Yikes. I mean: Hi!

Uh, yeah. I am going to blog, more regularly. Consistently. 'Regular' makes me think of poop.

Right now, I've got to return to the mess and pile of papers on my desk at work. I have a ton to do before my 4 day weekend begins.

And all I really want to do is a gauge swatch for my Tour De France CAL.

Also known as Maltese crochet

I know, I know: I need to be more consistent in posting blogs here. But lately, I've been too busy living life off the computer. Oh, that and spending all my free internet time on ravelry.

Anyhoo, I decided to plunge into hairpin lace at last. I received a handful of looms on a bulk hook purchase on ebay - someone obviously cleaning out their dead relatives stash online - but have been staring at them nervously for months.

I've seen some delightful patterns around, in Interweave Crochet and on StitchDiva.com, but I've felt just too intimidated by having an extra object involved in my hands while I crochet. Finally, I just gave it a try. I have no idea if I'm doing it correctly, cause I feel I am not getting the whole picture from an online tutorial.

So, I'm starting a simple beginner pattern from StitchDiva.com, called Convertible Wrap by Jennifer Hansen. It calls for 4 strips of basic hairpin lace which are then crocheted together with a sc. Which to me, means painful finishing. What am I thinking?! Har! I hate piecing things together!!

The free pattern is here:
http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=FREE001
and has a link to a helpful tutorial.

Also, I don't have the correct sized loom, I'm using a slightly smaller one, so instead of 4 strips I might go for 5. Maybe. Or I might just make this into a scarf :) I am using a K-hook for the actual crochet part.

I am using Berroco Zen in a sort of shimmery apricot color. 55%Cotton, 45%Nylon. As I of course purchased this yarn for a different project, I may need to get a similar or contrast ribbon yarn in order to do the joining. We'll see how far I get with what I have in stash. For now, I'm just excited to be trying a new method and learning as I go.



and a closer look:

I wonder if SHE's on ravelry, too?

I Can Never Find the Yarn End



nataliedee.com


Natalie Dee has made herself even more awesome by making knitting & crochet references.



nataliedee.com



nataliedee.com


I totally have a hetero crush on Ms. Dee.
just saying.

Where there's smoke....

Is it a bad thing when smoke comes out of your computer? And it shuts itself off and wont turn back on again?



Yeah, I thought so.

At least I didn't set the house on fire.


I may have a major disaster on my hands. My music! My photos! My, my yarn charts and patterns! ::weep::

Meh, it's just another adventure. And lesson: get a goddamned external hard drive. And back up my work. And I don't have to depend on any tech geek for this sort of thing...I can and will take care of it through my own devices. Which may just happen to entail asking the IT guys I work with for their 'opinion'. Or using the shitty desktop computer in the basement, and then merely shopping for a new laptop this weekend. Costco, anyone?

In a depressive frenzy after my computer issues, I went on a sort of shopping therapy binge:
1. Fit Flops, ridiculously overpriced flip flops that are supposed to be toning for your ass. Whatever. I, um, needed them.
2. Namaste Everyday Knitting Bag in rust. I broke down and just ordered it, finally. Well, after much deliberation as to who had it cheapest and did they also have any yarn there?(none I could afford, actually, having just spent too much on freaking flip-flops that will make my ass look better.)

So, I may not have a functional laptop, (but wait, that should give me more time to crochet with, right?) ... however I'll have an awesome yarn bag and a fucking fabulous ass. Could be worse.

yay, an update!

My yarn is going to be better traveled than I! I finally heard from Stephanie from the Anti-Factory / Counterfeit Crochet Project, and here's the details:

(from her email to me:
The Counterfeit Crochet Project got written up in a publication in China which was pretty awesome, and also talked about on an NPR radio program called Pacific Time.


http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R705101830/e

Photos of the bags installed in the gallery are here:

http://www.stephaniesyjuco.com/p_counterfeit_moreimages.html
http://www.stephaniesyjuco.com/reviews/review_forgedrealites.html
http://www.stephaniesyjuco.com/antifactory/blog/2007/05/photos-counterfeit-crochet-in-beijing.html
http://www.stephaniesyjuco.com/p_counterfeit_crochet.html
**********************

My creations are the two bags on the right.

Hahahahaha, this is just hilarious to me. She has asked if she can now bring my stuff to Manilla, Philippines and then Istanbul, Turkey for her shows.