pepperknit

The Potholder Swap 2010 is in full swing—what fun potholders are you making? I can’t wait to receive mine from the swap, and making the ones I’ll contribute has been a lot of fun, too. I have even tried my pattern out, and they function pretty darn well!

I took the opportunity to look through some crochet technique and pattern books to try something new just for this swap. The moment I found directions for a 4-color spiral, I knew it was the technique for me! The source where I read about it made only a tiny spiral, and it didn’t even lay quite flat, so I had to work out how to do the increases to keep it flat, as well as devise a method to taper off each of the spirals to maintain a circle but not make it feel as if each color just “stopped.”

It wasn’t overly challenging, but it was a fun little crochet puzzle. I am loving the structural, physics-like way I can approach crochet. (Knitting is more garment design, crochet is more product design—the way I approach them.) With 4 colors at play in each potholder, the color combinations seemed endless, all of them fun and kitcheny.

If you’re interested, my pattern for the Stir Me Up Potholders is available free via Ravelry, so you can download now and have a finished potholder in no time (each one takes me about 2.5 hours total—one hour each for the front and back, and half an hour to do the edging). That’s just one day of commuting, plus some time while I unwind at the end of the day.

I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop at the 5 required for the swap. I have more worsted-weight cotton yarn to use up! I have more color combinations I want to see realized! I’m sure everyone I know needs even MORE potholders, right? Despite the fact that so many of my friends are already doing the swap?

Someone described the spirals as being like candy—and perhaps that’s what making them feels like to me. Just a sweet diversion with happy-making results.

How can you resist?

Every girl needs her own army of meek adorable robots, don’t you think?

These guys are particularly polite and sweet, and they’re going to live with Specs, a polite and sweet friend who didn’t even bellyache one bit that I delayed more than six months to hold up my end of a swap. See, she was exploring paper cutting, and I eagerly said, “you make me something like that and I’ll . . . yeah, I’ll make you something in return. Sure. Sometime.”

So she awesomely worked this up for me—featuring an owl, no less, the mascot of my alma mater. And then I got all excited to make her something in return, sewing some things, looking at books, even crocheting the start of a Mechanobot . . .

But I just couldn’t commit! It was too hard! What would she really want? What could I possibly make her that she’d like?

Until Chawne recently got a copy of Crobots, too. And she didn’t dilly-dally like I did. In fact, within a day of receiving the book, she’d whipped up a robot she named Dexter. And Specs’s response to Chawne’s robot was so good, I knew I had to recommit. And so Sangamo was born.

Sangamo follows the pattern (Mechanobot, available free online!) pretty much to a T. I even had almost identical hardware to adorn her with. The only difference is I used screws with a flat head for her legs, and if you set her down juuuust right, she can stand on her own. Soon after, Sangamo’s cousin Miss Gloria rolled up.

Miss Gloria was based on the Wheely pattern, but modified—she’s larger than the written directions, because the scale between her and Sangamo was going to be too far off. The wheels are the size specified in the direx, though. Her adornments are more fancy—glass beads and sequins—because she’s a fussy, girlie robot. She works hard to keep her wheels in perfect condition. Her pet robot, Yuri, completes the trio.

Specs and her boyfriend have two cats, Dimitri and Otto, so I chose a name in keeping with the theme. Yuri also deviates from the written Catbot pattern, especially with respect to the hardware. I decided that to look more like a robot (I mean, really, it’s just a cat otherwise), brass screws and brass hardware would complete the look. Oh, and I added a tail, which shockingly the pattern does not entail.

I’m on a bit of a robot craze as a result, though my love is only for Mechanobot at this point. I think you’ll be seeing more of him around these parts.

Today’s my dear friend Liz’s baby’s first birthday. I was about to cop out and buy him a book or something, but what kind of friend would I be if I resorted to store-bought? Amigurumi birdies swooped in to the rescue!

Each bird took about 2 hours, but given that I started them late Friday night and was busy all day Saturday, I only sewed parts on the 2nd bird on the subway on my way to the party. As a result, as per usual, the gift was not wrapped. Someday, I will plan a gift in advance, procure the appropriate packing materials, and present the recipients with a lovely wrapped gift complete with ribbon. Today was not that day, as I whipped the birds out of my purse and waggled them at the birthday boy.

He shrieked, grabbed them, waved them about, and promptly flung them away. Seemed like a good reception to me!

Birds of a Feather (Rav)
From: Crochet Today, Jan/Feb 2008
Yarn: A mixture of yarns, including some random 8-ply wool I got in Singapore (the red and the khaki) and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (the beaks)
Hooks: H/8 (for the red) and G/7 (for the other parts)
Notes: None of note. The pattern also includes a comb for the bird’s head but I went without. For one bird’s eyes i made French knots, wrapping the yarn around the needle 3 times (any less and the knot was too small). I attached the wings on one bird with the longest feather at the top and the other bird with the smallest at the top. It was a deliberate choice but I have no idea why. They were fun to make!

Meet Dhoby Ghaut!

Dhoby Ghaut is named for the MRT (mass rapid transit) station on Orchard Road. This is an interchange where two subway lines cross, and practically every bus line comes by, too. Right next door is Plaza Singapura, a mall with a grocery store and movie theater, so it’s a busy place.

We often take the 190 bus from home to Dhoby Ghaut in order to get elsewhere in the city. Buses are always a wild ride (worse than New York City, I swear!), so he grabbed onto the strap and held on for dear life. A small Chinese boy looked up and cried out, in English, “Monkey!”

Dhoby had a very Singaporean day today. For lunch we ate at the food court in the basement of Takashimaya, then we window shopped a bit—truly the Singaporean pasttime. Always intrigued by the foreign foods available, Dhoby took a look at some Japanese snacky snacks, including Pucca, which seemed to be like pocky only they were goldfish shaped (and cocoa flavored). You could find pretty much any kind of cracker or pocky stick or sweet you might want in these places.

Then he picked up a sixpack of beer and headed home for some relaxation. Tiger Beer is Singapore’s beer; I personally don’t like it, as I don’t like light beers. It claims it’s a “lager,” but it’s no Yuengling—it is, to my palate, the same as a Heineken. Too much hops for me.

Once home, he took care of the local koi, who are greedy, greedy bastards and very nearly ate Dhoby’s foot. I feared for his life, because I used unpopped popcorn kernels instead of craft beads or dried beans to stabilize Dhoby, and I figured these koi, who are larger than Dhoby (heck, they’re practically bigger than me) would tear him limb from limb. Luckily I got him away in time, and then he could relax.

The pool was calling his name after this full day. It was really hot out—he soaked in the rays while I frolicked in the water.

Dhoby Ghaut (rav page)
Pattern: Crocheted Monkey by ChimuChimu
Yarn: Harvest Pure Wool, dark brown; Cleckheaton 8-ply Crepe, beige
Skeins: 1.25 of dark brown; less than half of beige
Hook: US size D
Started: Saturday, July 26
Finished: Thursday, July 31
Notes: I was definitely influenced by Pam’s Ramona Bananapants, which made me want to re-learn how to crochet. Amigurumi is, of course, just composed of single crochets, so it was really no big deal. As my first time following a crochet pattern, I learned some things—like how I have to place a marker at the beginning of each round or I will never, ever find the beginning again. I am also not super skilled at “reading” the crochet, but with such a well-written pattern it wasn’t a big deal. As I said, I used popcorn kernels in his hands and feet and body as a stabilizer. The neck is a bit shorter than the pattern called for—it looked too tall to me. But now I don’t know how tall he is. The cock to his head was just a happy accident. I love! Will make loads more.