Lee Does Stuff

just some updatey random stuff

well, first of all, i apologize for being such a horrible blogger lately. i’ll be trying to be much more regular soon, with plans for lots of tutorials and fun stuff. my official last day of my day job is memorial day, the 26th, and i’m so excited, but also so stressed out and worried… hopefully all that will calm and when this new self-employed chapter of my life starts everything will be happiness.

i am optimistic. yeah!

but for now, things are slow going. my store update, that was supposed to happen asap after crafty wonderland almost a month ago, never happened. and now i’m devoting every waking moment to preparations for the alberta art hop, so it’ll have to wait till after that.

oh yeah, that’s an announcement. i’ll be selling leethal recycled stuffs, as well as lots of photographs, at the alberta art hop on the 17th. yay! stop by and say hi!!

so, after that, there will indeed be a big fat leethal store update, as well as some form of a lee’s quitting her day job sale! stay tuned!

and, almost done, so close, but it’s taking a lot of time, is a new “yarn” page of leethal.net, in which all my yarn and knitting patterns will be found in one convenient place. you’ll be able to link to, buy, and/or download all of my patterns, and see all of my yarns, both for sale and taken (or made for me to keep), handspun and recycled hand-dyed. it’ll be yarntastic!

hey, anyone in portland looking for a job? pete has some pretty damn sweet job openings at his store, which is guitar center in beaverton. they’re looking for what some people still call “door girls” – yeah guitar center is a really sexist company, but listen to this. you’d get to sit at a booth at the front of the store and do whatever the hell you want (knit, draw, read, you name it) and just say hi to people when they come in and make sure they don’t walk out with anything when they leave. if i was looking for a new day job to replace the old one, i’d grab it. get paid to knit for 8 hours a day, fuck yeah!

also, if you’re looking for a job working in a music store, they’re seriously attempting to make the store less of a boy’s club and want some creative women rockin’ out and selling music stuff – if you might be interested, just email pete at pbanjo244 at gmail dot com for more info or you can go to guitarcentercareers.com.

the company i’m leaving is desperately seeking new hires too, but i wouldn’t wish that kind of torment on anyone who reads my blog.

Craft pattern podcast!!

it’s a Craft filled day! last night i got the new issue in my mailbox, woo! then, today my short-rows wavy hat pattern pdf was released as the new Craft Pattern Podcast!! awesomeness!!

i do want to make one little correction note about natalie’s blog post – this particular hat was designed using commercially available yarns for wider accessibility since i put it into the world as a free pattern, not my recycled hand-dyed. hand-dyed yarn would look excellent with this wavy hat pattern, however, and i love that natalie linked to my kool-aid dyeing tutorials. i would love love love to see someone use the self-striping dye method and knit it into the wavy hat, i think it would look superrad!!

my spiral stripes hat set is the one that uses my self-striping dyed yarn, and you can get that pattern set in a kit with yarn and stitch markers. and on a side note, that spiral hat pattern set, and also my ninja mitts $1 pattern, are now available through ravelry! yay!! and you don’t even have to be a ravelry member to buy them – you can just click this link for the spiral hats, or this link for the mitts. (my store update is coming very soon to make the pattern-buying process easier!)

oh and one more time, in case you are coming to my blog after seeing the craft podcast – if you happen to be in portland, i’m teaching a class on the wavy hat at twisted on may 4th+11th. yeah! see the twisted site for details.

ps – did anyone notice in that orange hat photo i’m wearing my “i heart craft” button? yeah i do!!

bead simple!

my second threadbanger post went up a couple days ago – about susan beal’s new beading book! woo!

so i went to that bead simple event a little while back, got the book the same day, and am now a little mad at susan for totally getting me into this whole new beading world! ok, not really mad no, but i am spending all kinds of time and money on it – fun stuff!! so far i’ve been making lots of earrings for myself, but i’m thinking about making beaded stitch markers to sell, i’ll see how it goes…

here are all the earrings i’ve made so far, yay! (almost all the beads are vintage from knittn’ kitten!)

so now i’ll be wearing earrings every day! a big change for me, since i haven’t worn any at all regularly since high school. but it works out well – all winter i wore a hat of some kind every single day, and now that it’ll be getting warmer soon (i hope!!) i’ve been thinking about how un-accessorized my head will feel, so earrings will by my new hat! yeah!

craft swap!!

just a last minute quicky to let portlanders know about the craft swap at the 100th monkey studio tomorrow (well technically today, saturday)! it’s from 1 to 4 at 110 SE 16th Ave, which is near burnside. the last one i went to i got so much super awesome stuff!! i’ll be a volunteer, and i’ll be bringing my old hp photo printer, in perfect condition, i just don’t need it anymore, hoping to find it a good home. pasted from the studio newsletter:

Bring art materials that have been collecting dust around the house and trade them for some new inspiration!
Please bring any art or craft materials that you aren’t using anymore. We’re open to pretty much everything paints, (clean) fabrics, yarn, beads, buttons, pens and pencils & paper.
The only stuff we’re not looking for are those random cast-off things you’ve been hanging onto in case that perfect project comes along. You know . . . those paper-towel tubes and items that would be better off in the recycle bin.
There is no admission fee for this event. We do ask that you bring something to swap. We are not placing limits on what people take, but we hope everyone will respect that this is a community event, and leave plenty for everyone else.
Left over materials will be split up and donated to the Children’s Relief Nursery, Janus Youth, Art From the Heart & Rise Above.

blogging for threadbanger!!

wooo it’s up! my first post for the threadbanger blog!! i waited to announce it until i had a post up, then it took awhile to get going, but all is well now and i’m so excited to tell you that i’ll now be a regular blogger for the threadheads!

if you are not already a fan, check out the video podcast, it’s always fun and filled with great ideas. and as for the blog, morgan hungerford of fashion blog panda head is another regular contributor with great diy fashion posts, and stacy schlyer of stacysews, and my fashion idol tricia royal has posted in the past. great blog, i’m so happy to get to be a part of it!

for my first post, i made this cardigan from an old thrifted pullover sweater:

here’s a close up of the buttons (39 total – no two alike! took 4 hours to sew them all on!)

ok and then, changing the subject, a few days ago when i told you i’m selling at crafty wonderland, i forgot to mention that it’s their 2nd birthday! so it’ll be an extra fabulous event with cupcake decorating at the diy table!! yay!! i’ve been working hard to have some new stuff (including some new recycled sweater hats!) and am super excited about it, hope to see you there!

short-rows wavy hat update!

remember the short-rows wavy hat pattern i posted here back in october? well i have some news about it, and some other news, and a bunch of different versions to show you!

first: i’ve made it into a pdf, which you can download through ravelry and add to your library, or if you’re not on ravelry (oh but you should be!) you can download it right here!! it’s basically the same as what’s posted in the blog, but less bloggy. enjoy!!

2015 update: The pdf is no longer available for download, because it was never converted to a newer pattern pdf format and was a terrible representation of my pattern quality – I plan to make a new pdf at some point, but that probably won’t happen for awhile. For now, the pattern is still in its original free blog format on the old post here (just don’t use it to judge my pattern quality!).

and second: i will be teaching a class on how to make this hat at twisted! one two-session class in may (4th + 11th) and another in july (12th + 19th). check out twisted’s site for all the class info and to download the current schedule. twisted is the best!

so you’ve seen my new variations above, which i made as samples for twisted, one with noro silk garden and the other with two colors of malabrigo…. and now i’m so happy to share a bunch of other people’s versions of the design! hooray for ravelry, allowing me to keep track of everyone using my patterns!

those are by mariamaria and mbwakahawa. good examples of how different the design looks in variegated yarn vs. self-striping. great colors in both hats! you can see lots more here on ravelry, including a bunch more variegated examples.

oh oh and it’s so exciting, there is a hat knitalong going on in norway that’s doing this pattern for their april hat!! i’ve seen it on 6 different blog posts so far: here and here and here and here and here and here. they are all so gorgeous!! most of those are also on ravelry, but it’s so cool to see them in norwegian blog context!

if you’re in portland, fun times for you!

i wanted to post more detail about the book, but that’ll have to come later since i’m awaiting its arrival in my mailbox… so for now i’ll just make sure you know this – tomorrow night (monday) at powell’s downtown, bead simple event with the fabulous susan beal! come see projects from the book and make a project of your own!! woo!

and then, next weekend on sunday the 13th, i’ll be selling stuff at crafty wonderland! yeah! and after you hit the doug fir for all that crafty goodness, take a short trip up the street to the hip drip cafe for their monthly sustainability fair!! it sucks for me that they’re on the same day, since i’d love to be a vendor at both, but it’s perfect for crafty shoppers!

free pattern: big bulky bucket hat!

yeah! i knit this up in no time, as an experiment, trying out this top-down idea with some gorgeous handspun, and it worked out so well that i decided to write up the pattern and share it with you!! because it’s knit top-down, you can easily make it exactly as long as you want without having to guess when to start decreasing. (or maybe it’s just me that has a hard time with that…)

i made this pattern into a pdf for free download if you prefer it that way. mostly so i can put the pdf on ravelry. yay ravelry!

and the pattern:

you’ll need about 80-90 yards of bulky yarn (handspun works great!), a set of size 11 dpns, and a crochet hook

co 4 sts on dpns
join around, kfb into each of the 4 co sts
-easiest way for me to do this:
..co 2 sts on each of 2 needles
..kfb into first st with 1 needle, kfb into 2nd st with 2nd needle
..kfb into first st on 2nd needle with 3rd needle, kfb into last st with 4th needle
there should now be 2 sts on each of 4 needles
kfb first st of each needle as you knit around, until you have 15 sts on each (so 60 sts total)
knit around about 9 rows, or about 2 1/2 inches, or until flattened hat measures about 6 inches from top
kfb first st of each needle, one round
knit 2 rounds with no increases
repeat those 3 rows 2 more times
knit one more increase round which should give you 19 sts per needle
bind off, crochet a trim to prevent curling (in the example i single crocheted around twice, into the back loops only)
block as needed

if you don’t want a crochet edge, you could probably knit the last 4 or 5 rows in seed stitch instead.

depending on your yarn, you may want to use make 1 increases instead of kfb for the bottom section to prevent unwanted bumps.

for my hat i used yarn spun from a milky robot batt, plied with olive-colored wool dyed by insubordiknit, with a bunch of hemp thrown in here and there. the colors are more accurate in the yarn photos than in the hat photos, which look a bit too bright. and the trim is handspun by milky robot! a little mini-skein of beauty. i love handspun yarn so much!!

life news and fun photos

i just want to let everyone know i’m alive and well, as i realize i’ve been absent from blog world for a few weeks now. some good things have been happening, to the point of overwhelming me with my lack of time to do everything rad that i need/want to do. so… this led to me… quitting my day job!! well, first, having a talk with my boss about dropping my hours down to 3 days a week. then, yesterday, him deciding that wouldn’t work and me saying ok, then i guess i have to quit. it’s something i had thought about doing, but not actually planned to do for awhile, so i was a bit freaked out at first, but then i started to get pretty excited. so now i’m a mixture of: relieved, happy, terrified, hopeful, worried, optimistic….. so i’ll still be working full time for about a month-ish, trying to buy nothing and save as much as possible, and trying to line up freelance stuff. my plan is to try out having no day job at all, for at least a couple months, see how it goes, and if it’s not working out well, find a part time job at a yarn store or something else craft-related to make things less scary.

so there’s my life update for ya. that and, pete dislocated his kneecap the other day, ouch!! so i’ve spent the last couple days taking care of him, watching lots of dvds and knitting. went to the hospital up on the hill for the first time, crazy drive! awesome architecture though… and i’m working on knitting my first top-down hat (that’s not rectangular), improvising with handspun. if it works it’ll be supercool, i think.

i’ll be updating with some specific news now and then as things become official and stuff. for now, i’ll leave you with some photos. first, some of my favorite moments from the craft release party!

the best moment – that happy girl won my record bowl set in the raffle and was SO excited! hehe yay!!

crotch patch!! yeah!!

and, a couple weeks ago we went to edgefield and i took a ton of photos on film! whoa! i’ve uploaded the regular 35mm, shot with a canon ae-1 and an old olympus from probably the 80s that my uncle gave me. i also shot a roll of 35mm through a medium format box camera, and a bunch of 600 polaroids, all of which i need to scan when i get a chance. film rocks!!

Craft party this Sunday!!

if you’re in portland, i hope you can make it to twisted on sunday!! hosted by two of my favorite crafty people – susan and diane – and held at one of my favorite crafty places, it should be an awesome time. here is more, copied from twisted’s newsletter:

If you are anywhere near Portland this weekend, please come by on Sunday for the CRAFT magazine issue 06 launch party from 1-4pm. It’s a great before- or after-Crafty Wonderland stop, with snacks and crafting and yarn and tea, oh, my! CRAFT, if you have yet to see it, is a clever, fun, and fabulous new-ish magazine, all about the crafty lifestyle. The fiesta here in Portland is being co-sponsored by two of Portland’s craftiest chicas, Susan Beal (of West Coast Crafty, PDX Supercrafty, and Susan Stars, and author of the new book Bead Simple), and Diane Gilleland (a.k.a. Sister Diane of the Church of Craft, the force behind DIY Alert, and the CraftyPod blog and podcast). Whew! Moxie, who created the insanely fantabulous monsters pictured on the front of CRAFT 06, is heading down from Seattle for some demos, and there will be the hands-on table where you can craft a few of your very own panty-hose flowers as seen in this issue. We also have a ton of projects that are in the magazine in the shop, so you can actually SEE the projects you may choose to MAKE from CRAFT. Did you know that there are project articles from Diane, Susan, and Lee Meredith in this issue of CRAFT? Three amazingly crafty Portland women in one issue of this magazine! Go Portland!

they mentioned me! haha rad! i love twisted so much… and speaking of twisted, i’m gonna be teaching a knitting class there! i’m so excited about it (and nervous!!). i’ll give more details when i know the dates.

i’m hoping to make it to crafty wonderland, the new sustainability fair at the hip drip cafe, then twisted. fun day!