On the go I have a couple pairs of socks, and a stole (I’m trying the Secret of the Stole II). My sweater is languishing, as are two scarves and another shawl I had ripped out because I was having issues on the first part.
Mainly I work on my socks on the go, grabbing whichever pair I feel like in the morning (all different patterns) and on my stole at night. It was going well until my son decided bedtime wasn’t happening on Sunday and I had to put it down to chase him back to bed… and caught my foot in it, which pulled it half off and unravelled. I had only done half of clue one though, which isn’t that much so I can probably catch up and be done by Friday for clue two.
Oh, and I signed up for a spinning class starting in February! I can’t wait.
Thank you. There will be a place for you in my administration when I am God-King. However, I must defer to the perfect master.
This was a really fun project, though. Naturally, it turns out that the best yarn for such a project (thick, tightly spun, doesn’t thin out under tension, nonfuzzy, resistant to felting, wool) is Bluesky alpaca worsted at $18 a pop. I read that in the old days the Assumption sashmakers would twine multiple yarn strands together and wax them to get the right characteristics. Also, the books say that you should add 20% to the length of the yarns you use, but this is a dirty lie. I added 25% and should have added more like 30 or 33% to get the full length I wanted; as it happened I had to splice in an extra 30" at one end.
I’m knitting a blanket for my nephew. And I’m pushing Ivylad to take more baths, so he can use up the bath bombs and bath salts, so I can make more. We’re almost out of sugar/salt scrubs too…yipppeeeee!
Eh, don’t worry about that. Hold the yarn however it feels best…there’s all sorts of ways to hold the yarn, and as you get more comfortable you’ll find the best way to hold it for you.
Well, I’m steampunking my old laser rifle, does that count? I’ve found a source for my brass tubing, now I just need to take some measurements and dig up some appropriate gauges and such.
I have two afghans going, one works up in strips and the other is essentially a big granny square. They’re both Christmas yarn, so I’m not in a big hurry. They’re the mindless, don’t-have-to-pay-attention projects I do when I’m reading or something.
I have a baby sweater partly done for the upcoming grandchild, and I’ve cut half a dozen flannel receiving blankets. There are a bunch of things planned for the baby, but I have to keep it down to one project at a time, if I can. Then I might actually get them done.
I am currently at a bad place with crafting. A bad, dark place.
The gloves I’m knitting for Plimoth Plantation turned out to have an incorrect stitch count in the directions for the size I’m knitting, so I had to rip out three fingers and play with the counts. I’ve since completed all four fingers, and the thumb remains. However, the fingers are way too big around for me. That doesn’t matter, though, since I’m not keeping them, but when I make my own, I’m going to have to fiddle with the pattern, since I’ve got shrimpy hands.
I’m also knitting an 1840s lace collar for a project on Librivox involving a knitting book written by Cornelia Mee in 1842. Or I should say was, because my cat took it upon himself to spill coffee/hot cocoa on it. Thankfully, it all washed out, but I haven’t put it back on the needles yet and I don’t know when I will. I think I’m going to wait until I have the accursed Plimoth Plantation gloves done. My deadline is October for collar
I also drafted a Regency corset pattern a few nights ago in preparation for the biggest knitting project of my career to date, but am currently too bloated to fit it. Stupid ovaries and their schedule.
Oh no… cats are as bad as kids aren’t they? Mine decided that bedtime was not when I said it was (thankfully he doesn’t do it often) and I had to chase him down and take him back to bed… unfortunately I somehow tangled my feet in my knitting when I got up (despite putting it aside and out of my path) and thus lost all of the first part of the stole. This was the other night, so I have a few days to get to where I was and finish the clue before the next comes out.
I’m working on a dress for my little girl, lots of fun. Right now I’m fighting with the hemstitch on my machine, which keeps trying to eat the fabric. I need better stabilizer.
I’m making a rotary table for the mill. Out of aluminum. I’m afraid it’ll be too soft and not last very long, but then I can make it again out of steel. There’s a TON of really interesting things I had to leearn in doing so, like how to make my own worm gear, and calculate it so everything works out right. It’ll let me make SO much more than I can with just the lathe and mill.
I made a ball turner before that, it turned out pretty well, but it’s not very stiff, so it’s hard to turn round stuff with a good finish.
The wife wants a mid-60’s Cadillac hearse. I suspect I’ll have more machinework to do.
I am making a 1650’s Lobster tail helmet out of 16 gauge Mild steel.
I also have a pair of Clamshell gauntlets I am in the middle of riveting together.
I really need to get off my ass and finish the fingerless gloves. T___T well, the weather’s about right. Freezing it is.
Then I have to decide if I want to do baby gear for a coworker who’s popping in May, a couple Japanese-style cutie things from Knitty, or try tackling my very first lace project, also from Knitty. :eek:
Can someone console me and tell me that lace isn’t as scary as it looks?
I currently have several projects in various stages of completion, and I haven’t had the energy to work on any of them.
a scarf made with alpaca/silk blend for my sister that was supposed to be part of her Christmas present (her birthday is in March, it may be part of her birthday present)
a quilted table runner that’s a housewarming present for a friend (she moved in to her new place in November, all I have done is cutting the fabric)
cross stitch project for myself (who knows when I’ll pick up the needle again)
various other quilting works in progress (can’t find the floor of my sewing room for the fabric!)
I just spent a long weekend on a scrapbooking retreat at Lake Weiss. It was great – ten women sitting around in their jammies cropping everything in sight. I’ve only just started scrapbooking, but I managed thirty pages between Friday night and Monday morning. I started albums for each of my kids. They are certainly not frameworthy, but I like them, and my son asks every day to look at them. It was fun.
Just tonight I finished a scrapbook calendar for a friend. I scrapped pictures of all of her grandkids throughout the year. It was a fun project to do, short and sweet. I have got to find that digicam so I can share pics. <sigh> Maybe next time. You can see an example at Archivers.com under Ideas.
ETA: I also just finished my first crochet hat. It was so easy that it was done in a couple of hours even ripping out part of it.
I taught myself how to purl. Spent some time knitting and purling alternating rows, and then bound off that scrap of pink knitted stuff–and had a mildly embarassing epiphany about how that binding off stuff was supposed to work. (I’d misunderstood which stitch I was supposed to stick my needle into the day before, and thus had trouble manipulating my stitches–and then I ran out of yarn.)
I then tried alternating stitches of knitting with stitches of purling. This tried to turn into a tangle. I gave up.
Today, I tried again, and figured out how the yarn gets to the other side of the needles when switching between knitting and purling. So I have a larger scrap of slightly irregular pink knitted stuff.
I made my dd a choker for prom from periwinkle Swarovski crystals set in silver stars, silver-lined clear glass beads, and black Swarovski beads. Matched her dress beautifully if I do say so myself. Working now and then on jewelry for a craft show in May.
Knitpicks.com has podcasts now…you maybe able to find some video on what you’re trying to do.
One thing I learned that saved my butt in knitting is that if it doesn’t match the pattern but still looks fine…it’s okay. No one but you will know that you strayed :eek: from the pattern.
