Conquering Cables

I've been crocheting for forever but only started knitting about 3 years ago.  When I first started I made a simple netbook cover, a hat and a basket weave tea cozy, then I put down the needles swearing I would never knit again.  It was awkward and I already had mad crochet skills.  6 months later I gave it another try, something clicked and knitting no longer felt so foreign.  Now I usually have at least 1 knitting and crochet project going at once.  It really frustrates me when people are elitist about one or the other.  I feel that each has their strengths and weaknesses, it all depends on the project.

One place where I feel knitting is superior is cables.  You can make cables with crochet but it's not quite as smooth and aesthetic.  The main reason I even learned to knit was to enter the world of beautiful cables.  In my mind cabling was limited to those who have mastered the art of knitting and that I would need more knitting under my belt to even try.  Well, this fall cables came crashing down from their pedestal because when I actually looked at how a simple 3/3 cable is done I felt almost cheated.  "Why, this isn't hard at all!"  And I proceeded to teach it to my sister whose knitting was limited to the purl and knit stitch.  I'm sure cabling becomes more complicated when you get into different types but seriously, I don't know why I syked myself out of trying them earlier.

The first project I made cabling was a pair of mittens.  I looked around but didn't find quite the right pattern so I just made one up.  Granted I have never made any sort of gloves but I just went ahead and did it.  They turned out beautifully!  Red and gorgeous with detailed cables all around.  I gave them to my mother for Christmas and neglected to take any pictures. BLURG!

But THEN I made a pair for myself!  Actually I made a pair of finger-less gloves for myself leaving them open and adding ribbing to the end.  Not quite as classic as the mittens but I support finger freedom.

Seattle's skies were blue today! (and I'm pretty happy with my gloves too)

palm shot

in action

Now I'm working on the scarf  below for Aaron (can you tell from this post that we both like green?)  We found a free pattern he liked HERE on Ravelry.  It uses the same simple 3/3 cable that I used for my gloves.  I might make this weave scarf for myself next, a new, different, and beautiful type of cable to learn.

The start of Aaron's Mr. O'Leary's scarf 

Things to Love #1. Nest

I'm going to start "Things to Love" posts. These posts will contain things I find so great that I just have to share them with you. For the first installation I bring you "Nest".

Nest is a hand-knitted, adult, bean bag chair from the two women of Zilalia. It looks so comfy and beautiful and not what comes to mind when you think of a bean bag. They're handmade, eco-friendly and health friendly. You can check out their site for more specs and info. I look at this and see it as a challenge to knit, knit, knit one but I'm also intimidated. It would take me FOREVER! Which along with the quality of the materials explains the price tag.

It Had to Happen

The final Harry Potter movie just came out so of course I had to post about it. Some time before leaving Virginia My friend Erin and I started re-reading the Harry Potter series. I'm not sure how many times I've read them, I tend to get an itch every year or so. The idea was to read all the way through before the last movie came out. If you have read and loved the series but never reread them I'd highly recommend it. There are things mentioned offhand in the first books that reappear in the later books so it's really fun to go back and see J.K. Rowling's foresight. And if you HAVEN'T read the books you should, they're well written, fun and you'll breeze right through them.

The point of all this talk is that my heart has been all a-flutter with love for Harry Potter so of course I looked up some HP crafts to do. There are a lot out there, some cool and some not so much. I've been trying to use up the resources that already I have (bags and bags of yarn) so I chose to knit a golden snitch. My knitting has been limited to scarves, hats and a not so impressive tie therefore I was happy to gain some new experience with a new shape, a sphere. When the knitting was done it was in fact spherical so I was happy! The wings tended towards curling so I slid a wire through the top of the wing for support.

150 points to me!

wire support

As for the movie? For the first time ever I went to a midnight showing. My friend Brittany and I left the boys at home and headed to downtown Portland for the 3-D show. We showed up to the mall around 11 and the two floors the theatre occupied were full of people waiting in line, some dressed up, some with lightening scars, all excited. A kind employee dressed like Harry himself pointed us in the direction of our theatre and to our amazing luck we were able to walk right in and sit down! No waiting on opening night, what amazing luck! We picked up our HP 3-D glasses, found a seat in the back, and popped open our Red Bulls. There are so many reviews out there so I'll just say this. I liked it. There were discrepancies of course but all around I think it was worth it. The beginning went by a little faster than I'd have liked but I think that was to give more time to the epic ending. It's give and take when books are turned into movies. For now I'll continue to love the series, and enjoy my golden snitch. Maybe I'll hang it up when we settle in one spot for more than two months.