New Camera Lenses, New Pictures!

Christmas rocked. I got lenses for my camera from my very thoughtful husband!
Here are some pictures of my CYH (Christmas Yarn Haul) taken with my new lenses.
I'm going to be posting some other pictures I took on my Art Blog.
I'm going to post pics of the scarf for our chalk dust scarf exchange.

Completed hat and neck warmer

I'm picking up my Central Park Hoodie again which is fun. I'm also working on the teddy bear our knitting group is doing together for charity and a scarf which is a spin off of the one with a hole in it that Riare shared at our meeting. Hint: I added a button and a flap. I'll leave it at that.
Here are the pics of the final hat and neck warmer.

Chalk Dust Meeting

We met today to knit and had dinner together. Our membership seems to jump a bit with each meeting which is so exciting! It was so nice to gather, talk about school and knitting and just enjoy our Friday night doing something we love... and I finished a hat!!! I'll post pics of it and it's matching neck warmer when tucked and buttoned up. YAY!!!

The Challenge

This challenge was given by my mom. Lets see what I can do...

What are the last 3 things you purchased?
Shelves, printer, and a desk (redecorating)

What are the last three songs you downloaded?
Rush's gold album, R.E.M., and Enur

What where the three best places you visited?
Best...D.C., Philly, and Boston

What are your three favorite movies?
Rocky Horror, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and 40 year-old virgin (basing it off of things I could watch on a loop for the rest of my life. My list is a lot longer than that.)

What three things can you not live without? (Other than family and friends)
Internet connection whenever needed, food, and pretty furniture :D

What would be your three wishes?
I wish me and my whole family could be settled for life.
Wish I had a better job.
Wish I could paint all day.

What are three things you haven’t done YET?
I haven't traveled outside the U.S.
Haven't had kids.
Haven't bought my first house.

What three celebrities do you want to hang out with most?
Tim Curry cause I love him.
Anthony Kiedis cause I love him.
Any one of the Pythons cause they are hilarious and I'm sure full of great stories

Name three things that freak you out.
Heights (Like jumping out of a plane. I'm actually good with riding in a plane.)
Scuba diving (don't like the idea of not being able to stand and not knowing what is under you.)
Clowns (5 words= "Killer Clowns from Outer Space". Rent it)

What are your three favorite dishes?
Sushi of all sorts
rice, corn, and bratwurst(I made it up!)
fois gras

Name three things you are good at.
Drawing.
Knitting.
Hugging :D

What are three things you are currently coveting?
House
House
House

These are the three bloggers I will send the challenge to.
Fun with Knitting (and Quilting)
Crochetwithme
Interwoven

My Mom's idea

I'm going to add a new link to "Lesser Known Skeins", a new blog my mom started for knitters whose blogs need a boost. The idea is to check each others blogs, read, comment, and get a little blog ring going on. Click on the link to check it out.
I should post pics of my class too. Unlike my mom's class, it's got lots of windows...but none of them open...seriously.
later all!

Back again with some more...

I mentioned I duck in and out of hobbies so that should explain the lapse.
Here are some projects I've finished since the last post:
I tucked the loose ends of this pretty little cable scarf...




I tucked, added a button to, and blocked the flap of the "Twin Buttonhole"...

And I made a little scarf with 4 buttons, blocked it, and am making a matching hat now (pattern adapted from Yarn Ball Boogie)...


I'm now working on the Central Park hoodie (kind of hibernating), another sweater I'm playing by ear with, and a ferisle headband (like the one on knitting with my mother's hands). Hoping to be able to continue at a steady pace during the new school year but knowing me...
alright, until next time :)

Twisted buttonhole bag details

kaity, the bag pattern is based off of the Buttonhole Bag from Mason Dixon knitting blog. This is what the bag usually looks like:

To make the lovely little handle, you cast off just like you would for a buttonhole (hence the name) and then cast back on the next row. Aside from working the bottom, it's done in the round. It's easy, fun, and you end up with an adorable, durable bag.

With my Twisted buttonhole bag I add cabling to the middle of each side, as you can see in the pictures in the last post. When I got to the point where I was supposed to cast off for the handle I put the stitches on holders. First I worked on the strap by continuing the cabling, working until I felt the length was good and did a 3 needle bind off (I kind of messed up and didn't match the cabling exactly, but I'm not that anal about those things so I left it).

When the strap was finished, I started work on the large flap. I made a buttonhole (I think it was 6 stitches) on the first row of the large flap right in the center that the smaller flap on the other side could pass through. Worked the flap incorporating some cabling and 2 buttonholes and ended it with a few rows of garter. On the other side I did the opposite of the large flap and bound off all the stitches except a few in the center (again, I think it was 6 but you can make it as thick as you want as long as you make the buttonhole the same amount of stitches). I worked another small cable, a buttonhole, and again ended in garter. Here is a picture of the top of the bag:
This is the 3rd or 4th incarnation I've made of this pattern. It is so versatile and I love it!

~~Summer Update~~

Summer is good, teachers love summer and now I really understand why. I've gone away for small stretches but there are still a lot of things I want to do= see the waterfall pieces in the east river, by the Brooklyn Bridge and visit my museums among other things.
I went to the Bronx zoo and here are some of the best pictures I took:I've also gotten my bag done (except for the lining):

And a Teddy Bear named BlueBeary:

Pretty productive and fun so far!

Twin bags and my twisted buttonhole bag

Ok, first the twin part:
I fell in love and eventually bought this Michael Kors (MK) bag:


I LOVE this bag like big time.
I started knitting a bag last week and tore it out a bunch of times. The bag design is based off the Buttonhole bag from the Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog with a couple of tweeks. Here is that bag:



The bag is just in need of some tucking and a button. I saw some similarities in the 2 bags, I figured it was because of my obsession with the MK bag. It might just be me, but at least this was an excuse to show off my bag some more ;)

Here is the "Twisted Buttonhole Bag" I'm making for my mom (lupie). Twisted because I added cabling:

After another lapse...

Man! Now that I have a break from teaching, I need to blog more often! I've been relaxing, knitting, playing video games, going on a short vacation, and overall enjoying the time off with my family. Speaking of knitting, I've finished this bag today that I'm really proud of. As soon as it's tucked and blocked (knitting terms having to do with putting the finishing touches on a project) I'll be posting pictures. Now I'm working on a knitting bag for my mother. It will be similar to this last one except with different yarn and some changes to the pattern, including some cabling (oooooo, aaaaa).
Hoping to post soon...but knowing me...
tata for now!
Pepper

South Park Grimm Witch

I HATE being sick

I've been constantly sick for about 4-5 months now and I'm going crazy. If it's not one thing it's another. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. The real downer is I don't get to do the cool things that put the cherry on the ice-cream of life. Jasper Jones, at the MET, closing today, can't go, sick. Damn it. I'm sure they will have other Jones shows in the future but it's the principle. Damn illness and damn students for making me ill. Meh

Ravel-what?

I am now posting on Ravelry, a knitter's forum. It's nice having a community of knitters to get ideas from, tips, and feedback on your own work.

For Sanity's Sake

Ok, I don't know what will become of this blog in the future but I am a realist and know that there is not one person reading this. That's good; I'm good with that. I think to keep my sanity and to have at least one place where I can post my art, I've got to start posting here again. Never know what could happen.
I've been having a difficult time figuring out what to do with my art. Until I get a place of my own, my art is in the basement of my parent's house which is not a space conducive to creating art. So, for now, I'm on the computer. Since I was stumped, I a voiced in my last blog, I decided to take something that I'm very interested in and make art focused on that. I've had an interest in serial killers and insane dictators for years, probably stemming from my pipe dream of working as a forensic scientist or something else in that field. I decided to start working on a series called "the brutality of humanity". Started with Idi Amin:


I wanted the viewer to first see a person of seemingly high standings, someone who is dignified. I wanted a human appearance pared with a ruthless quote. Here is one I did of Himmler, one of Hitler's right hand men:

I'm working on one now of Issei Sagawa, a "man" who lives free in Japan to this day despite the fact that he has admitted to eating his girlfriend while living in France.

My goal is to introduce them as human, strong, possibly friendly looking individuals and allow the quotes to smack the viewer across the face. I don't know if this work is good, not sure people are interested in it but it's where I'm at right now.

~Pepper