A Little Yarn On The Side

I have been working and working and working to get Andy's robe done today so it would only be a week late, but I am still firmly lodged in hand-stitching hell.  The hem is all hand-stitched (which, to be fair, doesn't show up at all on this fabric and does look very nice), the cuff facings were hand-stitched, and the facing that goes all the way around the front is hand-stitched down on the inside.  That's where I'm stuck now.  I now understand why people had about 2 sets of clothing when it all had to be hand sewn.  If I had to hand-stitch all of our clothes, we'd be naked.  I did start the Lotus Blossom tank with my oldest stash: but set it aside in favor of this: because I thought I might try finishing a project before getting side-tracked by a new one.  Hey, it could happen.  Theo found a new love this weekend: A sweater dryer!  I haven't ever used them since we've had him, and he was so excited by the new kitty hammock that he didn'...

Yesterday, Carolyn asked how long the yarn for the new lace shawl ( Lotus Blossom Lace ) had been in the stash, and whether it was "old" stash or "new" stash, which made me curious about the stash in general.  The yarn I'm using was one of my exceptions in 2009.  I had promised my mother a shawl for her retirement gift, and for unknown reasons, ordered THREE 880-yard hanks of Knitpicks Bare Laceweight.  I ended up using just a little over one hank, so the second hank was justifiable, but that third one really smacks of abuse of a yarn-purchase-exception.  Which is sort of why I want to use it up. However, the oldest yarn in my stash might be this one: which I believe I bought before I bought my first house, which I think was 2003.  I also have 11 skeins of it in bright pink, and the only reason it hasn't been knit up in the past is that some rocket scientist at Jaeger yarn company thought it was completely unnecessary to list such useless details as yar...

Google has been updating and changing Blogger pretty regularly, which usually means that I have trouble uploading or moving pictures. Today, however, it has outdone itself: Nothing I type is showing up. I am hoping that even though I can't see the words, they make it onto the blog--with or without typos and errors and misspellings. ---- time passes, lots of swearing at Blogger, Google,  and the idiot who ever thought up computers in the first place-- Aha!  I can upload pictures on one computer, but have to change to my Unix-based computer to get anything else to work.  Thank you sadistic bastards at Microsoft. ANYWAY, I was able to find two buttons that reasonably matched the pinkish buttons I wanted to use for the jacket, so it now has buttons and has even been worn, but I managed to forget to take a finished picture.  I'll try for that tomorrow, depending on what Blogger has in store for me tomorrow. Theo is helping me with cutting out the remaining piece...

And romantic that I am, I spent the day at the hospital while my father had hip replacement surgery.  Everything went well, and I have to say that it is a HECK of a lot easier to knit in a hospital when you aren't the ones getting the funny drugs.  So, the knitting mojo is back, and I promise I'll post some pictures later.  Right now it's shower, dress, and drive back over to the hospital for the day.

I had some free time yesterday AND DID NOT FEEL LIKE KNITTING.  Do you think I could possibly have caught some sort of rare jungle fever?  Or maybe it's the cross-stitching gods getting back at me for everything I have been saying about their art form? It was a very  frightening experience, especially since after finishing TWO projects on Friday my normal reaction would be to want to cast on 4-5 sweaters immediately.  Good heavens--you don't think I've been struck by moderation, do you??????

You may wish to sit down, as this might come as quite a shock.  Meet Finished Project number 19: which still needs buttons because I'm still debating about what sort of buttons to use.  I like the pinkish buttons, but I only have 6 of them and I need 8, and while I have enough of the rose-shaped buttons, I want to see if I can find something that matches better, using the roses as back-up if necessary. And.....seriously, are you sitting down yet?  Meet Finished Project number 20: Fleur is finally done!!!!!!  Forgive the lousy picture--three years at the bottom of the knitting basket gives sweaters a LOT of wrinkles, so it still needs to be washed and blocked, but after more than 3 years, the thing is finally done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  See, I told you it would be quite a shock.  Let's be honest here--did you even think I would ever finish Fleur after all this time?  

Today, boys and girls, we're playing a new game called, "What the H*$# Was I Thinking?"  See this? Fourteen pattern pieces!  FOURTEEN just for some lousy jacket.  A jacket that is going to go into a closet that already contains at least 20 sweaters.  I can be warm without this silly thing.  And not just 14 pieces--14 pieces that have to be sewn together with THREE seams every single time, or even MORE seams when I make a mistake and have to redo a seam .  Even if each piece only needed to be joined in 2 places, that's eighty-four separate seams!!! Who has ever been THAT cold?????? Does anyone remember if there was a white chocolate martini or a big dose of Nyquil involved in picking out this project?????