Rocky Raccoon checked into his room...

This is a costume idea I'd been kicking around in my head for about a year now, but had never actually made any progress towards. Then, today, the song came on while I was in a "thinking about costumes" mode, and I finally got around to jotting down a sketch.



Not a terribly hard design, but I think it's pretty damn creative, and I always do look cute with critter ears on.

Progress in a few directions...

Firstly, I finished the Falling Leaves scarf tonight.



Going home for a few days and spending a lot of time in front of the tv helped. Once you get the lace pattern memorized, the rest of the scarf flies by pretty quickly. However, as it's knit in two pieces, I was a little concerned about the grafting at the neck.



As it turns out, it was the easiest part of the scarf. I just transferred both halves to one needle, alternating stitches from each, and then bound it all off, knitting two stitches together at a time. It's probably not the way the pattern called to graft it, but I haven't had to look at the pattern in about a week and a half, so I'm not terribly concerned.

In a more non-knitting direction, I found two dresses to put together for my girly Two-Face costume. It wasn't quite the direction I was originally planning for the costume (half goth-punk/half glam), but I actually kinda like this better. It's a bit closer to the Batman Forever concept, and I really did like that costume. And Tommy Lee Jones is fab, but that is neither here nor there...



The black dress is huge, probably a size 14 or 16, and had already been taken in by a few inches at the bust (which makes me wonder what on earth the person who owned it was shaped like), all of which would be problematic if I were actually planning to wear it. Fortunately, I'm just planning to hack it up, so the extra fabric makes things a bit easier.

Granted, a lot of the costume is gonna be in the accessories and other details, most of which I had planned out by the time I got to the checkout at Goodwill. Time will tell, tho.

The last thing, I picked up a sweater that I'm gonna recycle. For real this time. This sweater is about two sizes to big for me to ever actually wear, instantly stamping out any feelings of guilt at wasting a perfectly good sweater.



Which is a shame, because I actually really like the sweater, and would probably wear the hell out of it if it fit. It's 52% wool, 48% acrylic, and not quite as bright as the pictures, but still peppy. I'll probably get around to destroying it sometime next week - pictures forthcoming.

The hoodie what never ends

So I've been working on this hoodie from the Spring/Summer 04 issue of VK since...oh...November of 2004. Early this fall, not long after what ended up basically being a summer-long break from knitting, I finally finished all the pieces of the hoodie.

Let's have a look at it, shall we?



First of all, I just want to say that I love the colorway. The pattern was intended for Koigu, but in my usual, anti-yarn snob fashion, I did it in just a Red Heart Super Saver. However, the color, Monet, is quite possibly the best thing ever created in the history of making yarn. It's been discussed in Knitting, even, and that's a pretty yarn-snobby place.

Plus, it was a pretty simple pattern. Knit a back, knit one side the same length as the back, knit another side just like it, some easy sleeves, and finally a ridiculously easy hood. A monkey could do it.

So why, after almost a year and a half, don't I have a pretty, watercolory flavored hoodie to wear around this spring?

Well, depending on who you ask, it's because seaming/counting is hard. Also, finishing sucks, no matter how you look at it. I finished the hood. I finished one side seam. But somewhere, along that second seam, I messed up, and ended up with about two inches difference in the armpit.

How did I do it? I have no idea. I measured all the pieces together beforehand, several times. Both against each other, and with a measuring tape. Why haven't I gone back and tried to fix it? I don't know. Frustration, laziness, disenchantment with what was otherwise a ridiculously simple pattern, maybe all of the above. Will I eventually get around to fixing it? Yes, undoubtedly, but most likely not before at least one, if not both, of my other current projects are finished. I'm just that annoyed with it.

Anyway, I think that brings us up to speed with what I'm working on. Yay.

I've been working on two main projects lately: The Falling leaves scarf from Vogue knitting Spring/Summer 05, and the Accidentally-On-Purpose vest from Stitch N Bitch Nation.

I'm working the scarf out of Lion Brand Wool Ease in cranberry. It's the first yarn I ever bought, and I've tried to work it into a few different scarves since then. The first scarf was a lesson in overzealousness - it ended up a foot and a half by nine foot garter stitch monstrosity that was so heavy, it choked me whenever I tried to wear it. Hence the redo.

It's also the first lacework I've ever done successfully, and I think it's turning out pretty well...





(click image for a very large and very overexposed pattern detail)

It's about a foot and a half long right now - not bad for about a weeks-worth of bus rides to work and a few episodes of Gilmore Girls.

The vest is coming a little slower, mostly because it's stockinette - massively boring compared to lacy leaves.



I'm working this in Patons Brilliant, which is a really fun yarn, and surprisingly soft considering it's full of sparkly plastic bits. I'm almost at the point now where I start dropping stitches, so that's a little more exciting. And then...I get to do another 23 inches of stockinette for the back. Joy of joys.

Maybe tomorrow if I'm feeling inspired, I'll post about the hoodie that never ends. We'll see...

Well, here goes nothing...

Figured I'd jump on the bandwagon and fix myself a crafts blog. Mostly just so I can keep my lj a little neater. Hooray.

I'll probably post some actual pictures later.