More stitch markers!

Yeah, I'm just enjoying playing with the pretty shinies :) So, here are a few more example sets that I've worked on. I'm getting better at twisting the wire up at the top of the marker. I think that's the hardest part, pressing in the last tail end of the wire to keep it snag-free.

And at Easter, M&Ms came in these cute little bunny boxes. So, now my markers are in a bunny boxes! Yes, silliness, but I like it. I've already told Zach that since I cannot have another living bunny because of his allergies, there will be many examples of other sorts of bunnies making their way into the house. This is just one example.

H is for...

Huddersfield Shawl!

Also know as the Big Purple Wrap.

I did a summer abroad in England when I was in college, spending time in both Huddersfield and Cambridge. Huddersfield, for those who don't know (and I'm sure there are many who don't) is in the Peak District, in West Yorkshire. It's not a small town by any means, but it's not a major city either, mostly a commuter town now, for people working in nearby Manchester or Leeds. For trivia buffs, actor James Mason was born there, and Sir Patrick Stewart was born just outside it in the town of Mirfield. Now you know.

I was there for a couple weeks working in the lab of a professor researching in speleology (the study of caves). Kinda a short-term summer internship. Pretty interesting, really, aside from getting to play underground in another part of the world.

So what does all this have to do with knitting?

Well, the summer that I was over there was right after my junior year in college. At the end of my junior year, I'd been dumped by my long-term boyfriend (a good 3 years long relationship) and was pretty broken up, as one might expect. I'd been knitting like crazy between the end of the school year (when I was dumped) and when I left for the UK. The old "keep your hands busy and your mind won't dwell on it all" tactic. However, I thought that I'd be too busy and wouldn't need to take a project with me, so didn't pack one with me when I went abroad.

But, as busy as I was during the day, there was still plenty of time in the evenings to brood, especially being over there on my own for a few weeks (once I got to Cambridge, I was with a program and had more people to hang out with to distract me). Add to that, I'd been knitting kinda nonstop between the end of the school year and my departure, so I really felt the absence of any project.

Luckily for me, there was a yarn shop in Huddersfield! Just a little tiny market stall in the Marketplace there, but that was enough! I'd already picked up a few knitting books in a used book shop in town, so had a few patterns to choose from, and stopped by the knitting stall for the yarn and needles. Began the project in June that summer and got most of it done by the time I returned home in August. Finally finished it up in September when I was back at school.

For those who are interested, it's Lace Stole pattern in Vogue Knitting's Vogue Knitting on the Go: Vintage Knits. It's Raveled Here.

Oh, and just recently at Stitches, as I was looking for shawl pins for the shrugs and shawls I'm becoming addicted too, I found one that matched the purple wrap perfectly! It's hard to tell in the light of the camera flash, but in regular lighting, the purple beads match the purple yarn wonderfully!

Incidentally, those needles I bought in Huddersfield ended up being some of my favorite needles to work with, and of course, it's not a brand commonly found in the US. Just like the tea I became addicted to. (sigh...)

Grief

I found this quote recently, and between Joey's passing last weekend, and the anniversary of Dad's this weekend, I wanted to share.

The two hardest things to say in life
are hello for the first time
and goodbye for the last.

Motivation-induced Insanity, I swear

Knitting Marathon!

Inspired partially by Eat.Sleep.Knit's frequent customer program (a Yarn Marathon) and by a knitting meter I saw on a friend's Ravelry profile, I have decided to track my yardage knit this year. Rather than track yarn purchased (since I am now totally limiting myself to stash yarn until I make a sizable dent in my current hoard), I will be tracking yarn knit. So, yes, another stash-busting method. I'm a a big numbers person, so it's another motivational tool to get my knitting up to speed, instead of just sitting and looking at the pretty yarn and imagining the project when it's all finished... not that I'd ever do that!

As a runner and a swimmer too, I like the distance equivalent, putting my yarn knit into a measure that I can easily conceptualize. 420 yards might not mean much to me, other than a skein of sock yarn, but it's also nearly a quarter mile. And, since I've a few bigger projects planned this year, sweaters and whatnot, and no silly workdays to interfere, I think I can get this done! Maybe not full Marathon, but at least a half. Though, am trying to be optimistic and not discourage myself right away and will still aim for the Full ;)

The total will be displayed on the side of my blog, under the status of my current WIPs, and on my Ravelry user page. I have decided to only enter in yardages when I finish a project. Saves me the hassle of trying to figure out how much yardage is in a row of a given project. And since Ravelry lists the yardage used in each project, it makes it simple to then enter it into my Knit Meter and update!

And I'm off!

Adventures in DIY Knitting Toys, Pt 2!

Beaded stitch markers! I'm not into beading so much for it's own sake (probably not gonna start making my own jewelry or anything - just don't wear enough) but there are a lot of cute little beads out there, and beaded markers are certainly SO much cuter than the plain little plastic rings. But rather than pay bunches of money for a set of 6, I'd rather learn how to do it myself and have plenty for gifts and swaps instead :)

3 styles:

For all 3 styles, I am giving you the website where I found the original instructions, and all my photos and comments. I claim no credit for any of these patterns, just my own notes, pictures and other clarification. I've included a lot of other blogs and websites which had instructions too, if you're looking for more clarification or more pictures for ideas. These folk all did wonderful jobs providing the original instructions, and deserve all the credit. I know there are more instructions out there (a quick Google search will turn up bunches), but these are the ones I used for reference and inspiration.

Ring

About as basic as you get :) Found instructions at Okay Knits blog, and a few more pictures at Knitting-Warehouse.

Open jump ring. Slide on bead. Close jump ring. Position bead over opening to jump ring and superglue in place. Ta da! About as simple as it gets :)

Practice on non-shiny or iridescent beads at first, because you don't see the superglue smears on the bead. Once you get more accurate with your superglue application (took me a couple times to not superglue the bead to my finger) the shiny beads are fine too.

Make sure the bead isn't too big or awkward for the size jump ring you're using. That's one I learned the hard way! This bead works alright, but if it had been this length but long and thin instead of round (for example), then it would have been harder positioning the bead.

Hanging

For these, I got most of my instruction and inspiration from Wormspit.com (a blogger who, as you might imagine, loves silk). Most of the instructions online use regular jump rings or split rings (like small key chain rings) but if you work with lots of snag-able yarns and want your rings snag-free, you can use soldered jump rings (available for sale - I found mine at Oriental Trading Comany, size 8mm, so they fit up to US 9 needles) or solder your jump rings closed when you are finished beading them. There are other patterns online for snag-free stitch markers, most using thread or beading wire and no jump ring at all, but my personal preference, just didn't like the look of those as much.

I was finding that it was easiest to wrap the wire by holding the marker with the needle-nose pliers close the jump ring and wrapping the wire with my finger. A thimble helped sometimes. Then switch hands and hold the jump ring and top of marker in my hand and press the end of the wire into place with the pliers. Trying to wrap the wire with the pliers like was shown in some of the directions online is probably easier on your fingers, but was a bit too fiddly for my level of expertise. Using a thimble and my finger was easier for me.

Yes, I made lots of carrot markers (there are 8 of each color, if you count) because I already have cute bunny markers which they coordinate well with (see the other picture?), and I have a Clapotis planned this year, which needs about 18 stitch markers to mark the dropped stitches. And let's be honest, I like things to match :) And since the carrot beads were about 25 for $1 on a post-Easter sale, I think I could splurge to make lots of little carrots for my bunnies. And an extra bonus, my Clapotis will be in a tonal shaded purple yarn, so the orange carrots will look lovely with the purple yarn!

Other examples:

• Shiny Knits at her blog
• YarnGarn at hers
  
• CJ's Knitting Basket also has lots of good pictures.
  
• About.com's knitting page.
  
• Lee Meredith at Threadbanger uses paperclips instead of jump rings and pins, if you're looking for a cheap alternative to jewelry findings.
• Loxosceles has a different way of attaching the beaded bit of wire to the jump ring, if you're looking for something different
  
• Susan Beal at Craftstylish even provided a video in her instructions.
  
• Another video (dealing with jump rings especially) is over at KnitSpirit, the blog of Raveler IvyR.
  
• The blog over at Spindle and Wheel has fancier ones than mine, if you're feeling motivated, or have lots of beads lying around.
• Stuff Knitters Want and Gotta Have (very appropriately named) has instructions on little beaded angels, and for making your own clay beads as well.
• For more inspiration, I also like the flowers shown here in Peggy Hazelwood's eHow article.
  

Removable

Knitting for Charity's website was the first one I saw which suggested using leverback earrings instead of a jump ring in order to have removable stitch markers. This makes a nice stitch marker for crochet or knitting, if you want to attach the marker to the stitch instead of the needles. As a bonus, though, these earrings are big enough for my smaller needles to slide through, so they can be used either way, really :) The beading part of this one is the same as above, just attaching to the earring piece, not to a jump ring. The downside to this style of marker is that the loop on the earring piece can be weaker, so if you apply too much force as you are wrapping the wire, you can pop that ring. On these, it can be pressed back into place and then secured with a bit of soldering, if you are a crafty house like ours and have a soldering iron of your own.

Other examples:

• HookandNeedles has very clear pictures of the finished stitch markers.
• CrochetMe does as well, but uses lobster claw clasps instead of the earring backs. Same idea, still nice and removable, I just liked the earrings instead - not quite as heavy :)
• Another removable option, shown here on Instructables, shows a different type of attachment (I think they called them S-hooks?)

Movie Night review

This past weekend, before my heart broke, we had a Movie Night on Saturday with several friends. It was like having a real life again, between Knit Night on Friday and the movies on Saturday. However, with everything else that happened this weekend, I was not up to writing much on Monday other than grief, so Movie Monday got moved to later in the week. Here you go, thoughts and ramblings on Shutter Island.

Plot: Set in 1954, a pair of U.S. Marshals are called to isolated Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Of course, all is not as it appears.

It was refreshing, honestly - a suspense movie, a mystery without lots of blood splatter (i.e. a horror flick), or supernatural elements to explain everything, or similar blockbuster type movies. Just an honest-to-goodness suspense film. As Zach described it, though, "I hate mind f*** movies They f*** with my mind!" (Yes, fussing about those twists so common in suspense movies). Personally, I enjoy this type of movie, so sorry Zach, you'll end up getting dragged to a lot of these. :)

Personally, I liked the suspense in this one. I saw some of the twists coming, (probably because I watch a lot of these movies and was honestly looking for them) but I didn't catch all of them. So it was still an enjoyable ride. And it's definitely the type of movie that even after you know the big twist, it's worth a rewatch or three to see the clues that were hidden and that you missed on the first viewing.

Direction: Scorsese. 'Nuff said. The man knows how to make an entertaining movie. I was relived to see nice clean camera work again (Green Zone honestly left a really bad taste in my mouth for that). There was really only one scene that bothered me (and the rest of the group I went to see the movie with). There is a night-time scene with an open fire, which is flickering, as fires do. The issue? The camera needed to be about 6 inches higher, to catch flickering light on faces without being flickering light on the screen itself. As it was, the flame was filmed and ended up creating kinda a strobe effect for the majority of that particular scene. Very tiring on the eyes.

Acting: very strong cast. DiCaprio has grown into an actor I enjoy. That's saying a lot, because I was in high school when Titanic and Romeo and Juliet came out, so I was solidly in the age group going nuts over him, as teenage fan-girls are wont to do. To be able to say that he's an actor I enjoy, instead of being turned off by friends squealing non-stop over him... well, 10 years matures everyone, right? For him, really, the Boston accent was the only thing that was a little obnoxious. I think it was simply the repetitive "Federal Mah-shals" that annoyed me - the rest of his conversation didn't jar as badly. And the supporting cast was great too. Michelle Williams (another one who has outgrown teenage stardom well), Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Mark Ruffalo, Ted Levine... lots of good solid talent.

Really, the only really negative comment I have it that it might have been a bit shorter. The ending in particular seemed to drag on a bit. In the right mood, I suppose, you can consider that it was building suspense. If you're in a more of a "c'mon get to the point" humor, then it might irritate you a bit as they build to the finale. One of those take-it-or-leave-it comments, I suppose.

And as a side note, completely unrelated to the film itself but related to the movie-going experience, when going to a movie on a Saturday night, you have to deal with teenagers going too. Dang, I felt old!! I feel very much the crotchety patron shushing the "young folk," but TURN OFF YOUR FRICKIN' CELL PHONES IN THE THEATER!! That includes texting! We had some little dingbat a few rows ahead of us in the theater that wanted to hold his/her cell phone at eye level so that they could keep texting through most of the movie. But because said dingbat wanted to hold their phone up instead of in their lap, the back third of the theater had a lovely bright light distracting them. There's a reason cell phone screens are used as flashlights - they are bright!! If your conversation is that important, leave the theater. Otherwise, put your phone away and enjoy the movie that you paid for!

And beyond the texting, teens are much more chatty in movies. I say this knowing full well that I will talk in movies too, but I try to be considerate about it, because I know not everyone does. These guys were not so considerate. Snickering at the naked patients in the insane asylum, or flat out laughing during one of the more dramatic scenes in the climax... highly obnoxious. It was the ones about 3 rows behind us during the first part of the movie and then up ahead and to the right during the climax (incidentally, the group sitting with the texter). Like I said, I will definitely talk in a movie, but please folk, be considerate to other movie-goers. Not everyone wants to hear your oh-so-witty 16-year-old humor.

*steps off soapbox*

Overall: 5 of 5. Minor irritations with the accents, that one scene with the fire, and it might have been a little shorter, but overall an enjoyable thinking movie (don't let yourself be deceived by the trailers).

HERE BE SPOILERS (I love that line from IMDB!)

So, without giving too much away, do you think he relapsed at the end or not? Does his last question to Chuck indicate that he is choosing his fate because he cannot face reality, or is it a fate that he needs because he cannot even enter reality?

Discuss!

Farewell, my baby buns

This is absolutely heartbreaking for me to write, but last night I lost my little Joey buns.

He had been hiding a tumor on his stomach, a health problem that bunnies are unfortunately subject to. We hadn't caught it; he still binkied and grumped and explored and begged for treats and was much his usual self until this past weekend when he started going downhill. We took him into the emergency vet yesterday afternoon (nearly a 3 hr drive from the remote place we are stuck at now). I think it was worth the drive, because I could see the x-ray and see what was wrong and we were able to get some pain medicine in him, so his last few hours did not hurt.

I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to him at the vets', so we brought him home, and he passed away while we were driving back (like I said, nearly a 3 hour drive). He died in my arms, so I know he was warm and loved until the end, and I hope that he could tell that too. He gave me a few kisses on the car ride home, a rarity (he never was a kissy bunny) and though he was fading noticeably over the drives down and back, he didn't leave me until I could honestly tell him that he didn't need to be brave any more, that if he had to go, he could go. It was shortly after that that he left me. I am not one of those people who reads TONS of meaning into my pets' activities, but this is one of those cases where I do think that he was looking out for me.

Joey was one of those special pets that comes along. I had him for nearly 5 years (would have been 5 in July) so I think he was about 6, as I adopted him from someone else. He was the first pet in my life that was "mine" not "the family's". And he was definitely "Mama's buns." My husband was... well, tolerated but Joey never really warmed to Zach the way he did to me. But then, for nearly 2 1/2 years, it was just Joey and me. Joey was with me through a very trying time in my life - being alone in that place at that time, I needed him badly. While I was in South Carolina dealing with the wonderful coworkers and clients at Horrible Job, Joey was the one constant bright spot in my days. Zach was elsewhere in the country for different trainings, and Mom and Anne were still back in VA, but Joey was there for me. I could come home and have him to play with and share my salad fixins with, and relax a bit. I honestly still feel that if I hadn't had him then, I wouldn't have made it through that point in my life nearly as well as I did.

I took Joey into Town today to have him cremated. My mother-in-law has already said that we can spread his ashes at their garden back home (her "garden" is almost an acre - they live on a farm). It is on a hill, so my little climber will have a good view up on a hill and plenty of veggies surrounding him. I think it will be a good place for him. I talked to him the whole way into Town today, telling him all about the garden and how much he would like it there, and about the Rainbow Bridge and the other sweet pets we know who will be his welcoming committee there.

I think this is extra heartbreaking for me because Joey will be my first and last bunny. Zach is very allergic to hay, but knew that Joey was important enough to me to not fight having him when we moved in together. Zach only came into my life about 2 months before Joey did, but Joey was actually with me the whole time, while Zach was stationed about. Zach knew that Joey was important, and it is something I have appreciated a lot these last few years . Zach did like him though - he went and picked some flowers for Joey this morning, a hard thing to do in the desert, even in spring. Even though Joey was a Mama's Buns, Zach will miss him too. He was a very special bunny.

I'm sorry if this post is incoherent or rambling; I am still crying a lot as I write this up. People may not understand how much personality and love you can have from "just a bunny" but most of our friends have had a special pet, and can understand the loss. When Harvey (Anne's cat) died recently, she found a quote by Leo Dworken. "No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch." That's such a good quote, and so true for many pets, not just cats.

Joey, you will always have a very special place in my heart. You will always be my baby bunny.

Joseph B. Buns. Mr. Inquisi-nose. My little grumpus. King of the Mountain. My sweet little absurdity.

My Joey.