a functioning malfunction

I have a moody relationship with technology. I am knowledgeable, but still at its mercy. I get excited to see what is new & fresh, but at the same time don’t want to give up the old standards, yes I am looking at you dvd/vcr combo. We love the ease of digital music, but still like to have real music in our lives. My husband is passionate for vinyl, which isn’t very portable, so he converts some of his treasured LP stash to mp3s (so for him its not always about the highest quality sound he can get, its about making it mobile, a hissy, crackly mp3 ..seriously?) Most every stereo system in the house has radio, cassette, disc & record player and a few have ipod & thumb drive ports. Climbing into the car you can jack in your ipod or bluetooth your phones music to the car from the touch screen. Kindles connect to the wifi, roku streams netflix so we can have instant tv.

With all that we love about technology & the pleasures it brings, sometimes we still revolt against it. We don’t text, we don’t talk on the phone when we drive, shop or anytime we have another human with us, we have smart phones that we use like plain dumb phones, we still get lost, we still use the phone book, we still manually start our car, we still shovel the snow, we still play board games, still pay some bills with checks & some of the movies we watch have to be rewound.

Sometimes it’s not our choice & the technology revolts against us. If it’s not paper jams, it’s connection issues, or errors, or upgrades, it can be maddening. But what I’m finding (besides having another computer to run to) is that I can use these beyond my control tech glitches/ wait times to get some other pleasurable work done, there is nothing wrong with knitting a few rows while the computer scans or boots up, right? Work on a pattern or two while my ISP is replacing my router. Dreaming of designs & color palettes whilst taking the dog out for a poo.
Busy work is good, it keeps me sound. Due to technical difficulties I acceptably fell behind (no internet) and also happily got ahead (christmas/craft queue) over the last few days.

Every year I make all the members of my family a Christmas ornament for their respective trees. This year the ornaments have an extra special meaning, these remembrance candles are for my Grandpa, who passed away last month. A sweet little remember me, that will always be lit, cherishing the memory of a life. FRL 1928-2011 ♥

I used the Advent Candle pattern by Frankie Brown.

I’ve also made some wolly wreaths, using the Christmas Wreath Ornament pattern by Jessica Spencer. 

Wondering what will breakdown next & what I might be able to accomplish without the distractions, look at me I’m a functioning malfunction!

twists

I’m always finding myself twisting things up a bit, sometimes taking an already good idea and making it fit my requirements.  Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. Every now and then I will look back at things I’ve done and say “wow I made that, really, me, I am so fantastic and then there are times I look back and want to burn it to hide all evidence that it was ever associated to me. I’m sure everyone can relate.

This is one such good twist, I wanted to make my mom something to keep her warm, that would stay on and not unfurl while she moved, I wanted something classic and graceful, I wanted something versatile that she could wear a couple of different ways.

I chose a cowl, well specifically the Honey Cowl because it has great texture, it’s substantial, nice & big. The only problem was a colossal oversized cowl would swallow mom whole.

To remedy this, I cast on 220 sts and only worked the pattern for 6” before knitting 3 rounds & binding off, this kept it on the skinny side, all while still being able to wear it long as one loop or double it up.

Using the leftover yarn, I knit a 38” I-cord, so she could tie it up on the side to tame it down if it started to swallow her. (this little tie turned out to be my favorite part of this cowl)

I love the look, I am thinking of so many simple cowls that this would add that perfect little amount of different too. You could add an splash of color just by making your cord out of a contrast yarn or a pom-pom ended cord would be adorable. Maybe even a braid! You could have one really elaborate cowl with an array of swap out ties to change up the look whenever you wanted.

Another good twist, when a pattern calls for bulky or super bulky yarn and you just don’t have any or you cant find the colors you want, you can just hold 3 or 4 strands of worsted together. Don’t you just love the fantastic stitch definition you get when using thick yarn, it makes my eyes so happy! I held 3 strands of worsted weight together for the pale blue scarf and 4 strands together on the multicolor freak out.
 

The freak out might be classified as a bad twist! The only disadvantage to crocheting with 3 or 4 strands as opposed to 1 lofty bulky strand is the over all weight of the scarf, they are a bit burly.

Pattern: 2 meter scarf by Mel P Designs.

Making

A kitschy little collection of potholders and dishcloths I worked up and sent off to Portland to be part of an art installation charity event led by Larissa Brown in conjunction with her new book – My Grandmother’s Knitting: Family Stories and Inspired Knits from Top Designers.

I wasn’t lucky enough to have been taught to knit or crochet as a child, my only crocheting Grandmother died when I was 6.  I didn’t learn to crochet or knit until I was alot older and I had to teach myself (from a book) gasp!  Even still, the idyllic romance and satifaction of anything handmade calls to my inner grandma, making something so beautifully simple, useful and amazing with just your two hands.

Pattern: Grandma’s Fan Dishcloth form Larissa’s book.