

He'd misread the listing because his phone still thought it was the 26th. It was due back buy 9am today.

And it came back at 8:22AM.

Which I know.

Because I stayed up the whole night.

I have only slept about 20 minutes so far.  It's uh... It's a low-brain day.

So what did I do during the 7 hours of outage?

The first thing I did was make sure there was a flashlight near me. Then I snagged the book I've been reading - "Everybody Knows" by Jordan Harper.

I read the last two thirds of the book by flashlight light with a cat digging into my lap while my neighbors' generator hummed, distant machinery beeped, the train horn wailed, etc.

I finished the book...

Go read it. It's heavy, it's fast, it's hard-hitting and harder-nosed. Neon noir grit lit at its finest.

Made me set the book down mid-read and cuss at the author (in an "I'm so jealous of how well written this is! How dare you be so masterful!" way) twice.

After the book, I had plenty of time - it was only just past 4 when I was done with the book, so I went down to the kitchen, lit the stove with a lighter, made coffee without cream, and grabbed my sketchbook.

I worked out a little sketch in pencil.

the finished sketch, taken under the light of a Maglight

Once I finished the sketch, I puttered around the house before carrying the sketchpad upstairs and running primary inks with my Pigma Micron brush pen.

I really liked the way the inks looked at this stage and decided not to do colors

With the primary inks done, I set it aside, did some digging around for a non-refrigerated breakfast (pretzels, it turned out). Finally, I gathered a few more things - the sweater I'm frogging into yarn, a pair of shorts I wanted to try repairing, my sewing kit, my yarn ball winder - and brought them down to the living room, where there was more space & light. Then I took another pass at the drawing with the brush pen!

"Power Outage Again!"; ink on watercolor paper; 2023
[DEDBERT]

Once I was done drawing and inking, I set my art aside and took out the sweater, which started coming apart even better. From one section of buttonhole/chest piece and one section of bottom-ribbing, I ended up with three balls of yarn!

Which I then set aside because I was ready for a nap.

I am beat, guys. I'm probably just gonna try to go to sleep.

I hope you all had productive art weeks!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which Progress Is Being Made...
Slowly

It never fails to shock me how long a rectangle can take to come together in crochet. I've got more added to the pouches since last time we chatted, but most of my time has been taken up by making a stab or six at a dragon companion.

At first I wanted to make this fellow, and I still love him a lot, but he's rather... big. And I have very limited supplies. Instead, I'm going to try to make this little beastie. My first problem is this: I only had 1 shade of purple worsted weight yarn, and it was very dark. I wanted that for my dragon's body, but some variation would be very nice, so I went hunting in the yarn piles for another purple.

A sample of my basic purple, partly worked into a soon-to-be frogged star blanket

Now, I could not find a second shade of purple. I only have the one dark color, and I needed some sort of contrast.

I found no acceptable yarn in ball, cake, or tangle form.

What I did find, however, was a lovely handmade sweater from my mother's mother with a disastrous pick in the front, a size or two too small for me, and in a shade of purple that, while lovely, makes me look unwell when I wear it.

So I found one of the knots inside the seams and picked it free.

And now I've frogged the entire right front panel of the sweater and caked that panel into a usable ball!

As you may be able to guess, there's a lot of sweater left to frog

I will be balling the yarn from this sweater and also from a nice red fair isle sweater she gave me that has a moth hole and a few missing buttons. Both are acrylic, so I will be able to reuse the yarn for plenty of different projects. For now, the purple sweater is becoming a dragon's tummy.

Working from a video is not particularly easy, especially since I'm bad at going back & forth, keeping up with instruction, etc. Also, Chrome likes to make YouTube forget where I was in the video so I have been writing down what round I'm on.

I don't have progress pics of the worsted version of this dragon yet, but when I do, you'll all see them!

For now, I've got some old episodes of America's Most Wanted and a cup of chamomile tea to keep me company as I dismantle more of this poor old sweater.

I hope you guys are having a good time working on all of your projects, and I hope you

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Have Not Made Much

After finishing the Blue Shawl last week, I took this week off of really working hard on anything. Instead, I decided to finally wind a large hank of worsted wool yarn from Romaxe. This aged skein came from a bag of yarns my grandmother gave me!

As you can see, this is a very old skein

Most of the yarn I got from my grandmother was acrylic or in very small tapestry hanks of around 25-50 yards of cream, teal, or blue yarn. This Romaxe is significantly longer, in better shape, and shockingly soft. I'd say whatever they did to this yarn to make it "Guaranteed Mothproof" worked.

Look at that vintage font!

Man, if only yarn still cost only $1.29/hank! Especially 100% wool!!!

I haven't looked it up yet, but I wonder if the Beacon Supply Co.
still exists in Chelsea, MA?

This color is a slightly cooler, bluer green than my Red Heart Super Saver
in Paddy Green

Yes, all I've really done besides a couple of pokes at thread projects is wind a single ball of yarn and start to swatch it out with a 5.5mm hook. The winding took an entire day and was nowhere near as easy as you'd think for several reasons.

1) I could not use my ball winder because 
2) I do not have a swift, which I needed because
3) wool clings to itself and without a swift, tangling is inevitable.

Seriously, if this skein had been as mistreated as poor Gordon the Gordian Knot, I would've had to slice it to bits.

The wool was very, very clingy, and there was a point about 2/3 of the way through winding it where I had to start pulling from the opposite tail and letting it pool on the floor. This worked out, more or less, leaving me to have to detangle a few obnoxiously knotted sections towards the end. It didn't force me to cut it, though, so this ball of "Meadow Green" "Moth Resistant" wool is now officially wound.

And yes, I have been swatching it with my 5.5mm hook. I tried a 4.5mm hook at first, and it took to the tight stitches well, though it did loose about 80% of its drape. I might try to turn this into some sort of a little bag or purse, because there's only the one ball and I doubt sincerely that 4oz of worsted wool yarn is enough to do much more with. Ah, just looked it up - it's 280 yards or so! That's actually not so bad. Maybe I'll look up some patterns.

It is, of course, the skein of its kind that I received, so anything I make will be monochrome.

That'll about do it for me tonight - totally forgot I had to write the blog lol!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which Not Much Got Done
But Also A Lot Got Done

I believe I mentioned last week that I didn't have a whole lot of time this past week to crochet, but I did manage to make a little progress on the shawl - not a whole lot (only two or three rounds, to be honest), but I did a bit of work on it, nonetheless. I also managed to make two good-sized mini-projects - a square and a swatch.

It's hard to measure at this stage - it's getting almost as wide as my bed is long!
This one was taken folded in half after a 7min 3 sec vid

This one was taken after a 16min 54sec video

I haven't taken a picture of the third stage from this week because I was very tired and some Household Nonsense happened right after a Very Fun Family Thing I'll talk about tomorrow so I just threw up my hands and went to bed lol. That section was made during a 14min 24sec video.

The swatch (left) was made using this pattern from Bag o Day Crochet on YouTube
The square (right) was made using this pattern from the same channel!

As for next week, I think I'll be finished with the shawl, not necessarily because I am satisfied with the width, but because I'm now reaching the trailing end of my skein. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, though with so many stitches, I did end up losing track of my stitches per round/row.

As for my next project, I think I'll use my leftovers to start a Goblin Sweater or something like that, which will then be outfitted with some of the random buttons I was gifted over Christmas!

For now, though, I think I'll get to work on my manuscript, drink a third cup of coffee, and hope that the strained feeling in my biceps and diaphragm relaxes lol.

Go enjoy something, folks!

FC

Fiber Monday

In Which I Have Progressed!

This past week, I have been plugging away at my shawl. While I didn't have any crazy one-hour sessions, I did make some decent progress. Sure, I didn't have a single session longer than 22 minutes, but I did have seven sessions, and at this point, I'm favoring consistency over volume. So here are this week's pictures!

The first video I watched was a 18 minutes, 38 seconds long
and brought me to about 38.5" of width

I made it to 39" wide after a 16 minute, 7 second video

And another 17:53 took me to 43"

+18:48, 43.5"

+13.24, 47"

+20:31, 47.5"

And finally, +21:58 got me to about 49" wide!

My first shawl is a humongous 72" wide (or so, with the lace edging included), but I think this one will be warmer, more compact, and heavier. Perhaps it will stretch much wider.

Now, in case you're curious, I increased the width of my shawl from 36.5" to 49" over the course of about 2 hours, 7 minutes, 19 seconds. That gives me an average increase of approximately 5.9" per hour.

If we do more math (sorry, I'm feeling mathy today, bear with me), we can see that it has taken me 5 hours, 26 minutes, 54 seconds to make a 49" wide shawl, meaning that I can make about 9" of progress every hour. This method of tracking isn't quite accurate, though. Why? Because every single row takes longer to complete than the previous row! There are more stitches in every single row.

So why the math? Because I'm curious how long it takes me to finish a solid double crochet triangle shawl made from a single skein, and the only way to do that is to keep track! It's good to know what you can get done in a time limit and with limited supplies, after all.

I'll have more updates next week, but don't be surprised if it's somehow less work done than this week - I'll be taking the weekend off for family! My yarn and hooks will remain untouched from probably Friday through Sunday. As for tonight, though, I'll be hanging up the yarn until tomorrow. I'm sleepy and chilly and satisfied with today's progress. Actually, I'm wearing the sweater I made last year, so that's a lot of fun!

I'd love to hear how your own projects are going, either in the comments or under wherever you found this blog or heck, even @ me on Twitter (@TheFilthyCasua8)! I am very shy in DMs, though, so if you send me one and I don't respond, it's because I'm in a sweaty mess trying to figure out how to say hello lol.

That'll do it for me tonight.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Have Speedy Little Updates

This week has been... a lot.

It hasn't been bad, don't get me wrong. I've been fairly productive by my standards and nothing tragic has befallen me, but boy has there been more activity than I'm used to.

I'll probably get more into it tomorrow, but for now I'll just say this:

Boiled frosting is hard to make.

Spiders don't care how hard it is for you to sleep when they're over your head.

Scrap Yarn is just another opportunity.

Gordian Knots can be unraveled without cutting them (or at least, I'm pretty sure they can)

Good friends are the best.

For today, however, I'll just talk about the Yarn and the Knot!

Behold The Goblin's Purse!

Last night, I was listening to some music and trying to avoid a spider on my ceiling, so I decided to use up a tiny amount of blue thread I had leftover from a long while ago! I started my pouch based off this Treasure Pouch Pattern by Pahavit's Universe, but I had misread what kind of thread they were using, and they were using a Size 3 thread for their 2.25mm hook and I was using the 2.25mm hook on a 10 weight thread.

This meant that when I reached the recommended stitch-count circumference, my pouch was... itty-bitty. We're talking "won't fit over an American Girl Doll's hand" small. The pouch I ended up with is small, make no mistake, but it's at least large enough to hold a small handful of coins, some shiny rocks, or whatever other minor detritus you might scoop up on a walk if you, like me, are a cross between a crow and a goblin creature, hence why I'm calling it The Goblin Purse.

R1: Make a magic ring, then sc 6 stitches into the ring, close it. Do not turn work, do not chain. Work in continuous spiral rounds. (6sc)

R2: 2sc in each sc around (12sc)

R3: (2sc in next sc, sc in next sc) around (18sc)

R4: (sc in next sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next sc) around (24sc)

R5: (2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 3 sc) around (30sc)

R6: (sc in each of next 2 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 2 sc) around (36sc)

R7: (2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 5 sc) around (42sc)

R8: (sc in each of next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 3 sc) around (48sc)

R9: (2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 7 sc) around (54sc)

R10: (sc in each of next 4 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in each of next 4 sc) around (60sc)

R11-25: sc in each sc around (60sc/round 900sc total)

At this point you can either continue adding rounds in 60sc increments or do what I did and finish it off. I chose to finish mine in a crab stitch, which is, as best as I can describe, a single crochet, but backwards? There are other people who can describe how to do this stitch. I am not one of them. You can finish it however you like! Remember to weave in your tails!

To make the bag cinch shut, you take two strands of thread or cord and sew them through the top of the bag to make a drawstring. Then tie the ends. I put my threads over two stitches and then under two stitches around.

After you have your drawstring in, if you want to add the little wrist strap that I have on there, you just find the opposite side of your bag from where the drawstring comes out, and put your hook through the holes to either side of an sc. Then attach your thread and chain as many chains as it takes to get your hand through, slip stitching back into the same stitch you chose. If my instructions aren't clear enough, I 100% understand, and it's absolutely fine to, say, make a loop of chain stitches that your hand fits through, and then sew that to the back of the bag. You can even add a cute button or bead to hide your sewing!

At this point, you have a fun little goblin bag to take out adventuring with you! If you make one of these, feel free to @ me on Twitter with pics of the bag and any trinkets you collect in it! I'm hoping to take it out for a spin maybe tomorrow or Wednesday :)





Now, as for the Gordian Knot I mentioned...

You see, I have a tangle of yarn that has become a bit of a recurring character here on the blog, and its name is Gordon. Gordon is a large quantity of what I think is a DK weight acrylic yarn. I have had it for years and never have I ever been able to detangle it.

This week, however, I've really been working hard on him and...

I think we're getting close!

Gordon has gone from being a pile of yarn that pooled to a width that dangled over my tv tray or totally filled a 12" cube to a ball the size of a very large cantaloupe, a tangle the size of a grapefruit, and after finally locating his other end, a small pile of spaghetti in a paper bag.

Not a particularly overlarge paper bag, either.

So I'm thinking that this is Gordon's last week as a mess. Next week, he'll be one ball. And after that? Well... I don't know, but he's kinda scratchy, so maybe he's not going to become anything that'd touch skin. I would like to use my 3.75mm hook on him, so I'll go hunting on Ravelry or elsewhere on the interwebs. If you have any suggestions for what appears to be approximately an entire mile of primary blue yarn in about a DK weight, I'd love to hear from ya!

I think that'll about do it from me tonight. I'm tuckered out, and I hope you appreciated the linked and free patterns!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

A Tour Of New Crochet Accoutrements

It's been a bit since I've had new crochet stuff to talk about! Well... new for a given value of the word.

One of my older relatives is getting, well, older, and she decided she'd like to give me her crochet supplies. She gave me yarn, books, embroidery thread, stitch counters, patterns, and hooks!

The First Box of thread!

Box #2

Box #3!

Now, you may be thinking "FC, you don't embroider or cross stitch, do you?" and the answer to that is... not well. I don't do it well. Yet. However, I do want to. My dad can cross stitch - each kid's bedroom had a little framed cross stitch hoop when I was little (my room had a little dog in a doghouse with a bone!) that he made. I really wish I knew where those went. They're probably in a box somewhere.

At the very least, I now have thread colors for repairs, learning to embroider on eyes/noses, etc!

One of 2 Stitch Counters - I found the other one after I'd already put my phone away lol

I've never had a counter before, much less two! You change the numbers by twisting the ends. They're only 2-digit counters, so they'll be more useful for rows right now on a certain project...

One of my new Hooks! This one's a 2.75mm hook!

Another New Hook! This one is a 4.25mm hook!

Along with those two hooks, I got three big 10mm/N hooks - two plastic and one aluminum. Those hooks are best for afghans, which I might make at some point. I'm beginning to have enough scrap balls for a scrapghan...

A bunch of patterns and books!
Plus some color-holders!

There are so many of these smaller books! Some of them are filet crochet patterns, some are doilies, some are how-to guides, and some are toys, and I haven't gone all the way through yet, but boy are they fun looking!

A haul of yarn!

There is a red & black glittery yarn, a green glittery yarn, a purple ombre, and three fun multicolor stripe yarns here! I'll have to use these yarns to make some fun things. Also, there was one small hank of buttery yellow embroidery thread that I'll have to pop back in one of those boxes so it doesn't go walkabout in the room.

Finally, there's probably the most prized possession in the lot:

Steel crochet hooks in a vinyl snap case

It's in such amazing condition, don't you think?

I am told that these steel hooks belonged to my great, great grandmother on my father's mother's side.

Wow.

I am in awe. These hooks do have a little rust here and there, but I will be taking excellent care of them. The snap case now lives in a secure drawer and I will be very, very careful using them. They're old enough that they don't have modern numbering on them. I had to look up what a 00 hook was, and there's a hook in there that is so fine and tiny that I swear you could crochet a single human hair with it.

They are incredible, and I'll never stop being grateful. You'd best believe I'm working on a thank you card! Hopefully I can include something pretty made using those hooks!

In less sentimental and more blog-based news, guess what I finally did this week?

Yup, finally hit up the Wally with my folks.

This means that I can finally finish up that Mystery Project I've been waffling on for months lol!

Stay Tuned for the Return of the Mystery Project, coming next week!

Yes, I worked on the Mystery Project this week, no it wasn't enough to qualify for another part. I hope to have the next part of the pattern out next Monday, though, so make sure to come on back!

That'll about do it for me, guys. It's past 10pm, and I'm still hooking along. Hopefully I'll finish this section and start on the next by the 28th!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

Still No Thread
Hat Instead

As you may guess by the above caption, I still have not had a chance to scoot down to the ol Wally and grab some red crochet thread for the Mystery Project, which will have to be on hold until such a time as appropriate thread is procured. However, I have managed to make a Size Large Seed Stitch Beanie from Kirsten Holloway Designs, and let me tell you, that was fun!

I had completely forgotten how fun it can be to make a hat!

I used my clear orange plastic I hook (5.5mm) and about 2/3 of a skein of Red Heart Unforgettable in Polo, and I ended up with a very very cute hat!

A very cute hat indeed!

I don't think I've ever done front post single crochet or back post single crochet before, but I really do like the rib effect it gives, and my oh my do I love me a good half-double crochet in the 3rd loop (those fun ridges)! Seed stitch, or lemon peel stitch, is still really fun, and I look forward to continuing to work with it!

I do, however have to get my act together on picking up that thread, though. I can't abandon the poor Mystery Project forever.

And I have some Mother's Day gifts to work on, too.

The hat, by the way, is lovely and soft and stretchy, and while my noggin does not at all qualify as "large-to-xl", the hat still stays put, and the stretchiness tells me that I could absolutely get away with a smaller version!

As for the bit of yarn I have left over... I maaaaay make something... critterlike from it. Unforgettable is such a smooth, shiny yarn that it'd absolutely make a cute little art doll or amigurumi for someone who doesn't play rough...

And I do have that whole box of eyes...

Let us see what we can do with a little yarn and a lot of practice!

And Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday - Procrastination Station

 

In Which I'm Working...
Just not on what I'm supposed to be working on...

I have been the busiest little bee when it comes to crochet this week!

Just... not the projects I was supposed to be working on (Lady Sibyl shrug I've been working on since 2018 says W H A T?!).

See, I get distracted easily, and when I fight that distraction too hard, I develop project block, which means that now I can't work on literally anything until I find a way around the block. It happens with writing, drawing, crochet... even reading! Yeah. Try and figure out that one :|

Regardless, I got very, very distracted this month, and now I've got about a dozen UFOs (Unfinished Fiber Objects) in my room. I'm working on categorizing those, but mostly, I've been distracted by a Very Old Problem and a Very New Toy.

New Toy First!

I BOUGHT A DROP SPINDLE!

That's right, folks. I'm one step closer to fiber self-direction! Now in order to make my own yarns all I need are materials which.... uh... I ain't buying sheep or alpacas. Maybe I'll learn how to sow, grow, rhett, spin, and dye linen? Maybe? idk.

Regardless, that is a cheapy drop spindle from Amazon and a package of silk mawata I'm looking forward to experimenting with. What's annoying is the silk was cheaper and easier to get than the spindle, but I can live with that :P

That's a project for another day (and believe you me, you'll be hearing alllllll about my botches with this new thing lol).

Instead, I present to you The Old Problem:

Meet Gordon.

Gordon, short for "Gordian Knot", is a pound of blue sport-weight yarn I bought ages ago. Probably 2012 or so. Wow. Wow I totally lost track of how long it's been. I guess I'm not exactly a beginner, am I?

Anywho, Gordon has been an incomprehensible tangle of blueness for ages and I'm more than ready to have him in working order.

Which he is graciously allowing.

Apologies for the blurriness of that photo - I was on tip-toes trying to get it all in frame.

That's not a tablet, guys. That's a laptop in the middle of Gordon's loop.

Hand for scale

Yes, that's how much yarn I've wound up from Gordon. His messiness means that I cannot use the fantastic ball winder I now own for him. I'd have no way of taking the unfinished ball off of the winder, passing him around the mass or through it and then reattaching the ball back onto the winder. It's just not a possibility. I have, however, learned one of Gordon's deepest, darkest secrets.

He's not truly tangled at all.

He's just awkwardly and unbelievably twisted on himself.

So I have him rounded out on my bed, where I put on a playlist of really fun vaporwave/mallcore ambience playing in the background, and I wrap yarn while slowly wrestling with Gordon.

Eventually, I may even get him put to rights and be able to use him, because that's been the goal for 2021 - USE THE YARN I'VE GOT.

Which is hard when 75% of it looks like Gordon. Or worse.

But if I can prove to myself that poor Gordon is not an overwhelming foe I cannot defeat without a knife, then I can untangle every single skein I have. Eventually.

For now, though, since Gordon is literally the only sport-weight yarn I own, I'm going to look for some nice patterns. Maybe a vest. It's a truly shocking cobalt blue, but I think it'd look quite nice as a fancy vest.

I just like vests, to be honest.

Well, that's what I've got going on. Apologies for the lateness of the blog - I've been running all over creation trying to put my bike in the shed, lower the treadmill (I... desperately need to up my stamina, hence the treadmill), burn some of the brushpile, look up videos on how to spin from a mawata (it sounds simple enough...), etc. Basically I'm pooped lol!

It's beautiful outside, though, despite the 21mph (33.8kph) winds. It's a sunny 56℉ (13.3℃), and it's finally drying off. I could do without the barking dogs, but it's spring and that's what dogs do.

Regardless, I've got some quality time to spend with Gordon now, so I must bid you adieu!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC