Back from the... Wherever

It's been a while since I've posted, and I've been up to a lot.  There are a lot of manis that never made this blog plus I've been doing some more crochet designing.

If you want to, hop on over to Crochet Spot to see my Open Shell Triangle Scarf (pay pattern) or Open Star Motif (free), or maybe the open Square Earrings (free) are more your style. I've even done a cutesy little Pencil Case (free). Aside from that, I'm also working on a series of tutorials for the techniques I've come up with for increasing and decreasing in foundation rows. The first one is a general increase tutorial that uses the single crochet foundation row for example's sake.

And guess what.

Bam! Tutorial Spam

In the name of keeping this thing updated somewhat regularly and remembering it's not a nail blog, It's time for some tutorial spam.

The first one is something that I have no idea what to do with at the moment, but I love it and want to share because I may have an odd sort of love for scratch-offs.  I'm the person who gets the car dealership ads in the mail, takes off the key, and scratches all of the circles.  Then, of course, I don't do anything about my "prize."  Scratching is a reward in itself.

Is it Just Me? Measuring WPI

Every once in a while the WPI gauge conversation comes up.  If you're a spinner, you probably know what I mean.  Someone asks about the necessity of it, almost everyone says no and tells them what they use instead.  Personally, I use a ruler.

One thing that seems consistent is that people wrap the yarn to measure WPI--in which case, I'd think something with a larger circumference/perimeter that a lot of the alternatives to the WPI gauge would actually be a better choice.

I don't wrap.  I shove my ruler into the hank and choose  a variety of threads to measure with because I want something closer to an "average" WPI rather than the WPI of just one section, which is what you get when you wrap around a ruler or dowel or whatever it is you're wrapping it around.  In fact, I'd go as far as to say a niddy noddy (or your skeining tool of choice) seems like it would make a better WPI gauge than a WPI gauge.  I suppose if I were more anal about my spinning and consistency, wrapping would be a more attractive option, but I'm fine with my natural variation, so there will be a ±1 weight variation from what my intended yarn weight is at some point in the yards upon yards I'm spinning, especially since I stretch my projects out timewise.

So there you have it.  I apparently think the best time to measure WPI is during the skeining process.  But maybe that's just me.

More Mudpie

Remember that Mudpie Polwarth top I was spinning?  Well I have made some more progress on it.  I don't want it to become another never-ending project.  So far I've got this much done.

Experiment Part II

Part II of the experiment would be disappointing if I really cared all that much about the results.  Yes, I'm one of those weirdos who just like to satisfy their curiosity.  That said,  let's continue.

After this paragrapgh, there would be a picture of the very low-twist singles I spun (as much as I like spinning, "spin" is one verb that offends my sensibilities when it comes to the past tense), but I forgot to take a picture.  Instead, I present the singles after washing and agitating and such.

New spinning and Some Experimentation (Pic Heavy)

So a few days ago I started a new spinning project with Polwarth from Gale's Art.  The colorway is called Mudpie, and it looks like it will be living up to that name.  Hopefully, it will be in a good way.  It looks like the color progression, the colors used, and the staple length will make this into  yarn that will be mottled at the very least

Here's the braid.

Spinning: The Project That WILL NOT DIE

Meet the project that will not die:

I've been working on it since 2009.  It's not its fault, really.  The fiber is lovely (merino/silk from Woolarina) despite all the messing up that's happened through travel and packing and such.  It's my fault for thinking that Navajo ply on-the-fly should be done for such a big project.

The Post-Christmas Post

So Christmas was... Christmas.  There was food (slow cooked turkey breast, macaroni and cheese, green beans, potatoes, and chocolate chip cookies, for the curious).  There was eggnog--I actually just drank the last of it; it had mellowed out a lot.  There were phone conversations with relatives and an argument over whether I had an Easy Bake Oven (I did).  There were horror movies.  There was Shin Chan. Oh, and there's a video on Facebook in which my older brother is wearing  bright pink wig.

There was no Christmas mani because my Wet N Wild French White Creme refused to dry.  I did try painting my nails black in preparation for a star manicure, but then ended up not feeling it.  Finally, I came up with something I wanted yesterday.

Excuse the pictures.  I didn't like the stamping on my left hand, so I took pictures of my right.  I'm not a lefty, and the button placement isn't good for left-handed pictures.  (Do they make lefty cameras or do left-handed people just have to deal?)  The red is actually a lot deeper--more crimson than scarlet.

I Swear This Isn't a Nail Blog

It really isn't, but I do my nails pretty often.  Therefore, you will see a lot of my nails.

Before I get to those, let's have some crafty linkage.  Click the photo to see a crochet pattern I wrote.

Cute, right?

Now on to the nails.  I have two words for you.  Leopard.  Print.  I'm so excited about this mani, it makes no sense.

The First Post is the Hardest.

It brings up a dilemma.  Do I start with an introduction or do I get on with the real content?

I figure that the first people to read this thing will be people who know a bit about me.  Plus there's a profile to fill out if I want to share some things about me.  Why not let who I am come out gradually through the process of blogging?

So without further ado, let's get to some real content.

I have to share this Random Tutorial Generator that's been going around Facebook.  It's an awesome time suck for crafty people or people who just like to watch.

My favorites so far:
Braided Headbands
Fabric Boxes
Flower Brooch