A Little Yarn On The Side

And time for the next Project of the Month bag. This month will be......... Cotton washcloths!!! Years ago, I made tons of these things, but got discouraged when I discovered how badly they faded when one actually used them in hot soapy dishwater, and haven't made any since. However, the faded cotton washcloths are STILL my favorite ones to use, and one of my friends recently commented on how much she loves the ones I gave her several years ago, so I have actually been looking forward to this bag. Isn't it funny--it's only May, and I can't remember all the projects I picked to put into bags, but there are a few I remember & have looked forward to. If course the really fun thing about dishcloths is that one can make up any pattern at all--there's only going to be one dishcloth and it doesn't have to match a darn thing. Great chance to play with designs. And on the sewing front.......no quilt activity. We're still in the "needing time apart...

The moment of weakness has passed. I can now accept the fact that there will be discounted sock yarn available on Monday and that it is okay if other people end up with it. This is a growing opportunity. And the fact that the "fingering yarn" tub is completely full and couldn't hold even one more skein doesn't hurt. Today my "helpers" and I finished the blocks for the green quilt. Two strips are even sewn together, but I had to stop there. As relaxing as the cats find quilting I was about to blow a gasket. I ripped out & redid one seam 4 times trying to get the seams to match up. At that point, with the seams still not matched up, I decided it would be best if we spent some time apart before ONE of us ended up in a bonfire in the backyard. But it did take my mind completely off sock yarn.....

So, I've almost made it 4 months without buying any yarn, and yet because I am either stupid or a masochist, I check Elann's website daily for what yarns are new, and what's coming in....all so I can know what great discount yarns I'm missing out on. I guess maybe it was just too easy to not buy yarn without facing temptation daily, I don't know, but today it just got a lot worse. Self-patterning sock yarn is coming. One of the things that got me hooked on knitting socks in the first place were the clever yarns that made fair isle & all sorts of patterns all by themselves. Stripes are okay, and I've had some fun with randomly variegated sock yarn, but I love the self-patterning yarns and hadn't seen them around in a while. In fact, there may have been a little hoarding of the self-patterning yarns still in my stash "just in case," though that's pure speculation. What is not to love? (I'd show you more, but while I might fiercely h...

Quilting with a striped fabric might be the fast lane to the funny farm. Yesterday I picked up the blocks off the guest bed and put them on a shelf in the sewing room. I don't know what possessed me--it isn't like cleaning is one of my great joys in life. Today when I got it back out to see how the two new blocks fit in, I discovered that everything depends on HOW the blocks are laid out--like which one starts what row & everything. NOW I have to figure out how I had it laid out before I picked it up because I started 3 of the same block that theoretically might finish the darn thing.... so one of us is in need of a "time out." And a drink. Most of today was spent out in the sunshine planting things, but I did get a few rows in on this which looks like a new project, I realize, but it really isn't. I started this last month on the trip to McCall, but had so little done that it was too embarrassing to photograph. It's a shawl my mother picked out as...

Here in the "Global Menopause" climate, we're swinging between 50 degrees overnight and 80 degrees in the afternoon, so I have figured it out: Knit in the morning! The Kauni cardigan got some attention today and the yoke cardigan has a finished back! In general, I would say this is an incredibly stupid design for a sweater. The sweater has a yoke, which in 99 cases out of 100, would be knit in the round so as to eliminate seams. Not this one. Originally I had planned to just knit it in the round anyway, but the pattern calls for a zipper within the yoke. Checking Ravelry, some people felt it was fine without the zipper and some added it. I thought it would be easier to do a few useless seams than to cut a hole for a zipper. I haven't actually put a zipper in a sweater yet, but the only thing I can think of that might make a zipper in a knitted garment worse is to combine it with a steek. I shudder at the very thought... This is a wool yarn, but it might get som...

It is 74 degrees right now, all of my knitting projects are wool, and I'm just not feeling the love right now. I really, really, REALLY want a cotton knitting project right now. I even have cotton yarn in my stash, since one of the perks to having a really big stash is, well, having lots of yarn to choose from. But I already have all these other projects, and I believe I declared April to be sort of a "finish what you have already started" month (thinking I was safe with just 11 days to go), but I really, really, REALLY want to play with cotton. It's spring, darn it! Who wants to think about being cold??????

I'm in the process of making more blocks for this: and I think 2 of them are actually not going to work. To fit, all of the trees have to be standing up, and then the blocks have to fit into the overall pinwheel pattern, which gets very confusing. I think I'm doing a 5 by 6 quilt, so I need 7 more blocks, and to save my sanity I have laid this out ahead of time to see which direction to cut the blocks. I am a slow learner, but eventually I get there. I have made an executive decision--there will be no April "Project of the Month." I have already finished 2 projects and have ....well, a whole bunch still to go, so April will belatedly be, "Finish Some of Those Darn Projects I've Already Started" month. I have 11 days and an embarrassing number of projects going. Now, we'll just have to see what I can get done before May 1. Of course, the real question is "Can I finish enough projects to make the sewing room a little less frightening?...