Friday, April 29, 2011

Short and Sweet

   Today's installment will be brief as the title suggests. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I am not far enough along in my shawl for it to be at all interesting to photograph or write about. So far it is going quite smoothly. I really like the way the color repeat in the yarn is organizing itself through the shawl pattern. The second reason for my brevity is; the sun is finally shining! It has rained every day for the past week. I am tired of the rain! I'm also running out of ways to keep a three year old boy entertained indoors. There are a lot of new finger paintings gracing the basement art area.
   I have decided on a pattern for my shawl to go with the dress I got for the weddings I'm going to this summer. It is in my Crochet Master Class book. I'm using Berroco Sox yarn. It is shades of blue from a cornflower blue to almost gray. I'm about a third of the way through the first of four sections for the shawl. So far the work up has been simpler than it originally looked. I think the middle two sections are going to be the most challenging. That's all I've got for now. Time for enjoying some of this sunshine while it lasts!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Something New

   I'm a little behind on the posting this week. There was a very busy Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny went a little but nuts making sure that every family member she encountered over the weekend had some eggs with jellybeans or chocolate. There has also been finishing the project purge, reading my new books, and deciding what project I want to start with. I finished my Silly Snake, frogged the stranded hat and I am now down to three works in progress.
 The completed Scarf That Never Ends.
And the completed Silly Snake. He's not perfect, but the boys love him and that's far more important than my perfectionist sensitivities.
   I have decided on a project from my new books. I'm crocheting a shawl from my Crochet Masterclass book. It's a bruges crochet pattern called Magical Waves. I'm only 12 rows into it, so there's not much to photograph yet. So far, so good. I've read through the pattern and it seems to be making sense to my brain thus far. I am super excited about learning a new technique. I will of course, update progress on said shawl when I've made some. :-) This and my Stitch Sampler Afghan will be my all consuming projects for the foreseeable future. Now all I need is some time to really dive into my new crochet project! I hope everyone out there is safe from the violent spring weather many of us are experiencing.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Project Purge and New Books

   First and foremost, I'm sure you all will be happy to know that the Scarf that Never Ends was completed last Sunday night (the 17th)! It looks pretty good even if I do say so myself. Pictures will be posted as soon as my husband returns from North Carolina with our camera. Poor guy has had to spend the past two weeks there for work. But, on to my chosen topic for the evening. I am trying to be a more organized crafter. Towards that end I have made a new commitment to myself. "No more than four yarn craft projects in progress at a time." I have one purge project completed. One project has sadly been frogged. It is a good thing I'm almost down to three projects because I got my anniversary gift today.
   What did my darling husband get me you ask? I got four new knitting and crochet books! I was so excited when I saw them in the mail today. I'm sure the trials and triumphs of the projects in these will soon be featured here. In the interest of not short changing you  since you've taken the time and effort to come and visit my blogland today, I'll share the books I got today with you. The one that I was most excited about & dove into as soon as I got the box open is called Crochet Master Class. It is full of different specialized crochet techniques, some that I'd never heard of! I'm so glad that most of the chapters include a sample square to try out the technique before launching into an entire project. The next book is 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet. I haven't opened this one up yet, but the examples that are on the cover are just beautiful. I can't wait to start embellishing with them. Book number three is Knitted Wild Animals. This one has been opened and flipped through by my three year old son. He is very excited. He keeps flipping through the pages naming the animals. This is great because I bought this book mainly to make things for him & his little brother. And last but not least, we have 400 Knitting Stitches. This is going to come in very handy for my stitch sample afghan.
   And now, dear readers, I must leave you. The are two kids and only one of me. Also I want to jump back into reading my new books. I am going to try to update at least once a week. Please keep coming back & I'll keep writing. I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Friday, April 15, 2011

This is the Scarf that never ends...

   I was going to save this post until the scarf that never ends was finished. And I foolishly thought that was going to be two days ago. So lest I go another month without posting, I will share st story of the Scarf that Never Ends, while it remains unfinished. It seems rather appropriate that way.
   This is the scarf that never ends. Yes it goes on and on my friends. Some woman started knitting it not knowing what it was, ad she'll continue knitting it forever just because... Thank you Lamb Chop for most of the words and the tune. The pattern is dead simple. I found a yarn I liked but it was in a finer gauge. So, I upped the size of my needles and added 50% more stitches to the cast on. This scarf is worked along the length and in the even rows you knit in the front and back of every stitch. The scarf has seven rows. So even though I only added 50 stitches to the first row. I inadvertently added 200 stitches to the last row. I am still casting off. I fear that even though I work on this every day I will be casting off until some time next year. If you want to see the pattern, it is the Potato Chip Scarf on knitpicks, with the changes I mentioned. I will share pictures if the scarf ever actually ends...
   And that is the story of the scarf that never ends. Feel free to share about projects that never seem to get done no matter how much you work on them.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Apologies from an Absentee Author

   I'll start with I'm sorry for neglecting the blog-o-sphere for the entire month of March. I thought about blogging, but every time it crossed my mind I was int he middle of something that had nothing to do with crafting or I had no time to sit and write. I apologize again & hope you will forgive me and continue to read. March is the second busiest month in the family for birthdays with my husband, oldest son, & brother-in-law all have birthdays within a two week span. That and when you have 6 inches of snow on the ground and temps in the upper 80s less than 2 weeks later, it's just not right. The lovely weather we had earlier in the month inspired me to spend plenty of time playing outside with the kids, and not so much crafting, thinking about crafting, or blogging.
   With all of that said, I'm currently trying to thin out the work-in-progress collection. I have set a personal edict that I shall start no more projects until I thin the WIP herd down to a point were even with a new project, I will have no more than four projects going at a time. The current catalog of partially finished projects includes; a nifty little scarf that I am in the process of casting off, known as the scarf that never ends; the stuffed snake; The red and blue crocheted afghan; the knit sampler afghan; stranded knit blocks hat, and a shawl that I think is going to frogged instead of finished. So that's six projects I have going. I am determined to finish the scarf, snake, & hat before I start anything else.
   I am planning a shawl to go with the dress I bought for all the weddings I'm going to this summer. I think will save my planning for my next project and the story of "the scarf that never ends" for my next installment. For all of you who come back to reading my blog. THANK YOU!