Steampunk Softies: Scientifically Minded Dolls From A Past That Never Was

I first heard about the Steampunk genre several years ago, and though I can't remember my first introduction to it, I have found the Steampunk aesthetic fascinating. This portrayal of a past-that-never-was conjures up images of worn leather, top hats and monocles, victorian corsets and fans, aged brass buttons, and of course a really cool pair of aviation goggles. There's a certain sense of adventure that goes along with the Steampunk genre: along with its victorian sensibilities, it also depicts a future as H.G. Wells or Jules Verne would have envisioned it. Modern technology like computers are powered by steam, and pirates and explorers rule the skies in their zeppelin-like flying airships.

I suppose it was only natural, therefore, that when I randomly saw "Steampunk Softies: Scientifically Minded Dolls From A Past That Never Was" on Amazon, I just had to go for it. I was immediately intrigued, and also surprised that I had never heard of this book before, considering all the craft blogs I follow (though I suppose it only came out in 2011). This little book is definitely a treasure.

Steampunk Softies features patterns for 8 steampunk characters, each with their own intimidating list of materials. Before you even get started, however, the authors give you tips on cutting out the patterns, gluing, and aging fabrics, and also a reassurance that most of the detail pieces can be found in jewelry or hardware stores.

Each character has a little introduction, complete with their name and back story. One of my favourites is Geronimo Bore, pictured above, a prospector with a drill attached directly to his arm and who just can't resist the "glittery things you find in rocks". Though his drill arm and eye patch look complicated, they're constructed with such simple things as a screw, a button, an O-ring and some embroidery floss.

Another one of my favourites is Charity Storm, the dedicated aviatrix with her own set of wings. As with all the patterns, the list of materials is rather extensive (it takes up the whole left-hand column on the first page), but upon closer inspection, it's mostly stuff that most crafty types would have lying around anyway: a scrap of purple wool, a scrap of metallic lace, a couple of domed metal buttons... In addition, each step is illustrated, and a 360-degree view of each character is given. So despite everything, these softies are not as daunting a task to construct as it first appears.

I have yet to make anything from this book, but I'm definitely excited to (yeah, yeah... grad school). I'd probably start with the doctor Ferris Scapula (pictured on the cover in the top hat) because I think I already have most of the materials for him, but I'd love to make any one of these softies! In all, Steampunk Softies is a lovely little book, and definitely a great source of inspiration.

The Creativ Festival and my incredible desire to become an alpaca farmer...

Because really, who could resist this face!

Photo courtesy the Happy Seamstress.

That's Ozzie, the resident alpaca at the Spinning Wheel Alpacas booth. We are totally best friends forever.

Photo courtesy the Happy Seamstress.

Right, so Ozzie (a.k.a. the best alpaca ever) was one of the features at the Creativ Festival, which I just happened to go to this past Saturday with my friends Joanna and Lisa. I didn't go absolutely nuts on the purchases, which is sometimes a problem when presented with so much crafty awesomeness, but I attribute that mostly to having taken a Steampunk Wire-wrapping Jewelry class with June Beach in which I created this crazy thing:

My favourite part is the dangly steampunk button at the bottom. I must admit, however, that my wallet didn't escape the festival completely unscathed. I splurged on this gorgeous sparkly and super soft baby alpaca yarn:

I also picked up this absolutely gorgeous hand-carved shawl pin:

One booth was selling used crafting books (at least I think they were used) for very reasonable prices. I got Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge for a mere $10.

I got a bunch of buttons and beads, some of which were free, and the rest of which were pretty cheap:

The best find of the day was this tin of buttons I got for $5 filled with these really cool vintage-style buttons, none of which I disliked (and you all know how rare that is when you have a random assortment of anything).

I really love those cameo ones...

And now I'm all inspired to make stuff! If only I didn't have that pesky PhD to worry about... sigh.

Fun things from the INTERNET!

I love cake, and I love crafts, and when the two come together in a perfect sugary package, well, I just can't resist sharing the awesomeness with the rest of the world. If someone gave me this cake for my birthday, I think I'd probably fall in love with them instantly:

This one would be ok too:

To see more, check out Cake Wrecks.

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As for other cool internetty things, one of my favourite all-time crafters, Debbie Stoller has posted some really cool and well-done knitting videos. The first one teaches the absolute beginner how to cast on and start knitting, and the other two talk about lace, one explaining the yarnover and the other how to do decreases.

If you want to get a detailed review, I wrote one over on the Happy Seamstress, and in the meantime, here's a screenshot to whet your appetite (I love that orange background!):

I wrote a tutorial!

That's right, I know stuff that you should know too, and so you should check out my new tutorial at the Happy Seamstress! It's basically just a simple way to pick up dropped stitches without a crochet hook. My mom probably showed me how to do this when I first learned to knit, and it finally seeped into my brain far enough that I felt I had to share it with the world. As a fun preview, here's my attempt at a video (using my new Gorillapod!):

Yeah, I sort of screwed up at the end there. That'll teach me to make a swatch with a stiffer yarn. Anyway, if you want the more serious, probably easier to understand version, you really should check out the Happy Seamstress.

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Speaking of the Happy Seamstress, you might recall that contest I mentioned a while back, you know, the one where you could submit a picture and story of a project you made (or were inspired by) one of the Stitch 'n Bitch books. Well, the contest is now closed, but you could still win a prize! If you vote for an entry by leaving a comment, then you have a chance of being randomly picked to also receive a free copy of Superstar Knitting. Not bad, if you ask me. So go vote!

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Happy Seamstress launch!

I'm a little late on the uptake here, since Joanna actually relaunched the Happy Seamstress a couple of weeks ago, but I've been busy writing my first first-authored paper, so cut me some slack. Anyway, the Happy Seamstress site looks amazing. My favourite part of the site redesign is actually the pink bubble with the site logo... there's just something about that bright pink colour...

The site currently has some sewing patterns and one knitting pattern, some beautiful lace opera gloves (seen left), but more will be there soon. She already a few great free tutorials worth checking out.

Also worth checking out is our Stitch 'n Bitch contest! Following my review of the latest SnB book, Knitting Superstar, the publisher agreed to send out free copies to winners. The idea is to submit a photo and description of a project you've made from one of the SnB books, or a project that was inspired by these books. It doesn't have to be a project made recently or anything, but it does have to be your own work. If you knit or crochet and have ever used any of the SnB books, you should definitely have a look at the contest page!

Books books books...

I'm not very good at making New Year's resolutions. I mean, I guess some years I half-heartedly make a list, and then completely ignore it. This year, however, inspired by an ever-growing pile of books to read, whose prosperity has certainly been helped along by a large number of books received as X-mas presents from the parents and the boyfriend, I've resolved to spend a lot more time reading for pleasure.

Since I started grad school, I've read innumerable scientific papers, but I've hardly read any novels at all. Like maybe 2 whole books in the last 2 and a half years. Pretty pathetic. Well, that's not strictly true. I have been downloading audiobooks from Librivox, and I got through 5 or 6 books that way, and I have been reading a bit on my Kindle. However, I wouldn't say that either of those media really count as true books, since I'm either being read to or don't have to lug a real book around.

Anyway, to show I mean business here, in no particular order, is my reading list for 2011:

I'm in the process of reading the second book in Robertson Davies' Cornish Trilogy, entitled What's Bred in the Bone. I received these books as a birthday present, I think, at least 2 years ago, and have only read the first book, which took me about a year. It's actually a pretty interesting story, mostly taking place in Toronto, centered around the life of Francis Cornish, an eccentric art collector.

Next, I'd like to read The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Leguin. This is a classic of fantasy literature, considered by some to be on a par with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Interestingly enough, I first heard about it from an audio recording of a lecture entitled "TMS Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature" by Prof. Michael D.C. Drout which was given to me by Stevie ages ago. I then borrowed the books from my mom last winter break, and they've been sitting on my shelf collecting dust ever since.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins should be a good read. I got this as an X-mas present from my dad last year. The boyfriend has read it, and he rather liked it, so I probably will too. It essentially debunks Creationism, etc. by listing all the evidence that has been found for evolution. If you read my post about the Creationist publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, then you already know how I feel about that subject. I also really enjoy Dawkins' style of writing. He's a very angry person, it seems, but he has very well-structured arguments. I listened to an audiobook version of The God Delusion, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The boyfriend got me this book, The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, for X-mas this year. It's Hawking's first book in over 10 years, and covers all the really big questions about the origin of the universe and so on. I really enjoyed A Brief History of Time and Black Holes and Baby Universes, so hopefully this'll be good too!

I hope I don't get sick of popular science books at this point because The Universe and the Teacup by K.C. Cole looks like an interesting one. I got this from my dad for X-mas this year. From what I can tell, it's about how mathematics enable us to create patterns out of natural phenomena and thus explain them. Sounds like it's right up my alley.

The boyfriend also gave me for X-mas The Drunkard's Walk by Leonard Mlodinow, who also co-authored Stephen Hawking's most recent book. Apparently it's about randomness and how people are unable to account for this in their everyday lives. I'm a huge fan of chaos theory and randomness (Chaos by James Gleick was awesome), so this should be a good read.

Finally, for X-mas last year, I think, my dad gave me Daniel Levitin's This Is Your Brain On Music. It explains how all humans are experts in music, even if they don't know it, that is, the human brain is naturally programmed to understand musical concepts intuitively.

So that's my list... hopefully I'll be able to finish all these books by the end of the year, but I won't hold my breath. Still, a worthy challenge!

Happy birthday, EZ!

Today is Elizabeth Zimmermann's 100th birthday. Considering she was more or less the godmother of modern knitting, I feel I should do something special to commemorate this occasion. Like write a blog post... that's special, right?

Anyway, I feel like I started to follow a lot of EZ's philosophies before I even knew who she was. Ever since I started knitting, I've always preferred working with circular needles even when knitting back and forth, just because of their portability and ease of use, and Continental Knitting has always seemed more natural to me, probably because of my crochet background. I also like to think that I'm a fearless knitter... my first real project was an illusion scarf for the boyfriend with two-colour stripes, a charted image and a 3-needle bind-off (though kitchener stitch would have worked better, in hindsight).

The first book of hers I owned, I only got this year. It's The Opinionated Knitter, a collection of her Wool Gathering newsletters with a lot of her most famous patterns, including the baby surprise jacket (which I knit earlier this summer), the Tomten jacket, and her famous EPS (Elizabeth Percentage System), which allows you to knit a sweater to any gauge.



It's a really lovely book, with little stories along the way, and exact copies of the original newsletters. I read it from cover to cover, and cried a little bit at the final newsletter Meg Swansen wrote about the death of her mother. I've only made a couple of the patterns from this book (the afore-mentioned BSJ and matching Bootees), but I think that in honour of EZ's birthday, I'll cast on another project in the near future, perhaps the Nether Garments (some pretty fancy leggings).

I'll leave you with this quote, shamelessly stolen from LadyRadagast and the Celebrating 100 years of Elizabeth Zimmermann discussion on Ravelry:

“All you need to become a good knitter are wool, needles, hands, & slightly below-average intelligence. Of course superior intelligence, such as yours & mine, is an advantage.” -Elizabeth Zimmermann

Knitting Traditions magazine

Despite my scholarly attitudes, I don't really read all that much for pleasure. I have a craft library of a dozen books, a few of which I've actually read cover to cover, but considering my obsession with things yarny, it doesn't seem like that much. It definitely doesn’t give me an honorary librarian degree. I know if I had a subscription to any sort of crafting magazine, most of the articles would go unread, and I'd likely have a backlog of magazines to read (such as with our WIRED subscription right now). I need not even mention my to-read pile of books I received as gifts that I really should get around to picking up. I haven't bought a pleasure-reading book for myself in years.

Thus, it was totally unnecessary for me to buy the special Piecework issue called "Knitting Traditions" from Interweave. But you know... it was 43 patterns for $20, all of which are socks, lace or baby items, items I'm currently slightly obsessed with. And we all know how I feel about vintage and complex patterns. (Well, if you don't, suffice it to say I'm drawn to them.)



I actually have read this publication from cover to cover, and it only took me a month or so to get through it! Seriously... Anyway, all the projects are really nice. There are a few I would probably never make, and a few I would think about making if I didn't have a ridiculously long list of projects in my queue. However, there are also a lot of projects I definitely want to try. I'll go through these briefly.

In the sock department, it was mostly techniques that impressed me. The "Floral-Motif Bulgarian Socks" by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts are based on a traditional Bulgarian design (duh), and incorporate a really interesting method of incorporating colourwork while knitting in the round. It involves slipping stitches and going back with the background colour... something I'll actually have to try to fully understand, I think. I don't know if I'll ever make this exact pair of socks, but I'll definitely keep the technique in mind if I want to do colourwork in the round.



The next sock technique that really impressed me was the method for knitting two socks at a time one inside the other on double-pointed needles using a double-knitting technique by Jacqueline Fee. This is not something new to me, since I discovered it when I was first learning about double-knitting in this Knitty article by Kory Stamper. I think I actually prefer the Knitty article because it shows you how to cast on two at a time while the Knitting Traditions article suggests knitting the ribbing separately. It's still nice to have the article in print with pretty pictures and everything.



All the baby items are gorgeous, but I can't see myself actually trying any of the patterns because babies grow so fast and I don't believe in putting so much work into something that will only be worn for a few months. There are also quite a few glove and sweater patterns that look nice. I can see one or two I would think about making, but for the most part, they're just pretty to look at on the page. The lace patterns, on the other hand, are pretty damn droolerific. I can totally see myself making this:



It's "A Christine Duchrow Lace Centerpiece" adapted by Charlene Schurch. It's just so complex and pretty and uses thread with 1.5 mm needles... oh heaven! I would consider making this as a blanket in a thicker yarn with larger needles, but there's something about the ornateness and uselessness of doilies that really appeals to me. There are also a considerable amount of lace edgings, but I think I'll probably also try these squares by Mary Walker Phillips... maybe make a baby blanket out of them. I especially like the leafy pattern.



Anyway, that's all for my adventures in magazine land. I'm seriously considering getting a subscription to Piecework because I enjoyed this one so much, but I probably won't for the afore-mentioned reasons. Ah well...

Kitchy Crochet

So a few weeks ago, I did say that I would talk about some crochet books I got over the holidays. Unfortunately, school has been keeping me busy (what with us having to get a scientific paper out by the end of the month), but I'm suffering from an incredible sugar low and wouldn't be able to do any work anyway... Two nanaimo bars is too many nanaimo bars.

So, my parents' cleaning lady gave me these books (more like booklets really) because she figured she would never use them. She crochets, but nothing terribly complicated I suppose. Book #1 is called "Learn to Crochet" by Susan Bates, I guess. It dates from 1979, and boy does it show!



The patterns aren't terrible, I suppose. My main beef with them would be that they're all crocheted flat, when a better result could have been achieved in the round. There are some very nice baby items, and I particularly liked the blankets.



The sweaters, however, are really dated. I suppose the vests aren't too bad, but I couldn't see myself making them. Maybe to be ironic?





The second book is a whole lot more fun. It's an issue of "Decorative Crochet Magazine", published in 1990, featuring doilies! I don't know what it is, but I have a bit of an obsession with doilies. I can hardly justify making them (I only ever made one for my pet bamboo), but they're fascinating. Maybe it's something about these circular intricate patterns with teeny tiny thread and hooks... Whatever it is, I can't get enough of them.



I mean, this must take forever! But so pretty...





And look at those stitch diagrams!



However, even I am not crazy enough to tackle this:



I mean it's still thread crochet, and each of the motifs looks like this:



Maybe I'll get to a giant doily one of these days, but I have a long list of things to do before that (most of those I already have the yarn for). Currently, I'm working on another giant granny square blanket (it's already 5 feet across!), this garter belt, and these socks. I knit most of this scarf, and then frogged it. It wasn't the fault of the pattern... It was just the wrong pattern for the yarn I was using... oh well.

Treasure Cakes

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm back in Toronto and feeling guilty about not having done any school work over the holidays, so you probably won't hear from me again until next week. I mean, unless I'm procrastinating instead of studying for that final exam I have on Friday. At any rate, I'll post all sorts of pictures from Christmas and whatnot soon enough.

However, I had to take a break from studying to show you this:



Ok, it seems like a stupid idea, I guess, to crochet a fake cake. I mean, What Not to Crochet has dissed crocheted cakes again and again and again. I would say that excessive doesn't even begin to describe these. But... but... you can hide things in them! And the designs are so precious! They look good enough to eat!

The book is not yet available, and I'm seriously debating whether or not to pre-order it, but then again it won't be released until April, and I have a short attention span.

Ok... back to the studying...

Edit: Ok, so I was wrong. It'll be released on Jan. 29th, so that's not quite as long to wait. Also, Deborah Ross's site is called Four Bees Design, and you can read all about her and her designs there.

New toys!

The swift has arrived! (And quite swiftly, I might add... har har!) My parents brought it along with them when they drove into town to move my brother in. Thank you, parents! It works beautifully, I might add. Thank you, Stevie! I've already wound one ball with it, and I plan to use it to wind many more. Here it is in all its fantasticalness:



And here are some close-ups:





And just because I'm THAT nerdy, here's a video of the swift in action...



The end product is this beautifully and efficiently wound ball. I thought about getting a ball winder, but I think I'm just as fast doing it by hand...



Since the title of this post is "new toys" (in the plural), I'm not just going to leave it at that. I recently got my first (and definitely not last) package from KnitPicks. The first goodies in the package were two books:



My favourite is the crocheted edgings. It's just so inspiring... I want to figure out how to use as many of the trims and edgings as possible in the next projects I make. The 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders is good too, with tons and tons of projects. There are some really nice lace patterns, and a few baby things that I'd like to make. There are definitely some duds in there too, but when there are that many patterns in one book, I don't really have the right to complain.

I also got this amazing, world-shattering device that will ensure that I will never get stabbed by those tiny little double-pointed needles ever again when reaching into my bag.



So simple, yet so effective! I wish I'd had one of these ages ago.

"It Itches"

As I mentioned previously, I obtained a couple of books from the Interweave hurt book sale, one of which was "It Itches" by Franklin Habit. It's a very charming little book, with lots of cartoons and a few essays, all about yarn-crafting. I think the essays are really the best part of this book, and I could definitely relate to a couple of them, especially the one entitled "Knittin' with a Whip", which is all about trying to knit harder pieces because the author enjoys the challenge... sort of a counter-argument to knitting as the "new yoga". The cartoons are mostly cute, and will give you a little chuckle if you're in the yarn-crafting know, though some are funnier than others. I mean, it's all about stashing yarn and having a problem with knitting cozies for everything, which I can definitely relate to. Anyway, my favourite cartoon is the following, which actually made me laugh out loud (and the boyfriend too), so I thought I'd share it with you:



I think that anyone obsessed with yarn and knitting and/or crocheting will enjoy this book at least a little, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't.

In other news, I finished my dad's laptop case. It's all sewn up, blocked and lined, and my index finger on my right hand is suffering for it. I'm leaving for the family home tomorrow, so I'm glad I was able to meet my deadline. I'm not finished the potholders yet, but I think I'll be able to finish them on the bus down. More about these when I get back!

New books!

This morning, I got a knock on my door and, hearing my superintendent's voice, I rushed to my room to get some pants on and then back to the door to answer it. He wasn't there to remind me that I hadn't paid rent or to complain about the newspapers that have been piling up outside our door, but to deliver a package! Grabbing it from his hands and quickly thanking him, I slammed the door shut and immediately tore the package open. I knew from the return address that it was the books I had ordered from the Interweave Press hurt book sale.

I had ordered two books, It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons by Franklin Habit, and 101 Stitches to Crochet edited by Erika Knight. In retrospect, I probably should have bought more books from the hurt book sale, since these books appear to be in perfect condition, and the savings were fantastic: from 50% to 75% off (cheaper than Amazon!). But alas, hindsight is 20-20.

Anyway, here's a picture of my new purchases. I'm especially interested in trying out some of the stitches in the 101 Stitches to Crochet. They might give me some inspiration for new patterns!