Technical Difficulties

Pretty Kitty

So I had a post all ready to go on my latest FO (not one, but two!).  Go figure, the darn thing didn't publish correctly! Ugh!  There was something funky going on with the font ( could it be 'cuz I used cut-and-paste?  Never happened before and I've been with Blogger for almost 3  years).  For the life of me, I couldn't figure it out and it doesn't help that I know nothin' 'bout HTML. 


So whilst I re-do EVERYTHING on my post (arrrrgh and double arrrgh!), you can look at some nice kitty photos.

Cozy Amongst the Jackets and Slippers

I must confess that I'm turning into a bit of a cat person (Eeeek! I'm becoming something I never thought I'd never be).  I'm totally fascinated by my cat Patches.  She's so darn cute--if I do say so myself.  


And she's becoming quite the mouser.  A few nights ago, she came up to me growling (I swear she sounded like a dog).  She had something in her mouth.  I thought it was a toy.  I followed her into the bathroom and realized it was a mouse!  I tried to remove it from her mouth, but the mouse was still alive!  I quickly stepped on it to keep it from escaping and then . . . flush, flush (That can't be good for the toilet, right?  And yes, I was holding a live mouse in my hand).  What's a mouse-fearing person to do?  And why didn't my cat kill the mouse?  How many other mice escaped her clutches?  Time for some old-fashioned mouse traps.


Hope your weekend is free from any technical difficulties (and any mice too).

We Has . . .

Keyboard courtesy of pixelperfectdigital.com

Internet!! Yup, back online at long last (although I must confess that I've done well to publish a post at least once a week).  It's been nearly a month since I've been offline . . . too long for my taste.  I can live without TV, but I needs me interwebs.  

Screenshot courtesy of pixelperfectdigital.com

I use the web to search (so who played that guy in that movie with that chick?), keep in touch with family and friends, read blogs, ravel (of course!) and blog.  Oh, and I suffer from a slight--only slight--addiction to Restaurant City (I swear I can stop anytime if I have to.  Honest!).


Its good to be back  ;)

2010 Retrospective: A Crafter's Year in Review

Before moving forward, I thought it would be nice to look back at 2010.  Sometimes its hard to recall all the projects--it doesn't seem like much--but I've accomplished quite a lot the past year.  

2010 Knitting and Crochet Projects

Some of the items might not look familiar: half of the above projects I blogged about here at Stitchery and Such, while others were projects I made for Blog Bernat.  If you check out my project page over at Ravelry, you can find all the details, including links to the relevant blog posts found here and at Bernat (where I blog under the moniker DinaPurls).

I created some lovely items (both large and small), learned new techniques (fair isle and intarsia anyone?) and rekindled an interest in crochet.  Not bad for a gal who still feels like a beginner--well, maybe an intermediate beginner (can a person be an advanced beginner?). 

There is so much more to learn and make: projects to finish (yeah, I'm talking to you, crochet afghan from Bernat's CAL), new techniques to master (dear cables, I hear your call) and new challenges (perhaps some designing?).  I'm ready to welcome 2011 with sticks, hooks and lots o' string. ;)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year dear readers and fellow crafters!

Bubbly Spirits

First off, I don't think I can thank you enough for visiting and reading.  And I especially appreciate all your lovely comments.  My first meager posts in cyberspace felt like a monologue exercise (not that I mind talking to myself, but the give-and-take of conversation is so much nicer).  Over the past year, the blog has grown, resulting in new friends--both cyber- and real-life.  

So as I raise a glass of sparkling bubbly, I want to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and crafty 2011.  Cheers!

Blog-jack In Progress

Don't adjust your screen!  It's just us, the Toads. :D

This is Toad and my brother Toad.  While that chicky Acrylic-girl is putting lights on her house, we've hijacked her laptop.  Aren't we scamps?  Actually we're really two fun guys--get it?  Fungi!! We're hilarious!

We wanted to share our knitting adventures.  One of us was feelin' chilly, so we decided to try this knitting thing.  If that chicky can do it, why can't we?  How hard could it be?

And like good brothers, we helped each other out.  Those needles are kinda big. 

But then something went horribly wrong.  Not sure exactly what happened . . . Guess knitting isn't as easy as it looks :(

That's not right, brother!  What did you do?  What's happening?!

Watch out!  Those sticks are awfully pointy and sharp.  Somebody could get hurt.

Oh noooooooo!  This hurts!!!!

Good thing we have a nice boy who loves us very much.  He patched us up and made one of us a lovely hat to keep our melons warm. 

That's not a hat, brother.  It's a mushroom cap--get it?  Haha!  We're hilarious!

Wordsmith Am I?

Feelin' the Purple Power?

Well, perhaps not quite.  Still, the whole "blogging thang" makes writing feel comfortable.  While I had always enjoyed writing, I wasn't sure about my once-a-week posting schedule ('cuz I'm such a slow crafter).  Then the Bernat gig came along.  How could I pass up such an opportunity?  Bottomline: I'm generating original content for two blogs on a weekly basis.  And never mind all the crafting (two adult-sized sweaters, 2 toys, a child's garment and many smaller projects in 6 months--not counting all the Christmas gifts)!  A record for me!

Positively Purple

So now I'm adding more writing to the mixture (perhaps a little delusional about the amount of free time in my day?).   About 4 years ago, I crafted a strange, mysterious, future world peopled with weird creatures and nasty humans--a lovely blend of sci-fi and fantasy (yes dear, I wrote--or attempted to write--a novel.  I now give you permission to laugh).  Then I hit a snag in the plot.  Shortly thereafter, my creative juices fizzled.

All this time, my story percolated in my brain.  Then recently I started itching to write again (it's the same feeling when I've got the need to knit or crochet).  Suddenly, long-standing plot and character problems had solutions.  So I hauled out my "novel"  . . . well, to make a long story short, I'm writing again.  Not too much.   Amidst all my daily commitments and responsibilities,  I promised myself to write a page a day ('cuz I gots to knit too).   

Let's see where it goes . . .  :)

Not Quite A Pair . . .

Yeah, that second sock is growing--bit by bit.  I only get to work on it at naptime and lunch--so maybe 15-30 min at most--if I'm lucky.  I'll fess up that there have been a few days when I've spent all of 5-10 min and that's it.  So it is amazing that I've accomplished as much as I have.

Second Sock In-Progress

Actually my sock is further ahead than what you see.  I've already picked up stitches for the gusset and am diligently working the decreases.  I'll get 'er done--maybe by end of April?  Hey, it's possible.

My evenings are spent working on another big project for Bernat in the evenings (I like making the big stuff, especially clothing for me).  Actually, I just finished another project that you can check out at Bernat Yarns (I know.  It's a shameless plug **blushes**).

Hope your weekend is full of crafty goodness.  Mine will be.  :)

Almost Forgot . . .

photograph from photonet.com

Just a quick drop-in to share the big project I had been working on for Bernat blog.  It's my bestest and fastest knit to date (I know bestest isn't a real word, but I claim writer's creative license).

Hope there's some sunshine in your week.
Happy crafting :)

Visit DinaPurls at Bernat

Y'all know that I'm blogging over at Bernat's blog as DinaPurls?  Thus far, my ramblings tend to get posted on Mondays, so take a peak over there sometime today to check out the progress of my "secret" projects (sometimes they also appear in my Flickr photo stream).  Say "hello" and maybe leave a comment (feel free to leave a comment here).

When I post here at Stitichery and Such, I don't expect too many visitors.  At Bernat, its a whole new audience--a very large audience.  I wonder how many people read my posts there?  Hmmmm . . .

(photo above courtesy of photography website--which one I cannot recall)

It's Live!

I'm so excited!  My first post for the Bernat Blog has gone live!  If you wanna read about my "secret" projects, go to http://bernatyarns.wordpress.com and you should be able to read the most recent posts (you should be able to find it via my blog links too).  Changed my moniker to DinaPurls, but I'll always be Acrylic-Girl: faster than clicking needles, stronger than nylon and able to leap tall mounds of petroleum based fibre in a single bound.

The challenge now begins: how to produce enough knitting projects and blog content to satisfy not one but TWO blogs!  Surely I've gone mad . . . well, maybe not mad, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.  Maybe I'll become a faster knitter **cough, cough**  Perhaps not.  More likely I'll broaden my knitting horizon by experimenting with new yarns and different projects. 

I am Super Acrylic-Girl!

:D

Note: Photo in post taken from a photography website

Ooopsie Daisy!

Wouldn't you know it?  I missed my 6 month anniversary on Friday.  April 23 marked my very first post on the wonderful world wide web (here it is--short and sweet).  I can't believe its been six months already. 

Thus far I've kept my promise to blog at least once a week and I'm not bored with it yet.  Let's see if I can keep this going for another six months.  Meanwhile, thanks for reading and especially for commenting.  Much appreciated!
:)

Handy-Dandy Notebook

I've lamented of late my lack of knitting. With summer I suspect there may be other knitters who knit less or find other activities that temporarily usurp their knitting time. Unfortunately, this lack of knitting makes writing my blog a little more challenging--it being a knitting blog! And I did promise myself when I started all this a mere four months ago that I would blog at least once a week. So it goes without saying that my handy-dandy notebook has come in very handy.

What is a handy-dandy notebook? Initially I used it to keep track of lesson plans and such for work. Now I use it to jot down notes to myself, explore an idea, or just write something creative. I've also made various lists of topics in case I had nothing knitting related to discuss. Now wasn't that smart (or perhaps slightly neurotic and maybe even anal-retentive)?

One thing I've learned about myself over the years is that I'm a process-writer. I just jot down something--anything! Then I re-write it. Over and over. The secret to good writing is revise, revise, revise . . . it's worked all through my schooling. Why shouldn't it work in real life?

;)

Vampires, Knitting and Blogrolls--Oh My!

Why do I blog? What compels me to write? Hmmm . . .

Initially it was a way for me to write more in-depth about my knitting. Ravelry is an awesome place which affords the knitter a place to document their experience (good or bad) with a particular pattern. But often there was more to the story than just simple modification. I needed another avenue to share my trials and tribulations. Needless to say, I sometimes ramble on about things other than knitting, but that's another story.

I've been online in some form or another since early 2000, mainly on forums and such (initially for new moms, then parenting, then scrapbooking . . .well, you get the picture). Some time during my forays into cyberspace, I discovered blogs. Then I discovered knitting blogs. For the past two years, I have been religiously following umpteen blogs which I check on a weekly basis (my blogroll , unfortunately, does not accurately reflect the depth of my obessession as I've only listed a few and have yet to add the rest--forgive my laziness). I am the classic lurker and generally leave no comments, although I've tried to reform my reticent ways of late.

I love reading about the adventures--and sometimes misadventures--of my fave blog authors. Each week I'd eagerly check in to see how much progress they'd made, to admire the lovely fibre acquisition they'd made or to drool over a new pattern. Most I had found through Knitty whilst seeking out free patterns. Then I'd mine the blogroll of my fave designer. These days, I check out the blogs of fellow ravelers and bookmark the ones I enjoy the most.


Perhaps the most important reason for blogging is my desire to write. Okay, I'll fess up that about 2 years ago I tried my hand at writing a novel. I gave it my best shot, then the "pop and fizzle" faded. Writer's block? Perhaps. Maybe I just lost interest (okay, here's the vampire part: it was about blood drinkers, but more twisted and surreal then anything I've ever come across and not very romantic). Despite putting down the pen, I still yearned to write; I needed an outlet for creative energies. Hence a blog was born.


How long will I continue this pursuit? Will I some day abandon it and let it fade into the twinkling lights of cyberspace . . . perhaps not, at least not for a while. Certainly I never would have guessed that knitting, blogrolls and vampires would have led me, thus far, to this place. To where the road continues, I do not know, but I shall enjoy the journey. Hope you enjoy the journey too! :)