3 posts tagged “sweater”
I have a short attention span. I think I have more projects in-progress than I do actual completed projects. The projects that I have completed tend to be one-shape deals. A scarf, a baby blanket, a coffee cup cozy. As soon as extra elements such as sleeves, shaping, seaming, and especially pairs are introduced, the chances of my finishing the project drop dramatically.
However, I've decided to take a stand and start taking care of those un-finished objects (or UFOs in yarn-speak) and get them done, if only to free up some of the needles they're resting on. And so far so good! I think it's a promising sign that my knitting is getting more proficient because finishing my projects seems to be taking much less time than I anticipated.
Last February I knit a cozy orange neck-warmer and wanted to make arm-warmers to go with it. I completed the first one, but lost motivation to finish the second. Well, I picked it up the other night and was amazed that I was able to finish the second arm-warmer during a few episodes of 30 Rock. That wasn't so bad... and now I have a cozy neck and arm-warming combo to wear just as the weather is getting more nippy!
Emboldened, I dared to face a project from my very distant past. Almost 2 years, to be exact. That's right... my first sock. I was so proud to have finished the first one, but also traumatized and I couldn't bear the thought of repeating the experience. I even dabbled in other sock-knitting, but as I mentioned in my last entry, socks are just not for me. But that one single sock has been a spot of bother in the back of my mind for the past 2 years now and I decided I wanted to be done with it once and for all!
My poor neglected first sock and the accompanying ball of yarn were buried in a basket and somehow coated in dog hair. I spent a good amount of time picking these hairs off as I contemplated my mission. Then I began, feeling somewhat reluctant, like it was a chore.
But then, something funny began to happen.
I began to enjoy myself. The sock seemed to fly off my needles (it is worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles, after all), and it seemed like I was done in no time at all. And even though the socks were made of basic acrylic yarn - nothing fancy, when I slipped them on my feet (which are perpetually cold, by the way), I experienced a sudden blissful feeling of "Aaaahhhh". I'm wearing them now as I write this and my feet feel so cozy. I'm usually always barefoot in the house - I don't like wearing socks indoors...but I'm changing my mind!
In fact, I've decided to give socks another try. I'm now working on a "real" pair of socks using real sock-yarn and tiny needles for my husband's huge feet. I'm almost done with the first. If I can finish the pair I'll know I have beaten my second-sock-syndrome for good!
It isn't just knitting projects I've been finishing. I also weaved in ends and embelleshed three market bags that I made for my aunts for Christmas. I'm feeling quite good about getting all these things out of my way!
I still have projects left though.
The main one that's bugging me is the second Beer Glove to match the first I made for my husband. I learned that if there is something I like less than socks, it's making individual finger holes. But the first turned out fairly well and I would really like to get the second one over with. That's next on my list.
Next, is my Avalon Hoodie. I fell in love with the image in the magazine and I really should have held out for the kind of yarn shown in the magazine (Lorna's Laces Swirl in Pewter).....
...BUT... I was impatient and bought what was immedietly available at my LYS, (Lorna's Laces Swirl in Black Purl). Now, don't get me wrong. I like the color - it reminds me of my favorite time of day - dusk. But I'm not sure I like it on me. I very rarely wear purple and as I've been working on the hoodie (I've got the body done, just need to finish the sleeves and hood), I'm not sure I'm digging the stripey effect of the yarn.
I'm having a hard time seeing myself wearing this, and from trying it on so far I fear the bottom edge isn't as long as I would like so I'm already wondering if there's a way to knit from the cast-on edge to make it longer... As if that weren't enough, the LYS only had 5 balls of the yarn, not 8 like the pattern called for. But I was too impatient to worry about it (else I would have ordered the color I really wanted and waited for it to come in), so I bought the 5 that were available and knit until they were almost gone and ordered 3 more online. And, of course, the dye lot is different. Luckily it seems very similar, if not for the annoying shades of pink in the new lot of yarn that were absent in the first skeins. Sigh...
As a result of all these annoyances I haven't been working on the hoodie much of late, which is a shame because I do have so much of it done and that yarn was not cheap!! So that will be next after the Beer Gloves.
Lastly, I have a crochet afghan that I started enthusiastically when my good friend Cecily was asked to host a Crochet-Along for Lion Brand. I started using all the random acrylic colors in my stash just to get rid of some stuff I wasn't going to use ever again. But the damn thing was just so ugly!!! And when I saw Cecily's blanket which was in lucious shades of purple, and crocheted with a much bigger hook so the blocks were large and springy compared to my tightly-wound curmugeons,
So I basically got yarn-envy and ripped out all my blocks in brown and orange and god-knows-what-other-random-pukey-color and ran out and bought a bunch of puple Lion Brand yarn and started over. And I got like 6 blocks done! But.....then I sort of lost interest and I currently have a bag full of blocks and heaps of yarn that I bought in desperation.
I'll have to deal with that later...
I also have a gray boatneck sweater that I've barely started. I may just rip that out and pretend in never happened. (Anyway, gray boatneck sweaters are so two years ago.)
I think that's all of my UFOs...though I'm sure if I went digging I would find one or two more. I'll try to pretend that isn't the case while I get my current list tackled.
I'm already forming a resolution for next year and that's that I will not start a new project unless I finish another one first!
We'll see how long that lasts!
Secondly, my workload has increased considerably. I've taken on another comics-related job in addition to my main gig, so my schedule has become MUCH more hectic! Unfortunately, that means less time for crafting... which sucks because I have so many things I want to make: sweaters, socks, hats, gifts, Blythe clothes, amigurumi... the list goes on and on!
However, I have managed to complete a couple projects since I 've moved: I finished my Cobweb scarf, my Jolly Roger Sweater, and I completed a project from Twinkle's Book of Big City Knits! I also completed the seabird bag from Andean Folk Knits and several Blythe outfits for my own dolls as well as swaps I've participated in!
Here are some pics of my FOs!
Anyway, along with her and my husband, and a couple other pals, we've created a sort of weekly crafting club or get-together called "Craftonite" where we meet up, eat, drink, and make stuff! And we've had such a good time doing it, we've were inspired to apply for a table at Felt Club this past November, and we got in! Woo! We also made a Craftonite website! There's not much on it yet, but we're planning on opening an etsy store at some point. Anyway, Felt club was quite a success! We sold crocheted amigurumi budgie buddies, Cecily sold lovely snowflake ornaments, and my husband and I sold our Dollar Dreadfulswhich are short stories inspired by the original dime novels. Oh, we also had prints and buttons and I sold my knitting comic ashcan! We were all worried about getting enough stuff done to fill up a table, but we actually had almost TOO much stuff to fit on a table. It was a fun day!
As far as Blythe goes, ever since getting my first doll, Lemony, back at the beginning of the year, I've become hopelessly addicted! I've now got 7 dolls!!! I used to say that 3 was my limit. But now I'm thinking maybe 9 or 10 is a good cut-off point. I don't want to get TOO many because then I won't have enough time to play with them all, but they're all so unique and they all have their own personalities that I can't resist! I'm really excited about knitting and crocheting more things for them because I want to update their wardrobes with something other than Barbie clothes, and because making little hats and sweaters is so quick and satisfying! I want to get back to sewing as well, but I haven't yet unpacked my sewing machine. I do have a little crafting room in our new place (um, more like a converted closet!), but it's a bit of a train wreck at the moment! One day it'll be very cool!
Anyway, that's the general update. I'll try to post more often about the various projects I'm actually working on. (Right now, I'm tackling my first pair of knitted gloves! Yikes!) And now that I have a shiny new bike I keep wanting to adorn it with a cool bike cozy! Stay tuned!
So here's another update with some more projects I'm working on (is it any wonder why I never get anything done??).
But first! My knitty Secret Pal sent me another surprise:
(sorry about the crummy photo)
A "fairy" cool card (sorry, that was a corny pun!) with a nice note, an adorable teeny-tiny crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches, and a neato tape measure!! I am so spoiled - thank you SP!! ^_^ It was especially nice to get something in my mailbox after a long and hectic weekend!
Now, here are some things I'm working on...
First, I finished my most complex thing yet - an arm sock with light cables! (Only one so far, haha). I followed the pattern "Hurry Up Spring Arm Warmers" from Stitch and Bitch Nation. I used this lovely yarn: Noro Kureyon color #88
It's actually kind of rough scratchy wool, but it's not as uncomfortable as it looks. I think it softened a bit while I knit it.
It actually wasn't that hard to do but the whole time I was knitting it, I was convinced I was doing something horribly wrong. I did sort of mess up the thumb gusset... it's not really positioned right, but it's only off by an inch or so.
Here's a pic of me wearing it:
and a close up of my shaky attempt at simple cables:
Now that I've done one I've kind of lost steam and I'm procrastinating on finishing the second one... but it only took me about 3 days to do the first one, so I have no excuse! And I want to be able to wear them before it gets warmer outside!
Next up is my Cobweb scarf! It's based off a character my husband created named Cobweb (duh), which is part of a larger idea called Puri Kura.
There's some exciting news about Puri Kura which I won't reveal yet (I don't want to jinx it!!), but the scarf is sort of a tribute to this good news. It's coming along nicely, but it is kind of boring to knit. I want to make it pretty long and I'm just chugging along, dreading weaving in all those loose ends when I'm done.
Next up is my Jolly Roger Sweater from a patten in Knit 1 magazine (from a few months ago). It was my first attempt at intarsia and I am happy with how it turned out. I only have one sleeve left to knit which shouldn't take long because it's really chunky yarn and big needles. But I'm sort of dreading sewing all the pieces together so... yup, I'm procrastinating again!
Next is a crochet project that was inspired by this site: Counterfeit Crochet
Basically, people take a fancy expensive handbag and crochet a "counterfeit" version of it. I decided to try one based on this bag from Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B line:
I've just started but I can already tell it's going to be a challenge. I've just completed one piece so far:
I'll let you know how it goes...
What else is going on? Oh yes! My husband thinks I'm an absolute geek, but I've joined a guild on World of Warcraft comprised of several of us on the knitty boards. We're called "Purls of the Alliance". I almost couldn't believe there were other knitters out there who love to play WoW - but I think it's great! One of our members even has a popular WoW podcast, World of Warcast! Check out our forums: Purls of the Alliance
And here's my new character, Arachne, a Warlock!
Last but not least, I'm excited to say that I splurged and bought a Blythe doll! Here she is: Blythe - Feel the Sky, a cute flight attendant. (Ironic because I hate flying).
I've named her Birdie. I can't wait to knit little hats and things for her. ^_^
