Stix on the Beach: Tales From The Happiest Hooker!

Winter Where?

For a couple of days at the beginning of November it was over one-hundred degrees here in Southern California.

So of course that got me thinking about knitting scarves and hats and gloves.

I wanted to get back to knitting  — specifically something new but simple. That's when I decided on making a mudflap — er — an earflap hat.

Most of the patterns I came across were mammoth in size!  I wanted one that was dainty and didn't appear to devour my head. Eventually I found one that worked with the worsted weight yarn I wanted to use (after three and a half years on Ravelry, I'm finally raving about it).

Making this has totally rekindled my love for knitting! I even caught myself daydreaming about wandering the yarn aisles again. It reminds me of the  intensity as when I first started knitting almost exactly seven years ago.

Once the hat is complete with flaps, braids, pom-pon and a catchy name — I will put up the my version and revisions of the pattern on my Ravelry page  under Projects (trust me, take the two minutes to register, it's worth it in the long run).

If you absolutely need to get started on one for yourself, the basic pattern for only the hat part can be found here on the Lion Brand Yarn site. Again, worth the painless registration for a plethora of free patterns. 

And for an invisible seam line, follow the directions on the pattern using the mattress stitch.

Also, I used Simply Soft Caron Yarn (10-ply worsted weight) and U.S. needle size 9 and 10 instead of recommended size 7 and 8 to get correct gauge.

Ahem - didn't I just write I am going to add this info to my Ravelry page?

Anyways, if I don't look like an idiot wearing this when it's all done, I'll probably become addicted to making 'em 'cos it knits up super fast! Then I will have dozens to choose from when we have those two weeks of cold enough weather to wear 'em.

Knit, Knit, Hookah, Purl, Purl

Clutch my purls! Have you seen all the yarn porn on True Blood?

Vampire Eric Northman tries to glamor Lafayette into giving him his granny blanket.

When I'm not waiting anxiously for Eric Northman and Sookie Stackhouse to make passionate, primal love, I'm scoping out the arsenal of crochet afghans in Lafayette's adobe. I like to believe Lala, in keeping with his true hookah-nature, made 'em all himself.

A pattern inspired by the basic granny-square afghan featured prominently in episode "Shake and Fingerpop" can be found here on Ravelry. If you're not one of the one million members on Ravelry, the PDF file is also available here on the sidebar.

Clouded Vision

Downtown Anaheim/Anaheim City Hall ~ Anaheim, California ~ October 30th, 2010

My artistic forecast has been at near zero-visibility the past few months. The majority of my creative endeavors have suffered because of a self-made freeze.
And it totally sucks.

I have an elaborate work-in-progress accessory and artwork collection that I'm really excited about, but some time 'round September I fell into a funk and I haven't been able to bounce back.

Now I need to make a conscious effort to get back in my element. Since I'm a visually motivated person, I've been cleaning and reorganizing the BellaKarma Studio (a.k.a. "the right-side of the master bedroom with the view") to reflect the change of course I'm taking creative-wise. I hope this helps with putting me back in the right frame of mind.

Another benefit of tearing apart my studio is that I'm going to have several blog-giveaways of the crafty-delight kind! So be sure to keep an eye out here on how to win those!