A Little Yarn On The Side

...but I am immensely proud of myself today. There, I've said it.  I know I will probably bring down the wrath of the sewing gods upon my boastful little head, but maybe they're not as vengeful as the knitting gods.  I'll burn a little summer cotton tonight in sacrifice to the just to be on the safe side.  In the meantime TA-DA! My first attempt at continuous quilting with the embroidery machine! Okay, to be fair, it wasn't an intentional attempt.  My intention was to do a few unconnected pieces of design on each side--basically enough to keep the batting from going crazy in the washing machine but nothing too "involved."  That was before I discovered this:  The design I had just embroidered onto the quilt that has taken THREE AND A HALF YEARS to make was only made for continuous design.  Not that there were any directions with the software--which I will point out is the only embroidery software I bought from Husqvarna (the company that ma...

....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...

*  Mr. Rogers would have had more than one sweater *  An "I Love Lucy" episode would have shown Lucy tied helplessly to a chair after her attempt to knit straight from an unwound hank of lace yarn. *  We would have seen Dumb Donald's face on "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" because his stocking cap would not have been the size of a garbage sack. *  On "Bewitched," Samantha could have twitched her nose and actually knit as fast as the rest of us only think we can. *  Pee Wee Herman might have been caught knitting in the movie theater, and might still be on the air......

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 ...

Tomorrow is Finishing Friday.  It's me, that darned ribbed yoke sweater, and some audio books.  Someone is going to come out victorious.......

For some reason, when Hagrid pulled out knitting in the first Harry Potter book, it made me absurdly happy.  I don't know what he was knitting, or if he ever finished it, but it was just this little glimpse of a shared interest and it made me happy.  So, I'm thinking that maybe more of our literature could use a little knitting--you know, to make it more accessible....which of course led me to......  Romeo and Juliet :  The besotted Juliet knits her beloved a gorgeous sweater in an all-over cable pattern, which invokes the dreaded Boyfriend Sweater curse and Romeo immediately dumps her, and they both live on to marry others and live to ripe, old age. Gone With The Wind: When Rhett leaves Scarlett after not giving a damn, Scarlett remembers she still has her beloved Tara, which she converts into an alpaca farm and she makes a fortune selling Damn Yankee Yarn, which will later inspire a musical of a similar name. Wizard of Oz:  Dorothy doesn't end up with th...