the croq pot experiment.

here are the results of the croq pot dyeing experiment i tried last week. i used wiltons icing dye in pale yellow and green. in person the colors are much brighter. the yarn was from stickchick's etsy shop. i love it! her sock yarn is sooooo nice! alas, i do not need anymore sock yarn. i have already balled it, but i think i may just list it for sale as the first item in my own etsy shop. there are about 280 yds of fingering weight yarn, pretty sweet for socks of a lil' lace scarf.

KnitXcorE gets a New Look!

the new logo was designed a very talented friend. i'm using a new template, also. let me know what you guys think!

i have noni bag and sock yarn pictures to show off, too!

<3
knitxcore.

theme dye swap questionnaire

What is/are your favorite fiber/s to knit with? Wool, ol' scratchy wool.

What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Acrylic, and angelina.

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? a couple of years, i'm self-taught ala Stitch and Bitch by debbie stoller.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? Intermediate to advanced, I've done a lot and am always willing to branch out.

What's your favorite scent? Anything that smells like food or dirt (i.e. vanilla or patchouli)

Do you have a sweet tooth? Heck yes, epesh for dark choclate.

Favorite candy? Gummies. (bears, fish, worms... u know.)

What other crafts do you like to do? I embroider, sew, decopauge, and just about anything. I just learned how to needle felt.

Do you spin? not yet.

What's your favorite color(s)? I like green, alot. I also love neon color schemes.

What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Hats, mostly, but i like to make little whimsies every now and then.

What are you knitting right now?A sock, a Noni Bag, A log cabin blanket, and a cabled scarf. maybe a few dishcloths.

Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Of course! the beauty of a handmade gift is priceless.

Do you prefer straight or circular needles? I prefer straight needles but I use circulars when the task calls for it.

Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? I have a ball winder but no swift.

How old is your oldest UFO? Around a year! who says you can't knit a blanket on size 6's.

Is there anything that you collect? Yarn, Mooses, Stuffies, pins.

Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? I love Noro Pattern books, but they're soooo hard to get your hands on, and of course anything by Cat Bordhi. I really love Crafty Alien's lil' animal patterns too.

What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? none, i love the thrill of the hunt.

When is your birthday? November 9th, imma sexy scorpio.

Finally, what are your four themes?
1. Eighties (think KIDS incorporated!)


2. Crayons (like primary colors)


3. Outdoors (grass and flowers)


4. Granny's Wallpaper (orange & brown, green & gold.... like a 70's kitchen?)

Five Alive!!!

yeah, so I'm still alive and doing a jillion things.

Thursday:

The Swimmers

Maria Taylor

On Thursday; Kellyn, Nancy and I went to Philly to see Maria Taylor. We got to the city super early, and goofed around for awhile. We stopped by Urban Outfitters but, everything looked kinda cheesy and mass market. So, we went down the street to American Apparel and I bought some stuff. I also ran into LUSH and picked up some things I needed.

The show was gr8! It was raining pretty hard, and there wasn't a huge turnout. Most of the good shows around here are in a church basement with no climate control, so it was a good thing that only about 40 people showed up. Both opening bands were really good. The Aderbats gave me an EP that I've already listened to a couple of times, it's pretty good (espesh 4 a local band). The Swimmers were a lot of fun and sort of reminded me of the Zombies. They had a sort of *new* Mod sound thing going on. Maria was quite amazing. I didn't know that her siblings were also her band, pretty cute.

Friday:

I decided to try the croq pot method to dye some yarn. It was kind of explained in the new Knitty. I soaked the yarn overnight in vinegar and water. The next day I drained it and added more water and vinegar. I poured in the dye and put the pot on high and just left it sit while we watched The Stewie Griffin Movie. It took about an hour and half, and there was no mess to clean up. You really do give up control when using this method but I'm happy with the results. I'll take a pic once it's re-hanked. I may just put this lil' guy up for sale in my Etsy shop. I already have plenty of sock yarn waiting to be knit up.

When I stopped by Lush, I got a free FRESH! face mask. I picked one called cupcake, pretty much just because of the name. It smelled so great, that even if my skin turned green and started peeling off, I would still use it. But that wasn't the case at all! In addition to the choclate-y goodness, it actually evened out my skin tone a little bit and even made some trouble spots go away! I love cupcake :-)

Saturday:

I had to work during the day. I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's day, so it didn't really matter. It was fun to see a bunch of people dressed up and a couple of people in animal suits doing the electric slide! When I got home, we watched The Science of Sleep. It's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen, right behind Amelie anyway. All of the dream sequences had tons of beautiful handmade things produced by a single, very talented woman. I was flipping through the special features and they were all about cat rescue and adopting pets. It was really cute! Our second kitty, Adrienne is adopted and she's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

Adrienne

Amelie

The Science of Sleep

*to watch the videos, you can scroll to the bottom of my page and pause the music player*

my piece.

I've sorta kept this myself, but I've knitted a protest sign for this show. It's travelling now, and it will be in philly next weekend. If anyone is going to be in the area you should check it out!

OMG!

borrowed from sylvia's blog

ROTFL!

What a riot! No offense to my hooker friends, but this was just too funny!

"It's like comparing apples to oranges. Some people don't like oranges, and then there are people that have some taste. Those people are knitters!!" hahaha

Rip-it, Rip-it!

nataliedee.com


I've frogged Le slouch, it was to small.

I've frogged the Big Damn Hat, it was too big.

Big Blue Beret better be just right.

If not, I'm going to be one pissed off glob of pink frosting.

Snow Day!

Tuesday night, a couple of friends and I went bowling to help raise money for Habitat for Humanity. It was fun, despite the plethora of sorority girls everywhere. It was pretty cool to have fun and do something sort of charitable. Speaking of charitable, The South Jersey Knitting guild is holding a Knit-athon @ Ventnor City Library on March 10th from 10-2pm. I kind of want to go now, being in this giving mood. They provide yarn (or you can bring your own) to make baby hats and and strips to be collected for baby blankets. Sometimes it's nice to give just a little (espesh if it doesn't interfere with your yarn stash!).

Midnight Purls and I went to the SnB @ the LYS again, and it was probably the best one we've went to. The shop wasn't very busy, so we could be loud and irreverent and it didn't bother anyone. One of the women that works @ the shop went to Stitches West and brought back some really nice sock yarn for me to dye. I'm so excited, I have billions of color combinations racing through my mind! She also picked up a slightly new Noro yarn called "Kochoran"; it was 50% wool, 30% angora, 20% silk. 100% AMAZInG! I can't wait to get my hands on some.

I'm still working on the Noni bag for my mum. Today, I have to pick up the stitches for the ruffles, and make the flowers, and then I get to felt that beee-atch! I'm thinking of just lining it with wool felt so I can put a clasp inside and hid the part where I'm sewing the handle on. I haven't even cast on my second sock yet. Now, I'm being tempted to make a new slouchy hat. I've been wanting a new hat for awhile and I was surfing around on Hoy Fashion (a british street fashion site) and I realized the only thing seperating me from the coolest kids in the U.K. is a sweet slouchy hat.

I searched for a good pattern to base it on and found a whole thread on craftster dedicated to the the slouchy hat. So instead of picking up that ruffle, I may have a coffe and make a hat. I have that RAWR-some Rio de Plata screaming my name.

OHHHHH!!!!! It's CRaZY Snowing out here in NJ. It's been snowing since last night, and we have like 3 or 4 inches now. I know it doesn't seem like much to you guys that live in the middle and northern states but, for me that's enough. I went out and took pictures when I was getting the mail to share with everyone.

QuickiE!

I made this really quickly tonight. A lady in the mall admired my old icky hat, and asked me to make her one for her daughter.

Pattern Particulars

Needles: Clover Takumi Size US 10.5

Yarn: Sirdar Nova in Color 038 and Lion Beand Wool-Ease Chunky in Charcoal

Time: About an hour and half

Loved: watching Ugly Betty and finishing a hat.

Hated: nothing.

I feel a little bit better today, but nose won't stop running. YUM! Every meal I've had for the past 2 days have consisted of soup. Has anyone discovered how quick and easy Bisquick biscuits are to make? You should make some. NOW!