Here's another picture of my dad, just in case you were curious.



He's not really a forest ranger, he just has interesting fashion sense.


And yes, that is his only facial expression.

I got my package from Topolino on Friday (hooray for priority mail!), but unfortunately it's taken me this long to find batteries for my camera.

Here are my lovely goodies!

A canvas bag with a stencil of Herbert West from Re-Animator, with quote.


A neat decoupage box with pictures from horror movies.


Four blank cards with skulls and dripping blood, and a really awesome visible man pendant.


I think I'm going to use the pendant as a zipper pull on my purse, and the bag is already full of stuff!  Thanks muchly!

My father altered these shoes for my fiancé.  It's so nice when the boys get along.  They're men's dress shoes that light up when he walks.  Also, the shoes were worn by Chris O'Donnell in the movie Sisters (we bought them at a studio yard sale).



The lights actually only light up one at a time; I photoshopped them so they are all on.

My Pop has a great tutorial on his site if anyone's interested.

http://id.mind.net/%7Etruwe/tina/shoes.html

For anyone who's interested, here's the chart I used for the skull motif.  The rest is just 6 stitch cables and zig-zags.



It took me 8 100g skeins of Patons's Classic Wool and about four weeks of knitting 4-6 hours a day.  I have to say, knitting a gansey was a lot of fun and very educational.  It's all one piece, knit in the round from the bottom to the armholes, then knit back and forth.  The shoulder saddle begins at the neck, binds off the body stitches as it's knit, and then picks up stitches from the body to make the sleeve.  Finish the sleeves, pick up existing stitches for the collar and you're done.  No seaming, not even any weaving.  Gansey "recipes" are all over the internet and in a lot of books.  I recommend it to anyone who's frustrated with commercial patterns or is looking for something different.

I made this hat for my sweetie.  I can't decide whether it makes him look like a Mongol Warlord or a Hershey's Kiss.


Despite the pained expression, he really does like it.

Basically, I chose a cable pattern, knit it long enough to go around his head, picked up stitches for the top and decreased, adding cables.  Here's a picture that better shows the spiralling top.

Please ignore the filthy carpet.

I had to wait to post this so it would be a surprise for my Pop. 

It's a pretty traditional Fisherman's Gansey, knit in one piece, with a knit/purl skull design.  I had some yarn left over so I made a matching aran tam.  No skulls on that, though.

This is my father.  People say he's where I get my looks.


I think they're right.


Here's a close up on the knit/purl skull with the contrast turned up.


I used Paton's Classic Wool in Deep Olive.  I've definitely become a fan.  Lots of warm wooly goodness for your money.

Can anyone identify this fiber?  It's from a Goodwill sweater with no tag.  It smells like hair and leaves no residue when burnt so it must be something natural/protein based.  The yarn's really lustrous, with long, fine, smooth fibers.  I haven't worked with many luxury yarns so I don't recognize it.  I'd like to see if I can find some similar yarn as there's not quite enough for the project I have in mind.

Here're the best photos my camera can manage:




Excuse the curliness, I've frogged but not yet washed the yarn.

Any help's appreciated.

Inspired by mental__floss's baby cousin.

 

Knit Donut

Worsted weight yarn, maybe 15g
contrasting yarn for sprinkles
waste yarn
stuffing, such as polyfil or beans
1 stitch marker
Size 6 (4.25mm) double-pointed needles
Tapestry needle

Cast on 20 sts using any temporary cast on method, place marker, join.
Round 1: Knit.
Round 2: Knit 2, make 1 around (30 sts).
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4: Knit 3, make 1 around (40 sts).
Rounds 5-14: Knit.
Round 15: Knit 4, make 1 around (50 sts).
Round 16: Knit.
Round 17: Knit 5, make 1 around (60 sts).
Rounds 18-21: Knit
Round 22: Knit 4, K2 tog around (50 sts).
Round 23: Knit.
Round 24: Knit 3, K2 tog around (40 sts).
Rounds 25-34: Knit
Round 35: Knit 2, K2 tog around (30 sts).
Round 36: Knit.
Round 37: Knit 1, K2 tog around (20 sts).
Round 38: Knit.

The end product:
 

(To make sprinkles, carry a strand of contrasting yarn and knit a stitch from this yarn every few stitches in rows 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16.  For frosting, knit rows 6-16 in a contrasting color.)

Remove the temporary cast on and weave those stitches together with the final row as pictured.


 Don't forget to stuff the donut before weaving the final stitches!

Okay, here's how I envision it.



You need to know the inside circumfrence of the donut you want, the outside circumfrence, and the circumfrence of the body of the donut.
Working in the round, cast on the number of stitches you need for the inside of your donut using a temporary cast on.  Over the next couple of rows work about 80 % of the increases you need to make to have enough stitches to go around the outside circumfrence of the donut.  Work straight until the piece measures a few rows less than half the body circumfrence of the donut, then do the remainiing increases.  Work a few more rows then work the bottom half of the donut in the exact opposite way (i.e. do 20% of the decreases, work the same number of rows straight, then do the remaining decreases).  When finished the piece should be as long as the body circumfrence of the donut.  It should resemble a barrel, with each end having the same circumfrence as the  inside circumfrence of the donut, and the widest part being as big as the outside circumfrence.  Now undo the temporary cast on and weave it together with the last row of stitches.  You should have a donut (hopefully)!

This is kind of vague and arbitrary, I know.  If I get a chance I'll try to make a sample so I can come up with some actual numbers.

But I know this much about it.  You have to select the pattern that fits your hips.

I also have a 14" difference between waist and hips.  Whenever I start with a pattern that fits my hips the crotch ends up being way to deep and low, which is a lot harder to fix than the waist.  I think this is probably because the largeness of my hip measurement comes from their width; most women with bottoms as big as mine have big tummies too.  Any thoughts on how to correct this?  

Excuse the MS paint.


A.  How I look from the side.
B.  How I look from the front.
C.  How pants made to my hip measurement fit.  The red line is the crotch seam, the blue line is where it should be.