Showing posts with label KCBW2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KCBW2013. Show all posts

Monday, 22 April 2013

4KCBW Day 1: The House Cup ...Bzzz

Victorian Romantic Tarot







   

            KCBWDAY1 The House Cup.

 




A bit like Harry Potter, but not quite, this year’s Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is split into 4 houses. Don your favourite knitted or crocheted hat and let it guide you to which house you will be in.


The House of Bee: Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest.

The House of Manatee: Manatees are gentle, calm and cuddly. Relaxed and unflashy they represent the comfort and soft side of knitting and crochet.

The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

The House of Peacock: Peacocks take something good and make it brilliant. Buttons, embellishments and a bit of sparkle prove that perfection lies in the details – like a Peacock's Tail.

So choose your house. You may be a combination of more than one of these noble beasts, but think about which house best embodies your qualities and declare your place. You can use one of the graphics above to display your house crest, if you like (though this is totally optional).

You could of course decide that you are so unlike any of these creatures in your style of crafting that you set up a rival faction and adopt your own house, though whether you get invited to the end of term disco remains to be seen, you rebel.





Well, really I guess out of that choice, I am a Bee with maybe the tiniest hint of Peacock: I do loves me a bit of sparkle. Although that may be rather more of my jackdaw traits coming through ....

But I am a Bee mainly because I have something doing nearly 99% of the time. And 99% of that time it's knitting, the 1% is crochet - I tend to use crochet as my fallback, when knitterly mojo has legged it. And then - in spite of my promises to the contrary - I find that deadlines (usually family birthdays) pop up on such a regular basis that I am forced, forced, I tell you, into actually planning things and going straight from one item to the next without so much as a breath of fresh air and relaxation in between. I am quite challenged by the idea of spontaneity, natch.

In fact, most of my FOs have been for other people; I have recently made huge strides in selfishness by completing 4 items for myself, and they were 'proper' projects ie. not just hairbands, as well:


Spring Green Lace Cardigan

Slice of Berries (with Sparkle!)

Fitzroy

Sienna

And there are plans for more - especially since an American friend is just in the process of enabling me with Knitpicks yarn .... oh yes, you can see my grin all the way over there. It's quite dazzling, isn't it ?

I really have chuntered on, and wandered off topic a bit, when instead I should be buzzing over that Glam Shells Shawl I ripped back a little while ago. But in my coffee break, I shall be putting '4KCBWDay1' into Google to find the other House Cup posts for today - and read as many as I can. Join me !





Wednesday, 17 April 2013

WIP Wednesday 140: More Amphibian Color

Housewives Tarot












I am turning my back firmly on all the bad news out there this week, and using a birthday deadline as a cattle prod to focus me on completing 2 items this week - one is actually done, and in the washing machine as we speak. The other one ? Well, I have today and tomorrow to start and finish it. We do loves us a challenge, don't we ?


Sleep is only a luxury, right ? I am a big girl and I can stay up all night and still deal with the kids without melting down. Right ?

Well, lessee how we do. Let's not dwell too much about how we have done ...

I had completed all eight pattern repeats and was admiring my handiwork, when my pride wenteth before a fall, and my haughty spirit. ie. the shawl, wenteth before destruction: progress on the Irish Glam Shells is back to square one. Well, OK, actually square two really, but you get the idea. I found a glaring error that I could neither ignore nor fudge, so I had to rip it all out and start again:




This is the Jawoll Magic Degrade in the colorway 85.0075, which is far more interestingly and creatively known as 'Parakeet'. No, I don't know why I am on such a green kick at the moment either, it's weird and perhaps a tad unsettling.

And I keep meaning to remind you that Knit and Crochet Blog Week is back for the 4th year, starting next Monday 22nd April, 2013 ! Woo hoo !





All the introductory posts and instructions are at Mimi's blog. And to enable facilitate make things easier for you because, really, I am a nice person, here are the direct links you will need:

To find out about the Knit & Crochet Blog Week concept.

The daily topics.

To choose a House

How the Tag system works:



 It's a great opportunity not only to get into blogging regularly (and frequently !) but also a great way to discover a whole bunch of new blogs you had yet to discover: I have made some great friends through the last 3 Knit & Crochet Blog Weeks, too. There is a Ravelry community which will be discussing it as it happens here, too, if you are interested.

I am hoping to take part myself, and so I simply must prop my eyelids open with matchsticks and go read those links myself, so I know what to do on Monday ....

Meanwhile, I'm checking out Tami's Amis to see what everyone else is up to this week ....