A Breakthrough in Blocking

I have no problems admitting i almost exclusively knit and crochet with acrylic yarn. Some of us just don't have the funds to be yarn snobs.

Besides, there are some pretty great acrylic yarns out there.

When i was still new to knitting, i tried blocking. I did. I tried it. A lot. And it never worked. It never made any sort of a difference in anything.

So i gave up.

I mean, all those strangers on the internet saying 'there's no way to block acrylic' couldn't be wrong, right?

Wrong. You were wrong, random strangers on the internet.

I decided to knit a Casu Cowl recently. I had another skein of Bernat Mosaic (in Ninja, this time), and i thought it would be great for the cowl. As i was knitting, i noticed the eyelet part of the cowl was curling a bit on the edges, but i didn't bother worrying about it. However, when i was all done knitting, i decided i should give blocking one last shot.

My sister, the doof model.

I googled blocking acrylic, and guess what. It CAN be done, and SHOULD be done. (Thank you, Bead Knitter Gallery)

I set about pulling out the iron and ironing board, some towels, and my pins. I pinned it all down while the iron heated up and when everything was ready, i steamed the crap out of the cowl. Let it sit for a while. And after i'd waited long enough, unpinned the bad boy and was amazed by what a little steam had done. It's not like the cowl had been curling in on itself and bunched up and a big, jumbled mess... but just seeing that the steam had helped that little, tiny curling problem was such a huge relief.

I set about blocking other things. Like a practice Soho Scarf i'd made some time ago from some leftover Red Heart Super Saver. While Super Saver is great for some things, it just does not have the drape that other natural fibers do. Which is why i used it for the practice scarf.

I mostly wanted to get the hang of blocking because at the time, i was working on a shawlette called Seven and Zero. I knit it with Bamboo Ewe in Sprout and Mermaid. (I cannot get enough of these two colors together right now, by the way. I find myself wearing this color combination about three out of every five days...) It's so soft, has a lovely drape, and it's affordable. Especially when you've got 40% off coupons at Jo-Ann. :)

While the shawlette looked adorable pre-blocking, all ruffly and whatnot, i was on a blocking high and had a go at it, anyway. This time, i did not steam it. Instead, i found out the best way to block Bamboo Ewe is to pin it down and spray it with tepid water.

So, i pinned it out, sprayed it, and waited. It was worth it. Again!

Colors get so washed out late at night with no natural light and a camera phone...

I've had a breakthrough, y'all.

The happy turtle was happy to model for me.

If you've been discouraged by blocking before, i encourage you to give it another shot. It's worth it. It's worth the failure because when you finally get it, it feels so. good.

Seatturday

When i take Saturday day trips to Seattle, i call them Seatturdays. And last Seatturday was gorgeous.

My mom and i decided that we wanted to go up to Seattle. It's one of my favorite cities, and i just love walking around. All over.

Our day started in Federal Way. I'd read about a LYS on Ravelry called Unraveled. A LYS so close to home? I may not have money to do any shopping at these stores, but i could honestly spend all day there. Sitting and knitting, looking at all the yarn i'll never buy because i'm broke... So, we checked it out. It's cute. The ladies working were so friendly. I didn't want to leave, but Seattle was calling me.

We headed north, and found a parking spot a few blocks up from Pike Place Market.

Some parking lot graffiti for your viewing pleasure.

I can't make out what it is. I hope it's not inappropriate. :D

We started out across from the market, looking out over the Sound.

Look at the mountains. How lucky am i to live in such a beautiful state?

From there, we headed toward Cost Plus World Market. I don't know what that sign is supposed to be... A woman must be flanked by men? Should i have climbed up there and put sparkles on one dude and wolf ears on the other?


Then we saw the first of so many So Much Yarn... signs. To get there, you have to go through a black gate... you need to be buzzed in. Up some stairs. Through a courtyard. In a back, dark corner... If they didn't have signs up all over the place, i'm not sure we would have found it. But find it, we did. It was wonderful. Despite the heat being on, and with all that wool in your face, with several other people around, in such a small area, it didn't need to be on.

I ended up leaving with a skein of delicious green baby alpaca yarn. If there hadn't been a ray of sunshine leaking in through a window at So Much Yarn..., i probably wouldn't have gotten that color. But there was. And i'm so glad i did.

Once again, i was sad to leave. But there are time limits on parking spaces...



We walked down the waterfront a little before heading back to the car to make sure we had some time. (Dumbos we are, we didn't look at the time before walking away from the car.)
I believe this is called "Waterfront Whimsea"...

CLink, Safeco, a ferry, and Mt. Rainier.


Nirvana, Sonics, Space Needle.


Luckily, we still had a half hour. It was actually warm outside, so i swapped my peacoat for a light sweater, and we headed back to the market.

I didn't want any pictures of myself, but then i remembered i was wearing the t-shirt my brother gave me for Christmas. I had to show him i was representin'.

By the way, that's me. Hi.


I don't care how many times i've been there, i feel like i have to get a photo of that sign every time.

You know that macaroni and cheese that Oprah said is the best ever? This is where they make it. That big vat right there? That's making cheese. Sadly, i've never tried this glorious mac and cheese. Every time i try to, the place is packed. Going to Pike Place on a beautiful, sunny, warm Seatturday doesn't help.


On the way back to the car, i noticed Molly Moon's for i think the first time. I've been in the chocolate shop it's connected to, but somehow i never realized the ice cream part was Molly Moon's! What!

Ever since Nathan Fillion tweeted about Molly Moon's salted caramel ice cream, i've wanted it. And i finally got it. And holy wow, they aren't kidding when they say it's salted caramel.

We ended our day at Dash Point.

I love the moon.


Oh, and best news! They're putting in a BigFoot Java across from the Chevron on our way to Dash Point! It's not everyday there's a BigFoot on our way to wherever we're going... So, we'll be going to Dash Point a lot this summer.



Whew. That's a lot of pictures, huh? And i'm not done!

At some point during the day, i finished my second pineapple iPod cozy.

Is that not the cutest?

On Sunday, I decided that i needed to make a pineapple coffee cozy.

And now i just want to keep making more.

And now i will leave you with whatever snippet of wisdom i find on the tag of my tea.

Don't let it end like this. Tell them i said something. -- Pancho Villa

The Horse of a Different Color Slippers You've Heard Tell About

I had planned on writing about my day trip to Seattle on Saturday, but then i ended up having a pretty great day with WeeWee¹. She woke me up and we had breakfast. Then, as she does every time i see her, she asked, "Can we watch Wizarboz²?"

Well, of course. This is only the 34th time we've watched it since that first time two months ago.

As Dorothy was crying to her aunt and uncle about Miss Gulch, i looked down at my Scarecrow slippers³ and realized i hadn't yet made anything Wizarboz-inspired for WeeWee! Unacceptable. I quickly did a little inventory in my head and realized i had some white, purple, red, and yellow yarns that i could use to crochet her some slippers. She loves her some slippers.

By the time we got to the Horse of a Different Color, i had gotten to the yellow on the first slipper. Perfect timing. Well, good timing. Perfect timing would have been having both slippers totally finished.

I said, "WeeWee, look! It's the horse!" Of course she knew the horse was on the screen, that's her favorite part. I showed her the almost-finished slipper and said, "Look, it's white, just like the horse. She loved that. I asked her what color the horse would be next. After a second, she exclaimed, "Purple! Like on the slipper!" So i asked her the next color. Red. Of course. Then she asked, as she does, "When will the horse be yellow?" Well, WeeWee, he still hasn't turned red, so just hold your horses. Of a different color. What. That was bad.

After the movie had finished, and we'd watched all of the "If I Only Had..." songs again, her slippers were done. And super adorable, if i do say so myself. And i do. I just did.

I mean, little kid slippers are just cute, anyway. But when you add something that's special to both of you...






After Wizarboz, WeeWee had to take a nap. I asked her, "WeeWee, what do you want to do after your nap?" "Um... um... um... crafeth⁴?" "What kind of crafts?" "Um... OH! We can go outside and get leaveth! And then we can get glue and glue them to the paper!" I said we would see.

We watched some Little Einsteins... she napped... i crocheted... she woke up.

Time for crafeth. The leaves fell some time ago, so they're all brown. And brittle. Not the greens, reds, and yellows she was expecting. I suggested we pick up some sticks instead and make God's Eyes. We found some sticks, avoided a weird pile of sap in the grass... and headed back in.

We made one to match her slippers, but i don't seem to have taken any photos. She did not appreciate having to sit in my lap so i could help her. So she took her sticks, the yarn, and claimed her own spot on the floor. He God's Eyes turned out a little differently. Imagine twigs wrapped in yarn and cast aside.

While she was busy, here's what i came up with.



It's nowhere near as interesting as anything WeeWee creates, but we can't all be artists.




Glossary
1. WeeWee: niece number 2. Real name: Kalia.
2. Wizarboz: The Wizard of Oz.
3. Scarecrow slippers:

4. Crafeth: crafts. She adds -eth onto words when she wants to pluralize them... (In case you haven't figured it out, she has a couple little, adorable speech problems.) So instead of crafts it's crafeth. Leaves are leaveth.