Bauhaus Inspired

I forgot to post my latest project in progress. This is my third woven piece. Nothing comes out quite like I had planned, yet. The design was inspired be photos of weavings done at the Bauhaus School. After that idea, nothing else worked as I had intended.
I bought the yarn on impulse. Foolish me. My son, Andrew is home form college for the summer. In theory, he is painting for his portfolio in the basement. This requires an outlay of money on my part for supplies of paint, canvas, and sundries. Andrew and I dutifully head out to shop. He goes to get canvas and I head for the yarn, thinking that I'll just take a look..... Add another $90.00 to the bill. I got yarn in beautiful teals and purples and grey and green. Very soft. I got a lot because I wanted to make a 20" wide long stole. I took a glance at the label and saw the word "wool" and did not read carefully. Besides, that, I was pressed for time.
Comes the time to weave...and "Oh noes"! The yarn was only 25% wool, mostly acrylic. I took a second look at the brand name and.....I should have known that this was a company that produced acrylic yarns. I took another look at the yarn- it is a cabled yarn. Oops. Anyway, I just kept making mistake after mistake and learned lesson after lesson. The final woven piece is about 20" by 45", so it is a reasonable size, but definitely not a stole. The cabled yarn looks OK, but the texture of the weave is different from what I had expected. This fabric has a loose, rather unstable weave. It's nice and soft, but it won't felt and I'd be a fool to cut it. I've been folding the fabric various ways (to hide mistakes) and I will eventually sew it up and line it to make a bag. I need a new knitting bag, anyway. The one that I have been using is getting worn. The current bag is a knitted project from August 2008, knit during the Olympics. It's seen daily use for three years. I can retire it.
In other news, I have not been working on much, lately. We are in the midst of a kitchen renovation and the entire house is unsettled and in an uproar. At the moment, we have had not kitchen for two weeks. Everything is packed up and distributed in the basement, in the dining room/staging area and in the living room. Chaos.

Sorta Like a Tartan

Second weaving project. It's wearable for the most part. It's not a tartan, but gives the same feeling.
I am very much playing with color and color interactions right now. I am also not getting anything accomplished. I just took an entire week off from knitting and weaving and....just sorta spaced out.
Maybe I'll blame it on the kitchen. We are about to have the kitchen renovated. The past couple weeks have been consumed with planning and driving that process. If I don't pay attention, balls get dropped.
The renovation is required now. The house needed work from the moment we got it. At this point, the kitchen resembles the set of the old sitcom Green Acres. For real. We just need to get it over, done.
Back to the important details.... The scarf is knit with sock yarn. I used KnitPicks Palette for the warp and a skein of Chroma for the weft. The Chroma has long color changes and that makes the scarf interesting. The tartan effect comes from the few strands of light blue that I added, just to break the monotony. This is still very much a beginner's project. I am really more interested in the color effects than the fabric structure. For know. I have a real problem with some of the weaving books I have seen. The Seventies called and they want their crafts back. I simply won't make something that says 1970's macrame, avocado green, and burnt orange. I am looking for something very different. I'll have to make it myself.

Knit Godzilla

This project is evolving. Originally, it started out as a dream that incorporated the Areceibo Message and......I forget. It has been through variations that may incorporate a quote from MLK, my head (knit in), Kente patterns, Asante motifs, circuit boards, Star Wars, etc. etc. etc.

I opened the topic for discussion on Facebook and never looked back. My friends made suggestions that I add Godzilla, the Bat Signal, Superman.....what have you.

Godzilla has actually been knit in, after much angst. I've spent a lot of time pixellating various still shots and images from the movies. The next step was to choose those images that could be knit in at the correct resolution/size for the scale of the scarf. I finally chose a photo that showed Godzilla approaching through a fog. It was the best choice in terms of size. I had to sacrifice some details, but this is a scarf, not a blanket. I am already knitting this at twice the "resolution" of a typical scarf. Overall, I'm knitting quadruple the stitch count of a typical pattern.

The next step, in progress, is to show a building under attack. After that, I may do a section of elevated trains. After that, it's back to the city.

Ok for Cats

New hobby- weaving. As I was "yarn shopping" on Ravelry, I saw a project that had been woven using the yarn I had just purchased. It turns out that self striping and variegated yarns look fabulous when woven. Color banding that does not work so well for knitting can weaves up into interesting stripes and plaid patterns.
I just got a 20" Ashford Knitters Loom, (rigid heddle). I like this as an alternative to knitting. Weaving can be faster for some projects.
Admittedly, I have always been fascinated by weaving. This is the first time I've been able to afford even a beginner level loom.
I have a lot to learn. I spent the weekend with the basics. This initial project measures 13" x 29" just off the loom. It has been fulled and is drying now. The first few inches have lots of mistakes, floats, etc. The cats won't mind. The yarn used was 2 skeins of Patons Soy Wool Stripes. It's a yarn that felts and pills and is too scratchy to go next to the skin. It makes good bags. I carry a bag knit from SWS all the time. I've never used up yarn so quickly. I look forward to doing some color studies.

Circuit Portrait City Skyline

Don't even try to make sense of the title. It is pure stream-of-consciousness. This project is a combination of several ideas that have been in my brain for the past year or two or three. That means I had piles of paper all over the house. Here are the projects.

1. PCB/Circuit Board- I have wanted to knit some version of this for about three years. My first prototype ended with me impaling my hand on a size 000 steel needle. I have a lot of pixellated circuit motifs sitting around. I have yet to decide which style I will use. It is most likely to be a squared off version that is suitable for knitting.

2. Self portrait- Total accident. I found a profile of a female face with circuits for hair. Ping. I also dug up some yarn that is close to my skin tone.

3. Skyline- Another long term plan. I've been looking to do a knitted skyline for a long time, but never found the right chart. Lately I have been reading about Bauhaus Art and Art Moderne/Art Deco. Ping. I have a number f pixellated buildings that I will use for a custom skyline.

4. I found a graphic purporting to be an outline of the Pittsburgh skyline. I'd like to use it, but it may not be right for this project.

5. I have Glow-in-the-Dark yarn. I MUST use this. It would be perfect for the windows.

6. The Areceibo Message will be knit into the scarf. I dreamed this, so it has to happen.

These projects are being conjoined so that they appear back-to-back in the same scarf/stole. Purely practical matter of hiding loose ends.

Finally, This is being knit on size 3 needles in fingering yarn. It's going to take a long time or it with drive me nuts....probably both. This will also consume a nice chunk of stash yarn in dark colors, blues and black and white/glow. I may use a multicolored yarn for the circuit portion. This project will evolve.

Qulited Lattice Mitts

These mitts were also made for the gift stash. The pattern is Quilted Lattice Mitts. They were a pretty easy knit, albeit a pain in the thumb gusset. For that reason, I might not make another pair anytime soon. Interestingly, they are made with the same number of stitches, on the same needles as the Jacoby Mitts. These were knit in stockinette stitch, while the Jacobies were knit in ribbing. For me, at least, the Jacoby mitts were snug and a much better fit. I have small hands. This version may be fine for most larger hands.
They were made with KnitPicks, Palette in Black with Fushia trim, on size 3 needles.

Blue Jacoby

This time I am pleased. This pattern is a keeper. The pattern is called Jacoby. It is easy and perfectly suited to self patterning yarns. These went in the gift stash. I shall absolutely may a few more iterations of this pattern. At least one set will be for myself. Of course, I found this pattern in the Spring, after suffering through another Winter in a drafty office and house.
Note: I have no idea way the Barbara G. Walker book is sitting there. Wait...I was looking up slip stitch patterns for....I forget..........