October 2015

The Excitement of Cables

cabelsThere’s still so much in knitting that I don’t know how to do, and I’ve got a feeling that even if I were to knit every single day for the next couple of years, I would still be learning new techniques. Each instructor and pattern has their own way of doing things in order for your piece to turn out the way the designer intended. I’ve slowly been picking up the basics, moving beyond the simple knit and purl, and into working with colours (that post will be coming tomorrow) and cables. I’ve always really admired cables. They’re beautiful, the intricate patterns that just seem to draw your eye around the piece. Little did I know that getting into cables would be VERY easy.

I wanted to make a bulky scarf as a Christmas gift, and had 10 skeins of a Fairy Tale brava bulky yarn waiting for a project. I decided to find a very simple cable pattern that also looked pretty neat. I was really excited to begin this part of my knitting, and little did I know that it would be much easier than I had thought.

Cables in essence are just about knitting in a different order. Why always knit every stitch that comes up next on the needle after all. Honestly, I had no idea that that’s all there was to cables (at least the basic ones, maybe there’s more to the complicated ones, I’m still learning). The pattern I’m using for my simple cable is really plain. I work the pattern until I get to the part where the cable begins, then I slide 4 stitches purl-wise onto a holder that I then move behind my piece. I had to google what was meant by ‘move the needle behind’ because I had no idea. Turns out it means just that, just put it behind and keep on knitting. So once I’ve slipped my 4 stitches off to the holder, I keep knitting 4 more stitches that are on my needle. Then I slide those 4 stitches back onto my left hand needle (some people don’t do this step, they just knit right off of the holder which is fine too but I don’t feel I’m quite there yet), and then you knit those 4 stitches. You continue on with the pattern from there.

Knitting them out of order makes the glorious bumps in the piece that you can see above. Moving the holder to the front will make the cable curve to the left, moving it to the back will make it curve to the right, like in my piece. They’re all right hand curves.

I can already tell the piece will also need to be blocked properly once it’s completed too. You really want those stitches to pop properly, and since it’s a scarf I’ll want to make sure my edges are all neat and tidy. There’s a huge difference between a blocked piece and an unblocked one. Thanks to the bulk of the yarn the pattern is really quick to work up, and the scarf shouldn’t take too long to make. Of course I need to pay a bit of attention so that I’m following the pattern correctly, but I’m able to read the knit / purl stitches now so I know how to fix my mistakes at least.

I absolutely love the world of knitting that I’ve explored so far. I’ve found myself spending more and more of my off time knitting, which I don’t think is a bad thing. Everyone has their hobbies after all. I’m sure listening to me blather on about it gets pretty boring, but I’m hoping that some people share in my enthusiasm.

 

Revelry and New Projects Galore

Baby top2I have very little patience. I’ve been that way for as long as I can remember. Waiting for parcels in the mail can be a physically painful process as I run out and check it from the very first day I’ve ordered anything. I’ve been waiting for one parcel for 8 weeks now even though I know it won’t ship for at least two more. Because of that I tend to want to work on very quick projects that won’t take a lot of time. Projects that take between one week and four weeks are best. They keep my attention while I work on them but I don’t feel overwhelmed. A good example is the blanket that I started working on a few weeks back. Where is it? Tucked safely away in a craft bag. Those socks that take approximately 1 week or less to knit up? Almost done the second sock. That’s how I ended up finding the pattern for the ‘all in one baby top‘ pictured to the left. It took me only a day to knit up, and it’s so cute. This one in specific was for the 0-3 months age group. There’s no sewing required, it’s all a single piece.

Ravelry is a fantastic site for knitters and crocheters alike. You can find free patterns along with paid patterns, and a huge forum with many active yarn loving groups. You can find me there (of course) as Stargrace if you happen to want to friend up. It’s a great place to keep track of your projects, patterns, needles you own, your stash, etc. I’m using it mostly as a place to document my progression through knitting (aside from this blog which also serves this purpose).  Remember I’ve only been knitting for about three months now, so I want to see the new terms I’ve learned and my growth over time. Starting from flat pieces like my fingerless mitts, and moving forward to items like this baby top. Next I’d like to explore colour work, so there’s a hat in mind I’m going to try. I believe it uses stranding, and it’s very pretty. Of course I don’t have the faintest idea how this works, so it’ll be an interesting experiment to see if it turns out.

I learned a new term while working on the baby top above, too. I’ve been bookmarking all of the knitting videos I use into just one location on YouTube so I can browse them easily and come back to them. While working on the baby top I learned the m1 instruction, which stands for ‘make 1’. Basically there are two methods of doing this (technically I suppose there are three). The method I learned was to take the bar between two stitches, pull it up with the right needle, then slip it onto the left needle, and stitch into the back of it (so you don’t leave a gap). This “makes one” new stitch. It’s basically a fancy increase. Now that I feel secure with the basics, I like adding more and more information to the knowledge I already know. A lot of reading patterns (for me at least, so far) is just about trying to figure out what the pattern writer actually meant. Sometimes they’re very clear with what direction the pattern is flowing in, and other times they’re more confusing. I’m still not able to read charts and I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to, but the written instructions work well for me.

On that note, it’s time to start the next project (maybe I should finish those socks, first). Happy knitting!

My adventures with Minecraft: Story Mode

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Today marked the release date of Minecraft: Story Mode. Now these games created by Telltale games are basically choose your own adventure games, or at least that’s what I’ve heard. To be honest before today I’ve never played one before, even though I was gifted the bundle just a short time ago. I went in knowing that I absolutely love these types of games, they appeal to every side of my gamer self.

I don’t want to talk about the game that much because it will give away details of the story that are much better experienced in person. I did put up a short video on my youtube / twitch channel with the introduction but didn’t stream any further.

I will say that Ruben makes the game. Your faithful sidekick. He’s awesome.

Oh and of course I’ll show a bunch of screenshots too. So glad I picked this up, and can’t wait for the next episode.

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Into the Nether.

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Fun with minecarts.

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Motivation for Round Two

sock2I took a bit of a break after completing my first sock just to switch things up. I finished off a few books, played some video games, and made plans for future projects. I know that when it comes to other hobbies I can get burnt out, and I didn’t want that to happen with knitting, especially since the colder weather is slowly creeping up on us. This week I decided it was time to get started on the second sock to my pair, and things started moving along much quicker than the first. I’m about half way done now, finishing off the heel flap so that I can begin the short row heel and then bring everything back into the round and then I’ll start the instep. I’m still not happy with grafting, and I’ve been looking at alternative methods of doing toes so that I don’t have to graft. I understand the logic behind it, linking your stitches and all the rest, but when I do it I end up missing stitches and then before I know it half of the sock has come undone. Not good.

I know it takes practice, and so that’s what I’ll have to do. I think part of my issue was it was my first sock and I was using a very fine yarn, makes it hard to see the stitches in order to graft them. Still, the rest of the sock was really easy and if grafting the toe is the only difficulty that I have, I can’t really complain about that.

I ordered some new needles last week to go along with my interchangeable set as well. I needed a size 17 for an upcoming project, and decided I may as well. Since I expect my interchangeable set will last me for some time I don’t mind adding to the collection. I also picked up an extension to the set so that I can make the cord longer for larger projects. I wish the default set had come with it, but for the price I got them at I’m not really too upset. I was just looking at knitting supplies in Michaels the other day and noticed that their bamboo interchangeable set was $230 (Canadian) where as the nickel plated set that I bought were only $45 (USD).

Of course since I was in Michaels I had to pick up a few more skeins of yarn. I ended up buying one more skein of a blanket type yarn for a blanket I’ve been working on (slowly), and I bought two skeins of sock yarn (really lovely colours, purples and reds) and a third skein that’s worsted weight but could be used for a number of projects. It’s very soft, so I may turn that into a pair of socks too. That skein looks like fire, strips of bright red and yellow that blend together. Absolutely beautiful. When my needles finally get here I’ll be starting a prayer shawl for a friend in-need. I’ve got a few skeins of a bulky royal purple colour that I think would be perfect and she has been going through a rough time so I want to make her something. I’m not sure what else I want to knit. I want to keep learning, of course, but making a decision on what to do next is difficult for me. I do have a few Craftsy classes for knitting mitts and gloves, I wouldn’t mind making a pair or two of that. Of course the other issue is that I don’t tend to keep very much yarn on me, I have many smaller skeins but not a lot of the same colours for larger projects. I also keep seeing people crocheting these awesome granny square blankets for their children and friends and I keep thinking that I should give that a try. Granny squares and me don’t really get along though. I’ve tried to make them a number of times and they always end up so weird. I’m not sure why. I’ve made stuffed animals out of crochet before and other items without issue (a hat, a scarf) but for some reason granny squares are the one thing I get stuck on.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to these days. I hope to finish the second sock this week so the pair will be completed, begin another pair of socks for a friend, and begin the prayer shawl. What I’ll work on after that is anyone’s guess.

Getting Started with Streaming Games

Mic

Not pictured is the new c920 HD Pro Webcam that I bought, but along with that I picked up a blue yeti microphone and have started setting up my area to do some livestreaming in the future. Today I played around in WildStar (thank you those who came and visited while I was adventuring!) and I’m trying to think of some more exciting adventures for people to tune in to. I’ve done a few livestreams in the past but nothing very exciting (and most of the time I tend not to use voice, and I’ve never used my cam before) but I’ve always admired those who did. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years now, and heck there’s no better time than the present!

If you’re looking to catch me live, you can follow my twitch channel:

Twitch.tv/Stargrace

Or if you would rather watch at a later time, you can follow my youtube channel:

YouTube.com/StephanieMorrow

I haven’t worked out a schedule yet, so my streams will probably be sporadic in the meantime. Due to where I live I’m also not allowed to sign up for the direct donations programs, but I did include a link on my twitch channel for those who may want to donate through paypal. You can also donate directly at the link here:

Paypal.me/stargrace 

Donations will go towards keeping my web site (MmoQuests.com) running, as well as paying for things like twitch banners and avatars. I’ve been looking at getting some custom ones made, but so far haven’t had any luck finding what I’d like. Of course all content will continue to be free, this is not something I want people to feel roped into doing, but a nice little side hobby. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.

In the meantime I’ve been bouncing ideas around. I thought maybe I would try playing (and streaming) some of the lowest rated games on Steam – but that idea really didn’t sit very well with me. I don’t like to play bad games just because. Then I thought maybe I would try playing horror games – the one genre that I don’t have the stomach for – but honestly when it comes right down to it, I want to play games I enjoy. I don’t want to play just because I have an audience. So for now I’m back to the drawing board. I do have all sorts of games in my steam library that I’d like to slowly work through, but a lot of those are also visual novel type games. I don’t know how interested people are going to be in me reading aloud a romance story, even if it’s something I personally enjoy playing. For now I’ll just continue streaming when the mood strikes me, and the games will be random as well. There’s a good chance you’ll see me in Wurm Online, WildStar, and maybe some EverQuest or EverQuest 2 along with Sims 4. Those are pretty static regular games for me. Please remember to follow my channel, especially if you want notifications of when I go live. You’ll see the highlights of my last broadcasts up there and I’ve already moved them over to YouTube as well. I did find that the sound quality seemed to have reduced quite a bit when I transferred the videos from twitch to youtube – is that normal? Is there a way I can combat that?

Of course any help, tips, tricks, etc. are greatly appreciated. I’m brand new at this, I don’t know any of the fancy UI things people have on their twitch streams (I’m using XSplit to stream if that matters) so of course anything you can offer up as a suggestion is greatly appreciated. In the meantime, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

 

 

 

 

Nomadic Gamer