This weekend the birdbath was like a savannah watering hole to all kinds of insects. We were watching them, and feeling a little jealous (not having a lake nearby to cool off in ourselves), between rounds of drywall taping/mudding/sanding and trips to the hardware store.

I’ve been spinning a tiny bit lately. The fleeces I brought home from Colorado are going to be rugs, some day. No pictures yet – I’m thinking of plying the Black welsh mountain and Cotswold cross together for a ragg effect.

Knitting with…
camel yarn
metal wire
dog/cat hair
bananafiber yarn
silk
bamboo yarn
soy yarn
alpaca
your own handspun yarn
someone else’s handspun yarn
wool
selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
cashmere
synthetic yarn
recycled/secondhand yarn
cotton
beads
linen

Projects:
Pillows
Rug
Jewelry
items for a wedding
Mittens: Tip-down
Mittens: Cuff-up
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Hat
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
Stuffed toys
Scarf
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Hair accessories
Afghan
I-cord
Shawl
Sweater
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Baby items
Slippers
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Gloves
Purses/bags
Knitting for pets
Knitting a gift
Holiday related knitting
Moebius band knitting

Techniques:
Knitting smocking
Freeform knitting
Garter stitch
Stockinette stitch
Knitting with circular needles
Drop stitch patterns
Slip stitch patterns
Domino/modular knitting
Twisted stitch patterns
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Button holes
Bobbles
Norwegian knitting
Two end knitting
Knitting with dpns
Steeks
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Tubular CO
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting
Fair Isle knitting
knitting socks, or other small tubular items, on two circulars
Fulling/felting
Swatching
Machine knitting
Darning
Short rows
Intarsia
Continental knitting
Thrummed knitting
Knitting on a loom

Other knitting-related stuff:
Dying with plant colours
Publishing a knitting book
Knitting for a living
Dying yarn
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Knitting to make money
Writing a pattern
Designing knitted garments

From the Internet:
Olympic knitting
Participating in a KAL
Charity knitting
Knitting for preemies
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Knitting art
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Knitting in public

Now, the iPhone is cool, but it certainly isn’t cheap. And I have better things to do with my cash (eg, buying yarn!) than to lay out even more $$ for a new phone holder. Besides, I never used the belt clip or holster for the last two phones I had. I just toss it in my purse or pocket and go. Not the greatest plan if I want to keep it looking new.

But. As we all know, these smart phones aren’t just phones any more. I haven’t felt the need to carry my phone with me around the house, but my iPod is my constant companion, clipped onto my shirt, with tunes or an audiobook going while I work out, do chores, spin, weave … just about all the time. And one of the big features of the iPhone is that it’s an all-in-one solution – phone, datebook, MP3 player, camera, etc. Unlike the Droid, or the Voyager, or the enV, I actually want to have it with me at all times.

I thought about knitting a pouch, which would be super cool, but … slow. Besides I’m all full up on projects right now, with a pair of Cranberry Biscotti Socks, a neck warmer, and two sweaters in active rotation. Then I thought about the pile of darning in my bedside table. This poor blue sock has been darned at least three times, and at this point doesn’t even have a mate, so it was nominated for transformation.

First, i measured the sock against my iPhone, and cut off the cuff of the sock about 1.5″/3cm longer than the phone. I used the cuff because it’s got patterning all around, it’s exactly the size I want, and there are no darned patches on it! Plus, the top of the cuff is already finished, and the cut edge is hidden inside the pouch.
Pick out the bits of cut yarn, and unravel a round or two so you have a good solid edge. This sock was a bit felted, so I’m not concerned about stitches unravelling.

Turn the cuff inside out. Using the unravelled yarn and a sharp tapestry needle, seam across the cut end of the sock about 1/2″ from the now-live stitches. If you have the time and patience, this would be a great place to practice grafting: Unravel a few more rounds, cut off the excess yarn, and graft the live stitches to close the tube into a pouch. I’m in a hurry though, so I just backstitched across two or three times.

To wear the pouch, I found an old eyeglass chain. I just sewed the rubber bits that attach to the temples of the eyeglasses, to the inside of the top of the pouch. You could also knit i-cord to the length you want (mine is about 30″) or use an old necklace. (This is where Samwich decided to help by supervising my work. Always a team player, she is.)

So there you have it – a free smart phone pouch in about 15 minutes.

* That may not be the word Paul uses, but it’ll do for this family-friendly blog.

I knit these mittens in just a day, from the Noro Kochoran left over from my Rasta cap. (That’s the hat in the background; here’s the Ravelry link to it).  They turned out fluffy and warm, just the ticket for walking to the gym.

Gory felting detail: they got 30 min in the washer with a pair of jeans, then a rinse cycle, then another full warm-water cycle with the rest of the laundry and the hat.

Less.

We have so much, it’s stupefying. Suffocating, even. I spend my days moving piles of stuff from one place to another, planning what to do with it, and then acquiring even more stuff because … well, isn’t that the American way? And the more I have, the more I want.  It’s what makes our economy go ’round.

It’s the same with my fibercrafts. (Which in fact is a lot of the “stuff” I push around … ) I find I don’t so much choose a project, as drift into whatever strikes my fancy at a given moment. This is fun, of course, in the same way that choosing dessert in a restaurant is.  Instant, decadent gratification.  And like a restaurant dessert, I tend to take a couple of bites and ask, “What’s next?”

Physically and metaphysically, I need to get back to the basic food groups, and cut way down on the desserts.  Learn to savor food that actually satisfies hunger, instead of filling an empty void. Knit  lovely objects that will warm someone, not languish in a chest drawing moths.  Live by using what I already have on hand, instead of spending my life searching for the secret ingredient that will make everything perfect.

Full disclosure: just now, I ordered more clothes. To be fair, I have recently put on enough weight that I have almost nothing that fits.  I gave away all the regular-me clothes last winter, when I’d lost a lot of weight, courtesy of the medications I was on. The drugs are gone this year, but most of the weight is back; so I’ll just pack up the mini-me clothes currently filling my closet, and give them away, too.

So for 2011, not a resolution but a goal: to make more with less.

Goodbye, St Brigid

I loved knitting this sweater. The cables were huge fun, the yarn squooshy and perfect, and the details of the design delightful. It went very fast, at this nice big gauge, and it came out exactly as advertised … which may be the problem.

It’s an in-between length, falling right at hip level – too short for a tunic, too long to wear with jeans. And the wonderful heavy yarn makes it more than warm – I’ve never been able to wear it for a whole day. It would make so much more sense to recycle the yarn for a cardigan.

Have I convinced you yet? I’m still a little nervous, so maybe I’ll sleep on it another night before pulling the plug.

So, here I sit in my kitchen, knitting a sock, and blogging. The ultimate multitask. Do I have anything to say? Unfortunately, no. But, it’s kind of cool watching my words translate on the page. The accuracy is amazing! With only 5 min. of training, it’s recognized every word I’ve spoken except Staffan. And once I trained Staffan (the word in the program, not the boy) it’s done very well with it.

Note: apparently I do speak Staffan exactly the same as “put your stuff on the table”.

In knitting news, the elves are busy here. I’m all about the footwear this year. Socks, slippers, you name it, I want to knit it. At last count, three pairs of socks, two pairs of slippers, and one hat have cascaded off my needles in the last three weeks. I have conflicted feelings about giving these away, since almost every pair of handknit socks I own has deteriorated to the point of unusable mess.

(I am going to leave “unusable mess”, and make a mental note to create the word “unusableness”. Which apparently is not an actual word.)