A Little Yarn On The Side

Andy is away on business today, so I took a crafting day, and there are FOUR finished fall table runners!  These were started a while ago, but I got tired of trying to get the leaves to stop puckering the fabric because nothing seems to work, so today I found a "redwork" design of leaves to try instead.  I'm not sure I like the look as well, but they definitely work better.   The final one I embroidered with orange metallic thread, which doesn't show up well in pictures, but looks nice in person.   And there are FOUR of them!!!!  Yay! Last night I finished up another ornament, and have another one in progress:  ornaments being small, sometimes-quick-to-finish projects which are my favorites until I get to that 115 number.  AND, while I forgot to get a picture of it, I have finished the lacy bowknot scarf, so I am up to 111 finished projects for the year!!!!!!  And could even get to 112 by the end of the night.  Maybe I'...

The pillow is finished, wrapped, and packed for shipping.  I have a couple more gifts I want to finish, but I swear I am trying to convince myself to not freak out over getting to 115 projects.  Okay, maybe there's a new colorwork ornament in progress, and I might have cast on a new scarflette last night, but I was going to do that anyway and it's not just because it could be finished soon.  I needed a portable knitting project, because December is the Season of Long Waits.  Traffic lights, post office, stores--portable knitting is a MUST.  But I am NOT freaking out. That's for next week.............

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.  We spent Thanksgiving with my parents at the ranch, which was a lot of fun.  Cold, but fun.  Sorry for the extra-large picture, but this was such a great picture that I wanted to share it, and I cannot get it to shrink.  This is where I grew up.  Pretty, isn't it?  The ranch is a partnership between the families of my mother and her twin sister, and my two cousins who also grew up there were visiting as well, so that was really fun.   Andy had his new camera, so he took family pictures of them in several spots on the ranch.  So this is how we spent Black Friday.  :) It is officially winter here, which includes the obligatory problems with the furnace on the coldest day possible.  High-efficiency furnaces have some issues with condensation, and when too much water builds up, the furnace doesn't kick on.  So yesterday we woke up to single-digit temperatures outside and 51 degrees INSIDE...

When I had stepped off my sheep earlier this year, (among other things) I bought two balls of Vanna's Choice "Glamor" yarn--one in blue, one in sparkly-white--to use for the colorwork ornaments, and I was so motivated by finishing the latest ornament (and needing a LOT more projects finished in a short span of time), I went on a bit of a binge:     I AM LOVING THE SPARKLE!!!!!!!!  I am also REALLY wishing I'd bought the red sparkly colorway as well, but that's another story...... I had also bought a green wool yarn for the ornaments, and finally used it: Have you guessed that this particular pattern is the fastest one?  I might be getting desperate, but I can be practical WHILE desperate. I have been ironing and cutting fabrics, and when I finally had enough variety in the 1-inch strips, I decided to try another fabric bowl: which I am very pleased with.  Using strips instead of scraps is much easier, but this is also a great way to use up scrap...

Okay, I'm not actually sure I'm going to make it to 115 projects for the year.  But, I am going to try my very, crazy-self best.  So, the spicy spiral runner is done, a fall runner is in progress,  I have finished the latest colorwork ornament (which I started in AUGUST) and I have started a baby blanket with some super-bulky yarn on size 11 needles.  Maybe not the speediest project ever, but 4 skeins of super-bulky yarn take up a fair amount of space in the sewing room, so this is visible dent knitting.  So it will make my sewing room closet just a teeny-tiny bit less frightening.  This is all I can hope for right now.  Seventeen projects left to go...........Yikes!