sharp points: June 2004 Archives

Have you ever made marble magnets? Basically, you take one of the flat floral like marbles, some cute print design, and glue the paper to the bottom of the marble. Super cute! For more info check out this blog I think I could pick up most of this stuff at Walmart. She also mentions using a half domed round from tap plastics.

I just spent $40-ish on materials after I wandered into Knitting Arts in Saratoga. It wasn't a pure pleasure trip since I went in to get materials for the Aline bag from knitty.com which suggests raffia yarn.

(the title refers to the saying anime, crack is cheaper )

The yarns I purchased were:
* Katie Venecia-00
* Tahki Yarns Lily-08
* Crystal Palace Shimmer - 1743 (which had to be rewound since it was so played with)

Also picked up a pair of Plymouth#10 24" circulars which are nonrefundable. I had traded in Clover #8 16" circ's for Addi Turbo #8 16" circulars in research for working on the Harry Potter scarves which I'd purchased at Uncommon Threads (refundable).

I haven't yet decided which yarn to use for the scarves. The options are Unger Utopia (Acrylic), Plymouth Encore (25%Wool & 75% Acrylic), and Nature Spun (100% Wool). What would people prefer to wear? I'm leaning towards the Acrylic or Acrylic blend. I like the blend but it's a tad more expensive. The blend works well on Addi Turbo's but the acrylic may work better on bamboo.

Read something that made me laugh today- fiber tramp

"Elann and KnitPicks are my first two loves, but of course I have had other on and off affairs with Purlsoho(KR discount days), SpiritTrail Fiberworks and a couple of others who's names I can't recall. LOL If I were to write a "tell all" book then I must include One Fine Yarn, YarnXpress, Yarnware, Awesome Ewe...I am such a fiber tramp

For those of you who have gotten back into the Harry Potter Craze, here are patterns to knit the Hogwarts Scarves

I'll start on these after the summer for Christmas gifts. She has the new style HP3 scarves too. She also sells them for $63 a pop + shipping. Hey people, knitting is time consuming!

I set my sights on this fuzzy cell phone bag made out of fizz in the Berry Parfait shade. Many tries later, I gave up in frustration. The problem was that it required a knit and slip stitch sequence, and I just couldn't see the actual thread because of the eyelashes (fuzzy yarn like this is called eyelash). I'd tried wetting them down but that didn't work either. Normally, if it were the same stitch over and over and I dropped a stitch with this yarn, it wouldn't be that noticeable.
The pattern suggested a mockup using a regular yarn and I used some of my leftover rowan polar which stitched up nicely. Next time I make something fuzzy, it's going to be a thicker yarn in the center. Saving money isn't worth the agony. Basically, knitting with fizz is a bit like knitting with dental floss, the yarn is that thin. Actually, to be more blunt, it rather reminds me of frayed dental floss.
This ball of yarn is going back into the "save for later" stash.

Some people may be amused to learn that I'm actually quite handy and like to busy myself with craft projects. Yes yes, you thought all I did was sleep, drink tea, and read novels (most of which are bad). Oh, and sit in front of the computer. Others who have known me longer (and longest) will probably read this and think that it would be quite self-evident. In fact, I became an engineer because I'm good with my hands and fixing things. I even included my love for working with my hands in my B.S. statement of purpose about how my first toolset was a gift from my grandfather in my early youth, much to my parents amusement and dismay.