28 September 2010

Let's Not Lie To Each Other

I've disappeared. I'd like to blame my son's asthma (which flared) or my cats (who got fleas and colds and liver problems) or my mom (who decided that she hates surgery and will let her knee fall off). However, the real problem has been laziness, weird weather, a slight cold of my own, and Vampire Diaries. Have you people even seen that show? It's like crack. You know, if crack were deliciously handsomely evil with gorgeous eyes. I'm going to recommend you all watch it if you like teen dramas (and that includes all you Veronica Mars and Buffy fans). Power through the stupid first three episodes, with all their Twilightesque silly drama, and get to the part where crazy stuff goes down.

Anyway, every night I say to myself, 'I should sew', or 'I should knit'. Instead, I check out my computer, watch an episode or two of television, and then go to sleep. Well, I've been reading more sewing blogs. There are so many gorgeous ones our there with people making clothes that make me weep with envy. And I've been surfing Gilt Groupe and ModCloth. Actually, I've been avoiding ModCloth, otherwise, I end up with roughly thirty some tabs open with dresses like these.

My creation


Darn you, ModCloth! I want ALL of your dresses because they make me weep with joy. Either way, all that awesome dress web page surfing makes me want to sew, but I need more incentive! Well, I got that incentive today. I have had the fabric for my son's train shirt sitting on our dining room table for months now. Today, my son saw it and went crazy over the fabric. "Choo-choo! Choo-choo!"

I asked him, "Do you want a choo-choo shirt?" His enthusiastic reply was all I needed to feel a little energized. So, I wanted to say hello again before I cut out my fabric. I hope to talk to you soon. (Maybe I'll start processing my digital photos again so I can show you the cute new sweater tights I bought to go with my imaginary ModCloth dresses.)

14 September 2010

What Do I Want To Do

As you know, I'm already working on a pair of socks and a blanket (both super slowly right now due to my latest obsession), but I'm planning ahead too! I want to knit other things, so here's the first of my hopeful queue.

1. Monkey Socks





I'd like to make these for my mother-in-law out of the pumpkin colored Gloss sock yarn I have.

2. Auto Vest



For my darling Nathaniel.

I'll add to this later, but isn't that vest the most darling thing ever?

08 September 2010

I'm Crafty, For Reals, Plus WIP Wednesday!

So, it's crafty.ninjakitten.net! Thank you for the feedback, and you should see this in any feed readers you use due to my new found love, Feedburner.

Are you bored by that blog business? So am I! Here's my "What I Did On Summer Vacation -- Crafty Edition" essay. Well, as I think I might, or might not, have mentioned, we went to the shore last week. (For those of you who don't live local to Philly, the shore is synonymous with the beach in my area. It normally indicates the Jersey shore, but I visited Ocean City, MD instead.) Thinking that I'd just knit knit knit all night, I brought along the nub's blanket and a lot of yarn. I don't know why I thought I'd knit so much, but mostly I slept every night because I was so darned tired. I did get some knitting done, though.



For The Nub


And, because I love to ask for trouble, I visited Salty Yarns while down at Ocean City. They bill themselves primarily as an embroidery shop, but what right minded person names their store Salty Yarns and doesn't sell any yarn? Not the owner of Salty Yarns, luckily. I wasn't going to go in, because they did have an extremely sparse yarn collection, but I spied something special through the windows. That's right, Lantern Moon needles! They had Sox Stix! The next trip to the boardwalk, I was there to purchase myself a nice set of size 1 needles in rosewood. I know it's extravagant, but they make me so darn happy when I'm knitting and that makes a difference. (As an aside, I got pretty indifferent service at Salty Yarns. Perhaps it was because I came in late just prior to Labor Day, but I was not greeted especially warmly, and the person who was at the register seemed both unaware and uninterested in what Lantern Moon needles they had available.)

Excited by the needles, I came home and wound up some very special yarn for a pair of socks I've been wanting to try from Cookie A. I'll leave the particular pattern nameless to surprise you all later! The super special yarn was Sundara Sock! I've been dying to try either that or my Madelinetosh, but when asked, Paul said he thought the pink of my Cranberry Mousse colorway worked better with the pattern. He helped me wind it and my heart sunk like a stone as we did. It went from being beautifully pink and cream in the skein to being a tiny bit like...


My Newest Socks In Progress


Grape juice vomit. I wanted to cry as I stared it, but I held myself together and decided I needed to use it anyway. I asked myself, somewhat crazily, what drew me to grape juice vomit yarn. I was angry at Sundara who was 'supposedly' a great dyer. I was cranky and tired and mean when I cast on, but what a difference a few rows can do.

Only half an inch later, I was back in love.


My Newest Socks In Progress


The yarn slid easily and beautifully from sharp pretty needle to sharp pretty needle. It knitted up tight, but not too dense. And, best of all, it was knitting up into a pretty petal pink. Some areas are slightly lighter, others darker, but it's as if it was a flower petal, all gentle flows of color. I apologized to whomever Sundara's dyer is, in my head. This is the reason people camped out on the Sundara website to try to get a skein. It was perfection.

So, now I'm knitting two different items for the first time in a while. I've mentally committed myself to working on the blanket half the time to try and crank it out, and working on my other stuff, including some sketching once again, during the rest of the week. We'll see how this all turns out.

Bye-bye, from one crafty ninja kitten!

07 September 2010

Fabric Stash And My URL

Okay, first up, prior to my boring you with my babbling about how awesome my husband is. I finally managed to figure out how to change my damnable URL for this blog to use my personal domain without losing all my feed traffic and readers. It only took me a year. Anyways. I am using blog.ninjakitten.net for my family blogging. (You know, the stuff that would bore you so I shunt it off onto some sad sack blog.)

That leaves me looking for a URL for this blog. I was just going to go with crafts.ninjakitten.net, but I was wondering if crafts sounds too... 'arts and crafts' as in macaroni and popsicle stick stuff. Then I thought, brilliantly, crafty.ninjakitten.net. Then I was worried that was lame. knitting.ninjakitten.net is out since I sew. clothing.ninjakitten.net seems a lie too since I'm not really discussing clothing so much as my making of items that might or might not be clothing.

What do you all think? Any suggestions? attack.ninjakitten.net? i-am.ninjakitten.net?

Anyways, let's forget about all that for now. Let me soothe you with some delicious silk my husband picked up for me at Mood while he was in New York city. Again.

Interestingly, my husband got me a yard of each which has left me browsing for cute, but short skirt patterns and for tank type tops. I bought a few Simplicity patterns during a Joann sale, but I'm too afraid to cut into silk!

Three Silks From Mood


That's actually much hot pinker in person. While it's my least favorite pattern of the three, I suspect it would actually be the most versatile made into clothing. Just goes to show that you should shop with other people and that you should consider what the finished item will look like.

Three Silks From Mood


I really love love this stripe, but with one yard of it, I'm at a complete loss. I mean, I've never matched up stripes before. Maybe I should use this as the bodice of a dress? Or just the short skirt of a dress?

Three Silks From Mood


The second I saw this one, I fell in love. Paul was mystified about what made this my favorite. I think that I like that it is slightly whimsical while still having a deep red to it. I am saving this one for last for use because I love it the most and am most afraid of it.

While picking up patterns at Joann, I also picked up some corduroy for myself.

Could Not Resist


How adorable are those owls? I definitely want to make a skirt out of that fabric and wear it every where. Because that would be the definition of autumnal fun -- wearing that skirt with my cute new J Crew tee and a cute pair of shoes that I do not currently own. Perhaps I could wear it while picking out pumpkins for the display I am planning for my front porch.

Okay, so, peeps, get back to me on that URL, please? Also, try not to mock me for having the fashion sense of a ten year old. I like my whimsy, okay?

06 September 2010

Winter Hat In August

Wow, I'm back from vacation and better then ever. Why, you ask? One, the iPhone is revolutionizing my life. I take more photos and videos nowadays than ever before. My Facebook wall is getting updated all the time with new pictures of my son. Two, for my birthday this year, my in-laws and Paul splurged on me and got me Photoshop CS5. I'm not going to lie, I didn't want something so fancy before getting it, but now I'm in love. (I mean, I can actually post the pictures I've been taking.)

Well, let's get on with the program. I knit something in August!

Hi, Photoshop CS5


Project: Kitten's Awesome Winter Hat (ravel it!)
Pattern: Feeling Fuzzy from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits
Yarn: GGH Soft Kid
Needles: Already Forgotten

The things I do for you, peeps. It was eight hundred billion degrees out when I took these photos, but do you see me? I'm wearing a hat and a hoodie to make it look more authentically cold out.

Adjust Hat


We're all lucky I didn't die of heat stroke getting that photo taken.

I'm going to come out and say this about the hat of awesomeness. It's awesome. I love love love love it. It's soft, it's warm, it's pretty, and it's a gorgeous color. It's a hat I would not think to buy, but would be pleased to receive as a gift. It's luscious. It makes me think of winter berries and snow and happiness. I am probably going to use the heck out of it too because it's just so versatile with my wardrobe. The only way this hat could have been better was if it had been knit in the round instead of seamed up the side. I don't know why the Yarn Girls had me seam it, but I followed their advice unfailingly.

If you get a chance to knit this hat with this yarn, do it. You'll end up with an adorably awesome hat.

Don't wear it in the middle of August heat though.

My New Knitted Hat