A Little Yarn On The Side

So last night I decided there's self restraint and then there's torture, so I dug out the new yarn and gleefully cast on the new Kauni yarn for the Kauni cardigan. 24 hours later, I have One and a half rows. I wouldn't even have that if I hadn't altered the pattern. To get a nice "framing" effect, I decided to do one round of the ribbing in a solid color before adding the second color for every-other stitch for the striped ribbing. Thank heavens--I can't even imagine trying to keep the cast on stitches from twisting while I'm trying to change yarn with every stitch. I have done colorwork in the past, but as none of it has ever surfaced on the blog, it obviously isn't my favorite. I'm a bit of a lazy knitter, and the best way I know of to not have 3 trillion ends to weave in on a sweater is to stay away from colorwork. But every now and then the sheer beauty of it wins out. So, here I am. Halfway through the second row. I thought it wou...

The "reward" yarn I ordered for myself on January 1 arrived yesterday and.... I haven't yet cast on. I know--I am shocked as well. I thought I'd probably have the first loop on the needles before the UPS truck even pulled away! I don't know what has gotten into me! Instead, I worked on the January aran blocked the moss scarf, which I am actually pleased with--and I think this is my favorite stitch pattern variation so far but I am not sure everyone would love a variegated yarn scarf. Then I spent some time working on a block for my friend's Warm Up America project only to discover my gauge goes to hell when I'm bored. The blocks are supposed to be 7 by 9 inches. This one is 8 by 9, so to the frog pond it goes. That will teach me--I did a seed stitch block at the correct gauge, so I didn't bother to recheck with garter. I dared smugness and was smote by the knitting gods! And over a garter stitch block of all things! My new block is my own variat...

So the bad news is, the cold is still hanging on. The good news is the February Project of the Month is DONE!!! I'd be gloating about getting it done in the first two weeks of the month if it hadn't actually been languishing in the craft bin for about 5 years. But, it's done, washed, and ironed. Now I just have to figure out where I put the other one. It's probably off somewhere with the pajama top having a terrific laugh about my organizational skills.... I even did a little work on the baby blanket I did say "little," didn't I? Actually, there's a little more done than it appears--the blue I've been working with tonight is almost the exact shade as the ink used for stamping. A little scrounging in the sewing room has revealed that for some inexplicable reason, I have 3 copies of this blanket kit. Three--of the exact same blanket. I vaguely remember buying this on clearance, so maybe it's not just yarn sales that make one take tempora...

OK, so there hasn't been blogging in a couple days, but there has been knitting, sewing, and quilting. I know--how shocking is that? I haven't been that productive in quite some time, but if you look at the side tab you might notice that the goals are pretty high but the actual accomplishment is fairly low, so I thought I needed to pick up the pace a little. So, I finished the edging on another fleece blanket, assembled the Christmas quilt top which is actually pretty small--30 by 36 inches. I do have strips cut out that could make the quilt larger, but if I use this size I can actually make two quilts instead of one, which would give me two gifts for Christmas instead of one. So, I'm thinking of doing a larger border, maybe a narrow strip of green which I can do some sort of decorative stitching in gold on, then a wider red stripe What do you think? If I did about 5 inches on each side, the quilt would be 40 by 46 inches, which is still a small lap quilt, but not AS ...

Thanks to Herrschners, I'm back to work on the blanket for my niece, and I think it will be done in time to send off for her birthday in the first week of March. (And STILL no box from Joanns.com, by the way) My little sidekick is getting very bored with the indoor life, so we worked on a Christmas gift quilt which seemed to please him immensely I'm not doing the best job on this quilt, and some of the blocks aren't even lining up, and yet it's really not bothering me much--which is surprising to say the least. Usually I'd have to redo it--especially since it's a gift--but I guess 8 weeks of kitty sitting has taken its toll on me as well. Theo is back to kitty therapy tomorrow--and they have PROMISED to get pictures this time. He's walking on the leg almost without a limp, and it looks a little less chickeny every day! And the moss scarf has gotten more attention than it should have, because I'm enjoying how this stitch variation is looking. And of c...