Working on.....

I started another blanket because I can, and because a friend is expecting a baby in May, she likes Doctor Who and is expecting a boy so I thought perfect, a Tardis Afghan, there is a pattern for one on Ravelry already but it is 6 feet by 9 feet, which is quite large for a baby, so I sat down and wrote a new one. This is about 3 feet across and I have no idea how long it will grow to, but I am praying for proportion. Here it is started:

It is working out really well, but the yarn is a bit harsh on ones skin. I have found different yarn, and I am loathed to start it again, but I might just do that in thinking about the finished result. I will leave this on the needles, and finish it with matching yarn, that is my next thing find blue yarn that matches this yarn to finish this blanket :) I just need to decide if I finish this one and then do the one specifically for my friend or start the new one and then finish this one.....WHO KNOWS, just need to finish something. 

The lovely and slightly dreaded I Like Lime blanket, I messed up on my first repeat and made it so that I now have a more intricate and exciting pattern on my hands. I am at about the halfway point, but I am out of yarn, so until I allow myself to purchase more yarn for this it will remain unfinished, harsh but true, and very disappointing as I was hoping this would become my January I got something finished project but something will take its place very soon. 

These blankets are amazing to crochet, I have done about 3 of them by now, the light pink one got finished, the turquoise and pink one is in a box waiting for me to finish it, the Caron soft yarn, is VERY prone to split when you go through it with a crochet hook, so it sits in a box waiting for me, maybe I will make it my you must finish this in February project.

My January project is one of these blankets, as I can crochet on a plane or in an airport with comparative ease over flying with needles, I do not mind loosing a hook but loosing needles would make me cry. The one I am about to finish is Grey and Purple, and looks fabulous. I cannot wait to share it with you all.


Keep on crafting,

-A

Getting Your Manicure to Last

When I decided to start painting my nails again (after the removal of my acrylic's, this was necessary, they were weak, brittle and splitting in several places) I had to come up with a solution to get them to last at least 5 - 7 days, otherwise I was not going to bother. So I bought the gel manicure system, which was probably a good place to start, as the curing does aid in making the nail feel stronger, but if you read my other blog on this: "Nailed It'. I know I promised pictures, I will see if I can do them during the break. You will know that removing this is less than satisfactory to me. It is the scraping, I cannot abide the scraping, my nails hate it.

If you read Loodie Loodie Loodie, which I recommend you should, she is all about healthy nails. And I agree 100% start with healthy nails and your manicure will last far longer than on sad nails, which is where the gel is good because it will still last on sad nails. But having to cure the gel top coat in the morning instead of at night was getting to me, and the scraping, oh the horrors.

So, once you have attained your healthy nails through OPI Nail Envy, Essie's Grow Faster, Essie's Grow Stronger, Wtichcraft, Trind, or any of the Sally Hansen nail growth systems, and my personal favourite base coat with minced garlic added you are on your way to success. That and starting with clean nails that are free of oils, so start to paint right after you have removed your old polish, don't run your hands through your hair, or moisturize...wait and do the moisturizing at the end. If you are going to file and buff your nails. File your nails before the old polish comes off, then remove polish, buff nails and then re-acetone your nails before the polish application. I have used OPI's chip skip, and it is doing the same thing as the acetone, just with a brush instead of a cotton pad, your choice really. Buffing aids in removing any splits or imperfections in the nail and also gives the nail a slight grittiness, you cannot feel it, which gives all this polish a place to grab onto.

Currently because I live in Calgary and it is so dry here the process is:

1. Garlic base coat,
2. One of my base coats that is creamer looking, I have convinced myself they are moisturizing, one of them must be because it is working. Let all this dry.
3. Paint the free edge of my nail, underneath my nail, and then the top 1/2 of the front of my nail, do this on all fingers then let dry. 
4. Apply polish to the full nail, free edge and back of nail, the back of the nail is only really necessary if 
1. you have nails that are longer than your finger ends,
2. it really bugs you to see the the white colour of your nails, which it does for me and I find polish lasts longer when I do this, so I keep doing it. Then let that dry 
5. Repeat step 4. Let this dry a little bit longer than the last coat.
6. You now should have perfectly covered nails. Then finish with your top coat, right now I am using a CND in a large round bottle. Remembering to cover the free edge 
7. Repeat step 6. 
8. Once your last top coat has dried for a tiny bit, grab your favourite cuticle oil or an olive oil and brush it over your cuticles allowing the excess to run down to the tip of your nail from the cuticle. This creates a barrier between your nails and some of the outside world. It is also at this point that I will carefully apply a moisturizer to the rest of my hands. 

Then I read for about 20 - 30 minutes and then pass out with my hands clasped together hanging over the edge of the bed to prevent sheet marks. I do all of this while sitting in bed, it saves moving later on, and I have m laptop in there with me so I can watch a DVD or something on you tube, it helps the time to pass and makes the process feel a touch less tedious.

Also yes you did read that correctly. We are at about 7 layers of nail polish. Now if you have a really thick formula you might just need to do 2 coats, but I usually do very thin coats so it has always worked. Then If you want to keep your nails looking shiny, you can after three days add a layer of top coat, but stay thin. This way I can do my nails on a Sunday and by Saturday evening they are still in a condition where I feel that I can go out without people, and ten remove and repeat.

On the left hand side of the screen is a picture of my nails finished, after I did them Saturday morning. The picture on the right is a picture of them 6 days later. The only wear is on the pinky, and that is because if I am having a stressful week it is the only nail I will allow myself to gnaw on, so if it weren't for this then they would be perfect. Also I was going for a turquoise stone effect, whether or not I achieved it is debatable. I could not get water, hairspray or rubbing alcohol to form veins n the water bath to dip my painted nails into.



See you

-A

Hat Spam

I have been knitting a fair amount of hats recently, mostly because I am doing them as presents for the ladies in the office. So I technically only have four to do, but I might do five. And here are some of the hats. Yes I managed to crop three of them. Great times.

So, here we have the Elleby, the Gwen, and a Spiral hat that I love, all of these can be found on Ravelry, look for: aspensquiver. Also the first two are the Elleby Hat, but modified. The True Elleby is the grey one in the middle at the bottom. It is a beautiful hat, but for me I was not loving 100% the k3 p3 idea, so I changed it to a k6 p3..and am working on writing that pattern down so that more than I can knit this fabulous hat, and then I am developing a k9 p3, it will come soon.

 

 

What is your favourite hat to knit?

-A

Train Cake

So I was in Superstore the other week, and I saw this cake pan:

Yes my friends you are seeing that correctly it is in fact a train cake. I made this for my Uncle N who loves trains, and now has had the pleasure of consuming one for his birthday. 

The pan was amazing. The instructions say to fill the pan to the line....the line was more of an indent just under (upside down for filling) where the top of the wheels are. However, could have been me, could have been the cake batter I used, but the wheel wells really did not fill and were a bit under defined on some sides of the cake. Note for future, fill the cake tins almost to the top, filling the wheel wells so that the cake will over flow and really define these edges. Yes when cake over flows in a space it gets stuck to the cake beside it, buy you cut the bottom off anyway so who cares? And then you the baker gets to try said cake without having to munch away at a piece of the train, so it is a win win really.

Here is a picture of the finished product, I am told it was delicious, I love the smoke stack, I think it is my favourite part. 

Not much else going on. I will be hat spamming in a while as that is all I have been knitting. 

-A

Knitting Rutt but Organizing

Sadly I am in a knitting rutt right now. I will not allow myself to start something new until I finish something that has been on the books for a while.
However this is complete:

So pleased that it is finished, and it looks amazing. I have it on my bed right now as it is currently very chilly, not quite as big as my bed, but big enough to go over me, and keep me warm, so that is what counts. 

Must finish the circlet cardigan and the I like Lime Blanket, as well as the illuminated lines blanket. It all keeps me busy. I also appear to have A LOT of blankets on the go, I started this obsession saying I was just going to do hats, which are small and take no time at all, now I am tackling blankets that take 100 + hours of my time. So impressive, yet what else could I have used that time for?

In other news, I am trying to clear out some of my mounds of junk, it feels like mounds, and I want the majority of it gone, soon. I managed to clean out two drawers last night, one in my room and one in my bathroom, it makes me feel giddy. Organization is a tricky thing, I find when I look at pictures of other people organizing their things, they always appear to end up with about 80% less in the drawer than when they first started, no harm in this at all, but it is totally unrealistic for me, so when I go to do my own tidying, organization, I feel somewhat defeated before I start, because I know that I will be unable to get rid of that much stuff. 

This evening I need to clean out the Rabbit's habitat, and trim his nails, and then it is off to Christmas in November at Jasper Park Lodge, 3 days of eating, drinking, and sitting where I hardly have to worry about anything. I am so pleased.

-A

Mitered Corner - Not Short Rows

After hours of searching, I was unable to come up with a mitered corner knit in long rows not short ones.

The Hue Shift Afghan has you picking up 250 stitches along one side, 250 along the other, and then 270 along the remaining two, which is great and all, but, for me, that is not the look I would want to go for in a  finished edge, sorry, I am just picky.

Short rows also seems like an option, but going back and forth on 20 stitches, for 250 rows and around a corner does not appeal, and with my luck I would most certainly end up messing something up and the edges would not be the same.

Now you are asking what are you trying achieve?
An edge, knit in long rows that manages to turn a corner. Is that too much to ask?

So here goes, my theory is pick up 250 stitches, KFB on the first and the last stitch of every right side row, and hope it turns into a 45 degree angle corner. - This worked perfectly so just ignore my other theory.

My other option is pickup 250 stithces, KFB on the first and last stitch of every row, but I am thinking that this will be too much of an increase and not give me the correct angle.

So to test I plan on casting on 10 stitches, and testing out both methods before starting on the actual insanity of doing this for real.

I would have had this blanket finished if it were not for the small fact that I read three books this month, so I only have myself to blame and the books did need reading.

-A

Hue Shift Afghan Progress

My hue shift afghan is coming along nicely. I stitched it together late at night a few weeks ago. It is such a perfect easy to knit blanket, albeit one sometimes gets frustrated just knitting tiny little squares, but it does one item I like to favour, you knit the squares together as you go, not sew 100 4" x 4" squares together when you are finished. So here it stands as a half a blanket.

 One of the most fascinating outcomes of this has been an impromptu study of how great two colours can look next to each other, or with each other, and how bad others can look.

I have started on the 3rd set of 25 squares and I am 8 squares in. It does take about 2 hours per square, give or take, especially depending on what I am doing, and how focused I am. I managed to get 4 squares done in one day this past weekend, and I was doing other things that day.

My next debate is what colour do I make the boarder? Black seems to harsh, and yet a perfectly sound colour choice. I was thinking maybe do 2 rows black, 2 rows colour, but that would end up being a 44 row boarder which I feel would be far too large.

I did also show this to my art teacher, who has painted versions of this all around the studio and as much as I would like to make her one, she can knit so giving her the pattern in order to make her own is a logical outcome.

-A