Gentle reader,

I’ve been a bit absent from my blog lately, but I come bearing updates on some of my projects, one of which being a finished object finally! I’ve felt very much like my attention has been divided. There are many cool things at the yarn shop that I’m working towards that have taken a bit of time, but has been very satisfying, and I’ve also been asked to design a logo for someone else which is also very exciting (I’ll talk about that when I know it’s okay to do so). So, my knitting and crochet has a been a little slap-dash.

However, I now present you my Lucha Libre mask.

Look at those droopy eyes. Wrestler has a sad.

Now, I’m not the best photographer; it looks kind of better in Real Life™ because your angle isn’t so fixed. Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses, but really, it’s true. Here’s another angle.

Fighty McGee!

So, here’s the thing. I don’t want to pooh-pooh anyone’s work, because I am far, far, FAR from perfect. But then, I haven’t published a book that I expect people to pay for. But following this pattern (and I use the word ‘follow’ loosely) was not at all a pleasant experience. For those of you who don’t crochet, when you work in the round, the stitches slant to one side as a product of working into the spaces. The chart included with this pattern was written straight. I thought, okay, that’s fine, there must be directions in the pattern text to accommodate for the slant. Nope. So, I worked the chart as per the pattern and sure enough the yellow face was skewed to one side. I wasn’t happy. Then I decided to take a closer look at the photographed piece in the book, and after some counting up and close scrutiny, I realized that the item they’d photographed and the pattern they’d written were not the same thing.

I felt really grumpy about that, especially because I was making the piece as a sample for the yarn shop. I think it’s a bit unfair to have a sample for a book when the pattern is kind of busted. If you’re a confident crocheter, it’s not a big deal because you can just adjust for it anyway (which is what I did after dragging my sad-sack butt to work and asking my co-workers advice). And perhaps I was just missing some fundamental thing. But still.

So, yes, I had to finagle the rows and offset them so that the pattern was straight. And it looked okay. I crocheted around the edges and added some red trim to clean them up, and the thing is far too small for my head, but truth be told my head is MASSIVE, so it’s on a display head (who I’ve affectionately christened Heddy Lamarr), but would probably fit a normal person or a kiddie. So, that’s that. It shall sit in the Manland section of our store, and It has not maligned me so much that I can’t bear to look at it or anything. And, there are some other fun ideas that I got while making this. Think… Spiderman, or Iron Man. Oh yes.

But now – and more exciting – are my Totoro mitts! (I didn’t gray out the background as I’ve been wont to do lately, since the mitts are gray themselves)

The backhand side - you can see Totoro's belly start to take shape.

The palm side - I'm suppose those are the soot sprites

Stranded knitting, huh? I love it! I’ve got a lot to learn still, but a co-worker of mine is a total pro and she gave me some great advice. I knew my floats were a little tight, but I had been trying to keep them so that fingers wouldn’t get caught. No biggie, it just gives the fabric a slight wave. But, she showed me some great techniques for weaving the working threads at the back which I’ve not had a chance to try out yet, but I’m very excited to do so. I think also that once I’ve got a pair of these done and dusted, that they’ll be a very fun and quick project which I can use for future gifts and the like, and I’ve even been inspired to start making my own stranded knitting charts, but I’ll see what happens there.

These will definitely be too small for myself, but that’s the cool thing! A dear friend of mine from way back when I was still involved in theater messaged me to say that her lovely daughter caught wind that I was making Totoro mitts and was very excited about the fact. So, it was a no-brainer; my little Totoro mitts have a home already! This makes me happy.

And last, but not least, I’ve made progress on my Peaks Island Hood for my Mama.

Peaks Island Hood - The first 24cm

I think it’s going to be really nice, though it will definitely need some blocking. I’m quite pleased with it. I’ve only gotten about 24cms along, however, because I find moss stitch to be a little annoying to do, but I’ll get there. I’m definitely glad I changed the yarn. I love this color so much. I’m not a big red person, but this burgundy-esque color is very nice, and it has a lot of subtle nuances to it which you can see close-up. Thumbs up for Morris Yarns!

But, that’s all for me today, I’ve got to get ready for today’s knit night, but I’ll try not to take too long to post next.

-R