just maryse

Weekending

Carole did it, I thought why don't I. 

This weekend i spun 4 oz of fiber.

Learned how to warp a loom.

I DID NOT WEAVE THIS THOUGH.   Stacie did.

Started hand quilting the little quilt i started last summer.

Worked on my potholders.

And ended the weekend with an impromptu trip down to the North End for a yummy Italian dinner.

 

(not here, i just like the sign)

so that's it!  what did you do this past weekend?

 

 

 

March 2011 -- Recap

they say march comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  well not in new england UNLESS IT IS WOLF IN LAMB'S CLOTHING!!

i think march started out pretty mildly.  we might have been fooled into thinking that spring was finally here.  today, on the last evening of march, it is snowing.  HA!  APRIL FOOL'S.  heh.  i'm not surprised though.  i say we aren't safe until tax day.

so what did i do in march?  let's start with what i didn't do.  blog.  yep.  i thought about it, but could never figure out what to say.  maybe i should stop tweeting or something and then save it all for the blog.  yeah maybe. 

anyway, i continued spinning.  2011 could be my year of spinning. 

and more spinning.

 

and i continued to crochet.

on a grand scale.

and on a more petite scale. 

oh that reminds me.  just three more weeks or so until potholders are due for the swap. 

i'm woefully behind. 

so that's about it for now.

i'll be better about blogging in april. 

 

February 2011 -- A Recap

i'm about a week late, but whatever.  it's my blog, i can do whatever i want. heh

weatherwise, february had a little bit less snowfall than january but it was still pretty damn cold and a little icy too.

 

i did more spinning.

 

 

i designed and released a new cowl pattern.

i ended the month with a trip to freeport, maine to this year's Spa, Knit and Spin, where i ate cheese, shopped and crocheted (shhh don't tell anyone) with great friends.

it was a busy month.  heh.

One More Sleep

i'm heading out to freeport, maine tomorrow for the annual SPA, Knit and Spin weekend.  as i tell my friend who is not a knitter, has no interest in knitting, and who says she can't imagine anything more boring, it's really just an excuse to drink and eat cheese with some of my favorite people in the world.  put in those terms, this is something that she can get behind.  heh.

and as promised, i've released the twitterpation cowl pattern.  you can follow the link i've got over there on the right, or you can download the ravelry pdf.  it's free.

i've also made my other free patterns available as ravelry pdfs.  you can find them all here.

have a good weekend!

 

 

A New Cowl

A few months ago, maybe a bit before the holidays, a neckwear swap was organized through twitter to be culminated in february.  I joined up, then kind of forgot about it, and then february came around and i panicked.  "holy crap i have to make something!"

I initially planned to knit a cowl.  i found a pattern that intrigued me and started knitting.  but i never fell in love with it.  so i decided to come up with my own crocheted pattern.  i've got crochet fever these days.

i started with some swatching and once i chose a pattern i liked, i just started crocheting.

 

 

 

sure, i didn't re-invent the wheel here.  it's pretty simple and straight forward, but it was fun and if you are a crochet newbie, i think you'll enjoy making one.  the pattern is almost ready.  i'll link to it on the side there and i'll also make it available on ravelry. 

Potholder Swap 2011!!!!!*

and we are on again!!!  get your hooks and cotton yarns together and join adrian, stacie and i for another round of THE POTHOLDER SWAP! there have been imitators.  but this is the original and best swap of all!!!  seriously, it is. 

the beauty of this swap other than the potholders themselves is that you don't have to sign up ahead of time.  just make the potholders and send them to us.   well not THAT easy.  for complete rules go to our flickr group or our ravelry group. 

here are some of the beauties from our two previous years.

 

 

 

*not to be confused with match game '73

A 2010 Crafty Retrospective

the other day, i said i would look forward from now on.  no looking back.  but one aspect of my life that didn't suck ass was my crafty life.

 

i wasn't super productive, but i did try a few things.  i became obsessed with cross stitch, and i started my first quilt.  i knitted a few pairs of socks, spun some wool.  i self-published the very braidy cowl and the oh jamie, my jamie socks.  i had two patterns published in crochet today:  your nana's potholders and the petal pillows.  and the secret design projects i had been working on the summer of 2009, finally appeared this fall in Knitting It Old School:  sunshine day and the go go granny (my personal favorite).   and i had the opportunity to work with gale zucker and joan tapper on their latest collaboration as project manager, photo assistant and stylist, chicken wrangler, sample knitter and crocheter and mitten model.  it was great fun.  well most of it.  wearing wool mittens in 90 degree weather was a challenge.  heh.

i lost my mojo for a couple of months, but over all i had a crafty good time.  i plan on more of the same in 2011.

And It's Back!

for a couple of months, i couldn't focus on anything.  i just wanted to sleep or disappear and not feel anything.  i still don't dare to dream and i'm having trouble planning ahead more than just a week or two ahead.  (my therapist says that that's ok.)  but what has come back with a vengence is my crafty mojo.  my fingers itch with anticipation of carrying a hook or needle.  and my head is filled with colors and shapes that i want to experiment with.  my job is seriously getting in the way.  heh.

in the past 2 months i've made one pair of socks.

and started another (i'm on the second sock.  no second sock syndrome for me!)

 

i've got a cowl on the needles in this crazy turquoise color (my favorite color of the moment).

and i haven't forgotten about the insanity blanket.

 

finally, last but not least, i started a crocheted blanket. a nice break from all of the crazy color i normally work with. kind of like a palette (heh) cleanse.

if i had my spinning wheel with me, i'd probably be spinning too. 

it feels good to feel a little bit more like myself. and i have to admit when i'm knitting/crocheting i kind of forget what's going on in my real life.  and that's a good thing. 

 

 

 

Ruffles Ruffles Ruffles

you know when you've got an idea in your head?  and you follow through with that idea?  and the real thing is even better in real life than it was in your head?  how crazy that feeling is?  and a little scary because OMG I JUST MADE SOMETHING FROM INSIDE MY HEAD and how you want to show it to everyone? 

that's how i felt when i made these pillows.

i know, they're a little crazy aren't they. heh. 

anyway, the thing was that i couldn't share them with anyone because i was making them for the July/August issue of crochet today. so it was all very double secret.  but now i can.  check it out!  they're in a magazine!

they're called Petal Pillows (duh) and because they are made with bulky yarn, they are super fast to make. 

   

Unfortunately the pattern isn't available online, but this issue has all sorts of great patterns, so i think you should buy it anyway.  heh.

Here's the Ravelry link. 

Six Whole Years!

ha!  check it out!  my blog is six years old! 

it started small with two tiny posts on april 16, 2004.  just a couple of lines of text.  nothing really but a tiny shoot of myself out there in the jungle that was the blogging world back then.  (heh. i'm such a dork.)

a year later, much to my surprise, i was still here.  i was posting fairly regularly and was sharing more of my real life than i am today.  my photos were kind of lousy though and small.  shortly after my first anniversary, i would suck it up and finally learn how to knit socks.

in 2006, i participated in my first project spectrum, got dissed by grumperina (ha! it was a joke!) and continued to knit socks and ugly crocheted things when sick with fever. 

in 2007, i wrote a philosphical post to celebrate my blog birthday.  and there's a photo of my boy, napoleon.  i still miss you buddy.  and my feelings about the great people i've met hasn't change.  love you guys!

2008 was the year of the googly.  i have a pouch of googlies somewhere.  i should really bring them out again.

and last year i celebrated by running a contest that i never followed up on.  hmmm.  sorry about that. but i wore a mustache for you!  no?  that doesn't count?

anyway, i don't blog as much as i used to.  i have other distractions now, like flickr and twitter.  and i certainly don't read other blogs as much as i used to either, which i regret since there's so much inspiration in them.  but i haven't once thought about quitting.  it's kind of cool to be able to see how i've progressed in the past 6 years. 

so here's to another year.  i owe presents from last year, so i'm going to follow-up on that. 

thanks for reading.