March 31, 2009

Trying something new...


crochet swatch
Originally uploaded by miminh3
Crochet. Who would have thought??

I'm learning the basic stitches so that I will be able to seam and finish my knitted projects painlessly in the future. This Rowan book is great for beginners like me.

Am I the only one who thinks that crochet is harder than knitting? I have to look up the description of every stitch as I tend to confuse them in my head. That, and I also can't remember if I should count the turning chain stitches or not on a given row. But as for knitting, I'm sure that I'll eventually get it :)

March 19, 2009

March Phat Fiber box


March Phat Fiber box
Originally uploaded by miminh3
What's better than getting yarn or fiber from an indie producer? Getting yarn or fiber from 20!

I was lucky enough to get a Phat Fiber Sampler for March after reading the review on Knitty. Plenty of fiber to spin (probably on one of my spindles rather than the wheel in order to get a better feel for each fiber), handspun or hand-dyed yarns to swatch with (maybe the cute crochet pattern that was in my box), a stitch marker, a yarny bookmark, a pretty notecard, and many coupons.

March 16, 2009

More knitting presents!

I just rotated to a new department but it was with a heavy heart that I left my coworkers of 15 months who are now my friends. They know about my yarn addiction and my knitting obsession (the KR calendar on my desk might have been a tip off) through my frequent mentions of knitting blogs, knitting podcasts, and knitting retreats. One of them, the only woman, is a knitter but the guys don't get it so I was really surprised when they gave me some wonderful goodbye gifts: "The Opinionated Knitter" by EZ, a skein of Jade Sapphire Cashmere (who doesn't love cashmere?!), and a matching pattern (Dragon Scale scarf by Bad Cat Designs). So now I have to plan some knitting gifts for them, though one of them already received the Koolhaas hat I was knitting during the last KR retreat.

Square 2 of the Barn Raising Quilt is finished: 2 down, only 40 to go! I'm hoping that the Rowan's Crochet Workshop will teach me some good crochet finishing skills so that putting the squares together won't be painful.

I'm almost done with a lace scarf from La Droguerie and will post a picture when it's done and blocked.