Oma comes to the midwest

Last weekend my Oma came to visit. She lives in Florida (along with all the rest of my family, no joke) and likes to come visit about once a year around December. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't wanna live in Florida but one thing I do miss is seeing my Oma because she's such an amazing person. My mom, brother, and I (my dad is in Germany) picked her up from the airport and took her to lunch at her favorite restraunt in Barrington.

Now when I say my Oma is awesome I truly mean it. After one glass of wine she was making fun of people and we were all laughing hysterically. Then she told us a story about when she lived in Germany, before she married my Pops. One night the girls living above her were throwing a party, she went upstairs to tell them to be quiet and ended up dancing on a table. Then she told us about how she didn't have a christmas tree and my Pops cut down a little tree in protected forests for her, too funny. The best part was when she was telling me about how my great grandmother and great great grandmother (who spoke only German) used to knit socks and helmet warmers for soldiers during the war. She said that between the two of them they could make five pairs of socks a week.

Although my Oma doesn't knit she sews and when I was little she used to sew dressed for me and my American Dolls so we matched. I just think it's awesome to have those stories and know that my love of crafting and art is shared with generations of my ancestors. My grandfather was an expert printmaker and my mom is an artist. I used to not think creativity had anything to do with genes but I'm starting to think diffrently.

Here's a pic of my mom, oma, and I :)

Twilight Mittens and a month off with nothing to do

Walking around Dekalb without mittens you're just asking for frostbite. I had a pair of mittens but to tell you the truth they just were not that warm and nothing even close to cute or stylish.

Having read the Twilight series (I'm reading Breaking Dawin right now and for anyone who's read them what is your opinion? I'm about 1/2 through and ugh, she's pretty much ruined the series for me with "Renesmee") I naturally felt like I should see the movie, even though I had very low expectations. After watching it online I decided I wanted Bella's elbow length cable mittens. And here's where I love ravelry soooo much because I found a pattern someone had just made. It was perfect and lovely and I just had to make them. Half a skein of Red Heart later I had these beauties:

Yeah I know, cheap acrylic, most knitters are cringing right now. Really though? Who cares? I'm definatly not a yarn snob, I can't afford to be!

Break just started and since I don't have a job I need to fill all the time with something worthwhile. So I have a xmas break to do list going. It's getting pretty long but that's good, I need a list with check boxes to get myself in gear. You'll be happy to know that regularly updating this blog was pretty close to the top of the list. When I look at beautiful blogs (http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/) such as this one I'm always inspired and wish I had something like that to look back at. Something updated regularly instead of once in a blue moon. I actually have alot planned, alot of things I wanna write about. Also I'd eventually like to be selling some small things and I think a good blog is some of the best press you can make for yourself. So look forward to some better posts coming up. Especially with my sewing machine here in the apartment. The possiblities are endless!

A Who-full Return

So you probably thought I was dead (although in reality no one reads this blog anyways) but I'm not. Everything got so busy and updating this blog just kept getting lower and lower on my priority list. Luckly knitting was still pretty high up there so I do have some stuff to show you. I've got more I'll share later but for now lets focus on Chicago Tardis which I attended with a friend and my brother this past saturday.

The experience was amazing! I got to meet Colin Baker and Lis Sladen which was just amazing, they're some of the nicest people, much nicer thank I would have expected when they have to deal with crazy fans and (in one certain case) scary stalkers. I also met some people from big finish but seeing as I have no idea who they are I remember them as just more nice Brits to talk to.

So I decided a few weeks before the convention that I was going to do Rose from Boomtown and knit her scarf. After alot of searching I ended up with a handful of diffrent lionbrand homespuns. I used a great pattern on ravelry and knit it up in no time (holes and all, as my boyfriend would say). I need to take some detailed pictures still but for now I give you these:

Here's my brother Alex wearing my Tom Baker scarf, me in my Boomtown outfit, and the amazing and oh so nice Colin Baker (aka the 5th Doctor). When I got his autograph before signing it he looked up at me and said you know you look just like my niece when she was about 18. I replied with REALLY?! Well I'm 22 but close. He replied with "You're kidding?! Really?!" in the most adorable british accent. Colin is prolly my third fave of the doctors after Peter Davison and David Tennant (I know I know, what about Tom Baker, I do love him, he's prolly next on the list).

Here's me with a wonderful Ten and 50s Rose which was my original plan but I'm glad I didn't attempt it because she did SUCH a beautiful job. Their outfits are what make me really want to go all out next year and start planning and crafting NOW! (I'm thinking one day a ten rendition, the next Nyssa w/my bf at Davison and the following as a female Davison, probably just borrowing the jacket and hat from my bf's, since I know I'll be making it anyways, I'll just be swimming in the jacket. I'm thinking of starting soon cause I really want to make my own 5 sweater as well as one for my bf).

Here's Taylor (did I mention she dressed Boomtown as well, we were twins!) and Alex playing a game of ten while waiting in line (there was alot of that, must remember knitting next time). This gave me an awesome idea for a Doctor Who version of the game with each of the doctors being one through ten and something like K-9 as the joker. I really want to do it, just need to figure out the best way to make good cards.

Here's me being EXTERMINATED. This was actually made by someone, crazy awesome! I think Alex is proly working on his as I speak, haha, he was so jealous.

I love love love this pic! My face is weird but I love how both the scarves are hanging down and how awesome the Tardis looks (also a homemade, my next project haha, I think I want a tardis wardrobe, it would make my mornings so much shinier!)

Here's a few random shots. A cartoon someone drew on a sign and delicious sonic water.

And now I must go spread these pics across the Whoniverse, promise to post soon!

The Ultimate Doctor Who Title Remix

I never thought I could be this happy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnKNupdSH8g

I'm finally back into my knitting grove. Nothing finished but I'm making good headway on my Pumpkin-Wheat sweater and I'm almost done with my dashings. Here they are all nice and neat in their basket. I find a basket is the best way to store my WIPS, plus it looks cute.

In non-knitting news my favorite show on TV right now is Pushing Daisies. It's fresh, funny, smart, and really well written, not to mention Emerson the detective knits. Sadly since the writer's strike and many months off plus a lack of publicity for the show means the ratings are really low right now. Please visit the petition and sign http://www.petitiononline.com/daisies/petition.htmlne.com/daisies/petition.html. Along with signing the petition I decided that writing some letters would be good. So I typed up a whole page pleading with all these different people from ABC and the affiliates to keep Pushing Daisies and to give it a better chance of succeeding. When I was printing them all out I realized that we don't have envelopes. So I pulled out some colored paper and made my own. I drew a (really bad) bee on the front saying "Bzzz Save the Pie Hole" and put the letter inside along with some honey packets (if you haven't seen PD Chuck harvests honey and the show kinda has a whole bee theme). I plan to mail them off tomorrow and I'm crossing my fingers they get there before it gets canceled.

I also decided that my yarn was just too cramped under my bed in bags and boxes. I picked up this hanging storage thing for $2 and Joannes a few weeks ago and finally got around to rearranging my closet. I'm really happy with it and also think it's funny how much of my closet my yarn takes up now.

I'm no longer a thrower!

So for the longest time I couldn't understand why so many knitters preferred continental instead of english. For the past 6 years that I've been knitting I've thrown. Then I read so many knitters who thought it taboo and thought I was doing it all wrong but just couldn't seem to get the hang on any other style. Throwing worked and I could do it while watching tv etc so I figured it would be my little secret. Then I started to notice singing pain in my left elbow when I knit for too long, just figuring this was a side effect of my craft. Every once in a while I would try continental just because it looks so elegant.
A few weeks ago I thought I'd give it one last try because throwing was putting alot of stress on my elbow and my fingers. I watched a few videos on continental and finally discovered I wasn't doing it right. A few evenings of stumbling through a few stitches of english mixed with a few stitches of continental it just clicked. Then I found the best way to keep my tension and off I went. It started out slow but gradually got faster and more precise. Watching The Office tonight I realized that I was watching the screen while I knit continental! Success! The best part is it's faster AND causes alot less stress on my joints. I'm so excited I want to knit all night but sadly I'm beat and need my beauty sleep.
PS: Halloween was awesome but I spent so much time making costumes (mine, my roommate's, my boyfriend's, his friend's) that I went almost a week without any knitting. I missed it but I'm back in the saddle. Costume pics once I get a good pic of the awesome Dr. Horrible costume and upload all the pics!

Fall weather leads to fall colors and comfort knitting

I know everyone says it but my favorite time of year is fall. When it's time to start pulling out the sweaters and scarves but not so cold you need winter coats and layers upon layers. Another thing is when fall rolls around all the beautiful colors make me want to knit comforting things in the same palette. Right now my two projects I'm switching between right now are my brown Dashings and my pumpkin colored Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke.

Also known as my Pumpkin-Wheat Cable Yoke this is a thought free project for when I watch tv etc. So far the mods have been knitting in the round (I just think it makes a better fo and it seems to go alot faster) and adding length through the body because I have a long torso.

The brown dashings are so that I don't get cold hands while knitting, blogging, or in class. I have some other fingerless mits but they're all at home. I love the smell of the wool and have kinda taken the pattern in my own direction and am doing the cables my own way, similar but not so perfect (I don't believe in ocd-ing over my knitting, I like to see where I've made it my own and where it's not absolutely perfect, truthfully I hate perfection). Knitting is my relaxation and why would I mess that up with worrying about ripping out and losing hours of work for one stitch. As long as the garment still looks good and works how I want why should I worry about it looking perfect?

One glove down, one to go.

I would have more knitting projects on the front burner but I've got halloween coming up and although I'm done with mine (Rainbow Brite, I'll post pics saturday) I now have my boyfriend's to work on which is gonna be slightly harder (Doctor Horrible, I'm making the goggles from science lab goggles and pipping because we couldn't find them at Lowes or Menards). I've never believed in buying $40 costumes that are complete shit, I'm way too crafty for that! DIY costume post to come soon, I promise!

A quick intro post

So lately I've gotten really addicted to Ravelry. It's such an awesome site and I love everything about it. One thing I have been thinking about for a while is that I want somewhere to just talk about my knitting and other craft projects in more detail. I always love looking at knitting blogs and always wanted one myself so I decided to just jump right in and do it.

Lately I've been really into fandom knitting. It started with the essential Dr Who scarf and has grown from there. Keeping with my ultimate fandom I knit a dalek of teal and yellow. And in my queue I have Ned's scarf (Pushing Daisies), a dune inspired sweater, and a celery a-la Dcotor five (my fave of the old series). Knitting has been a part of my life for a long time but just recently I've become really committed to improving my skills. I'd also like to learn to crochet, I love amigurim.

-Michelle aka Gallifrey Girl