Randomness

leap-frogging through life
touching down now and again.
Seemingly random.

Pattern: Baktus by Strikkelise. A lovely mindless knit with endless possibilities.
Yarn: I have no ball bands, but I know this was gifted to me by Chris and is Knit picks sock something.
Needles: size 5, straight needles, Knit Picks Harmony gifted from Kim. I really love the sharp points and ease at which the yarn slides along.
Mods: I started with the Lacy Baktus but switched to the plain Baktus as I kept messing up. I continued to mess up the count on the plain Baktus until I switched the increases to the beginning of the needle. Go figure.

I have to call this done as I have run out of yarn just shy a few feet and will have to hunt for something that matches. This yarn marinated in the stash for quite some time as the colors did not speak to me. Baktus really allowed the colors to show up in an amazing way. I had been studying the color wheel trying to figure out what colors went with coral and the red-oranges I have added to stash for the red scarf project. (besides black or white). The pooling and striping really came out in an interesing pattern too.





I asked my son to put the tater tots in the oven and this is what I found when I took them out? Should I be worried?


The toilet in my craft room cracked after "only" 69 years. I had to say goodbye to the lovely brass handle. The new guy, basic Toto water saver moved in without a hitch. I had to organize and clean a bit so the plumber had room to work and these little guys and their acorn home were re-discovered!


Round 2 of Shibori with Darius Homay at Kuni's Island Fabric was a lot of fun. I went through all the basics from the first sessions. The best part is taking the clamping and sewing apart after the dyeing process and seeing what I got. The Mokume (wood grain pattern) is my favorite so far even though it's time consuming and uses up a lot of dental floss. Thank goodness I have a stash from way back when I always bought 5 on sale at Longs.

I finally destashed that sinful carton of whipping cream I felt compelled to buy over the holidays. I added a few chocolate chips to the Classic Cream Scones as if they weren't evil enough.

Pattern: Sunny, Sunny, Sunny by Carol Sulcosky
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic, navy blue.
Needles: size 3,4

On the plus side, I really like the yarn and the cute hearts and idea of knitting a yoke and adding fabric. On the minus side portions of the instructions were not clear to me and in the end there were many ends to weave in in additions to some knots in the yarn. If I make another I think I'll forgo the shoulder shaping and do a 3 needle bind-off for the shoulders. Now to find some cute fabric for the skirt.

Brownie got a little gray friend.


I grew up calling this area Kawainui Swamp. The actual name is Kawai Nui Marsh. It is one of those places I've driven by for years and today I actually took the little 1.5 mile trail along the levee. It is a very easy walk and it was a beautiful day. My blogless baby sister flew in yesterday and joined us for the walk. We met "Al" a regular walker, who shared stories about the cultural significance and also related stories about the mushroom farm in the bomb shelter.

Addenda, 1/29/10: from dictionary.com (to answer my own question)
swamp: a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.

marsh: a tract of low wet land, often treeless and periodically inundated, generally characterized by a growth of grasses, sedges, cattails, and rushes.

bog: wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.

Addenda: 2/7/2010, one more word mentioned by blogless Kathy O.
billabong: An Australian English word meaning a small lake, specifically an oxbow lake, a section of still water adjacent to a river, cut off by a change in the watercourse, cf. an oxbow lake.



After the walk, blogless Melody, multitasking extraordinaire, came to the house and we put together some fabric postcards. We planned to sew the cards, too, but she forgot her power cord, and my aging 1530 Bernina decided to just sew backwards. The time was well spent designing and we came up with 11 cards. For lunch we had Eggplant Casserole and tossed greens.









On the knitting scene, Baktus is plugging along in some strange and unusual colors. I have two balls and the first is almost done. Baktus has 2794 projects and is in 2370 queues on Ravelry. Strikkelise is so kind to share this pretty mindless pattern. It is a great project to watch movies with.
For my next project, I'm perusing sock patterns and will probably go with Firestarter by Yarnissima in either STR lightweight Typhoon Tina, or Trekking Pro Natura by Zitron in gold/olive. The pattern is free on Ravelry. Yup the sock mojo is giving me a nudge.

Ramblings on Martin Luther King Day

1. What a cute boy!
2. What a great scarf! I wonder if it’s crocheted?
3. What a splendid hat! It would be fun to knit, but who for?
4. The sweater ain’t bad, too.

It dawned on me yesterday as I watched this lovely but sad movie (Mrs.Palfrey at the Claremont) that up to about my mid 40s this would be the order of my reactions to this photo. Now it’s more like 2,3,4,1. heh. Perhaps it was when I realized that Rupert Friend is younger then my son!...and of course, it is a great scarf when you see it up close.


While watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the umpteenth time, I was discussing Harry Potter knits with Chris. I have been sorted into Ravenclaw and I struggle with the colors...different for the book and movie. And what can I knit? In the last book Harry is no longer in school. And what would suit my tropical location? And do we really have to wait for December to see it?


24 started up again. The last season for Jack. In a wonder of ultra modern medicine, he and his daughter have survived and recovered from some stem cell something and are now good as new. The new head of CTU, Hastings, is clueless and a bit of a corner cutter. If he doesn't start listening to Chloe, he won't survive much of the season. I hope the 9pm time slot here is where 24 stays as I have yoga until 8pm Mondays. Choices, choices. I'm resisting a dvr as it would mean upgrading to digital cable.

Blogless Doris made this pretty piece over-dying pink cotton with indigo dye in Shibori Class.


It's been about small projects knit from stash while gearing up for Ravelympics. TheBeaverslide in catbird heather for CPH Hoodie is wound into balls. I hope I can approximate gauge. I've been mildly obsessed on making a yoke for a child's dress. I cast on for Sunny, Sunny, Sunny by Carol J. Sulcoski. It is going quickly. I wish I had hunted for the ball band before knitting up one ball. The Tahki Classic Cotton is really wonderful to knit with but it is worsted and not DK.

Whirliberri is finished.

Pattern: Whirligig Shrug by Stefanie Japel published in Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009
Yarn: Katia, Austral. DK weight 50% wool/acrylic. This yarn is wonderful to knit with and comes in really vivid colors.
Needles: size 6.
It looks tiny. I wish I had a real live 2 year old to try it on. It is very cute and was a fun, fast knit.

25% off at Ben Franklin today. Dare I attempt to run in and run out? I only need the ModPodge and some paint for the Totoro Clock. It's a trap, no doubt...but with the Club Card it will actually be 35% off, and maybe I could pick up a heart die or two for my Sizzix.

Manly gloves, FO

Pattern: Men's Fingerless Gloves by J. Campbell
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca, Sportweight. I won this in a blog contest from the weebug. The yarn is strong, fuzzy, soft and very warn. Thanks again weebug!
Needles: My favorite rosewood DPNS, size 3
Comments: I did not read the pattern correctly and did a "M1" instead of a "increase in to" on the thumb gusset. This made for two extra stitches on the hand section of the glove. I found this out when I was working on the baby finger so just bound off two stitches and all was good. The pattern does not specify the number of rows for the stockinette portion of the fingers but they are easy to shorten. The pattern was easy to follow. I will not see the real recipient for quite some time, nor will he need them, but I suspect the Landcaster has similar sized hands. Maybe I'll give them a soak.
This is a nicely manly pattern and a quick easy knit.

A Vest for Marg, FO and Ode to Ohagi

Pattern: Petrol, a free Knitty pattern by Carol Sulcoski.
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, color Denim Mix
Needles: size 6 and 8
Mods: 3 needle bind-off for shoulder seams.

This is a fast knit if one does not have distractions. I like that it is knit in the round. I hope it fits the recipient. I'm still debating on whether I should block it. The bottom edge curls and is part of the design. Many on Ravelry seem to have added ribbing which does make it look more finished. I rather like the curling edge, especially in the alpaca which is very silky and soft and has the halo. It makes seem a bit more feminine and hopefully will be more forgiving around a tummy.



Haiku for Ohagi

Ono ohagi
at Shinagawa Station
Yummy, yummy, yum!

This first attempt at recreating a wonderful memory...
Recipes for making the tsubushi-an varied widely. For 12 ounces of azuki beans the amount of sugar ranged from .75-2.5 cups! I went with the .75 cup and it was plenty sweet. The beans were nice and soft, but since I was worried about burning them, I probably did not cook them long enough to evaporate the excess water. Thus I have to eat by ohagi in a bowl with chopsticks. I wish I had learned to make this from my grandma. My dad always refers to these sweetened azuki beans as "Japanese chocolate". My uncle refers to ohagi as inside out mochi, as the rice is on the inside. I learned that it is not filled with mochi, but a the beans enclose mochi riceball inside.

Entropy or Keeping one's head above the Stash

First off, I want to thank everyone who commented on Brownie that cat. Blogger does not show me the email addresses for most of the posts or I would thank each of you individually. I appreciate the encouragement and feedback and also the errata sent to my by Prensy on Ravelry.

Every once and a while, I get stricken with an overpowering desire to downsize, destash, and organize and there is nothing the like the New Year to feed that insanity. I remember once upon a time I thought I would like to be able to live life out of a backpack and be free from stuff. But my true nature, like my family before me, is that of a pack rat. There are skeletons in the closet that bordered on hoarding. Is it congenital or am hiding behind clutter? The New Year's resolution, proposed by the blogless Landcaster, is that I need to take something out if I want to bring something in.

On one of my other mad organizing quests a couple years ago, I obsessed on a wonderful wardrobe made of maple at the very overpriced furniture store. It never went on sale so I figured it was not my karma to have it and I let it go. I settled on a cute finish it yourself cabinet which I put together and never painted. Then a windfall from work...an abandoned bookcase with glass doors! It's now mine. So of course that means I have to reorganize everything.

And that's how I rediscover those bits of yarn in stash--some gifted to me, some purchased, that have slipped into oblivion. And that ginormous fabric stash that the Etsy shop was supposed to be outlet for.

Believe, me this is just the tip of the iceberg.

So what's going out? So far, books-craft books, novels, cook books, medical books. I can actually see a little space on the "library closet" shelves. I am not ready to part with the Pyrex pie plate and custard cups(I'm embarrassed to say how many I have) but I'm culling the plastic container/glass jar collection throwing out lids with no body and jars with no lids and have weeded out the expired cans and mystery items from the freezer and pantry.

I'm trying to use some of that stash.

Noro Ganpi Abaka Teipu is a very interesting yarn I won. I tried my hand at crocheting a yoke for a toddler dress, but it was not too successful.



On the other hand, the Plymouth Encore Rasta Rook Scarf was fun to make and the colors rather infectious even if it never finds a neck to adorn. The pattern, Rook Scarf is a free download from Sophia Kessinger's Ravelry Store, Yarn Over Manhattan. Crocheting the stripes the long way beats casting on 3 or 400 stitches, imo. It was easy peasy even for this survival crocheter.

I've also CO some Ultra Alpaca for Petrol in Denim Heather, Baktus by ©Strikkelise in a Knitpicks sock yarn gifted to me awhile back, and Manly fingerless mitts in the soft and fuzzy Frog Tree Alpaca, I won in a blog contest.

Time will tell how many of these make it to the end. I have high hopes for the fingerless mitts as it is a very fast and easy pattern.

On the work scene, the person who was credentialing for the position I have been filling in for, took another job. On one hand that means I can continue my two day work week. On the other hand, it's work. So far the people and work suit me fine and as a bonus I get to drive over the Pali and on to the Kaneohe Marine Base twice a week and enjoy the beauty of Lanikai and Kaneohe bay. It's something that I never get tired of because no two days are every the same:)

Brownie the Cat, A Knitted Cat Pattern

Removed 1/8/2025

Yarn Pron for 2010

The New Year here is still 7 hours away. The sky is rather like a black and white movie. There were a few good days for the visiting Obamas. They had the lovely Hanauma Bay to themselves. So far I have not been stuck in any traffic due to security.

The nice wet weather has made my patio sprout. I have mixed feelings about power washing, fungicides and weed killers, and I rather love the green so there it is. It's part of the ebb and flow of the seasons in my little world.

















The mailman's last delivery of the year brought me my Webs order. What a lovely man!



Included in the mosaic: 1. Ultra Alpaca, Redwood Mix 2. Noro Silk Garden lite 3. Plymouth Baby Alpaca, two different shades of red for next year's Red Scarf Project. 4. Madeleinetosh Worsted, Baltic 5. Red Mystery Yarn, destashed by durabledora 6. Beloved Beaverslide, Catbird heather, Christmas gift from my boys.

Catbird heather is earmarked for Central Park Hoodie. Hopefully Chris will be able to find time in her busy life as mom to join Kim and me for a KAL. I really should swatch, sigh. I think I'll do the viking back variation and go for a zipper closure. Anyway that's what the plan is so far. I really love the pocket on Rogue so I'm thinking about a pocket, too.

So I've got my knitting set for the New Year!

As for the store, I may shut down for a while. I learned the hard way one must get the money up front for the special requests, sigh, and I'd rather be knitting:)

Here's to a great 2010!

2009, Coming to the End

I started thinking about this post with a list of rants and whines, things that I want to let go with the end of this year. Either my memory is going or the list was quite short. So...I think I'll ruminate on the list of good things and keep it to myself.

I stopped by the folks es house this am to try and catch their psycho cat Kiko in action with her plastic bag. So far all the toys I've brought for her have been a bust, so I thought she would like a nice Foodland bag. But...she only seems to like this bag from Ruth Chris. She's either very snobby or it's that steak smell, or some other cat reason that I can't fathom.

Kiko and her plastic bag
Originally uploaded by acornbud

I took a plunge and decided to decorate my cell phone. Never mind that it's due for an upgrade and I still don't understand how to turn of the speakerphone. I searched high and low for Totoro decal to no avail, so Hello Kitty won by default.
Perhaps for the New Year I can read the manual and figure out the speakerphone thing instead of accosting total strangers and asking them to turn it off. When my techie devices (ASUS Netbook, Palm TX and Razr) die or if they hold out until I turn the six-0(mg)I will get a droid.

In the FO department there is Raccoon the Afghan. I went crazy after falling in love with Sirdar Foxy for the gnome beards and knit this afghan for my 2 year old niece. It was a very mindless knit, starting with 3 stitches, knitting in garter stitch and increase one at the beginning of every row until I was on the 6th skein, then knitting two rows, and the decreasing one at the beginning of every row until 3 stitches left. I follow directions from blogless deborahduck on Ravelry. She used some 30 skeins and made more then one! I'm so not worthy!Size 11 needles, BTW.

Christmas Eve

The gang got together with the Gnomes and me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Butternut Squash Totoro is filling in for one Chibi who is off in search of a White Christmas.








For you see, it's just the usual green Christmas here in Hawaii.









Unless you count these caterpillars in black and gold munching on the crown flower plant.

I thank all of you blog friends who have enriched my life experience and inspired me with your creativity and generosity. Life long and prosper!

Knitting on Maui

Leaving Oahu I was lucky enough to have a great view of the inside of Diamond Head crater.

One of my un-retired former co-workers went to a CME meeting in Wailea on Maui so I decided to tag along. How else could I enjoy a half price luxury hotel? It was most relaxing!

I got some reading done. I brought along Julie and Julia, but it wasn't as engaging to me as Sookie Stackhouse. I have found them easy, mindless reads. I think I have four more to go to finish the series.

I also knit more Safed Leaves. The sock yarn ones are on size two, STR medium weight. The largest one is left over Fleece Artist Scotian silk on size 7. I lost count on my decreases on one of the small leaves so it's a bit lopsided but that's quite alright.













Another FO is by Nancy Fry, Twilight Bella's La Push knit hat. The Ultra Alpaca was too soft and silky for this pattern so it came out rather small. The Alpaca is very stretchy. It's a free pattern on Ravelry. I will have to make another with a yarn that has better stitch definition..




















My second snail hat seems to be the same color as my first one. I thought it was a different colorway. Oh well. It's still a fun knit and of the course Noro makes everything all right!


















In between all this knitting, I also had a wonderful Sunday upcountry with friends, touring the lovely castle in the sky he is building on 16 acres and admiring the outstanding sunset over West Maui mountains and Lahaina. I love checking out the amazing fruits and flowers that grow on the side of Haleakala. I also met a variety of cats of kids.

I got to hunt for some Maui specialties...The cinnamon roll French Toast at Ruby's, Krispy Cremes (for the Landcaster, of course) and Guri Guri from Maui Mall where I just also caught this Totoro hanging around.

















Four nights at the Kealani and the sun setting over Molokini with Kahoolawe in the background...I love my Hawaiian vacations:)

Felted Bowl and part 2, Snickerdoodle Mystery

felted bowl
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Pattern: from the book One Skein
Yarn: Hand spun on drop spindle, roving gifted to me by the Akamai knitter. Thanks Opal!

Blogless Sandy who inspired me to knit the gnomes, also inspired me to make this bowl and it is the perfect way to use up my little balls of hand spun. The felting evened out that the thick and thiness of my yarn and melded into a very nice color. My yarn is still not very consistent, but it's much less over spun. The bowl still drying, but Totoro is trying it out. I think it will be his new home.


I've been all about the little knitted projects lately. Not much into sewing. I'm comtemplating on yarn for Central Park Hoodie...I'm pretty sure it will be Beaverslide, but what color? Shall I just order the new color cards or just "chance em".

Part 2: What makes a snickerdoodle a snickerdoodle?


Last year I made snickerdoodles for the first time and they spread out way flat. This year they are round and puffy. So what makes a snickerdoodle and snickerdoodle and not just a sugar cookie? Is it the cinnamon? These are maple snickerdoodles. Mine don't look like the Closet Cooking ones. They taste pretty good though, and in the end, that's what really matters.

Red Scarf Project

red scarf mosaic
Originally uploaded by acornbud

I only had 1.2 skeins for Cascade 220 Superwash in this wonderful Cranberry Red when the call went out for more Red Scarves.

Read more on Norma's Blog.

I loved the pattern stitch from the free Hedgerow Mitts (pattern by Amy Ripton, inspired by Jane Cochran)

Longtail CO 24 stitches. (3 pattern repeat + 4 +2).

Set up row: K1(P4K2) across,K4, end slip last stitch with yarn in front (as if to purl)

From here on slip the last stitch of every row as if to purl, and knit the first stitch of every row through the back.
Row 2: (K2, P1, K1, P2) across, end K2, P1, K1
Row 3: (P1, K1, P2, K2) across, end P1, K1, P2

The pattern looks different but nice on both sides.

After a soak this scarf is drapey and very long but relatively skinny due to the size 10 needle.. I spied a mistake! Too late to fix. Chalk it up to “depth” of the handmade vs machine made item, lol.


(I hope this pattern has not been published somewhere, I didn't research it much)

Twisted bangles

Twisted bangles
Originally uploaded by acornbud

I like to try out what I learned in class at least once. In the Beautiful Bangles class taught by Iris at The Bead Gallery, she twisted square sterling silver wire in two vise grips and then formed the bangles. I made plain bangles to learn the soldering part and wanted to try the twisting. The twisting went well, as the blogless Landcaster convinced me his wrenches would just as well for the twisting and that I did not need to go shopping for vise grips (although they had cute yellow ones at Checkers). Alas, my tiny creme brulee torches were not powerful enough to heat up the silver hot enough to solder but a quick trip to The Bead Gallery fixed that. I snagged some bead strands at 25% off while I was there and got to wish Jamie Happy Birthday.

I would give myself a D for the soldering. The hard part is getting the ends to meet correctly and then being quick enough to see the flash as the solder melts and take the heat away. It's a multitasking deficiency, sigh. Lucky for me, the Landcaster loves anything to do with fire and I'm sure I can convince him to do my solderng next time around.

I polished these in my toy rock tumbler with the stainless silver beads and found out that the drop of detergent is really necessary.

(I really need to take a Photoshop class as I just changed by editing program after years of PaintShopPro to Photoshop and I miss my color replacer tool)

Blue Tile Stole, FO

Blue Tile Stole
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Pattern: Tile stitch. Cast on 93 stitches. 2 for selvege, 8 for garter border, 83 for pattern. Long tail CO followed by 6 rows of garter.
Yarn: Araucania Pomaire, blues, 5 skeins
Needles: Size 10
This cotton yarn is wonderful to knit with and soft an cushy against the skin. One skein was a shade darker and it just happens to be the middle one. Since it's in the back where I can't see it, it doesn't bother me one bit;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a blustery day in paradise and this rainbow jumped out at me to remind me of all the blessings I am grateful for. They are so numerous I got bogged down listing them!

Instead I will just wish everyone and the universe a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

The newest Totoro wants to wish everyone a great day on his favorite American holiday! (That's Koigu Hedgerow Mitt WIP)

Happy crafting, eating and musing:)

Emerald Slug

Emerald Slug
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Pattern by cheezombie on Etsy
Green fractal yarn hand dyeled by Moonlightbaker on Etsy Bits and pieces of Heaven Scent baby alpaca and red Koigu
Size 2 needles.

No mods. Cheezombie knit a cute Christmas slug.

Gnome

Gnome flickr
Originally uploaded by acornbud

Another Gnome from Alan Dart's pattern. Yarns leftover from my Ishbel. It was hand dyed by Moonlight Baker (Hungry for Handspun on Etsy). I held the yarn double and knit the smallest size. He is knit in the round.

Just Yer Morning Moon Mitts

The zeal for Tile Stole is winding down. The 4th ball took forever and the 5th ball is neverending. I'm escaping the boredom into those stash yarns I love to knit...Beaverslide (oh you bouncy lovely sheep keeping warm beneath the wide Montana sky) and Noro Silk Garden (how your color changes please and surprise) The Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed and Socks that Rock Medium weight call to me, and I keep dreaming about a Santa from that red Black Water Abbey yarn from the gnome pattern although I don't really need another hat and the sock mojo is comatose. There were a bunch of cute hat patterns in the recent Vogue. I don't think I have a black yarn worthy of the Black water Abbey yarn for Santa's boot. Sure there's the Malabrigo...but it is too soft...decisions, decisions.



Pattern: New Moon inspired Alice Cullen fingerless mittens by Nancy Fry, free on Ravelry
Yarn: worsted weight Beaverslide, Mountain Morning
Needles: 7 and 8 dpns
Mods: I wanted longer mitts so I cast on 36 stitches and K3P3 for 2 inches. Then I K3P1P2tog for one row and continued on with the pattern. I started with knit on cast on.

Gnomes, Finally Final

The Sirdar Foxy finally came in. It really does make for a more luxurious beard and with only one strand. It's a shame it has been discontinued. The little gnome is really much cuter, imo. I made the beard for the large gnome bigger. I am going to play with the beards a bit, brushing them out, before sewing the hats on. These are so cute, I may just have to keep one for me. But then I can always make another:)

Noro Silk Garden is always a pleasure to knit with. I love the color changes.

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