“Neutralizer” iPad Cozy

First things first….in addition to my addiction obsession love of making hats (especially little ones), I also have a thing for cozies. You see, I LOVE gadgets and I love to be able to take them places with me, but just shoving my e-reader in my purse isn’t much of an option unless I want to scratch the screen to bits. Not to mention, there is just something about using laptop case that I made that makes me happy.

So when I saw that one of our Nerd Wars Challenges this month was to make something inspired by a gadget I knew I needed to make a cozy for my new iPad.

I didn’t have an actual pattern for this one. Instead, I chose to use a stitch pattern from a book I recently bought – Knitting Stitches Visual Encyclopedia by Sharon Turner – and figure out the cozy from there. I swatched up a sample, measured everything out, and started knitting from there. I decided to do it in the round since I didn’t want seams running up the sides and to avoid a seam at the bottom, I used a provisional cast-on so that I could go back and have live stitches to close up. When I got to length I needed, I bound off about half the stitches and knitted the flap flat with a buttonhole near the end (thanks to knittinghelp.com for showing me how to make a buttonhole). I unzipped the provisional cast on and used the kitchener stitch to close up the other end. I had to block the flap so that it laid right when the iPad was put in the cozy. And finally, I added a button.

Here’s the result:

The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Worsted in Blackberry. I chose it because it’s a soft cotton blend and since the cozy is not lined, the yarn will be rubbing on the iPad itself and I didn’t want to risk any kind of fine scratching or anything weird like that.

As for the color, the Blackberry is a deep purple which I picked because of it’s similarity to the purple goo neutralizer in Warehouse 13. Since I am on Team Paranormal Investigations (Team PI, for short), I pull my Nerd Wars inspirations from TV shows & movies that are based on researching supernatural things. And one of my favorite shows of that genre is Warehouse 13. The purple goo (or neutralizer) keeps the items they hunt down in the show from getting out of hand. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you should probably check out the show…it’s awesome & you can stream it from Netflix.)

On the whole, I’m quite happy with result. Although I think for the next iPad cozy I make, I’ll choose a yarn that isn’t quite so soft & stretchy and put in a liner instead.

Porifera socks

I made more socks!

And these ones are pretty.

When I looked at the pattern for these socks, I was a bit intimidated. There were A LOT of pages and a lot of instructions. But after taking a few minutes to breathe and read through everything, it wasn’t so scary after all. In fact, I finally understood how to do a provisional cast on with a crochet hook. (A skill which, up to this point, has eluded me.)

As for the yarn – I used Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Blue Yonder. Soft, not too fuzzy, easy to work with. It’s a washable wool, so I’m pretty keen on that. I’ve actually worn the socks already & they’re super comfy.

I will be submitting these socks for one of my Nerd Wars challenges, but I’m not sure how I’m tying it in yet.

3rd time’s the charm – my February Nerd Wars plan

February is Round 1 of Tournament 4 of Nerd Wars…my 3rd NW Tournament. I’m like, a real veteran now.

Since it’s a short month & there are actually things I want to knit, here’s what I’m planning for the month:

Porifera Socks

These will apply to the Scientific Challenge which is to create a single something or an item out of all one “thing” – such as one ball of yarn. And that’s what I’m doing…making a pair of socks out of a single ball of yarn. I have no idea how I’m going to tie these to the team yet.

The pattern is quite pretty and is working up quickly so far.

iPad cozy

This I am making from scratch without a pattern for the Nerd Culture Challenge (make an item inspired by technology). The yarn is a very nice dark purple. I am going to tie it back to Warehouse 13. I figure I can make a nice little story about neutralizer (purple goo) infused yarn keeping Steve Jobs’ original iPad from going all “artifacty.” (In reality, I need a cozy for my fancy new iPad that the Hubs got me for Christmas.)

If I wind up having time I’ll try to do a third project, but at this point I’m only planning on two. I figure I’d rather aim a little lower this time and not have to be sad when real life intrudes on my knitting time.

Back for more nerd fun

NERD WARS!!

I didn’t even try to convince myself to not play this tournament. I knew I’d get sucked back in.

I did, however, change teams. (I’m hoping this one will be my long term home though.) This time around I’m part of Team Paranormal Investigations…Team PI for short. We focus on shows and movies that center around investigating the unexplained and unusual. The shows that drew me in are Warehouse 13 and Eureka, with a side helping of Twin Peaks.

My "Ravatar" for the Tournament

Since this is my third tournament, I’ve decided to take a different (and hopefully more realistic) approach. First, I’m not even going to attempt a dissertation. It took me 4 months to finish the last one and I didn’t make the end of tourny deadline. Second, I’m going to determine a few projects to work on each month of the tournament and plan to work on those only. I know the basic gist of my inspirations and I’m sure I won’t have a problem fitting them into specific challenges. Third, I’m going to make pieces that I can use or gift…I’m going to avoid making items simply for the sake of completing a challenge.

As for my blogging approach – I’m thinking that I’ll do a beginning of the month “plan summary” and and end of the month “round up.” If I’m particularly enjoying (or loathing) a particular project I might do a separate post about it. What I won’t do is only write about Nerd Wars stuff since it has to be less than interesting for anyone not as geeky as me.

And now I’m off to swatch and watch some Warehouse 13.

A shawl complete

It’s done, it’s done, it’s done!!

(Well, with the exception of blocking…but the knitting is done!)

It took me 4 months, but I finally managed to finish my Twiddlebug Shawl. It’s 70 inches long and 16 inches wide at the moment – after blocking it should be closer to 75″x20″. Each pattern repeat has 10 rows and I did 46 of those. Every repeat took me about an hour to complete and there was a single crochet border (and I don’t really know how to crochet, so that was fun). I figure it took me about 60 hours in total to complete this shawl between getting used to the pattern early on, fixing problems, and taking 8 hours just to do the border because of my lack of crocheting skills.

The last step in this project before it can be gifted is blocking. I’m not really sure how I’ll accomplish this yet since I don’t have a place where a 75×20 inch shawl can lay flat pinned to a board undisturbed until it dries. Once I figure it out, I’ll take some pics and let you know how I did it.

I have achieved a sock!

I did it! I made a sock! My very first one. And, considering that the pattern was part of a tutorial and had none of the finer points about sizing to a specific foot, it doesn’t fit too badly.

Until last week, I’d never really felt confident enough in my knitting skills to attempt making socks. Now after completing Silver’s Sock Class, I feel like kicking myself for not having tried earlier. As I was walking through the steps I found myself wondering when it was going to get complicated, but it never did.

And about that tutorial…

As I said, I used Silver’s Sock Class. The steps were INSANELY simple and easy to follow. Photos are included to demonstrate each technique along the way. A novice knitter who has never knit in the round on double-pointed needles (DPNs) should feel very comfortable using this tutorial to learn how to make a sock. (Interestingly enough, there were times that I needed to go back and review the instructions several times before realizing it was telling me to do something I’ve done a thousand times before – for example the author doesn’t use shorthand for stitches in the tutorial so a ssk (slip-slip-knit) was written in longform and I didn’t know what she meant at first.)

Seriously, I would recommend this tutorial to any knitter wanting to learn how to make socks – or even one who needs a photo tutorial on how to knit in the round with DPNs, as the first section of the tutorial tackles this topic completely.

As for me, I am now going to go back and use the tutorial again to make a second sock. With any luck I’ll be able to get the stripes of the self-striping yarn I foolishly chose to use for my first socks to come close to lining up.

Trying something new

I want to learn how to make something new. Yes I started on making a couple shawls in the last few months, but they don’t feel like new things to me…more like really big scarves (which is, I guess, what they kind of are).

I’m thinking socks. Ultimately, I’m planning on making these – Porifera Socks:

image from miriamfelton.com

But I’m going to start with a tutorial called Silver’s Sock Class.

I’m a little scared actually. I’m casting on today & I’ll let you know how it goes.

Getting organized

I think I’ve hit that post holiday/post Nerd Wars tournament knitting funk. In lieu of knitting, I’ve been putting some kind order to the madness that is my pile of printed knitting patterns.

Since about 2007, I’ve managed to accumulate a fairly large pile of knitting patterns that I’ve printed out (most of which I’ve used). They’ve been moved from place to place, all over the house and they drive my husband crazy. Naturally they don’t stay in just one pile and I use several at a time so they kind of get everywhere. So I need to corral these suckers somewhere.

I’ve decided to go, perhaps surprisingly, low tech on this. I got myself a 2 inch wide 3-ring binder, dividers, and a giant stack of sheet protector sleeves.

It didn’t take long to get them all in order. First I put each pattern into a sleeve and then grouped them into categories. Then they went right into the binder.

I didn’t count them, but one pack of sheet protectors has 50 in it and I used 1 and a little of a second. Plus I got rid of a bunch of duplicates and unnecessary pages.

So simple, I don’t know what kept me from doing this earlier.

Oh Twiddlebugs!

In previous posts I’ve mentioned a “dissertation” for Nerd Wars and that probably needs a little more explanation.

The way a Nerd Wars tournament works is that the are 3 rounds per tournament each of which lasts on month. You can participate in up to 6 challenges per round. In addition to this, you have the option to complete a self-selected challenge which is expected to take the entirety of the tournament. This is called a dissertation.

I decided to attempt a dissertation in this tournament and I chose the Hiya Hiya Gardenia Shawl. Because it has a leafy/flowery type of pattern to it, I tied it to my “nerdery” (Jim Henson) by calling it a Twiddlebug Shawl.

It’s a fairly simple semi-lace pattern with cables running the length the shawl. I chose a really pretty alpaca yarn, Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Strawberry, that I bought for myself as a birthday present. (It was a great deal too. I got it for half price at a store-closing sale.)

My original plan was to have the shawl completed in time for Christmas in order to give it to my grandmother as a gift, but life got in the way and I missed that goal. It looks like I’m going to miss my official Nerd Wars completion date goal of December 31st as well.

I’ve never knitted a shawl before. Scarves yes, but shawls not so much. I usually stick to smaller items because I have knitting ADD and move from project to project so I don’t get bored.

So I haven’t decided if I’m just going to give my grandmom the shawl as a just because/super late Christmas present or if I will hold on to it for a future gifting opportunity.

Either way, at this point I’m determined to get it done as soon as possible…partially because I’m tired of working on it and partially because I feel like I’ve come so far that I have to see it through.

I have 22 inches and a border left to go. Here’s where I am now:

Just another end of the month push

I missed my goal of finishing my Twiddlebug Shawl before Christmas, but it’s a Nerd Wars dissertation (read: big project that takes an entire tournament to complete) and it’s due by the end of this month.

I have 15 more inches and a border to complete. I’ll still have to block, but I can do that part after I submit the project since it’s the actual knitting that must be complete in order for the project to count. I am working really hard over the next 2 days to try and get it done since I won’t have much time later in the week. And I really do want to get this done, otherwise I will feel as though I’ve completely let the team down…I haven’t done any challenges this month.

Ah well, must step away from the computer and get back to knitting. Later in the week I’ll tell you about the Twiddlebug Shawl itself and the new knitting apps I got for my fancy-schmancy new ipad.