Krake, a hat

Here is a hat I designed for Alamitos Bay Yarn Company's 'Holiday Sparkle' party in October.  It is inspired by the texture of an octopus' skin when it is camouflaging itself against a bumpy surface.  They are so clever those cephalopods, and adorable to boot!  The pattern for this will be available on Ravelry sometime in December, so if you are a knitter, are on ravelry and would like to make this hat, then you can! 
If you are not a knitter, and are not on ravelry, get thee to a knitting class (preferably the one offered by the city of Long Beach Department of Recreation and Marine, which I teach) and learn!
Go knit, it's delicious.  

scarf in 225

That one skein of gifted yarn, lovely, alone.  I had one of those (I actually have many, but let's focus) in a delicious cranberry color, waiting.  It is still summer here in Southern California so a heavy project just would not do.  I searched for a pattern, I do not generally wear hats, so I came up with one for an airy scarf.
scarf in 225 (yards of worsted/aran yarn that is).
a link to the ravelry.com page:   scarf in 225.


Here is the pattern:

225 yards of worsted or aran weight yarn, I do suppose you could do it with less but it would then be shorter, or you could make it wider or thinner if you choose, simply add or subtract stitches by 2's. 

I used size 10 needles.

Cast on 24 stitches, knit 2 rows.

Row 1: slip first st, k1, *yo, k2tog* repeat btwn *'s  to last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2: slip first st, k1, purl to last 2 sts, k2.

repeat these 2 rows until you are almost out of yarn, knit 2 rows, bind off.

I added a crochet chain loop of 15 chains and a button on the opposite side of the scarf.
this is optional...of course.

Now...go knit.......delicious.

blue moons

The front gate of the Long Beach Museum of Art, the bus stop map stand and the ocean cliff railing.

What a wonderful installation, a beautiful night with amazing moonlight. listening to the great Pacific Ocean's waves gently rolling in and the Long Beach Museum of Art as the backdrop.  A bus bench replete with patron, a young man from a small town in Washington State marveling at the wonders of Southern California was chatty company.  The blue moons we installed apparently were loved by many as they were almost all gone by morning.  So I suppose as a 'blue moon' passes in the night so did all 70 of our 'blue moons'.  It is all fluid, beautiful and delicious. 

blue moon bomb

Tonight, August 31st, 2012 is a blue moon.  This blue moon is particularly powerful in the placement of the the moon and the sun.  This will be the last blue moon until 2014 and I intend to honor her with a blue moon yarn bomb.  So...tonight it is.  Where?  When?  Who?  a post will follow. Twitter and tumblr will have quicker feeds of this blue moon yarn bomb!   delicious.

I have a two teens, and need to get out of my head...so:

My knitting for the 'living spindle' before it got onto my arms.

Marco as the 'human spindle' and black moth from Pierrot

I participated in a knitting performance art piece in Long Beach on the weekend of the Convergence.  There was a special artwalk in downtown to entertain our weaving visitors from out of town and we decided to make a splash.  It worked.  What an amazing time we had in our 'Carnival of Knitting oddities'.  There was a barker, a 'human spindle' (the photo of Marco above).  The black moth from Pierrot, the 'largest knitting needles in the world' being used as the knitter walked with two assistants.  There was (me) knitting with 'human arm' knitting 'needles' (I did the knitting on my arms instead of using needles), a huge knitted undulating tube filled with people, the 'mad' needle dropper and all of this was encased in sound being created by the performers via electronic hook-ups.  wow, it was spectacular!  Loved every minute of it. 

life, gets in the way of blogging...

me, after coffee

my new amazing sock bag, that fits on my wrist so I can knit...anywhere!

my son Logan, second from right, rowing in Tennessee for Nationals, they came in 4th.

Yarn bomb!  on the Wyland dolphin sculpture in front of McKenna's by the bay in Long Beach.

twitter: @hestiashands
facebook: Sandra Dee
tumblr: yarnivore.tumblr.com
the above 3 items have been spurned by both peer pressure and the acquisition of  an iphone.  gads, I cannot believe I have succumbed.  'one of us, one of us' continues to ring my head.  true, I am now...one of you.
and, dailymile: hestian (running bloggish site).
so, as things become more instant, you can follow me on the above sites!
No fear, I will continue to blog, when I can sit down at a 'big' computer.
now, I think I will go and knit. 

clown patch bombs...bitten

clown patch on palm tree in the East Village Long Beach

clown patch...um...installed sideways...oops.

clown patch at intersection of 4th and Linden.

a tree, clownin' it up in the East Village.

The clown patches are installed with hopes that they remain until the function on Saturday night. In the previous post we see the clown patches awaiting installation.   In this post we see the clown patches post installation.  It was a fast, down and dirty install, early to boot.  The East Village is an eclectic space, filled with places to quell hunger, thirst and social isolation.  There are hipster clothing stores, not so hipster clothing stores, coffee houses and even art galleries, you should go there soon and buy something.
Independent businesses are delicious...nom.

yarnivore bites in the east village

clown patches

more clown patches, soon to be installed.

So, my friend says; this artists group I am in is having a thing on Saturday night in the East Village and I told them you would be happy to participate....all righty then.  As it happens I will be out of town this Saturday so I cannot 'participate'.  Instead the yarnivore will be installing these cheerfully colored  nauseous 'clown patches' on Linden Ave between 1st street and Broadway, a 'clown bomb' if you will, on Thursday evening.  I do so hope some of them will remain until Saturday so my art can 'participate' in the goings on.  Photos of the installation will follow.
Clowns, yucky, yarn bombs...delicious.

Take What You Need

'need' flyer

ready to go

'need' flyer installed at Viento y Agua coffee house

'need' flyer ready to give freely

I found this idea on Pintrest, and just had to pass it on.  The sign is fashioned after a 'for sale',  'for rent' or 'a service offered' flyer with phone numbers at the bottom of the paper, cut into strips for easy tearing.  There is a board for such things at a local coffee house, Viento y Agua on 4th street in Long Beach, California, so I put one up there.  Plans are in the works to make many more and add them to boards around town.  Maybe you will feel like passing this on too, make one and put it up at the grocery store, laundromat or even in your break room at work.  Take What You Need and feed the hungry...delicious.

Yarnivore bites 500 hearts

on a tree in the middle of the street

it does not say, no 'heart' parking

Scratch bakery love

two hearts on a pole

uh...scratch

hearts on a bike rack and a heart on the bike

meter with a heart

Luna's door has a heart

bite a crepe

bite a Jamba Juice

It's my birthday and there are 500 crocheted hearts gracing the streets in Belmont Shore.  Oh what a lovely morning, 4:30 a.m. found the yarnivore hanging hearts at Scratch bakery and in front of Twig & Willow.  We were then on to 2nd street, Belmont Shore.  My youngest (16) son and a friend in yarn (Nancy) were there to assist.  Luna, Battalions of Beauty, Pussy & Pooch, Jamba Juice, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Mira di Bello, and even the Grunion Gazette were some of the businesses bitten by the yarnivore's heart bomb.  The hearts were hung perfectly from so many perches, each one oh, so adorable...and delicious.

Hungry for Hearts

heart bombs

one hundred and eighty hearts

The yarnivore is hungry to bite on her birthday.  February 13th is the magic day.  I so adore February with it's red, pink and purple color scheme.  Love is in the air (to which I am a bit of a cynic) but I am quite attracted to the trappings of the day.  Rain has often graced the 13th of February but of late it has been warm and sunny, this year is proving to follow suit. A bomb is in order so the streets will be decorated in yarny splendor for my birthday.  Hearts shall be the decor of choice, crocheted hearts in Valentine-y colors to hang along the way.  The plan is a minimum of 500, more if my little yarny hands can crochet that fast.  A late night or early morning bomb time will need to be chosen so the hearts will twirl in the breeze for the 13th.  There is the possibility of a filmographer on this bomb, the yarnivore is still deciding on that one, sounds exciting though!  So off to crochet more hearts.....yummy.

turbines

Turbines, a cowl, draped

Turbines, a cowl, folded

Turbines, a cowl, folding

I bought some yarn, enough I thought for a vest.  My calculations, sadly, were a bit off in the negative direction.  I love the yarn, Rowan Cashsoft Dk in a wonderful smokey gray so I decided to knit up a cowl of my own design.  As of late I have become enamored with the stitch pattern of YO, K2tog and the opposite, K2tog, YO.  This makes what to me looks like a trellis or a turbine.  Using these patterns in a circular fashion with the dark gray yarn it just looks so industrial, Steam Punk even.  I love it.  So I wrote down the pattern and it is available here, on ravelry as a free PDF download. 
Gray turbines to warm your neck, delicious.