Bicycle Knitting: crocheted cozy for rear baskets

I want to dedicate a series of blog post to the transformation of my bicycle.

My TREK bike was a gift from my husband many years ago. It served me well. But I had not ride it often for the past two years. Recently I decided to do some upgrade. I want it to be something that I can ride with pride.

I googled what knitting people do on their bike. There were many posts about the dress guard (like this one Simeli from Holland, and this one on Etsy). These are all cute, but the problem is I DON'T have fenders on my bike and not intended to install one. Besides, let's be honest, how often will I ride my bike when it's raining here in Southern California?

So I revisit what I need. I always want a rear basket for my bike, especially when I ride my bike to the Post Office to send off the orders from my Etsy shop. I found these folding baskets from Amazon,  and decided to improvise something.  At first I thought knitting a big rectangle that measures 13"x8.5"will be easy. But to match with the mesh basket look, I want to make something with more space in between, like a lace pattern. But then I got lazy, as to knit a lace pattern I'll need to be very exact in terms of how many stitches to cast on etc. So I took the short cut and crocheted rectangle.

It took me about an hour to finish crocheting one of this Rear Basket Cozy.  Same idea as crocheting a granny square, with a slight different set up. I follow this YouTube instruction on how to crochet a granny rectangle, and before I know it, I had my cozies =) The time I spent on installing the cozy on the basket and installing the baskets on my bike were significantly longer than the time I spent on crocheting. =D

My Next project: Seat Paddle Cozy.

Dunchess Ecstasy

This is the name I picked for

the burlesque doll I made for Alan.

She enjoys her first Chirstmas Eve party, and obviously had too much of the drinks towards the end of the part. But still, she's adorable. =)

My first attempt to knit a doll. The most challenging part is to shape the breast (still don't like the effect that much), and also the hair -- I didn't expect the styling is so difficult. I guess it will be easier if I just want a simple approach of hair-coming-out-from-the-same-spot approach. However, as a good burlesque performer, Dunchess Ecstascy deserves something better.

Merry Christmas!

I Spun It

This is what my first spinning teacher told us after 3 hours of learning how to spin on a spindle -- made your first spinning project into something, so you 'll remember it!

And this is what I had done. Well, not a recent project, consider that I had taken my first spinning class like a year ago. But I finally made it into something. =)

DO NOT ERADICATE COMMUNIST WOOL!

I found this notebook during my trip in China past summer. I always find the communist propaganda art work are naively cute. It is something about the bluntness of making a political statement that make it really laughable and lovely. I imagine that they can work with any themes -- but I mostly appreciate this one as it is fiber-related.

Netbook Cover




I made this netbook cover before I went to China during the summer. This is the first time I used my handspun yarn for a finished project, and the comments on this cover are crazy good. I found the owl embroidery on etsy -- it was a patch work for a card, but I like owl, and I stick it on the cover.

Making of this is easy. I just knit a long rectangular, sew up the sides, added crochet edging and the button holds. If I would have done this again, I will probably do the circular tube and use invisible castoff to finish the closed end of the cover.

Top-down Cardigan


This is an example to prove that how I am becoming a knitting nerd.

Since I heard about the new top-down knitting method to make a sweater, I can't wait to try. I found this pattern in an old issue of knit 1, and BAM -- here I am finished this cardigan in a week. It's not that I am desperately need a new cardigan, but I just want to know how this method work. And it's really amazing -- and I'm so happy to learn some new skills =)

I brought this yarn randomly in China, and they turn out surprisingly good for this pattern !

Scooter

Scooter
Originally uploaded by joylamyy

I'm getting my scooter decorated in knitting theme...and here's the first step. More to come, which actually involve knitting =)

Twisted Lock Alpaca Farm, Sunland, CA



I was so excited to find out that there is an alpaca farm just 15 miles away from home. Last Saturday we went to visit their open days. The alpaca were all so cute. I met Ron and his family who own the farm, and they are all very nice people. Also, Lorainne, who owns another alpaca farm in the Valley. She shared a lot of knowledge with us about alpaca, and most importantly, the spinning of their fibers =).

We got two bags of fiber from Ron. I'm spinning the raw suri alpaca for the first time. They are kind of dusty, and made my hands really dirty after I spun them. The softness of the fiber was tricky too, as when I tried to hand-card them, the fibers tend to fly all over the place. I'm so looking forward to see how the lace-weight yarn turn out when they are plyed and washed.

Check here for the photos

Alpaca = 羊駝 or some says, 「草泥馬」 =)