Unbalanced Crafter 3KCBWDay7

Crafting Balance Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both?... If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?

I am both a knitter and a crocheter. I mean, check out the title of my blog ^^ up there "Needles, Hooks and Books, Oh My!" I don't mean to be snarky, honestly. If I were to look at my blog based solely on the labels that I put on my posts, I would say I am a crocheter.

So, I am both a balanced crafter and an unbalanced crafter. I learned to crochet when I was in middle school, and didn't honestly know the difference between knitting and crocheting. (*Gasp*, I know.) My godmother sat me down and taught me how to crochet. I think she thinks it is easier. Not really sure how we picked. I vaguely remember having the discussion about the two crafts, but I don't remember why she sat me down with a hook instead of needles.

Several years after my first crocheted Harry Potter scarf, I learned how to knit. (It was in high school, I remember that part.) One of my friends told me I was doing it wrong, probably because I knit like I crochet, I think.

Fast forward to now, and you can see a vast majority of crochet projects, both in progress and completed:

• MSU ripple 
• a new scarf
• Eva shawl
• dishcloths
• amigurumi
• afghan blocks
• slippers
• HP scarves

And a fair number of knitted projects in progress or completed:

• cabled vest
• Citron
• ribbed vest
• several cowls
• Soaring Shawlette

Overall, I'd say that I don't quite have balance in my crafting. For me, crochet will get the job done faster, and with my studies and my work, faster is usually better. I love all the things I have knit, and I know that there are some knitted characteristics that cannot be reproduced in crochet. Anything cabled is definitely knit. But I love how crocheted lace looks, and overall, crochet was my first craft, and makes a lot more sense to me, at least when it comes to developing stitches, etc.

Oh dear, I hope I haven't rambled too much for all of you. If you want to check out more about crafting balance, google 3KCBWDAY7

Improving my Skillset 3KCBWDAY6

Improving Your SkillsetHow far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how's your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you'd like to have tried them by.

I'm going to be honest, I don't often think about what sorts of improvement I would like to make in my yarn crafts. I'd call myself an intermediate crocheter and somewhere between easy and intermediate for my knitting. I haven't reached the sweater milestone yet in either of my crafts, but plan on doing so in the near future.

In knitting, I don't honestly see myself moving beyond intermediate, not for lack of interest, but more because knitting is my second craft. I want to see how far I can go with crochet first. And, being honest (and reading my tags for my blog) I crochet a lot more, and enjoy a lot more. I know there are some things that are easier to make when knitting, but the same goes for crocheting.

Crocheting in the round makes sense to me; I love it. And because I love it, I'm not really keen on learning to knit small circular items. I can make amigurumi, mittens, slipper socks, etc, with crochet.

So now that I've ranted a bit about how I feel, I'll try to actually create a list for today's theme...

If I were to set goals for improving my crafts, here's my list:

• Barbara @ Made in K-town's Beyond the Square motif challenge: to make 100+ designs from Edie Eckman's book. I've already made a few, but I'd like to try more to help me branch out.
• Knitted socks. I will admit, those are hard to replicate in crochet. I will probably only ever make one pair, but I do want to say that I've tried it. 
• Writing patterns- both written and charted- at least one in both crafts. 
• I will make a sweater, or at least 2 sweaters- one knitted and one crocheted. 

I feel like my list could be longer-- maybe I'll look at this prompt next year and consider myself absolutely crazy for my goals. We'll see!

I would love to hear about everyone else's ideas for improving! google 3KCBWDAY6 to see more from KCBW!

Something a Bit Different 3KCBWDAY5

The topic for Day 5 of KCBW is Something Different:

It's back, and this time it has the most amazing of prizes (look for the prize for "most creative post"). This was a massive success last year, and for many it was the highlight of the Blog Week, so this year you are challenged, again, to find a new way of blogging. This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create. There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog.

On Wednesday I talked bit about something I was designing. To try something a bit different, I will simply show you the progression of my design through pictures.

And that is how I went from concept to FO in the span of several days!

Seasons of Love-- 3KCBWDAY4

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons? As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

Day 4 of the 3rd Annual Knitting and Crocheting Blog Week is about seasons.

I love seasons. All seasons. I feel that each one has their place, and I love something different about each one. I live in the Midwest United States, and lately we've been having some weird weather, but usually I can tell which season I'm in.

Upon reflection, due mainly to this topic, I discovered that I do knit and crochet in seasonal cycles. Right now I am transitioning into summer knits and lighter projects. It is not really the time to make blankets or anything heavy. I'll work on small things like dishcloths and amigurumi for a few months, and around late summer, I start moving into fall crafting season. During the fall, I participate in craft shows with my aunt, and I make a lot of scarves, shawls and hats in anticipation of the winter months. So, when August rolls around, I check my stock, and start whipping up scarves and hats, along with a few shawls. That's mainly what I work on for the majority of the fall and winter months, sprinkling in some Christmas gifts and a few blankets if I'm not too busy.


I'll admit that I don't always stick to this general pattern all the time, because it is a *general* pattern of my crafting habits.

And in preparing this post, I realize that I don't take FO pictures outside as much as I wish I did. Showing you through pictures would be a million times better then simply telling you... Oh well.

To check out more posts about seasonal crafting and the like, google the tag 3KCBWDAY4

WIPW: Am I really Designing?

Today I'm linking up with Tami's WIP Wednesday and Ginny's Yarn-Along.

Here is one of my project bags:



Hiding in the back is the MSU ripple that I have been working on-- finally on my second skein of green, so yarn-wise halfway.... But it's looking like I'll be buying at least one or 2 more skeins before this is over. (It's Caron Simply Soft, BTW, totally amazing feeling, especially for an acrylic.)

On top of that is one of my up-cycling projects. I've been trying to clear out some of my recycled yarn so I can get some new stuff in the fall, and this is a product of that. It's either a narrow shawl or a wider scarf, and while I know you can't see the design well, it was something I created myself. See, I've been getting involved with several different groups on Ravelry- the two that are encouraging me the most in the design sense are Crochet Shoulder Wrappers and the 2012 Block-a-Month CAL. I credit the CSW group because they are always looking for new and different patterns, and I'm usually just looking for something that can double as a scarf. And the BAMCAL gets credit for expanding my knowledge of crochet stitches and how they can change the look of an afghan block.

And I'm not reading anything new this week, though since I just finished my winter semester, and the short spring semester doesn't start for a few weeks, I will aim to be on a new book for next week's yarn- along!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Heroes Come in all shape and sizes

Today's Knitting and Crochet Blog Week topic prompt is heroes:

Your Knitting Or Crochet HeroBlog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

Heroes are an interesting thing for me, as I have my own personal hero, which is totally unrelated to my crafting hero. My boyfriend is in the military, and just returned from a deployment, and I always call him my hero, because I know I would never be able to do what he did. It just amazes me, the number of men and women who are willing to do that for us, and yet they so often go under-appreciated.

But to get back to topic, my crafting/fibre arts hero may have to be Danielle of A Stash Addict.  She is one of the first bloggers I started following when I got involved in the online crafting community, and her yarns have always inspired me. (Since I'm on a yarn diet, I haven't purchased any of her yarn yet, but I am dying to try some of it out.) Her sense of color is amazing, and there is not an ugly color in her stock.

If you want to see more about other people's Heroes, google search the tag 3KCBWDAY3

The Prince in the Great Outdoors or I accept the Challenge

3KCBWDAY2: Photography Challenge

 So, the little prince had an adventure in the big wide world today.
He's hiding in the grass, hoping that maybe a little birdie with come to play with him.