Tag: scarf

WeHo SnB

So, tonight’s the night, when I finally go to the West Hollywood Stitch ‘n’ Bitch gathering.  I’ve been looking forward to it all week, but now that it’s so close, I’m getting nervous.

I tried going once about a year ago. I went to the Farmer’s Market, went upstairs, looked around, saw the group of people knitting in the community room…..and then fled. Have I mentioned what a chicken I really am? This is why I’ve become a hermit at age 38.

It shouldn’t be too scary. It’s a group of people that live near me and have the same obsessive hobby that I do, so we should totally click, right? I dunno.  I tried joining the knitting group at my company a couple of years ago, but never really felt like I belonged there, and it only took about two visits before I quit going. This could turn out the same. I might be too geeky or too quiet too weird (or not weird enough!) or a million other too-somethings, and then it’ll be a couple of hours of awkwardness and inner turmoil and I probably won’t be able to hide the “wow, this was a big mistake!” expressions from flitting across my face as they send silent messages to each other, wondering how to get rid of the strange new girl who obviously isn’t fitting in.

You don’t know, it could happen!

I don’t plan on chickening out this time, though, given that it’s an official part of my New Year’s Resolution: Meet New People: Hobby Sub-Division. I intend to go home first for dinner, but I brought a project with me anyway, just in case–the single-crochet scarf in self-striping soy/wool yarn that I was working on during my flight Sunday. I didn’t want anything too complicated, ’cause then I get even more introverted as my concentration on a project increases.

*sigh* It’s nearly four now.  Three hours away. I feel like throwing up.

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

My To Do list for 2008

brown house near pine trees covered with snow
Photo by Adriaan Greyling on Pexels.com

I am home now, yay! Well, home as in Los Angeles–at this very second, I’m actually at work.

I have a list of things I need to accomplish before I can do my own projects again:

  • a scarf for my sister using yarn she purchased at Webs a couple of weeks ago and a pattern from a crochet magazine (Crochet Today? Interweave Crochet? I forget, they all blend together for me);
  • a hat, also for my sister, to match the scarf I gave her for Xmas, using the leftover Lion Suede;
  • and a hat for my friend K to match the scarf I gave her for her birthday (fingers crossed that there’s enough yarn left over).

I think I’m free as a bird after that to tackle my own projects, such as:

  • finishing my UMass scarf;
  • doing something, I don’t know what, with the yarn I bought from Webs;
  • tackling my first-ever sweater (I already have the yarn, I just need a pattern);
  • finishing my gazillion WIPs;
  • and a little (translation: verra ambitious) project I’ve been contemplating for awhile, an intarsia wall-hanging (haven’t decided on a pattern yet–I waver between two or three color movie-poster-theme and multi-color recreation of a work of art).

That last one is the one I’m most excited about, but it really will be a big and scary undertaking (that will require much yarn to boot), so I don’t know when that one will happen.  Hopefully in 2008, though.

I also have to figure out what to do with my now largish collection of felted handbags, since I didn’t give away nearly as many as I’d expected to for the holidays.  I don’t need that many bags myself, that’s for sure, but I don’t feel comfortable selling them since all but one were made from other people’s patterns. I may yet find people to give them to, or I may use them for some charitable purpose. Or, I may continue my lazy ways, stick them in a bag in a closet, and forget about them until next Christmas. Who knows?

GabbyAnd finally, since this blog is horribly boring enough without including any photos, here’s a picture of my sister’s cat Gabby.  Gabby likes to talk (a lot!), is always begging for food, and has the largest eyes any of us have ever seen on a cat.  In fact, her vet even examined them for oddities since even he had never seen such large eyes and was afraid she might be in pain (no evidence of this, though).

Categories
Knitting and Crochet Shopping

2008, so far

Don’t look now, but I’m closing in on post #100! 11 more posts after this one, woot! I should probably do something to celebrate, but I don’t know what–I’ll have to think on it.

I’ve been contemplating the new year, as I’m sure everyone has, and trying to decide what I want to try to accomplish this year, or if I even want to try to set goals. Let’s face it, few people actually stick to the goals they set on January 1st, and I’m no exception. Of course, 2007 was the year when I finally learned to crochet, so goals aren’t always useless.  I haven’t been over-the-moon happy with my life for a long time, so obviously something needs tweaking, so I’ve been trying to compartmentalize stuff to set specific tasks for each aspect of my life.

One of my new goals that’s near, if not at, the top of my list is to meet new people, and to that end, I’m going to try to go to the WeHo stitch and bitch group once I return to L.A. (I’m still in Massachusetts with my family.) I’m terrible at meeting new people, as it requires effort and I’m notoriously lazy (and poor), but the SnB group is near where I live, doesn’t cost anything, and, as an added bonus, I’ll already have something in common with the group. And hopefully, now that I’ve “said” it out loud, I’ll actually do it.

ION, yesterday I taught my friend Jane to crochet, one year and two days after I taught her to knit. We did chains and single crochet for awhile, then she pulled out my Happy Hooker book and taught herself to double crochet a circle. She’s getting on a plane in a couple of hours, where she will hopefully continue practicing her loops and chains.  I love sharing my crafts, and am very grateful to her for her desire to learn new stuff.

Earlier this week, I finished a wool hat for my brother-in-law–forest green knit cap with a ribbed brim and a stockinette body.  I’ve finished seven granny squares for a new scarf in UMass Amherst colors (maroon and white). I started a new sc scarf with a wool/soy blend from…Patons? Bernat? The yarn is on the table and I’m too lazy to get up and look. (Jane and I were at Michael’s a couple of days ago, and I couldn’t resist the 30% off all yarn sale.) It’s a self-striping yarn, ’cause I’ve been getting tired of working in solids.

And in completely non-yarn-related news, my face feels like it’s been sandblasted.  I hate having a cold.

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Starting, finishing, and frogging, plus an update on the donated Cookie Monster bag

So obviously, I get a complete FAIL at that whole “trying to post every day after NaBloPoMo” thing. Oops? I blame the holidays, and the accompanying freakout.

I have been knitting and crocheting my way through the stress, although I haven’t finished anymore bags.  Weird, huh? I have a red and white 80/20 booga bag (decreased the stitch count by 20%) that’s been languishing on the needles with only about five rows to go, and the mustard beaded bag is finished except for the icord, which is about a foot too short still.

Paula, Kathie, Steve and BenInstead of finishing those, last weekend I started four–four!–scarves. One is crocheted alpaca (the defunct Lana D’Oro that I’ve been saving for a special occasion for about three years now) and will be a gift for a family friend. One is the much lauded “My So-Called Scarf,” which called to me one night in such a way that I had to start it–it’s currently six inches long, but it’s a beautiful stitch.  The third scarf was intended to accompany my mostly red outfit for my company’s holiday party on Monday, and was made of a very white, very sparkly chunky Wool-Ease.  I used a spiral crochet pattern, and I hated it when it was done–it looked like I was wearing an Elizabethan ruffle, and it was waaaaay too long.  That was Saturday. On Sunday I frogged it and started the fourth scarf of the weekend,  a dc-crocheted scarf of a much more reasonable length. I crocheted up both sides of the starting chain, so it folds a bit; then I sc’d twice in each dc along all four edges in a bright green, which gave it a slight spiral that was much less pronounced than the first one. (That’s me and my scarf in the picture, on the left.) It’s now further adorned with a touch or two of red wine, but it’s barely noticeable.

But! In bag news! Remember the sparkly blue bag that I made for the silent auction at the holiday party? Well, thanks to my boss, and to the other people that got into a bidding war, the bag finally sold for $100! More than any of my other donations have ever made! It went to my boss, who was out of town at the time so I had to bid for him (which was a little weird). He brought it home when he got back to town, walked in his front door with it slung over his shoulder, and his little two year old daughter took one look at it and reached out her hands while declaring, “Mine!” to the shiny bag.  So!cute! I saw her yesterday at the department holiday party, and sure enough, she had it slung over her own shoulder where it was carrying her treasures. Best spent $100 ever, if you ask me. 🙂

Waste of time

My company’s holiday party is tomorrow night, so last night I made a spiral scarf for the occasion, with chunky wool-ease in sparkly white.  Except, I’m not in love with it.  For one thing, it came out WAY LONGER than I thought it would (which speaks more to the effect of the wine I was drinking when I started it, than to the pattern itself), so I have to wrap it a couple of times, which means I look like I’m wearing an Elizabethan ruffle–not the best effect for a person barely avoiding a double chin as it is. Also, the ruffles aren’t the best for keeping my neck warm, which is an issue since I’ll be wearing a v-neck sweater.

So, I think I’ll be frogging it later today.  Don’t know if I’ll have time to make something else before tomorrow, as I have a full day of chores planned, so I’ll probably end up wearing my chunky green scarf instead.  I like my green scarf, but I think a sparkly white scarf would’ve been more festive. Ah well.