A Little Yarn On The Side

It's finally spring here, and I felt the need for a new summer dress.  And, since the sewing room had many, many, MANY options, I was able to make this today without much bother.  I couldn't exactly estimate how much fabric I own, but let's just say that I've been in some small-town fabric stores with less selection......I'd be thrilled to use up 100 yards of fabric by the end of the year, but then again, I'd like to be taller.  :) I bought the material several months ago., and was a bit appalled to find two tears in the material--in the same location but not symmetrical, oddly enough.  If I had caught it in time, I could have put it on the front skirt of the dress & done some embroidery over the top of it, but as it is, both tears are on the back of the skirt, so this will be a wear-around-the-house dress, but since I spend most of my summer in crop pants & sun dresses anyway, it's fine.  AND.... one Monkey Sock is done!!!!!  I think I made th...

In spite of someone's  best efforts and best efforts at ignoring me, I have finished the wall hanging today! Andy is making a dowel & finials for it, so it isn't up yet, but it IS project number 37!!!! With my little sidekick's "help,"  I made a little progress on the Christmas quilt today but gave it up when it started to strain my elbow.  Instead, I'm working on the Monkey socks and this which is going to be a surprise.  :)  So, if you were wondering why there has been less knitting than usual on the blog--it's because I've been in stealth knitting mode .  Aren't you impressed and/or amazed?  I'm not usually very good at keeping ANYTHING quiet, but this is over half finished and is just NOW surfacing on the blog--which has to be some sort of record for me.  This probably won't appear on the blog again for a while, but I just HAD to show it to you right now--I'm getting close to finishing a 600-yard skein of laceweight on t...

If I knew how to attach sound to my blog, you would be hearing the theme for Rocky right now.  I have gimped! In case you didn't guess from the days without blogging, the idea of gimping on the wall hanging was frightening me.  I mean, decorative stitching is a commitment that one can't really back away from--ripping it out usually leaves a mark, if it doesn't ruin the material altogether.  Yesterday, just to make sure, I marked a corner of scrap tan material with one of my "disappearing" markers.  I put it in quotes because I've learned the hard way that it may not disappear from really fussy material.  Luckily, it worked on this one, so I drew a little freehand curving, got in touch with my spine, and jumped in.  It isn't perfectly symmetrical or anything, but I'm okay with that.   It was a successful learning opportunity, and my drawing skills have always pretty much stunk, so I don't expect much of them. If this were any other year , I wou...

Okay--I think I'm the only person in the entire knitting world who is ever going to say this, but....... I don't care much for the Monkey Sock pattern .  I know, I know--it's one of THE most popular sock patterns on the planet, and I don't hate it enough to frog the socks, but I have a real problem with this which does NOT photograph well, but the two increases are lopsided.  The problem is from the increase--there's a double yarn over, then one YO is knit into, then one is knit into the back, which does create the two desired stitches for the next row but IS NOT symmetrical--I have that one yarn over at the bottom and then the sloppy little stitch on the left side.  It annoys me.  I know, I know--it's just me, but still.....I think it's awkward and it simply irritates me every time I get to that point in the pattern.  Obviously, I have symmetry issues..... In other news, the overwhelming vote is for SOMETHING on the wall hanging--which I agree with....

My parents were down for a visit today.  Which isn't the lame part--that would be the morning I spent playing on the internet.  BUT I did get a mitten done bringing me to a grand total of 11.  And I got this far on the wall hanging and now it is voting time.  Do you think it needs something added--like maybe a black stitch outline on the edge of the tan, something like this only, you know, more symmetrical and not done with ribbon?  Or just something in the corners?  Or should I leave well enough alone before I muck it up and have to start all over again?   Thoughts?

As many of you know, I lead the "Cold Sheeping" thread in my stashdown group on Ravelry--I think by default of being "she with the least amount of willpower."  ANYWAY, it was MY bright idea to issue monthly challenges this year, and the challenge for May is to finish 5 knitted projects by the end of the month.  Oh my.  Meet May project number 1: Mr. Flurry sans eyes.  I do intend to give him eyes, but getting to the black yarn requires moving a few things, and after a little strawberry-inspired insanity on Tuesday I have honestly been trying to rest my arm--you know, like a normal person would.  BUT I'm counting Mr. Flurry as done.  (And the strawberry-vanilla jam, while not as good as the strawberry-balsamic vinegar one, is still fabulous & the English muffin bread goes with it nicely) The Monkey Socks and I have worked out our differences: I must say--it works rather well to explain to a misbehaving project what it could really mean to be ba...

Tonight I decided to finally cast on the Monkey Socks for the May Project of the Month.  Since I am NOT using the stretchy yarn and they are not toe-up socks, I decided not to use my traditional cable cast on as it doesn't have very much stretch and tends to make sock bands that cut off circulation.  I decided to use the long-tail cast on. Which, it turns out, I had forgotten. Now, I don't particularly like the long-tail cast on.  EITHER I run out of "tail" with just 5 or 6 stitches left to cast on OR I end up with a humongous tail which generally turns out to be the exact amount of yarn I'll ultimately be short to finish the project.  But, I have been knitting for over 30 years and have used the long-tail cast on quite often--often enough that it's embarrassing to find a stick & string in my hand and be unsure what to do with either one.  I actually had to look it up!!!!!! I have had a lot of ups & downs with projects, but I think it's fa...