Knit Mode

Last year when I impulsively bought a pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn, I wasn’t sure if I would like knitting. While I was curious about knitting, I had never done it before so I didn’t know if it was a hobby that would last. I didn’t want to invest a lot of money on supplies that I wasn’t sure I would ever use, so I wanted to start out slow. Thus, every time I needed a different pair of needles to match the thickness of the yarn I had, I would buy my needles individually (which is fine in the short term, but not so great in the long term).

I finally decided that I just needed to get a set of knitting needles because it would be cheaper overall and would give me more sizes to work with. Working with just a couple of needle sizes is very limiting; I like to look over knitting books and find cute projects that I want to try, but as I didn’t have many of the needles sizes it sort of put a damper on things. Now that I have a knitting needle set, I feel more motivated to try different projects and use different types of yarn.

The individual needles I had been using were aluminum but my new set of knitting needles are wood, and I have to say I think I prefer the wood. It’s really not surprising since I love wood items in general, so naturally I would like the look and feel of my new wooden needles; they feel light and have a warmth and softness about them that I appreciate. My new set has needles from sizes 0-15; I’m not sure that I’ll use all of the sizes, but it’s nice to have them just in case I need them.

Lately I’ve been in knit mode, mostly doing so in the evenings when I can half-watch semi-interesting television shows, and I’ve broken in one pair of new wooden needles working on my first non-scarf project. It’s time consuming for me to knit anything, but one of the things I appreciate about knitting is that you can knit for an extended period of time or just for a few minutes—every row counts. And it’s pretty satisfying to see the knitted piece you’re working on get longer and longer as you get closer to finishing.

Twisted and Dropped

I decided that it was time for me to try other stitches in knitting (besides the basic knit and purl stitches) because eventually I’d like to do more complicated knitting. I had most of a skein left of some purple yarn and thought that I could use it for a scarf using stitches I haven’t used before. Looking in a knitting book, I thought I’d try a purse stitch that used a yarn over and purl two together repeatedly that seemed easy enough. I found some videos online and tried the two different stitches and they didn’t seem too difficult.

Cute Animal Wares

Every so often I’m a sucker for cute animal things. (I mean who doesn’t love an adorable little dog or cat?) While sometimes I would receive cute animal items as gifts, I admit that more often than not, it was me doing the purchasing; I would buy containers, toys and stationary merely because they were cute (and thus irresistible). Yet as the years pass, I’m less inclined to buy these cute animal items (as I do not have the room or need for them), but here are some cute animal wares I've accumulated over time:

Vintage Advert Notebook

I finally broke down and bought a binding machine. I’d been eyeing one online for quite sometime and when it happened to be on sale at a local store—I gave in. I’d resisted the urge to get one for a while because I didn’t need one but as with most crafty items I wanted it. [Sigh.] I really just tried to avoid the inevitable…and that never really works.

Since my mom’s birthday was just around the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to test my new binding machine by making a notebook. My mom enjoys classic Hollywood films from the “Golden Age” of cinema when screwball comedies and musicals reigned supreme, so I wanted to reflect that time period in the notebook I made for her. I had purchased a stamp that had various newspaper ads from that 1940’s and thought that I could use it to create a cute cover.

DIY: Braided Yarn and Duct Tape Bracelet

Using the same yarn and duct tape I used in my Yarn and Duct Tape Necklace, I decided to create a braided bracelet; I thought multiple braids would create a nice texture.

DIY: Yarn and Duct Tape Necklace

As I roamed the yarn section of a craft store, I decided I wanted to make a necklace out of a fine yarn. I decided against a flat color in favor of a gray and white yarn; I thought the color shifts in the yarn would work well in jewelry.

The main problem I had in creating jewelry with yarn is what to do with the yarn ends, and my solution was using duct tape to keep the yarn ends from looking ragged. Since duct tape comes in an array of colors, I selected a black duct tape to match my yarn.

My $3 Red Scarf

It’s that time of year when the clouds roll in and rain falls down and you want something cozy wrapped around you—like a scarf. I do love scarves, and I wanted one that was a bright pop of color (and was desperately in need of a nice red one). Last year I bought red yarn on sale for about a dollar a skein (which then sat in a drawer waiting to be used). With the shift in weather, I finally got motivated to use this yarn for a new scarf.

Japanese Vending Machines

I bought this candy vending machine toy on a whim while at a department store in Japan. It’s silly and utterly unnecessary, but at the time it amused me. When the card is popped into the vending machine slot, lights go on and sound comes out and then the candy comes out (or at least it did when the toy was new and the battery was fresh). I like the fake little brands for the drinks (some of which are obviously based upon real brands). I just think it’s funny that a vending machine would be made into a toy (I mean really, vending machines aren’t exactly the most exciting thing out there). But it is a Japanese vending machine, which is better than an American one…at least I think so.