Tag: yarn

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

Bitching, with sparkly yarn and a baby girl to balance things out

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

This is my sentence acknowledging that it’s been far too long since my last update. There, now I can move on.

Little has changed since my last post–I’m still feeling reticent about picking up the yarn and sticks, and instead have been spending far too much time in front of the tv doing….nothing. I still haven’t frogged K’s failed hat; haven’t mailed J’s finished hat; haven’t tried again with my sister’s hat. Damn hats! I have on occasion picked up the languishing My So-Called Scarf (the one with the bright yet scratchy Red Heart), which is now about a foot long instead of just six inches.

However, I did get started on a shawl this weekend when I took a friend to the hospital. I knew in advance she’d be needing a ride, so I reviewed my yarn, picked the Valley Yarns Wildwood that I bought at Webs over Christmas, and picked the Sunday Market Shawl for my pattern, which is basically stockinette until the very end and therefore would be easy to knit if I’d ended up in complete darkness for three hours like last time (I didn’t). Sadly, as beautiful as it’s knitting up, I’m starting to think the yarn and the pattern should never have been paired. The shawl is narrower than I’d wanted, more like a scarf, and the fabric is denser than I’d imagined for this yarn. It’s pretty, just not what I’d wanted.

Gah! I feel like a big ball of suck right now, like I can’t pick the right pattern for any given yarn. *sigh* I could continue with this yarn and this pattern, but if it doesn’t work out, it’ll be a bitch to frog it (mohair and sparkly thread), and I don’t want to give up on the yarn. It made such a pretty shawl in the Webs store.

In other news, I’d like to thank Melanie for her lovely comment on my last post–it cheered me up that day when I saw it. I don’t think I’m over the hump yet, but I won’t give in entirely–I love yarn too much.

And finally, in totally AWESOME news, I have a new niece! Hailey is seven days old today, and looks just like her dad. Welcome to the world, Hailey darlin’! Hopefully I’ll get to meet you and your big brother this summer!

Hailey!

Bored with my projects

I haven’t updated in awhile because, well, I’m bored with my current projects. They’re taking too long, and as usually happens with my short attention span, I’m losing interest.  On occasion I’ve even found myself staring at my purple Dakota and wondering what I can do with it, but I stop myself from picking it up, because I have four projects that need finishing, dammit!

And really, “four” is a conservative number, given the other projects I’ve dropped before they’re completely finished. Even from where I’m sitting, I can see the tank top that is only half a back; the My So-Called Scarf that’s about six inches long that I’ve since forgotten the stitch for; and the red and white purse that has a few more rows to go before it can be bound off and felted. And I know, hiding behind those, are a couple of to-be-felted purses that need handles either kitchener-stitched together, or attached to the insides of the knitted bag. Not to mention the UMass granny square scarf; the spring-colored granny square scarf I started last summer; the felted purses that need holes punched for the i-cord handles; the log cabin blanket I haven’t picked up in months–oh, and that reminds me that I have a niece due to be born next month who’s going to need a blanket! Gah!

But first, there are two hats and two scarves to be finished. How to get my mojo back, I do not know. 🙁

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

It's picture-palooza time!

Closeup of a striped scarf in muted blues, pinks, yellows and greens

Yesterday I took pictures of the projects I’m currently and actively working on, so today I get to share them with you! Yay!pictures!

WIP: Kristen's knitted hatThis hat was knit for my friend Kristen to match her birthday scarf. I cast on 80 stitches onto size 11 needles, same as I did for the hat for my brother-in-law, and yet, this hat is enormous. I don’t think I can save it as is, so I plan to frog it and start over, this time on size 10.5 circs with ten fewer stitches.

WIP: Snowflake motifThis snowflake motif will eventually, someday, be one of many that’ll join together to make a scarf for my sister. I’m using the yarn she bought at WEBS. The motif took me over an hour to complete, so who knows how long it’ll take me to make the whole scarf.

WIP: Tam knit in roundMy tam! I’m using the pattern from the current Knitty for this faux-fair isle tam, using two strands of Paton’s Wool. I tried using a strand in each hand, but I couldn’t get any tension from my left hand, so I’ve been holding both strands in my right hand, and I’m getting pretty good at it. Sadly, I think this hat is going to be way smaller than I’d hoped (yes, I know I should gauge swatch, but that’ll probably never happen), so I’ll have to think of a child deserving of such ugly colors. *g* Also, I think my stranding might pull a bit, making it even tighter, but I won’t know for sure until it’s done.

WIP: single crochet scarfThis is the single-crochet scarf I’ve been working on since the plane home last month. It’s the project I take with me to work on at lunch or while waiting for, say, the dentist, so it’s slow going, but I’m nearly finished with the second ball of Patons Soy Wool Stripes–now I just have to find the third and final ball. I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.

So that’s what I’m working on right now. My favorite at the moment is the tam, because not only am I learning something new (double stranding and working from a color chart) but it’s neat to see how the pattern emerges when I’m only focusing on one row at a time. Plus I’m always pleased when something that looks so hard and forbidding, turns out to be not so bad at all.

And now I’m off to see a baby about a smile. 🙂

Categories
Knitting and Crochet Shopping

Kitties and fibers and LYSs, oh my!



Gabby admires my yarn haul from WEBS

Remember that trip to WEBS that I took back in late December? The one right after Christmas? No? Probably because I glossed right over it–too holiday-weary to write out a long involved post, I’m afraid. But finally, here is a picture of what I came away with, with my sister’s cat Gabby keep a very careful eye over it all. Isn’t it pretty? It raises the dead! (Ok, not, but in my head, that’s what logically follows “isn’t it pretty?”)

The white and maroon balls on the left are Amherst Yarn in UMass Amherst colors–they are currently on their way to becoming a granny square scarf. The autumn-colored hanks in the middle were purchased by my sister so I could make her a lacy scarf. The rest of it–the purples, the oranges, the whispy multis at the top–all caught my eye for one reason or another, and I don’t know yet what I’ll be doing with each (per usual).

So, that’s the WEBS stash! Can’t wait to go back next year!

In other, more dire, news, I have a mission today, and it’s a very dangerous mission. You see, my friend Kristen would like a hat to match the scarf I made her for her birthday. I would love to oblige her, but to be honest, there wasn’t enough yarn left over after the scarf to make anything bigger than a head band. This is where the mission comes in: I have to walk into a yarn store today. Worse, it’s my favorite yarn store. ?!!! I’m doomed! I can’t just walk into my favorite store, buy one ball, and walk back out again without browsing! It’s inconceivable! And I know what you’re thinking–WEBS has that very yarn on sale, just order it! It’ll arrive in the mail! Safe as houses! Except, WEBS is sold out of the chocolate brown, which is the color I need the most.

It’s going to be scary, and I’m not sure how I’ll make it out with my bank account still in the black. I’m toying with the plan of leaving all my debit and credit cards at home, and walking in with only a $20 bill. That could work.

Or maybe a fifty. That would work much better, don’t you think?

*THUNK*

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.