Geek Dog

A friend of mine sent me an interesting request a few weeks ago: could I create a dog collar with the Balmer series on it? My friend, a chemist, had just got a new dog and wanted to deck him out in something geeky. Always up for a nerdy challenge, I considered the best way to install the hydrogen emission spectrum on a small dog collar.

I thought of several options for putting an emission spectrum on a collar, including fabric paint and machine sewing, but eventually settled on using embroidery floss. The floss would make the lines stand out more than simply sewing back and forth over the collar and I won't have to worry about the pup ingesting paint. The hardest part was actually picking colors of floss to match the emission lines!

Part of the reason my friend asked me to do this project was because I'm anal-retentive detail-oriented about spectra being correct. I had to calculate the scale of the collar in nanometers per inch and then where, in inches, this would place each of the lines. It isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn close.

For each line, I used 3 strands of floss and went over the line 1 to 3 times, depending on its relative spectral intensity. Hopefully this embroidery stands up to the exuberance of a puppy.

I'm really happy with how this project turned out and I hope my friend (and his dog) also like it. It was an interesting challenge and a different project from the ones I normally craft.

Planning

I just concluded my 8th 'term' participating in the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry by celebrating a win for my house, Ravenclaw. As much as I'm looking forward to starting the next term in May (you can sign-up now for the coming term), I always enjoy the month off between House Cup terms because it gives me a chance to recharge my creative energy.

Part of the reason that I like this off-month is that I can dabble in random crafts. These pursuits don't have to be limited to knitting, crochet, or spinning and I'm not under a timeline for finishing. In fact, just the other night I whipped up this little Gryffindor prefect badge for something fun to do. I hope to do several other random projects like this during April.

The other reason I like the off month is that it gives me time to plan my next big project, or OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level exam). While most of the projects for the House Cup must be done in under a month, OWLs are big 3-month projects. Having the structure and timeline of the House Cup really helps me finish knitting sweaters, spinning pounds of fiber, and in general tackling big projects that I would otherwise probably not complete.

For this term's OWL, I'm planning to make a bunch of magical creatures including: a knarl (pattern: Smith), a pair of imps (pattern: Daphne and Delilah), a de-horned erumpent (pattern: Flo), and a flutterby (pattern: Butterfly Apron). Best of all, I should have enough yarn in my stash to knit everything. You know, sometimes the best part of the whole knitting process is planning everything out!

Sleep Sleep

I've been sleeping easier recently. A lot of this is because my PhD thesis defense is done and all of my paperwork is submitted to the grad school. The other reason I'm sleeping better is that I found a way to deal with my neighbor's porchlight being just outside my bedroom window--an eye mask. Crafting to the rescue again!


This particular eye mask was made using a combination of hand-sewing, felt-work, embroidery, and a crochet motif from Crochet Adorned. I really love to do projects that combine multiple crafts as they utilize lots of supplies from the stash (so I can tell my husband that yes, I really do use all that stuff) and always make me feel like a crafty superstar for being proficient at multiple crafting techniques.


The other benefit of using so many different crafting techniques in one project is that it excersizes my creativity. Now that grad school is officially over and I'm working more normal hours, I am so ready to be a more creative and balanced individual. Hopefully my creative exercises will translate into some interesting blog posts in the future!

Neville Longbottom is a BAMF

I've been featuring a lot of non-knitting content on my blog recently as I work up my Vivian cardigan. The good news is that it is coming along nicely--I am almost done with the second sleeve and looking forward to working on the yoke. The bad news is that I again have no knitting to share with you today. But I do have a cute Harry Potter-related cross stitch to show off:


And by Neville, I of course mean Neville Longbottom (who is one of my favorite characters from the series). He goes from being a complete bumbler in the first book to a bad @$$ who kills big snakes and whoops your butt in Herbology by book 7. Apparently this transformation entitles him to his own Chuck Norris-type facts. I'm partial to the one I stitched, but there are some other really brilliant ones on Neville's fact list.

Picking the quote was half of the battle; the other challenge was to convert it to a stitch-able font. Luckily, I ran across this list of free fonts and was really taken with the StitchCross. After that, it was simply a matter of printing out my phrase in the StitchCross font and adjusting the math to ensure that everything was centered correctly. And doing the actual stitching, of course. This quote now lives on my craft desk, where it makes me smile and aspire to be as bad @$$ as Neville some day.

Vacation Crafts

I'm spending the week in Montana at Glacier National Park, but all you get is this post on the crafts I took with me. I promise there will be beautiful pictures when I get back!


My main project for the road is a cross-stitch portrait, done in three shades of gray. I'm not going to tell you whose potrait I am stitching until I at least get the face done, but I will give you a clue that is a Nobel Laureate. You may now call me a geek.


I've also packed a knitting project because I always take a knitting on the road, ever since I discovered that I could knit in the car without getting carsick. Socks or a sweater are usually a good choice for this, but I'm going to make another Ishbel. I really enjoyed knitting the first one and absolutely love wearing the finished product around the house. I just hope that this new one won't permanently smell like campfire.

Last-minute edit: Ysolda just came out with a new shawlette, Damson, which is just beautiful. I'm throwing another skein of sock yarn in my bag and will make up my mind about which to knit first when I'm on the road.

Embroidery

As mentioned in my previous post, I have recently discovered the joy of embroidery. I've been wanting to learn this craft for quite a while, but did not know where to start. Luckily, a friend recommended the Stitch-It Kit from Sublime Stitching. This kit comes with a how-to booklet, two blank towels, many transfer images, in addition to needle, hoop and thread. The instructions made this kit worthwhile, as they were very clear and covered enough information to show how easy embroidery really is.


I already burned through the two towels, making them true tea towels with the addition of a teapot and teacup. They will likely make an appearance at my next tea-and-knitting date with friends. With the towels done, I soon turned my sights on something a little more personal:


These are two pair of panties that I embroidered for a friend's bachelorette party. It was a kind of weird idea, but I really like how they turned out. And the bride semed to like them too, particularly the boy shorts that say 'Mrs' on the bum.

So now I am looking for something else to embroider. I was thinking about adding some detailing to a few shirts, but, after stumbling upon the Phat Quarter Flickr group, I've had my eyes opened to all of embroidery's possibilities. I'll keep you posted on any future projects!

Crafts On My Mind

Since I'm devoting all of my knitting time to the cardigan, I thought I would share some of the other crafty things that I have been thinking about recently:

Needle Felting

I just purchased a Clover 5-needle felting tool and am having lots of fun using it on my small stash of felt. I'm amazed at how incredibly simple and quick it is to fuse felt pieces together (and even put felt onto other fabrics). The hardest part about making the flower pin below was actually cutting everything out! I'm excited to explore the other things I can do with this tool.


For more info on needle felting, here's a nice tutorial from Betz White.

Embroidery

I think that I'm on a mission to learn about all of the fiber arts. Having just crossed off weaving and needle felting, I'm ready to tackle embroidery with a little help from Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching. I just picked up her Stitch-it Kit and can't wait to get started!


An Inspiring Book

And lastly, I thought that I would share a very cool book that I found recently, My Favorite Felt Sweets. It is a Japanese (translated) booklet on making plush desserts out of felt. Even if I never make anything out of this book, it's worth having it as eye candy!