3KCBWDAY7

Crafting Balance 
Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?

I totally lost track of posting over the weekend!  I promise the posts for Friday and Saturday will be up in the next day or so.  

So, I started out a crocheter.  I learned from a crafting book that I bought at Michael's that looked like it was written in the 70's.  I love to crochet, especially since it gives me the freedom to free-form on the fly.  Making stuffed animals is so rewarding.  However, crocheting hurts/tires my hands quickly.  

A couple years after I learned how to crochet, one of my friends asked me if I could teach her to knit.  I went into my local yarn store and asked if I could get a short lesson.  After 15 minutes, I was knitting.  Since then, I've really expanded my knitting skills.  Knitting is easier on my hands and wrists than crocheting.    

So, with regards to what I do now.  I like to crochet animals, and I like to knit garments.  However, my hands always complain when I crochet, so I just can't go back to it anymore.  I miss the easy and simplicity of crocheting.  Learning something new with crocheting is quick and easily mastered.  Luckily, knitting has more possibilities and I continue to learn new techniques.  Now, I am totally devoted to knitting, and love it, even though crocheting was my first love.  :)

3KCBWDAY4

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

I have actually thought about this quite a bit.  

I usually just knit whatever inspires me at the moment, whether it is weather appropriate or not.  

Sometimes this is works out well, as when I started to make a million thick heavy scarves last summer.  This early start during the warm months meant that when I was actually done knitting those scarves, I was on time with my Christmas presents.  

Usually these whims get me into trouble though, because then I don't make appropriate accessories, homeware, or items for the season.  It really is just silly to knit a warm hat in the middle of July, only to be worn when I snowboard in February...  

But I really can't help myself, when I see a pattern I really like, I just want to knit it right away!  And besides, the opposite has happened to me when I start projects during the right season.  Sometimes I get bored of a pattern, and it'll take me long time to go back to it.  The seasons change, and I have a nice breezy lace shawl, on a cold winter night.

Luckily, Northern California really only has two seasons, warm and cool.  Plus the weather where I live is so erratic, sometimes it's freezing in the middle of July (think a foggy San Francisco).  So it pays to be prepared for any weather all year round!

3KCBWDAY3

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero
Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

I have only recently started reading knitting blogs.  I tend to knit in waves, sometimes I knit up a storm, but when the storm passes, I have huge dry spells and don't want to look at anything knitting related for a while.  So, the first knitting blog I ever read was purlbee.  I must have been one of their first regular readers.  However, I also sew, so that blog has held my attention continuously, due to the fact that there are multiple appealing aspects to it, other than just knitting.  Also, their sense of color...amazing.

Marian

Seedling hat

However, my most recent knitting storm has been going for a few months now, and I've been knitting like crazy,... hm, ok, obsessively.  I think this is the longest knitting has held my attention, and I find myself looking for others as obsessed as I am right now.  So, when I really love a pattern in a book, or on Ravelry, I need to know more about the artist.  In January, I knit up the Marian, and decided to check out Jane Richmond's blog, and enjoyed reading about her adventures.  Also, she's Canadian, and my husband is Canadian...so instant connection.  At Stitches West, I was looking for Coastal Knits, and found Alana Dakos' booth, and fell in love with the seedling hat.  Since then, I've been reading her blog.  

Learning to knit

First try at entrelac

Finally, I have to mention my husband.  He re-learned to knit a few years ago, when we first started dating.  His first project was a hat, which he made for his sister who was going through chemo.  His dedication to get it just right was amazing, and his commitment to learning new techniques is ridiculous.  I think every project, he's learning some new technique.  Project 1: learn how to knit.  Project 2: learn how to purl.  Project 3: learn how to double knit.  Project 4: learn lace patterns.  Project 5: learn how to knit in the round.  Project 6: Pass wife's knowledge and learn wrap and turns and intarsia before she does.  As you can see, something new and difficult with each new project!  And he documents progress on Ravelry.  Phew, it's hard to keep up!  I do knit faster than he does, and have more practice.  However, just to keep up, I learned entrelac this past week, which I've been meaning to learn for over 5 years!  

So those are the people that inspire me right now!

3KCBWDAY2

Photography Challenge Day!

Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. 

Ohhh, so many photos to go through to find a good one!  I feel like maybe I don't take very "innovative" photos, but I guess I take funny ones...

A normal cozy cowl.

Turned into a crazy hat!

In bed... and underwater?  :)

A curious bear...

looking for treats in my package!

April fun!

Went to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento to see a special exhibit by Gong Yuebin that I heard about on NPR.  Had a good time at this small gem of a museum.

The museum also had an Art-O-Mat.  I saw this in DC for the first time, but didn't buy anything because it was horribly stocked.  This one was well stocked, and I bought a piece.  I'm inspired to start some art projects of my own now!

3KCBWDAY1

Colour Lovers
Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

When I see yarn, color is what attracts me first.  I have to be drawn to it: bright colors that pop, to rich deep colors that feel homey.  I love it when yarn makers play with colors.   Usually the yarns I choose are variegated or heathered.  I do not normally buy a solid colored yarn, unless I have a pattern that I think needs a solid color, or unless I am really drawn to the richness of the color.   If I am not happy with the color of a yarn, I make up my own colors, by combining yarns.  

The Stash:

My stash is, I'm embarrassed to admit, HUGE.  Early on in my knitting career, only a couple years after I learned how to knit, I formed a color wheel of yarn around me, just to see what my preferences were.  I am also embarrassed to say that my stash often does not reflect what I want to immediately knit.  So, some yarn has sat in my stash for years.

The Projects:

My color preferences tend to change over time.  When I first started knitting, I was attracted to dark purples, blues and greens.  However, I've learned that that color isn't necessarily what I want to knit right away.  Some of my blue yarns have been in my stash since I started knitting.  A couple years ago, I was really into bright orange and light pinks.  More recently, I've switched to greens.  The color that almost never gets "stashed" is blue-green or green.  

The Inspiration:

I love knitting and crochet books that are beautiful to look at, meaning that the photographs have to be appealing, and the color choice is important in buying a pattern.  However, I have noticed that I don't normally knit the color in which a garment is originally knit.  More often, I will play with color, and choose a color that I like more.  

The Favorite Colors:

In 2007, my friend asked me what I believe she thought was an easy question, "what are your top two favorite colors," and this was my reply:

Charlene's favorite colors break down:

Color I think I look good in:  red (any shade of red, but not mixed with orange)

Colors I actually wear the most:
1. black
2. browns
3. blues (although I don't think I look great in light blues)
4. green (mostly a brownish green)
5. pink as an accent (I like normal pink, not obnoxious pink, and
usually I like it more as an accent for something or which a different
color.  Like, a pink design on a white shirt, or brown cords with a

a photo from the archives
when my stash was still "small"

pink sweater with a different color underneath, or a pink tank top with a white sweater or a scarf that is pink and green.)

Color I general like: purple, (usually a dark purple) but I never wear
it or use it much.

Color that was a childhood favorite: yellow-orange, but I never wear
yellow and rarely wear orange.

So as you can see you've asked a complicated question!!!  I never wear
rainbows though, but I do like color in my wardrobe, and I like
knitting with all sorts of colors.  (If you look at my stash, I
definitely can make a color wheel with it. . .haha!  I've done it
before!)

Participating in this this year, and I'm excited to get writing!

Finally finished after 5 years

So remember when I was so into making purses. Well, there was one I was never able to finish because I could not find a way to attach the handles properly. Basically I was looking for a rod to put through the bag and handles. Today, at a store that I don't go to so often (Lacis), but is only down the street from me, I found what I was looking for, and the bag is now finished!!! I'm so happy, since I've wanted to use it for...years now! Isn't it pretty? :)