WIP

This is my work in progress. From the angle, it's hard to tell what it is, but I promise, it's going to be awesome. I had planned for it to be done so I could write up the tutorial today, but life-y things have happened, and I ran out of time. Tomorrow perhaps? I'm so very close to being done, it pains me.

As for week eight... Can you believe it's the 8th week of the year already?!  

I picked up some water marble vase filler things during my downtown outing on monday. I got them solely for the purpose of entertaining my child, and that they have. He loves them, he doesn't eat them, and he managed to not make a huge mess of them... until this morning. He took it upon himself to take the container down from the counter, and spilled them all over the kitchen. If you've ever played with these things, you understand that they are practically alive. the bounce and roll all over the place they're slippery, and if you aren't super gentle, they break. Sweeping 500 of these balls up was really...really... annoying. They are pretty though, so I can get past it. 

Ok, I'll be back soon with the outcome of my mysterious knitted rectangle. :) 

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Singularity

Yes, I am husbandless for a little over a month. He's enjoying above freezing weather with liquid precipitation, while we're hibernating and hiding from the abominable snowman here in Stuttgart. I'm super proud of myself for keeping it together for the past 6 days. Thanks to my child not being a total demon, and friends to keep me occupied, i've actually had a really nice week :) 

First things first, Weekly picture from last week:

This is what 6 yards of fabric will shed when you wash and dry it. Pretty, eh? 

Yes, I bought a ton of fabric last week at our local Craft Store's Super Bowl Sunday sale. So I took a break from knitting (ok I knitted one scarf) and made some cute stuff, as you shall see. 

Photo for this week:

This is from our Valentine's day shoot with Dominic and his "favorite girl" Bella. Anyone who has ever taken pictures of a three year old in a confined space will understand that taking pictures of two three year olds is just asking for trouble. I'm pretty sure that I blacked out at some point during the shoot. Thanks to Bella's mom (my favorite girl) directing, corralling and entertaining, we managed to get some really sweet pictures! 

Speaking of sweet, my husband buried Valentine's presents in his closet for us to find even though he's not here *cough* for the third year in a row! *cough* MMMmmmm... Wint o greeN! My favorite! 

As for cute stuff that I made.....

exhibit A: I made a library book tote for Dom's books (right) It happened to be waayyy too big for him. Well, He didn't seem to care that I was using it for myself for the past week until last night. "Dominic's bag is too BIG!" he said. How could I deny him a bag?! I made him a baby Dom-sized version, and he loves it! 

Exhibit B: We finished our jar of Nutella (which takes forever once you read the nutrition facts) and I admired how squat yet wide-mouthed the jar was. It's perfect for a tiny hand to hold! Guess who got a new snack jar?

Of course I couldn't leave it naked, so I made a velcro jar cozy. 

Ta daaaaaa!

Exhibit C: I've recently become a big fan of Invader, the artist. Not so much the arcade game... I'm not a gamer. Which, perhaps, makes me a bigger nerd. Anyway, I have been wanting something invader-ized for a while now, and I finally got around to it. Here's my new wallet! Cuteness!   

Here's to hoping for another happy week! 

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100 Stitches

I decided to do a science experiment today. Which mode of yarn weaving is most economical? I wrote single crochet off immediately, because crochet is known to take a lot of yardage. I always thought it was knitting in garter stitch. Probably because a scarf knitted in garter lays flat and is very stretchy. Surprisingly, after my tests, knitting in stockinette gives the best yarn yardage/swatch size ratio. 

Let's review my findings! 

My first test:

100 stitches

I used the same type of yarn (worsted), and knitting needles(6mm)/ crochet hook(I) that are about the same size. I didn't slip the first stitch on each row of knitting either. 

I cut the tails to 1", marked the working end, and unraveled. 

100 stitches of single crochet = 252" yarn 

2.52" used per stitch 

100 stitches of knitting (garter stitch=knit all rows)= 127.5" yarn

1.27" used per stitch

100 stitches of knitting (stockinette stitch=knit one row purl one row) =109"

1.09" used per stitch

Don't you love simple math?

But look! Although the crochet uses a ton more yarn, it makes a bigger swatch, that has to count for something! 

My second test:

4 feet

Admittedly, there probably was an easier way to do this one, but I didn't measure my first swatches before I unraveled them. I measured out 4' of yarn, and knitted/crocheted as much as I could with that amount. 

Crochet yielded a 1.75 sq in swatch

Garter stitch yielded a 1.5 sq in swatch

Stockinette yielded a 2 sq in swatch

So crochet isn't all that bad after all, and Stockinette goes way farther than I imagined. I'm not sure exactly what to make of this due to the uses/characteristics of each stitch making them the better choice for different applications, but it's interesting, nonetheless! 

Just thought I'd share how lame and nerdy I am 

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5 Odd Things

I think my knitting fever may be breaking. I finished another scarf a week ago, and haven't knitted since. I did go on a bit of a sewing tear, and i'm happy to report that the revised pattern I posted last week is a prefect match to the original! I know because I made a bunch of them. They're not just for icky women's things, you know. I now have one for sunglasses, and one for my wintergreen Lifesavers. They're a great size for a lot of odds and ends. I'm super satisfied with myself :) 

Photo: week 5 

My Yarn is lonely. 

I didn't do anything overwhelmingly exciting this week, so it's list time! 

5 Odd Things That I Actually Love About Living Here:

#1. Not being connected to the internet 24 hours a day. (No data plan. Yes, you can live without updating FB 67 times a day.) 

#2. Stores have crazy hours. Like they open late, close early, and have entire seasons off sometimes... and Sundays... nothing is open on Sunday. 

(I've become so accepting of the fact that things don't have to happen right this moment. If I need something, and it's after 6pm... it's just not happening until tomorrow.)

3#. Fast food is crazy expensive.

(After watching some American commercials this weekend over the internet, I would definitely weigh 400 lbs if I had access to that stuff on the cheap.)

#4. We don't get American commercials. 

(I sort of like not being marketed to all day long. When I do discover products, it's because I'm actively seeking something I need, not being told so.) 

#5. I don't understand what people are saying. 

(It's surprisingly relaxing to sit on the train and tune out everyone's German conversations. It's surprisingly stressful to sit on the duty bus with 25 American middle schoolers and listen to the awful awful things they talk about.)  

Yes, I'm aware that most of these were on my list of things that drive me crazy about a year ago. Funny how things change. 

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