Tag: yarn

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Blogs Knitting and Crochet

There is nothing cohesive about this post.

I think I’m becoming addicted to my stats.  Ever since NaBloPoMo started–heck, even before that!–I’ve had no zero-hit days.  That’s kinda nice, knowing that someone out there is reading my ramblings.  (And also sobering–more pressure not to say something stupid!)

I finished purse #4 yesterday–the knitting, that is, not the seaming or felting. It’s super-cute, with a white base yarn and a pink confetti-ish novelty carryalong that makes the whole thing look like a soft fuzzy pink. Makes me wish I’d saved it for a kid-sized purse, but fortunately I have another ball and a half to play with! I grabbed a ziploc of turquoise and purple to start a Little Coco at lunch, but didn’t have time today, so that’ll be tonight.  I still need to divy up yesterday’s yarn haul into project bags.

Tomorrow I’ll try to post a pic of a scarf I knit over a year ago–maybe even as long as two years?–that I finally got around to blocking this weekend.  It’s orange and red cotton in a feather and fan lace pattern, and holy moses, I can’t believe the difference the blocking made!  It’s a whole new scarf! I totally shouldn’t have waited so long.  Sadly, I don’t think it’s soft enough to be worthy of gifting, but at least it’s much more attractive now in its proper shape. 🙂

Categories
Shopping

Wave bye-bye to the pretty wagon

Yep, it’s true–I fell off the yarn wagon.  I was being so good, knitting only from my stash for my Christmas presents, and then I read Ravelry.  That’s where I heard about the yarn sale at Michael’s, which in itself wasn’t enough to tempt me.  But then, in the same post, there was a mention of feltable yarn for only $3.50 a skein.  ?!  That’s half the price of Cascade 220!!

*sigh* So I got in my car, headed to Michael’s, found out it moved, called my brother-in-law who gave me the new address, and, well, $90 later, I have so many more colors to choose from now!

I am weak, I know.  Reset the clock as we try the cold turkey thing again.

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Squares and bags, bags and squares

squares for a scarfAs promised, pictures of fun, bright squares, to be used at some future date for a cheery scarf in spring-like colors. The yarn is Plymouth Encore, worsted weight–basically, whatever was leftover from the scrap blanket that I haven’t touched in months. I adore these colors and smile whenever I see them. I just need to pick up some more green, and then I have to decide if I want join the squares together, or border them all in one unifying color before joining. (There are more pictures in my Flickr–just follow the image link to find the photostream to click through.)

In other news, I got started on the Christmas bags last night, and so far I adore this first one.  It’s a deep blue (Lamb’s Pride chunky) paired with two skeins of shiny blue Aura from Trendsetter.  It’s sparkly and shiny and glittery and yes, I know that’s three words that all mean the same thing, but I don’t care, but that’s what it is, to the nth degree.  (Perhaps double stranding the Aura was a bit overkill, but it’s too late now, it’s already half done!) Yesterday I went through my feltable yarns and my novelty yarns and paired complementary colors wherever I could, then assigned each set a pattern based on available yardage. Right now I’m looking at a possible five balloon bags, two little cocos and one clutch, and there’s still an enormous bag of Gjestal in three different colors that I haven’t even touched yet.  It’s nice to have a plan, though–no more wondering what to do next.

That’s all for today.  I hope y’all are having a marvelous Saturday!

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

My path is clear

For weeks now I’ve been trying to decide what to do about Christmas–do I knit/crochet presents this year? Do I really want to make myself that crazy? And what about the company’s charity auction at the holiday party? What would I do for that this year? I’ve done the scarf and hat thing to death already.

Yarn!  
The three boxes and the blue bin in the front are what I just pulled out. The white rolling drawer set and the two boxes in the back are filled with yarn I’ve already photographed and catalogued.
 

Well, I pulled out four boxes of yarn to photograph and catalogue for Ravelry, and now my path is clear–I have so!much! wool that obviously this is the season of felted purses! Most of the wool is secondhand, passed to me when my friend Kat decided to divest herself of most of her stash, and therefore the colors are not what I’m usually drawn to–lots of earth tones, to be honest. It’s doubtful I’d ever do anything with this wool for myself, so transforming it all to gifts is the only answer.  And maybe I can get some space back in my bedroom in the process.

I’m a smidge undecided on patterns. I have several books with lots of neat felted bags that would teach and challenge me, but really, I just want to make as many purses as I possibly can before December 25 (and really, preferably before December 18th, to give myself some time off to focus on other stressful parts of the holidays, like baking and shopping). This will probably mean using the patterns I’m already familiar with–Booga Bags, Little Cocos, Balloon Bags, and the clutch purse from One Skein.

In other news, I’ve finally photographed the 12 granny squares I’ve finished in the past week and a half, but I’ll need something to post tomorrow, so I’m saving it for then. Hey, it’s something to look forward to, right? 🙂 Until then, here’s a picture of my brother-in-law playing “zombie” with his and my sister’s kitty, Greta:

IMG_3928

Categories
Blogs

Nov 1 and NaBloPoMo

It’s November first, alright–I’ve been sitting at my PC for 20 minutes with GMA on in the background and have already seen two Christmas commercials. Yay?

November also brings the start of National Blog Posting Month, and to celebrate this, I’ve committed to updating this blog every day for the entire month of November. (*fingers crossed*)  My theory about this is that my content is going to suffer–coming up with something new to post about every day? I suspect within a week I’ll be transcribing the weather report and posting memes. Let’s face it, I’m no Yarn Harlot or Crazy Aunt Purl (my favorite knitting blogs, btw).

FoliageIn yarny news, last night I pulled out the Berroco Foliage that’s been waiting for just the right project, and tried to start the short row rib scarf from Magknits…..and I didn’t get very far.  I learned that NONE of my reference books includes instructions for “purl in front and back”.  WTF? So I went to the go-to site for knitting techniques, knittinghelp.com, and guess what?  They don’t have that technique either! I tried to improve the stitch, and it turned out, well, very badly. I gave up and put the yarn and pattern down and made a couple of granny squares to rebuild my confidence, then returned to the computer later to google the technique.  I found some nice illustrations, but have yet to pick up the yarn to try again.

On the other hand, I’m building up a nice granny square stash!  They’re so easy to make–I even made one last night while I was on the phone. So far I have twelve, but I think I’ll need double that to make a decent scarf.  I promise to post pictures soon!