A Little Yarn On The Side

When I had stepped off my sheep earlier this year, (among other things) I bought two balls of Vanna's Choice "Glamor" yarn--one in blue, one in sparkly-white--to use for the colorwork ornaments, and I was so motivated by finishing the latest ornament (and needing a LOT more projects finished in a short span of time), I went on a bit of a binge:     I AM LOVING THE SPARKLE!!!!!!!!  I am also REALLY wishing I'd bought the red sparkly colorway as well, but that's another story...... I had also bought a green wool yarn for the ornaments, and finally used it: Have you guessed that this particular pattern is the fastest one?  I might be getting desperate, but I can be practical WHILE desperate. I have been ironing and cutting fabrics, and when I finally had enough variety in the 1-inch strips, I decided to try another fabric bowl: which I am very pleased with.  Using strips instead of scraps is much easier, but this is also a great way to use up scrap...

Okay, I'm not actually sure I'm going to make it to 115 projects for the year.  But, I am going to try my very, crazy-self best.  So, the spicy spiral runner is done, a fall runner is in progress,  I have finished the latest colorwork ornament (which I started in AUGUST) and I have started a baby blanket with some super-bulky yarn on size 11 needles.  Maybe not the speediest project ever, but 4 skeins of super-bulky yarn take up a fair amount of space in the sewing room, so this is visible dent knitting.  So it will make my sewing room closet just a teeny-tiny bit less frightening.  This is all I can hope for right now.  Seventeen projects left to go...........Yikes!

I finished this last night.  Project 96 for the year!  I'm still learning how to work with fabric on the rope bowls, and finishing with the little swirl was more challenging than I anticipated, but I'm pleased.  The shaping is a bit wonky, but I'm still happy with it.  And now I only need 19 finished projects by the end of the year!

The obligatory I've-been-on-a-plane cold is still hanging on, which is annoying, but sort of good for my project count.  We now have: a finished one-row scarf, 4 more kimono ornaments waiting for their hand sewing, a finished but not blocked begonia swirl shawl, and even a finished WIP!  This is the Lace Capelet that I started in June of 2013.  It needs to be blocked and I'm still unpicking the waste yarn for a provisional cast on, but it's finished!  And just over the 2 year mark!  And it is yet another lesson in trusting my own judgement.  According to the pattern, you would knit the body and edging separate, SEW the edges of the border together instead of grafting, and then pick up stitches on both the body and border, which you then knit together in a 3-needle bind-off, creating the MAXIMUM possible ends to weave in at the end.  Of course I grafted the edges together because seams just don't ever look good, and I didn't bother to pick...

   And I'm pleased.  I may not like it quite as much as the Christmas ones, but I think it's fun.  AND, I did manage to get all the pieces cut out, even if it did take quite a bit longer.  Now to attach it to add the batting and backing.  Am I looking a bit frantic yet?

But one of us thought everyone should be up before 5:00 this morning. On a Saturday.  Andy and Theo, of course, were both able to go back to sleep, but once I'm awake, I'm usually up for the day.  And I might have spent part of that extra time trying to figure out how to make 25 projects by the end of the year.  Just part of it--I have also been knitting furiously on the begonia shawl.  I'm on row 85 of 92 (albeit really LONG rows), so I have hopes of finishing it soon.  Then maybe a quick chemo cap, and maybe some new embroidered towels for hostess gifts, as I do go through them pretty quickly during the holidays.  If I could come up with just a few quick projects to get myself back on track, I still think I could reach 115 projects for the year.  And if we count the extra hour of knitting each morning until Theo figures out the recent time change, I could still do this.......

Less than 2 months left in the year and I need to finish 25 more projects. Um, it might be time to start panicking just a bit.... I finished the 3 in-progress table runners, and while it is hardly the speediest project, decided to start cutting the next spicy spiral table runner: I kept playing with the fabrics, trying to decide the best layout, then was stressing over the fact that even though the set of fabric quarters from Craft Warehouse was fairly expensive, they weren't all actually a full 18" by 22", nor were they all cut straight.  But, they WERE expensive, and it was either use them or let them sit forever, so without double-checking my last attempt at laying them out, I'm doing it anyway.  I'm cutting the layers singly to see if I can still squeeze the largest optional wedge out of them,  or I would be if I didn't have a "helper."  If I had thought about it, this is not something I'd be attempting while on cold medicine, ...

My garden is still alive.  That means it should still be October. Early October.  Not November.  I am not ready for November. I think I have all the table runners finished that we need for Christmas--though even writing that sentence freaks me out a bit, so  maybe I should finish a couple more, just in case.  It's not that I can't count (usually--when large quantities of knitting stitches aren't involved, in any case), but every year I have forgotten someone or someone new is going to be with us at Christmas or somehow about 10 people get added to the list at the last minute and I'm tearing around like a madwoman trying to find something that doesn't look like a last-minute gift (Chia Pets, chocolates, anything in the "men's executive gifts" category).  But I think I really could be ready this year.  Or I have failed to check my list thoroughly. Anyway..... My back/hip has been sore since the trip--which is not terribly surprising.  ...