Still Knitting!

So, with all the cruddy weather we've had the past couple of weeks, I've been happy to stay in and keep working on my billions millions hundreds dozens of projects. I have been working on a couple of quilts lately, along with the knitting, but I won't have a finished project to show off for a few more weeks. I have finished two knitting projects, though!

The first is a lace cowl that I got from this blog. Thanks, Wen! It's a nice pattern, and the cowl turned out great.


This is the Coloring Book Shawl that I made from five shades of Plain & Fancy yarn I bought at SAFF. That was one of the most gorgeous booths there, and it took a while to narrow down the choices. Unfortunately, P&F doesn't have a website yet but if you go here and scroll down to "Henderson" you'll find their information. You could probably email them to find out what shows they'll be going to this year. Their yarn is kettle-dyed on the most gorgeous smooshy singles yarn. I want one skein of every color!








The shawl pattern shows seven different lace panels, instead of the five I used, and I put my own lace pattern in the top (pink) panel instead of doing plain stockinette that the pattern specified. It turned out pretty large (which is why I could only fit half of it in the picture) but I think the yarn was a little heavier than what the pattern called for. At any rate, it turned out beautifully.

So I've added those two projects to the "52 Projects" list at the bottom of the page. Yeah, I'm still waaaay behind on that schedule. I'll have to tell you about the new group I joined for 2010 in the next post. I'm a little embarrassed, but what the heck.

Oops, how'd this picture get in here?


Isn't he just too cute? I haven't seen him in two weeks! He'll have changed so much by now. BTW, his official name is no longer Baby X, it's Little Dude (his daddy's name for him.) It's perfect.

Regrouping Yet Again

I'm not even gonna go through all the apologies and excuses for not posting on the blog for almost 3 weeks now. Life's just funny sometimes, and I'm in one of my periodic regrouping modes.

First up, I can now tell you about the three Stealth Projects that I finished in the last couple of months. They were all gifts for the soon-to-be-born grandson (in two weeks, more or less!!!) I knitted him a pair of tiny socks and a pair of tinier mitts, and I finished a quilt I had started some time back. It was a sample for a class I taught when I worked at a quilt shop, and all I had to do was quilt and bind it. I want to make Baby X something just for him, so I feel a little conflicted about using the top I'd made all those years ago, but on the other hand it was kind of neat to use something that had a lot of memories in it. He won't care either way--I'm sure he'll be an equal opportunity poop-on-the-quilt baby whether it was created just for him or not. I also found a cute sock monkey that I put in the gift bag. I have a feeling that Daddy X wanted it for himself. He has a thing about monkeys.

Do I have pictures of these items? What do you think? (Big hint to Daddy X: Take pictures and email them to me!!)

I'm still behind on the "52 Projects" plan because, as I suspected would happen, I've burned through all my quickie UFOs and am now stuck with a lot of BSPs. That's ok, though, because I've put them into a rotation so I get to each BSP at least once a week or so. Maybe I should lower the goal and make it "26 Projects in 52 Weeks." Yeah, that's more like it. I'll give that a shot.

So, the regrouping thing. I'm doing a lot less on line these days. I've pretty much stopped posting on Plurk, and my Ravelry presence is way down as well. I want to make better use of my time now that I don't have to go out to work. It's been too easy to get on the computer and putz away a couple of hours. Those are hours I would prefer to spend in Real Life, doing things like playing the violin, reading, or actually doing something with a friend. That last thing is the hardest for me because I just don't get out and about a whole lot, and when I do I'm usually alone. I need to get out of my "hermit" rut, and I know that will be the hardest thing for me to do. I kinda like my hermit rut. But I know it's not necessarily good for me. Soooo...time to get out of the comfort zone a little. Not that I plan to turn into a social butterfly or anything. I'd really rather stay home and knit.

A Finish and a BSP

As of yesterday I should have had 17 projects done to be on track with my "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" plan. Unfortunately, I've only finished 11, but that's still not bad, considering how many UFOs I have stashed around the house. First up, the socks:

These are the "Gansey Socks" from Socks From the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson. You can see it at the bottom of the page in my Amazon linky thing. It's a great book, and if I could only recommend one sock book, this would be the one. She shows several different methods for casting on, heels, and casting off, so if toe-up socks are your thing, this is the book to get. I hate to cast on 64 stitches on DPNs and I hate to graft toes, so I can't imagine why anyone would want to do "cuff-down" socks, but to each her own, right? Even if you do like "cuff-down" socks, the patterns in Wendy's book would be easy to adapt to read the other way.

These socks were done in superwash yarn I bought from Knitting Notions a couple of years ago. The pattern was super-easy, but Wendy is correct in saying that the pattern will show up better in light-colored yarn. I was dying to use this yarn, though, so I ignored Wendy's advice and made them anyway. They still have a nice texture and feel wonderful on my feet, so I'm happy with them. I'm sure I'll make them again, only in the light color as directed.

This is one of my BSPs (or Big Stinkin' Project. I have a lot of those stashed away around here.)

This is The Weeping Tree Sampler designed by "The City Stitcher", Janet Miller. (It's the fifth one down on this page.) I started this in March of 2001. (See, I told you I had some really old UFOs, and that's not even the oldest!) This piece has given me fits, mainly because once again I didn't follow directions and chose to use a different color of linen than what's stated in the pattern, meaning that some of the floss colors should have been adapted. Did I adapt? What do you think?

Soooo, as I was stitching along a little tiny voice in my head kept saying, "That's not going to show up on this fabric. That's not going to show up on this fabric." Now, I have no idea why I thought that voice is going to turn out to be wrong just because I insisted on continuing to stitch with the wrong darn color of floss (another question would be why I would suddenly feel compelled to stitch with the exact color listed in the floss table, especially since I clearly have no problem with switching out the linen color, but that's a whole 'nother post.) It wasn't until I was three-quarters of the way through the border that I decided to start listening to that tiny little voice. Probably that would be because the tiny little voice was beginning to get a little abusive, with words like "idiot" and "moron" getting tossed around.

Not only did I have to rip out the whole border, but I also had started the outer border, which is totally satin-stitched and was also totally wrong. As were the eighteen letters of the alphabet that I had also already stitched. So a-ripping I did go, and a-restitching I began. I had the border half done again when I discovered that I was off by a couple of stitches. More ripping and restitching ensued. And again I was off far enough that it couldn't be fixed and had to be ripped again. Long story short: I've stitched the inner border on this stupid thing THREE TIMES!!!

But I'm beginning to feel hope that it will be done soon. I'm aiming for the last day of September, which means I have about 55 hours left. I'd better get busy. And I'd better learn to count.

Finally, Something Accomplished!

 

This is my Fan-Stitch Half-Circle shawl from Martha Waterman's book.  It's not difficult, but I had to add an extra increase section to make it as long as I wanted. That meant that the 4-row edging took absolutely for-stinkin'-ever!!

But, today I finished the edging. I could weep with joy. So all that remains is crocheting across the top edge to stabilize it, and then I have to block it. I must say that I'm not looking forward to blocking this, and I'm really not sure quite how I'm going to do it. I would have to buy a boatload of T-pins to be able to pin out each little point on the edging, so I suspect it will have to be done in sections. I'll play my Scarlett O'Hara card here: I'll think about it tomorrow.

Because of the s-l-o-w progress on the shawl, I'm way behind on my 52 in 52 plan. I did cast on a new pair of pretty socks, so maybe I can get those done fairly quickly and try to make up for lost time. I'm running into a little issue here though. I really need to make a couple of little girl items that are in the queue. If I don't get started soon, the Rugrat will be too big for what I'm planning to make her.

And that reminds me of a tidbit that I don't believe I've shared yet. We expect a grandson in January. How cool is that?? One of each. I couldn't be happier! Let's hope for a safe and easy arrival (and my son is hoping for a late December arrival. Tax break, you know.)

I'm still adjusting to being more-or-less unemployed. I say more-or-less because dyeing for the Etsy shop is going strong. I had to postpone the opening date from September 1st to the 8th because I simply couldn't get all the little details nailed down in time. Little details like PHOTOGRAPHS. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that the photos are what drag me down. I hate to blog without any photos at all, and obviously the Etsy thing won't happen without pictures. So I either have to nag the husband to get them done soon or I'll have to tackle it myself. I probably had better learn sometime.

Off to crochet and plan the blocking strategy!

Putzing Along

As usual, I've neglected the blog. But that was partly because I was so busy finishing things! Yes! I finished three projects in one day--Saturday, August 1st. That got me on schedule with the "52 Project" goal, so I was quite happy about it. Here are the pics:

Yes, the Girasole is finished, and I absolutely love it. I used Wendy's blocking technique, which worked very well (the instructions are at the end of the post, after the picture of her kitty Lucy.) I think it would have come out slightly larger if I had done the whole pin-blocking thing, but since my back has been giving me fits the past couple of weeks, bending over a king-size bed and using a bazillionty pins for this was a no-go. Next time I'll put the ironing cover on my cutting table and iron it on that. I should be able to stretch it a bit more than I could on the regular ironing board.

If you look closely, you can see the change in color on the border, but Daniele was right. She commented on my last post that it probably wouldn't be noticeable, and it's not. I think that's mostly because the odd skein had to be joined right at the border, and the change of knitting direction and pattern helps hide the difference in shades. If I'd had to use it 50 rounds earlier, it would have been a problem. (BTW, Daniele was also right about my ill-fated attempt at a schedule. How'd you know, D??)

So the Girasole took three and a half skeins of Ranco Multy, at 376 yards per skein, therefore between 1300-1400 yards. If I did it again, I would use one size needle larger (I used a size 3/3.25mm on this one.) BUT. Though I love the shawl, I find round shawls a little awkward to wear. I don't see why it can't be made as a half-circle instead. Yeah, that means purling on the wrong side, but I can handle that. It also means that I have enough Ranco Multy in another colorway to make a half-circle (must...not...start...) BUT. I've made the Girasole, and would like to try something different but sort of the same. Enter Wendy again. She has just finished designing two cool round shawls (here and here), so one of those will be going on the list.

Next item:

This is the 2003 Collector's Heart from Heart in Hand (Celia Turner, designer.) It's another small cross-stitch destined for our bedroom wall.

And we have this:

It started out as this, from Zarzuela's Fibers:

I spun it into a fine singles, and I think it turned out really well. Now I need to figure out how many yards I have so I can decide what it will become. I'm anxious to see it knitted up. I hadn't done any spinning for a long time, and now I remember why I love it. I'm poking around in the fiber stash now, trying to decide what to spin next.

I can't tell you how good it feels to actually be finishing things. (Ok, technically the Tropical Fish yarn isn't finished until I knit it, but it's still progress!) I have to fight the urge to start new things--I think "startitis" will always be an issue with me--but seeing results makes me happy. It's especially true since the fibromyalgia has been flaring up the past couple of weeks, so my life feels very limited at times. I don't get out much unless it's to go to the post office for work, but I at least have something I can do that makes me feel useful. It's not brain surgery or the cure for cancer, but I make pretty stuff, and that has to be worth something, right?

I'm Falling Behind

Since I joined the Ravelry "52 Projects in 52 Weeks" group, I had hoped to be able to finish at least one project a week, and had clung to the faint hope that I might be able to finish more than one per week. It's not a contest--there's neither prize nor penalty for how many projects I do manage to get done (or not get done, as the case may be), but it still gives me something to aim for. In theory, I should have finished eight things by this coming Sunday. I'm up to six, so that goal is not likely to be reached.

I don't want to get totally neurotic about this. I make things because I love to make things, and I don't want to turn my love of needlework into a JOB (which is why I've gave up trying to earn money from my needleworking skills after a brief fling at it.) But as I have chronic startitis--a horrible affliction--it's good to have a goal. Problem is, so many of the things that I've already started are big projects. I'm still clinging to the plan that I can switch off small projects with large ones, but I can tell already that I'll run out of small things and still be slogging away on the large UFOs when May 31, 2010 rolls around.

Still, it does give me some structure, which I badly need in my life. I kind of ooze from one day to the next, and end up wondering where the week went. I admire people who are able to create structure for themselves and stick to it. Remember the old "Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, bake on Wednesday..." plan? I don't know who came up with it, or how many housewives actually stuck to that program back in the day, but I need something like that. Not that I do much ironing. Or baking, for that matter.

I suspect I need a school-day type of schedule. Say, from 9:00-12:00 I do my paying work. Then from 1:00-3:00 I do housework. 3:00-4:00 could be violin practice, and so on. I think I'll draw up a little schedule and see how it shakes out. Every day won't be the same, because my paying job has kind of random hours. But I'll work something out.

Oooh, gotta post a couple of pics and get outa here. Rugrat and her mommy just pulled in the driveway!!

Here's the latest finished project. This is the 2004 Collector's Heart from "Heart in Hand" (Celia Turner.) I'm making several small heart-themed pieces in these shades for my bedroom so you'll be seeing more like this. 

Here's the Girasole still in progress. It doesn't look like much, does it? It's all in the blocking!!

 

 I'm a little worried that I'm going to run short of the right shade of yarn. I have seven skeins of this yarn, all the same color from the same dyelot. Three are like the photo above; three are the same colors, only darker; and one only has a slight family resemblance. I'm on the third skein of the paler shades, and I have a feeling that it will end before the shawl will. I'm hoping I can squeak out the shawl and do the edging with one of the darker colors. That might help disguise the mis-matched shades. At any rate, it's not open-heart surgery, so I'll just let it go the way it wants to. I don't know how well the picture shows the change in color, but the skein lying on the shawl is definitely darker.

Now I really must run. Rugrat has discovered my peanut butter M&Ms. She was kind enough to stomp up here and share one with me. It was a little sticky, as was the kiss I got, but that's ok!

Finished Projects!

Yes! I have five, count 'em, FIVE finished projects for the 52 Projects in 52 Weeks group on Ravelry. What a great group. It meshes so neatly with the blog and may actually cause some major finishing activity on my part. Shazam!

Here we have the Blue Heron Bulky Chenille scarf. Again, it's one of those colorways that just doesn't do well in photographs, especially with all the texture. I got this at a discount from my LYS because it was a tangled mess and the owner gave up and sold it to me for half-price. I love a deal, don't you? It was well worth the time spent untangling it, and was a quick K3P3 pattern that I knitted a little loose. I washed it and threw it in the dryer, so it shrank and softened into a lovely kittenish feel. Definitely a success.

Here are the finished Numma Numma Toasty socks. I showed them a few posts back, and you can see the color a little better here, but it's still not perfect. The other picture was too dark; this one is too light, so imagine it in between, and you'll have it. These socks feel fabulous on my feet, and I keep stalking The Loopy Ewe, hoping to grab more. Though more sock yarn is not something I really need right now!

This is a sampler I started about five years ago, in memory of my best friend who was killed in a hit-and-run accident back in 1993. Since I started it, several other close friends have passed away, so it's kind of a memorial of all those I've loved and lost. I do have hope of seeing them all again in the resurrection promised in the Scriptures, so this has not been a sad project--more of a reminder that we can enjoy each other's company again in the future.

I'd already made one of these Noro Striped Scarves, and I haven't the faintest idea where, when, or why I bought more Kureyon to make another, but this is another easy, quick project. I do find myself sort of buried in scarves, so I may have to think about who might like a scarf this winter. Or I may be a selfish pig and keep them all for me me me!!

As I was working on this scarf, it occured to me that I could spin my own two colorways and get the exact shades I want for another of these scarves. I must put that on my to-do list. I foresee a pleasant afternoon spent at the local fiber shop (and yes, I live close to a LFS that has a terrific fiber selection) choosing the colors to spin for My Very Own Striped Scarf In Exactly The Shades I Want.

Last, but absolutely not least, I have actually finished a sweater!! Staggering, isn't it? This was started on May 11 and finished on June 27, so that's a pretty short length of time for me, at least when it comes to finishing big projects. True, I might have gotten it done sooner if I hadn't been knitting socks and scarves and whatnot, but the 52 Project thing means I have to whip out a quickie project now and then to stay on track.

The pattern for this called for two colorways, just like the Striped Scarf, but I had these 12 balls of one color, so I just juggled the two balls a bit as I was knitting so the colors wouldn't fall next to each other. Sometimes it didn't quite work, especially as there's so much orange in this colorway (note the bottom of the sleeve--that's what I mean) but I love how it came out. It looks very Kaffe Fasset-ish to me. I'm not thrilled with the neckline (because I knitted two extra rounds, and it's too much) and I made the sleeves too long, but I'm still happy with it. I may get up the gumption to rip out those two extra rounds on the neckline and cut off an inch of the sleeves, but for right now I'm just going to pet it.

I feel quite pleased with myself. Finishing is such a kick! Oh, and just wait until you see the Girasole! The Ranco Multy was an inspired choice (ok, not so much a choice as the only thing I had in the stash that I thought would work. Close enough to inspired for me.) I have my slant issues worked out, so it's proceeding at an unusually rapid pace. That's my kind of knitting!

On Track...Sort Of...

I've been working hard at the "52 Projects" goal. I've finished three things (yeah, yeah...I WILL do pictures soon) and have numbers 4 and 5 almost done. Actually, one of them is the Noro sweater I was working on during our death trip drive to Knoxville last month, and all I have to do is sew the side seams, take care of a few yarn ends, and steam the neckline a bit. Why, then, am I procrastinating so? I could have had this stupid sweater done a week and a half ago if I'd just gotten busy and blocked it. I finally did that, which of course was not nearly the pain-in-the-neck I'd expected it to be, so I should have zoomed right through the rest of it. Well, I did have to pick up and knit around the V-neck, but that was pretty mindless. It has taken me two days to sew in the sleeves, and I simply cannot force myself to pick up (hah--I originally typed "puke up") that needle and finish sewing the sides. I'd better come up with some sort of reward to spur myself on. Nothing is coming to mind. This is serious resistance. 
 
The other almost-done project is a Noro striped scarf. You know, the one made popular by Jared of brooklyn tweed. (BTW, I also want to make the Girasole and the Hemlock Ring off that website. He's a talented guy and I should totally stop reading his blog. New patterns I need like I need a root canal.) My scarf is turning out really well--I'm happy with the colors I chose, though I really cannot recall when or where I bought the yarn. I find that disturbing. Anyway, I do have a question. Why is it that when I have two balls of yarn in two completely different colorways that share, say, ohhhh, a yard or two of the roughly the same color, those two colors will ALWAYS end up being right next to each other in the stripe pattern?? Why why why???

I also finished a cross-stitch project. Now, technically, this "52 Project" group on Ravelry is for knitting, crocheting, and spinning. But I did ask the moderator if cross-stitch and needlepoint would be okay to include and she was fine with it. That's good because I have about 87 cross-stitch projects in plastic baggies waiting to be made. You think I'm kidding? (Note to self: take picture of vintage suitcase containing cross-stitch projects and post on blog. Or maybe not.)  This was another "procrastinated" project, and it was all because of one teeny fact that I had never grasped until now. If you are working a project that has "over one" stitches (meaning you work the 'x' over the intersection of two perpendicular threads instead of four, which also means that the said 'x' is extreeeemely tiny) you really, really should not use fabric that is of a higher thread count than 28 threads per inch. It's a major headache. Sooo, this project has an entire verse in "over one", and I did it on 32-count linen. AND I MADE A GLARING MISTAKE BECAUSE I CAN'T COUNT. So that had to be (carefully) pulled out and redone. Maybe that's why I can't finish the Noro sweater. I used up my motivation on that stupid blankety-blank cross-stitched verse. But it's done now, only five years after I started it, and since it's a "mourning" sampler in remembrance of a lost friend, I'm glad it's finished. Now I have to come up with the funds to frame it. Speaking of which...

...I've added an Amazon store widget at the bottom of the page. So just in case you're jonesing for a Kindle or several hundred a few books or CDs, well...you know...there's a convenient link right down there at the bottom. Look down there. See? It's right there, right at the bottom of the page. Just sayin'.

The family is fairly well. Mom struggles on, daughter-in-law is discovering the joys of early-pregnancy fatigue, and Rugrat's mother is discovering the joys of ER visits with the Rugrat. Apparently Rugrat fell off a slide at the McDonald's Playland while she was visiting with her father yesterday and knocked herself out. Daddy said when he got to her, he couldn't wake her up for about ten seconds or so. Off to the ER, but everything checked out fine, and she's on her usual tear through the house today, or so I've heard. Really, these things are harder on the parents (and grandparents) than they ever are on the kids. I still shudder over accidents my kids had that they don't even remember!

I'm doing my usual grousing at the hot weather. I've spent four days out of the last ten dealing with heat and/or exercise induced migraines, so I'm looking forward to October already. I really need to find another climate to live in. Is there anywhere in the world where it's October year-round? I'd even take October through March year-round if it could be had. Oh well. I stay inside with the AC on high and continue to work on the Projects. Three down, 49 to go. At least for this year.