Falling Back in Love

In June, I wrote a blog post about how my desire to knit diminished after I defended my PhD and started a more regular job. At the time, I was happy enough to have time to read for pleasure and generally enjoy life after grad school to worry about my knitting. The ironic thing is that since I started my new grad program at the beginning of September, my desire to knit has gone back up!

Perhaps it's because my time is now much in demand that I force myself to carve out 20 minutes a day for pleasurable things like knitting. Either way, I'm proud to have knocked out this Snapdragon Tam in under two weeks. Even though it's not as slouchy as I would have liked, it at least proves that the knitting mojo has returned!

Also fueling my returned desire to craft is my recent acquisition of a Bosworth spindle. After hearing so many people rave about these spindles, I was not disappointed when I finally spun on one. I'm looking forward to putting a lot of yardage on this spindle to really get a feel for how it performs. I may be busy, but at least there are plenty of exciting things happening on the crafting-to-keep-me-sane front.

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool 2011

I made the trip to Wisconsin Sheep & Wool again this year (see last year's post on Sheep & Wool). This festival is such a nice mixture of shopping, catching up with friends, and seeing a variety of sheep, that it always makes for a good time. Additionally, I went to the 'Unwind' afterparty, which boasted over a hundred Ravelry members and their friends. All in all, it was a great trip.

A few of the more interesting things I saw this year included dog whistle trials (above) and sheep judging. The dog trials were very entertaining to watch and I was amazed by how well some of the dog/owner pairs work together to herd a group of sheep. The sheep judging was also interesting, though much more sedate. I particularly enjoyed watching the judging of a 'family' category--a ram, a ewe, and their offspring lamb are judged as a group, with preference given to breeding that shows improvement in the younger sheep as compared to its parents. These are the type of events that I wish were at the Wisconsin State Fair.

I did come home with a very small amount of fiber: 4 oz of Tussah silk. I exercised a lot of restraint because I'm saving my money up to buy a Bosworth spindle. I'm really looking forward to trying this new-to-me fiber type on my brand new spindle.

And finally, I'm leaving you with the requisite silly picture of a sheep. This ram was quite a large gentleman (his head was at the level of my waist) and he had the most wonderful set of horns. We saw a lot of sheep at the festival, but this guy was the most impressive.

Tsumami Kanzashi Follow-Up

I had such a good response from my post about kanzashi that I wanted to update you on some new projects. First of all, let me say that a friend of mine who is familiar with Japanese culture informed me that the proper term for these flowers is 'tsumami'. Apparently kanzashi only refers to the hair ornaments, though it seems to be the term that most western crafters have adopted for these flowers. I will try to use the term tsumami from here on, so as to be correct as possible.

Since I posted last, I've been making more fabric flowers using the templates. I even took the templates to knitting night with friends, which went over well. I don't expect to get tired of these any time soon.

The other thing I've been working on is paper tsumami. This is particularly a way to deal with the junk mail we get every week, particularly those hated Shopper Stoppers. First of all, let me state that the templates do not work well with paper. Instead, I followed the folding instructions laid out in 'Kanzashi in Bloom' to make paper petals.

The only petals that seem to work well in paper are the rounded petals. The other petals are too flat because the paper creases so easily, though the rounded petals need a little manipulation by hand to get the final effect. Still, I really like how the flowers look, especially the small ones. Who would have guessed that these are made from sales fliers?

A New Project

I'm happy to announce that I am undertaking a new venture this fall: I will be starting work on a Masters in Library and Information Studies!

I came to the realization after finishing my PhD in chemistry, that I'd rather be working with chemical information and other chemists than be working in the lab myself. I'm particularly interested in the challenges associated with cataloging and saving research data, which has prompted me to enroll in a library science program so that I can learn all of the standard practices in this field.

While this is a great thing for me in the long-term, I'm not sure of how this will affect my blog in the short-term. So for the next few months, my priority will be to post every other week instead of once a week. I hope to still post at my current once-a-week rate, but I'm giving myself some leeway should the blog need to give way to real life. Thanks for understanding and I am really looking forward to having a great autumn!

Baby Knitting, Episode 2

I'm currently preparing for the next wave of friend's babies. I always like knitting for these new arrivals, in part because I like giving handmade gifts and in part because these knits are usually quick projects. For the last baby-wave, my go-to gift was a hat paired with baby booties but this time I'm having fun with other small baby-friendly patterns.

One of these patterns is Smith by Ysolda Teague. Given how I feel about this designer, it is difficult to part with this toy but I'm sure that the baby (or at least its mother, who is also a knitter) is going to love this little guy. Adding weight to my decision to part with this toy is the fact that it's one of the most baby-friendly toys I've knit; the spikes are knitted securely onto the body and I took care to needle felt on the eyes instead of using buttons, which could be a choking hazard. I suspect that I will be knitting more Smiths for babies in the future.

The other baby pattern I recently knit was the Sourball Bonnet, which is available for free on Ravelry. I made this particular bonnet out of some handspun and I particularly like the way that it looks knit up in feather and fan. The pattern is excellent, but I prefer the Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap pattern because I think it is more gender-neutral.

Between the toy and the bonnet, I am done with baby knitting in the short term, though I think I will keep knitting wee patterns in anticipation of baby wave 3.

Fairly Beautiful Beads

I have a special place in my heart for the state fair, having grown up going to the Ohio State Fair every summer. And while I've lived in Wisconsin for the past 6 years, I just made my very first visit to the Wisconsin State Fair. To be honest, I was hoping for more agriculture and displays of blue-ribbon quilts,etc, but at least I got to try one of the famous cream puffs. I got cream overload about 3 bites in so I'm glad I split it with my friend.

While I did not come home with any Sham-wows or a new kitchen knife from the exhibition hall, I did pick up several strands of gemstone beads. Most of the beads were $8 a strand, but we found some really nice strands in a sale bin at 4 for $10. For someone who loves gemstones and has been looking for a sizeable (but not too large) gemstone necklace for a while, this deal was too good to pass up.

The very evening I got home from the fair, I dusted off my beading supplies and proceeded to make the beads into four necklaces. I strung everything onto tiger tail wire and used a crimp bead to secure toggles to the end of each strand. They are fairly simple necklaces, but I think that beauty of the beads speaks for itself.

These necklaces were just what I was looking for, both in terms of bead diameter and strand length. Plus, I have some leftover beads to play with since each necklace took about 1.5 strands. Between my love of gemstones and my love of a good deal, I couldn't be happier with my new jewelry!

Kanzashi

Let me introduce you to my latest crafting obesession: kanzashi. Kanzashi is the Japanese art of folding flower petals, an art form which was originally used to create elaborate hairpieces. This technique first came to my attention a few years ago with the publication of Kanzashi in Bloom, but it wasn't until Clover came out with these clever kanzashi-makers (Fabric Depot is running a nice sale on them) that I decided to give the technique a try.

I have only made kanzashi with the Clover templates but they produce nice results and I love that they're dead easy to use. You simply fold the template over a piece of fabric, trim the excess, then run a needle and thread through the template holes in the indicated order (see the templates in action here). You can string together any number of petals on the same thread and when you pull the thread tight and knot the two ends--voila--instant flower! I can easily knock together several of these flowers in one sitting.

I'm looking forward to more experimenting and eventually making kanzashi without the aid of a template. I aspire to someday make kanzashi half as lovely as what is on the 'Gaijin Geisha' page of this website, but in the meantime I'm happy making some simple flowers.