Shop Update for June 5th

Calico Cat

The shop update is live!

A Dragon Ate My Homework

It's got some of my favourites in it, including my new Steampunk collection and a self-striping sock yarn inspired by the feline overlord herself.

Momiji

Steampunk Collection

Life Blood

What's Knitting?

What's on my needles this week?
The Bazinga blanket saw some love and now has a third block of color. I've successfully reduced my acrylic stash by three balls now. Life is good.

I also cast on and almost finished the Bamboo Robot mitts, knit out of leftover Lorna's Laces in Robot Overlord and a matching mini ball from the Bag o'Fun. The colors match just as well as I envisioned.

Fingerless gloves are a must-have in my life, and as mornings are (finally) getting cooler, it seemed like a timely little knit.

But the big news? I'm about to cast on for the first sleeve of Vivian, my first-ever sweater. And I'm super excited about it.

Nerd Wars Month 2 Summary - Geek Out!

Round Two: Fight!
I'm getting the hang of this Nerd Wars thing, and I'm getting more comfortable chatting in my team's thread, which is awesome.

Anyway, in November, I submitted:

Nerd Culture: Revenge of the Nerds: Bee Mine Mitts
Team Spirit: Winter is Coming: Fall Foliage Squared Hat
Intellectual: Periodically Scientific: mom's Frost Flower Cowl
Technical: From a different angle: Hexipuffs of Catan
Scientific: Anatomy of Nerddom: Movember socks
Giving Geeks: It's Hip to be Square: a cat blanket

For the love of cats blanket

Dare to be square!
For the Giving Nerds challenge this round, I'm knitting a cat blanket inspired by Sheldon's pillow on Big Bang theory.
It's just a striped garter stitch blanket. i'm making it out of Linkcraft DK, a bright, poppy acrylic I first bought in large quantities when I started to knit. I've been trying to find projects for it ever since.
I like the way it's coming out in the blanket, so that might be a good use for it.

For some reason though, I'm bored with knitting this. I don't know why. It's stripey, colorful, easy, but I find myself procrastinating after every row.

Oh well.
Still finished it, that's all that matters, right?
Which means another Melting of the Cube.

Goooo nerd wars!

Sheldon and the Bozite hat

Look, Sheldon got a Bozite hat!

Nerd Wars Tournament 3, Round 1:
Nerd Culture: Best-dressed Nerd

The challenge was to create a costume piece inspired by our nerddom.
I foresee myself crafting more accessories for the squishy little cat who will now be known as Sheldon.

Long Scarf is Long

 There is a time in every knitter's life when they become confident in their mad skillz and want to show them off to the world.
Usually a while before they have any actual skills.
I'm no different, so I was thrilled when Mr. Mechanicalpenguin (aka the man in my life) asked me to knit him a scarf.
Not just any old scarf, but a scarf of awesome nerdery.
A Longcat Scarf.
if you don't know what a longcat is, I recommend you get out from under that internet rock you've been living under and prepare to waste a day (or week) on icanhascheezburger.com. Go on. I'll wait.
How was it?
That's right. The place where hilarious kitten photos and bad grammar birth internet memes is also the source of longcat, the perfect scarf adornment.
This scarf not only proclaims one's nerdery to the wider world, it also came with a new (to me) technique: double knitting.
Double knitting basically produces a double-sided, reversible fabric by alternating knits and purls with two yarns at the same time.
Once you get into the rhythm, it's surprisingly addictive, if rather slow going.

I knit most of the scarf in the car to and from the snow on our annual trip to Mount Hotham, our home mountain, for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding.
The scarf is made from cheap acrylic yarn, so it's not overly warm, but Mr. Meachanicalpenguin proclaimed it perfect, and proceeded to wear it to work the day after it was finished.
Success!

Convertibility

I love things that can be other things.
Panniers that are bags.
Breakfast cereal as dinner.
Photos that are souvenirs.
A shawl that can be a cardigan, a shrug, a hood and more!
Versatility by Amanda Williams is one of those patterns that was probably a bit too much for me at the time, But I really, really wanted this convertible shrug-shawl-cardiga-thing!

Of course I didn't think to swatch, nor did I use yarn that was probably a good choice here.
In fact, I used a cheap and bulky acrylic that's delightfully soft, but not very easily manipulated by newbie hands like mine.

This pattern taught me lace, bobbles, and cables all at once.
It also taught me that I have no idea how much yarn something takes. I had to buy another ball of yarn. And another.
And then I had about a hand span left in the end.

I really liked the end result. Even if, you know. It didn't actually fit me.
But that's okay! Knitting always fits someone.
in fact, my cat thought it would make a fabulous blanket for her.

Things can always be other things if you let them. And cats love everything for themselves.

Cat Paw Socks

My second pair of socks! Whee!
I made these ones out of a baby acrylic I had lying around. I thought it would be fun, but I got kind of bored with it straight away. The color is just too flat.
On the other hand, I adore this pattern.
It's cat feet! On my socks! Could there be anything cuter?
As promised, these socks were done from the tow up with a wrap and turn heel. I'm not a huge fan of the heel, mainly because I don't quite understand it, I suspect. It made some holes along the heel, but that's okay. I still love them!

Once again, I didn't do enough ribbing. I was just so keen to cast these off and try them on!
The designer also sells yarn on Etsy, and she contacted me after I'd finished the socks to tell me they looked nice. Awwwww. How sweet of her!
her yarns look delicious, why don't you go check them out for yourself?