A Little Yarn On The Side

The 4th month is ending and to be PERFECTLY on track to finish 100 projects, I needed to have completed 33.33333333 projects.  With all my WIPs, I think I might have the 0.33333333 part covered, and just finished redoing the 6 inches of ribbing on the striped top giving me 32 finished projects.  (picture tomorrow) Ha!  I am close!!!!   Which for me is almost as good as actually BEING on schedule--and maybe better, because if I was actually ON schedule the shock might have been too much for me.  As it is, I am really pleased.  Even with my crazy decisions lately (working on a quilt, doing a mitten garland that is going to require a LOT of little mittens, working on ANYTHING smaller than size 8 needles), I could actually finish 100 projects this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if I do, doesn't it just make you wonder what sort of craziness I'll come up with for 2011????????

For a number of reasons--being really busy over the last few months, garden season about to hit, and the fact that I cannot seem to rest my injured arm while I'm here--I decided to "get away from it all" for a few days.  Since I was taking my computer & camera, I thought I'd be updating my blog while on the road--not realizing quite how "away from it all" I was getting.  I had picked an historic hote l that specifically said "no phones" and why that didn't translate into "probably means no internet either" for me is anyone's guess.  BUT, even with all the driving I did get some quality crafting time in.  Mr. Flurry now has a body and part of a hat The neck of the old cotton sweater is at 2 1/2 inches of the 6 needed and the mitten collection is progressing nicely: I'll be making a run to the craft store to get some blue thread for the white mitten up at the top.  I'm thinking royal blue stitching around the outs...

Okay, to make a quilt with 35 blocks, I need to make it through 840 triangles.  I have 162 to go.  I know I'm on the downhill side, and REALLY have comparatively few to go......but I need a break.  So..... It's new project time!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Really, you seriously didn't think I was going to be all responsible & pull something out of the WIP pile, did you?) Actually, I wanted to get started on this while I still had the idea in my mind.  I'm making a mitten garland--or at least that is the plan.  I have 4 colors of felt to use--3 blues & a white--and since only one side of each mitten will be visible, I think it will be a great time to experiment with some ideas & techniques. Theo, of course, is thrilled and did his very best yesterday to make cutting out the mittens as difficult as possible: I couldn't even distract him with a little scarf blocking so I think I have my very first furless scarves EVER.  I'm still in shock.  In s...

Drum roll please................... The cowl neck sweater is DONE!!!!!!!!! It should have been finished quite some time ago, but this stopped me.  Nope--it is NOT a ribbon loin cloth, in spite of what it looks like.  It is the original cowl neck. which I think looked pretty dopey.  It was possible to stretch & stretch the neck into being a bit more rounded, and I seriously debated about making myself go through the hassle of mangling it every time I wanted to wear it, or to grow a spine and just fix the darn thing.  Since the sweater has been languishing in the WIP pile for quite some time, you can see what a difficult debate this was.  Blame it on the short rows--which in general I think are just darn clever.  Tinking them, however, is about as much fun as elective root canal without anesthesia.  I decided to watch some old sewing television shows I had taped (back before the digital conversion stopped me from even knowing how to operate n...

I made the mistake of doing all the large triangles first, so now I'm slogging though the 24 little triangles needed for every single block.  I have been doing a few at a time so that I have blocks moving forward in stages so I can at least see them--and so I don't find myself banging my head on the table (which would of course be cushioned by a pile of triangles) Of course, I have my sidekick with me.... and has lost a little fur here & there to the rotary cutter, but otherwise  Yesterday I thought I was getting close to being done, and decided to figure out how many more triangles I needed before I cut out the next strips.  Now, there are SOME points when doing the math is a good idea.  I don't think this was one of them.  After carefully counting the blocks & figuring out how many more I needed, I discovered I still needed one hundred and eighty-six squares , which would need 372 more triangles.  Oh my. I think I have met the fabric e...

.....and I need to finish 3 projects to stay on track for my goal. What do we think--more coasters or towels???????  Or throw caution and sanity to the wind and cast on the tweed yarn for the sweater I keep lusting over.............. (And why is that last one the most likely????????)

Yesterday involved almost NO knitting-- thanks to Julia Child and her boeuf bourguignon recipe .  Aside from perhaps Thanksgiving, have you ever spent 5 hours preparing ONE meal?  Well, now I have.  That doesn't leave one with much knitting time--and the frustration gives one a pretty wonky gauge anyway.  Mr. Flurry is making a bit of progress and the ostrich plume scarf is finished but not blocked AND I have not yet cast on the tweed yarn.  I'm rather proud of that unusual display of willpower on my part.  Theo does NOT enjoy cooking, so he refused to hang out with me yesterday, but like the smart cat that he is.... he decided to hang out by the yarn stash.  After all, where else am I more likely to turn up?

And I use the term loosely.  Not only did I not finish anything yesterday, I had to dig this out of the closet as a bribe to get myself to keep working on that darn scarf.  I have not yet cast on , but I have bribed my inner knitting child (who is frankly a serious brat who could use a real spanking once in a while) with the promise that I can cast on as soon as I finish this: The alpaca vacuum!  Actually, it's looking much better with a lot more knitting and my own secret technique.....................pulling on it really, really, really hard.  I think I'm one row away from starting the bottom edging--without having to set it aside for a really short friend, even. The majority of Finishing Friday was spent with the project actually farthest away from completion:  because somehow that seems like a good idea to me.  These are the first 9 blocks laid out--there will eventually be 35.  I admit, I am REALLY pleased with this so far--and probably not...

A finished scarf?                                --Nope The long-suffering Fleur finished?                                --Nope A finished quilt?                               --Nope Even yet another set of Christmas coasters finished?                               --Nope Know what we have?????? An overwhelming desire to start something new!!!!

This is a miracle of physics.  I work on it and work on it and work on it, and yet it never grows longer.  Ever.  It just exists .  And sucks up my knitting time--like a little alpaca vacuum.  We'd be looking at finished project number 30 if I hadn't stumbled across the black hole of knitting...... 

NOTE TO SELF:  If I'm going to try doing math for the blog post, it would be best to write it BEFORE the white chocolate martini........ 71 projects to go! (however, 31 does sound much better........) :) 

The GOOD news is, there was crafting on Finishing Friday.  The BAD news is, I broke my own rule.  Remember how I said that Finishing Fridays were for working on projects that had been in existence for at least a month?  Well............  my sidekick and I decided to start a new project Thursday night.  And not just ANY project.  A nice time-consuming and totally inappropriate for this year sort of project: A quilt!  And just in case you're thinking, "Well, that might be okay after her recent quilting success," this is the first block: Notice anything  unusual?  Yep--first block, first mistake.  I think that's a record even for me.   I did ultimately get it straightened out, and finally managed to get 4 blocks to come out correctly, which will look something like this: though not likely in the near future.... I did eventually decide that it would be a good idea to at least attempt the second elephant pillow case which turned...

She who is smug is about to get her arse kicked by a project. In today's sad little tale, we begin with the Christmas quilt.  Finished, quilted, the binding on....all that was left was to wash the obligatory cat hair off of it and iron it.  Which is when we discovered: a glass head pin that had been sewn INTO the quilt.  This picture was taken during the removal process--right before the small hole was created that allowed the head of the pin to make it out. Chastened--and somewhat encouraged by having finished two more sets of pillowcases, I thought I'd tackle the 5th and final set......and get a bit more creative. which is when the embroidery machine decided to get a bit more creative as well..... Yep--that's how the design came out.  Sometimes it is possible to bump the machine or do something that will affect the design, but this wasn't one of those times.  So, either the design is really poorly done (a strong possibility since it was a freebie) OR t...

Yep--you read that right.  25 projects done.  Completed.  Finished.  Now, some of you may be thinking that I have spent the weekend making a desperate push to finish short, quick projects in a pathetic attempt to get back on track, and to that I say......Well, duh.   First, we have the April Project of the Month.  Taking the half-yard of fleece that was tucked away in the project bag, rounded off the corners (which requires the latest in high-tech equipment as you can see), then did a narrow hem along the border using some decorative stitching which doesn't need to be done as fleece cannot ravel, but I like the look better than a raw edge.  The timing is perfect because some friends just had a baby last week, so..... It looks a bit funny because the clear water-soluble stabilizer is still there.  This is my first time using this plastic-looking stuff and it's a bit strange to work with.  It's nice that it's clear, but it also has ...