Official Website of Holly West | Crime Fiction Writer

Monday This and That

I've been home from Oregon less than a week and I'm feeling, well, less than motivated to do anything.  I did plant some veggies in my balcony garden yesterday, but that's about it.

These are salad greens.  I also planted a Celebrity tomato plant, a zucchini, and a Japanese eggplant.  I have not had great luck in the past with growing vegetables of any kind, but I think I'll at least have some salad greens to harvest at some point.

I also have an Aerogarden and last week I planted some cherry tomatoes:

Yesterday I was excited to see that they had sprouted.  I had some luck with growing herbs in the Aerogarden, but at the time I wasn't cooking enough and a lot of them got wasted.  I'm hoping to get more use out of the cherry tomatoes.

On the knitting front, I've smack dab in the middle of knitting Coachella, which was featured in last summer's Knitty.

 
I've loved this design since I first saw it, but only recently got around to knitting it.  It doesn't look particularly bra friendly, which is a must for me, but I'm willing to take a chance on it.  Also, it looks like it would be flattering on a variety of figures, as long as the wearer was comfy with showing a little skin, no matter what her size.

I've gotten to the "optional bust shaping," which I'm including.  I'm a little confused though, because it says to do the shaping two times for a D cup.  It seems like that would create a weird double-darting, however, instead of one long dart on each side, which is how you normally see darts in clothing.  I'm thinking I might tear out the short rows I've already done and modify the pattern to do just one dart on each side, only longer.  I'm certain I am not making any sense here, but I know what I'm trying to say.

At any rate, this has been a fun pattern to work on, and I look forward to the finished garment.

Some Quick Links for your browsing pleasure:

Alkemie Jewelry
When I first looked at this jewelry I said "meh."  But as I explored their work further I kind of started liking it, Octopus cuffs notwithstanding (go to the link and hit "next" about three times to see what I'm talking about).

Found Magazine
A friend of mine just sent me this link and it has some funny stuff on it.  Reminds me a little bit of Post Secret, but much less intense.

Recycle a Tank Top to Make a Toddler's Onesie
Don't know why I love stuff like this, but I do.  Reminds me once again that I need to learn to sew.

Summer '08 Knitty Patterns
I want to knit Gigi and Tank Girl.

Bits & Pieces

This is one of those posts where I don't have enough content to write about any one thing, so I'm going to include a whole lot of little stuff for your reading pleasure:

Bada Bing
Today is supposed to be warm in Santa Monica, and while searching through my drawers for warmer weather clothes, I found one of my old projects--the Bada Bing tube top.

Really, I Do Knit!
Contrary to the recent jewelry-heavy content of this blog, I have been knitting, and in fact have been rather obsessed with it of late.  Over the last week or so, I designed and knit a cute little cardigan for myself using baby alpaca.  It's not 100% finished yet, but here is a preview:

So far my only real criticism of it is that it is a bit on the small side, especially in the shoulders.  I only had about 850 yards of yarn and rather than be sensible and buy more of it, I designed the sweater so it used about 800 yards.  Anyway, I'll blog about it more when I'm completely done with it.

DIY Hermes Kelly Bag
Who said Hermes never gave you anything?

I'm not one of those girls who dreams of having a Kelly bag, or really, any high priced fashion accessory.  Hell, I don't think I even knew what one was until I was 35.  Still, I dig the concept of styling my own:

Kelly Bag Pattern

This truly is the closest I'll ever come to owning one, and I'm cool with that.  If I ever actually make one, I will definitely blog it.  In fact, I have a fab idea for this pattern, so stay tuned.

Cable Needle Holder Tutorial
From Jen at PieKnits, here is a nifty little holder for your cable needle:

Cable Needle Ring

I especially like this holder because not only is it a knit accessory, it is also jewelry.

Knit Designer "Interview"
Jen at PieKnits recently held a contest in celebration of the three year anniversary of her blog.  As part of the contest, readers answered questions then asked Jen a question.  Here are some of her answers.  It's not an interview per se, but still an interesting glimpse into the life of a great knit designer

Loves Me, Loves Me Not Ring
You didn't think I'd be able to do an entire blog post with no jewelry in it, did you (I'm not counting the Cable Needle Ring)?  Of course not.  That's why I present to you this ring:

Loves Me Not Ring

I didn't make it, but I thought it was clever and deserved a mention.

Knitting Season

Not only is it Fall, the best time of year, it's also knitting season.  I pretty much knit year-round, but there's no question I get a surge of knitting energy when the cooler weather arrives.

I blogged about my Christmas knitting a couple of weeks ago and I have since begun another gift.  When I get bored of knitting one, I can go to the other, as both of my current projects are "long-haul."  Good thing I've started my Christmas knitting early!

I will continue posting "teaser" photos of these projects and when the gifts are given I'll post complete pictures and patterns, where applicable.

I am also itching to start another sweater for myself--I've got the design in my mind and now I've got to detail it.  I'm still dreaming of submitting a design to knitty.com, you know...

Putting the Progress in WIP and Taking it Out of Everything Else

My attention span is seriously small.  I've been talking about getting my jewelry business back on track and I even have a long list of things that need to be accomplished in this vein.

But all I want to do is knit.

Ever since I bought this yarn I've been obsessed with knitting up this cardy-of-my-own-design.  The yarn knits up pretty quickly, but even so, I've spent many hours since last Tuesday knitting this sweater.  Hours that I technically should've been using to take care of my list of "business priorities."

What's really funny is that despite my obsession with this particular knit project, I've got another one on the the needles (also of my own design) that I suddenly decided I want to try to finish up so I can submit the design to Knitty for it's Winter issue (deadline September 15).  I spent the weekend feverishly calculating the pattern and knitting while watching the Mary Tyler Moore show on DVD.

Here's where having a lot of free time and no one to "answer to" bites me in the hiney.  If I had a boss, or investors (besides Mick) or even regular customers, my priorities would be laid out for me.  Since I have none of these things, I have to be disciplined enough to set my own priorities.  Discipline isn't one of my strong suits.

Mind you, I'm not complaining.  I love my life.  But like most people, my psyche requires that I have goals and projects to keep me feeling fulfilled as a person.  Also like most people, I am easily distracted and often go from one project to another without finishing the first.  I suppose that's fine since I'm always really busy, but when the day is done and I find myself accomplishing what appears to be nothing, it kind of bums me out.

All of this said, if I can complete the design for Knitty and actually get it submitted, I will consider it a major goal accomplished.  When I started this blog at the beginning of 2007, that was one of the things I wanted to do--start designing knit patterns and getting them published.  So even though I haven't been doing what I said I wanted to do with my jewelry business, I'm not beating myself up too much about it because this other goal is also important to me.  If it gives me an excuse to sit around watching the Mary Tyler Moore show all day, so much the better.

Swatch You Talkin' About, Willis?

All right, I'll admit that's one of my lamer post titles, but I couldn't resist.

A couple of things:  Over the weekend I purchased Sweater Wizard.  Fun stuff!  However, until I actually knit a sweater from one of their patterns, I cannot say whether or not you should purchase it.  I'm optimistic though!

I've been trying really hard to resist buying more yarn, at least until I use up some of the yarn I already have.  Unfortunately, the other day I happened upon a yarn store I'd never been to before and, well, I caved.

I purchased 8 skeins of Himalayas Queensland Collection 100% wool, thinking it would make a delicious sweater for moi.

Never mind the blur... isn't it purty?

Using the Sweater Wizard, I designed a raglan cardigan with a hood and bell sleeves.  I'm knitting it in the round, which I've never done with a cardigan before (or a sweater, for that matter).  One of the biggest complaints with sweaters I've knit in the past is that set in sleeves make me look too boxy.  I'm thinking the raglan sleeves will be better for my figure, but having never knit a garment with them before, I won't know for sure until it's complete.

 
Right now I've got about four projects on the needles, but this one is taking up all of my attention for the moment.  Since this yarn knits up relatively fast, I'm hoping to be finished within a couple of weeks.

Creative Odds and Ends

I have recently finished knitting my first sock ever and I'm well under way on the second:

I had no immediate plans to knit a pair of socks, but I happened upon a Basic Sock Tutorial at Sweaterscapes.com and I decided it might be worth a try.

I suspected it wouldn't be that difficult since I'd already successfully knitted a pair (or 12) of Knucks.  Not that they're the same, but some of the principles are similar at least.  Anyway, the socks were easy enough.

I used the bamboo yarn I'd purchased in Japan:

I got about 100g each of 3 colors:  the light blue you see here, a very light beige, and the rust colored brown which I used for the socks.  My intention was to knit a scarf but now I think I will experiment with different sock designs using this same basic pattern.  The bamboo yarn is very soft and while I probably wouldn't wear the socks with shoes because of the thickness, it does make for a good pair of lounging socks.

Possum Yarn?

My mother-in-law and her friend Marie recently completed a 5-week long trip to New Zealand and stopped at our house on their way back to England.  They mentioned the fantastic array of handcrafted items in New Zealand, and told me about a blend of possum-merino yarn which is apparently fantastically soft and luxurious.

I found a couple of online retailers for it,  so I'm thinking I might have to try it.

Sewing a Re-useable Shopping Bag

The other day I happened upon this tutorial at U-handbag.com:

Reusable Grocery Bag

While I'm all for reusing grocery bags, another very good use of this bag is for travel.  It would make a great fold-up bag to take with you to carry back all those wonderful souvenirs.

There are actually a lot of great handbag tutorials on this site, but my sewing skills are almost non-existent.  I've been thinking about taking a sewing class for a long time though, so this might be the perfect excuse.

Not Your Every Day Scarf (or Shrug)

I've been wanting to knit this shrug/scarf ever since I saw it.  Somehow I got sidetracked though and forgot about it until I was suffering a "what to knit?" crisis yesterday and pulled out all my knitting books.

This design is by Teva Durham from the book Scarf Style.  If you've ever thought scarves were boring to knit, then you haven't seen this book.  Most of the designs in the book will challenge my modest knitting skills, however this particular design is fairly simple and it's so cute.  I picture it paired with a tank top, although by the time I finish I'm sure it will be too warm to wear it until fall/winter next year.  That's okay, it will keep.

The yarn I'm using is rather delicious--it's Debbie Bliss Chunky Cashmerino in light teal.  I bought quite a lot of it for a sweater project that I haven't blogged because I'm not sure if I'm going to do anything with it.  I'm not crazy about the finished sweater, though it was the first one I designed and I really should keep it (as opposed to unraveling it and using the yarn for something else).  Still deciding.

New Subject Matter

I started a new painting today--one that I think will take me awhile to complete since it is not my usual subject matter (dogs).

I started with a photo and a 12x16 blank canvas.  Based on the dimensions of the original photo (8x6), I penciled a 1 inch grid on the photo, then penciled a 2 inch grid on the canvas.  I then transferred my image to the canvas by sketching what was in each square of the original photo:

 
I decided to begin coloring my painting before finishing the sketch because my pencil was rubbing off as I drew.
This is a painting that will require many layers of color, so at this point the painting is very rudimentary, not much more than the sketch itself.

A bit more color:
 
At this point I kind of lost patience (as often happens) and I began coloring the entire canvas:

This isn't entirely unjustified, as much of the remaining work is layering color over color, and I felt that painting the remaining base colors was the next logical step.

At this point I don't have a lot of confidence in this painting, but it has miles to go before it's completed.  Every painting I've ever done has a time when I'm certain it's not going to come out right and then somehow I usually get it just how I want it.  We'll see!

WIP - Kyoto Sweater

It is just 7 days until we leave for Japan and I am busy at work on my kimono sweater:

The actual pattern is called Kyoto.  Instead of Tahki Cotton Classic, I've chosen to use Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere.  I also chose some drastically different colors, but the turquoise blue is good with my skin tone.  I was torn about what color to use on the bottom but ended up with the yellow because it's pretty.  Yellow is not generally my color, but since this is the sash it won't be against my skin so I'm hoping it won't matter.

Unfortunately, the chances of me getting it finished in time for the trip are slim at this point.  I was well on my way to being done but after re-checking the gauge on a couple of the pieces I realized I had didn't have enough stitches per inch, which would result in, at best, a much-too-big sweater.  I decided to start over, which is a painful prospect, but it has to be done.

The picture above is of the finished pieces prior to me deciding to start over, so at least you can see the color combo.

It will still be chilly in Tokyo when we go.  I am thinking about buying a few skeins of cashmere to knit myself a fabulous scarf to wear on the trip since I most likely I won't have this sweater.

Puppy Sweater

I am knitting a sweater for a friend's child who turns one on the 23rd.  So far, I've finished the back and part of an arm.

The basis of this project is the "Little Girl Big Heart Sweater" from Hollywood Knits, by Suss Cousins.  This design from her website is very similar.  Since I'm knitting this for a boy child, I'm going to substitute the big fuzzy heart that appears in the original pattern with something else--though I'm not sure what yet.  I'm thinking a puppy or perhaps a "tattoo" of a heart that says Mom or something.

The pattern calls for cotton yarn, but I'm using Caron simply soft.  I have a lot of it left over from a project I never did and it's a good, soft, durable yarn for children's projects.