A Little Yarn On The Side

Two--count 'em, TWO--WIPS done, leaving me with....... ONLY TEN WIPS LEFT!!!!!!! (I realize that for some, having 10 WIPS would be a reason to start a WIP marathon, not the conclusion of one, but I've chosen to be realistic) I have met the Double Dog Dare Challenge!!!!  I'm down to 10!!!!!!  And I'm off to cast on something new........

Gift bags!  Or, more accurately, gift bags to be!  This is some home decorating fabric I found on sale one day, and I actually did buy it to make gift bags (since I buy so much fabric without ANY idea what I'm going to do with it, I'm always rather amazed when something DOES have a purpose......and downright shocked when I eventually remember what that purpose was ), which it should work really well for.  I haven't decided how many bags I'll be making, but considering how many gift bags I give away, the more the better.  Of course, I'll need to fit it in with making more of these which I just love.  Two have now found new homes, and I think we're going to need the other 3 for Christmas gifts (have to go back to my spreadsheet to check), so thankfully I bought enough material to make 10 more, as it looks like WE won't get one otherwise.  I have decided to alter the pattern slightly--namely to leave a hole in the bottom lining so I can stick the trim ends...

I'm down to 12 WIPS. The bad news is.... the green shawl is no longer with us.  See all those little bits of yarn that don't seem to be attached to each other?  Well, they aren't.  After my boasting about the first finished repeat last night, I noticed that the yarn had broken off.  No problem--sometimes that can happen when one isn't paying attention.  So I spliced and went on for another row....then there was another break in the yarn, and this one I was positive I hadn't done.  Unwinding, I found another--and there were ends sticking out of the skein in odd places. When I made the retirement shawl for my mother this summer, I wound the ball too tightly with the ball winder, so I had breakage everywhere--which was totally my own fault, so though I whined a great deal, I was willing to splice over and over to get the project done.  This yarn, however, was in the original skein and call me grouchy, but I just don't enjoy playing "knit the crappy ...

With the kimono shawl finished, I am down to 13 WIPS....or 3 away from meeting the Double Dog Dare Challenge.  I have THREE projects that are really, really, REALLY close to being finished: Fleur, which is down to sewing on the beaded band, and doing beaded neckband & cuffs--exactly where it has been for the last year..... The alpaca sweater which needs a sleeve cap & some seams and a few buttons and I could actually be WEARING the darn thing..... and one of the cutest baby sweaters EVER, which needs seams and maybe the neckband and one buttonband.  ALL of them could probably be wrapped up with 2 weeks of serious application. And what am I doing with myself? Working on the baby sweater I cast on THE DAY BEFORE the Double Dog Dare Challenge began.  I have finished the back, and am zipping along on the front but it still isn't as far along as any of the more "matured" WIPS.  The upside is that I am about to finish off another skein of yarn but as ...

You might have been wondering where I have been for the last few days of my crafting week, and the answer would be getting my arse kicked by: That's right--the kimono shawl, which upuntil this week has been a pretty well behaved project.  Being a gracious and loving knitter, I was willing to overlook the insane amount of time it was taking to finish.  After all, good things come to she who waits.....or so I've been told because being a very impatient person, I have never really tried that theory out.  But THEN it had the temerity to force me to cast off FIVE TIMES before it stopped puckering. Okay, you can't really see it, but it was there.  This is a picture of the 4th cast-off using a needle two sizes larger than the 4 I was working with, and it STILL pulled the lace too tight.  On the 5th try, I made every stitch so large that I think Theo could have jumped through the darn things, and finally, finally FINALLY have a finished object! AND I'm down to 1...

....you would be absolutely correct.  Since the costumes turned out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself, I have been taking it a bit easy on the crafting front.  However, one can only rest on one's "laurels" so long before one's "laurels" get sore, so...... meet the November Project of the Month.  Flannel pajamas!  How amazingly appropriate, don't you think?  There may have been a little peaking when drawing out of the project bin, but a project is a project.  The fabric is washed & I'm in the process of ironing it now.  In general, I love having a front-loading washing machine, but it can really turn long pieces of fabric into some serious knots. Not forgetting about my Double Dog Dare challenge, the Kimono Shawl has moved to the forefront The alpaca cardigan is super-close to being done, but I'm going to set that aside for just a little bit to see if I can channel the momentum to finish this project within November.  There are s...

.....but there is a garden plot almost ready for the garlic and there's freshly baked zucchini bread.  I know--it doesn't help me much with the Double Dog Dare challenge, but on the other hand, knitting NEVER makes the house smell this good. 

....that lately a lot of my posts have been about knitting but not so much about MY knitting.  That would be because there has not so much been a lot of "my" knitting happening.  Granted, the dratted yoke pullover is finally done, and when we are back on speaking terms I will have Andy take a picture of us together in what I hope will be a new, warm, loving relationship.  Right now the best I can manage is to NOT give it a raspberry every time I pass it, but then again, I have never really been known for my maturity.... Having learned a few lessons (and a few new swear words) on the ribbed yoke pullover, I decided to do a little pinning and double-checking on the alpaca cardigan BEFORE sewing any seams and it's looking good, so when I get some knitting time, I'll be finishing up the second sleeve and MAYBE knocking off another WIP before the end of the month.  The first priority is Andy's pirate costume started two years ago and which my very patient husb...

As you may remember, the Double Dog Dare Challenge is to get down to 10 WIPS (which is sort of amazing when you think about it.  I mean, there are people who could get all the way down to NO WIPS, but to even get close to single digits is a challenge for me), and so far one has been frogged and three have been finished.  Theo is guarding the last one as it dries, just to make sure it's safe.   That puts me at 14 WIPS left--4 more.  OR, if I get really motivated, 5 more and I could have less than 10 WIPS, which would, of course, be amazing, astounding, and possibly a first for me.  A braver person would aspire to NO WIPS, but let's not get crazy here. And on the sewing front, I have started the October Project of the Month! It's just a simple flannel baby blanket, and now that the blocks are together, I think I might add one more row as it's a bit smaller than I think would be useful.  I mean, sure, babies are small but they grow at an astonishing rate...

"It was dreadful," says knitter, Toni Sutton, when asked about her recent foray into the WIP Wilderness.  "It had been a long and brutal battle already.  There were bodies everywhere. "The sweater was there in the distance--lurking.  I could see the results of my last failed effort--that woolly Victorian collar: "It was ghastly.  I mean, a sweater collar that can actually pick up satellite television?  Can you imagine the horror?" When asked, Ms. Sutton admits to some pretty unorthodox methods. "Several knitters had tried the traditional methods--smaller needles, changing the neckline--but the results still weren't good.  Keeping the pattern remotely intact just wasn't enough to control this WIP.  It was time for some alterations.  I took the cable down to a lopsided 5-stitch pattern, then switched one of the stitches to a purl on the third row from the end.  Very unusual, but nothing else would work." Still, even with all ...

--and I am taking the coward's way out. Sort of. I was all set to do battle with the ribbed yoke pullover, but we are having some friends over for dinner tonight, and I didn't think receiving another ass-whooping by a bunch of superwash would put me in the best frame of mind for entertaining, so I have chosen a safer route today. Sewing a few seams on the pullover and a couple pattern repeats on the kimono shawl which recently celebrated it's second birthday without yet being finished. Of course, it isn't actually the oldest WIP--there's a shawl on size 0 needles that just turned 5, but that is a bit more understandable. I mean, size zero needles? I'll be finishing that one the day I file for Social Security...provided my eye sight is still good and knitting hasn't finally snapped whatever will be left of my brain after the ribbed yoke pullover....

One knitter, driven to a WIP-finishing frenzy by a double dog dare, One sweater with a neck only the designer could love, Two cats who have resolved that knitting is at least better than canning...... Tune in tomorrow for the yoke sweater showdown..... Reality Knitting. I think it could be BIG, and I'm not just talking about that darn yoke.

The good news is, I am down to 15 WIPS. YAY! The bad news is, it isn't because I finished the sweater I have been working on. By early last night, I had finished knitting all the pieces and again, I would wish to reiterate that I don't see why one would knit a yoked sweater in pieces, but I assume that designers know what they are talking about. I started diligently sewing all the dratted seams, when I thought I remembered someone mentioning on Ravelry a problem with the neck being too big. Not "someone." EVERYONE. Since the only thing worse than sewing sweater seams is ripping them out, I decided to pin mine to see what it would look like before sewing any more: Does that look big to you? How about this? (I couldn't find my ruler). Hem gauges are 6 inches long, and they're overlapping by 2 inches. Just to make sure, I tried it on, and can now state absolutely that a 20-inch "mock turtleneck" looks dreadful, or at least on me. It's in the...

And I actually finished something. YAY!!!!!!! I need to find some buttons for it, and it needs to be washed and blocked, but the January Aran is done, steeks and all!!! And to be honest, I don't think the steeks were any big time saver--not even counting the hours of whining and whimpering. When you cut knitting, you're left with fuzzies like this which drive me crazy. So, I'm going over all the edges with a needle and thread and making the edges less "messy" which is really the same as sewing all the darn pieces together in the first place but without the psychological trauma. Still, it's a new technique and I'm glad I learned it, but I might reserve it only for fair aisle, or if I pick up a taste for self-torture. I have my FIRST WIP DONE for the Double Dog Dare Challenge, which leaves me at with 17 WIPS. The challenge, as you may remember, is to get down into the single digits on WIPS. Some would, of course, ask why not try to get down to NO WIPS,...