WIP - Enchantment Shawl by Hélène Rush

I got the yarn and pattern as part of a fabulous knit kit at my LYS, Yarn Junkees. They have a wide variety of knit kits available from shawls to hats to gloves to scarves. This particular shawl kit ran me about $53. Included in the charming plastic bag was the Knit One, Crochet Too yarn brand in Crock-O-Dye #564 Teal and Kettle Tweed #4435 Bamboo, the pattern (which is worth about $6 or so on its own), and the needles required for finishing this project. Each hank of yarn is worth around $25 each and the needles are about $10-ish. You really do get your money's worth with these kits. Not to mention it's the perfect way to pick a project when you're feeling a little indecisive or if you're new to knitting and want to give yourself a challenge.

You begin with the border working side to side as you can see in the WIP photo above. The lacework gives the impression that you're creating cables with the edge, but you're not. They do look pretty convincing though. Once you've finished the border, you pick up the stitches along the edge to begin working on the body. I'm a few rows in and now I'm starting to feel a little lost. There's some confusing phrasing in the directions that I'm having some problems deciphering.

The rows I'm struggling with are as follows:
Row 7: K7, *(k1 wrapping yarn around needle 2 times) 3 times, k7; rep from * across
Row 8: Using B, k7, *sl 3 wyib dropping extra wrap for each, k7; rep from * across

So, I guess I'm not supposed to knit those stitches? I'll figure this out, but for right now I'm stumped. I know that there will be some bobbles up ahead and I'm looking forward to those. From the picture of the pattern it almost looks like the slipped stitches are actually knitted in later which makes a lot of sense. So far, I have to say that this pattern is a lot of fun. I can't wait to start working on the short rows.

As for the yarn itself, I am beyond amazed at the color, texture, and ease. The first thing I noticed were the gorgeous colors of the skeins of yarn of the Kettle Tweed and Crock-O-Dye. The Crock-O-Dye is made with superwash wool, nylon, and silk. It's very soft to the touch and doesn't break easily. One of the things I loved about working with it is that when I needed to do the P2togs with the YOs in the pattern, the yarn didn't untwist very much making it easier to pull those stitches off without having to retry them over and over again. The Kettle Tweed is crafted using merino wool, baby llama, bamboo, and donegal. It has a crimped texture and feels even softer than the Crock-O-Dye. The blending of the earthy colors are even smoother. I'm totally falling in love with this yarn. The cable definition is outstanding.

Virginia Is For Lovers

I've really been enjoying my stay in Shenandoah, Virginia. My grandma and I have been going through a lot since losing my grandpa but together we are getting through it. My heart has always belonged to the valley and I have been seriously considering a longer stay. I have the advantage of running my own business online. This means that I can pack up whatever I need to and go where ever I feel like going for as long as I desire. This freedom has allowed me to help my grandma in her greatest time of need. It makes me glad that I decided to follow my heart instead of submitting to the idea that the only way to make a living is by going to work for someone else in a retail store (or something like that).

So far I've been doing very well for myself. My collaboration with another Etsy shop is continuing, albeit with a few disadvantages with the distance but we are working it out through trial and error. There are many people that pass through this house and my grandma loves showing off everything that I make. She's my best promoter! Many of the people that I've met are interested in lessons. I'm sure that I could teach them in the house. It would be really great if I could get that part of my life back. I really miss teaching.

The landlady for the house also owns all of the buildings on the block. There are a lot of empty business spaces available in the gorgeous historic town of Shenandoah. I would very much love to open a yarn shop. It would be perfect in keeping with the aesthetic of an old train station town. She seemed to be really into the idea of having a yarn shop in the area. With all of the crafty people around, I should have no problem having people consign a few of their pieces. This will also be a great way to bring awareness to some of my favorite charities involving yarn. I really hope that this can happen!

I do have to be realistic. The chances of this shop coming to life are slim to none. I have no collateral for the bank, I have no money saved up, I don't have a business license (I would need a new one for the shop anyway), and I have no credit. There are a million things working against me right now. That doesn't mean that this dream of mine is impossible. I'll look into all of my options before I give up.

Owl Lace Sweater - WIP/Review

I've been working on an amazing sweater with owl lace for the past couple of days. It's Ginny's Cardigan by Mari Chiba from the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits magazine published by Interweave Knits. I love their regular magazine patterns, but this collection really knocks my Narcissa socks off. I literally want to knit every single pattern. They have a few sweaters, socks, scarves, and mittens. There's over 30 patterns for me to sink my teeth into.

Here's what I have so far. You can't really see the sides, but it's all stockinette stitch. This is worked mainly in one piece from the bottom up. I love the shaping techniques used in this cardigan. Short rows were used to construct the bust line. Decreasing, then increasing stitches creates a snug fit for the hips.

The owl lace is the main focus point of the cardigan. It's really important to pay close attention to the chart as you're working. I usually can pick up on a lace pattern rather quickly and won't have a need to follow the chart after a couple of passes. This lace pattern is to intricate for me to memorize like that. You work this pattern over 23-31 stitches which means that you gain and lose stitches as you go. Regardless, it offers a challenge that I enjoy. 

I'm going to make a trip to the yarn store later this week to pick up some size 4 and 6 DPNs. I've had to buy brand new needles to do this project, but luckily the yarn was free for me. The needles are the interchangeable kind from Knit Picks. I'm really loving them so far. I can't wait to get the DPNs. 

The yarn I'm using is the Bernat Nylo Sports wool blend. It's 50% wool and 50% nylon. The colorway is Silver Mix which gives a great denim effect to the cardigan. I love how soft it is. I can't wait to put this sweater on!

Timesheet - Time Tracker App Review

A friend of mine let me in on an app that he's been utilizing with keeping up with his projects. We both run Etsy shops and spend a lot of time creating things. Sometimes we crafty types lose track of the hours spent and aren't exactly sure what to charge for the time we put into our amazing products. Thanks to this app we can now use a simple timer to help keep track of that time for us. There are timer apps out there, but what really sets this app apart is that it separates your projects to help you track your time and you can add how much to pay yourself per hour. You can make several projects and it will organize it all for you and even export it to Microsoft Excel.

Here's what the product description says on the page:

Timesheet allows you the recording of your work with a simple push of a button. You can easily add breaks, expenses and notes. Manage your projects and export your data to Microsoft Excel. Clear overviews and statistics will give you the best working experience.

Here's where the app falls a little short; the app can be a little confusing to navigate around. When I first started playing around with the app it seemed like I could only create one project. When I realized that I had a spelling error that I wanted to fix it took me a few minutes to figure out how to edit the project. After completing the project I wanted to start a new one. I didn't realize that I needed to tap on the top drop menu and select Projects, then hit the add project button. The confusing part is that the add project button is seen on the top of both the Projects and Timesheets pages. Whenever I was on the Timesheets page and I wanted to add a project it wouldn't allow me to edit the name of the project. 

It didn't take too much time to figure my way around the app. I tried tinkering around with the Export, but was unable to e-mail the file to myself. The other options for Exporting are AT&T messaging through the cloud, Bluetooth, E-Mail, G-Mail, LAN, and Wi-Fi Direct. 

One thing that could really bring this app together is an option to take photo progress along with the description of progress. You can keep track with your overall happiness with your projects which I'm not really into. I can see how it may be useful for other people, but for me it seems a little useless. 

The best part of this app is that it's FREE! It's available in the Play store for the Android and Tablets. Check it out here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rauscha.apps.timesheet

New Dress Form

I just got this new dress form today! I've been wanting to get this for years. I named her Circe. <3 

I plan to take Circe with me to my craft market on the weekend and to have her pose for my Etsy listings. She's going to look great wearing my wraps and scarves. I'm really excited to start this new friendship! 

Tiny Tina Cosplay WIP #1

So, I've made the decision to make a Tiny Tina cosplay. I'm super excited to do this and I have plenty of time to get this done. If you're not aware of who Tiny Tina is, she looks like this:

So far I've got the knitted top part of her shirt completed.

Not the best picture, I know, but it's the best I can do right now. I'll be sure to get better pictures once the costume is complete. I am really happy about how this has turned out. I completely improvised the pattern and it turned out to fit perfectly! Yay math! :D

The next part of the costume that I'm going to work on is the orange knee-length pants. I've got the orange material and matching orange thread and I'm ready to go! After I finish making this costume I'll have to dirty it up a bit. She's filthy!

I've got the wig ordered, but it's on backorder right now so it'll be a while before I get it in the mail. I also ordered a wig stand to attach to my table so that I can style it to look more like Tina's hair. I'll probably make my own pink ribbons to go in the wig. I can't wait!

This is the style of wig I got from www.arda-wigs.com:

I got this wig in platinum blonde. I can't wait to see how it'll look in person. I've bought wigs from Arda before and I've never been disappointed.

Anyhoo, back to creating!

The Xbox One

Am I the only one who isn't excited about it? I was really eager to hear about this new console and as I watched the announcement I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think it's a good fit for me.

During the demonstration they only really showed what they could do for people who are into sports and other things I don't care about. I don't care about making a fantasy basketball team. Is there anyway to make that sort of thing work with anything else? What if I wanted to make a fantasy tv personality team? Could I do that? No? Only for people who watch sports? That doesn't alienate anyone. Not at all.

I like the idea that you can have the new Xbox synch with your other electronics so that you can go back and forth immediately between gaming and watching television. It can't record shows like a DVR can. One thing I'm concerned about is what will happen if I'm playing and someone else decides to be a dick and switch the Xbox from the game I'm playing to watch television? What if I hadn't saved in a while? All of the work I put into the game will be lost. I guess what I'm getting at is that it sounds great until you put it into practice. Someone might mention something about watching a show on a specific network and then the Xbox will take it as a command and make the switch over. They say you can instantly switch back and forth, so I might not lose any save data, but I want to make sure first.

You can also do Skype calls while playing a game. I love that idea so much. I wonder if it's just for one on one calls or if you can do conference calls? They also mentioned that the One will have a Blu Ray player. I think that should have come out with the slim, but whatever it's there now. Everything's being released on Blu Ray nowadays, so this was an obvious step in the evolution of gaming consoles. Oh, the new controller actually looks nifty. I like the thumbstick design the most. You could tell that it was designed by gamers for gamers.

My biggest complaint is that the new console will not be backwards compatible. I just bought a new 4G 360 with the plan to trade it in for the new Xbox One when it came out later this year. I made a mistake and assumed the new console would be backwards compatible. That's why I didn't spend any extra for a bigger hard drive. I didn't think that I would need it. It's okay though. Now instead of trading in my Xbox for the new one I can just use the money I would have to spend on the difference on a new hard drive. I don't want to get a new console and have nothing to play on it.

During the announcement they revealed a new Halo tv series, a new Call of Duty game and some sports games. I couldn't care less about any of these things. I don't like Halo unless it involves Red vs. Blue, I hate all of the Call of Duty games and I'm glad Madden announced that it would finally stop making games. I'll give the Halo tv series a fair shot and keep an open mind to it. I think it's really cool that they're making a big budget series for a video game, even if it's not my cup of tea. In the new Call of Duty game they kept saying that they would bring new elements and stuff but don't they do that with every new installment in the series?

I think my final score on the new console is a 2/5. I think I'll wait until someone I know gets one and then I'll check it out. That Quantum Break game looked boss. Anything that involves quantum mechanics/theory gets me really excited. It's one of the reasons why I enjoyed Bioshock Infinite so much. I can't wait until E3 to find out what other games will be released. To be fair, the ones that were announced were the ones that everyone knew would be coming out anyway (except Quantum Break). I know I'm in the minority of people who don't like games like Call of Duty or Halo. I don't like playing MMOs. I don't like lobbies. I prefer to play with friends and that's it. The chances of playing with nice people these days is so slim. I just want to enjoy the game and have fun. I don't want to be harassed and bullied. Unfortunately, the future of gaming is playing online with strangers. You can't even do split screen with some recently released games.