Moving!

Hello, I'm glad that you've found your way to my knitting blog, but I will be moving to Purplebeccablog.blogspot.com where I will feel a little more free to discuss more than just craft related stuff! Please come on over, hopefully there will be a recent post.

The Sweater Saga and a Crochet leaf pattern

I wanted to share the little pattern I came up with to crochet leaves, its after my sweater rant, below.

So about a month ago I woke up one Saturday morning and decided that what I needed in my life was a little discipline. I'm out of school now and I guess I was scared that I'd forget how to follow instructions. This concern led me to decide that what I needed was to challenge myself by attempting a knitting project completely out of character: a sweater knitted from a pattern. So I made my boyfriend (for some reason I couldn't drive myself on this very important mission) drive me to the bookstore to pick up a fancy knitting book with patterns that looked like something I actually would want to wear without changing up too much. After parking myself on the floor in front of the knitting section with several books open for quite some time, (My boyfriend tried to act like he didn't know me by looking at something else but then the computer books were just further down the same isle) I decided on French Girl Knits. The book is gorgeous and it looked like it had lots of committed followers on ravelry. So I got to work on a lovely sleeveless tunic and I am still working on it. Lace is lovely, but I am so slow at knitting it! Following directions, when it comes to a medium that can be quite creative, is just not my strong suit. No pictures of the sweater yet because the lace inserts had to be washed because I got chocolate all over them, and the other completed panel is being held together by a stitch holder on one side and the strap I took off my wallet on the other side (when you knit at work you have to be resourceful sometimes).

Speaking of directions, I've come up with a new little pattern to make leaves. Leaves are a big part of the more purplebecca-style stuff I usually do. This may seem a little simplistic to you hard core crochet types, but I was really pleased to find a way to get a teardrop shape as opposed to the diamond I usually end up with. Since, as you've probably gathered, I'm not that into reading patterns I don't know all the crochet jargon yet, but here's the pattern in English.

1. Place a slip knot on the hook, chain one
2. crochet into stitch just created
3. turn, crochet twice into stitch
4. turn, crochet 2
5. turn, crochet twice into each stitch
6. turn ,crochet 4
7. turn, crochet 1, crochet twice into each of the next two stitches, crochet one
8. Turn, crochet 6
9. Turn, crochet 2, crochet twice into each of the next two stitches, crochet 2
10. turn crochet 8
11. Continue in this manner until leaf is two rows shorter than desired length
12. Turn, crochet 2 together, crochet to center, then crochet twice into each of the center 2 stitches, as in steps 7 and 9, crochet to last two stitches, and crochet last two together.
13. Turn, crochet all stitches across.

This can be used to make leaves or flower petals, or rain drops, or anything you want!

Maybe this first sweater is a practice run

Camel Motif

I have a friend who is really into bactrian camels and wants a hat featuring such animals. I worked up this motif pattern and you are welcome to it. I really like the way the stitches mimic the hairiness of the camels.

As you can see, Rocky helped and looked sad. He always looks like that.

coin purse

I needed to take a break from the new york times bags to make something a little more my style. I started this little thing while babysitting last night and finished it up this afternoon. I think I'll sew a zipper in and use it to hold all of those little cards that have accumulated in my wallet.

I think that I was a little inspired by one of the blogs I've been reading lately, especially on the back.

I want to be the Marc Bolan of knitting

A lofty goal to be sure.
Over the past few months my obsessions have progressed in the following order:
The movie Velvet Goldmine: The soundtrack for Velvet Goldmine: The Song 2HB from said soundtrack: Looking into real glam rock bands: T-Rex (fronted by Mr. Bolan)

Wow, T-rex was amazing. I'm an American from the south so my education in classic rock was somehow completely devoid of this band, but now I've discovered them and I'm really glad. You should certainly do a you-tube search for the band to find some music videos.

How does this relate to knitting? I don't really know, but I think it has something to do with art. Knitting may not be a high form of art, but to avoid the dilettantism that I am so prone to I decided a couple of years ago that I was only going to express my creative drive through yarn-based activities. Its cleaner and more mobile than other such forms of self-expression. Although I certainly do manage to make a mess. I was never particularly good at any one of the hobbies I had taken up so I thought some focus may be just the ticket. I promised myself that if I wanted to make something that I would have to figure out how to make it with knitting needles or crochet hooks and other such fiber art paraphernalia.

I want to knit in a joyful individual kind of way that will make all of the frustrations of the craft totally worth it. That's the feeling I get from watching Marc Bolan perform...he looks like he's having a blast while being innovative and artistic. None of that Billy Corgan tortured soul stuff (ask me about the time I met Mr. Corgan). Sharing yourself through your desired medium can be joyful without being fluff, and that is what I strive to.

Is this whole thing a bit to grandiose? I'm just a girl who likes to knit funny little flowery shapes and try to make something useful out of them. But I think even if you're making piggy banks out of laundry detergent bottles (like that episode of Malcolm in the middle where the mom loses it) having such a motivation would still be valid.

Anyway...would anyone wear a scarf shaped like a lizard?

Plarn!

hello, I am sorry for the long long absence.

I finished my thesis about 2 hours ago.

Wow.

Now I can knit again.

This is the only thing I've created since my last post (except for 15,000 words about plant disease resistance {Viva la RESISTANCE!})

I'm taking a current events course this semester, and all of the students are required to subscribe to the New York Times. The times, you see, is delivered to your doorstep in these lovely blue plastic bags. Now, back in my DIY junkie days I had seen patterns for making things out of plastic bags and as soon as I saw these things I knew I'd be saving them.

But

then

My pack rattiness went to the next level. In a fit of insanity I e-mailed my professor and asked her if I could ask the WHOLE class (and its a big 'un) to bring me thier New York Times bags.

And they did....

And I have a large amount of bags in our apartment.

And I have finished a single solitary bag because I've had a cumulitive 3 hours to make creative messes since February.

But it looks like my summer work schedule is going to have lots of bus riding so I'll have lots of time to make more plarn bags. They'll be posted to my etsy as I finish them!

Yarn Dyeing!!!

I'm not sure if I'm tearing up from the watching the inauguration or from the fumes of dyeing.

I've decided to celebrate my last day with no classes and the new president by dying up some yarn. This is how it came out.

And this is what my hand looks like.

Yep, that's my Christmas Tree in the background...I like to keep it up until Easter.

We won't even get into what the kitchen looks like. I'll be spending the rest of the day trying to make it look like nothing even happened before my boyfriend gets home. Maybe I can convince him that our cabinets have always had a green tint to them.

One chihuahua is cute, two is an infestation

Although it is the cutest infestation ever! We're dogsitting and my life is very chihuahuaful at the moment. That's all...I really should get back to working on my thesis.

Mwah!

iGoogle How to of the Day, or How Does Google Know So Much About Me?

I don't know if everyone who signs in to igoogle has this, but on my page there is a section called "How to of the Day". How can a person like me resist seeing what is up there everyday? I mean, I obsessively watched DIY network to the neglect of my school work, apartment, and personal hygiene until all of my favorite shows got cancelled. Needless to say, I usually end up reading whatever article is up there. I am a little concerned though, and I am fully aware that expressing this concern will make me sound like a conspiracy theorizing narcissist.



I feel like google is trying to tell me something.



It was all fine and great back when the topics coming up were things like "How to take better pictures" ( http://www.wikihow.com/Take-Better-Photographs) or "How to make a yarn octopus", (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Yarn-Octopus). You know these are things that I genuinely want to know how to do.

But

Lately, the How tos of the day have been getting a little personal. "How to Lose Belly Fat" (http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Belly-Fat), "How to Stop Being so Needy" (,http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Being-Needy) "How to Stop Procrastinating"(http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Procrastinating). Then, the worst one so far "6 Ways to be More Feminine." (http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Feminine) OK, igoogle I get it...hints taken.

jeez.

Scrumble is now a hat

That little scrumble piece that I posted a picture of a few back is now a lovely little had. I'm really pleased with it, and it was so fast to make! the entire thing is crochet, which may be a first for me.

So I haven't knitted anything for my boyfriend ever because I've been afraid of the knitter's myth. For the uninitiated the myth is that as soon as you finish a knitting project for a signifigant other, he/she will leave your life. The only other boy I've knitted something for did leave soon after I finished it (although, I did kind of know that it would happen). Now I've been with my current boyfriend for nearly 4 years so I'm probably just being silly. I was wondering if there is any crocheter's myth? Could I crochet him a hat without any fear?

Fractal Necklace

I've noticed a trend: As soon as I post something on this blog of about a work in progress, I instantly loose any interest in working on it. That being said, I'm kind of scared that the flower I knitted up and posted yesterday was a little too normal for my sensibilities. I just didn't put in the amount of creativity into it that I like to. Not to say that it wasn't a usefull experience because I was playing with some new increasing/decreasing techniques while working on it. You see, other than the knit stitch, I've mostly taught myself to knit so there are still some things that I'm still picking up on. Here's what I just learned K2tog and SSK are mirror images of eachother, K2tog and sl k psso are NOT.

Speaking of getting technique down, I've noticed that my DVR has started showing up with Knitty Gritty episodes again. They're not new, and are coming on in the wee hours of the morning, but I'm still happy to watch it again!

This has all been preamble to present the Fractal Necklace that I knitted yesterday. I picked up the coral-colored yarn to add on to the darned flower, but ended up with this. Its very much inspired by one of my favorite classes I've taken at college: Plan II Math. Or as I like to call it "Math for Hippies". We learned about all kinds of fun math like fibonacci numbers, platonic solids, topology, mobius bands, the fourth dimension, and fractals. Here's my knitted
interpretation of a very simple fractal:

Update: Knitted Virus

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I wanted to attempt a knitted virus, so I've done some more searching into what had already been done.

Here are some fabulous virus doilies

http://laurasplan.com/ (click doilies)

They are based on images of viruses and made by sewing machine

She really captures the intricate beauty of the viruses.

I found a couple of other pictures that look sort of like knitted balls covered in bumps.

Most of what I found are based on pictures of viruses, and I would like to work from the protein structure of it, which I think would fit in nicely to my modular style

but first I need to finish this project:

hopefully it will eventually look like this, but more knitty:

New Things

I hope everyone had fabulous Christmases and New Years!

I finished another scarflette over the holidays and just got it listed to etsy

I started to fall in love with it during my "photo shoot" but lets face it, I have a scarf for every scarf-worthy day of cold we get down here in Texas.

I also started working on something else using the same yarns, but I'm not sure what yet.
Another Scarflette or purse? I was also thinking maybe hat...it would be some work to figure out the geometry, but I think that it could end up being quite aesthetically pleasing.

I'm trying to embrace the crochet more. I'm just coming to realize that the things that I want to make just make more sense with crochet than knit. Its more willing to be formed around the curves and corners that I love to make. Maybe I'm having a fiber identity crisis.

I also got a new camera for Christmas, so hopefully I can post more often because I won't have to wait for my boyfriend to bring his home from work anymore. Likewise, I am trying to improve the pictures on my etsy page. It is not going all that well so far because I haven't been able to get the light right yet. Honestly, I think the best ones are the ones I've taken in the bathroom! Oh well, practice practice practice.

Rebecca doesn't know how to crochet

Seriously, I don't. But I've never let that stop me from doing anything.

Also...I made my first sale on etsy! WOOOOOOOOO! I should get to making more scarflettes, but I want to make sure that the one I just sold remains one of a kind.

And...for no reason other than that I am obsessed with him, here are some pictures of the dog that I stole from my boyfriend's facebook page.

His name is Rocky, and he is awesome. Even if he does pee under our Christmas Tree.

Biology

I know I've had little to post recently because everything I'm currently working on is top-secret. I don't really think anyone in my family reads this, but there is a link to it on my etsy page, which I've made most people look at, so you never know.

For eye candy then I thought I'd post some pictures from my Cell Biology Lab from last year. I certainly hope that there is nothing wrong with me posting these. My lab partner and I took them, under the guidance of Dr. Malcolm Brown, who is an insanely smart guy. The things I was able to see in that class were really amazing. Its one thing to have access to a picture of something tiny, but another to see it for yourself through a microscope. Although the things I make do have a certain quality of chaos to them, they are very much inspired by the geometric and modular way that nature is made up.

This is a Tillandsia scale as viewed through a polarized light filter with a compensator. Tillandsia is the ball moss plant that you see growing on trees and power lines. If you look closely they appear to be covered in a white powder. The power is actually scales that trap water for the plant. This is what the look like. The colors are representative of the arrangement of the cellulose molecules that make up the scale.

This picture (no, I'm sorry photomicrograph) is also a tillandsia scale but this time treated with GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein--it is what it sounds like) connected to CBP ( Cellulose Binding Protein-- also aptly named). Every once in a while there will be a news story about how scientists have made a glowing green pig, or engineered a blue rose, or something else that seems completely useless to the general public. I'm fairly certain that the glowing pig thing had something to do with GFP, which is probably one of the greatest advancements in Molecular Biology to happen in the last decade because it allows us to see tiny, colorless things so much easier! Its uses in the lab are various and very useful.

This was the most exciting part of the class for me...They let me not only touch, but actually use an electron microscope. This is a T4 bacteriophage virus. I have to admit, I always had my doubts that these guys actually look like the "lunar lander" with their cute little icosahedral head, spiral body and jointed legs. But behold! that is exactly what this looks like in a blurry-electron-beam-degraded-by-the-time-we-could-click-the-capture-button-way.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried to knit/crochet a replica of a phage virus using its genome as a pattern? I wish I had thought about that about a year ago so I could submit THAT to be my thesis topic (I'm in the kind of free-thinking interdisciplinary honors program that just might have gone for it) .

A quick google search came up with this cool virus-inspired cape:

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.07/people/caitlin/knitvirus/knitvirus_2.html

But no actual virus, perhaps I shall attempt one once things clear up...

Oh yeah, and I have a dog now too. I found him in the street a couple of weeks ago. He was hit by a car, but is doing all better now. In fact, he's the best dog ever. I love him.

By the shortness of my sentences I can tell I'm getting tired and must rest. My last final is tomorrow night y estoy muy allegra.

Underwire Purse Handles

For some reason I was lamenting both my disappointment in the available purse handles at the craft store and the fact that my bras seem to last for a very short amout of time. In the midst of this internal complaint I may or may not have come up with a brilliant idea.

Yes, the underwire that was poking me in the underarm all day suddenly seemed like the perfect size for a purse handle. I took off the plastic ends, added some beads, and used needle-nosed pliers to curl up the ends.

what do you think?

Sadly, I don't have much else to share. I realize that I haven't actually finished a project since I started this blog. I'm thinking that that is only because of bad timing. I've been day dreaming alot about just having one job and having the evenings free to knit and paint and maybe learn to spin.

I am working on some cool stuff (however slowly), but it is top-secret. The holidays are coming up!

Arties

I know its been ages (or at least two weeks) since I've written anything, but that's because I wanted this to be a knitting blog...and I just haven't had a free moment to knit a gosh darned thing!

I have temporarily replaced my knitting addiction with an addiction to podcasts because I can indulge in them while working or riding the bus or driving or the many other mindless tasks I do on a daily basis. Escape Pod, the science fiction podcast had a story this last week that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. It was called "Arties aren't Stupid" and it was about a future distopia (ah, but aren't they all?) in which children are genetically engineered to fall into specific, specialized groups. This story focused on the titular "arties" who have an urge to "make", but whose creations are constantly destroyed by the "tinmen". The arties begin to have the ache, as they call it, if there are no supplies around to create with.

I know this ache, I much less delicately call it being creatively constipated. Sometimes, even if it seems like a waste of time, I just have to make something...and then everything starts getting better. I'm sure its a pretty common phenomenon. I should probably state that I don't really consider myself to be a fine artist. I'm pretty comfortable with being a crafter, although I did have a dream last night where I was insisting to someone that I am an artist while he/she (don't remember) assured me that I was just pretentious.

I think that my ache is not so bad at the moment, because even though I'm not knitting or painting, I am working on creating my thesis, for which my WONDERFUL boyfriend taught me how to use autoCAD so I can make some awesome diagrams. Of course I'm thinking of many more ways to use the program for knitting design than for molecular pathway drawing!

Anyway, the story and the podcast in general are wonderful. I also liked it because the arties end up finding and using something that really reminded me of the Spore Creature Creator. I've been wanting to get Spore, but I think it would be way too much of a distraction. I mean, I've hardly had any time to play Rockband 2! My little brother has already beaten it, and I'm still trying to get a sound guy!

MWAH! to everyone!

Celebratory Knitting Pattern

Life is good for PurpleBecca, so I'm going to post the pattern for my dinosaur pattern instead of working on my paper that's due tomorrow!

DINOSAUR! Pattern:

I used 5 size 5 double pointed needles and a somewhat chunky nylon/wool blend

legs-on dpns cast on 6 stitches
-slide stitches to other end of needle, pull yarn around back to knit into first stitch
-Continue knitting i-cord for 6 rows
-Turn and purl across
-Turn and knit across
- Continue in stockingette stitch for a total of 6 rows
-Then push stitches to other end of needle and knit in i-cord fasion as before for 6 rows
-Make two of these

Body- Place the flat parts of the legs next to each other, this will be the belly
-Pick up stitches all along the belly, using one dpn for each side. I was able to pick up 3 in the "front", 6 along each side, and 5 in the back. Any differences will just give your dino its own special personality.
-Knit in the round for 5 rows
- transfer a stitch from each side needle on to the front needle (the one that had 3 stitches)
-Knit across side needle, knit last two stitches together on that needle
-Knit two together, knit 1, knit two together on back needle
-knit two togehter, knit across on other side needle
-Turn and purl across all three needles, but NOT the front
-Turn and knit across side needle, knitting last two stitches together
-slip first stitch on back needle, knit two together, pass sliped stitch over (one stitch left on back)
-Knit two together on other side needle, knit across it
-Turn and purl ( front needle is still left out)
- bind off side and back needles....either by 3 needle bind-off:
=place the two side needles together, with an extra needle (you can use the back one by placing a stitch marker through that last stitch) knit into the first stitches on BOTH needles. Do this again, then pass the first stitch on your right needle over the second. Continue this across, finally knitting and binding off that last stitch that was on the back needle.
-alternatively, you could use any bind off method and then sew up the center


Neck and Head
-Cut yarn
- Knit into five stitches on front needle
-knit as an i-cord (see legs) or on 3 needles in the round
-when neck is sufficiently long, knit in the back and front of every stitch, doubling the number, this will require 3 needles.
- knit around
-Increase stitches to form the "nose" Knit in front and back of stitches closest to the front of the animal.
-Knit around
-Knit two together all around
- knit two together all around
- Cut yarn, and thread end on to a yarn needle, string through all live stitches, drawing the head together.

Finishing:
weave in ends, stuff with poly-fil through the slit left in the belly, sew up belly.
You can also stuff the legs, but I just stuck a marble in each leg so he could stand up.

Que voy a ser, je ne sais pas

I took an undeserved break from thesis research/ stressing out to make this little guy. He's somewhat inspired by the girls over at Bach's Bulletins. Holly's commenting on my blog got me to reading theirs and thinking about what I was like in High School. I was really into drawing funny little creatures, especially winged things. So I thought I would try to knit a dragon. Sadly, he has no wings so right how he's a DINOSAUR!

Sorry, I have a tendency to scream the word dinosaur, which by the way is also the name of our band in Rockband 2. Yes, speaking of undeserved breaks, my boyfriend bought me Rockband 2 yesterday as an early (over a month!) birthday present. It is so much fun, and I am ridiculously excited that there are songs from Bikini Kill, The Silversun Pickups, and Talking Heads.



Is this picture a little too obscene?


The title is from a Manu Chau song that is stuck in my head (Me Gustas Tu)...I can really relate to the combination of spanish and french because I'm always mixing them up myself.