:: fluff & hustle

Jun

2012

march of the sinister knits

crochet, finished 2012, hats, jewelry, knitting, misc, scarves, socks

09 Jun 2012

well the crochet thing is off. having trudged through 400 meters of yarn in one sitting (with this lovely shawl in mind) i somehow just went “meh” and moved on. the construction and shape didn’t feel right. or maybe the butch trucker lesbian side of me’s just not ready for pink lace. how sweet is the taste of giving up.

but i do have something to show you instead. throughout the spring i’ve made lots of stuff which i haven’t had the time to present here, due to an unexpected and outrageous lack of spare time. being currently sick with flu offers a welcome break to do some blogging as well as the inevitable jurassic park marathon.

and so, a terribly long and incoherent cavalcade of finished knits follows.

seasons by jared flood

ravelry link

size 3

brooklyn tweed loft (70g / 3 & 3.5mm)

i got the brooklyn tweed seasons kit as soon as they went on sale back in march or something. i just had to get my hands on that loft yarn. (it’s totally hot, by the way.) my colorwork is rather, um, amateurish, but the colors themselves are heathered enough to cover up a lot of my inability to comprehend the concept of “color domination”.

the hat was a little snug when finished, so i wanted to block it to a nice generous slouchy look. a delightful little encounter ensued at a local department store, where i just happened to walk past the flower section with some completely unrelated business in mind, and saw a white flower pot that, when turned upside down, just caught my eye as the most perfect hat blocking device ever. so i took it to the counter and asked the girl what the circumference was.

“the diameter’s 19 centimeters,” she said. “no no, i need to know the circumference,” i replied and made her look at me like she couldn’t understand the words i was vomiting out. i was then forced to explain how this particular pot seemed the perfect size to aid me in wet-stretching a knitted garment which i couldn’t pin down and flat-dry because i didn’t want the side creases and how the pot needed to be between 60 and 65 centimeters because my head is 58 and i liked my hats a little loose, and i just needed to be sure about the pot size before i bought it.

she was probably lost at “wet-stretching”.

but in eerie silence she took out a measuring tape anyway and announced that the circumference is 62 centimeters, to which i responded with some joyous hand-clapping, to which she in turn responded with a look as if i was actually intending to use the pot in some completely different affair, possibly relating to eating babies and/or having sex with leather-clad muppets.

just imagine what a girl can do with a pot like this

but i took it home anyway and blocked the hat, and it’s perfect. never mind the fact that i’m probably on some stockmann persona non grata list now.

“i never should’ve fallen for that muppet”

speaking of hats, back when it was -25C outside i made me a wurm to keep my precious, precious ears warm with its double-layered edge. the size was perfect at first, but after blocking and in use the yarn got all droopy to the point where it’s almost too slouchy. so next time i’ll be making a smaller size.

wurm by katharina nopp

ravelry link

size biggiest

lana grossa cool wool merino (70g / 4mm)

then i made two of these ruffle necklaces, one for me and one for a friend for her birthday. i had to adjust the pattern a little because following the chart i couldn’t get the edges symmetric.

ruffle bib necklace by stefanie fail

ravelry link

mayflower cotton 8 big (25g / 3.5mm)

mine totally look better than the originals, by the way.

then there’s a couple of socks i made as presents for some nice people who are working hard to relieve me of my family curse of hideously crooked teeth. yes, i should’ve gotten them fixed back in the 90s. yes, i’m a 27-year-old with braces. no, i’m not very smart. but just a couple more months and i’ll be stunning. yeah. take that.

a girl at work, a.k.a. miss R, a.k.a. my partner in crime in all yarn-related mischief (no it’s not an oxymoron) taught me broomstick lace because, as it turns out, i’m not inherently the ultimate master of all knittingy and crochety bits. so with this newly-acquired skill i made some bracelets. they make me look all pretty. and cool.

the yarn’s schachenmayr catania in various colors and there’s 10 repeats in each. one bracelet took maybe 5 grams.

and finally i made another shallows, this time with some egyptian cotton and one less chart repeat so it sits a little snugger. also i took a crappy photo of it with a warped perspective, distorted colors and dismal white balance. it’s all part of the process.

there. i’m all puffed out now. i shall be dreaming about jeff goldblum tonight.

May

2012

would you believe…

liisa

crochet

23 May 2012

..if i told you i was crocheting?

well i am, so there.

May

2012

terminally happy

liisa

bob, misc

19 May 2012

continuing where i left off last time, i’ve been in a terribly, terribly good mood lately.

(i’m also aware that my updates have become increasingly infrequent. in my defense i can only say that it seems i’ve actually gone out and got myself a life. good news for my social life, bad news for writing pseudo-witty rants in the dark. also, my camera is a complete shitsack, which prevents me from snapping the artistically pleasing photos that form the foundation for this fine blog.)

i’ve been waking up to an odd feeling, one that makes me think things are somehow gonna be fine. that i have the potential to overcome anything life and bob decide to throw at me. that despite whatever may or may not happen, i’ll eventually emerge as someone who’s not entirely broken down in body and spirit.

fuck the illness. fuck work. fuck the financial crisis. fuck them all right in the ear. seems like nothing can penetrate this armour of maniacal contentment that’s somehow hovering around me right now.

of course this could all be just a symptom of some deadly brain tumor ticked off by the MRI i had last week. MRI number 8, to be exact, in 34 months, also to be exact. what a profoundly useful way of spending both time and money. probably some kind of a world record, especially with the zero findings there’s been so far. i’m probably infertile now too, because of all the radiation. oh well. at least i’m not claustrophobic. au contraire, i’m flaky enough to actually enjoy being there. what a strange person.

of course it could just be the spring. watching fresh green leaves pop out. feeling the gravel in my terminally worn-out summer shoes (which i refuse to retire because i got them in canada). wearing t-shirts outside, for god’s sake. hope smells a lot like rain and earthworms.

but of course i know it all comes down to being at the right place at the right time, seeing and hearing the right things, being completely and overwhelmingly encompassed with something you can’t explain but what makes you swoon and pant and giggle like a little girl anyway. or someone with a fatal aneurysm.

either way, i’m happy enough. anyone planning on raining on my parade right now.. well, i’d just like to see you fucking try.

May

2012

spring, snooker & shallows

liisa

finished 2012, knitting, lace, misc, scarves

06 May 2012

it’s the time of year again when men put on their bow ties and shiny leather shoes and gather up to poke their polished balls into some deep velvety holes, bending over backwards to get the position just right, crafting every thrust with precision only attainable through years of practice. for characters like “the rocket” and “the captain” failing or running out of steam is not an option. they will pound through 35 rounds of sheer sweaty excitement to see who’s boss and who’s.. well, the bitch.

i’m just gonna end this retarded analogy now.

turns out watching snooker and knitting makes even the douchiest life infinitely more tolerable. that and getting some global-ass support from people who are under no obligation to even care. so i thank you all in the most non-clever and non-sarcastic way i know how.

and now back to some actual knitting.

i don’t have much to say about this cowl though, except that it’s utterly, utterly sweet and awesome. it drapes exactly as i wanted and i dare say the color suits me, sir. i wouldn’t have said that a year ago, but as it happens i’ve recently matured and can now wear whatever the hell i want.

shallows by bonnie sennott

ravelry link

size 15 x 114 cm

madelinetosh tosh merino light (70g / 3.5mm)

and spring’s here too, that belated bastard. i’ve always figured you can’t really truly appreciate spring unless you’ve clawed your way through seven months of winter first. the first day you go out and the wind doesn’t slaughter you like some cosmic chainsaw, when it actually caresses you instead of withering away your last remaining breath of hope, that’s when you feel alive again.

and you skip along, humming as you go, squinting at the piercing rays of light and greeting every bird and bug and blob of color like you’ve just got out from the cave from the descent, and happily ignore the fact that approximately four months later some creepy bearded woodsman will yank you right back down again and throw you at the mercy of the drooling albino monsters your fellow men have become because of their chronic deprivation of sunlight, human compassion and dental hygiene.

pictured: me. yesterday morning.

but until then you’re sort of, kind of, fine. and baby, it feels good.

Apr

2012

hello, april

liisa

finished 2012, misc, socks

26 Apr 2012

in the midst of all the horrors that ensue from such wretched circumstances as a) staying alive and maintaining some level of sanity during a crippling nerve illness, b) working despite said illness in conditions that bear zero resemblance to the oohs and aahs state of the initial OMG THEY HIRED ME honeymooning period, and c) ducking from gigantic murderous german-speaking birds, i have completely neglected this blog.

my child, my blood, my intellectual excrement.

i left her on her own, writhing helplessly without any loving nourishment, and ignored her existence while pursuing a selfish, opiate-laden path of my own called “it’s me first or the bunny gets it” (also known as the “next fucker to irk me dies” path).

what a wonderful mother i would make.

i now realize the bird was merely trying to castrate me

but that’s the thing with constant, unchanging pain. it’s hard to concentrate on anything else when it’s always there. it won’t make you prettier. it won’t make you a better person. and it certainly won’t go away if you just think positive. no. all it does is turn you into a saggy bitter old maid with a slightly unfocused gaze and a medical bill the size of manitoba.

of course, once you reach that point, that’s the moment you go out and buy as much yarn as you and the postman can collectively carry. in all colors, in all qualities, from all continents and price ranges. because that’s what makes you (and by you i mean me) happy, and maintaining that level of happy is rather crucial here these days.

my precious precious happy

but after thoroughly sniffing the hanks, petting the hanks and daydreaming about the hanks, i slap myself (with the hanks) and figure things probably could be worse. i’m sure things can always be worse. and everyone has their own private hell. it’s just that some people face suffering with a sort of defeated, stoic, graceful halo that inspires others to appreciate what they still have.

me, i’m more of the kind to kick, scream and throw steaming turds at any and all instances whom i at the given time deem responsible for my current misery.

which is hardly inspiring at all.

anyway. somewhere in the midst of all this i made a pair of socks. they’re pretty, and sparkly, and they made me and my feet happy.

seagrass by melissa morgan-oakes

ravelry link

ilun erikoinen (70g / 2.5mm)

incidentally, they’re the first textured pair of socks i made with the toe-up 2-at-a-time method. i figured this twinkling beauty of a yarn deserves something more than just plain stockinette. and they fit like a dream too. perfect size, perfect shape.