LittleYarn’s Neighborhood

It is one of the biggest issues facing our modern society and probably the most deadly. Everywhere we turn we are dazed by headlines, filled with frightening figures, or we are faced with the catastrophic effects ourselves. It will not only affect us, but our children will suffer, along with their children and their children. They will be unable to live in the world that we have so selfishly taken for granted. Our carelessness is destroying a world in which several of our ancestors died fighting for. But we are even more indebted to them as the ravishing and prestigious world they left behind is no more. Nature is being replaced with water in every corner of the globe, more and more species of such beautiful animals are dying and our most sacred treasures are disappearing. All because of our greed. We cannot expect others to clear up the mess that we, ourselves, have made. Ignoring the problem only increases it and in this extreme, ignoring cannot be an option. Either we act now and reduce our carbon emissions or we sit back and watch lands fought for on our behalf drown under enormous depths of water.  

I personally find it very depressing that many of the world's most picturesque sights will be gone before I get to see them and that my adult life will be filled with water, quite literally. I certainly don't want to have to spend the rest of my life in a world that is falling apart in front of my eyes and be deprived of the high-quality life I could have led.

If i had to decide where my favourite place in the entire world was it would have to be somewhere that is tranquil, somewhere I can reflect and somewhere that is just as fantastic in all the seasons. My bedroom window, in fact, has displayed some of the most glorious sunsets that I have never seen in photos or on travels. It never fails, no matter what the season, to amaze me as I spend countless hours at my desk, admiring the passing clouds and planes. Also, the river walk that runs for a mile and a bit past my house is incredible during the summer when the sun shines off the water and the air is fresh from the sea. In winter, it is a nice place to escape for a while amongst the bare trees and soothing sound of the crashing waves. But, saying that, my abnormally warm and comfy bed could also be a contender along with my kitchen fridge! So, I guess if someone ever asked me where my favourite place in the world was, I would have to say 'home'. 

Who are you dying to see in concert?

Rascal Flatts / Taylor Swift / Jason Mraz

I actually finished this six weeks ago, but never posted! I'm pretty proud of this one...I picked my favorite stitch pattern, planned my stripes, figured out how to make ruffles and managed to create a vertical keyhole without screwing up my pattern that did not lend itself well to a keyhole. All with great success!

I didn't intend for only the pink bands at the end..it was going to stripe with the others (alternating 5 and 10 rows with three colors - would have been neat) but the pink didn't look as great with my coat as I thought. Blah. Still, I like the stripes.

I can't wait to wear this all winter long! I've worn it once so far and it is snuggly.

Yarns: Rowan Purelife Wool in Welsh Black (brown) and Steel Suffolk (grey), accented with Rowan chunky Scottish tweed (rose). Knit for Potions class, September '09: a warm up potion.

Suncatcher Eyes Group on Flickr

Wikipedia defines amigurumi as "the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures."   If you Google the word "amigurumi," 837,000 links come up, and there are 196,000 images.  On Flickr there are 68,900 photos tagged with "amigurumi."  A few years ago amigurumi was a difficult-to-explain, hard-to-pronounce craft that few knew about.  Today it has exploded into a craft revolution. 

There is an amigurumi for just about anything you can imagine, and most of the patterns are available too.  How about a pig, cat, dog, bear, bunny, dog in a bear suit, pear, apple, tree, hamburger and hot dog, fish bones, robots, a skeleton, any cartoon and pop culture character you can imagine, dolls, mermaids, and of course mushrooms and snails.

I learned to crochet more than 25 years ago, long before crochet was cool.  Crochet used to be thought of as little old ladies making afghans, slippers, and scarves.  With the introduction of amigurumi, that has all changed.  Crafters have embraced amigurumi and even created micro businesses.  They sell amigurumi dolls and patterns, and there are even those who sell the materials used to make amigurumi.

Crocheting is popular again, and it's being learned by a whole new generation of crafters.  What a wonderful way to keep the art of crochet going.

I finally had a chance to add the 19 new opaque colors to the Suncatcher Eyes website.  Now the colors shown below can be ordered individually in 6mm, 7.5mm, 9mm, 10.5mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm, 20mm, and 24mm.  Click here to visit the opaque colors page.

Who wants to join a crochetalong to make this adorable fuzzy panda?  Join Roxycraft at Craftzine.com at this link to make your own panda.  Panda's eyes are 18mm Suncatcher Eyes in Shimmer Aqua.

These are the newest colors in the Radiance line of Suncatcher Eyes.  Only available in my Etsy shop for now.

Two completed items in one week!! Amazing. This is a Not-So-Elizabethtown Hat in Three Irish Girls Galenas, Cinnamon Spice colorway.

The pattern is great - super easy. What slowed me down was that fourth round of cables. I ended up using the cabling without a needle method, except, um, I used a needle. ;) Instead of sliding two stitches to a needle, holding to the back, knitting the third stitch, knitting the two from the cable needle and then purling the last stitch, I slipped two stitches to the other needle, slid the third needle to another needle that I held in front, slipped the two back and then slipped the one back, knit the three and then purled the last. The slipping and knitting off just one needle did speed things up and made it a lot less fiddly.

I think it looks cute on. It matches my winter coat exactly, which is nearly impossible.

I goofed at the end, though. I shouldn't have done an extra decrease row, which I think caused some of the puckering, and I got carried away and bound off instead of running yarn through the stitches and scrunching them together. It doesn't look bad, though, and has a bit of a star effect. I don't mind it.

To complete my winter set, next will be a keyhole scarf in grey, brown and pink stripes to complement the reds, and possibly mittens in the above colors with perhaps some of the leftover red. We'll see.