Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Wild Socks

"Wild Socks" is the name of the pattern, and it came free with the purchase of the yarn. As you can see, left, I decided to go ahead and knit both at the same time, since I have two pairs of the size 5 needles. I don't really like to do a project twice, and was afraid I'd get bored if I finished one, and never finish the other.

Both sets of needles are Crystal Palace bamboo. Generally, wood or bamboo is what I prefer, as I dread dropping stitches. In this case, though, I was really getting frustrated with them. Perhaps it was my tension, but I'd have to really pull the stitches from one needle to the other, and then other stitches would also drop off, which was very frustrating. I have loosened my tension a bit and that has helped.

I also had a day where I did something wrong--I don't know what--and ended up with strange-looking stitches along the side, and also too many of them. I do know how to tink, but I still ended up just pulling them off the needles and ripping it out. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But I have now turned the heel on one sock:

Sometimes the instructions made no sense, but once I did the actual knitting they became suddenly clear.

Another angle:


And here is where I am now:


I believe I am ready to start the toes, but will actually go back and knit up to this point on the other sock now. I was advised to do the gauge, but I did not, not because I am foolish but because I knew I didn't have enough yarn to make big enough socks anyway. I really really wanted to learn to do this. Next time, though, I will do the measurements and buy enough yarn and do it right.

Meanwhile, I started a small crafty project: Washer pendants:

I saw this on a local TV program a few months ago. You paste paper onto a washer, and then use pourable resin to finish it. So here are three pendants I have modge-podged, along with a plain washer so you can see that that's really just what it is, and a bottle-cap. For that, I am using the same techniques to make a fridge magnet. I saw these at a local arts/crafts festival and thought I could try to make my own. So far, I actually like the bottle-cap the best. Go figure.

Monday, August 23, 2010

What Now?

Well, I have finished the stitching on "What Can I Give Him?" Which leads to the question, "What now?" Now I have two totes of unFinished projects, and I haven't worked a bit on the first one since I last blogged it. Should I move on to a third, or should I do the finishing work like a good girl?

Back to WCIGH. Below is the front, which I previously blogged; nothing changed there:


And the back:


All I did there was to add initials and date (of last Christmas); I have too many projects to finish to try to figure out something fancy that would compete with the front anyway. And here is the band that will go around the side:


The quote is from a poem by Christina Rossetti.

So I have decided to move on to a new tote and project, and really make an effort to alternate it with the Finishing work. The tote bag:

I got this tote bag when I bought Franklin Habit's book "It Itches." I can be suckered into buying almost anything if a free tote bag is involved. You can never have too many tote bags. If you wanted to know what it says:


The contents:



From the right, clockwise: The instructions for my first pair of socks, a Lantern Moon needlecase, and self-striping yarn. I have been anticipating and dreading this project. I really want to learn to make socks, but the instructions look so complicated.


The yarn is Regia 6 fadig Color, which is 75% wool/25% polyamide. It won't felt. The colors are green and blue, which are my colors lately: The colors of a dragonfly, the colors of air and water.


My collection of double-pointed needles. The pattern calls for size 4. It turns out that I have two sets of size 5 and zero of size four. I have big feet; I will use the size 5 anyway, because it's more important that I get started than it is that I wear these.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

August Heart

Here is my tatted heart for August. Can you see that it is a snowflake made of hearts? It's Hearts In A Snowflake by Jon Yusoff, whose blog is here. This was the first time I'd seen this blog and I think it's pretty amazing. For my heart, I used a perle cotton that was in my stash. I really like these variegated threads for tatting, especially if there are a lot of chains.

I really haven't done as much stitching as I would have liked. This is as far as I've gotten on "What Can I Give Him?":

And a close-up:


I am finished with this section of the heart; next I will stitch the long rectangle, which is all cross-stitch, over one. There actually is no pattern for the other heart section--it's the back--so I can decide whether to put something there, like initials and date, or leave it blank. Once this is finished, that will mean I have two tote bags of projects that need Finishing, as I have made absolutely no progress on the previous one, despite my good intentions.