Sunday, March 22, 2015
It's Been a Quiet Week
Working busily on lots of projects at work and following a number of word game apps on the Kindle (trying to improve/save what memory I have left). That left minimal time for knitting this week.
Only FO is a tiny pair of baby sockies. They are knit from some leftover hand painted/dyed yarn that comes out self-striping at this tiny size.
Needles are 2's. Pattern is a basic sock, found long ago on elann.com which only exists in memory these days.
Cast on 30 stitches, join being careful not to twist. . .
Labels: baby things, stash busting
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Cold Weather; Warm Gear
Finished this soft and cuddly scarf last week. It's from the last of some Bernat Soy and planned for a yarn bombing. However, the cold weather may have me rethinking that!
And the reaction of TPT (Tiny Prince Two/Too) got me thinking about the Monster Pants leftovers and so I cast on a couple of scarves for him and his big bro (TPO - Tiny Prince Original).
I may have mentioned that both of the Tiny Princes are no longer tiny.
And yes, I know that scarves are often not recommended for little kids, but they aren't so little any more.
Did I mention that it's cold?
These should go out in Tuesday's mail (Monday is a holiday).
Labels: big people clothes, kid things, stash busting
Thursday, January 01, 2015
It Was a Very Good Year
2014 is officially over and as I do every new year (okay, since 2002), I tallied up the things I finished.
This year, I finished 96 projects, using 17 miles of yarn weighing in at 23.5 pounds.
There were 2 full size afghans and 7 lap robes and/or baby blankets. Car seat blankies were a favorite. There were also 4 woven cat mats for Peaceable Kingdom (local animal rescue).
Add in 16 pairs of booties and baby socks 1 pair of adult socks, 2 adult sweaters, 5 child-size sweaters, 2 cowls, 3 scarves, and 2 shawls
5 hats, 7 baby hats, a pair f mittens and a pair of wristers
1 felted bowl, 6 dishtowels (woven), 11 facecloths, a pillow, a potholder, and a purse
3 pairs of slippers, and 14 toys.
All in all, not a shabby year.
This year, I finished 96 projects, using 17 miles of yarn weighing in at 23.5 pounds.
There were 2 full size afghans and 7 lap robes and/or baby blankets. Car seat blankies were a favorite. There were also 4 woven cat mats for Peaceable Kingdom (local animal rescue).
Add in 16 pairs of booties and baby socks 1 pair of adult socks, 2 adult sweaters, 5 child-size sweaters, 2 cowls, 3 scarves, and 2 shawls
5 hats, 7 baby hats, a pair f mittens and a pair of wristers
1 felted bowl, 6 dishtowels (woven), 11 facecloths, a pillow, a potholder, and a purse
3 pairs of slippers, and 14 toys.
All in all, not a shabby year.
Labels: ancient history, FOs, stash busting
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Going Out with a Bang
If that's true, 2015 will be the year of the sock.
Following the completion of the Mitered Sock Yarn Blankie, I started turning the leftover sock yarn into, well, socks. Baby socks.
Awaiting a suitable recipient.
Labels: baby things, FOs, stash busting
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Brain Dead
I am off for the week, trying to use up vacation days that I will lose otherwise.
That's allowed me to assess my annual yarn output and to discover that I am coming up alarmingly short of FOs!
Which led me to a desire, no, a need, to complete some very small projects.
Witness the booties and dish/facecloth to the left. There were 2 more face cloths completed, but they are already in the hands of the USPS, so no pictures.
End of the year also forced my organizational skills to kick in. I sorted through several years of accumulated knitting/crochet magazines and leaflets and discovered these beauties (Mon Tricot, I think) from the 70s and 80s.
They, also, are in the hands of USPS, winging their way to Kentucky, where I hope they amuse my friend, who, I hope, will not recreate. . .
And as we were setting the table for Christmas dinner, I opened the drawer where we keep the napkins and discovered
Dave
at least I think that's his name.
He, too, is in the hands of the USPS. . .
Edited to add: that Minion is Not Dave; he's Stuart!
How could I get that wrong??
Labels: baby things, FOs, silliness, stash busting
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Coming to the End (Of the Year)
I love the camera on my phone! Taking and posting pictures no longer involves fighting with (the now defunct) Kodak. But it also means that the colors are sometime a little muddy.
Witness the woven scarf to the left. In Real Life, it's actually quite bright. It's woven. The yarn is alpaca. Lime, turquoise, purple. Faux plaid, don't you think?
Three skeins of Filatura Lanarota Alpaca DK Splash. From Smiley's. No longer available. Made it on my 10" Cricket rigid heddle loom.
I still have some of the red/pink colorway that I am debating for another.
To the right, the Spiral Log Cabin blankie. You can search on Ravelry for the pattern. It was a quite mindless knit (stopping only occasionally to count ridges).
About 10 skeins of yarn, 5 each of two colors: cream and denim.
Yarn is also from Smiley's, Filatura Lanarota Easy Wool (wool/ack blend). All that's currently available is black, but this is their house brand, so keep checking back for other colors.
And I finished my walking hat.
Filatura Lanarota (do I sense a theme) Puno, a 100% alpaca in a berry heather and a denim heather. I love this stuff!
Double thick, reverse stockinette. Yum!
Same hat, turned inside out.
The Other Half has requested one.
I think black and camel. Or black and charcoal.
Still working on stuff to close out the year. Mindless small stuff. Still stash-busting whenever possible. Watch for the year-end report in about a week.
Labels: big people clothes, FOs, stash busting, weaving
Monday, December 01, 2014
What Has Sheepie Been Weaving?
Three dishtowels, cotton chenille. The pattern may look vaguely familiar. It's a variation on the cover project of the November/December Handwoven. Same warp on all three. different weft on each: green, blue, mauve (top to bottom).
I left out the pick up stick patter.
Another set of 3 dish towels these in cotton, plain spun for the warp, a thick and thin for the weft.
I don't know if the embiggen feature will show it, but there's an almost "argyle" (diamond) pattern formed by the thick parts of the weft.
The yarn is Filatura Lanarota Alpaca DK Splash from Smiley's. It's not on their site any longer. Don't bother to look. It's well-aged and yes, I am stash busting.
I probably have enough of this colorway to make a second scarf if I use a solid for the warp or weft. Or I might knit a beanie to match.
Labels: big people clothes, stash busting, weaving
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Disappointment Colored All My Dreams
Well, not all of them, but certainly this one!
Old pattern for an egg cover. Fiddly pain in the @$$ to construct. It's meant to fit a Cadbury egg, but I sincerely doubt it.
Back to bunnies!! Need several more.
Younger Son wants to give a couple to small friends and the Baby Grands will be getting some.
Bunnies. Not chicks.
The Eagle (Twist) has landed.
Speaking of fiddly!
The plan is to enter this one in the fair (maybe) then to donate it to an on-air auction for Rotoplast (charity that provides surgical repair for cleft lip/palate patients in Third World (mostly) countries.
I'm not sure this is up to my usual expectations, so I will be casting on something lacy later and allow the coordinator to select.
I do like the colors.
Various Kool-Aid dyed shades on the same base yarn as the main color. Coned stuff from Spinrite Mills in Canada (anyone remember them?) that I have had stashed far too long.
This is a wait and see for me. Plenty of time to redo.
The drop at the cabled center section is a little more than 12" and the span is about 6'.
Labels: charity, children's things, stash busting
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Just Off; Going On the Needles
 |
| latest car seat blankie |
 |
| up close and personal-can you see them? |
I am hoping that the intended recipient is not one of the three of you reading this blog!
 | ||
| and the next project |
A dear friend and fellow Rotarian assists with a project called Rotoplast. Every year in December, our local district holds an on-air auction to raise funds for the project. This will be my 3rd donation of a handmade shawl. It's a small thing, but one child will have a happy smile (and be able to eat) as a result of my donation.
The yarn is wool, from The Great Cone Sale at Webs that I over-dyed years ago in the Great Kool-Aid Experiment. It was time to put it to good use! The cone top right is the original "amber;" the cakes to the left are just some of the variations on a theme.
I am really looking forward to finally putting this yarn (that I originally bought for charity knitting) to good use.
Labels: baby things, charity, stash busting
Sunday, January 05, 2014
A blast from the past
Does anyone remember when Wendy Johnson declared that 2007 would be a Knit From Your Stash? The original rules (abbreviated) were:
1) The challenge (knit only from stash) was to run for 9 months, January 1 until Stitches East when we would restock (laughing, laughing)
2) Exceptions to the "buy nothing" rule included sock yarn (Wendy's special baby), yarn for gifts, yarn to finish a project started from stash
3) Spinning fiber didn't count
4) Yarn received as gifts and traded yarn did not count
5) There was one "get out of jail free" card
I remember that! I participated in the KFYS original. My stash decreased
by a mere 20% or so (from 521 to 444 balls--see sidebar on the right). Since then, it’s continued to
expand, and though I no longer track it on the sidebar of this blog (stopped that
nonsense in 2008), I continue to track via my spread sheet inventory (I use this
to locate yarn that is in my stash when I have a project in mind, color,
weight, amount, all in one place with the location to find it right there,
too).
I am embarrassed by the wealth of my stash. At the end of 2013, I show
twice as many balls of yarn (1039) as I did at the start of 2007. That doesn’t include
weaving yarn on cones. I am not bragging. This is a shameful admission. The
ball count has expanded (doubled) but the yardage has not (or at least not to
the same level) probably because I have bought more balls, but smaller ones. Or
thicker ones. Or something.
When I check my shopping history on the various on-line vendors I frequent, I find that some of this stuff has languished for years. Perhaps I should add a "date acquired" to my spread sheets and attempt to practice FIFO (first in; first out) .
Or maybe I should just keep plugging away with what I have, buying what I like when I want and help the economy along any way I can.
Labels: ancient history, kfys 2007, stash busting
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Only a Week Late
So much for a resolution to blog more regularly! (Well, in my mind, I thought "once a week, usually on the weekend." Reality is, "when I get to it!")
To the right is the pitiful pile of FOs since last I posted. Both are "one day wonders," a bib and a dishcloth.
The bib is mindless, but the cloth, not so much. Closeup of the pattern to the left.
It's the January Challenge Cloth for my dishcloth group and knit up into quite a pretty cloth (I'm thinking blankie or scarf, though I may poke my eyes out with pointy sticks before that happens!)
But it's done and reported and now I can move on to other things.
Both FOs are Bernat Handcrafter cotton. The bib is Batik, the cloth, off-white. Available at Smiley's.
And currently On The Needles and now large enough to warm my toes, is the current scrapghan.
It started out as a mindless project to use up odds and ends and odd balls of wool stuff. The plan was to donate it. When I decided that it would replace the well-used (and well-worn) Rambling Rows afghan that I made years ago with ack, I started stash-diving into the "good" stuff of well-aged hand-dyed yarns that I have collected as souvenirs on vacations. Then, I pulled out some single balls I got in grab bags. Yummy things like the big purple bit (that's alpaca) and the frosty rust bit at the bottom (also alpaca). It's wonderfully snuggly (or it will be) and it makes me happy just to look at it!
Current WIPs on the sofa where I sit and knit include a sweater for the Hypothetical Future Tiny Princess (the pink) and a tee/vest for me (the brown).
Labels: 13 sweaters, baby things, big people clothes, stash busting, yarn diet
Monday, December 31, 2012
What a year!
I've been keeping track of my yarn usage for the last 11 years. I've been posting those totals here for at least the last six. And this year is no exception. Despite my missteps of blogging, I have actually been very productive with my fiber arts:
2 adult sweaters
3 afghan squares (for my charity group)
4 bibs
29 pairs of booties
2 cat toys
17 children’s sweaters
1 Christmas stocking
9 coasters
19 cowls
13 dishcloths
3 dishtowels
5 adult hats
1 baby blanket
5 pairs of mittens
1 pillow cover
13 placemats
2 potholders
6 baby caps
1 felted purse
1 bathmat
6 scarves
1 shawl
8 tea toters
1 teddy bear sweater
6 holiday ornaments
I used a total of 34,526 yards of yarn (that’s more than 20
miles!) weighing just a hair under 33 pounds!
This is the 11th year I am keeping track and my 4th
most productive year.
Labels: 12 sweaters, charity, promises, stash busting, yarn diet
Friday, December 31, 2010
Ring Out the Old; Ring In the New
Each December, I post a list of my Finished Objects (FOs) for the year, and this year, though the total is pitifully small compared to years past, I am doing it again. I blame Facebook (or rather Farm Town and Farmville) for the diminished numbers. I spend way too much time playing and I really need to stop. And I will. Just not today.
To the left, you see what is probably the last FO of the year, a cotton dishcloth in Sugar 'n Cream Rainbow Bright. A bunch of us on one of my lists are making this cloth in a variety of yarns and colors.
The pattern can be found here. It's impressive looking, but really quite easy. Mine took about 35 grams of worsted weight cotton or about 65 yards.
The only project currently on the needles is a scrapghan of RH ack. Sort of a 9-patch looking thing. even if I jumped on it right now, and knit straight through until midnight without stopping, I could not possibly finish it. So it will be amonth the first of 2011. I plan to match it with a baby-size Rambling Rows Jacket and some sort of hat as a fair entry. (Yes, I started earlier this year!)
And now for the list. Regular readers may remember that last January, I committed to 10 sweaters from stash. I am pleased to say that I actually finished fifteen sweaters (granted, some of them were for babies and others were vests, but still. . .)
Okay. Here's the list:
Adult sweaters-2
afghans-1
baby dress-1
booties-3 pairs
children's sweaters-13
Christmas stocking-1
dishcloths-5
dishtowels (woven)-7
doilies-2
hats-10
lap robes/baby blankets-6
mittens-6 pairs
placemats (woven)-7
potholders-1
baby hats-4
purse-1
scarves-8 (2 knit, 6 woven)
socks-1 pair
toys-1
Christmas ornaments-6
The dent in my stash? 18 miles of yarn knitted up; 30.52 pounds.
I am in no danger of running out--I still have more than 75 miles in balls and many many miles of coned stuff. And the kits. And the partial balls. And the stuff I never logged (like the Sugar 'n Cream that went into the dishcloth in the photo).
I am committing to another 10 sweaters from stash in 2011 I have already selected patterns and yarn for the first two. A couple more will be easy--they'll be for TPO and TPT. The rest will be for my serious commitments (the reservation, A4A, etc.), you know, "charity."
I wish you all a safe, healthy, and happy new year.
Labels: promises, stash busting, Ten sweaters
Friday, April 30, 2010
Around and Around
I had a bunch of odd balls of mercerized cotton in DK weight.
Pattern is loosely modified from Bad Penny. I cast on for the largest size and just did my own thing with the color sequence. Since I had the most of the blue, I saved a full ball to use for the neckline and cuffs.
Total yarn used: about 400 grams (8- 50 gram balls), about 920 yards.
It's comfortable and nicely casual. A jeans sweater for summer.
This makes seven.
Labels: big people clothes, FOs, stash busting, Ten sweaters
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Do Something With All This Yarn!
That's what my mind has been screaming at me for days.
So I dipped into a hidden corner of the stash bins and came up with (eyes left, please) this lovely batch of DK weight mercerized cotton that was wanting to be something simple for summer.
Enter Bad Penny.
My summer shirt is (very) loosely based on this pattern. I'm using up odds and ends of Elann Sonata, Patons Bumblebee, Patons Cotton DK and Reynolds Saucy Sport. All the colors are soft and muted. I won't be adding anything metallic.
I have no plans to buy additional yarn, so this will be as long (or short) as the yarn allows.
The stripe pattern is 3-2-1 (repeat). the ribbing will be blue.
Labels: stash busting, WIPs
Thursday, April 08, 2010
One Down?
This scrappy scarf, made from Elann.com sample skeins, may well be my first entry
for the 2010 fair!
The knitting (many miles of seed stitch) took seemingly forever, but I stayed interested because each row (it's knit lengthwise) used a different yarn. Click on the picture to make it bigger.
There's a mix of luxury and utility in this one and some sparkly stuff and ribbon as well.
I am pleased, and I think I will enjoy wearing it.
Pattern is in the free patterns section at elann.com. Yarn selections are your own. Each row calls for 10 yards. I believe I have 45 different yarns in this one.
Labels: fair entry, stash busting
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