I wound up nursing a headache for most of the day. I think this is because there's a cold front (which is going to become a stationary front and then drag through the other direction) parked just north of me.
And still we got no rain. I gave the garden a good soaking, and I hope we'll get decent rain this week.
I have one tiny watermelon - it's about the size of a "shooter" marble right now, but it already has the characteristic stripes on it - and I'm hoping it will continue to do well and develop. I'll have to find if any of my watering timers are still working and hook one up for when I'm gone.
(Because this time next week, if all goes as it should, I will be ON THE TRAIN going to my parents' for a short visit. I can't quite believe it but boy darn, do I need a break. Summer is always a drain on me, partly because of the heat, and partly because of the sheer pace of the classes. Going twice as fast is not fun, especially if you don't have a Time Turner.)
In the midst of moving the sprinkler about and nursing a headache (and doing piano practice is not fun with a borderline migraine, and I did notice that my dexterity was clearly compromised...just as I go somewhat dyslexic and sometimes even a bit aphasic when I'm in the midst of a migraine), I did work a LOT on the Cobblestone pullover.
I'm within about 4 inches of being finished. I'm working my way up the yoke. I've done two of the five decrease rounds (which are spaced 1" to 2" apart) and about half of the shortrowing needed.
I'm excited to be close to done with this. I definitely want to get this done before my break (and I think I will be able to, seeing as I wrote and typed up my final exams on Saturday, and the big chunk of grading - the research papers - is already done).
I think I've re-found my interest in working on bigger knitting projects, which was temporarily misplaced (I actually think my interest in knitting, period, was misplaced for part of the summer, probably evaporated away in that string of 110* days we had). I think part of it is finishing stuff. When I feel like I'm getting "nothing" done (and that counts at work, too), I feel kind of disinterested and at loose ends and don't want to work on things.
But then, when I feel like I'm accomplishing stuff (and I am, at work, too - I am more than half done with analyzing the soil organisms in the current set of samples and am well on track to being done by my break - another little goal I had), it energizes me and makes me want to work harder on stuff.
So I think it was finishing the Bird's Nest Shawl that did it - that got me energized again (at least for working on knitting). Maybe starting the soil-sample survey also helped, I don't know. (And getting the finals written and the big papers graded helped).
My next "biggish" project is going to be the Honeycomb vest from Knitty (Ummm... Spring 2008?). It will be nice as a travel project in that it is more portable than many sweaters. And hopefully it won't take too long, seeing as there are no sleeves (though there is all that cabling, and no matter what anyone says about it being faster, I am not comfortable cabling without a cable needle, so I persist in using one).
Haven't really decided on a "next shawl" project. I still have the "Providing Angst to the Crowned Heads of Europe..." scarf from TChem's pattern, but that seems like a longer term project for times when I can really concentrate.
I have yarn put aside for "The Spirit of the Southwest" shawl (a shawl with "pictures" made in lace yarn-overs - sunsets and jackrabbits and the like) which I've been wanting to do for years. And I am considering yet-another Clapotis out of some shiny pretty rose-and-green yarn that came cheap from Elann. And also, my attention is drawn by the "Invisibility Cloak" in the Harry Potter Knits book (that last one I was reminded of as ABC Family is doing one of their periodic "Harry Potter Weekends" - showing the first four movies in a long string).
I like the idea of the "invisibility cloak" (though I suppose one could argue that as a 40ish woman, I may already have my own sort of "invisibility cloak"). And I have some lovely cobalt-blue laceweight yarn I could use for it. (but meh, it's the cobweb-type yarn, which I always find harder to work with than the "jumper weight" (like fingering weight) that the Spirit of the Southwest would take. Maybe if I used a bamboo needle instead of metal? Cobweb yarn is extra-slidy and I always worry about dropping off stitches)
One thing I have been picking away at is getting out all the various patterns I've bought as single-sheets, or bought and printed off via the internet, or printed off from free pattern sites, and compiling them and putting each pattern in its own sheet-protector (dang, those things get expensive, though - but if you invested as much as $6 on a pattern, it's probably worth it for it not to get torn or otherwise wrecked) and then I'm going to organize them in binders (I did that once upon a time, but now I need a separate binder for each pattern type, instead of just one for all of them). So I may find a shawl pattern I decide I have to make RIGHT NOW that will displace the other ones I'm contemplating.
Showing posts with label new projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new projects. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Sweater love.
This is about halfway through the first skein of the Araucania - I've done the knit-in-the-round garter stitch at the bottom and have progressed to the stockinette (with a garter "stripe" under where each arm will be) on the pattern.
I love making sweaters like this. Nice and meditative - you set up the pattern and you just go. And I think the finished sweater will be very wearable. (The yarn is not as blotchy as it looks in the photo. I thought for a while about whether to allow the blotching/pooling inherent in kettle dyed yarn to fall where it may, or whether to do the more involved and annoying practice of alternating rounds from two different balls. I decided not to alternate (though I still might on the narrower parts of the sleeves) because I figured the stretches of variation are short enough that they won't stack or pool too badly. As I said, it looks a lot less blotchy and "obvious" in person; it actually gives the sweater kind of a depth of color, almost making it look velvety in places).
I also started some new "simple" socks. (Right now I seem to need projects that I can just work more or less automatically on, without consulting a chart or even counting rows).
These are being knit out of some stashed-a-long-time-back yarn, some of Lisa Souza's "Sock! Merino" in the colorway called Blueflame. (I presume "blueflame," like natural gas burning in a furnace.). It reminds me just as much of a bright fall day - blue sky, yellow sunshine, yellow leaves, red leaves.
This is another yarn I thought a bit about technique with. Did I just want to knit it up and take whatever pooling or flashing I got? Or did I want to do some kind of slipped stitch pattern? Or do three rows variegated/three rows some plain coordinating color? Or do a mock Fair Isle, with some peerie pattern featuring the colorful yarn on a black or grey background?
In the end, I decided just to take it as it comes. I think it's probably going to spiral but not pool too badly - most of the colors are coming out as slightly-less-than-one-row stripes.
Perhaps there's some underlying psychological reason for my deciding in my two most recent projects to take things as they come, rather than trying to manipulate them to give a more planned outcome. I don't know.
This is about halfway through the first skein of the Araucania - I've done the knit-in-the-round garter stitch at the bottom and have progressed to the stockinette (with a garter "stripe" under where each arm will be) on the pattern.
I love making sweaters like this. Nice and meditative - you set up the pattern and you just go. And I think the finished sweater will be very wearable. (The yarn is not as blotchy as it looks in the photo. I thought for a while about whether to allow the blotching/pooling inherent in kettle dyed yarn to fall where it may, or whether to do the more involved and annoying practice of alternating rounds from two different balls. I decided not to alternate (though I still might on the narrower parts of the sleeves) because I figured the stretches of variation are short enough that they won't stack or pool too badly. As I said, it looks a lot less blotchy and "obvious" in person; it actually gives the sweater kind of a depth of color, almost making it look velvety in places).
I also started some new "simple" socks. (Right now I seem to need projects that I can just work more or less automatically on, without consulting a chart or even counting rows).
These are being knit out of some stashed-a-long-time-back yarn, some of Lisa Souza's "Sock! Merino" in the colorway called Blueflame. (I presume "blueflame," like natural gas burning in a furnace.). It reminds me just as much of a bright fall day - blue sky, yellow sunshine, yellow leaves, red leaves.
This is another yarn I thought a bit about technique with. Did I just want to knit it up and take whatever pooling or flashing I got? Or did I want to do some kind of slipped stitch pattern? Or do three rows variegated/three rows some plain coordinating color? Or do a mock Fair Isle, with some peerie pattern featuring the colorful yarn on a black or grey background?
In the end, I decided just to take it as it comes. I think it's probably going to spiral but not pool too badly - most of the colors are coming out as slightly-less-than-one-row stripes.
Perhaps there's some underlying psychological reason for my deciding in my two most recent projects to take things as they come, rather than trying to manipulate them to give a more planned outcome. I don't know.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
I wound off the "Dandelion" colored Sea-Wool.
I do think I'm going to make that lace scarf out of it, rather than socks. I think I need a scarf project. (Well, once I finish a couple things I have going now).
I also finished most of the handwork on a "secret" project this weekend.
And added more to the first sleeve of the Sitcom Chic, but in-progress sleeves are boring to look at, so no photo. It does seem that my modification to make them longer but not baggy in the cuff has worked.
And, a dilemma.
I pulled out the red Shibui yarn that I was going to wind off for the "Spring Forward" socks - and found, in the same container with it, that purplish-blue yarn (the color is called "Bluebonnet." Appropriate, as I bought it in Texas). So now I'm not sure which one to use - I like them both but I have to admit that blue is awfully pretty. (And it will be the first opportunity for me to work with a part-bamboo yarn). So I'm going to have to think about it while I try to finish both the second Noro sock and the "Gentleman's Winter Sock."
I do think I'm going to make that lace scarf out of it, rather than socks. I think I need a scarf project. (Well, once I finish a couple things I have going now).
I also finished most of the handwork on a "secret" project this weekend.
And added more to the first sleeve of the Sitcom Chic, but in-progress sleeves are boring to look at, so no photo. It does seem that my modification to make them longer but not baggy in the cuff has worked.
And, a dilemma.
I pulled out the red Shibui yarn that I was going to wind off for the "Spring Forward" socks - and found, in the same container with it, that purplish-blue yarn (the color is called "Bluebonnet." Appropriate, as I bought it in Texas). So now I'm not sure which one to use - I like them both but I have to admit that blue is awfully pretty. (And it will be the first opportunity for me to work with a part-bamboo yarn). So I'm going to have to think about it while I try to finish both the second Noro sock and the "Gentleman's Winter Sock."
Monday, April 28, 2008
I started the new SitCom Chic, using K1C2 "Second Time Cotton." This is a "recycled" cotton yarn ("recycled" in the sense that it's pre-consumer waste; I guess it's leftovers from textile milling, re-spun and dyed).
I'm using the color called "Atlantis," which I really like - sort of a denim blue plied with a blue-green and a purplish.
Like most plied cotton yarns, it does risk splitting a little, though I found once I got past the 3 rows of ribbing and increased to the larger (size 8) needle, splitting was a lot less common.
I'm using the color called "Atlantis," which I really like - sort of a denim blue plied with a blue-green and a purplish.
Like most plied cotton yarns, it does risk splitting a little, though I found once I got past the 3 rows of ribbing and increased to the larger (size 8) needle, splitting was a lot less common.
Friday, April 18, 2008
I am very close to done with Cozy. A few more repeats of the pattern - until it is "long enough" (it is already longer than what the pattern calls for, but as I've said before - I have fairly broad shoulders and so it helps for stoles to be longer for me).
I'm not going to keep working until I run out of yarn (my original plan); it would be too long, then.
I've decided the Bird's Nest Shawl is next in the queue. Camel yarn, yay! (I bought some dk weight camel yarn from Elann a couple years back for this).
I'm also seriously considering - since the Airy Cardigan is in "time out" once again, because I'm just fed up with the hairy yarn - winding off the Second Time Cotton I bought a while back on a trip to visit my folks and starting yet another Sitcom Chic. Because the two I have, I wear all the time. It is an extremely convenient sweater for me - a good weight, it looks fairly good on me, it's feminine without being too fussy. Just generally a good pattern and a sweater that works for me. So I think I need another. (And I'm going to slightly alter the sleeves - provided I have enough yarn - to make them wrist-length. I did that on the blue SitCom chic I have and it looks a lot better on me than the 3/4 length sleeves).
I've decided - somewhat regretfully - to bail on the volunteer work I could have done this weekend. Technically I would have time (or rather, could MAKE the time), but you know? I'm TIRED. Really tired. I mean, in an emotional sense. I've been pushing really hard this week and also did last week, and the next two weeks will be challenging as well. And I've done things physically (like carrying around 50 lb pails of soil) that kind of take me to the limits of my ability these days...so I'm also kind of sore.
I kind of hate bailing, because I know there aren't all that many people who can do this (though there are people who can that never do), but I decided (well, with some influence of my mom, whom I called to say, "I have this ethical dilemma...") that I need to take care of myself, as well. And part of that is getting a good block of relaxation (as opposed to grabbing a broken-up hour or two in an evening in between doing loads of laundry)
Also: I have beans! I noticed yesterday afternoon that the little plants were up, which is good. But one thing I have to do this weekend is get some of the special tomato fertilizer and use it on my tomatoes because they're starting to look kind of peaky, and I don't know if that's because my soil is too low in nitrogen for them or if there's some kind of Magic Tomato Micronutrient that it's missing.
And I've decided as a reward for working so hard this week (and as a fluster for having the carboy explode on me yesterday), I'm going down to the little local quilt shop this afternoon. I've been taking a minute or two to dig in my fabric stash (when I go into that closet - like I did this morning to get my clothes for the day*) and finding more of my 1930s fabric stash, and I think I need to get more of the 30s reproduction solid colors so I can make more of the Grandmother's Flower Garden flowers.
I also want to cut more tumblers for the "someday" 1930s reproduction tumbler quilt.
(*I have a walk-in closet off of my sewing room where I keep most of my clothes as well as my fabric and yarn stashes. The "longer" clothes, like dresses, live in the little bedroom closet I have, because the walk-in has doubled clothes poles. I guess the woman who lived here before me had a lot of clothes.)
I'm not going to keep working until I run out of yarn (my original plan); it would be too long, then.
I've decided the Bird's Nest Shawl is next in the queue. Camel yarn, yay! (I bought some dk weight camel yarn from Elann a couple years back for this).
I'm also seriously considering - since the Airy Cardigan is in "time out" once again, because I'm just fed up with the hairy yarn - winding off the Second Time Cotton I bought a while back on a trip to visit my folks and starting yet another Sitcom Chic. Because the two I have, I wear all the time. It is an extremely convenient sweater for me - a good weight, it looks fairly good on me, it's feminine without being too fussy. Just generally a good pattern and a sweater that works for me. So I think I need another. (And I'm going to slightly alter the sleeves - provided I have enough yarn - to make them wrist-length. I did that on the blue SitCom chic I have and it looks a lot better on me than the 3/4 length sleeves).
I've decided - somewhat regretfully - to bail on the volunteer work I could have done this weekend. Technically I would have time (or rather, could MAKE the time), but you know? I'm TIRED. Really tired. I mean, in an emotional sense. I've been pushing really hard this week and also did last week, and the next two weeks will be challenging as well. And I've done things physically (like carrying around 50 lb pails of soil) that kind of take me to the limits of my ability these days...so I'm also kind of sore.
I kind of hate bailing, because I know there aren't all that many people who can do this (though there are people who can that never do), but I decided (well, with some influence of my mom, whom I called to say, "I have this ethical dilemma...") that I need to take care of myself, as well. And part of that is getting a good block of relaxation (as opposed to grabbing a broken-up hour or two in an evening in between doing loads of laundry)
Also: I have beans! I noticed yesterday afternoon that the little plants were up, which is good. But one thing I have to do this weekend is get some of the special tomato fertilizer and use it on my tomatoes because they're starting to look kind of peaky, and I don't know if that's because my soil is too low in nitrogen for them or if there's some kind of Magic Tomato Micronutrient that it's missing.
And I've decided as a reward for working so hard this week (and as a fluster for having the carboy explode on me yesterday), I'm going down to the little local quilt shop this afternoon. I've been taking a minute or two to dig in my fabric stash (when I go into that closet - like I did this morning to get my clothes for the day*) and finding more of my 1930s fabric stash, and I think I need to get more of the 30s reproduction solid colors so I can make more of the Grandmother's Flower Garden flowers.
I also want to cut more tumblers for the "someday" 1930s reproduction tumbler quilt.
(*I have a walk-in closet off of my sewing room where I keep most of my clothes as well as my fabric and yarn stashes. The "longer" clothes, like dresses, live in the little bedroom closet I have, because the walk-in has doubled clothes poles. I guess the woman who lived here before me had a lot of clothes.)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Starting new stuff.
This always makes me happy.
The other night, wanting a new pair of simple socks ("purse socks," as some on Ravelry call them - a sock project you carry in your purse in case you get stuck waiting somewhere), I pulled out some of the Kureyon sock yarn I bought back in December and started. I'm doing 80 sts on size 0 needles, because the Kureyon is VERY fine and also kind of unevenly spun.
I have to admit I'm unconvinced as to its wonderfulness, but I'm holding off on totally deciding (and offering the other ball I have as a swap item) until I finish the socks and get them washed. I've heard the yarn is much nicer once you soak it a bit in water with a little shampoo.
I'm also finishing up my first Pay it Forward project and am preparing to start the second - this one will be crocheted and it's a pattern that, if it works out well, will be a good gift-pattern for several folks I know because it's a neat little thing that is useful.
I also want to start a new shawl now that both the Landscape Shawl and the latest Clapotis is off the needles. I'm sort of torn between doing the Bird's Nest Shawl that I have camel yarn in-stash for, and some kind of lacier shawl out of skinny yarn. I'm still thinking on this one.
And I started a new quilt - I'm doing a pattern called Bento Box (there are two patterns named that out there; this one is a modification of the Log Cabin - an example of a finished quilt is here). I'm using some very bright, sort of 70s-inspired (wild paisleys and the like) prints. (The colors aren't exactly what I think of as 70s colors, though - there's brown and sort of candylike pastels: turquoise and lilac and peach and pink are the dominant colors).
I also want to start another Tumbler quilt. I like doing the one-patch type quilts, and I also like how they look when they're done. (And I already have the template for cutting tumblers). I think this one will be more charm-quilt-like and I will use my large stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics. I'm thinking what I might do is just pull out fabrics here and there and cut two or three patches out of each as I feel like doing some cutting-out, and eventually build up a large enough pile to make the quilt. If I'm really organized, I'll figure out ahead of time how many I need and keep a tally of how many I cut so I'll know when it's time to sew. (And, of course, if it turns out I don't have enough different fabrics...the new-ish little quilt shop that is RIGHT IN MY TOWN has some of the 30s reproduction fabrics).
Yes. Little quilt shop RIGHT IN MY TOWN.
You don't know how big that is for me. This is the first real craft-oriented shop we've got, and it's a craft-oriented shop that caters to one of my loves. It makes me very happy to have the idea of going down to it "in my pocket" so to speak - if I have a really bad day I can tell myself, "If you can get off campus while the quilt shop is still open, you could always go down and see if they have anything new or get yourself a fat quarter or a new packet of needles." Or if I have a Saturday afternoon when I'm kind of bumming around and just need to get out and have some fun, I can run over there and wander among the bolts of fabric for a while.
It's funny but I never realized how happy that makes me. It's kind of like my grad-school days when Babbitt's Books was just a few blocks from my office, and when the data didn't behave (or when I'd worked really well all morning and deserved a little treat), I could walk down there and look at used books for a while and see if there was anything I wanted.
Because quilt shops (and yarn shops, and book stores) are kind of my Tiffany's. (Remember Holly Golightly? "Nothing bad can happen to you in there"?). It feeds my soul to have it there, even if I don't go in very often.
This always makes me happy.
The other night, wanting a new pair of simple socks ("purse socks," as some on Ravelry call them - a sock project you carry in your purse in case you get stuck waiting somewhere), I pulled out some of the Kureyon sock yarn I bought back in December and started. I'm doing 80 sts on size 0 needles, because the Kureyon is VERY fine and also kind of unevenly spun.
I have to admit I'm unconvinced as to its wonderfulness, but I'm holding off on totally deciding (and offering the other ball I have as a swap item) until I finish the socks and get them washed. I've heard the yarn is much nicer once you soak it a bit in water with a little shampoo.
I'm also finishing up my first Pay it Forward project and am preparing to start the second - this one will be crocheted and it's a pattern that, if it works out well, will be a good gift-pattern for several folks I know because it's a neat little thing that is useful.
I also want to start a new shawl now that both the Landscape Shawl and the latest Clapotis is off the needles. I'm sort of torn between doing the Bird's Nest Shawl that I have camel yarn in-stash for, and some kind of lacier shawl out of skinny yarn. I'm still thinking on this one.
And I started a new quilt - I'm doing a pattern called Bento Box (there are two patterns named that out there; this one is a modification of the Log Cabin - an example of a finished quilt is here). I'm using some very bright, sort of 70s-inspired (wild paisleys and the like) prints. (The colors aren't exactly what I think of as 70s colors, though - there's brown and sort of candylike pastels: turquoise and lilac and peach and pink are the dominant colors).
I also want to start another Tumbler quilt. I like doing the one-patch type quilts, and I also like how they look when they're done. (And I already have the template for cutting tumblers). I think this one will be more charm-quilt-like and I will use my large stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics. I'm thinking what I might do is just pull out fabrics here and there and cut two or three patches out of each as I feel like doing some cutting-out, and eventually build up a large enough pile to make the quilt. If I'm really organized, I'll figure out ahead of time how many I need and keep a tally of how many I cut so I'll know when it's time to sew. (And, of course, if it turns out I don't have enough different fabrics...the new-ish little quilt shop that is RIGHT IN MY TOWN has some of the 30s reproduction fabrics).
Yes. Little quilt shop RIGHT IN MY TOWN.
You don't know how big that is for me. This is the first real craft-oriented shop we've got, and it's a craft-oriented shop that caters to one of my loves. It makes me very happy to have the idea of going down to it "in my pocket" so to speak - if I have a really bad day I can tell myself, "If you can get off campus while the quilt shop is still open, you could always go down and see if they have anything new or get yourself a fat quarter or a new packet of needles." Or if I have a Saturday afternoon when I'm kind of bumming around and just need to get out and have some fun, I can run over there and wander among the bolts of fabric for a while.
It's funny but I never realized how happy that makes me. It's kind of like my grad-school days when Babbitt's Books was just a few blocks from my office, and when the data didn't behave (or when I'd worked really well all morning and deserved a little treat), I could walk down there and look at used books for a while and see if there was anything I wanted.
Because quilt shops (and yarn shops, and book stores) are kind of my Tiffany's. (Remember Holly Golightly? "Nothing bad can happen to you in there"?). It feeds my soul to have it there, even if I don't go in very often.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I cast on and started the edging (and got about 1/5 of the way done) last night.
(I will edit to add a picture when flickr gets over its hiccups. Yes, that is the error message they are giving me. Flickr has the hiccups. I wonder if this is going to mean it has to go for a massage...the other error message that sometimes comes up).
Or, heck. maybe I can remember the photo numbers and try Blogger upload.
Okay. there it is.
I took this with flash so the stitches are a bit washed out, but the color is fairly true. This is the sort-of "peplum" thing that's around the bottom of the Airy Cardigan - it's about 16 sts knit back and forth to give sort of a ribbed pattern (ribbed by rows, not by stitches). Then what you do when you've knit enough of this thing, is pick up stitches along the top edge, and knit the body from there. It's a little different, but trying something a little different is good.
You may also see that this one has the Dreaded Provisional Crochet Cast-On. I don't know why but I always cringe a little having to do that - and then wonder what was so bad. I'm using crochet cotton here because the yarn is REALLY hairy and I wanted something that would be easy to take out.
I also pulled out my small stash of vintage Czech glass buttons. I have two different kinds of pale blue buttons (wouldn't work), a package of tan (which I was remembering as cream, and is the wrong color for this), a packet with three fancy scrollworked black buttons (not enough), the black iridescent buttons I mentioned earlier, and some little white buttons.
The white buttons are a tad smaller than what's called for (they're closer to 1/2") but the black buttons are larger (3/4").
Here they are:
(Flickr, I am happy to report, is now over its hiccups).
I prefer the white ones - at least for now. You can't easily see in that photo that they have a tiny pattern embossed on them, and the "white" is actually overlain with a clear glass that is just slightly iridescent - and is iridescent mainly in the "pinkish" shades. So I think these will be close to perfect for the sweater.
I'm glad I bought the buttons now. They were kind of expensive at the time but I kept telling myself, "But they're vintage and you will probably never find them again and besides do you want to think of some PERSON buying them and maybe breaking the backs off and gluing them onto a birdbath or some-dang-thing and denying their True Button Nature? It is your duty to buy these and to gently and lovingly use them as buttons on one of your handmade garments!"
(I will edit to add a picture when flickr gets over its hiccups. Yes, that is the error message they are giving me. Flickr has the hiccups. I wonder if this is going to mean it has to go for a massage...the other error message that sometimes comes up).
Or, heck. maybe I can remember the photo numbers and try Blogger upload.
Okay. there it is.
I took this with flash so the stitches are a bit washed out, but the color is fairly true. This is the sort-of "peplum" thing that's around the bottom of the Airy Cardigan - it's about 16 sts knit back and forth to give sort of a ribbed pattern (ribbed by rows, not by stitches). Then what you do when you've knit enough of this thing, is pick up stitches along the top edge, and knit the body from there. It's a little different, but trying something a little different is good.
You may also see that this one has the Dreaded Provisional Crochet Cast-On. I don't know why but I always cringe a little having to do that - and then wonder what was so bad. I'm using crochet cotton here because the yarn is REALLY hairy and I wanted something that would be easy to take out.
I also pulled out my small stash of vintage Czech glass buttons. I have two different kinds of pale blue buttons (wouldn't work), a package of tan (which I was remembering as cream, and is the wrong color for this), a packet with three fancy scrollworked black buttons (not enough), the black iridescent buttons I mentioned earlier, and some little white buttons.
The white buttons are a tad smaller than what's called for (they're closer to 1/2") but the black buttons are larger (3/4").
Here they are:
(Flickr, I am happy to report, is now over its hiccups).
I prefer the white ones - at least for now. You can't easily see in that photo that they have a tiny pattern embossed on them, and the "white" is actually overlain with a clear glass that is just slightly iridescent - and is iridescent mainly in the "pinkish" shades. So I think these will be close to perfect for the sweater.
I'm glad I bought the buttons now. They were kind of expensive at the time but I kept telling myself, "But they're vintage and you will probably never find them again and besides do you want to think of some PERSON buying them and maybe breaking the backs off and gluing them onto a birdbath or some-dang-thing and denying their True Button Nature? It is your duty to buy these and to gently and lovingly use them as buttons on one of your handmade garments!"
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I tried a second swatch (with fewer rows; I didn't have as much time last night) using a size 9 needle.
At first I thought it was not going to work, but when I stretched the resulting fabric laterally (so as to get stitch gauge), it turns out I got row gauge as well. And I like this fabric better - it still stretches but it is not so loose as the previous trial.
I'm excited to start this sweater. I realized, while working on the swatch and looking at the photo, that the sweater calls for five, 5/8" buttons. I think one of the sets of the vintage Czech glass buttons I've bought from The Antique Collection will work - and this sweater is the ideal use for them. They won't be called on to do heavy-duty (I would rarely, if ever, button the sweater closed), when the sweater gets washed it will be done carefully and by hand - so the buttons' safest use is on a garment like this. (And I think, if I have the right color, they will look nice. I think I have a cream colored set and a black iridescent set, either of which should work).
So size 9" needle it is, with some careful blocking at the end to make the sweater short enough but wide enough. (I'm going to do the 42 1/2" size. That's like an inch of negative ease on me through the bust, but again - I'm rarely going to button the thing. And since it's a "girly" sweater it needs to be more fitted, and the dimensions of that size elsewhere (like the sleeves, for example) are the ones that would make it fitted. And at any rate, the fabric, even on the smaller needles, is quite stretchy.)
At first I thought it was not going to work, but when I stretched the resulting fabric laterally (so as to get stitch gauge), it turns out I got row gauge as well. And I like this fabric better - it still stretches but it is not so loose as the previous trial.
I'm excited to start this sweater. I realized, while working on the swatch and looking at the photo, that the sweater calls for five, 5/8" buttons. I think one of the sets of the vintage Czech glass buttons I've bought from The Antique Collection will work - and this sweater is the ideal use for them. They won't be called on to do heavy-duty (I would rarely, if ever, button the sweater closed), when the sweater gets washed it will be done carefully and by hand - so the buttons' safest use is on a garment like this. (And I think, if I have the right color, they will look nice. I think I have a cream colored set and a black iridescent set, either of which should work).
So size 9" needle it is, with some careful blocking at the end to make the sweater short enough but wide enough. (I'm going to do the 42 1/2" size. That's like an inch of negative ease on me through the bust, but again - I'm rarely going to button the thing. And since it's a "girly" sweater it needs to be more fitted, and the dimensions of that size elsewhere (like the sleeves, for example) are the ones that would make it fitted. And at any rate, the fabric, even on the smaller needles, is quite stretchy.)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Jeri: Here's the link for the crocheted cat: Amineko pattern
I notice that a few times when I've tried to click to it, it's been down, so I don't know if the person who hosts it has an unreliable host or something.
****
New projects, old projects.
First of all: swatchy.
This is the test-swatch for the Airy Cardigan. I got stitch gauge but not row gauge and the fabric is very open and stretchy (this swatch being done with a size 10 (US) needle, the recommended size). I'm considering doing another swatch on a 9 to see how that changes things...as it is, I'm not crazy about the fabric because of the extreme stretchiness.
Second: piecing.
I decided I wanted to finish the "Straits of Georgia" quilt sometime.
Do you experience, that when something goes a little wonky with a project, you're less than motivated to work on it? I had a problem with these blocks - they didn't come out perfectly square, and as the finished size is supposed to be 6 1/2", the "pre-sewn together" size needs to be 7". None of the blocks were 7" across any dimension and that bugged me.
Finally, I decided that non-square-ness bugged me more than not-right-sized-ness so I squared up the blocks I had (and some more I made this weekend) to 6 3/4", which means the finished blocks will be 6 1/4". Not a big change; it will affect the finished size by less than 3".
So here are examples of the finished blocks. I'm not sure I'm going to keep to that arrangement for the final quilt; I want to play around and see how different arrangements work.
I notice that a few times when I've tried to click to it, it's been down, so I don't know if the person who hosts it has an unreliable host or something.
****
New projects, old projects.
First of all: swatchy.
This is the test-swatch for the Airy Cardigan. I got stitch gauge but not row gauge and the fabric is very open and stretchy (this swatch being done with a size 10 (US) needle, the recommended size). I'm considering doing another swatch on a 9 to see how that changes things...as it is, I'm not crazy about the fabric because of the extreme stretchiness.
Second: piecing.
I decided I wanted to finish the "Straits of Georgia" quilt sometime.
Do you experience, that when something goes a little wonky with a project, you're less than motivated to work on it? I had a problem with these blocks - they didn't come out perfectly square, and as the finished size is supposed to be 6 1/2", the "pre-sewn together" size needs to be 7". None of the blocks were 7" across any dimension and that bugged me.
Finally, I decided that non-square-ness bugged me more than not-right-sized-ness so I squared up the blocks I had (and some more I made this weekend) to 6 3/4", which means the finished blocks will be 6 1/4". Not a big change; it will affect the finished size by less than 3".
So here are examples of the finished blocks. I'm not sure I'm going to keep to that arrangement for the final quilt; I want to play around and see how different arrangements work.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
A couple of newer projects I haven't talked about yet.
I made a skirt (no picture...if there's huge demand for a picture I'll take one the first time I wear it) over break and just finished the hemming yesterday evening (I tend to hand-hem things; I think it looks neater). It's just a simple, fairly straight, slightly-below-knee-length skirt in a dark hunter-green polyester tweed (polyester, yes, but nice polyester: it looks like wool but is not so heavy and is easier to care for). This was one of the purchases at the Sewing Studio's New Year's Day sale- it was originally something like $20 a yard and I got it for about five. (Sometimes, it's almost faster - and less expensive - for me to make things like skirts than it is for me to search the malls and shops. Very often, when I want something specific, what is "in fashion" for that season isn't it. I remember when I was 13, wanting a plain grey preferably-wool cardigan very much - and trolling through TWO malls plus some stand-alone shops for one, and it was a year when the "in" colors for women were black, white, navy blue, and red. And the "in" fabric was that sort of waffley cotton stuff [if I remember correctly]. I finally found a cardigan in the men's section at a Sym's where my dad was shopping for a suit.
Incidentally, I still have that cardigan - it's developed a few tiny holes I had to repair (I think I had moths one season I lived in Ann Arbor) and it's got a little tatty over the years- but I still wear it occasionally. And yeah, I've had it for 25 years now.
(Funny thought: that sweater is older than some of my students.)
I like to buy things that don't go out of style. Or if they do, they look merely eccentric on me, rather than ludicrous (which is how some of the women's sweaters circa 1984 would look on me today had I just settled and bought one of those).
But anyway: good plain green skirt. I did alter the pattern slightly to insert a pocket in the non-zipper side, because I greatly prefer having a place to put my keys so I don't lose them. (I don't like carrying a purse into class).
I'm also knitting another pair of the simple ribbed socks from the beginning of Vintage Knitted Socks - the Oak Ribbed Sock this time. I'm using some of the Opal Rainforest III collection - the one called "Lily, the Sweet-tooth" (or at least that's how it's translated, I think). The butterfly it's patterned after looks a lot like the yellow color form of the tiger swallowtail.
The socks are coming out quite pretty; the colors almost have kind of a "vintage" feel to them - the soft blue and yellow against the black.
I think an exploration of ribbed socks - there are an awful lots of types of ribbing out there - is a good way to use some of the self-patterning yarns I've accumulated. The results are a bit more interesting to make (and less baggy to wear) than just the plain "rib 2 inches then do stockinette for the rest of the leg" type sock pattern.
I do still want to swatch for the Airy Cardigan; I have the yarn sitting on my coffee table with the pattern but just haven't gotten around to it.
I made a skirt (no picture...if there's huge demand for a picture I'll take one the first time I wear it) over break and just finished the hemming yesterday evening (I tend to hand-hem things; I think it looks neater). It's just a simple, fairly straight, slightly-below-knee-length skirt in a dark hunter-green polyester tweed (polyester, yes, but nice polyester: it looks like wool but is not so heavy and is easier to care for). This was one of the purchases at the Sewing Studio's New Year's Day sale- it was originally something like $20 a yard and I got it for about five. (Sometimes, it's almost faster - and less expensive - for me to make things like skirts than it is for me to search the malls and shops. Very often, when I want something specific, what is "in fashion" for that season isn't it. I remember when I was 13, wanting a plain grey preferably-wool cardigan very much - and trolling through TWO malls plus some stand-alone shops for one, and it was a year when the "in" colors for women were black, white, navy blue, and red. And the "in" fabric was that sort of waffley cotton stuff [if I remember correctly]. I finally found a cardigan in the men's section at a Sym's where my dad was shopping for a suit.
Incidentally, I still have that cardigan - it's developed a few tiny holes I had to repair (I think I had moths one season I lived in Ann Arbor) and it's got a little tatty over the years- but I still wear it occasionally. And yeah, I've had it for 25 years now.
(Funny thought: that sweater is older than some of my students.)
I like to buy things that don't go out of style. Or if they do, they look merely eccentric on me, rather than ludicrous (which is how some of the women's sweaters circa 1984 would look on me today had I just settled and bought one of those).
But anyway: good plain green skirt. I did alter the pattern slightly to insert a pocket in the non-zipper side, because I greatly prefer having a place to put my keys so I don't lose them. (I don't like carrying a purse into class).
I'm also knitting another pair of the simple ribbed socks from the beginning of Vintage Knitted Socks - the Oak Ribbed Sock this time. I'm using some of the Opal Rainforest III collection - the one called "Lily, the Sweet-tooth" (or at least that's how it's translated, I think). The butterfly it's patterned after looks a lot like the yellow color form of the tiger swallowtail.
The socks are coming out quite pretty; the colors almost have kind of a "vintage" feel to them - the soft blue and yellow against the black.
I think an exploration of ribbed socks - there are an awful lots of types of ribbing out there - is a good way to use some of the self-patterning yarns I've accumulated. The results are a bit more interesting to make (and less baggy to wear) than just the plain "rib 2 inches then do stockinette for the rest of the leg" type sock pattern.
I do still want to swatch for the Airy Cardigan; I have the yarn sitting on my coffee table with the pattern but just haven't gotten around to it.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
And in a week, I will be leaving for my Thanksgiving vacation!
I am now glad I decided to travel rather than making my family travel. I am looking forward to getting to see people I haven't seen in five months (or more; some of my friends up there I didn't get to see on my last trip). I am looking forward to my mom's cooking. I am looking forward to some unfettered knitting time. And I am looking forward to being able to get a "guest password" at my old university's library and spend a day getting journal articles that are hard to get here.
I'm already contemplating what books and projects to bring. I think the only "big" thing I'm going to take is the Landscape Shawl (which I do want to finish but which never seems to demand my time when I'm at home).
And I'm taking the Lady Detective Hat, if it's not completed yet. (I'm not loving the twisted-stitch pattern that you make the crown out of. Oh, I like it architecturally - it looks good and it does what it needs to (making a firm and not floppy fabric so the crown keeps its shape). But it's so dang TIGHT to knit, and the needles I have don't like doing that k2tog after the p2tog - I keep dropping the working yarn. So I'll be glad when this one is done.)
If the Miranda and Snicket socks are not done yet, they are coming too. And I'll probably take more sockyarn, maybe wind off some blue Schaefer Anne I have (Color "Peter." I don't know if that's an allusion to the jacket Peter Rabbit wore [it's a similar color] or if it's an allusion to the UK kids' program [which I have never seen but have heard of].) I've been looking at the Vintage Knitting Socks book again and decided I want to make that sock with the diaper and citron pattern, but I want a solid (or nearly-solid) for it. Stash to the rescue, again.
And I also have a complex colorworked sock pattern - I think I originally bought it from Lisa Souza's site but I don't see the pattern there any more - it's based on some different tile patterns from places in Asia Minor; I'm going to do the one called "Thessalonika" and I have some deep-blue and sort-of-mulberry yarn (from her Sock! line) to make it out of. I want to wind those off and start THAT sometime - another stash project.
(I love my stash. I know a lot of people have really conflicted feelings about what yarn they have on hand - either because they want a more mobile lifestyle (or are planning to move sometime soon), or it's all tied up with their concerns about consumption and about how much of the Earth's resources they use. Or something.
And I have to admit, I do sometimes feel a bit guilty on that last point. (But then again - wool is a renewable resource, at least).
But I do love my stash. It makes me happy to go and look at it, to plot and plan what I'm going to make out of the yarn I have stored there. Or to find a yarn I bought for one thing and realize it's actually perfect for another thing that I've decided I want more.
It brings me a sense of security - they were making vague noises about "recession" on the news this morning and it strikes me that if the economy really tanks and I need to pull back on spending (because my retirement dollars are going poof and I need to start chunking stuff into the savings account, which at least has the virtue of being SAFE even if it earns next-to-no interest), I've got my stash to rely on.
Or if the bird flu strikes and we all have to hole up in our own little houses, I will be occupied and happy, working down my stash.
And you know? Since joining Ravelry and making my queue and spending more time LOOKING at the stash, I've been less tempted to buy yarn or even look at on-line yarn purveyors - I'm far more prone to "shop the stash" for what I need. Which is good.
This morning, I walked into my room and saw the bag from the trip I made to Longview still sitting there (it still has the Araucania and the fluffy mohair stuff and the yarn for the Koolhaas hat and the unicorn yarn, plus a couple other things I dug out of the stash and stuck in there instead of putting them back). And I kind of smiled, and I said, "Y'arr! 'Tis me booty!"
Yes, I do feel kind of like a pirate with treasure when it comes to my yarn. Or like Smaug the dragon (only not, you know, evil) with his gold and jewels...if I WERE a dragon, I'd probably pile all the yarn up and lie on it like he did with his gold. That's how much I love having it and love having it available to knit with. )
I am now glad I decided to travel rather than making my family travel. I am looking forward to getting to see people I haven't seen in five months (or more; some of my friends up there I didn't get to see on my last trip). I am looking forward to my mom's cooking. I am looking forward to some unfettered knitting time. And I am looking forward to being able to get a "guest password" at my old university's library and spend a day getting journal articles that are hard to get here.
I'm already contemplating what books and projects to bring. I think the only "big" thing I'm going to take is the Landscape Shawl (which I do want to finish but which never seems to demand my time when I'm at home).
And I'm taking the Lady Detective Hat, if it's not completed yet. (I'm not loving the twisted-stitch pattern that you make the crown out of. Oh, I like it architecturally - it looks good and it does what it needs to (making a firm and not floppy fabric so the crown keeps its shape). But it's so dang TIGHT to knit, and the needles I have don't like doing that k2tog after the p2tog - I keep dropping the working yarn. So I'll be glad when this one is done.)
If the Miranda and Snicket socks are not done yet, they are coming too. And I'll probably take more sockyarn, maybe wind off some blue Schaefer Anne I have (Color "Peter." I don't know if that's an allusion to the jacket Peter Rabbit wore [it's a similar color] or if it's an allusion to the UK kids' program [which I have never seen but have heard of].) I've been looking at the Vintage Knitting Socks book again and decided I want to make that sock with the diaper and citron pattern, but I want a solid (or nearly-solid) for it. Stash to the rescue, again.
And I also have a complex colorworked sock pattern - I think I originally bought it from Lisa Souza's site but I don't see the pattern there any more - it's based on some different tile patterns from places in Asia Minor; I'm going to do the one called "Thessalonika" and I have some deep-blue and sort-of-mulberry yarn (from her Sock! line) to make it out of. I want to wind those off and start THAT sometime - another stash project.
(I love my stash. I know a lot of people have really conflicted feelings about what yarn they have on hand - either because they want a more mobile lifestyle (or are planning to move sometime soon), or it's all tied up with their concerns about consumption and about how much of the Earth's resources they use. Or something.
And I have to admit, I do sometimes feel a bit guilty on that last point. (But then again - wool is a renewable resource, at least).
But I do love my stash. It makes me happy to go and look at it, to plot and plan what I'm going to make out of the yarn I have stored there. Or to find a yarn I bought for one thing and realize it's actually perfect for another thing that I've decided I want more.
It brings me a sense of security - they were making vague noises about "recession" on the news this morning and it strikes me that if the economy really tanks and I need to pull back on spending (because my retirement dollars are going poof and I need to start chunking stuff into the savings account, which at least has the virtue of being SAFE even if it earns next-to-no interest), I've got my stash to rely on.
Or if the bird flu strikes and we all have to hole up in our own little houses, I will be occupied and happy, working down my stash.
And you know? Since joining Ravelry and making my queue and spending more time LOOKING at the stash, I've been less tempted to buy yarn or even look at on-line yarn purveyors - I'm far more prone to "shop the stash" for what I need. Which is good.
This morning, I walked into my room and saw the bag from the trip I made to Longview still sitting there (it still has the Araucania and the fluffy mohair stuff and the yarn for the Koolhaas hat and the unicorn yarn, plus a couple other things I dug out of the stash and stuck in there instead of putting them back). And I kind of smiled, and I said, "Y'arr! 'Tis me booty!"
Yes, I do feel kind of like a pirate with treasure when it comes to my yarn. Or like Smaug the dragon (only not, you know, evil) with his gold and jewels...if I WERE a dragon, I'd probably pile all the yarn up and lie on it like he did with his gold. That's how much I love having it and love having it available to knit with. )
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
I have the u-necked "Back to School" vest (from Fitted Knits) almost finished:
All it lacks are neck and collar bands, and I didn't quite have the energy to (a) hunt up the correct needle for that from my needle collection and (b) pick up all those stitches.
But I do love this vest. I particularly love the thermal "waffle" stitch:
I worked on a couple other things last night. I picked up the stitches for, and began the "straight" part of the crown, on the Lady Detective Hat:
It doesn't look like much now but I'm hoping with finishing and blocking it will look a bit more chi-chi.
I also started a new amigurumi:
And it's true - the cheap acrylic yarns are easier to work with for these.
I've always liked making toys. They were about the first project I ever made - I learned to hand-sew when I was 6 or so, and learned to crochet at 8 (Knitting came two years later). I was young enough when I learned to do those things that being able to make my own toys - my own "friends" - was kind of magic. (Oh, I realized, even in those early days, that they were "just" toys. But it still seemed kind of magic.)
I was sort of a lonely child - I didn't have a lot of friends, and many of my friends lived on the other side of town and I didn't get to see them often. So I spent a lot of time alone, making stuff or creating elaborate situations (like little stage-plays) and moving my various characters through them - I think my two favorite types of toys were my stuffed animals and those little plastic zoo (and farm, and other - I had a set of "dog breeds of the world") animals that used to be so common. (You don't see them much any more - they used to be a very common toy at places like Woolworth's - a plastic bag of maybe 20 or so different animals, made of plastic, ranging in size from about an inch to maybe two inches).
Being able to make toys was kind of a big thing, though - for one thing, I didn't have a lot of allowance money to spend on toys, so getting a new one from the store meant weeks of planning (and going without things like the penny candy they sold at a little store in my hometown called The Attic). But making toys - I could ask my mom if I could use some bits of fabric or yarn she had (she almost always said yes).
The other thing was- there was the idea that I had something that no one else had, exactly. You could go into the dimestore and all the little bags of zoo animals were more or less alike - or you could go to Reserve Exchange (another store in my hometown) and buy a little Dakin stuffed toy (probably made in China, even then) and have it be the clone of thousands of others. But when I made my own critters - especially when I made up my own patterns - it was totally my own.
And I think I became more attached to the toys I made - I guess I felt that I was their "mother" in a way that was different from the store-bought ones. I still have some of them (I think a year or two ago I posted a picture of the fillyjonk doll I made when I was 10 or 11.)
I continued to make the toys - heck, I continue to make them today - even past the age when it was generally considered to be okay to be playing with those sort of things, or even really having them around. But the magic and the fun of it never quite went away - I never grew out of it. And just like the famous C.S. Lewis quote about how what some people view as "childish" books are not that - that there is no book worth reading at 10 that is not worth re-reading at 50 - I hope that I never grow out of the feeling of happiness and, yes, a little magic that I feel when making "critters."
All it lacks are neck and collar bands, and I didn't quite have the energy to (a) hunt up the correct needle for that from my needle collection and (b) pick up all those stitches.
But I do love this vest. I particularly love the thermal "waffle" stitch:
I worked on a couple other things last night. I picked up the stitches for, and began the "straight" part of the crown, on the Lady Detective Hat:
It doesn't look like much now but I'm hoping with finishing and blocking it will look a bit more chi-chi.
I also started a new amigurumi:
And it's true - the cheap acrylic yarns are easier to work with for these.
I've always liked making toys. They were about the first project I ever made - I learned to hand-sew when I was 6 or so, and learned to crochet at 8 (Knitting came two years later). I was young enough when I learned to do those things that being able to make my own toys - my own "friends" - was kind of magic. (Oh, I realized, even in those early days, that they were "just" toys. But it still seemed kind of magic.)
I was sort of a lonely child - I didn't have a lot of friends, and many of my friends lived on the other side of town and I didn't get to see them often. So I spent a lot of time alone, making stuff or creating elaborate situations (like little stage-plays) and moving my various characters through them - I think my two favorite types of toys were my stuffed animals and those little plastic zoo (and farm, and other - I had a set of "dog breeds of the world") animals that used to be so common. (You don't see them much any more - they used to be a very common toy at places like Woolworth's - a plastic bag of maybe 20 or so different animals, made of plastic, ranging in size from about an inch to maybe two inches).
Being able to make toys was kind of a big thing, though - for one thing, I didn't have a lot of allowance money to spend on toys, so getting a new one from the store meant weeks of planning (and going without things like the penny candy they sold at a little store in my hometown called The Attic). But making toys - I could ask my mom if I could use some bits of fabric or yarn she had (she almost always said yes).
The other thing was- there was the idea that I had something that no one else had, exactly. You could go into the dimestore and all the little bags of zoo animals were more or less alike - or you could go to Reserve Exchange (another store in my hometown) and buy a little Dakin stuffed toy (probably made in China, even then) and have it be the clone of thousands of others. But when I made my own critters - especially when I made up my own patterns - it was totally my own.
And I think I became more attached to the toys I made - I guess I felt that I was their "mother" in a way that was different from the store-bought ones. I still have some of them (I think a year or two ago I posted a picture of the fillyjonk doll I made when I was 10 or 11.)
I continued to make the toys - heck, I continue to make them today - even past the age when it was generally considered to be okay to be playing with those sort of things, or even really having them around. But the magic and the fun of it never quite went away - I never grew out of it. And just like the famous C.S. Lewis quote about how what some people view as "childish" books are not that - that there is no book worth reading at 10 that is not worth re-reading at 50 - I hope that I never grow out of the feeling of happiness and, yes, a little magic that I feel when making "critters."
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Oh, and a wrap-up:
"Start-over" projects finished:
Bloom from Knitty
the Neapolitan socks
the Stansfield 27 scarf
the really bright Retro-Rib socks
Stalls broken on
Crochet Totoro
Landscape shawl
Progress made on
Kenobi
U-Necked vest
Didn't even touch
the crochet blanket
the quilts
Samus
Cozy
And now, it's November. And I'm giving myself license to start some new things. I wound off the Noro Iro last night and cast on for the Lady Detective Hat - this looks to be a fairly fast knit. I want to do this one because I can take it (either in-progress or finished) with me when I go visit my folks over Thanksgiving (less than 2 weeks! I go in less than 2 weeks!) and can look through the buttons and buckles and stuff from my grandma's and see if there's a buckle that will work. (And if not? There's Sewing Studio with their wonderful dressmaker supplies).
I also photographed some of my "stash" and posted it on Ravelry. Not sure how much of this I will do; I might put up some of the more "unusual" yarns (the ones not widely available everywhere) or the yarns I bought for one thing and decided I didn't want to use for it - so I can "browse patterns" and see what else I could do with it.
I dug out the skein of Mer-Made from Blackberry Ridge to photograph it. It's sitting on the desk next to me now, tempting me to try casting on something from it. I might browse slipped-stitch patterns - this is another VERY busy variegated and I'm coming to the conclusion that they need something like slipped stitches to quiet them down.
I was originally planning on doing (I think it was) the New England Socks out of Knitting on the Road - but I'm not sure how the yarn and a lace pattern will work together. I might just do another pair of the "classy slip-ups" slipped stitch socks from "Knit Socks!"
"Start-over" projects finished:
Bloom from Knitty
the Neapolitan socks
the Stansfield 27 scarf
the really bright Retro-Rib socks
Stalls broken on
Crochet Totoro
Landscape shawl
Progress made on
Kenobi
U-Necked vest
Didn't even touch
the crochet blanket
the quilts
Samus
Cozy
And now, it's November. And I'm giving myself license to start some new things. I wound off the Noro Iro last night and cast on for the Lady Detective Hat - this looks to be a fairly fast knit. I want to do this one because I can take it (either in-progress or finished) with me when I go visit my folks over Thanksgiving (less than 2 weeks! I go in less than 2 weeks!) and can look through the buttons and buckles and stuff from my grandma's and see if there's a buckle that will work. (And if not? There's Sewing Studio with their wonderful dressmaker supplies).
I also photographed some of my "stash" and posted it on Ravelry. Not sure how much of this I will do; I might put up some of the more "unusual" yarns (the ones not widely available everywhere) or the yarns I bought for one thing and decided I didn't want to use for it - so I can "browse patterns" and see what else I could do with it.
I dug out the skein of Mer-Made from Blackberry Ridge to photograph it. It's sitting on the desk next to me now, tempting me to try casting on something from it. I might browse slipped-stitch patterns - this is another VERY busy variegated and I'm coming to the conclusion that they need something like slipped stitches to quiet them down.
I was originally planning on doing (I think it was) the New England Socks out of Knitting on the Road - but I'm not sure how the yarn and a lace pattern will work together. I might just do another pair of the "classy slip-ups" slipped stitch socks from "Knit Socks!"
Friday, September 28, 2007
I got up to where you start doing the decreases for the armhole on Kenobi, and decided I was just too tired to concentrate on it at that moment.
Because, I had spent over an hour previously that afternoon/evening replacing my mailbox. My mailbox got vandalized over the summer (someone went down the street pulling flags off of boxes and bending the doors open). I had managed to put it back into a sort-of working order, but the past few days, the door wouldn't stay closed, and I didn't like the thought of a bill (or worse, a letter from someone) merrily blowing out of the box and down the street, never to be seen again.
So I made a trip out to Lowe's and bought a new, "Triple Strength" (we shall see) mailbox. And got the old mailbox off the post only by applying cooking oil (I didn't have any penetrating oil on hand) to the nuts and bolts. And two of the bolts were too scarred up to reuse.
And, as it turns out, even though mailboxes come with pre-drilled holes to accommodate nuts and bolts, they do not actually come with any hardware. So I had to make another trip to Lowe's (the local hardware store, which is closer to me, closes at 3 pm, which is most inconvenient) and spend a while searching for the appropriate size. Then return home and replace the mailbox.
If this one gets vandalized I am going to do one of three things:
1. Even though it's a pain to have to go over there every day, rent a box in the local post office
2. Hire someone to build me a sturdier mailbox, like one of those with a brick post (though those aren't perfect; one of my friends who lives out in the rural area says she thinks the vandals see those as a "challenge." Well, if someone wants to bust up his pickup damaging my mailbox, then he's even stupider than I thought)
3. Hire someone to help me do Lynn's trick of buying two different sized mailboxes, and then setting the smaller one in concrete inside the larger one.
Because I am SICK of this, ya'll. I've replaced a mailbox on average once every two years that I've lived here. That's stupid - it's a waste of my time (And when you get maybe 2 hours "to yourself" in a given day, it leads to a lot of resentment, having to spend one of those hours replacing a dang mailbox), my money, it's a waste of resources (Can they even recycle old dinged up steel mailboxes? It's hardly worth my time to drive it down to the recycler). And, perhaps most importantly, it's a waste of my goodwill. I'm going to be less willing to give a few bucks for programs "to help at-risk youth" if I feel like some of those youth might be spending their weekends playing mailbox baseball.
I realize that people who vandalize aren't thinking - they don't care about the feelings or the effort of the people whose stuff they're vandalizing - but it still strikes me as one of the stupidest crimes out there. I'd like to see large mandatory amounts of hours of community service for anyone caught vandalizing. (And that includes graffiti. I know some people think of graffiti as a form of art - and, murals painted graffiti style on buildings WHEN THE BUILDING OWNERS AGREE is a form of art, but just going and "tagging" something to show you were there is in my mind no different from a dog urinating on a tree. And you know? There should be some things that separate us from the animals. And yeah, we've started having a graffiti problem in my town - apparently some gang that uses "127" as their code is marking their territory - and it's really crapped up a couple of the local parks to the point where people don't want to let their children play there any more, because they think it's not safe. So the stupid gang wins. And several local businesses have had to be re-sided or powerwashed. It's just such a WASTE.)
****
On happier news. I'm trying to decide whether to do a "theme" for October. I don't think I'm going to do "Socktober!" again, I'm not disciplined enough to stick to one project type (and I can't even be sure of finishing a single thing in a month).
I might do "Finished Object October!" where I try to finish up some of the things that are currently on the needles, including several projects (Bloom, the Miranda Socks, the Morehouse Farms "Monet" scarf) that I've been working on for a long time but that have kind of been in perma-stall.
Or, maybe I should designate it as "Start-ober!" as in starting new things I want to do. (Or maybe "Start-ober" works better as a pun on "start over" - which means I could work on projects I had begun and had stalled on).
I don't know. I do know I have an awful lot of stuff in progress that I'd like to get finished up so I can start new stuff.
If I did "Start-ober!" with the idea of it being to re-start stalled projects, I have:
Samus (yes, it's still on the needles; I need to finish the bottom band and then pick up allllllll those stitches)
Bloom (which probably would finish up pretty fast, it would just mean taking it out and working on it)
the Miranda socks (almost up to the heel turn on the second sock, I think
the Morehouse Farms scarf
the crochet blanket (Yes, still have that going, too, haven't touched it in months)
the crochet Totoro (I can see why the one blogger said it "died" because she couldn't take all that single crochet. But I don't want my Totoro to die)
the quilt in the frame (Yup, haven't touched that in over a month).
A quilt top ("Straits of Georgia") that I haven't worked on in a while, mainly because I've had no big blocks of free time when I wasn't too exhausted to face the sewing machine
So maybe that's what I should do - have a clear-the-decks month where I bang through all the unfinished projects, and then allow myself the fun and luxury of starting new things when I've finished a few things on the needles. Maybe I should challenge myself to see how many things I can finish - both of the "active" projects and the "stalled" projects - this month.
Because, I had spent over an hour previously that afternoon/evening replacing my mailbox. My mailbox got vandalized over the summer (someone went down the street pulling flags off of boxes and bending the doors open). I had managed to put it back into a sort-of working order, but the past few days, the door wouldn't stay closed, and I didn't like the thought of a bill (or worse, a letter from someone) merrily blowing out of the box and down the street, never to be seen again.
So I made a trip out to Lowe's and bought a new, "Triple Strength" (we shall see) mailbox. And got the old mailbox off the post only by applying cooking oil (I didn't have any penetrating oil on hand) to the nuts and bolts. And two of the bolts were too scarred up to reuse.
And, as it turns out, even though mailboxes come with pre-drilled holes to accommodate nuts and bolts, they do not actually come with any hardware. So I had to make another trip to Lowe's (the local hardware store, which is closer to me, closes at 3 pm, which is most inconvenient) and spend a while searching for the appropriate size. Then return home and replace the mailbox.
If this one gets vandalized I am going to do one of three things:
1. Even though it's a pain to have to go over there every day, rent a box in the local post office
2. Hire someone to build me a sturdier mailbox, like one of those with a brick post (though those aren't perfect; one of my friends who lives out in the rural area says she thinks the vandals see those as a "challenge." Well, if someone wants to bust up his pickup damaging my mailbox, then he's even stupider than I thought)
3. Hire someone to help me do Lynn's trick of buying two different sized mailboxes, and then setting the smaller one in concrete inside the larger one.
Because I am SICK of this, ya'll. I've replaced a mailbox on average once every two years that I've lived here. That's stupid - it's a waste of my time (And when you get maybe 2 hours "to yourself" in a given day, it leads to a lot of resentment, having to spend one of those hours replacing a dang mailbox), my money, it's a waste of resources (Can they even recycle old dinged up steel mailboxes? It's hardly worth my time to drive it down to the recycler). And, perhaps most importantly, it's a waste of my goodwill. I'm going to be less willing to give a few bucks for programs "to help at-risk youth" if I feel like some of those youth might be spending their weekends playing mailbox baseball.
I realize that people who vandalize aren't thinking - they don't care about the feelings or the effort of the people whose stuff they're vandalizing - but it still strikes me as one of the stupidest crimes out there. I'd like to see large mandatory amounts of hours of community service for anyone caught vandalizing. (And that includes graffiti. I know some people think of graffiti as a form of art - and, murals painted graffiti style on buildings WHEN THE BUILDING OWNERS AGREE is a form of art, but just going and "tagging" something to show you were there is in my mind no different from a dog urinating on a tree. And you know? There should be some things that separate us from the animals. And yeah, we've started having a graffiti problem in my town - apparently some gang that uses "127" as their code is marking their territory - and it's really crapped up a couple of the local parks to the point where people don't want to let their children play there any more, because they think it's not safe. So the stupid gang wins. And several local businesses have had to be re-sided or powerwashed. It's just such a WASTE.)
****
On happier news. I'm trying to decide whether to do a "theme" for October. I don't think I'm going to do "Socktober!" again, I'm not disciplined enough to stick to one project type (and I can't even be sure of finishing a single thing in a month).
I might do "Finished Object October!" where I try to finish up some of the things that are currently on the needles, including several projects (Bloom, the Miranda Socks, the Morehouse Farms "Monet" scarf) that I've been working on for a long time but that have kind of been in perma-stall.
Or, maybe I should designate it as "Start-ober!" as in starting new things I want to do. (Or maybe "Start-ober" works better as a pun on "start over" - which means I could work on projects I had begun and had stalled on).
I don't know. I do know I have an awful lot of stuff in progress that I'd like to get finished up so I can start new stuff.
If I did "Start-ober!" with the idea of it being to re-start stalled projects, I have:
Samus (yes, it's still on the needles; I need to finish the bottom band and then pick up allllllll those stitches)
Bloom (which probably would finish up pretty fast, it would just mean taking it out and working on it)
the Miranda socks (almost up to the heel turn on the second sock, I think
the Morehouse Farms scarf
the crochet blanket (Yes, still have that going, too, haven't touched it in months)
the crochet Totoro (I can see why the one blogger said it "died" because she couldn't take all that single crochet. But I don't want my Totoro to die)
the quilt in the frame (Yup, haven't touched that in over a month).
A quilt top ("Straits of Georgia") that I haven't worked on in a while, mainly because I've had no big blocks of free time when I wasn't too exhausted to face the sewing machine
So maybe that's what I should do - have a clear-the-decks month where I bang through all the unfinished projects, and then allow myself the fun and luxury of starting new things when I've finished a few things on the needles. Maybe I should challenge myself to see how many things I can finish - both of the "active" projects and the "stalled" projects - this month.
Monday, September 24, 2007
I mainly worked on the u-necked vest this weekend:
It's almost to the point where I change over to the waffle stitch and do the bust increases. I really like the color of this yarn. And I love Cascade 220 anyway; it's such a "well-behaved" yarn, so even, so easy to keep the right gauge with.
I also worked on the various sock-projects, but none of them is at a particularly interesting stage to be photographed. I'm closest to finishing the Neapolitan socks. After those, I think my next "simple" sock project is going to be the "Felici" (from Knit Picks) in the Clay colorway. I think I'm going to do that one with a picot edge on the top, just to do things a little differently.
I also worked a bit on the Snicket socks; I'm going to do three repeats of the pattern (60 rows) before doing the heel (I'm altering the pattern to do a flap heel, which fits me better, rather than the short-row heel it calls for). I'll have to figure out the best point to divide so the pattern will be well-balanced on the foot.
I also spent some time looking at back issues of Interweave Knits and marking the patterns I want to do in the future - I put sticky notes on the fronts of the issues so I could find them again.
Some of the ones I want to do:
the Skye Tweed "zig zag" vest (Spring '05; I have some pale green Cascade 220 I bought a couple years ago in the stash for this). I think this is going to be the "next" project after I finish the Kenobi jacket and the vest that's currently on the needles.
The Purl Buck jacket (ummm...winter 05? I don't have that particular issue right in front of me). I bought a sort of rhubarb colored Laines du Nord yarn for this last year.
Airy Cardigan, winter '04 - I have some really pretty purplish Jo Sharp mohair that I got really cheap, with the original plan of making a shawl (I think I have enough)
A Cardigan for Arwen (winter '06, which is, I think, the best issue recently, at least in terms of things I'd like to knit) - I have some Elann-purchased REAL Aran (like, made on the Isle of Skye Aran) yarn in a deep forest green I want to use for this. I also want to start this soon, mainly because the yarn feels so nice - it's one of the slightly-greasy wools with a good wooly smell to it. So it won't be as "refined looking" as the cardigan in the magazine - I don't care.
Saddle-seam pullover (Spring '06) Not sure; I have some bright yellow worsted-weight (Elann Highland Wool) that MIGHT work for this. I just like the sweater design and want to make one sometime. Yellow might be a bit much for a pullover; I don't know.
Yes, all of that is yarn in the stash. And there's still more I've not mentioned. I need to get down to work!
It's almost to the point where I change over to the waffle stitch and do the bust increases. I really like the color of this yarn. And I love Cascade 220 anyway; it's such a "well-behaved" yarn, so even, so easy to keep the right gauge with.
I also worked on the various sock-projects, but none of them is at a particularly interesting stage to be photographed. I'm closest to finishing the Neapolitan socks. After those, I think my next "simple" sock project is going to be the "Felici" (from Knit Picks) in the Clay colorway. I think I'm going to do that one with a picot edge on the top, just to do things a little differently.
I also worked a bit on the Snicket socks; I'm going to do three repeats of the pattern (60 rows) before doing the heel (I'm altering the pattern to do a flap heel, which fits me better, rather than the short-row heel it calls for). I'll have to figure out the best point to divide so the pattern will be well-balanced on the foot.
I also spent some time looking at back issues of Interweave Knits and marking the patterns I want to do in the future - I put sticky notes on the fronts of the issues so I could find them again.
Some of the ones I want to do:
the Skye Tweed "zig zag" vest (Spring '05; I have some pale green Cascade 220 I bought a couple years ago in the stash for this). I think this is going to be the "next" project after I finish the Kenobi jacket and the vest that's currently on the needles.
The Purl Buck jacket (ummm...winter 05? I don't have that particular issue right in front of me). I bought a sort of rhubarb colored Laines du Nord yarn for this last year.
Airy Cardigan, winter '04 - I have some really pretty purplish Jo Sharp mohair that I got really cheap, with the original plan of making a shawl (I think I have enough)
A Cardigan for Arwen (winter '06, which is, I think, the best issue recently, at least in terms of things I'd like to knit) - I have some Elann-purchased REAL Aran (like, made on the Isle of Skye Aran) yarn in a deep forest green I want to use for this. I also want to start this soon, mainly because the yarn feels so nice - it's one of the slightly-greasy wools with a good wooly smell to it. So it won't be as "refined looking" as the cardigan in the magazine - I don't care.
Saddle-seam pullover (Spring '06) Not sure; I have some bright yellow worsted-weight (Elann Highland Wool) that MIGHT work for this. I just like the sweater design and want to make one sometime. Yellow might be a bit much for a pullover; I don't know.
Yes, all of that is yarn in the stash. And there's still more I've not mentioned. I need to get down to work!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lynn, thanks for the compliment on my quilting stitches. It's one of those things that I'm good at, but I can't really explain how or why I got good at it...I've been quilting for a good 15 years, and before that I did a lot of handsewing (going back to when I was a kid and wasn't allowed to use the sewing machine), so it may just be long experience.
Or it may be that I have small hands. One of my mother's friends claims that my mother and I are good at delicate work because we have small hands (and the friend does not - she is perhaps using it as an excuse, I don't know.)
I have been working more on the quilt lately, and it makes me happy to be getting somewhere towards finishing it. (Perhaps this weekend I should post a photo of just why I want to get it finished up sometime soon).
****
Oh, and guess what?
Monster butt!
I started another one of those monsters last night. This one is made of some fluffy lime-green novelty Yarn Bee yarn (yeah, I know, I slag on Yarn Bee a lot here, but this yarn isn't so bad.) And some Red Heart in a pale yellow that's almost the color of glow-in-the-dark things when they're not glowing. (You know what I mean by that?)
This one's going to be a girl monster, and either be a girl-cousin or girlfriend to Olaf. Tentative name is Ivy, but I'm going to wait until she's done to see how it suits her. I also had the thought of tying little ribbon bows on her "knobbles," like a little girl with pigtails, not sure how that will look, but I'll see.
****
I don't know how much it's made the national news, but around where I live, and in North Texas, there's been an unbelievable amount of rain and lots of flooding. Something like five or eight people died - some when their homes were washed away by a wall of water. It's pretty terrible. Lots of people stranded in their cars. (I have a student who works as a police dispatcher; she said that several days have just been crazy with all the calls coming in from people who drove through high water and got stranded.)
They had to evacuate the animals from the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville the other day (they all got out safely, and my understanding is that they're now back safely).
I mean, I'm glad the drought is over, and I generally like rain, but not when it threatens people's lives or destroys their property.
I hope maybe we'll get a few dry days (at least) so the creeks can go down and people can start cleaning things up.
Or it may be that I have small hands. One of my mother's friends claims that my mother and I are good at delicate work because we have small hands (and the friend does not - she is perhaps using it as an excuse, I don't know.)
I have been working more on the quilt lately, and it makes me happy to be getting somewhere towards finishing it. (Perhaps this weekend I should post a photo of just why I want to get it finished up sometime soon).
****
Oh, and guess what?
Monster butt!
I started another one of those monsters last night. This one is made of some fluffy lime-green novelty Yarn Bee yarn (yeah, I know, I slag on Yarn Bee a lot here, but this yarn isn't so bad.) And some Red Heart in a pale yellow that's almost the color of glow-in-the-dark things when they're not glowing. (You know what I mean by that?)
This one's going to be a girl monster, and either be a girl-cousin or girlfriend to Olaf. Tentative name is Ivy, but I'm going to wait until she's done to see how it suits her. I also had the thought of tying little ribbon bows on her "knobbles," like a little girl with pigtails, not sure how that will look, but I'll see.
****
I don't know how much it's made the national news, but around where I live, and in North Texas, there's been an unbelievable amount of rain and lots of flooding. Something like five or eight people died - some when their homes were washed away by a wall of water. It's pretty terrible. Lots of people stranded in their cars. (I have a student who works as a police dispatcher; she said that several days have just been crazy with all the calls coming in from people who drove through high water and got stranded.)
They had to evacuate the animals from the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville the other day (they all got out safely, and my understanding is that they're now back safely).
I mean, I'm glad the drought is over, and I generally like rain, but not when it threatens people's lives or destroys their property.
I hope maybe we'll get a few dry days (at least) so the creeks can go down and people can start cleaning things up.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Some project updates:
I am on the LAST bit of the side section (the long panel with the "Flowers of the Forest") on the Hiawatha shawl. I estimate there's about 25" to go. And I'm a lot faster at the edging now that I have it memorized and don't have to even really keep track of what row I'm on.
I might finish this this week. Wow. I've been working on this since fall of 2004.
The feeling is not unlike the feeling I had as the defense of my dissertation approached (well, without the nagging fear of, "What if someone asks you a question that totally destroys your conclusions?").
It's making me excited to begin new projects.
I pulled out the Rowan "Summer Tweed" that I had in my stash (it's sort of an odd pale turquoise color; in the typical Rowan idiosyncratic naming system it's called "Exotic"). I've decided to start Cozy (no, I'm not abandoning the plan of starting the Landscape Shawl but Cozy is an easy pattern - no shaping, no increases or picots to keep track of - and I need something for proctoring-knitting). I'm going to start it this weekend and take it with me this week while I proctor. I think I'm going to write the lace pattern out on a 3x5 card because in one of the rooms, I really have to circulate (there's a ledge on the front of the desks and I wouldn't be able to detect cheating from just the front of the room). And I can just tuck the "cake" of yarn up under my arm and walk around the room, using the card as a reference for the pattern.
I had originally bought the yarn for a shrug but I think a shawl will be more useful to me. And more flattering on me (broad shoulders, large bosom - shrugs don't work so well). And it won't look dated once shrugs go out of fashion. (Shawls always look a little "dated" but that's okay with me; I don't mind looking anachronistic but I prefer my anachronisms to refer to an earlier time period than last year).
I also dug around and pulled out many balls of wool-ease (and a few of Canadiana) bought for projects I have since forgotten (scarves, hats, or socks, I presume, considering I have but one or two balls of each color).
I've started the crochet blanket. Darn, it's FUN! It's all just double crochets but there's no counting (once you're done with the initial chain), no shaping, you change colors every row...it's kind of like what people say about eating potato chips.* This will be a wonderful project for when I have five minutes (while waiting for tea to steep or something) or if I'm really tired or if I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
Sadly, it is not a very portable project, with all those colors of yarn (unless I planned the colors needed for the next several rows and just took partial balls of those...)
(*Except I never liked potato chips well enough to keep eating them. I eat three or four - like if they're served alongside a sandwich - and then I'm like, "okay, I'm done.")
I also found some yarn that I'm going to use for the furry monster pattern I linked the other day. I had a ball of Garnstudio Pelliza in a deep blue-green color that came in a grab bag years ago and which I had never done anything with (once upon I time I had thought of making a "kid hat" with it as the brim, but that never materialized). Well, I also found a skein of Muskoka (yes, I have lots of old stuff in the stash) in Exactly. The. Same. Color. So that tells me they need to become the monster. (The pattern calls for knitting a strand of furry yarn together with a strand of plain, worsted-weight yarn)
Not sure what color I'm going to make its "knobbles" yet. Maybe a cream color - I think that would look kind of natty with the deep teal. (I'm also not sure if the monster's going to be a boy monster or a girl monster yet. And yes, you will be able to tell...girls have long eyelashes. [that was my childhood, innocent way of saying how girls were different from boys]).
I love my stash. I love that I can get an idea for a project, dig in, and find pretty much what I need (as long as it's basic worsted-weight). It makes having NO local yarn shops a little easier.
I am on the LAST bit of the side section (the long panel with the "Flowers of the Forest") on the Hiawatha shawl. I estimate there's about 25" to go. And I'm a lot faster at the edging now that I have it memorized and don't have to even really keep track of what row I'm on.
I might finish this this week. Wow. I've been working on this since fall of 2004.
The feeling is not unlike the feeling I had as the defense of my dissertation approached (well, without the nagging fear of, "What if someone asks you a question that totally destroys your conclusions?").
It's making me excited to begin new projects.
I pulled out the Rowan "Summer Tweed" that I had in my stash (it's sort of an odd pale turquoise color; in the typical Rowan idiosyncratic naming system it's called "Exotic"). I've decided to start Cozy (no, I'm not abandoning the plan of starting the Landscape Shawl but Cozy is an easy pattern - no shaping, no increases or picots to keep track of - and I need something for proctoring-knitting). I'm going to start it this weekend and take it with me this week while I proctor. I think I'm going to write the lace pattern out on a 3x5 card because in one of the rooms, I really have to circulate (there's a ledge on the front of the desks and I wouldn't be able to detect cheating from just the front of the room). And I can just tuck the "cake" of yarn up under my arm and walk around the room, using the card as a reference for the pattern.
I had originally bought the yarn for a shrug but I think a shawl will be more useful to me. And more flattering on me (broad shoulders, large bosom - shrugs don't work so well). And it won't look dated once shrugs go out of fashion. (Shawls always look a little "dated" but that's okay with me; I don't mind looking anachronistic but I prefer my anachronisms to refer to an earlier time period than last year).
I also dug around and pulled out many balls of wool-ease (and a few of Canadiana) bought for projects I have since forgotten (scarves, hats, or socks, I presume, considering I have but one or two balls of each color).
I've started the crochet blanket. Darn, it's FUN! It's all just double crochets but there's no counting (once you're done with the initial chain), no shaping, you change colors every row...it's kind of like what people say about eating potato chips.* This will be a wonderful project for when I have five minutes (while waiting for tea to steep or something) or if I'm really tired or if I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
Sadly, it is not a very portable project, with all those colors of yarn (unless I planned the colors needed for the next several rows and just took partial balls of those...)
(*Except I never liked potato chips well enough to keep eating them. I eat three or four - like if they're served alongside a sandwich - and then I'm like, "okay, I'm done.")
I also found some yarn that I'm going to use for the furry monster pattern I linked the other day. I had a ball of Garnstudio Pelliza in a deep blue-green color that came in a grab bag years ago and which I had never done anything with (once upon I time I had thought of making a "kid hat" with it as the brim, but that never materialized). Well, I also found a skein of Muskoka (yes, I have lots of old stuff in the stash) in Exactly. The. Same. Color. So that tells me they need to become the monster. (The pattern calls for knitting a strand of furry yarn together with a strand of plain, worsted-weight yarn)
Not sure what color I'm going to make its "knobbles" yet. Maybe a cream color - I think that would look kind of natty with the deep teal. (I'm also not sure if the monster's going to be a boy monster or a girl monster yet. And yes, you will be able to tell...girls have long eyelashes. [that was my childhood, innocent way of saying how girls were different from boys]).
I love my stash. I love that I can get an idea for a project, dig in, and find pretty much what I need (as long as it's basic worsted-weight). It makes having NO local yarn shops a little easier.
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