Tricot Machine || Les peaux de lièvres

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Crochet & Giveaway

Yep, that's right, I'm hooking. I've been wanting to teach myself to crochet for awhile but was lacking the proper motivation. The answer? Join a crochet swap and then learn.

I've been experimenting with different yarns and patterns and I think I'm getting the hang of it.


Left: Topflappen Rav Web Right: Scalloped Potholder Rav Web
Yarn: Dishcloth cotton
Hook: E, 3.5mm

The cotton's been a bit rough on my hands though so I decided to take a break and pick up some wool.


Big Blue Rav Web
Yarn: Unlabeled stash yarn
Hook: G, 4mm

I also made a purple Big Blue but I haven't taken any decent pictures yet.



Hey wait, didn't I say something about a giveaway?
Well in my enthusiasm and total nerdiness I accidentally bought 2 copies of Crobots. That's right, crochet robots. That's where you come in. Leave a comment before Friday April 17 at 5pm EST and I will randomly pick one winner to get my extra copy of the book.

Thank You!

A photo thank you for Sandra who sent Elah this super cute ella-phant brooch. Go buy your own at her store!
Elah was so excited wheat a package came that wasn't for me and was actually for her. She also totally loved the ring pop inside. :)
Thanks, Sandra!

Shoe Whore

I haven't knit a stitch since Vegas so I haven't had much to blog. I did, however, want to share two new loves in my life.


I want every single pair of shoes here. Seriously, I love, love, love these. Thanks to DFM for finding them.


I picked up Vampire Weekend yesterday and I have been listening to it constantly. You have to check them out.

Label Whore - Updated!

Lable Whore
Originally uploaded by e_to_the_m.

I created 4 labels for my Sock It To Me pal's socks. I really love little Luca Pumpkin Head's nose at the bottom but in the end I chose the label with the sheep laying down.

Update/Tutorial

There were some questions about how I made the label for my swap partner’s socks so I thought I’d type up a quick tutorial. I’ve seen other sock bands around and I know I saw a tutorial at some point but I couldn’t find it again so I decided to wing it. If anything is not clear please email me at the address below.
I created the label in Photoshop.

1. Open some pictures you think you might want to use as the background image.
2. Using the crop tool set to 3” x 10” (I chose a resolution of 300), crop the section of the image you want to use.
3. Create a new layer.
4. Using the shape tool draw a rectangle, no border, white fill. Position the rectangle on your label. Change the opacity of the rectangle’s layer to 45%.
5. Create a new layer.
6. Draw a text box and add any information you’d like.
7. Print on photo paper (or some other heavy stock), cut and wrap.

Note: If you like to print more than one label at a time and/or save some paper follow these instructions instead.
Follow steps 1-6 as above.
7. Flatten image, select all and copy.
8. Create a new document, 10” x 8” (make sure the resolution of the new document matches the resolution you chose when you cropped in step 2).
9. Paste into a new layer and place accordingly.
10. Repeat steps 7 (if using a different label) & 9 two more times.
11. Flatten image.
12. Print on photo paper (or some other heavy stock), cut and wrap.

Helpful tips:

• I save the label as a .psd document before I flatten it. That way if I inadvertently cock something up I can always open my original document and change the background image or text or reprint.
• To get you started, you can download a copy of the lamb label in . psd format. (7.4 MB)
• If something is unclear shoot me an email at knit.nerd [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

Update 2

There's a new download link. The lamb label and a few others can now be found here (in .psd format). If you need one in a different format just shoot me an email.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the other Emily!
The pattern can be found here (pdf).

Recipe For A Kool Night

1. Gather your ingredients.


2. Find a good helper


3. Watch your helper ham it up for the camera.


4. Watch that your helper doesn't help herself to the camera when you're not looking (though she does take a decent yarn shot).



5. Wash, rinse...


6. Repeat



The yarn, the Kool-Aid and some size 11 needles were a Solstice gift to Elah this (last) year. She picked the colors for our Kool-Aid dyeing; we used 2 packets of Strawberry, 2 packets of grape and, for the turquoise, one packet of arctic green apple and one packet of berry blue. We followed the tutorial on Knitty, microwave method. Elah plans to knit a hat.

Old Skool

I love it when crafty people come up with new ways to use old materials. Case in point.