A Little Yarn On The Side

Having spent an hour in the pool followed by an hour or so of gardening,  I needed to take it easy today. So...... I finished Spicy Spiral runner #2!  And ironed the 4 remaining strata this evening with hope in my heart...........

Some time ago, I had cut out some blue microsuede that's been around since probably 2005,   and after the latest bunch of table runners, I thought I'd take a break and stitch up the outfit.  The pants are done except for the elastic in the waistband, but the top was a bit more problematic.  The interfacing on the neckline didn't work well with the fabric--so much so that I ended up tearing it in a couple places to make it work.  THEN, since it had worked with another top of the exact same pattern also in microsuede, I decided to use decorative stitching at the neck, hem, and sleeves.  And THIS is where I made it into an only-around-home shirt:  It worked perfectly on the test swatch.  Yes, I even did a practice run on this fabric, and it STILL managed to go badly.  It's even worse on the hem--all wavy and puckered--which it didn't do on the test piece, of course.  I think I might have enough of this fabric left to do a second shirt--I'...

It's April, the month is not over, and I have 49 finished projects!  I'm ahead!  I'm mature!  I'm planning ahead!  I could make my 115 projects goal easily!!! So, I have taken this feeling of hope and euphoria, and taken it to die where it does for every knitter: an Alice Starmore sweater.  Fingering weight yarn, size 2 needles, charts for every square inch or sweater, including underarm gussets.  Did I say sewing was slow?

Whew!  I'd like to say that we'd been off traveling or doing something exciting since the last time I posted, but the truth is far more boring.  I had to finish up our taxes, get a lot of work done in the greenhouse and in the beds, have been racking up some big walking mileage, then this weekend with two parties and dinner guests, I didn't even have enough time to rest & stretch my back, so yesterday I was exhausted.  I know--I need to be more vigilant in doing what is right for my back, and after an interesting episode this weekend of watching 2 60-year-olds with heart problems chug down a bottle of wine each while complaining about cardiologists, trust me--making good health decisions is our new driving force around here.  :) There has been some crafting: The remaining three table runners are finished, laundered, and in the gift bin, and I don't even want to discuss kimono ornaments for a while.  I am, however, probably all set for ornaments to gi...

There are MORE.  A total of 36 in progress, to be exact. Every time I cut fabric for something, I cut a strip or two for my kimono ornament box: which allows me to play around with matching fabrics and makes for less ironing (ALWAYS a consideration in my life).  While this has many good aspects, lately it has also meant that the box was getting very, very full.  THEN I got the idea for these,  because so many of our friends play music (I think the clasp stitching needs to be in gold on the next ones, don't you?), and while I was getting the music fabrics out, I ran across the silver fabric which really looks good with two blue and silver fabrics...........and by the time I stopped pinning I had 36 ornaments in progress.  And not a huge dent in my kimono ornament stash.  Ahem........ I think one of the things that added to so many ornaments in progress is that I had my craft table to myself.  This is the official sign of spring around her...

Ha!

I managed to squeak both both scarves in under the Mad Dash wire, giving me 2090 yards for my Mad Dash team (which luckily had some faster knitters, so we made the 12,000 yard mark) and 34 projects for the year!  Of course, what I wanted to do was immediately cast on more lace, but I would REALLY love to see a physical reduction in stash this year, so I cast on a one-row scarf instead: The yarn is an acrylic that I've had for a while, and generally I only use acrylic for baby clothes, but I really like this colorway.  AND it's been in my stash probably 9 years, and this scarf will use it all up--and hopefully make a great gift.  THEN I can revisit the lace thing.......... The two runners with fleece for a backing have been finished and washed,  and while they turned out okay, I'm not overly thrilled with the bottom one with the decorative ties.  The stippled one was certainly the bigger pain to actually MAKE because the fleece was so stretchy, b...

*  Publish a free pattern on Ravelry, and the next time someone asks you for a chart, make one using Roman numerals..... *  Walk into your local knit night and announce that with Global Warming, soon no one will need knitwear at all. *  Take a small ball of yarn with you when you go out for sushi, and start knitting with your chopsticks while waiting *  This: * or this: * Call your local police station to report a tip on a local yarn uni-bomber, but specify that he does occasionally dabble with acrylic 4-ply *   Confront the local quilter's guild for encroaching on your craft-store turf--if possible, with a catchy background score by Bernstein. *  Take your knitting out in public, and the next time someone says, "I would never have the patience for that," tell them the doctor says it will keep you off the medications and maybe the shock treatments....