New persona

First, I wanted to make it to St. Valentine's Day.
Next, I set the due day to March the 1st.
I missed both, but now, at last.  On my 44th birthday.

I made myself a knitting (and hopefully, crochet) designer.
I can't say "professional" because I'm not paid.  I just set up a website and a blog.  When I said "my new office is still under construction", the construction was being made by none else by myself, and only on the cyber space.

Atelier PawPrint
https://sites.google.com/site/atelierpawprint/

and its blog, PawPrint on the floor
http://atelier-pawprint.blogspot.jp/

It's my place as an artist-kind-of-persona.
And, I'll go bilingual, writing every post, every pattern both in English and Japanese.
I'm not going to teach anything.  So, no "basics" or "101s".  There are so many wonderful books and teachers in the fiber world that I guess I don't need to set a classroom myself.

Until now, I have been posting occasional "not by a pattern" projects here, but I'll make them into words and post them on PawPrint website from now on.  I will not abandon this blog, nor am thinking of making a fortune as a designer. I am not a "creative" person in my honest opinion, but a "make-doer".  I am not a person of originality, but of small ideas. I think original designs should be traded at proper prices, but my ideas are none like that.  At least for now.  That's why I'm not selling anything on PawPrint website but asking donations if any of the visitors want to pay for my works.  Not asking for money is an excuse, too, of not making them in a perfect package for downloading and all.  (It's a terrible pdf now, but this is the best I could make for now.)   I'll learn more to make them better, of course, as soon as possible.

Here, I'm a knitter who has too much stash and too much "other stuff".
There, I'll be an artist who can't stop expressing herself through fiber-ish materials.
I hope having these two places does me good.

PS. I noticed I have written many "not"s above.  What do I want to deny?

redos

On last post, I wrote about my daughter's grown-out-in-length jeans.  We were glad my friend gave me a clear view to my somewhat vague idea about adding a fancy tape on the post-hem line (Thanks, Janet!) and talked a bit about designs, and...

Here.  Little crochet ribbons and a heart.  From the books I bought for exactly a project like this.
Books;

Edging & Braid Variation 106 (エジングとブレード かぎ針で編む、とびきりかわいいデザイン１０６

Crochet Heart Pattern はじめてのかぎ針あみ　ハートパターン100 

(Link to Ravelry pages.)

Heart pattern is #64 Heart Doily by Atsuko Takeda (link also to Ravelry page).

The air here is warming up these days.  One more stretch for these plain jeans.

I am finding more and more comfortable myself doing these "fancy mending" kind of work.  I knew I have an old-time set of mind, but these days, more and more so.  My age?

Change, and Forward

OK.  No excuse for my neglect for this blog.  It was not so bad as I was afraid, a little less than three months hiatus, but nonetheless.  Just I deeply regret about it.
(See my choice of words is probably being influenced by the book I'm listening on Audible right now? It's New Spring, the prequel of the Wheel of Time novels by Robert Jordan.  And you see what I have finished listening before that?  Yes, Mistborn trilogy and the sequel, by Brandon Sanderson.  My life is simple enough.)

It occurred to me this time of last year, too.  There, I find a problem, small but recognizable situation which requires some attention.

I need to change, re-organize rather, the way I spend my time on the internet.  Not only on the internet, I know.  The way I spend my time, period.

These 4 week or so, I've been busy taking care of the end-of-the-term paperworks at my teaching job and long ignored houseworks, like choosing and installing a sofa to our living room.  And at the same time, been working on starting my new project as, kind of, a designer.  It's not that I'm hoping to make money as an artist or a designer anytime soon, but I think it's about time to give  my inner artist a place to express herself.

It's time, to start.
To go forward.

But this blog is my home.  I'm not closing it nor abandoning it.
Mom just need to go out for a work some time, you know.

And the workplace is still under construction. I hope I can invite you all to my new office (blush) soon.

At home now? I'm working on my daughter's jeans.


She outgrew the hems I made. Today, I found out that I just can't roll those out and let her wear. It's just too obvious. "If it just can't be hidden, show it." is the basic strategy for a flaw. Decorative patches are the way to go. How?

A quick one before the Holiday season

I haven't forgotten this blog.  Just.... doing this and that other than writing here.

Like spinning cotton with a tahkli.  These days, though, I do almost all the cotton spinning on my handmade ahka-style spindle.  Handmade with a bamboo barbecue skewer and a plastic dish for flower pots (you know, the one you put under a flower pot to catch excess water).

My cotton spinning has become a part of my daughter's going-to-bed routine.  When she gets ready to sleep (done snack and brushing her teeth and all), I go with her to her bedside, start Stephenie Gausted's "Spinning Cotton" video on my iPad.  She watches the video for a while, from wherever the point that starts, enjoys it and wants to do (one day) all the "fancy jobs" - ginning, willowing, carding, making the fiber into puni, and spinning with a charkha.  Then, she just listens Miss Stephenie's voice.  Like listening to a bedtime story read by her favorite great-aunt.  And I spin, rather slowly, talking (or not talking) this and that, until she goes to sleep.

It's a bit sad that my daughter has lost her English language skills almost completely.  No wonder.  More than four years in complete Japanese-only environment, going to school and everything.
But, she says she loves listening to Miss Stephenie (Stephenie-san).  Norman Kennedy's singing-and-spinning video doesn't work for her, nor Maggie Casey's calming voice.
I believe she still remembers fondly of the teachers she met at KinderCare Learning Center more than half of her whole life (four years) ago.  Hearing Stephenie-san's Southwestern US English gives home-coming feeling to her.  Happily, and warmly, she goes to a good night's sleep.

My cotton-spinning evening may or may not continue because December is coming.  Last year's advent project was so fun and satisfying that I've decided to do that this year, too.
This year, it's Angels project.  I'll knit or crochet one angel a day.  I am going to use the same pattern many times, because finding 24 different angel patterns which finishes in one day is not likely to possible.  I may use lots of different yarns, and also the same yarn many times.  My point is, making Angels.

Like, this one.


Pattern; Tiny Christmas Angel by Elizabeth Ann White
Yarn; my handspun, the first batch I tried with my tahkli.

Now, I gotta go to 100-yen store to get a display wall-pocket.  I can't find the one I bought last year.

Happy before-Holiday weeks, my friends!

Connecting

Inspired by my friend's recent endeavor for an "old but new for me" world, I decided that I'd follow my inner voice.

Spin some cotton.

With a spindle.

I am not a spindle enthusiast.  It's just a storage and work space limitation.  And I'm not a perfectionist nor an "all by myself" kind of person. I mean, I don't aim having a shirt-worth of yarn. Spindle spinning will give me a good-enough experience and a whole new sight to store-bought cotton yarns.

I just want to try.  Try to find out what my ancestors' ancestors did.  While trying, I'd be able to connect to my ancestors.. not to the housewives, but to the girls who learned the skill from their mothers so that they could keep their own family dressed comfortably.  Beginners' lucks and mistakes shouldn't be so different even after a few thousand years.

For the first step, I made this today.


It's made with a chopstick (leftover from the New Year dinner), and a couple of coins.  I'm not sure which came first to my country, spinning wheels or coins.



5 yen coin has a hole which fits to a 5mm knitting needle, too.  I used a chopstick rather than a knitting needle because I don't want any dent on my needles.  I just pushed the coins from the tapered tip (sharpened beforehand with a pencil sharpener) hard enough to go as far as possible.  Friction, I love you.

My teacher is Stephenie Gaustad.  The video is on my iPad (named Iris, because she has Retina display). Check.

Now, I need some cotton fiber.  That part would not be so hard.  Oh, I feel IT.
If I don't come back, tell all the sheep in the world that I loved them.

Random because it's March and March means Madness

Some thoughts related to knitting and crocheting, randomly.
1. Bordhi-nized, the word which I made up and used on the last post and the one before it, was not good.  I knew it, but I didn't thought up anything else.  Yesterday, it hit me.  Bordhi-fied is better.  Not a whole lot, but a bit.  And it took me so long.  It's OK.  English is not my born-into language.
2. I'm in sock and legwarmer craze.  I've been in it for a while, and not really going through of it anytime soon.  My current projects in progress contain one pair of socks (for my daughter, knee-high) , one pair of legwarmer for my friend's newborn boy, and one pair of leg/arm warmer (anyway the recipient likes).  And on my "queued" list, I have one pair of Re-discovery socks for me (means, using my footprint, making "Discovery sock" by Cat Bordhi again to make a better fit), and Sandalwood socks.
3. My "queued" list on Ravelry is getting unrealistically long.  I am seriously thinking of deleting all and making a realistic list.
4. And cast on whatever I want to knit right now.
5. Which will not be so many, just a couple of bags and a pair of gloves.
6. I am away from working for about two months by now, and not really wanting to be back soon.  I enjoy the mornings and evenings I watch Mythbusters or GoodEats DVD while knitting.  These choice of shows causes knitting too many rounds before switching stitch patterns or start increase/decrease on sock foot, but just can't stop.
7. Maybe that means it's about time to stop.
8. I finished these Discovery socks, by the way;

for my daughter.
And;

for my husband.
I'm happy they like theirs.

So, give me more time to knit.  Please.

Bordhi-nized room shoes

When I first made Cat Bordhi's "Discovery" socks, I was afraid of snipping the yarn in the middle of my knitting.  After I made a couple of garments with steeks, I still have my fears.
Can I open the "mouth" without cutting ?

I have been thinking of making a pair of room shoes for warmth all along this autumn/winter, say, for three months.  I was eyeing a nice knit/crochet pattern, but I had almost used up my colorful bits and pieces of fingering yarns suitable for it (they turned into armwarmers).  And, I wanted my shoes to be practical if not fancy.  It can be in awful acrylic or anything, if it stays on my feet snugly and keep them warm.
Then, "stays on my feet" rang the bell.

What if I made just the foot part of Cat Bordhi socks, in thick acrylic?
And if I crochet them, I could open the mouth with chain loop without cutting, with a bonus of a speedy finish!

So the project began, at around 9:30 AM.

1. Start circularly, making increases every other round or so, to cover your toe.
(I like slip-stitch my final sc on the first ch to finish the round, by the way.  You can spiral up the rounds if it suits you.)


2. Once the circumference reaches your foot circumference, just crochet up to "leg" line, adding increases if needed.  The yarn was worsted-weight-ish thick, so I only made a 2 sts and a 4 sts increase once each.

3. Fun part made easy.  When you reach the leg line, make 1 ch st like you start every round (for sc), and add half the numbers of one round chain stitches.  I had 36 stitches, so I made (1 + 18) = 19 chain stitches.

And attach on the opposite side of the round with sc. Continue in sc like former rounds to the end of the round.

4. Crochet on the chain, 1 sc on 1 ch, for the first half and sc on for the second half of the next round.


5. Continue up to "heel" line.


6. Make decreases to finish the heel, just reversing the toe making process.


And Voila!  A shoe.


I added picot edging around the mouth, to strengthen the sides where instep and heel meets, and to make it a bit cuter.  I should have used, say, white yarn for edging to make it even cuter.

It took less than 3 hours for one shoe for me, including taking notes and ripping a round or two here and there.

Naturally, the second shoe was finished a lot faster and a bit tighter (my crochet skill is not as good as my knitting).

See the right one is a bit smaller?

Still, I'm satisfied that I finished before my daughter comes home from school at 3:00PM.  Warm feet make a happy smiling mom.

I think this is going to be one of my "no-pattern-patterns" which I can work whenever, wherever I got enough yarn and a matching needles & hooks.
(And my Personal Footprint, to make my world easy.)