The Decorator Crab

Drive-by blogging

So little time right now.  So. Little. Time.  Trying to finish a Ph.D. in science and make the transition into future projects that will keep the research momentum going is completely exhausting. And completely inconducive to blogging, and crafting in general, actually.  I give you all that I've got.

18 blocks. 

Also, remember this? 

This UFO has been languishing in the pile since August, but the urge to finish it has struck. It must be the seeming endlessness of the hexagon blanket that is giving me the craving to finish something.  If only I can find the time...

On the Side

After a little inspiration from the LTL Bags on Ravelry, I'm now working on the sides and base of my bag.  Here is a glimpse of how it's coming along:
Isn't it fun?!  I had originally planned on doing the sides and base the same color as the trim around the blocks (creme), but after seeing a striped version, I decided to go with that idea instead.  Since this bag is going to be colorful and fun anyway, I figured that I might as well go ahead and take it to the next level! It's a huge pain in the ass to change colors so often, but it'll be worth it when it's done. I hope.

Since I don't have a random bone in my body, I am using Kissyourshadow's Random Stripe Generator to obtain the color and line thickness variation.  I selected all eight of my colors, and then chose stripes with thicknesses of 2, 3, or 4 rows.  I am implementing the rows as follows: 2 rows is one double chain; 3 rows is one single chain, one double chain; and 4 rows is one single chain, one double chain, one single chain. I'm knitting crocheting over my ends as I go, so that'll save me beaucoup time in the end. I guess that there won't really be a right-side/wrong-side when I reach the end - does that matter?

Next post topic - Ravelry!  I finally got in!  I haven't uploaded many projects yet, but I will slowly get to it.  Anyone out there want to be my friend?  Please?  ;)

We're outta here!

Happy 4th of July, everyone.  We are off to Southern California to visit family over the long weekend.  Thanks to you all for the warm birthday wishes - it made my day!

This is all that I have to show for the last couple of days, but I'm hoping to have an assembled bag for you when I get back.  Enjoy the holiday!

Feliz cumpleaños to me

I don't usually post on the weekends, but it's the big 3-0 for ol' Crabby today.  So I can do whatever the hell I want! This includes, but is not limited to: having a big breakfast, crocheting on the bag, working in the gardens, crocheting, drinking with lunch (who am I kidding - I do that every weekend), getting dressed up for no reason, or not, and crocheting some more.  Sounds good to me!  Senior Crab is still out of town, so I am having a quiet day all to my self, doing whatever strikes my fancy.  This strikes my fancy:

There's nothing quite like having a quiet morning, sitting on the couch with your coffee and your knitting (or crochet), and listening to your favorite NPR shows while a little dog sleeps next to you.  I love it! 

I have taken a bit of a different strategy with the second side of the LTL bag.  As I am wont to do at times, I planned out a schematic of the squares instead of just making them willy-nilly.  Cecily provided a virtual block that you could color in, but my pseudo-Photoshop program (Fireworks) was having trouble with the magic wand tool and couldn't tell the difference between the middle color and the edge color.  So, I had to make my own block pattern with the available "autoshapes."  Here is the result:

I had an actual plan in organizing the colors in this layout, and on paper I like it better than the result of my approach with the first six blocks. We'll have to wait and see if the actual result is as pleasing to me as the virtual one. As a bit of foreshadowing though, I like what I'm getting so far!

Okay - enough time in front of the monitor, I'm going back to the real world so that I can take full advantage of my day. 

First six squares = Done!

The first six squares of my Larger than Life Bag are done!  I take it all back about not being sure about these colors.  I love these colors!  The dark blue is a little strong compared to the other colors, but I still like it a lot. 

Now I'm trying to decide which color to use on the border of each block and on the sides of the bag.  The pattern doesn't call for a border around the blocks, but I like this version of the bag in the Flickr group.  I think the border helps to tie together all of the various colors.  I originally bought the Tahki Cotton Classic in medium brown (#3248; seen on the top right block) for the border, but found black (#3002), cream (#3003), and taupe (#3211) at a different yarn shop today.  I'm still sort of "eh" about all of them.  I think I might have to order a skein or two of the dark chocolate brown  (#3336) that I can't find in any local shops.  Any opinions on this out there in cyberspace?

I also browsed in the fabric section of the shop that I went to today, but it occurred to me that I don't have any idea what kind of fabric to use!  Well, one thing at a time, I guess.  In the mean time, I'm making the next six blocks!

I am maybe obsessed with this

WEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!  This project makes me hap-peeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Post-binge rationalization.

So, yes, there was a bit of an uncharacteristic yarn binge here at the Casa de Crab.  I've been trying to knit from the stash as much as possible this year, but the simple fact is that sometimes I need a little inspiration to keep the knitting juju going.  For me, that often comes in trying out a new yarn and starting a new project.  Enter the Larger Than Life Bag.  I started out with some cheap acrylic yarn to see if I could successfully crochet the square (since, you know, I'm a knitter).  With the help of a book and a tutorial, it wasn't actually difficult at all.  And it was fun!  But as evidenced below, the acrylic square was HUGE!  Muy grande!  The bag is called "Larger Than Life," not "Ridiculously Larger Than Life."  I'm a gal who likes a good-sized bag and all, but I do have my limits. 

I've had a 20% off discount card for my LYS burning a hole in my pocket for months (Months! I've been SO good!), but I couldn't quite decide what to use it on.  When I got the itch for some DK yarn for this bag, I knew that it was a good time for a scratch!  A few other goodies made it into my basket, but I devoted most of my time and resources at the shop to picking out yarn for the bag.  They didn't have the yarn from the pattern (Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe), but they had a huge selection of Tahki Cotton Classic, and I could not resist.

Here are seven of the eight colors that I bought.  I am saving the brown for the edging.  [Side note: how the hell do you weave in ends in crochet, anyway? I'll have to consult The Google.]  I've said before that I'm not  that confident in my eye for color, so I'll put it out there to you all - do you think I am missing a color?  I don't want to go for a full-on ROYGBIV palette, but I am feeling like something is missing here.  Maybe I am paranoid?  I like the limited palette in this LTL bag, so maybe that's where I was going. I just picked colors that I liked, that I was drawn to.  It should work itself out in the end, eh?  BTW: my flailing eye for color is totally ironic because my Ph.D. research is in ocean optics, i.e. ocean color.  I must be, in the words of G, "wicked retahded."

Anyway, I'm having tons of fun with this square, now that I have some time in the evenings to sit and get crafty.  Senior Crab is off on a research cruise (I miss him disgustingly), and now that the house is almost ready to put on the market the pace of home projects has slowed to a reasonable pace. Just a few things for me to do while he is away. That leaves the evenings relatively free to calm down and relax, to foster the nesting instinct while The Mister is away. In that spirit, no more blogging - time to crochet!