Crafty!

I'm on a definitive craft high right now.. I finished Vala_Amaris (Craftster)'s Christmas Stocking package, and sent that off today. It was super easy, actually... woohoo! I shipped it out of FedEx/Kinko's, and felt like I was cheating since I work at a Staples Copycenter. Me and the guy (the guy and I?) ragged each other about it the whole time, and fun was had by all. :)

I'm in the throes of knitting excitement, brought on by a ball of Noro Kureyon that my older sister bought me at my LYS the other day. My sister, Lisa, is in town from Washington State on leave from the Navy. She is a a fledgeling knitter (though 18 years older than me, haha) and I couldn't be more proud! :) Anyway, she bought me a ball of Kureyon and a ball of Silk Garden, too. *slobber* I cast on for three different hat patterns before I finally settled for my Kureyon ball, and the pattern is my own! Well, technically, I guess. I've never much understood what makes a pattern yours... I winged it, so I guess that does it? I kinda just cast on for about 90, I think, on size 8 circulars, joined and worked in P1K1 for 6 rows. Then I went into I guess kind of a butterfly-ish lace pattern... I adapted (or ganked, kinda if you think about it, hehe) a pattern out of the first Nikki Epstein book of edgings (the one with the blue on the front), out of the lace section. I just took the main element and left out all the fixins, so I could do what I wanted with it. :) The pattern, essentially, is R1: K, yo twice, k to end of row or stitches :) and R2: slip knit stitches and let yo's drop from needle, and then place all of the slipped stitches back on the left needle. Knit 3rd stitch and pass over first two, repeat with fourth stitch. Then go back and knit the 1st and second stitches off the left hand needle... it makes an 'x'. Repeat this the whole way around.

This is what it looks like for me:

I also added an extra stitch so that I could offset the x's. Normally the x's would be right on top of the other.

Now! Now, I just have to figure out how to finish the damn thing! :) I have never been good at finishing my own hats, and I thoroughly expect that I will experience a good bit of ripping and redoing in the coming days.

I know that I will probably have the same problem finding a pattern for the Silk Garden, and will surely be doing this all over again... hehe.

Ok... I think that's enough for right now. ... man, I can just go on and on about knitting... :)

-Keri

An entirely non-craft related blog

Well, not really.

I am at work, as always, listening to R.E.M. on the muzak, feeling pretty good. The fair is in town, and it is down to 50 degrees or so (finally!) here in southern USA, and I'm in a good place. I spent some time with my family last night, starting with taking my little sister Margie downtown and taking lots of cool pictures with her and Jon, and ending with sitting on my parents bed (me, Jon, Margie, and said parents) watching Grey's Anatomy and talking about life and christmas. :)

I've been working like crazy on my current swap on Craftster, the Christmas Stocking Swap. I've got the stocking 99% finished (I need to weave in ends and get some ribbon to sew on the cuff) and I'm working madly on the other items. I think the items are mostly going to be bigger items since knitting big things is easier for me than small? I don't know. I'm planning on knockin' out some knucks for my partner, too.

Hmm.... contentment.
I love being able to break out my (one, haha) hand knit sweater again...
I love this season.


-Keri

A knitting post!

I posted these on craftster.org recently, and figured that a perfect place to showcase some of my knit goods would be, well, my craft blog. :)

Here is a hat that I made for the Fall/Winter Scarf Swap:

The hat is based on Knitting Nature's Sunflower Tam, with purple and grey Patons Wool. It started out as entirely grey, until I realized I was not going to make it the whole way with the yarn I had left, so I threw in a stripe. And then my imagination went crazy! I love this hat, and it is just as beautiful inside out as well.

Here is a view from the top... I just love the sprials of the pattern. I started another one last night in black and ultramarine blue.

I have more pictures to show of more goodies, but I've spent too much time fighting the Blogger layout and all these pictures... haha, I'm a wimp and I give up after two pictures. :D

-Keri

A little deeper...

Okay, another night at work, another night to type about me and what I like (or don't, whatever).

Some listy-things:

Favorite Colors:
Blues, greens, black...
I love deeper reds and magentas, and purples, too.
Pretty much, if you look at a ball of Noro Silk Garden- those are my favorite colors. I love blues and greens mixed together, though.

Favorite Cultural References:
(I guess this covers everything pop culture... I mean really why not?)
I love TV. No lie. However, at the moment I only have basic television (think rabbit ears) as the fiance and I are just too lazy to upgrade. CW has enough for us, darnit! I'm still relatively in touch with other things- I love Miami Ink, and though I haven't seen LA Ink I'm sure I love it too since I freakin love Kat. I love Mythbusters and any cool, dirty science show.. I am a non-squeamish member of the medical set, so assume that all medical, ooeygooey shows are good, too.

I love to read BoingBoing, and I love geeky things like XKCD.com, and prety much all of the online comics like toothpastefordinner.com and such.

I LOVE LOLCATS!!! Ohmygosh!! DO want.

I'm not so much on the Mys[fp]acebook. I used to be, then my laptop died and all of my internet access was limited to work, where I get everything BUT facebook and myspace. But it's okay- now I spend all of my time on Craftster!

I adore Postsecret, and Day of the Dead, and pin-ups and Harry Potter and fancy makeup and indie music and modern symphonic music.
That last one might not be such a pop-culture thing. but I did spend seven years in a performing arts school.
(Btw I spent seven years going to performing arts schools for classical music)

Speaking of music...
Favorite Music
My favorite genres... hmm. That's actually pretty broad. My dad is a jazz pianist, so I grew up on jazz and all of the standards from the 40's (Johnny Mercer? Classic.). My parents ran the music ministry at the church I went to when I was young, and though I am now a rabid atheist, I still find myself humming the odd church hymn.
As a rule, however, I love alternative from the 90's, I love some 80's (see New Order and DEFINITELY The Cure, omg), and I am a big fan of smarter music... I guess in that category I would put stuff like Death Cab For Cutie, etc. Music with more substance, less whining about the same things over and over again. Ben Gibbard is God.
I also love some heavier stuff, like Tool and Nine Inch Nails.
I am not a fan of metal or anything with the words 'blood,' 'death,' or 'scream' in the near vicinity. Bloody Screamy Death Metal is not my cuppa.
I am a HUGE fan of good rap, including in that De La Soul, Atmosphere (the love of my musical life), and Insane Clown Posse. Okay, ICP may not be good rap and may be a complete oxymoron to everything I said in the previous paragraph, but they make me laugh like crazy, and Violent J is actually quite intelligent. They are my secret love. :)

If I have to play faves, I'd say that Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Atmosphere, and Ben Folds are my all-time favorite bands. I also love the Smashing Pumpkins and Incubus...
y'know. the standards. :D

I have to go do actual work now!

-Keri

First Post!

Hello!
If you are here, hopefully it is to do some stalking for the wonderful stuff you're about to send me, yes? ;)
Well, I was doing a swap questionairre for Craftster and realized that I had no way for people to swap-stalk me. Shameful!

I guess I'll start out with some about me.

My name is Keri, I am 19 and I live in Jacksonville, Florida. I sorta-kinda attend the University of North Florida (which really means I'm disgusted with the school and am taking a little break until I miss it again), sorta-kinda for nursing. That sorta-kinda is because I love the medical field, but I'm not sure that it's what I want to do... I have a lot of interests and a lot of fingers in a lot of different places. So... whew.

I am engaged to my fiance, Jon, and we have been together a year and a half and known each other for seven years. He is my pookie and my best friend, I love him to death. We live together in what is my first apartment (not so much his, haha) and have a child, our rat terrier Maggie. :D
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As far as crafts go, I am a die-hard, born-and-bred, get-that-hook-away-from-me knitter. I have been knitting for seven years and consider myself to be fairly advanced.. there are many techniques (see Eunny Jang's complicated-ass fair aisle) that I'm sure I could do if I had the patience or sense of security in my sanity, but I don't. I don't really like to knit cables either for the same reason but I can do it if I need to.
I love to knit entrelac, and I love to knit someone's handspun.
Patons SWS is by far my favorite yarn (so far) but I love anything involving the words 'cashmerino,' 'sport weight,' or 'machine wash.' Haha.
I really want to learn to spin my own yarn, but I have no space in my apartment, no wheel, no mentor, and no time. Someday, I'm sure. :)

I also make a lot of jewelry and love to expand my bead collection almost as much as my yarn stash. I am absolutely in LOVE with Swarovski crystals and pretty findings. I am experimenting with frosted glass beads and eye pins, which are my favorite creation, um, ever.
I am not a fan of chunky beads or chunky jewelry. I by far choose sublety and simplicity over something outrageous. I love simple bracelets, small dangly earrings... something just to catch the light.

I have a sewing machine... sitting in the trunk of my car... after sitting in my closet... suffice it to say I have not shown it much love. I'll break it out one of these years. I have also been known to stencil, I love spray-paint and spray adhesive. Does it surprise you that I love graffiti, too? ;)

I am interested in learning other crafts, but I am like a freakin donkey and don't really sway much from my set path. If it isn't yarn or beads, I'll play with it for a bit but lose inspiration after a while.

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Hmm... I think my fingers are tired. There's a lot about me to write! Whew...

:)

I think that's it for my first post. Happy stalking!

-Keri