Guess what I finished last night? My rainbow cowl! I’m so happy because that means I can either wear it or list it on Etsy. But I’m so sad because that means I can’t knit on it anymore and I so enjoyed knitting with that yarn. I totally need to save up to buy some more Vice yarn. Great stitch definition, soft without being too floppy, and those colors!
This is unblocked, so I still need to wash it and pin it out but I think it’s a great size. This was a wonderful travel project too, so I expect I’ll be making more with my fancy single skeins. I even have about 60 yards left, and I’m wondering if I can squeeze out a wee pair of fingerless gloves, something just like a handwarmer. If I succeed, I’ll share it!
Archive | 2015
Craft Room Organization: Phase One
I was hit with a little wave of inspiration today. I’m sure you’ve all seen the blog post from Repeat Crafter Me about her yarn storage. And using that type of shelving isn’t anything new; in fact my woodworker husband has been wanting to make them for me for a while now. But what struck me today was how she put her buttons into little glass jars, separated by colors. Brilliant!
Previously, I had two button boxes. One held all my loose single buttons, the other held button cards with 2 or more of the same buttons. When I need multiples of the same button for a project, I knew which box to grab. But what was frustrating was digging through the boxes looking for the right button in the right color.
So while I watched my tennis this morning, I separated all my buttons into piles. I kept most of the button cards intact, since they’d still fit into the jars that way.
Then I gathered up the several empty glass containers cluttering up my craft room. Some I’d bought intending to use kind of like a yarn bowl, and some I just had because…well, because they might come in hand someday. Today, they did! I didn’t have enough, but thankfully my husband happened to have three Ball jars just taking up space in his workshop, and he donated them to me.
Yay! I love my new button jars.
Now I just need to get him to make those dividers so I can make my yarn look all pretty. But I can’t help but wonder if by color is the best organization. I’ve got my yarn by fiber (alpaca, felting wool, superwash, soft/merino wool, cotton, silk, acrylic). That way when I need a certain fiber, I know what colors I have available. But it does look so much better by color. How do you organize your yarn? What do you like/not like about it?
FO Friday
It is Friday, right? For reals? I just now realized I posted a WIP Wednesday post…on Thursday. And you all are so nice that none of you made fun of me (in writing)! So thank you, I appreciate it. In my defense, Monday was a holiday and threw everything off. I think I’m back on track now. And I actually have a finished project to share.
These are boot cuffs made for a niece’s birthday. I kind of made up my own pattern and added some of my favorite new buttons. I really hope they fit and she likes them! They’re Raveled here, if you’re interested.
And that’s all. Boy, I’m so unproductive this week. I could have worked on my seed stitch beanie, but…well. I didn’t. I had an unexpected lunch date, which was lovely, so didn’t have that time. And after I finished the cuffs and sewed the buttons on, I needed to stretch my legs plus the puppy was bonkers so he got a nice long walk and then it was almost dinner time…you know how it goes. But last night during tennis, I did cast on my beautiful rainbow Vice. It’s a plain stockinette cowl with ribbed edges and it’s going quickly.
Can I just knit with this yarn forever and ever? It’s the best yarn ever and I want more.
I might not finish anything today. I get to have lunch with some good friends and then I have to run errands for the mother and errands with the children. We’ll see how far I get this morning!
WIP Wednesday
I’m still working on that seed stitch hat, the one I started a few days ago with my new turquoise HiKoo Simpliworsted. I’m using this pompon and seeds hat pattern and the first time I made it, I switched to bigger needles for the body of the hat as well as increased a couple of stitches for extra slouch. Then after two hours of waiting room knitting, I was almost out of yarn but not close to the end. I frogged back to the brim that night and started over with smaller needles and no decreases. Now I have 2cm to go before I start decreasing, and a worryingly small ball of yarn left. But this is the perfect pattern for this yarn, so I’m going to just keep going and buy another skein if I have to. I just love seed stitch with the bounciness of HiKoo, it’s all squishy and fun and springy.
I’ve set it aside for today, though. I have another boot cuff to make and then I’m going to tackle my lace scarf while it’s quiet. It’s Australian Open time, so I can listen to the soothing rhythm of tennis while counting my YOs and k2togs.
Missing You
Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. It was the third we’ve had since he died. He would have been 71. And I made it through the day. It wasn’t pretty, wasn’t fun, but I did it. It helped that I had errands to run, doctor appointments to deal with, things that kept me busy and kept my mind occupied. Of course it was always in the back of my mind, but I didn’t have much time to dwell on it. And when I did have time, it was a different kind of grief than years past.
The first year, I kept thinking I was forgetting something, something I was really supposed to do that day. And then I’d remember: I was supposed to be calling my dad, but couldn’t. It was a series of sharp pains throughout the day. The second year, that feeling of forgetting something was gone but the loss was still sharp. We might have had cake but I’m not sure. This year the pain itself had softened, but it was joined by a pervading sense of permanence. No way around it, he’s really gone and I really won’t get another birthday with him. It was just a sad day from start to finish.
I’m glad it’s over, really. I woke up refreshed this morning, eager to have a better day today. No big plans, which makes for the best kind of day, doesn’t it? I see yarn in my immediate future, maybe a trip to Half Price Books.
Pretty Yarn Pictures, that’s all
Over the weekend, I made it out to two of my LYSs and since I was shopping alone, I had no one to tell me I couldn’t or shouldn’t buy these lovely bits of yarny goodness.
Classic Elite Chateau. Light as air and fluffy-soft.
Malabrigo Worsted. The only skein I saw in either store.
Malabrigo Mecha
HiKoo SimpliWorsted. I love this squishy yarn. It’s already halfway to being a seed stitch beanie.
A splurge: Madelinetosh DK in Astrid Grey. Isn’t it gorgeous? It will be a cowl, possibly another Honey Cowl.
A bigger and better splurge: Vice’s Floozy worsted in Plain Jane. I can’t get over how beautiful this yarn is. Every skein I saw by Vice had these strongly-saturated, vivid, rich colors. I am so in love with this yarn.
It’s all wound and ready to become a simple cowl. It will be stockinette with ribbed edges, nothing to distract you from the beauty of the yarn.
Have you made any splurges lately? What yarns make you weak in the knees?
I mustache you a question: Do you like boot cuffs?
Is it bedtime yet? No? Only 3:30, eh? Well. Soon it will be wine o’clock, so that’s something. I am tired, it has been a long day already, but I can finally share the finished boot cuffs. They went to a couple of girls who love mustaches, and I just happen to have some mustache buttons. Soooo…
Fun, no? I’ll definitely be making more of these before the next craft show.
Yesterday I went shopping and bought gorgeous yarn I don’t need, and tomorrow I will show you pictures. Today I am tired so I am going to go visit my couch. It is calling my name.
Just a wee bit of Barley
It’s really hard to blog when you can’t talk about your projects. I’m still working on my little secrets and they’re going really well. But today I’m in need of a simple travel project, so I poked through my Ravelry queue for a hat to make, and the Barley hat by Tin Can Knits jumped out at me. It keeps popping up in top 20 lists and other blogs, and I love how it’s mostly simple stockinette with a nifty patch of garter stitch. And then, guess what? I discovered I had another skein of Malabrigo Worsted in my stash! (Is it bad when you keep finding surprises in your stash?) So now I have an easy, fun project ready for my waiting room knitting!
Clearly hats are my go-to travel projects; what are your favorites?
I’m a Multilingual Crafter: I Speak Bead
I can’t talk about my yarn projects right now. I have a few going but they’re secrets. And it’s killing me because the first one came out SO COOL and I’m tickled with it but…not yet. Instead, I’ll show you what I’m doing when I take a break from yarn.
Several years ago, my aunt got me started beading. I went crazy with it and spent the next few years obsessively building my bead stash and making tons of jewelry. I made so much I tried to sell some of it. (Wait, this is sounding familiar.) Unfortunately, I managed to burn myself out and eventually had to pack it all away. I kept the tools and my favorite beads, and after I’d been knitting a while, I was glad I had. My knitting SIL (she pops up a lot, doesn’t she? Handy gal to have around.) saw a sample of beaded stitch markers at Joann and decided to try them. (She was also into the beading craze with us. And the scrapbooking craze that followed. Hmm. There seems to be a pattern here.)
Well! Jewelry for my knitting? Absolutely! So now I buy beads every once in a while, when I need to scratch a different creative itch, and make some stitch markers. These are this week’s product.
There’s kind of a funny story with these wire-wrapped ones. I had all my stuff out on the dining room table, and the other night after I finished eating, I idly picked up the wire and pliers and made this automatically, not thinking about it since I was talking with Alex and the kids. It wasn’t until I was done that I realized the loop was supposed to fit around a knitting needle. Oops. So that one on the left might not be used too much, but hey, it’s there if I need it.
I really enjoy having different ways to explore my creativity. I just hope I don’t get tired of knitting like I did with beading and scrapbooking Ack, blasphemy! *runs off to wash mouth out with soap*
Books & Cowls
Apparently I was feeling adventurous yesterday. I started out the morning by learning a new bind off (Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy). Then I decided to try something else new, so I downloaded an audiobook from the library to listen to while I knitted. I used to be an avid reader. It wasn’t unusual for me to have two books going at the same time, and I’d go through several books a month. Then I learned to crochet and knit. First I couldn’t even fathom trying to focus on what my fingers were doing as well as words in a book. Then, even when I could, I couldn’t figure out the logistics. After all, my hands were busy. How could I hold a book? I did manage to read an e-book once while I was knitting a super-simple Gap-tastic cowl that was just seed stitch all the way through. But it was awkward to pause and “turn” the page; it disrupted my rhythm.
So I kind of gave up books. I know, it’s sad, right? I’m sad to type it and even sadder to admit it. Now, don’t freak out, I didn’t give them up completely. I still read at times, but a lot of it was knitting-related. I don’t sit and read in the evenings like I used to. I don’t devour books while devouring lunch; instead I browse patterns on Ravelry. But I miss books. I miss being a reader. But I don’t want to give up knitting.
Ergo, audiobooks. I found a book I hadn’t read before and off I went. It was strange at first, but easier then I expected. I’ve tried audiobooks before and didn’t care for them; I process things better by reading them than hearing them. But this wasn’t any heavy reading, just light fiction, and it was fine. It’s definitely not the same as the heft of an actual book in my hands, feeling the scratch of the paper and getting a whiff of used-book mustiness. The biggest problem was that I can’t skim. I realized that I must skim over a lot of description in books to get to the action, because there were several times I found myself thinking, “Oh, get on with it already. I know how you feel, so what are you going to DO?” But it’s fine. It’s better than no book at all. And I’m actually kind of excited. I don’t have to choose between books and yarn now. I can browse the library and get all kinds of books on my Overdrive app!
So what did I do while I was “reading”? I finally finished that Malabrigo cowl! I’m in between projects and wanted to finish something fun. I love love love this yarn, and I think this pattern is a great way to show it off.
The color isn’t perfect in these shots, despite my best efforts. It’s got a tiny bit more purple than the first picture indicates. This second shot is probably the closest to the true color.
It might be just wee bit tall, but hey, the better to burrow your chin into, right? And I kind of like the look of it folded over a bit.
For those who care: this is the Clairiere Cowl and Malabrigo Worsted yarn. This yarn is amazing. Obviously the colors are fantastic but the yarn itself is soft yet sturdy, no splitting. It’s one of my new favorites.
Today I’m going to tackle fingering-weight lace again, so send me some good vibes!
bonnyknits 