Author: Polgara

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Shopping

Panicking

Every year at our company’s Winter Celebration, we have a silent auction for charity, for which people donate handmade items, particularly knitted items and ceramics. Every year I spend way too much time worrying about what I’ll donate, what yarn to use, what pattern, etc.  This year is of course a knitted handbag.  My boss adores the fuzzy blue one, so that’s what I’ll donate.

But this year, I couldn’t find anything on our intranet about the deadline for donations.  I finally gave up today and emailed the charity committee–a mere six days before the party, because I’m a procrastinating idiot.  They’re setting up the preview tables tomorrow morning, so I have to hand over my donation first thing.

Gah! Start the panic! It still needs a clasp! (Which I don’t have!) And a shiny button! (Which I may or may not have!) And worse, the Aura, while awesome and shiny and super-cool on the outside, makes the inside equally fuzzy, so really, it *should* be lined. But I’ve never lined anything in my life, and I don’t think tonight, after I’ve (hopefully) survived the holiday crowds at Jo-Ann’s, is the perfect time to learn.

I have until 8:30 tomorrow morning to figure this all out.  Holy crap, what was I thinking?!

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Blind leading the….bag?

I spent a good portion of today in a very dark room.  I brought my current bag-in-progress, plus I grabbed a couple balls of extra yarn, in case I finished the bag.  Well, I did, so I started the new bag. In the dark. Without really knowing for sure how the two yarns that I grabbed as I ran out the door would blend. I got halfway through the bag before even seeing it in regular light, but fortunately, it turned out ok.  I haven’t examined the stitches, though, to see if I screwed up.

In other news, woot! End of November! Last day of NaBloPoMo! Yay!

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Adventures in felting

I felted three bags last night–woot!  I chose the purple/turquoise Little Coco, the first Pink Lady bag (I still have to kitchener the handle of the second), and a Burly Spun bag I knit, oh, forever ago, that’s been waiting for felting for a long time.  All the other bags still need some finishing before felting.

I learned a couple of things. First, apparently Cascade 220 takes forever to felt, because the bags I felted last night were done after two wash cycles, and really, they probably didn’t even need the whole second cycle. The second thing is more of a refresher–the knit stitch really does shrink more from top to bottom than side to side.  The Little Coco came out a little shorter than I’d planned.  Oops? It’s still a perfectly serviceable bag, of course, just….short.

Now they are drying, and then I’ll have to figure out if they need further embellisments.

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

A finished project, suede-bashing, and more bags

knitting needles in a yarn
Photo by Eva Elijas on Pexels.com

Today I started another bag–I forget what number I’m on, and I’m too lazy to check my own posts. It’s a Balloon Bag with double-stranded, variegated Lion wool–no base color this time to ground it, so the color explosion is pretty crazy, which means no beads on this one. I may try to felt some of the others tonight–I have enough quarters and zippered pillowcases to run three bags together for three cycles, which should be enough to felt them. I have to pick one to donate for the company’s charity auction at the holiday party, which is coming up really fast, so it’s time to risk the sub-par machines in my building’s laundry room. Fortunately I have enough purses stockpiled that if something goes horribly wrong, it won’t be the end of the world. Damned annoying and frustrating, but not the end of the world.

Last night I finished the Lion Suede project. I don’t think I’d ever get this yarn again, unless it was for the exact purpose of another one of these projects (which I can’t go into, since I think the intended recipient reads this blog). Suffice to say, if your project is small, and you crochet instead of knit, and you want something soft, then the suede will work–but use it for anything else at your own risk (of frustration, of anger, of banging your head against a wall, etc.). On the other hand, it was a nice break for my hands to crochet something after so many knitted bags. I feel guilty for saying this, but I think I like crocheting more than knitting. :-{

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Only three more days of NaBloPoMo!

bunch of green beads
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

Three more posts after today, and I’ll have posted every day for the month of November–woot!  My visitor stats have been very healthy during this time, so hopefully I’ll be able to maintain my momentum, and not fall back on the once-a-week style of posting I had before November.

I don’t have much in the way of yarn news today.  I’m still working with the Lion Suede, which, as I mentioned last night, works much better crocheted than knitted. Omigod yes. I’m even starting to like the yarn, although I still fully expect it to worm at some point. Sadly, I didn’t have the second ball with me yesterday, otherwise the project would be finished by now. Phooey.

I’ve been holding firm on the no-new-yarn-purchases, but it’s hard with that beaded Booga Bag sitting in a corner, pining for one more ball of mustard Patons wool. I try not to look at it.  I think my next bag will be a beaded Balloon, since I already know I have enough yarn for that, and I want to see a finished project with beads, already.

I’ve added a few more projects to Ravelry, including some of the yet-to-be-felted purses.  Yay! I have so many projects still to add, I’ll probably still be adding six months from now. 

Hmm. I need more tea.  Guess that means I’m done!