I've been bad about updating. I kept forgetting to take pictures. And I have to update my character blog for the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap once a week. And this is the first week students have been back after break and I didn't remember until I was on my way to work on Monday. I was not prepared.
But I turned the heel in my first sock. Three more inches and it will be done. And I will stare at it and think "I don't want to make another one of that". Not that I don't like the process of sock knitting. I just don't want to knit that one again. Hence the reason I bought this:
2-at-a-time socks. If I can figure out how this works, I will never suffer from 2nd sock syndrome again. Plus it has some really cute patterns in it. Even if I don't end up using the method.
I spent part of the weekend working on this little dude. I am very proud of him. And I take crappy pictures. We all know Fraggle Rock, right? You remember the Doozers? Well...recognize the resemblance? There ya go, I crocheted a Doozer. Not just any Doozer, a knitting one. Why? Well at SnB last week, they were playing episodes of Fraggle Rock. During the Great Radish Famine episode there was a scene of the Doozers singing and KNITTING! So I made one. So cute.
Look, my next project. Only after I finish something I am working on right now. Crappy picture. But it is a shrug knit with lace weight wool (well I am using alpaca). You knit one giant rectangle and then button up along the edges to make "sleeves". And you use a bit of I-cord to gather up the ends so it isn't so billowy. I am making it out of Frog Tree brushed Suri in a lovely charcoal color. It will be perfect for when it starts getting warmer. I can have it at work. For some reason we keep it at like 50 degrees inside and it is like 90 outside. Makes getting dressed difficult. If I wear short sleeves, I freeze all day at work. But if I wear long sleeves I can't be outside for more than 3 minutes without melting. But it is my first lace project and I'm excited. I am skipping the sweater because by the time I finish it, it will be summer and I'll be pissed. So I am making something during winter I can wear in spring and summer. OMG! I used logic.
And this, is called an abacus bracelet. Someone told me about this magnificent creation last night and I had all my jewelry making supplies out to make stitch markers for my swap partner. How convinient. She is just lucky I found a
tutorial online or I would have been up a lot later than I should have. It is a fashion accessory and a knitting tool. Cool, huh? Look at it bigger. There is a ring of beads around the middle there. One strand of the bracelet has 9 beads and one has 10. Well each time I knit a row or cast on a stitch, I move one of the beads on the 9 strand through the ring of beads towards the big blue bead. When I finish the 10th row, I move all of those 9 bead back through and push through one of the beads on the other strand. Then I start again with the small bead until I hit 20 and move another big bead. I even added a little hook that holds stitch markers (they don't stay on if you are just wearing the bracelet for fun, but while I sit and knit they should be ok). You have to admit that is cool. I think my swap partner might be getting one of these along with her stitch markers.
Look! I finished a sock. And I hate it. The yarn is not good for socks. 100% cotton = no give = giant holes at my short rows. And the yarn looks like I spilled orange Koolaid on it. Just little rows of about 5 stitches here and there have a distinctly orange tint. So I bound of this one (It doesn't evens stretch to fit on my foot) and called it a day. I will use the rest of that yarn to make dishclothes or something.
But Teresa's scarf is coming along nicely. The charcoal color doesn't really allow you to see all of the detail. I am also playing with taking pictures only in natural light. Working much better than my flash. I need to pick up a piece of white poster board for a background and I will be set. And it is much easier now with my new setup. New setup? Don't worry, I'm getting to that.
I realized that I am due to make my donation to GTA soon. So I worked on that most of the weekend. Once I was able to find it all, I realized I had a lot of "baby" yarn. Yay for clearing out the stash. More room for new stuff.
There is peace. They were like 5 inches from each other and sleeping peacefully while I was present. I was shocked and snapped a picture to prove it happened.
ORGANIZATION!!!! I finally bought two more of those big plastic shelf drawer thingys and organized my yarn by color. (in addition to the two I already have downstairs for other crafting goodness) No more giant bottomless totes holding my yarn. If I want blue yarn, I open up the second drawer of the set closest to the couch and ta da! blue yarn. As you can also see, no more digging through all of my looms to find them. They are nicely arranged in artistic fashion on the wall. Tracey, ignore the large pile of khaki and cream goodness there on the right. :) And on the left you can see my toolbox that holds all of my hooks, needles, and notions (at 97 cents was the awesomest buy at walmart). And I have one small tote left for WIP's and UFO's. And I have small plastic boxes for my needle felting and uber varigated yarn. The stuff that I had no idea what color to file it under. So it is all organized. Very very excited about this. You can see that drawer set number 2 blocks that door, but it is on wheels and can easily be moved out of the way when it becomes warm enough to venture onto the balcony/when we have company. Actually both sets are on wheels for that purpose. Which, I'm supposed to be planning a party at some point. Must remember to do that.
