missed Christmas

Some how I completely missed Christmas on my blog. It should be the opposite- Christmas is when there are dozens of projects, crafts, ornaments and cards to do every day! But this year...I didn't handmake any gifts, although I did make an IOU for an apron for my mother. I didn't make cards like I did last year, nor did I make any scarves.

This year, I didn't want to feel pressured to hurriedly make gifts for people- I have two jobs this holiday season, which cuts into my crafting time. I also felt burned out on crafting. Now that I read all these fabulous crafting blogs in my Google Reader, I kind of feel like what I make for people is second-rate. I'm not a great sewer or knitter, and my projects are riddled with errors. It's been hard to feel inspired to make a gift.

That said, I have cast on one new/one old project to knit. I'm working on Elbac again, after a two year break, and a new scarf to try to bust through some of the stash I uncovered while "cleaning" (ie. looking for shoes in my closet).

Elbac is now three times as long, despite my many attempts to screw it up last week. I'd take a new picture of it but I lost the cord to my camera. Awesome.

am i done yet?

My friend has decided she likes knitting again, and keep sending me Ravelry patterns and ideas, to which I say, no! I have to finish sewing the blankets first! But oh, how I want to start something new and warm and fuzzy and for me! I really want to start knitting again, even though I get bored 12 inches into a scarf, and have only ever made one hat and one other non-rectangular thing (and it was a square instead). Sigh. But scarves are in! I need one!

So I was looking through my old bookmarks today, seeing if anything sparked an inspiration for a blog post, and I stumbled upon Thimble, and lo! It has been recently updated with an adorable scarf- lacy and fluffy, no doubt. I probably have yarn for it, if only I was done sewing the blankets (note: am I sewing now? NO).

progress!

Finally, some progress! Well, mostly. I got my Knit Picks order last week of yarn for the aforementioned backlog of projects.



1. Scarf for Dad- Campus Scarf from Scarf Style, in one color only. Yarn: KP Essential Tweed Inca Gold. I am double stranding it on 6s or 7s. Probably. It's also more brown than in the catalog, which is good.



2. Shawl for Mom- Guinevere from Wrap Style, in Alpaca Cloud smoke. I have the needles for this- yay! It'll be my first time knitting with a laceweight yarn.



3. Felted stuff- clutch from One Skein, boxes from Mason Dixon Knitting. I am hoping these are quick knits.



I'm also still working on Elbac from knitty, and it is moving along much faster now that I'm marking my rows with paper clips. It was taking so much time trying to remember if I was on row 2 or 3, or worse, 4, of the repeats. I still have 50 some repeats to do, but it's going quickly.

more knitting...sort of

I have so many knitting projects in my head. Have I made headway on any of them? No.

Scarf for Dad
He sprung this idea on me a few weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it a lot. I'm going to make him the campus scarf from Scarf style, but in a solid color, a la Splityarn. I picked out some 127 Print (I think that's the name?) but I think the random stripeyness would be lost on a "plaid" scarf like that. So it's onto some tweed, possibly from Rowan, probably from WEBS. Although I discovered Catnip Yarns today, and the prices seem unbelievably reasonable if you dye it yourself. And I've been dying to try dyeing! (har).

Elbac
No progress. BOOO

Shawl for Mom
No luck finding Rowan 38 online cheap or at my LYS. So River is out. I finally got the Vogue Shawls to go book from the library, but the Shetland Shawl pattern I liked seems lame now. I don't have a backup plan, except maybe Kiri or something free online.

A million things to sew- new purse, dress, apron, quilt...lacking fabric, motivation, and access to the iron. I think it is buried under the bed. sad.

elbac- help!

I started knitting Elbac from Knitty Winter 06 last week, and it is just not working. It's on size 7s, like the pattern calls for, with Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK. It's so narrow and it looks nothing like the picture. I am very disappointed, because I am liking the cables, though I am not liking the constant p1,k1 in the pattern. I tried it on 8s and it still doesn't look right. :(



It's about the width of my hand, so maybe 3-3.5"? It looks so wide in the Knitty pictures, and despite the wonders of blocking, mine doesn't look quite the same.

for 50 Projects on LJ

Project #5: washcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting. I didn't knit it as long as recommended, but it is on size 7 with kitchen cotton. White is Sugar and Cream, color is Gumdrop from Peaches and Cream. I love this color. It's like jelly beans or a carnival. With the white, it looks like my old easter basket. I do wish that I could find yarn with longer color repeats so each little block is a different color. I found that the white unraveled quickly, especially when I had to frog rows.

I think this pattern would be great for a kid's hat. Especially in the same candy colored yarn.



Close-up.


Project #6: I cleaned today and organized my bookcase. It's not a craft project per se, but I've been meaning to do it forever. It has an inbox, things to file, and recycle bins. My magazines are along the bottom, though I wish I had more file boxes that matched. I got the tall vase from a thrift store years ago. The mug is from a town named after my family in England, and the little glass vase is new from Target (as are the inboxes- $2.50 dollar spot). That blur is my dog :)



Also cleaned my bathroom and sink, but I will spare you photos!

Longest scarf in the world

It is about time! I started planning this scarf in October, knitting in November, and finished it Sunday. I wanted a reversible pattern, machine washable wool, and an elegant design with pockets. I finally settled on Berroco's Pure Merino in a raspberry colorway, and bought three balls. Over the next two months, I bought three more. The scarf started as the cabled scarf in Scarf style, but found that it didn't fold up well into pockets. Why pockets? My grandmother has arthritis in her hands and is not able to wear gloves. It's pretty cold in Indiana, so I wanted her to be able to stick her hands in the scarf to keep them warm, and still be able to hold onto her walker.

After scouring every knitting book in Borders one night, I settled on a seed stitch pattern from some purse book (I think it called the pattern "blossom."). Halfway through the first ball, I realized I knit the exact same pattern for my mom last year, and that it curled up on itself horribly. I'm an idiot. But, I was too far along and too time crunched to rip it out. Despite knitting feverishly up through Christmas Eve, I still couldn't finish it. The scarf had to be extra long in order to fold up into pockets, and the stitch was taking me forever. My grandma understood, and it is now on its way to her in time for her birthday. The color will hopefully match her new coat. I should have made her a fleecy Colts one, but who had that kind of forethought in December??



The longest scarf, ever:
Cast on 35 (I think) onto size 9 needles. Any odd number will do.
I did two rows of garter stitch after casting on to give it a bit of an edge.
Row 3: *k1, p1*, k1
Row 4: knit all.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 for an eternity, or until the scarf is about 7 feet long. This took me just shy of five balls of approximately 100 yards each, Pure Merino.
For the pockets, I folded each end up the length of my hand, and seamed the edges.

This is also for 50projects, and fits into the theme of finishing unfinished projects. I didn't get the InStitches-a-long finished in time, though. Whoops. Maybe February.

Steph's scarf

The beginning of Steph's scarf. I didn't get an after shot. It's Malabrigo wool with Katia mirage as the fuzzy stuff. The angora wool turned out far fuzzier than I anticipated, but I loooove the color. The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and is on size 10.5 needles, I think. It's K1P1, but doesn't knit up as quickly as I remember. It should be super warm, if winter ever arrives in Philadelphia.