Creating Things with Yarn - A Resource List

Hi everyone!

This is my list of favorite online resources for knitting and one on crocheting, and a bit about why I like them:

1. http://www.knittinghelp.com/: This website is awesome, apart from having a very extensive glossary of knitting terms, they have videos that explain how to do each type of stitch for both Continental and English styles (curious? read their site! I couldn't do as good a job as they do at explaining stuff).
2. http://www.knitty.com/: Online magazine with not-your-grandma-style knitting patterns. They are very fresh but don't go extremely out of the norm, so it's a safe place to explore if you're convinced knitting is for boring people. Be sure to check out their archives and look up Norberta!
3. http://www.crochetme.com: This website has tons and tons of patterns you can crochet. They have things from dainty wristwarmers to a dodo bird to a hat-and-Groucho Marx Glasses-combo. I'm almost done with the Thirds scarf (...it takes a while).
4. http://www.theanticraft.com/: This site will definitely remove the "old lady sitting in a corner, waiting for her life to end and in the meantime force you to wear ugly sweaters" perspective that people have on knitting, sewing and beading. They're a bit snobbish and have a very "more-evil-than-thou" writing style, but if you ignore it they have some interesting stuff; I already have a request for a Cthulhu, let's see if it doesn't kill me first.
5. http://www.domiknitrix.com/: I put the Domiknitrix in more for the book than for the site; she preaches the domination of yarn, so knitters become more confident in their own work. Plus, it's pretty cool to think of yourself as an accomplished Domi.
6. http://www.maggiesrags.com/: This is another one that's more the book than the site. If you EVER get stuck on ANYTHING knitting-related, this book will most probably have the answer. This is one of the less-scary links I have on here.

Alright, now that I've given you all my little secrets, go knit something, will ya?

Threatdown: BEARS!

Here's my proud moment: I made the beige bear kit while traveling out of town, I guess it went quickly because it's pretty small (I'm a notoriously slow knitter - working on that). Here's my finished bear:

Yay bear! So I put it in my living room and had a Rock Band Rock Out night at my place. Some friends came by and one of the guys absolutely loved the bear, so he jokingly asked if I could make him a Goth Bear. I took him up on it:

Note the ear stud, dead eyes, moody hair and scarf, and Anarchy sign on his chest. He came a lot quicker than I expected so now I'm playing around with new bears to make (I'm open to ideas!Post them back as comments if you think of anything, anything!)

P.S. Before Gothy left home to live on his own with his very first (and hopefully only) roommate, he got in trouble with an evil Tyrannosaurus Rex:

I'm guessing he must have been annoyed at the depressive mood and self-cutting threats around the house.

Frilly Hat Mess

Yay! Here's the pic on the messed-up crochet hat I was making. Doesn't it look like a cool hat you would wear to something serious and chic? *snork

Something went horribly wrong with it, and I still can't figure out why. I'll keep researching though; any ideas?

Crochet Scarf Kit

Pink! and Purple! how much more 8-year-old can you get with a crochet kit? It has little beads on the edges and everything! Ok, so I'm definitely not 8, but if you're going to learn something from a book I highly recommend going with easy-to-follow instructions, which I mostly found in the kits I got.

Final result:

Girly!

SF Craft Links

Here's a bunch of knitting links I want to take a look at when I have time, here they are so I don't lose them:

• http://www.stashyarn.com/
• http://noeknit.com/
• http://www.articlepract.com/
• http://www.theknittingbasket.com/
• http://www.greenwichyarn.com/
• http://www.imagiknit.com/
• http://lacis.com/
• http://www.craftgym.com/
• http://knitty.com/ (Look at the Whimsies archive)
• http://www.simplycrafted.com/
  
• http://www.knittersreview.com/ (Online Magazine)
• http://www.knitscene.com/ (Magazine)
  

Update on Crafts

Hey everyone!
Here's my update on what I've been working on this week:

• The hat kit I was crocheting ended up like a frilly yellow and pink coaster, which along with the fact that I ran out of yarn I'm figuring I messed up at some point. I'm looking for principles on how to crochet hats to figure out what went wrong. Status: On Hold Pending Review


• I started the bear and have almost finished making the body. I have very little left to knit, once I finish I'm going to put everything together and add the details. Status: In Progress


• I just started the pom pom scarf (yeah, yeah, laugh at the pom poms). The needles for this one are huge! Fun! Status: In Progress (and barely started)

That's it for now. Since I didn't post anything visually entertaining, here's a pic:

The guy in the middle looks like my dad.

Issues

Ok, so here's the reason the blog is called the way it is. I tend to start projects and I'm all excited and want to get them done because it would be so awesome to do them. I finish one. I get even more excited about the prospect of doing new things so I start with another one, and halfway through that one I start another one. Then I find that there's a third project that would be great to do, so I forget about the first one and start the third. By the time I get to where I am right now, I get frustrated because there's so much other cool stuff I could be doing that I don't finish anything, which makes me even more frustrated.

My reason for this blog is to keep myself in check with projects that I start. So here are my current efforts:
- I'm going to knit a bear for a friend that asked for it, I already got the yarn and have the design in mind, I haven't started it yet.
- Kit: mini-purse and belt made of knitted Granny squares (this is the one I abandoned for the sake of another project)
- Kit: Crochet a mini purse and hat (I'm about to kick this one to the curb because of the next one on the list)
- Kit: Knit a scarf with two different colors and pom poms on the edges.

I did finish a couple of kits, I'll get pictures of those on another post (so I can show myself I can actually finish stuff!).