Well that is the tail...

Wow... I am loving this scarf.  I am loving the experience I am having with it.  Knitting it is soooo much fun for me.

I actually have the scarf part done, just have to sew up the pockets and add the buttons. Which, as we all know, takes me forever to pick out the perfect button.

Now this was after a moment of, 'what the hell happened here.'  I had a definite moment of I missed what I was doing and laughed out loud for a good couple of minutes on it. 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I knitted in the cast-on tail of the scarf here, instead of adding the next ball of yarn and had to tink it out.  Now this actually isn't that abnormal to knit the cast-on tail but it is abnormal for me, so far into the scarf.  I was on the last little section of the scarf, only about five repeats of the pattern total.

Just thought I would share.  Awesome Day Blessings to you all.

The continued experience of the Artistic Slob....

Yet again I jumped in with only a partial plan on my knitting... but again that isn't anything new.

So explanation as to what the hell I am talking about... 

This is not... I repeat not a bodiless head.  It is a flaming marshmallow comet.  

I have learned through this experience I am learning how to make flat round bottoms and tops. I will continue to experiment and figure things out.  Yes I could have read more and figured more out but I love to jump in both feet and run on water.   

So I will show more as I continue to explore my toy making experience.  And I will continue to enjoy it.

My journey, my bag and my plate...

Feeling a little introspective today... I know normally I keep that sort of thing over at my Livejournal blog, Fuzziekit's T.F. Kit Speaks.  But last night I listened to the last episode of the Knitajourney podcast.  And feel a little more open and creative and in away introspective about what I am doing in my creativity and art and, well, life.  So I am sharing a little more than normal here. 

Here is where I normally put my creative knitting and weaving and artistic endeavors around my home and life.  I do have my other art forum on DeviantArt, Fuzziekit's Doodles and Such , but that is what I consider more original stuff.  I have put up some knitting that I am really proud of, but mainly it is for my drawing and personally created designs.  Here I can show off stuff that I made but someone else designed and I don't feel like I am claiming credit for the design.

Then there is of course my Chavi-girl's blog, Furry Slinkies , this is where I put her adventures and maybe some of my ferret stories (not totally sure about that yet). 

So I look at my journey and I see my bag is full of stuff and it won't fit all on to my plate.  So it is a few bites of something one time and a few bites of something else another at a different time.  I, however, keep trying to do it all and it is slightly stressing me out.

I am creatively writing, pulling together stories about pirate ferrets and other stories about a girl lost in space and still another about a murder mystery involving genocide which has a side story about a hunting dog.  (Trust me this all makes sense to my brain... scary isn't it.)  So a big part of me is writing, which means my knitting muse (haven't figured out who she is yet... and yes she is a she) is not happy, because this is what is inspiring me there...

A beautiful Hooded Scarf designed by Nikki, in Stitches.  I am loving knitting this, but it isn't social knitting and that is the time I am trying to maintain for knitting and utilize my other time for writing.

Why might you ask isn't this social knitting?  Look at the detail and guess where the Purl Seven Together is...

I love it, and the person who is receiving it is loving it too, it just takes a bit of concentration.

So it is dividing my time between a lot of things now...

1. Writing... (Moosehold will be finished soon... at least part one)
2. Knitting... (because I am being inspired to do creative things that I am designing too)
3. Taking care of the house and Chavi-girl... (food, dishes, bath and litter pans... makes for full days)
4. And then there is work... (have to keep a roof over my head)

And those are the things that I am willing to talk about at this time... so a journey with a full bag and a not nearly big enough plate. 

But now that I have bent your ear enough... I am off to continue to juggle my journey... and in the words that I have picked up from Knitajourney....

Awesome Day Blessings.

Fun with colors...

Oh boy oh boy oh boy... I had fun with colors last week.  I would have posted sooner but life and well a little illness ran away with me.  So I am sharing now.

I actually did some dying last week, and it turned out fairly well.  No I am not kidding.  I like how it turned out even though I did over-saturate the dye a bit.  But let me start from the beginning.

I started out with a blank KnitPicks Yarn in worsted weight.  And with an experimentation wanted to try not variegated yarn but a sort of stranded from one color to the next with no repeating of color.  So when I hanked it for dyeing I did it in three parts...

Another use for my warping board.  I did two skeins this way and stuck them in three jars in my dye pot to ensure that the colors did not blend.  I liked that method the best when I checked things out on-line.  I added the dyes and when about boiling it.

I definitely over saturated the color.  I used the whole packets of dye... I know, I know... there are times I should call this blog 'Confessions of an Artistic Slob', I just read half the directions and go headlong into it.

But I do like how the colors turned out even though they were not what I was expecting.

Washed and somewhat rinsed... it took a lot of rinsing.

And then drying.... I didn't split the first skein very well so it went from blue to dark blue to teal back to blue but at least is still only had three colors.

And all hanked up.  So pretty.  Now on to knit the wonderful stuff.  Squee!!!

Pretty Skies...

Well I finished the poncho... and I think it looks nice.  Really really nice....

I started out with less than two balls of James C. Brett's Marble Chunky.  They are really big balls of yarn... and really soft and really neat.  I like them a lot but never know what to do with them. 

The first thing I made out of the yarn was my mom's Einstein Coat.

I really liked how this colorway striped.  And my mom loved it because of the colors and the softness of it. 

I had purchased this yarn to make another jacket but it took me forever to make the last one and I didn't know if the person would have even liked it so I let the yarn sit.  I made a had and scarf for my nephew and that ate up some of the yarn but then I had a ball and some left over.

Well my roomies birthday was coming up and I knew she liked ponchos... and one looked like a lot of fun to make.  So off I went.  I loved knitting it and it was wonderful yarn to work with.  Until I came close to the end.  I wasn't going to have enough.  I was going to be short.  Not by much.  So out I trekked and found a complimentary color and added a little on the bottom and an edge around the collar and voila....

It worked... I was so happy.  Now I probobly would have been fine with the yarn I had, if I had not wanted to add fringe. 

I think it looks a lot better.  It holds the edge down and shows off the colors very nicely.

I even got her to show it off and smile too. So pretty... oh yeah, the poncho is too.

On with the monsters....

I really do like knitting toys.  Unfortunately I have this stupid practical side that says I should not create something that doesn't have a purpose.  (I am working on that.)

So I thought I would share some of the toys I have made recently as gifts... yeah they are gifts, after all this is the year of Creative Giving.

These are the first group of little guys... a tropical bunch with horns to boot.

These are their mortal winged enemies who fight for territory in a bucket.

See they all fit....

Actually this is a bean bag toss game that I made for my nephew... I had hoped to get some pictures of him throwing these at his siblings but he was more interested in opening wrapped presents. 

Then I made a quick little toy for my Chavi girl... because she is awesome and I needed some distraction knitting...

... I would show you more but I think she wants to tell you about her new E.Y.M. (Evil Yarn Monster).

Now on with the parade so that I can finish more stuff.

Oh the grand and wondrous road...

What do you see when you look inside this box?

Do you see a bag full of string?  White-ish yarn waiting to go on a shelf?  A bunch of that wooly stuff old women turn into things?

Or...

Do you see what I see?

Possibilities... Potential... A blank canvas of maybes.  That is what I see.  Color waiting to happen.  Shape waiting to take form.  That is what I see when I look in that box.

It is the same here.  Where someone else might see blue yarn, or the sky and the sea... I see a ferret.  I wonderful muse who kicks my behind and tells me to write more. 

Possibilities ... they are grand and wondrous things.