I’m More Domestic Than You

I don’t want to ruin surprises, but at the same time I craft nearly every gift I give and I’ve got this compulsion to document it all. I’m just going to go ahead and post everything I craft without saying who it’s for.

I love knitting up small creatures – today I made a wee cupcake for my friend’s birthday this month [in keeping with my resolution to remember and acknowledge everyone's birthday], but as far as I can tell (and as far as I’ve been told), it looks more like a decorated mushroom. Which is fine, right? I made him in a few hours with stash yarn. First I knit a rectangle in stockinette stitch and sewed it up the side, normally I would have just made it on DPNs and had no seam at all, however I could not find the right DPNs anywhere this morning, so I knit it flat. I did the base by just casting on a few stitches and putting in a few kbl every other row and then decreasing with k2tog and s1-k1-psso to make it into a sort of circle, and I grafted it on. That’s when I gave him a face, so his personality could come out. He looks a little dopey and I wanted him to look a little rough, like a tough cupcake – a Parkdale cupcake even!

I was chatting with Dad on the phone through much of this process and he suggested I give him eyebrows and then Richard thought he could use some arms as well. And while I am painfully aware he does not at all look like the cupcake I had intended him to be, I still think it works. His eyebrows are the same style of eyebrow that Lindsay stitched up for her sockmonkey, Harry. I can’t take any credit for that, but they do look fetching on this little fellow. This is the first time I’ve crocheted anything usable. The top and arms were crocheted and the middle and bottom were knitted. I’m not that into crochet just yet because every time I try I get super frustrated and it vexes me. This wasn’t bad at all though!

This weekend at the Stitch n Bitch, we’re knitting lingerie! I’m knitting up an easy example piece and making a little pattern package for the girls so everyone can make something saucy. I’m making Frenchy from Naughty Needles, this is my swatch/beginning of the front flap. I love the way this yarn knits up, it’s soft and fast and the colour selection is usually decent.

I’m thinking the menu for this week should be saucy too, to keep with the theme! Maybe something like falafels in salsa? Molten caramel cakes? Sweet and sour wantons? Or maybe just all three?

Part of every night is reserved for actual work, work where I must make the internet look pretty, and tonight while I was doing that, I came across some really, really fun brush sets for Photoshop. Look what I can do with them!!

I can get girly and mess around with flowers and swirly things, and sometimes people ask me to make them swirly girly type sites and now it’s a little easier for me! I have to admit, I really like the little butterflies.

I can also get sketchy and messy, with so much already done for me! I’ve had this font for almost a year, but this brush set is sooo sweet with it!

There are a bunch more that will make great backgrounds with the opacity turned down and some others that I’m not sure what to do with, but are a fun sort of modish meets geometry vibe.

On a final geeky note, I also grabbed some new fonts today. I have 545 fonts, behold today’s favourites!

I’m off to knit a few more rows on the lingerie before I jump in the shower and head to bed – I hope I get a chance to work on the tea towel tomorrow!