Yarnbox (Mini) Review

I don't really write reviews anymore maybe in part due to my extremely busy work schedule, but I was determined to share my thoughts on a subscription box called YarnBox which is effectively a yarn-of-the-month club, if you will.

Basically you pay up front for X installments and they send you a new box every month. I started with the bi-monthly plan (1 box of yarn every 2 months) which in and of itself, is not cheap at all! But if you are used to spending a lot of money on yarn and whatnot, this is actually not a bad deal.

My first box contained this amazingly gorgeous green Siidegarte Siide-Flauschig yarn from Siidegarte in Switzerland:


(The colorway is Aichblatt which means Oak Leaf in Swiss-German, according to the owner of the company, whom I asked over Instagram.)

It also came with a couple of free patterns:


These get automatically saved as PDFs to your YarnBox Library. I downloaded mine to my PC and printed out one of them to begin my project. :)



I began knitting the "Sproinger" hat pattern. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sproinger

It's a really fun looking hat and definitely very slouchy/spring-y/squishy looking. (Gotta love the way people describe yarn and patterns, lol!)


So far so good! I really adore the way this yarn feels and smells, and plus green is my favorite color (well, right next to pink, that is!) The other possible colorway was blue, which is really nice as well, but I am WAY happy with my green, wouldn't trade it!

You can see past companies YarnBox has featured in their monthly boxes by visiting this page:
https://yarnbox.com/yarnbox-store-locator/

Before I had subscribed to them, I bought some yak yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch which was one of their previous suppliers. I was VERY impressed with the quality of their 100% yak yarn. I don't think the 100% yak was in a Yarnbox, but rather, one of their blends. Man... I love knitting with obscure animal fibers/luxury fibers/whatever you call it. I'm one of those weirdos who's all like "damn, if you can brush it and spin the hair into yarn somehow, I want to buy it and knit with it!" Haha. Maybe I should find a luxury fiber of the month club...I've seen a few on Etsy but they were hella expensive...which makes sense! But the one I really wanted to subscribe to costs an arm and a leg in part due to shipping from Australia. Bummer.

Anyway, I digress!

I was so happy with my first Yarnbox I decided to upgrade my membership to getting 1 box every month, billed every 3 months ($111.)

I plan to try KnitCrate too. In fact, I just received notification that they shipped my first KnitCrate! Excitement! I will have to post a review to compare/contrast YarnBox and KnitCrate later. I told myself I'd try both and stick with just one that I like better but now I am scared I will love both so much that I won't want to stop getting both in the mail. AHHH. Now I have like 5 subscriptions...Netflix, Warcraft, Ipsy, YarnBox, and KnitCrate. >__<;; bye bye, hard-earned monies. :P

Going to Portland on Monday... + Knitting Updates

Sorry again for neglecting this blog. I had a post for March but it somehow got deleted. >_<; wtf. I am going on a business trip to Portland on Monday and I will be gone for exactly 8 days... returning on the 14th. I hope to take some good photos while there and maybe explore the city a little after my conference is over. A friend of mine from college is driving down from Seattle just to see me. Yay! :) I have never been there before, so it should be fun to explore a new city. It's been a few years since I was out to the West Coast. I was in Arizona last year...I don't recall if I posted any photos or not. I have been so bad about that, I know! Sorry! >__<; I know I posted photos of my trip to Philly a while back. But yeah. Long flight on Monday so I plan to bring lots of ...you guessed it.. knitting! (I love how this blog started out as a fashion and makeup blog and has slowly shifted to knitting. LOL.) So yeah. KNITTING: I got a cute hedgehog knitting gauge!

Also finished a simple hat for my BF's dad. Baby Alpaca Grande by Plymouth Yarn. Love how soft it is. Might even be softer than Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky... hmm.

I messed up a few times though...the pattern said to use straight needles but that if you wanted it seamless, you could use circulars. Obviously I went with the circulars because they're so easy to use and I didn't feel like doing a three needle bind off to make a seam or w/e it's called.

Also decided I would try to start a new pattern. It's called Ojo de Dios by Vanessa Ewing. It's only available from Interweave Magazine (Winter 2013 edition, I think.)


See here for more info:


http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ojo-de-dios-shawl

Not really sure if I know what I am doing though... I thought I did, but after knitting a triangle and a half, it dawned on me that I had somehow accidentally put the garter stitch on the right side instead of the wrong side. Derp. I kind of like the way it looks but now I am struggling to pick up stitches and match it. Uggh. >__<;; I am sure I will figure this out eventually but it's going to take me a little while. Only 2nd time using DPNs. The first time I used DPNs I attempted to knit fingerless mitts...it didn't go so well. I ended up getting 1/4 of the way done with one mitt and totally messed up on the thumb gusset... alas. :(
Still trying to figure out those pesky triangles. >__< I managed to find some big enough buttons I liked at the local knit shop while I was purchasing my Gina yarn for the Ojo de Dios shawl and I attached one to finish my mug cozy!
OK so it still needs blocked.... but yeah. You get the idea. xD

I still haven't blocked anything before. I guess I am still a knitting n00b. I'm gonna take my friend's advice though and get those puzzle piece interlocking mats from Harbor Freight and some non-rust T-pins and go that route for blocking... and my other friend gave me instructions on how to block! I am so glad to have friends who like to knit. I'd be totally lost otherwise (or spending lots more time on the intarwebz, lol.)

In other news... I am STILL playing Rune Factory 4. I got Rune Factory 3 for 3DS as well but it's not as fun, haha. I think it's a mixture of the fact that I was spoiled with such cool new features in 4 that 3 is just...meh. I still can't figure out how to auto-sort like in 4 (maybe you can't!) and plus I just dislike the characters in 3. IDK why. They just seem so...flat. But then again I felt that way about a lot of characters in 4 until I invested a lot of play time into it. Oh well. Maybe I will do a separate post with my musings....hmm.

Finished a Few Knitted Things!

The weather continues to be outright freezing cold lately. Although it does fluctuate between below zero degrees F, and around 25 degrees F...! The other day it was -5 degrees F (which is approximately -20C fo y'alls who use Celsius..!) That's SO COLD OMG. So needless to say I've been knitting and knitting....and knitting!

Here's what I finished lately:

Gina Scarf



From a free pattern available online: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/f428-gina-scarf

The lady who did the pattern is Vanessa Ewing, and she's really nice! I was stuck on how to do this pattern a while ago and she helped me out by sharing a video on Youtube of a person knitting the Indian Cross Stitches pattern which is effectively what this pattern is only modified to change how the rows alternate. I really adore it. Such an easy and fast knit and if you use the Gina worsted weight yarn by Plymouth (it's 100% wool)



it comes out looking beautiful due to the way they dye the yarn. I love dip-dye effects and color gradients. :3 Especially when they're all rainbow-y!

I loved it so much that I finished a second one:





I just love the yarn so much. ^___^


I also got some knitting books to get some new patterns, and plus they just looked like fun. :D


Punk knits!! Haha. :D There's a skirt pattern in here I wanna try in neon green yarn plus a distressed striped sweater. Yay! :D


More fresh alpaca yarn too:



I was trying to use it to make a Steelers Scarf but it didn't really work with the pattern, transitioning between the two colors :(


I really do adore the way the yellow yarn looks in this pattern though so I will likely just frog the crap outta it and start over with just yellow, saving the black for another time.

That yarn is also by Plymouth, it's their Baby Alpaca Grande. From what I understand, "baby alpaca" doesn't mean the fibers came from a baby alpaca, but that it's indicative of the fineness of the fiber. Odd, huh? All this time I was picturing an adorable baby alpaca getting sheared down to naked, hehe. I guess it's just an adult alpaca getting sheared! :P

Anyhoo. That's all I got for now. I'm also working on sewing an Elsa costume for my next door neighbor's daughter using a child's pattern I found on Etsy. I'll have to make my next blog post about that. And knitting, of course! :)

I also plan to crochet a Totoro Amigurumi, but I haven't crocheted since highschool so this should be interesting. I plan to YouTube all of the pattern techniques so I have a better idea of what I am doing, lol.

Gangsta Knitting Rap + Ramblings + Fabric

I have nothing of any great import to say today other than...WATCH THIS VIDEO, it's pretty hilarious.




Also this is my progress thus far on my latest project:




(Sadly I haven't really touched this one in a while...)



In other news, Spoonflower was having a special promo where you can try a free sample of their Silky Faille fabric last week and you can have your own custom design printed, so in honor of watching Anchorman 2 last week, this beautiful, magical fabric was born:


I LOVE LAMP.

(reference below)



Yeah that just happened. Spoonflower is a magical site where you can print whatever you want on fabric and order tons of it and make clothing or whatever your heart desires out of it. Isn't that incredible? I made a Charlie Sheen fabric swatch once...it was beautiful as well. It was before I had GIMP though so I "borrowed" some random Charlie Sheen art I found online to make it. But it was only for a sample swatch. I plan to create my own design in the future, but I was impressed with how it came out and the overall print quality of Spoonflower. I highly recommend them if you are in need of custom printed fabric. Can be quite expensive, though, but it's worth the price!

Finished Project & Happy New Year!

First post of 2014, yay! (And it didn't happen in February either, lol!)

Just wanted to wish all my followers & fellow bloggers a Happy New Year and I hope you gals and guys have a kickass 2014. :)

Also wanted to share a project I just finished knitting. It's going to be a surprise present for someone...can't say who in case she reads this (though I doubt it!) lol! xD

It's a scarf from the game Rune Factory 4 for Nintendo 3DS. It's been kind of my addiction lately and also the reason why this blog has gone mostly neglected. ;___; sorry, friends!

In the game, your character can knit a cute little scarf for friends/lovers/etc. So I decided to make one myself, inspired by a teensy tiny pixelated game sprite. I don't think you actually see this scarf in game or in any character art. Even if you equip it, I don't think you can see it on the character because it's not a head accessory. Lame! But anyway.... see the comparison below:



Cute huh?

I think there's another scarf which becomes available for crafting later on in the game, though I have not yet encountered it.

Yay for nerd knitting. xD (I also got the "Knits for Nerds" book! I am gonna make a sweater vest from one of its patterns!)

I also plan to knit some UNIF replica dresses in 2014. And possibly some other garments...we shall see! (and also an amigurumi of Wooley the sheep from Rune Factory.)

Speaking of RF... I got a doujinshi of Frey x Arthur which I am in the (very slow, very tedious) process of scanlating! Here is a sneak peak below:







(Feel free to open the images in a new tab if the text is too tiny to read on my blog, lol.)

Anyway, I will post more pages as I finish them! If you are interested in helping me scanlate this doujin please comment below with your e-mail and I will give you access to the raw scans on my Dropbox. ^___^

Love you guys!

Just...knitting.

Belated Merry Christmas to everyone in the blogosphere! :)


My tree! ^__^

I'm trying to stay warm by knitting things again. Actually, I learned how to knit several years ago and I had only produced 1 scarf. It happens to be a very cute pastel green/pale mint green scarf which I do love but I only wear it with other equally cutesy and pastel-y things. So a few years back, I had purchased some wonderfully amazing 100% Baby Alpaca yarn by Cascade Yarns in a rather lovely shade of burgundy/red. (I think their colorway is "Ruby" actually.) Well, around Thanksgiving of this year, I decided to finish knitting that freakin' scarf...I had only completed about 1/3 of the project and I was quite disappointed in myself for stopping. Mostly because I hate leaving projects unfinished but also because this yarn is FUCKING AWESOME. It smells good. It feels oh-so-soft. It's beautiful. Did I mention it smells good? Omg. I never realized "yarn huffing" was a "thing" until I sniffed me some 100% baby alpaca yarn. Omg. So good. (Seriously just pick up a skein and sniff it sometime! Has to be 100% tho...or else it might smell different!) So anyway. I finished said scarf.

Now I have two scarves... and the addiction begins...(or continues? depends on how you look at it.)


Awww yeeaaaa! So warm! And gorgeous. Check dat yarn lustre! xD


It's just a garter stitch, so I am going to attempt crazier patterns soon. Right now I am working on a k2, p2 scarf in brown. Same type of yarn (100% Baby Alpaca Yarn) just different colorway.

BTW if you are on Ravelry (sort of like a Facebook type of site only for knitting/crocheting/weaving/yarn spinning, etc.) feel free to add me as a friend on there! :) And/or just creep on my projects mercilessly! I don't mind! ;3
http://www.ravelry.com/people/theflyingace/

Did I mention I enjoy drinking and knitting at the same time??

Wine + knitting...


Beer + yarn winding...(tangling, lol!)

Also this isn't really related, but I am sort of addicted to the band CHVRCHES. Seriously. IDK why I love to listen to electronic music whilst knitting (and drinking) simultaneously...but it does makes the project go by so much faster when you're listening to a favorite band (at least for the time being) and plus the alcohol makes my muscles relax and use less tension which is a problem often have as a n00b-knitter. (Try it, but don't get too drunk or you might drop some stitches, lol.)



Click Read More to see some more yarn porn and misc knitting related pix. :D

Treated myself to some knitting needles and other odds and ends for Christmas:


Received this cute knitting set as an XMas gift:


and some yarn:


Finished red scarf plus (an old pic of) my stash:

O-Mighty Hates Big Butts!

Long time no post, yet again. Sorry for the blog neglect, everyone. I don't know if there's anyone out there who actually follows this blog or whatever, but if there is...I apologize for my neglect! Life gets in the way every time I want to update. But moreso, I just hate typing posts and formatting them and all that crap. I tried posting from my phone a few times since I can talk into it and it will spit out what I write, but then the issue with formatting came up. Bah.

So anyway. I guess I will get on with the subject of this post: o-mighty! Some of y'alls may have encountered their products before in the online fashion blogosphere world.

http://o-mighty.com/

But at any rate...they're based out of Singapore (which I am assuming is how they escape all the copyright infringement lawsuits!) and they pretty much only carry one size for most everything. This is slowly changing but not by much. They do have a lot of cool stuff for sale, which brings me to the Word Art Skirt.

http://o-mighty.com/products/150/all/3172

Pretty dope, huh? Well I thought so too. And I wanted to order one. So I did. But then I realized, hooooly shiiiit, it's like...XS. And I'm usually like M/L in bottoms! So needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. I was kind of anticipating it though, and decided to go to the fabric store to make the skirt BIGGER by adding two panels in. Below is a photographic depiction of my journey in the world of making something larger. (Usually I take things in!) I was a little nervous about the alteration...not to mention I already dropped like $45 US on this stupid skirt, lol.


Got the skirt in the mail, and obviously it wouldn't fit on my big caboose!! >__<;;;
Grab sewing machine, add beer and loud music....


Seam rip skirt edges...as you can see, their skirt pattern is "highly complex" lol...


Now pin the damn thing to mannequin and attempt to figure out how much fabric you will need to buy...!


Go on shameless fabric shopping spree with your JoAnn coupons...end up spending $120 instead of the $15 you originally planned!

???

FINISH!


Threw it on with some other random stuff.


Not bad but I could have been more patient to do a better job. >_<;; Annnnd I will end with my favorite photo!
Because, fuck yea, drippy tights!!! xD

The end.

Hope you guys enjoyed this. Thankfully o-mighty is beginning to make bigger sizes now but I don't know by how much. I ordered their Nokia Phone skirt because, shit, it's dope, and I used to own one of these phones, back in like 2000. It even had a metallic green case to clip on it. I thought I was a straight up baller, lol. I got it in M/L so it better fit. Dammit. Otherwise I will be buying more knit fabric and doing skirt surgery again. Skurgery. Yep. I said that.


Have you ever made something bigger before? What was it? Did it come out good? Or was it a fail? Comment below and tell meeeee!!!