Paintbox Update

Just a little picture update of the Log-cabin Paintbox blanket I am making for my parents' anniversary. The squares are all knitted together into strips and you can see the final layout here. Right now I am in the process of knitting together the strips. It is VERY MONOTONOUS, as it takes roughly 20-30 minutes to do each row and casting off takes about twice as long, but it does keep my legs warm while I am knitting. The anniversary is December 11th so I gotta get working.

Fiber Fest - 2010

About a month ago, I went to the Big E with my mother. As we were walking from where we had parked to the event, I saw a huge billboard with "Fiber Fest" on it. I immediately got VERY EXCITED and called my friend Bonnie (who taught me how to knit and shares my love of crafts). I left her a message saying that on the weekend of November 6-7th, we were going to go to Fiber Fest. No questions asked.

There were a bunch of animals there, including sheep, angora rabbits, alpacas and angora goats (pictured left). The first thing Bonnie and I did upon entering was head right to the fiber section. Fiber is better known to non-knitters as animal hair. Wool, mohair, angora, etc. We walked through the rows filled with bags of different kinds of fiber, completely raw and often still with bits of dirt and straw mixed in, brushing our fingers on each kind and dreaming what lovely yarns it could be turned into. I couldn't really help myself and got a bag of beautifully curly Lincoln sheep fiber.

Right after, there was going to be a sheepdog demonstration, which we didn't want to miss. The area was a little small so instead of herding sheep, the dog was herding ducks. It was a very cool demonstration. You could see the intelligence and focus in the dog, and she moved very fluidly. The kid in me was excited because the woman who was working with the dog said "Away to me", which made me think of the movie "Babe". Apparently in sheepdog lingo it means to go to the right of the herd. "Come by" means to go to the left.

After that we walked around the whole event twice. Some areas about three times. It wasn't a small event, we just wanted to make sure we saw everything! There was a wonderful sense of camaraderie. Everyone there was a craft nut. There were spinning wheels everywhere, people using drop spindles while they perused the vendors, and everyone was decked out in lovely hand knits. Everything was so unbelievably beautiful, especially because you knew that everything there was handmade with great care and love. I probably said "SO PRETTY!" about a thousand times.

Bonnie was interested in learning how to spin yarn with a drop spindle (which I will talk more about in another entry soon), and really she picked the perfect place to start. A man was stopping random people and teaching them how to spin and ply yarn. Another vendor gave her some advice on how to get started and keep up the spinning habit. Shortly afterward a few women gave her advice on what kind of spindle to start with. Then she found a gorgeous spindle, and some lovely alpaca roving.

Everyone there was wonderful. Friendly, helpful and just as excited about yarn and fiber as Bonnie and I. I was in awe of some of the stuff that people were making, like this man working on a giant loom and this woman's lacework (which gave me a headache just looking at it).














Being there renewed my craft mojo quite a bit. I wanted to learn about 12 new things after being there for five minutes. My second and third most used phrases at the event after "SO PRETTY" were "I WANT A SPINNING WHEEL" and "I WANT A LOOM." Ah well. Someday.

I am excited about what I did come home with, and it took considerable effort to tone it down to just this. At left you can see my bag of fiber, in the middle is some wool batting that is processed and dyed and ready for spinning, and finally a skein of stunning hand-painted yarn. I joked that I got the three stages of yarn: raw fiber, processed materials and finished yarn.

Judging from the website about the event, and also from talking to some of the volunteers, it sounds like this will hopefully be the first of a new yearly event. Parking was $5 and the event itself was $5 so it certainly didn't break the bank to get in. I thought it was well organized and I had fun just looking at everything without even going to any of the workshops they offered (including intarsia, felting and rug making). I sincerely hope that they do decide to make this a yearly event. If so, I know for sure that they will have at least two visitors!

A Crafty Gift

Last Sunday I went to a wonderful wedding of two of my friends from college, Sarah and Coz. They are pictured on the left being very adorable having their first kiss as a married couple. They had a very cool, very fun and very non-traditional wedding. One of my favorite things about it was how crafty it was! Many of the things at the wedding, from Sara's dress, to the flowers and their wedding rings were all purchased from Etsy. I used to have a store up there myself and after I finally get some gainful employment, I will probably open it up again.

Now, Sara and Coz hadn't registered, so that left me with a bit of a dilemma of what to get them as a gift. I didn't want to get them something they might not need/want that would just take up space. And I am pretty against just giving good friends money. It's so impersonal!


I am hoping that they have opened their gifts by now so that I won't be spoiling any surprise by revealing what I did do for them here (I don't even know if they know about/read this blog anyway, so the point may be moot).

I started by making a card for them. The nicest and thickest paper I had was some resume paper (recycled! whoo!). I thought it would make sense if I made them something Chinese themed. I first attempted to write in calligraphy a lovely Chinese poem I found online. It said things like "I hope we are together until the flowers bloom in winter, the snows fall in summer and heaven mingles with the earth". But it made the front look really busy and I am a bit of a perfectionist. In the end I just wrote one word as best as I could, "Double Happiness", the character for a happy marriage. I outlined that with some nice red and gold ribbon (traditional good luck colors in China). I lined the inside with rice paper and wrote my message on it, being sure to sign with "Sproffee" (the nickname most of my college friends know me as) and my Chinese name stamp (the tiny red block on the bottom there), which is the Chinese translation for "Sproffee".



Here is a better view of the front (I covered up their full names just to keep their privacy) and their actual gift. The name "Sprof-O-Gram" came from my good friend Claire. I thought it was rather ridiculous and perfect. In short, my gift to them is a coupon to have my use one of my weird hobbies to create a gift for them. I gave them a few suggestions, such as having me knit them a blanket, having them invite some friends over and have me cook a gourmet meal for all of them (with dessert!), have me hire out the improv group I recently joined to perform for them at some event, etc. At first I was a little nervous that they might think this was a weird/corny gift, but after seeing how crafty their wedding was, I hope they like this idea. I can't wait to find out what they choose for me to do. No matter what, it will be an excuse for us to hang out again, and it will be more personal than cash.


It was wonderful to see not only the happy couple but also so many old college friends of mine that I haven't really seen in a long time. Some I hadn't seen since I left for China two years ago, one I hadn't seen in over three years. Here is a fun group picture with everyone from the wedding who went to the same college. It sucks that people live so far apart, which makes getting together a little difficult. Thank goodness for events like weddings where we can all get together.

Congrats again Sara and Coz! And thanks again for inviting me!

Blocking Paintbox

While I was in China, I knitted a wonderful and meaningful blanket for myself with tons of Noro Kureyon yarn that was given to me by many friends and family members. (Pictured on the left. Ignore the goofiness.) Each square represents a loved one, and together the blanket can remind me of my time in Shanghai. I was planning on making maybe a 24-ish square blanket, but I ended up receiving over 70 skeins! I got so much yarn that even when my blanket was done (with 42 squares), I had tons leftover. So I am using that leftover yarn and keeping the love alive by making a different style blanket for my parents. I plan on giving it to them for their wedding anniversary at the end of this year. They have already seen me working on it, so it's not much of a surprise...


When trying to find a good pattern, I found the Paintbox afghan on Ravelry and simply fell in love. The picture on the right is what really sold it for me. (Note: I did NOT knit this). I love working with transitional yarns, and I think this is the perfect pattern to highlight the lovely qualities of the Noro yarn. Each square is knitted from the inside out and the final effect is supposed to seem like a painters box of swirled paints, hence the name. The pattern for the squares is also known as "Log Cabin" because the overlaying structure is similar to building a log house.

Through using full skeins and also fudging some transitions by putting together scraps leftover from the other blanket, I managed to knit up 36 squares. I plan on putting together a lovely 6x6 blanket. The sample above is 5x5, but I am hoping to end up with something roughly queen-sized.

Since all the knitting is done, the next step was blocking. Blocking involves taking knitted work of natural fibers and by using heat/steam/agitation/etc, to get it to take the final shape you want. Even though each square I knitted was made with the same yarn and knit with the same pattern, by differences in the tension of my knitting, the thickness of the fibers in the yarn and the alignment of the planets, not every square is the same size. By stretching the squares, pinning them down and giving them a bit of a steam/ironing combo, I can get them the size and shape I want. I aimed to get them all to somewhere between 10.5-11 inches square.


It's a long and rather dull process that I haven't done much in the past, but after it made sewing together the last blanket about 1,000% easier, I have been converted. And it wasn't too lonely. Since it was extremely windy out that day and my dog, Ben, is a big baby when it comes to howling wind, I had company. I just wish he hadn't decided to cower DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH the ironing board. Ah well.

Next I just have to decide the blanket layout. Whee!