Little Grey Men

My Cousin Moosa (who incidentally is one of the most amazing people that I've had the privilege to meet... yet I'm lucky enough to be related to), went away for his first year of college in lovely, luscious, and freakin' freezing Vermont. To keep him cool but not cold I knitted him up this Alien Knit scarf from my favorite, Stitch 'N Bitch. I changed a few things so that it wouldn't be obscenely wide and to keep it from rolling in on itself.

I also love that I knitted this thing while watching my brother's entire box set of The X Files. Kinda fun, and turned out spiffy, don't you think?

Crossroads

I must say there is so much that I love and hate about being unemployed.

There are some people that don't do well with too much free time. I think that if I had a little more security with my life I could see myself being rather content pursuing my passions. I love that right now I am able to indulge in my hobby of knitting. I've made a number of projects, done some serious brainstorming and planning on future endeavors of yarn, and have promised a number of hand knitted items to friends and family.  I've also learned how to crochet; and it's a great feeling to learn something new. In fact, here's a picture of my Aunt Trish with my first completed crochet project:

I adore the sense of accomplishment that comes from handing off a finished project to someone. Lately I've been also getting a sense of accomplishment from my walks. Almost everyday I go on something that is more like a hike than a stroll in my neighborhood. It takes about fifty minutes and I work up a sweat doing it. Fortunately aside from leaving me sweaty, it alsogives me a sense that I'm doing something good and healthy for myself.

Though I'm going through an existential crisis, it seems thatquite a bit of it is due to me coming to grips with who I am andb having it not mesh with what society expects from me. Alas, more on that later.

Snoozing for them!

The personification of warm fuzzies is perhaps this little kitty bed.

It was made with some desperately unsubtle "tickle me" novelty yarn that my mother purchased a few years ago with the intent of making a scarf for my brother. Before you ask, no my brother is not gay; he's was just the unfortunate victim in a bad yarn choice. Though in my mother's defense, Ray does not like scratchy things (and who does, really?), and so wool wasn't quite an option. Bless my mother's heart.

At this time society tends to not judge pet fashion trends so harshly... though perhaps a few more years with Paris Hilton's animate fashion accessory, Tinkerbell, and this may change. Anyway, armed with some of my trusty Red Heart yarn (which Kevin had gotten for me in a grab bag auction on Ebay), and about five skeins of the soft but silly tickle me yarn, I crafted the pattern for the "Princess Snowball Cat Bed" found in Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch.

As you can see, Ryan's cats, Shadow and Aeris love the thing. In fact they were lying on the knit pieces, effectively keeping me from sewing them together to create the finished product. Again, it was rather kind of them.

Mr. Mouse

Encouraged by the reception that the knitted bee received, I put my needles to work on another treat for the feisty felines. This little mouse pattern came from Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch Nation, as part of a "Catwarming Set". Some left over acrylic yarn, a few cotton balls, with about a teaspoon of catnip tucked in, and you too can enjoy watching your cat trip out. It was again a compliment that though Aeris had some toy mice, which he didn't play with, he went out of his way to wrestle and bunny kick the one I made. Good kitty!

Cool Head

So, this is my version of the "Hot Head" pattern found in Debbie Stoller's "Stitch 'N Bitch". Since I didn't want to make something with reds, oranges and yellows; I figured this color combination would work just as well. Acutally, I like it quite a bit more than what the original pattern calls for. My brother was so kind as to model this beanie for me. Thank you Ray! You look Marvelous!

Navy Twist

This little hat has a bit of a story. Originally I made it for my father, who seemed to desperately need it. While late October in Southern California is relatively mild, it’s also not the ideal temperature for sitting outside in the middle of the night playing with your ham radio set trying to get some rare DX contact. The Ham Shack, called such because it’s the hobby room that my father has for Ham (or Amateur Radio), was undergoing major construction. Well, it’s always been under construction, but at this time, a wall was missing. Needless to say, it got pretty chilly in there.

Finally, I could finally take an interest in Ham Radio, at least so much as I could knit something to keep the pops a little less like a popsicle while he scanned the airwaves. So, within an evening or two I whipped up this hat with some navy colored Red Heart yarn and the Basic Cable Hat pattern from Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation. I gave it to my dad, who seem pleased enough with it.

However, fairly shortly after this hat reached my father, my mother decided to visit my Aunt Randi. In something akin to crayon pictures stuck on a refrigerator, my mom took some of my completed projects with her. Scarves and hats returned with her, with the exception of two beanies. My dad’s Navy Twist and another one, Cool Head (more on that project later), ended up being borrowed by my uncle Eddie and cousin Moosa for a trip back East to look at perspective college campuses.

Can I say there is little more that feels better than having someone look at something you made and go, “Hey! That’s cool! Can I borrow that?”. Perhaps the only thing more flattering is them flat out stealing it. Anyway, my heart was warmed more than their heads, I’m sure. Anyway, this hat was borrowed by my cousin Moosa, who ended up taking it not only to the East coast, but also to Europe. Warm fuzzy. Though I am slightly jealous of this well traveled hat.

One little Shadow Alien

Thin strips of alternating green and black? Yes, but it's so much more! Hidden carefully in Area 51... I mean in rows of knits and purls is a shadow knit Alien. Totally groovy, no? When glimpsed at an angle, you can see how this bad boy suddenly becomes less subtle. The technique is called illusion knitting or shadow knitting. The pattern is available in Stitch N' Bitch by Debbie Stoller.

Drop Stitch Scarf

I got some ribbon yarn on sale at Michael's. Mostly I wanted it for novelty's sake. I wonder what it's like knitting with different types of things. (So far my favorite is seeing someone's pictures of knitting ramen noodles with chopsticks.)

Here I used the follow up book by Debbie Stoller "Stitch 'N Bitch Nation". The pattern for the scarf is called "Yo, Drop it!". Cute title? Eh, my little knitters in the know? [I know that explaining a joke can kill it... but YO is a pattern abbreviation for 'yarn-over' - which adds a stitch. Drop it refers to dropping the stitch that you added in the previous row.]