A Little Yarn On The Side

I love the Baby Surprise Jacket! It is so clever and such a leap of faith. Who would ever believe that this: is actually a sweater? For those who are BSJ veterans, I'm on the 10-ridge insert, so I'm ALMOST done! I decided to shake up the stripe pattern just a little--which coincided nicely with the cast off for the neck shaping which would lead to the need to weave in ends for stripes (funny how these things work out)--but I picked up the stripes again in the inset. The great thing about the BSJ is you can pretty much do anything you want to with the stripes because it's automatically happening on both sides. You can just throw in a few stripes here or there, make an actual pattern--whatever. And babies aren't going to complain about stripes making their butt look big, so it's a win-win all the way around.

So I am knitting less and less all the time as I find more & more stuff to do around the house, so today I made a date with wool. After canning & before going to the gym I promised myself one hour of uninterrupted knitting time. It was tough, and I almost got distracted by a bed that needed sheets changed, but I actually did it and this poor little shawl: which was started on June 2 and promptly abandoned, now has 9 more rows! It's really more hunter green than blue-grey, and there isn't a full pattern repeat there yet, but I am quite proud of myself. Really, I wanted to cast on something new to work on--and had even flirted with the idea--but when I finally sat down I didn't want to be bothered with gauge or size or anything new, so a WIP WON OUT!!!!! Whoo hoo!!! Call Ripley's! I have a new theory--if I can manage one hour of uninterrupted knitting time per day that would pretty much double my knitting output for this year as it's been a bit patheti...

There's just a little over 4 months left in my second Year of the Stash, and I'm not even halfway to my goals. I'm not even halfway to where I was last year. How is this possible? I'm not working this year, I had a 6-week surgery recovery period where almost all I could do was knit--and I have used about 45 skeins of yarn. Do you realize I could replace that in 1.2 minutes if left alone with the internet and my credit card????? Sigh...... I had it figured up last year that if I knit approximately 20,000 yards per year (last year I managed 19,000 but I'm taking advantage of my knitterly optimism) I could use up my stash in about 9-10 years. And be able to get the sewing room closet doors closed in about 3. HOWEVER, if I'm currently on target to only do 15,000 yards then I might have a 15-year stash which is a bit depressing as I had visions of going on a yarn-shopping bender in 2018 that would leave my credit card whimpering in pain. I have 4 months left--w...

In the garage, I have a big Rubbermade tub where I stockpile knitted baby gifts. I used to try to go baby by baby, but then a few of my friends had TWINS, and that just destroyed that theory and put me behind for about 2 years. So, I started making them ahead of time--generally going with 2-year-old sweaters as it's too hard to figure out what size & at what time of year to intercept a baby. Sure the 3-month or 6-month sweaters are cute, but what if it's a big baby and instead of being the right size in the fall, that puts it into the right size smack in July? Occasionally I still do 12 month & 18 month sweaters, but rarely anything younger. My Grandmother called me to see if I had a sweater for an upcoming baby boy. She has been a crafter all her life, but now her eyesight has almost gone, so now she only quilts, but she loves homemade things and gifts, so for the price of the yarn, I can provide her with baby sweaters. Works great on both ends, and it's a rat...

So, I've been enjoying my new reputation as the Queen of Productivity , but thought it only fair to admit the truth: The embroidery machine can work all by itself. I program the machine, hoop the towel, thread the machine, press start AND I CAN WALK AWAY. When it wants a new thread color, it stops and waits for me. So....while the machine was merrily spitting out towels, I was doing other things. So....not quite as impressive, but at least I didn't get part of the towel accidentally folded underneath the hoop and embroider a towel sleeve around the hoop that would have to be cut away in order to get it off the hoop--an achievement I mercifully did BEFORE starting this blog. There are always reasons to be thankful for being slow on the technology front.

Somehow I miscounted (which could explain some gauge issues), and I actually have 9 embroidered towels--not ten. Oh well. I have plenty more blank towels and nine is still a respectable amount. After washing out the stabilizer: There are some duplicates, so I didn't photograph all 9, but I'm generally pleased with the results. In the future I think I'd center better so the words aren't on the color stripes, and I'd do a different color thread on the green towel, but I'm learning. I've had my sewing/embroidery machine for 3 years now, and am just starting to get comfortable with the embroidery part. The instruction book made it QUITE complicated, and to be honest I've eliminated a few steps because they made it so difficult I would never had embroidered anything if I followed their advice. Now, if I ever endeavor to do embroidered buttonholes on anything, I will dig out their fussy instructions and follow them to the letter, but as I have only recen...

And almost a finished scarf. To what do I owe this abnormal display of crafting dedication? * A tragically delayed tomato crop that has yet to cooperate with my visions of a weekend of salsa canning. * The true "stocking up" of towels to embroider on, without any idea at all where to store them until needed, and the final admission that there is more room in the "gift bin" than in the entire sewing room--a truly sad state of affairs... * An audio book causing me so much stress that it was either finish the darn thing this weekend or start taking sleeping pills at night. * Being perhaps caught up with cucumber harvest enough to delay the next batch of pickles until perhaps Tuesday. * Deciding that taking a weekend break from any elaborate cooking would be a really good idea...unless we wanted a week of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches next week. * After the socializing & entertaining marathon of last month, being burned out enough to schedule NO part...