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
Miscellaneous

Two more days…

The presents I ordered last week on Black Friday have started arriving. On the one hand, yay! Presents! On the other hand, I can’t help but feel, This is it? This is all I ordered? And it cost *how much*?! Every year, the dollar shrinks a little more, and my family’s agreed upon limits* just don’t go as far as they used to.

There’s also the problem of seeing something you’ve been wanting for awhile, but weren’t willing to pay full price for (for example, the Superman Returns dvd hasn’t dropped under $20 since it was released….until Black Friday!), but you can’t buy it for yourself now, not during “holiday shopping” season. And you just know the price will jack itself back up as soon as Christmas is over. Phooey.

Of course, these are all first-world problems. We have roofs over our heads, food on our tables, and usually family and/or friends to spend the holidays with. Everything else is gravy, but the incessant holiday commercials can make it easy to forget that. Someday I hope I can rise above my petty material desires and spend my holiday cash on charities and donations while urging others to do the same with whatever they’d spend on me, but if there is such a day, I suspect it’s very far from today.

*People sometimes ask why we have dollar limits on our Christmas spending–it makes more sense if you know that I used to spend $300 on each person in my immediate family before they reined me in with limits. I still cheat, though.

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!

Categories
Miscellaneous

Home stretch!

It’s the 27th! Only three more posts after today, and I’ll have accomplished the “post every day for the month of November” NaBloPoMo challenge! Woot!

Hopefully I won’t then go back to my “post once a month” ways. I’ll try very hard not to, I swear. In the meantime, I….have no news. 😀 Well, I’d have work related news, but I’ve heard of companies that fire employees for mentioning anything work related in a public blog, and I’m not taking any chances.

Oh, but only vaguely related is the fact that December 1st is the Day Without Art, when museums all over the world cover a work of art in remembrance of all the artists the planet has lost to AIDS. This year we’ll be covering a statue that you can’t possibly miss, as it sits on the steps leading from the tram to the museum–no hunting for the shrouded painting this year! The accompanying web page will go live Friday night.

That’s all I’ve got for today. 🙂