A Little Yarn On The Side

....or has anyone else noticed that I'm finishing projects much faster now that I've already reached my goal for the year?   Did it seriously take me 11 months to figure out that  small  projects  worked better??????  I have finished FOURTEEN projects so far this month, and there are still 11 days to go.   Sort of makes you wonder what I could finish in one year if I had the sense to stay away from quilts, doesn't it? Speaking of which, I have a new goal for 2011--for which I  am not the one responsible.  That instigator of this little endeavor is Qutecowgirl , and of course I am even more attracted to craziness that is not of my own doing.  The goal for 2011? Finish 111 projects by the end of the year Thankfully, they do not all have to be knitting....which would probably have left me a broken woman weeping in the corner clutching two dpns and a fistful of superwash merino.  Nope, it can be any craft (though please  may I hav...

An article from the Vancouver Sun:  Beware the curse of the 'love sweater'

And I actually finished LOTS of things.  First, I decided it would be nice if the wands Andy made for a niece and nephew had something to be stored in, so Then I decided to see if Jeeves had problems using one of the embroidery cards he originally came with, or if it is just designs I transfer to a writable card, so I made gift bags I had actually intended to make only one, but I loved the design so much that I just kept going.  I also "just kept going" with making handles   so the little heart bag finally got them and the rest have been put into safe keeping for my next bag marathon.  I loved the design so much that I dug out some home decorating fabric and used it on a wall hanging Currently it is just pinned up because I was trying to decide if it needed something extra, but I sort of like it just plain.  Still, I'll think about it for a week or two, then either add loops to hang it from a rod or just tabs on the back to hang invisibly from pins. Appare...

I believe I made 35 of these little felt tubes (I did count, but have already forgotten and now several are wrapped, and Andy just brought me a white chocolate martini, so a guess is as close as we're going to get tonight.)  Even Theo was exhausted by the time we were done: I do like how the nine I did today look: even though I wasn't initially very pleased with this decorative stitch.  I think these guys qualify as the "most work for least amount of yards used" project for the year. Speaking of which, I have resolved to buy NO yarn or fabric for the whole of 2011.  If I make it, this will be huge, because the last time I tried this I did make it without buying any yarn, but only made it to October on the fabric front.  To do this, however, is going to require some careful planning as 2011 is also my year to make the Christmas gifts (I'm not really getting credit for those darn tubes).  So I've been making a list, checking it against my stash in Ravelry a...

Earlier this year, Andy found a really nice lathe for sale on Craig's list, and has been hard at work producing pens for Christmas gifts:  They are extremely lovely and so far everyone just loves them--which is all good.  Because they are such lovely pens, we decided they needed to be presented IN something, which is where I come in: These are just the ones we still have.  There were more.   And, just in case you were wondering, repeatedly making itty-bitty fabric tubes is sort of boring.  I've been trying to liven it up a bit with my new decorative stitching possibilities: which helps a bit.  I have one more set to mark, stitch, and cut and then I think I'll call it good for a while.  I was trying to use odd bits of scrap fabric from other projects, but I have to leave bigger seam allowances for regular fabrics, which makes them a bit bulkier, so I have switched to using felt.  SUCH useful stuff.  If I do all the stitching before cutt...

Normally, there isn't much yarn I don't love.  In weak moments, I have even been known to purchase bright fuchsia Fun Fur, so my standards are obviously not too high.  However, this yarn might be completely without temptation for me. 55% New Zealand Merino Wool 20% Nylon 15% Alpaca 10% Possum Possum????????  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I can't even hear the word without images of Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies , and when one is trying to think of classy knitting projects, it's best not to picture someone with string for a belt serving up a stew of your yarn source . 

A friend has sworn that the next time I mention that I am going to make two project simultaneously, she will remind me to stab myself in the leg repeatedly until the urge passes.  This is a good thing. The problem with doing two projects from the same pattern AT THE SAME TIME is that if you make a mistake on one, you're more than likely going to make it on the other one as well.  Another problem is that if the pattern was written by psychotics who leave you with two unexplained pattern pieces, you have TWO projects with unexplained pattern pieces.  According to the pattern, the red one belongs somewhere on this apron: and the black one on this one:  which doesn't make any sense.  Since I had them, I decided to go ahead and use them as facings for the top yoke, but decided to actually match them up color-wise so they would make sense.  Of course, by the time I decided this, it required mostly hand-stitching them in place, but it would really irritate m...