Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Progress on WIPs

The last pic of the baby blanket made it difficult to see the 2-color basketweave, so I scanned a corner:
I still haven't tucked in the ends (I hate that part). I haven't started on the hat and booties yet either, but will probably be able to get those done over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Little Bo Sheep says we're at about 3 1/4 inches on the pink kimono:
3 1/4 inches down, 8 bazillion to go (ok just under 50 inches, but still). Fortunately, I like the pattern and am enjoying watching it unfold, so to speak. Also, the yarn seems to be getting softer as I knit it, so this kimono might prove to be surprisingly comfy.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Baby Blanket

Another finished baby blanket (except weaving in the ends, currently simply tucked behind the blanket):
It's difficult to see, but the edging is a two-color basketweave.

I've probably mentioned that this table is our gaming table, and the only one big enough to spread out a whole baby blanket. In case you're wondering, the small grey figure at the upper left of the photo is Veltargo, the bad guy from last weekend's Pathfinder session, and you can just see the other miniatures, several of which are laying down due to near-death experiences.

My assistants with this late-night photo shoot:
My youngest was in bed and was thus not available to 'assist,' and someone had to fill in, after all. Not to worry, though: I'm sure he'll be available when I've done the hat and booties.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Mad Mappist Notes and Kimono Progress

Well we played Pathfinder Saturday/Sunday and made it through the remainder of the tomb we were in. If you’re interested, you can read my post on that session in my Hubby’s blog.

In case you were wondering, yes, my mad knittist notes also appear in my gaming:
Those are the maps for the tomb and a thieves' lair we were in previously, and notes on the treasure and clues we found.

Naturally, my painted minis also appear in my gaming. This one is being used for my younger daughter’s character ("Amaryllis" if you read the session blog), and unfortunately is the only mini we’re currently using that’s already painted:

Also in case you were wondering, yes, I knit while I play. In fact, despite having to tink out several glaring errors due to tense battles and harrowing situations, I managed to knit a little over 2 inches of the pink kimono:
If you see any leftover flaws, I blame Veltargo.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Gloves Progress and Kimono Cast-On

Well I've gotten one glove made, minus the flip-covers:
As you can see, I've not yet woven in all the ends, but I like to wait until the recipient has tried it on before doing so in case the fingers need to be lengthened or shortened.

Meanwhile, I've finally cast on for the pink shells kimono:
Okay, it's not a lot to look at, but I had to do it twice before I got this far. I was also relieved that I had enough of this type of stitch marker for this particular cast-on. The yarn likes to slip out of the rings of the pretty bead-adorned stitch markers, and I didn't have enough of the plastic coiled ring type for this. I had some narrow ring type, but they kept migrating between stitches. The green and orange ones pictured have a safety-pin type closure, so the yarn can't slip out or migrate and lie to me about how many stitches I've done. So take That, pink yarn of doom!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Repair Job

Well I've managed another reasonably successful repair job for a co-worker: this time, a glove:



Yes, PETA, it has fur on it. Rabbit fur, to be exact. But it's not my glove, and hey, the poor critter is already dead, so better to repair the glove than have it thrown away by its owner because it had holes in it, right? If you can't tell where the holes were, then boo-yah.

Meanwhile, I haven't blogged in a few days because I've been working on my best friend's gloves (making, not fixing), and I'm at the last finger, then I have to do the convertible cover thing.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Chillin' with my Gnomies

The robins totally lied:
Those oddly-shaped white blobs on the far side of the pool would be the garden gnomes.

Yarnblobs of Youth

My youngest son, with his first recorded yarnblob:

Since he was caught red-handed,

he decided to enter the Yarnblob Protection Program:

Saturday, March 20, 2010

RPG Painted Mini - Fighter-Paladin

She was hard to photograph due to the amount of red I used:

I put blue on her sword intending to suggest some sort of spell emanating from the blade:



The unpainted original, image from Reaper Minis:

I enjoy painting, but it does make me realize just how unsteady my hands are. Even if they were steady, it's really difficult to paint at that size. I do admire the folks who paint the images professionally for Reaper.

Friday, March 19, 2010

RPG Painted Mini - Fighter with Trollhead

Don't worry: it's not the same trollhead previously pictured in my blog:




And here's the unpainted original, image from Reaper Minis:

As you can see, I added the trollhead and base with some sculpted rocks using the same air-dry clay I used for the Dryad. The trollhead itself was a spare, and came with a Mountain Troll my Hubby bought. This is the unpainted original, image from Reaper, using the same trollhead my Hubby chose to use:

This one shows the trollhead I used, as painted by Michael Genet, image also from Reaper:

So now for the obvious question: Why did the troll need a spare head?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Glove Progress and a Lesson Learned

This past Saturday, once the cabled scarf was completed, I cast on for my friend's gloves. By the end of our gaming session in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I had completed the wrist and part of the palm. As usual, I then tucked it into my trusty project travel bag and took it to work Monday. Generally, inside my trusty project travel bag:


I keep a smaller zippered case with all the essentials:


The essentials generally include DPN's in the same size (or smaller) than the circulars I'm currently using, a pair of snips, a cable needle, a yarn needle, spare waste yarn, stitch holders, stitch markers, point protectors, needle holders (coily stretchy things), a retractable tape measure in the shape of a black sheep (of course), a thimble, a crochet hook, a pencil, a click eraser, a gauge and needle measuring device (the pink and silver metal card), and a small index card box (the green oval-ish box at the top).

While working on the cabled scarf, however, I decided to clean out the essentials case because it was getting heavy and much of what I normally carry was unnecessary for that particular project. What was I thinking? As far as I can remember, I was trying to get organized. Bad. Idea.

To be fair, all was well through the finishing of the scarf, and even during the beginning of the gloves. Until I found myself at work Tuesday, needing to start on the first finger, sans stitch holders. Fortunately, I had left the MadCatz memory card box (semi-transparent box to the left) holding the waste yarn and yarn needle in the zippered kit, so I used the waste yarn as my stitch holders and all was well again.

Until I got to the second finger. For that, I needed to pick up a few stitches from the previous finger, and found I had no crochet hook. After briefly considering what might be done with a bent paper clip, I found I had only about 4 minutes left on my lunch break and decided the MacGuyver routine would just have to wait. Tuesday after I got home, I diligently re-stocked my essentials bag. As a result, Wednesday I made it this far on the glove:

You can just see the yarn peeking out from the other side where it's still being used as a stitch holder. Here's a pic of the other side:

In this one, you can see the yarn stitch holder still in place at the fingers and thumb.

The point of all this? Never empty out the travel kit, thinking you won't need the stuff you carry. Murphy's Law is, after all, still in full effect.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Pharoah of All He Surveys

My Hubby and I were doing a bit of pool maintenance this Sunday since the weather was so nice. Specifically, we cleaned the skimmer baskets, added chlorine, fished out the chlorine tablets from the bottom of the pool where the duck dumped them after breaking open, cleaned the filter basket and emptied Nessie's bag. Nessie (our pool cleaner) and the duck can be seen in this photo, taken September of 2008:


During all this, my Hubby had a moment my pagan friends will appreciate:

Yes, the Plano-ite version of the crook and flail. What more can you say.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

FO - Blue Cabled Scarf

I finished the blue cabled scarf for my best friend while we were playing Pathfinder Saturday night/Sunday morning (*knit two, purl two, check for traps, repeat from*). I wanted her to pose with it for the blog entry, but she said she was having a bad hair day. The trollhead, however, was not so shy:
"Watcha think? Does this bring out my eyes?"

"Wait.. take a pic of me good side!"

Encouraged by the trollhead's bravado, my best friend decided maybe she wasn't having such a bad hair day after all:

Monday, March 15, 2010

Dice Bag Liners

I've received an inquiry recently via the D20-Pathfinder SRD site about the liners I make in my dice bags.

In a nutshell, once the outer layer is complete, I use a thinner complementary yarn for the liner (often a sock yarn), adjust for the difference in gauge, and pick-up and knit inside the dice bag about a quarter-inch to a half-inch below where the drawstring will be. The outer layer is inside-out and upside-down for this part so that ultimately, the wrong sides of both layers will face each other and the user will see the two right sides. Were I to crochet a dice bag, I suppose I would do something similar but create the first row of the liner by crocheting on the inner loop only of the row where the liner is to start.

Hopefully that will help. If you need more information, please let me know and I'll be happy to answer any questions. You can also click on the "dice bags" label at the lower left of my blog here for pictures of what the liners look like.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Convertible Gloves

Now that I'm nearly done with my no-blogging best friend's hat and scarf, to complete the ensemble, I'm going to make her some convertible half-finger gloves with a removable cover to go over the fingers. For that, she's chosen Berroco Sox in color 1477:

(Image from Berroco)

Some of the stripes pretty closely match the Ella Rae used for the hat and scarf, so it should coordinate pretty well.

Surprisingly, I had to do three test swatches to get the gauge right: the pattern calls for size 2's, I had to go down to size 00's:

I think you can see the purple and blue parts of the colorway better in my test swatch than in the Berroco photo. Of course, the robins have been showing up in our neighborhood and the trees are budding, so it will be in the 90's before you know it. Next year, however, after it has again been so hot for so long that we've forgotten that winter exists, the surprise snowfall/ icefall/ lengthy coldsnap will not get to my best friend's ears, neck or hands. So there, next winter: take that.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Scarf Progress

Last night I thought I'd break out the measuring tailtape to check my progress on my best friend's cabled scarf:


Lil Bo Sheep says we're at 53 inches:


That's officially longer than our D20 RPG gaming mats:


Note that the last pic had to be taken quickly, because the troll head was right behind me and, well, you just never want to turn your back on a troll.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

A Bit of Randomness

This is a stuffed troll head:
 To his left, however, sitting amongst the tiny faux columns and trees, is a small dice bag we use for "guest dice."  As if anyone shows up to game without dice.  Still, it was one of the first dice bags I ever made, and thus has some historical significance.  Sort of.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

RPG Painted Mini - Bobcat

These are close-ups of Baelik, faithful bobcat animal companion to Holly, the Druid:


He's kind of small, and thus difficult to photograph. I put moleskin on the bottom of the mini, as we were planning to do with several of them. We've since decided against it, since it doesn't really help in using them.

Here is the unpainted original set he came from, image from Reaper Minis:


Thus far, he's one of three in this set to be completely painted.


When it comes to D20 bad guys, Baelik says: "talk to da butt"

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Dice Bag – The Dwarven Adventurer


This bag has a seed stitch between cables, though the yarn makes the cables difficult to see in the photographs.


The outer layer is made from Rehue Multy No. 6, a hand-dyed alpaca/silk/polyamide blend from Araucania Yarns that varies in both color and thickness. The inner layer is Aktion JaWoll Color sock yarn, color 132.0201, which is a wool-nylon blend from Lang Yarns.


The cables and the color are reminiscent of either a red-bearded Dwarf fighter fresh from a dungeon crawl (thus the green part), or fall colors for those who aren’t RPG players. It’s also short and wide in appearance and holds a surprising amount of dice or other things. The bag stands up well on its own, full or empty, and the holes for the drawstrings are reinforced in crochet.