Taming Tesla

First off, I believe the hosting transfer went off without a hitch. There are some people who have written to say they cannot reach my site, which makes me think their browsers are caching my old IP address instead of my domain name. I'm not sure how that happens, but I believe the key is to simply type my URL in instead of using a bookmark. Of course, if you cannot see my site, then this bit of info is useless to you, and if you CAN see my site, this bit of info is useless.

So in knitting news, I have finally gotten to a point where I think I like what I'm doing with Tesla. There isn't much to show but here you go.

First, I think you should take a look at the texture of this yarn knit up:

The other pictures show the piece laying flat and you can't really appreciate how interesting the final fabric is. I don't know how to describe it, almost like some type of biology book drawing, but in a beautiful sense. I'm really captivated by the way it looks.


As you may be able to guess from this picture, it's going to be a funky little purse when I'm done. I'm still batting around ideas for how I'll finish it. I have some white Tesla too that I plan to use as accents on the bag. Nothing is finalized, yet, though.


Finally, here's a close up of the double decreases running through the center of the piece. I love this decrease, inasmuch as anyone can love a decrease.

Oh, and I got the great news that my little brother (can I call a 25 year old, "little"?) is coming out to see me next weekend. Well, let's be honest, he's not coming out to see me, he's coming out for other reasons and will bless me with the pleasure of being allowed to pick him up from LAX and house him for his visit, but you know, the truth is, I'm totally happy to do so.

Vanessa

Check this out:

Made by Vanessa, who doesn't have a website for me to link to.
This is what she has to say about her version of the piece:

"I used Aurora ribbon yarn for the main body, but I can't find the label for what I used for the edging :-) It was just some leftover stuff I had. I also did the edging as crochet (not that you can probably tell). It's my "elf warrior" look"

In other news, I started an S&B at work today. Lots were invited but only 3 were able to make it. The 4 of us had a really nice time, though and everyone got lots of one on one attention. I taught one woman to crochet and two to knit and they were all doing great at the end of the lunch...er...hour or so. I was really impressed with all of them and they all expressed having a great time.

Consider yourself warned

Based on Natalie's suggestion, I'm switching website hosts which means that my site will probably be down for a couple of days while the domains transfer and I jiggle the various handles necessary to make the move.

This means I'll be going from spending $65 a month to spending about $9 a month to keep the site up. YAY! I was scared I'd have to start charging for my patterns but now I feel all better.

Please don't be discouraged if you can't get to my site later this week, I promise to be up and running just as soon as possible.

Technical Advice

I'm wondering if any of you out there can suggest a good option for web hosting. The company I'm using now was great when I wasn't using much bandwidth but now I'm up to 18GB of my 29GB of bandwidth per month and it's only the 7th.
So basically, I'm looking for a hosting company that offers oodles of bandwidth for not too much money as well as a couple hundred megabytes of storage space.

Patterns for Little People

All the dragon hoodie needed was some closure. Man, I feel so new agy when I say that. I decided to go with a separating zipper instead of snaps, this time. Either works, though. With that said, the pattern is ready. Get yourself a gander here:

If I haven't mentioned it already, the yarn I used is beyond wonderful to work with. If you check out the info regarding the yarn you'll see that while it is like a chenille, it doesn't have that dreaded worming effect that so many true chenilles have. It's also hand washable so while it feels gourmet, it's still practical enough for real use.

Also available is Paige's poncho. I decided to forego the fringe for a couple reasons, not the least of which was pure laziness. But, in defense of my laziness, I also realized that fringe and little kids may just be a recipe for icky hard to clean apparel.
Get the pattern here:

Puppy Love

I thought you guys might like to take a moment to marvel at my beautiful pup. Cute, no?

And here she is, in mid flight, catching her favorite toy.

What? This is a knitting blog not a "hooray for Panda" blog? Fine fine fine, here is the progress on my little poncho.

I've finished the neckband and included a row of eyelets for stringing a cord. I've also begun to add fringe around the piece, which you can see in the top picture.
I want to thank Schlepp for modeling for me. He's a bit smaller than the future recipient, but he does make the piece look good.

Vacation Projects

I was able to mostly finish off the Dragon Hoodie en route to Boston. 5.5 hours of flight is ample time to whip off the other arm, ears, spine and spots and the economy seats on America West were surprisingly less veal cage like than other major airlines. That said, I was slightly slowed by the teenie bopper in the seat next to me. For some reason, even though she was half my width she seemed to be all elbows, knocking into me every time she had to adjust the volume on her headset (approximately once ever twenty minutes) and when she'd break into spontaneous seat dancing, even whilst watching a movie sans music.



I spent most of my remaining yarn time on the poncho. How many of you out there enjoy finishing? Does weaving in ends and assembling pieces give you a rush? Yah, me neither. If you aren't a big fan of assembling and weaving, I'd avoid projects involving tons of little motifs. In the end, though, I have to admit, I think it looks pretty darn cute. I've gotten all the tedious stuff out of the way and have washed and lightly blocked the piece.

Next, I'll need to add fringe all around and work a button band and neck band. That should go fairly quickly. I'll also post a pattern shortly.

Finally, my sweet Leo came home from running errands with these:

No reason, just because he's a big ol' sweetie.