Using what you knit...

You know, it feels really great to make a special project and finally get a chance to wear it!

For instance... A few weeks ago my beloved husband took me to the Atlanta Opera, at their new home, no less. We saw Turandot, which I definitely enjoyed. I wore a spaghetti strap black velvet dress, but it can get a bit cool in the evening (occasionally) in October. So I decided to wear my Gothy Scribbling Shawl from Mason-Dixon Knitting, for the very first time!

It felt so special! I felt really fancy, too. It was the perfect choice. :) And I felt even more special when the opera volunteers started handing out these really gorgeous Asian fans to all the ladies!

Wheel of Time Scarves

I love CraftBorg, which is a really fun, totally geeky podcast. The hosts, Rosemary and Julie, are big fans of both Harry Potter and Star Trek (yeah, no surprise there), as well as all sorts of other fangirl stuff. Sadly, they haven't updated in months, but there are seventeen episodes available.

Anyway, they both make Harry Potter socks. No, not socks with the Harry Potter characters on them, or house-striped socks, or socks from the movie. They make socks inspired by and named for Harry Potter characters. They choose colors, patterns, and yarns to reflect the character's personality, interests, and tastes. As soon as I heard that, I thought, "Oh! I love that!" Of course, I have no interest in making Harry Potter socks, but I love the concept: letting the characters from your favorite fiction shape your knitting!

Now think about the Wheel of Time...there are so many interesting characters! And Robert Jordan always puts such effort into each character, so there's plenty of material to work with. So, I've decided to make some Wheel of Time scarves... I love scarves, so it's going to be fun!

My first scarf is for Pevara Tazanovni, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah. As a novice, she was close friends with Seaine Herimon, but had to break off the friendship upon gaining the shawl. When Elaida charged Seaine with searching out the Black Ajah, the White recruited Pevara to help.

Pevara, a pretty woman with dark eyes and a cheerful nature, is not your typical Red: she actually likes men, and she's quite notorious for her belief that Reds would find Warders useful. She is open to Aes Sedai of other Ajahs, even though the Red Ajah strongly discourages friendships outside the Ajah.

I'm doing the Turkish Stitch version from A Trio of Scarves. I chose South West Trading Company Bamboo in Red Jester. The deep reds represent her ajah, of course, and the Turkish stitch is lacy buy restrained, which reflects the balancing act that has so shaped Pevara: the demands of her ajah versus the demands of her heart.

So far, I'm having a blast!

Warm Hands for Late-Night Gaming

I'm a total night owl, so most of my online gaming (Guild Wars or Diablo II) happens late at night. Cold hands are the bane of my existence in the late fall and winter, and we've already had a couple of cold-ish nights. So I decided to pull out my Andean Treasure 100% baby alpaca from Knit Picks and headed to Ravelry to comb through the handwarmer and fingerless glove patterns.

I decided to crochet a pair, since it's quicker. I'm making a modified version of the Wristables from Crochet Me. I'm pretty happy with the results so far: I've finished the first one, and I'm about halfway through the cuff of the second one. :)

Can't wait to finish! After that, I have to move on to my Christmas crafting...

100 Themes...Will I ever learn?

I have got to stop visiting Craftster! On a whim, I decided to visit the ATC section and just browse around. Big, big mistake! The artist trading card bug has bitten me again...but now I want to work on the "One Hundred Themes" project.

Yep, one hundred. I have to make one hundred artist trading cards. I was so inspired I made a little checklist, sized to fit in an ATC sleeve, of course! Download it and use it if you want. I figured I might as well convert it, since InDesign makes is so very easy!

I've done number twenty-three, Cat, number sixty-one, Fairy Tale, and number sixty-three, Do Not Disturb. The first one is very literal, but the other two aren't really.

Let's see, that's ninety-seven to go...

Gearing up for Anime Weekend Atlanta!

My friend Ishy and I from Craft Wonderland are selling some of our stuff at Anime Weekend Atlanta in two weeks. Boy, am I busy…

See more progress on: sell my handmade items