Things are crazy up in here!

I am moving up in the world of knitting. I am no longer knitting only flat, square things. It's terribly exciting. I am creating toe-up* socks!

I had originally just purchased a book on the subject and attempted to start without any guidance. I had taken the book, some plastic dpns** and some yarn with me on our Japan trip, since I knew that the plane ride was going to be insanely long, and I, historically, have a hard time sleeping on planes. This attempt proved problematic. I had a very crappy looking toe of a sock, with giant ladders*** running through it.

This is the figure-eight cast on, which took me four hours to learn on my own.


This is my in-flight knitting set up (notice the drink!).


This is the resulting horrible ladders of ugliness.


So, I talked Nerdygirl into taking a toe-up sock class with me. She and I took a 3 day class at Yarngarden last month. It did help to have someone there who could look at the project in my hands and diagnose what I had done wrong, then fix it for me. The teacher was very skilled, but a little brusque. (I had imagined a knitting instructor to have a bit more warmth.) I did manage to finish a sock with the help of the class. It's not the prettiest sock, but it is complete. Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough yarn to make two of the same kind.

Here is The First Sock, in all it's finished, stripey glory.


Anyhow... I am now working on the next sock. I need to practice my gauge measuring as well, as the first attempt was far too wide. I had to frog the whole thing and restart this morning. I don't mind too much, as it gives me more practice with the whole process. I'd rather it fit correctly. This is not a practice sock anymore. I'm using a yarn colorway I purchased at Blue Moon Fiber Arts called Knitters Without Borders. A portion of the purchase price goes to Doctors Without Borders, which I think is rad. We'll see how the colors turn out in sock form. Sometimes I'm not a fan of variegated yarns. As of last night, it looked a little like pink, white and purple-brown leopard spots. What do you think?

Toes Without Borders Sock


*Toe-up indicates socks that are knit starting from the toes, rather than the cuff at the top (which is standard). You can try them on as they progress and make adjustments on the fly.
**DNPS = double pointed needles.
**Ladders are weirdly spaced lengths of stitches which gape with big holes.

The halloween party went terribly well. Lots of kiddos in cute costumes knocking on the door (accompanied by many, many adults), lots of tasty food, lots of friends in fun costumes, all of mrpants' homebrew (2 different kinds of kegs!) were consumed and good times were had by all.

I'm sure I'll be updating the flickr shortly, but in the meantime here's our costume pic.

This is a model that my independent study kid, Luke, started last year. He finished it up early this year and then started in setting up the rigging and creating a walk cycle (complete with lighting, shadows and backdrop). He's pretty rad. I hope this gets him into an awesome post-secondary school. Look how cool!

I meant to post about this earlier, but got all caught up in doing stuff. Last week was awesome. It, once again, re-affirmed why I live in Portland. Let me list a schedule for you:

Monday - went to the Bagdad Theater for Science Pub, which was a lecture by a gent from Laika about using 3D animation and 3D resin printers in the stop-motion film, Coraline. Super interesting, and I got to hold part of a Coraline face!

Tuesday - finished making yearbook page layouts with the "creative team" staff after school. They had brilliant ideas, and super work ethic. yay!

Wednesday - Went to a talk hosted by Cyan and PNCA, wherein Matt Stinchcomb gave a lecture on who Etsy is and why it was created, how it runs, etc. Very inspiring and interesting. He mentioned that looking at numbers and demographics, Portland brings a large amount of Etsy sellers for a city our size. We're right up there with the big cities like LA, Houston, NYC, etc.

Thursday - Art Club kids decided they're going to be making and selling custom ceramic mugs. Need one? Only $9!

Friday - was Friday! and there was no school (in service). I got permission to go to a Photoshop training at the Oregon Convention Center, so didn't even have to go out to the 'Couv.

Saturday - Kicked off Portland Open Studios.

Sunday - had breakfast with K at Bar Carlo, and then headed out to Sauvie Island to get pumpkins, caramel apples, mini donuts and beer by Captured by Porches.

Portland is rad. I wouldn't want to live too many other places.

Cupcake Craft Night: monthly!

All Hail! The monthly Cupcake Craft Night is now commencing.

Starting October 2009, Cupcake Craft Night will occur on the third tues of every month. Interested parties will arrive at Casa de Pantalones around 6pm and stay until 10pm. Cupcakes will be on hand, as will various beverages. Additional snackables and drinkables will welcomed.

Anyone is welcome to come to Cupcake Craft Night, even if they're not sure they have a craft to work on. We can always haul out the glitter and glue, or they can just eat, drink and be merry.

The first date is October 20th. Hope to see you then!

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