The Spit-Splice Photo Tutorial

Okay, first thing you should know, no scissors for this. Second, it works really well with wool, but not so good with other stuff, especially plant fibers. Let's get going!

1. Break the yarn by pulling it apart. Now fuzz up the ends real well. Undo the plies and fray what's left.
2. Now, get those ends wet with some readily available liquid. (Um, that's probably gonna be spit, but I suppose you could use tequila or chocolate milk... but I wouldn't recommend it.)
3. Lay the ends together, overlapping about 2". Now rub them together against something that provides good friction, such as the leg of your jeans or upholstery fabric. Keep on rubbing until the ends have disappeared.

In this case I wanted to take one color out of my Kureyon yarn--the yellow, so I just broke it out and spliced the purple straight to the orange. Yay!

Providence Smiled

What you non-knitters may not know is that typically we knitters love to knit but hate to do the finishing work on our pieces. Ask the knitters you know:

"Do you have any knitting UFOs that only need to have the ends woven in or the
sides seamed up?"

If they look away or blush, you have your answer.
So you'll understand that I have to get in the mood for finishing up. I was just ramping up to weave in the ends of the first Griffindor Arm Warmer when providence smiled. Knitpicks Podcast did a whole episode on weaving in ends! Four different people weighed in on their techniques. I chose a new one: Swiss Darning. It's a stitch I learned while working on the Fish Cozy, so I was just rarin' to give it a go! Here's a picture, but if I did it right, you won't be able to tell a thing! Okay, I know there's still loose yarn sticking out. I'm not done, okay. But you can also see my start on arm #2.
The mail came and brought with it some fresh excitement: the Pride and Prejudice yarn and sock pattern. Yes, it's colorwork--kind of a basketweave pattern.It also came with this weird chain thing. I'll have to ask the artist about it. It must be of some use to the pattern. Or it was something just sitting around her studio and she threw it into the box to get rid of it... nah! Nobody would do that, would they?Oh, the Fish Cozy: I'm doin' the top now. Isn't this cording looking thing interesting? That's actually attached! I'd like it on cuffs, I think.

I've written so much about knitting, you'd think that's all I do. I actually got some progress on In a Garden, but I was one stitch off (insert the theme from Psycho here!) so I had to frog a buncha stitches. (It wasn't the kind of thing you can fiddle with and it'll look okay--it would have messed with the structure.) Really no point in adding a picture of that...And here's Molly. She's been a little lonely, so I thought I'd do some quilting today. We'll see how it goes.

Not in the Tiki Room

Chiloe asked who the designer of In the Garden was: Linda Gillum from Kooler Design Studio. She's got quite a body of work and seems to be a dedicated artist.I finished working on the parrot quilt. I've decided to call it Rain Forest Serenade. Turns out that's the name of a piece of music by The It. Who knew? It's kinda nice. Here's a link if you want to take a listen. (Actually, I thought it was the name of the music from the Tiki Room in Disneyland. Turns out that's "Tropical Serenade.")

Here's the Juice Purse. This Noro Kureyon is freaking me out, though. While the colors are, well, juicy, there's hay or something stuck in every now and then. I pull it out and keep knitting, but also there are a lot of knots: that doesn't make for easy knitting. Even with those oddities, I like the yarn. The color progressions rock. And the yarn spit-splices really easily. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like. Don't think too long about it.

I found these blue sparky handles for it at my LYS. There were two other handle sets that looked good with it, but after putting some weight on them and holding 'em like a purse, the bamboo and the bead handles just didn't feel that comfortable to me and, after all, I plan to use the purse, not just leave it on the shelf!And Soylent Green sock numero dos is on its way. Yay! And remember, Soylent Green is made from the best stuff on Earth: people!

Some People Really Shouldn't Be Allowed Outside

Okey-dokey-pokey. What's up in the studio? Well, I've been a little--okay, not a little, super--obsessed. I've been working on In a Garden. See how the backstitch makes things so different? I think the details really shine.

And like everyone else, we've had to tighten our belts. Luckily I have a HUGE stash of stuff to sew, knit, weave, crochet, quilt, so the whole shopping thing isn't necessary, albeit way fun... But that does mean that the finished frameables (i.e. cross-stitch that I want well-protected) will have to wait until there's cash. Eh, so what? In the meantime, I can still make beautiful things. And pretty things. And, um, things.And speaking of things... the Griffindor Arms have had significant progress. I must say that the pattern was not as helpful as I'd hoped. In fact, it appears to be unfinished. The designer says to slip a number of "live stitches" (that means they're still knittable, and vulnerable to being dropped) onto a holder, but she never says what to do with 'em later. It's not like I'm going to hand my kid a project with a buncha stitches slipped onto a safety pin! I'm sure that doesn't count as finished. But the good thing is that it's giving me leeway for creativity. I've made a thumb hole and am just finishing up a few more rows.I'm taking advantage again of living in a beautiful place. Monday I took a little hike around Cabrillo National Monument. I saw a cottontail, two fishing boats, a paddle surfer, and plenty of lizards. I didn't take this picture, but this was definitely the view. And I touched those rocks!And today, I went to Balboa Park for a walk. I toured the prado, looked at the Niki de St. Phalle statues, and settled down in the Zoro Gardens (once a nudist colony for the 1935 Panama Exhibition and now a butterfly garden). Not sure how long I was there, but I think it was 5 rows of the arm warmers. Oh, and I sang. Nope. Not sure what I sang, but I know I was singin'. And the only person that came near me had an odd look on his face. Huh.

Busy? What Do You Mean, Busy?

Yeah, okay, so it's a little busy. Just who do you think designed it? The queen of no-off-switch. But, hey, the Purple Circus is complete! All that time with Tiny moved the quilt within reach of the magical realm of Finished. So I'll turn it in on next Friday--yay!And speaking of finished... The Red Herring Purse is all done, including lining. It took about half an hour to make the lining and then I sewed up the sides, put in the handle doweling, and tacked in the lining this morning at Knitting with the Girls. Now we turn our attention to an item not yet finished, but well on its way: the infamous Fish Cozy. When I knit on it in public, people stop to ask what in the world I'm working on; funny they can't tell. But look! I've done Fair Isle knitting (that's the pattern-y looking thing near the top) and decreasing and striping and stuff. I've learned so much just working on this little bugger!

The Voices in My Head

A miracle happened today: Tiny came into my studio with quilt fabric she'd purchased six years ago--when she actually was tiny--and spent time with me, working on her quilt! Me, the mom. I can hardly take it in. And she stayed in a good mood the whole day. We must have been together six hours. She completed this strip quilt top and made a back.

Here's a close-up. See how it looks a bit like that Hi Cat cat? A friend of mine calls it Fello Fitty...

And then--and then!--we watched a movie (Yes Man) with the Man of the Place just like a real family and everything.

I wasn't planning on sewing much today but I didn't want to break the spell so I just sewed and sewed and sewed on a purple thing that I was using for leaders and enders when working on other quilts. I'll call it Purple Circus. It's a scrap quilt, but maybe you can tell..One block calls for 4 - 2.5" square white, 2 - 2.5" square scrap, 2 - 2.5" x 4.5" strips, and 2 - 2.5" x 6.5" strips. I just came up with it. Although maybe it's something some pioneer gal invented 150 years ago. You never know. Also, I had more mile-a-minute blocks leftover from Shout! so I made another quilt. I think I'll call it ECHO! Echo! echo!

Also, I've found myself acting a bit hermit-y lately: not posting blogs or tweets or even reading my favorite sites or wanting to talk on the phone. And I think I know why: input overload. Yes, I've been listening to podcasts almost all the time. My creative thoughts have been suppressed because I'm constantly listening to the voices in my head, well, my earbuds anyway. So I've made stuff but communication has been challenging. I guess I'll have to change my listening habits.

Words Not Good. Pictures Better.

Not communicate thing. Brain fuzz. No drugs. Just... fuzz. Mile-a-Minute blocks. Tiny liked it. Good. Named "Shout" when brain was working.Had one skein of this super-bulky yarn. Tried the Unoriginal Hat pattern.

Ran out of yarn. Looks like a brain.

Big needles got stuck. Unscrewed tips and pulled 'em out. Not completely dmub.

Score from stash party. (Not the bear.)

More score.

I think I already put this picture up. Griffindor arms.

Soy-Lent Green socks. Some progress.

Sweater Workshop sampler piece. Looks like a Fish Cozy. With elbow patches.

De-Stash De-Tox

Pink Orient is finished! I changed the name to Fan Girl, as it's for my fan girl. Here's a closeup of the border fabric. I just pulled it out of the stash and it seemed to have a place right there. Yay--no extra shopping!
Here's a closeup of the quilting: it's a color-change thread that I had a big spool of just hanging around, wanting nothing more than to be a part of something greater, much like the rest of us.
And the back. I just hosted a De-Stash party with some of the knitters I know. One was moving out of the country and wanted to clear stuff out. So I went through my yarn and separated it into the stuff that could go... ...and the stuff that wanted to stay.But not everything that I was willing to part with was ready to leave the house that night. I have to go through and decide what to reabsorb and what to send to charity.My Nonsense and Sensibility Socks got done: hoop-de-doo! I had to block the cuffs because they're lace. Worked just fine but looks a little creepy in process. Here they are, all done! Am I standing on a book, you ask? Um. Maybe.

A Real Buckeye!

So, Applecheeks got a request for a quilt for a fellah who's a real Buckeye fan. (That's the team from Ohio State University for them's that don't know) She found this panel on eBay and dug out some coordinating fabrics. Then I took over. It struck me that there is a quilt block called Buckeye Beauty. Here it is: It's gonna work great.
But what is a buckeye? I went to the web. According to wordnet.princeton.edu, the inedible nutlike seed of the horse chestnut. Really? Horse Chestnut?Really? A nut? One that you can't even eat? And they named the team after a nut? Huh. I mean, if it was up to me to name a team, I'd probaby pick something like a funnel cake. Yeah. The New Orleans Funnel Cakes. That'd get people to cheer.

Just About Perfect

The Dream Dancer is moving along, albeit at a snail's pace. But the shield is done (well, it looks done because I haven't sewn in the white yet, but let's just humor the nice blogger) and the outside of the cloak is done (really). I've decided that she needs a name. What do you think of Running Water?
And here's the back for Cowboy Christmas. I was going to piece it from stash fabrics because I didn't have enough of anything that would work nicely, but something wonderful happened: at Prayer Quilt Ministry, Applecheeks held up this cloth--3 yards! and said,

"This was donated to the ministry but we can't use it because* it's Christmassy
and it seems to be a shame to cut it up. Can anyone use it? Anyone? Really, I
was hoping someone would be able to put it to some use..."

Now go back and see where I put the *. It was at that point that I ran up and wrapped myself in the fabric, but she wouldn't let go and just kept talking and talking. Boy, that woman is strong!And here's a nice little close-up. I think it's just about perfect!