Magical Ponies

Sometimes things just fall into place.

I received two skeins of wool by for Christmas. It's really gorgeous, the dusty pink color in a halo of fuzz, the gentle sheen. I felt incredibly lucky to receive it. But with that comes with pressure. You want to pick the *perfect* project for your perfect yarn.

To Pinterest I went. I have been re-visting the weird horse girl phase of my youth, so I had a lot of horse motifs already saved. There was something about this sweater, though. It's a version of the 'Hestapeysa' sweater (by designer Jóhanna HjaltadóttirI I believe) posted on Pinterest by Susanne Hildebrandt. I loved the traditional yoke design, something I've never done before! That's my favorite thing about knitting, there's always new skills to learn.

I had also thrifted some brown yarn a little while earlier, and I had some white yarn laying around from making Christmas gifts. EVERYTHING marketed towards little girls in the early 2000's was brown and pink, or at least everything my bought for me was. The little color pallet that was brewing made me so nostalgic and happy, just like the horse motifs did. A match made in heaven.

I was VERY excited to start this project. Until I read the pattern. The sweater is worked bottom-up. Which means I had to knit 43 cm of straight stockinette. Not counting sleeves. Some people find the repetitive nature of knitting to be relaxing. It can be for me, but usually doing stockinette in the round is just BORING. And the longer I do the more boring it becomes. Not to mention the fact that I severely messed up the torso measurements on my first try. I had to frog quite a bit of progress. Brutal.

No matter! We power through. I did a fun crochet ribbing at the bottom of the torso and the sleeves just to entertain myself a little. The colorwork which I was so excited to start provided its own challenges. I'm going to include the chart because this pattern is free. See those light blue parts? Those are decreases. I guess I didn't look at the pattern key at first, 'cus I had NO IDEA. This is a teaching moment for both myself and any newbies out there, scan the WHOLE PATTERN before you start.

Ok so maybe my process was not as magical as I envisioned it at the start. But there was joy to be found! I took this project to California, on a visit to my very best friend in the world. I met their partner, and they both went above and beyond to make me comfortable. I can't think of two kinder or more generous people. Now when I wear my sweater it brings me back to sitting in front of the space heater with my friends, laughing and eating California style burritos with my friends. PLUS my serendipitous yarn knitted up so nicely. The white yarn is beautifully shiny and fluffy, the pink has a gorgeous haze and the brown ties it all together so nicely.

Meaning of Things

I'm a very sentimental person. Every little object is a talisman to me, carrying secret meaning. Power beyond what you can see. It's part of why making things means so much to me, I think. All of my items, even the smallest, silliest ones carry some intention.

Sometimes on purpose, like with Moss here. One of my first amigurumi projects and definitely not my best, but he means a lot to me. I made him early in 2022, wrote a lil note with my intentions and goals for the year and sewed it into his torso.....Ok it sounds creepy when I write it out!! Making amigurumi is not unlike what Victor Frankenstein was getting up to. ANYWAY, having a cute reminder of my goals around was actually really helpful.

Other times the meaning comes by accident, and it's unwanted. I'm really proud of this scarf. It's a patchwork of knit and crochet, no two pieces are the same. Texture is really fascinating to me, and I LOVE making pieces that combine different textures. Unfortunately, I made many of those pieces sitting on the couch next to someone I don't speak to anymore. The little pops of white were his idea, which REALLY sucks. It's like that meme, "The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Good Point".

Messiness aside, the negative association with this scarf, which was one of the things I was most excited to post, kept me away from this page for a long time! The literal definition of a talisman is "an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune". I was raised Catholic, and many of our saints have ironic meanings. Just as one might hold a medal of the headless Saint Denis in prayer to relieve their migraines, I hold my scarf to ward off people with bad intentions.

Round-Up

My brain moves slowly but the hands they never stop! I have made a few things since we last spoke. In cronological order! My beautiful LoupyStudio scrunchie bag! I made the crochet version, because I find it creates a more durable fabric. I am VERY hard on my wareables. Especially something like a bag, I'll toss it around with reckless abandon. It's holding up pretty well so far! Think I might replace the cord though, with something less stringy.

This guy doesn't have a name yet but I am quite fond of him. Inspired by my friend Taffa who I love so very much!

And a matching moon for my star pillow! I swear to GOD next time I freehand something I will write down the gosh dang pattern. Jesus whats wrong with me.

A Confession

I wrote that last entry when I had a fever. It makes barely any sense and it's technically unfinished becuase I wanted to lay down instead. I've felt weird updating since. Like I've embarrassed myself! No one is reading these anyway, but even if they are, so what? Really the only thing I should be sorry for is that I didn't include pictures of my beautiful forever blankets! I will do that now. Everyone pretend they were always there.

Forever Wippies

How do you pronounce WIP? Do you say works in progress? I've gotten into the habit of mentally calling them wippies. No one irl is asking me these things though which is why I have a blog. YOU are now my captive audience. Let the monologue begin.

One of my favorite things about knitting and especially crochet is the ease with which you add on to an old project. If I bought a granny square blanket from the thrift store I could just make some squares of my own and sew them on. The object isn't done until you say its done, and you can always change your mind. Cut frog and sew forever. This is much like being a webmaster. My site will never really be "finished". Even when I'm gone from this earthly relm, someone could find my password and post in my place, making updates for all eternity.

I have made some updates to this great forever wippie. I have added a place to store all my design info. The library. Like my irl bookshelf, that page is full of stuff I've found all over, collected over the years. I am a bit of a jpg hoarder. I'm trying my best to keep things organized over there, and include as much information about the sources as I can. Emphasis on trying.

In the material world there are a few projects that I know will probably never really be done as well. Both blankets. I think there is something very amusing about the idea that I will one day be an old woman with two football field sized blankets. And I would throw a giant slumber party with everyone I know and the entire 2094 New York Giants lineup.

Around The House

Hello! I didn't mean to go so long between posts. I moved! For the last month my time has been mostly spent packing or unpacking boxes. Or replacing things that got lost in the shuffle. Or building furniture. I didn't have time/motivation to blog but I never stop making. I have a hard time adjusting to change and it was the only thing keeping me sane in this new environment. Plus we had an emergency! We new bought pots and pans but no potholders. Luckily its very easy to crochet a square.

Putting up a curtain rod is much harder than it seems. My arms were very sore afterwards. They got a break though, I had some crochet vines from a previous project laying around which made for perfect curtain ties. I did make a lil flower 'cus I can't be still for to long.

This one is the least necessary but the cutest I think. My mom is one of those moms who LOVES a themed room. She also loves astrological motifs, so her new bedroom is night-sky themed. She wanted a star pillow. So I made a star pillow! Me-1, Amazon-0. She's also one of those moms who loves Amazon. I am having a hard time deciding how personal to get in this blog. These items are a part of my life so its hard to not share little details of my life along with them! Anyway, look at this shit, adorable.

This place gets way more natural light than my old apartment, and we even have a little patio so hopefully my photos improve a little ^.^ Looking forward to making stuff outside and taking nice pictures of that stuff.

Socks For Docs

I am now the owner of a beautiful pair of Doc Martin t-strap Mary Janes. An unexpected birthday gift from my uncle, who I love so much and am very grateful to have in my life. These have seriously been my dream shoes for SO LONG. But I don't think I ever mentioned them to him! What a lucky girl I am.

Of course, there is now the little problem of breaking them in. My intention is to wear these shoes everywhere, with every outfit, forever. Doc's are famously not very comfy fresh out of the box. You can find lots of little hacks on the internet to beat the new-shoe blisters. Wearing Band-Aids or two pairs of socks, I also read something once about putting them in the freezer? All of these methods are now OBSOULE, because I have invented the first ever pair of Doc Martin proof socks. DON'T Google that, just trust me.

If you are an experienced knitter, you might have a favorite sock "recipe", a basic pattern you follow because you like the fit. My only innovation here is the heel flap, so it doesn't particularly matter what pattern you use. I used the "Vanilla Sock" pattern by The Blue Mouse on Ravelry. Their pattern is super easy to follow, with clear directions and helpful diagrams. This may become MY favorite sock recipe. The fit is perfect and its super easy to adapt to your own needs.

Now for the work I ACTUALLY did, the genius idea I was bragging about earlier. You know that slip stitch ribbing I mentioned in my summer hat post? The very easy technique that makes neat stripes? It also produces a thicker fabric than other types of ribbing, because your carrying the colors over. Its basically twice the padding of a regular rib stitch. You just replace the heel flap in your sock pattern with slip stitch ribbing. You can also start the heel flap a few rows earlier than your pattern recommends depending on where your shoe hits you. I happen to have a blister on my ankle from a previous outing which acted as a helpful guide.

I had a little bit of yarn left over from my hat so now I have cute socks with the same colors and motifs. AND they'll protect my ankles.

First Post!! A Cozy Hat For....Summer?

Honestly I have been having a hard time deciding what I wanted my first blog post to be about. My uh, process, is usually VERY disorganized. I am allergic to swatching so I always have strange quantities of yarn left over. So half my projects are deliberate and the other half....freehanded, freestyled, free from all logic. my HOPE was that having a blog would pressure me to write some of my patterns down. But oops, I've done it again.

I wanted to use up my The Wool Yarnicorn. It's shades of pastel pinks and blues feel so summery to me, like the colors you'd see in an ice cream shop. The only issue is that I have a ball of the petite wool. Thick, fuzzy, warm wool. Definitely not appropriate for summer. So we pivot! This past winter I made a pair of Ulchabhain mittens, and I thought the slip stitch ribbing turned out so cool, its simple to do and comes out pretty stretchy. Hats need to be stretchy...and warm...I've got it! I dug a ball of grey acrylic from the depths of my yarn stash. It's a nice contrast to the extraness of Yarnicorn. An ice cream shop on a rainy day.

It knit up fairly quickly. Slip stitch ribbing is super easy, you slip one color all the way around, then pick it up in the next round. Alternating until you have your desired number of rows. I didn't actually know how many that was when I started. I kept trying on my unfinished hat, guessing how far I had to go. I wanted a beret kind of shape, so I made some increases after four rows, forming that little brim that berets have. Does that have a name?

A perfect way to end my first post. An unanswered question and a patternless hat. It turned out pretty cute though!