Sarah's Crafty Calendar - Summer Edition

So I was chatting with some of my knitting friends and mentioned how there were some crafty events coming up and totally confusing myself on which one was on which day and where so I figured I'd organize myself so I don't miss anything as I recently did with the Coolidge Corner Art Fest :( and share the details with my peeps.

Sowa Open Market - every Sunday crafty delights in South Boston/South End. While there are some local farmers and bakeries who set up there really is not a lot of food so get lunch at some place fabulous in the South End first. (May I suggest the crab cakes at Stephi's on Tremont?)  Check the site to make sure they're not closed on holidays and for directions and parking (yes, parking!) details.  Oh, and for some folks who I know head to Rhode Island quite a bit, they do have a sister market in Providence.

Boston Handmade Marketplace - July 10 Union Square, Somerville. I've never been to this small market but there be live music and demos from the Common Cod Fiber Guild (of which I am a member) so go learn how to knit or spin or appreciate wooly goodness!

Art Beat - July 17th - Davis Square Yes, it's going to be hot it always is, but just cool yourself off with a mango lassi from Dali and enjoy the music, crafts, activities for kids (if you're into that kind of thing) and food. Yummy, yummy food. Davis Square restaurants set up shop in carts on the street so you can get your Redbones pulled pork sandwich while walking.

Boston Bazaar Bizarre Summer Fair - August 21, Union Square Somerville I believe this is their first summer fair but their winter show is always such so fun and have artists I really like that I am excited they are doing a warm weather fest. 

There all nice and neat. 

Seriously, another Knit Chicken?

Clearly I have a problem.  (And to my sister who had the thought "Just one?" a second ago, I'll get you for that, beware you may be forced to laugh at something so hard a beverage comes out your nose.) Anyway, back to my problem, it's the damn knit toys!  I can't stop making them.  I see this pattern by Susan B. Anderson for chickens and I think that's a cute pattern. But nothing I really need to make. But then looking through the projects on ravelry I see the chicken made with these great charts that a ravelry user has been so gracious as to put up on her blog. 

There is something about the colors and the wing pattern that reminds me of this set of chicken knick-knack things that my grandmother used to have on top of her fridge and suddenly I really wanted to make this bird. Ah, nostalgia.  The fact that I happened to have all the colors I needed  just hanging around in my stash made it a done deal. 

Since the last thing I need is another stuffed animal in my place and he's a bit too country to fit with my style the chicken will soon be crossing the road and traveling up to Maine to enjoy the simple life of my folks place there. 

The charts are available here at rav member, ElleM's blog. You still need to buy the original pattern, the blog just has the charts for the stranded design.

I would say this is the last toy I will be knitting for a while but my mom just asked if I'd make a toy for the grand-daughter of one of her friends.  And seriously can I stop knitting toys for longer than a few months? Apparently not.

Oops, I Did It Again

Crazy as it sounds, well at least to me, I knit a second pair of socks. And again,I enjoyed it, this may become a habit.  I dug down into my stash and found my Flying Happy Jenny yarn.  I think this yarn had been waiting to be made into socks and I just didn't know it until now. It is Knitpicks Bare, that Jenny had dyed for me a few years ago. 

Based on recommendations from my sock-loving friends I knit Charade, a super popular sock pattern.  It's a a free ravelry download so click here to check it out. You know why it's a super popular? Because it's a really good pattern. It's easy to memorize, keeps you interested, looks great, an all-around good pattern.  I made a few tweaks just to adjust for my weird feet and they fit amazingly well.  I also made the cuff a bit shorter because I don't really like tall socks and I used an eye of partridge heel just because I kept reading people mention it in the rav forums and wanted to see what the difference was between the other heel I did.  I think it's just a bit prettier and I am sure there is something about how the heel wears but since it's 80 degrees here I am not wearing these soon to test that out.

A Place to Hang my Hat

Just over a year ago I saw this diy project for cute hooks on Design*Sponge, one of my favorite design blogs.  I figured that seems like something I can do and put it in the back of my head for future reference. 

Then I went to Brimfield last May and picked up the vintage hooks I could use for this.  Spring turned to summer, summer to fall and yada yada yada.  Last month I finally got to a big old home improvement store to get some wood and have it cut to size.  Annoyingly none of my small hardware stores sell lumber or cut it down if needed.  Oh  did I remember to buy screws to fit in the hooks while I was there? Of course not, back to the local hardware store I go.  Then I had to buy cute paper. I had seen something I liked at Paper Source and now of course it was gone, so I checked another store, also gone.   Grrrr.... For a straight forward project with not many materials I sure was was hitting a lot of stores.

So I took to the internet and started looking for pretty wrapping papers, I wanted something with red and it seemed everything was Christmas-y or just fugly.  Then I came across Smock Paper  located in upstate NY they print on bamboo paper and are amazingly eco-conscious and most importantly have gorgeous stuff! I checked to see if any local stores carried their products and turns out there were a couple including a really cute paper store that I had no idea existed in Beacon Hill, Rugg Road Paper Company.  After looking at all their yummy papers I still ended up going with the Blossom paper from Smock.

Really, buying the materials was so much more of an ordeal then the actual project.  I pretty much followed the tutorial to the letter except I did decide to seal my paper with Modge Podge.  Yet another trip out for supplies since all I had on hand is gloss Modge Podge and I really wanted a matte finish.

I modge podge, I drill, I screw and I am done! All ready to hammer to the wall.  I take out the tool box and I don't have nails long enough! Seriously?!? One last trip to the hardware store and now it is really done! Yay!!!

Look at My Foot!

My trip to the Dark Side is complete, I have finished my first pair of socks. And *gasp* I enjoyed it. 

I definitely did learn a bit along the way. They are a teeny bit big since I was so afraid of them being too small. They are definitely not perfect, the first one has a serious pointy toe. Oh and how does one get that last stitch when you're doing the kitchener stitch to be tight? I seem to always end up with that last loop flying around. Then on the second one I was about half-way through kitchener'ing (that's a verb right?) when I realized I was doing it the wrong direction and would only have worked if my toes were moved by 90 degrees and then it would be seriously hard to walk. My feet are wonky but not that much.  I do understand now the serious pride at being able to turn a heel.  I found myself thinking things like "sure that person can do such and such (insert impressive achievement here) but can they make a sock? Doubt it!"

I also got to experience trying to take photos of my feet. It seemed to work best with me upside down with my legs propped on the back of the sofa and my head resting on the ottomon. Should anyone from the apartment building across the street happened to look at that time they must have been seriously confused, all the more since it was at something like 6:30am on a Saturday.

Since I normally wear short socks, anklets and such, I am now scouring these kinds of patterns on rav.  If anyone has a favorite or a favorite spring sock yarn let me know. It's finally too warm to wear wool socks here! Except my folks did say the got 2 inches of snow this weekend in Maine.  Really, winter is over now!

It's Flooding in Boston, but I Hear Hell May Have Frozen Over

My knitter's block has not really not wanted to un-block. I made several attempts at casting on only to rip everything out. Nothing was working. I had to try a new tact.

Did you ever see that Seinfeld episode where George decides to do the exact opposite of what his natural instincts tell him to do? I decided to give that a whirl. So what is the item I never, ever,ever knit? That I have stubbornly refused to knit.   Altogether now boys and girl- SOCKS! 

Yes, I decided to knit socks. (Somewhere in San Francisco, Ariel is cheering). I went to my LYS and I scanned their wide selection of sock yarns.  My instincts pulled me to my familiar favoite colorways, blues, blue and green, blue and purple, do you see a trend? And it struck me again - opposite! No blues, no quiet, muted nature or jewel tones. I had to go for loud and bright to break me from this block.

So I picked this skein I would normally never buy.  Look it has orange and a bits of pink! I don't wear/knit orange or light pink.

I have cast on the plain old sock recipe in The Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules.  Well actually I cast on and frogged and cast on again, and then knit a whole bunch and ripped back to the ribbing and changed needles sizes. First they were going to be too big, then too small, then too big again, and I mutter about my fat calves and freakishly wide feet but I kept knitting. I was determined and it helped that I was like a small child and really wanted to see what happened next with the self-striping yarn. 

Here's a pic of where I am so far.  I just finished turning the heel which was far less stressful than I anticipated.

Fiber-y Videos

Okay, just cause I haven't been knitting recently does not mean I have shunned all things sheepy and wool related.  Here are a few of my favorite videos of late.