Crafts

It’s been six months since I bought any yarn at all. Yes, you read that right, six entire months! This was not an intentional yarn-buying ban or anything. I didn’t buy any yarn in August, and then I went on bed-rest at the beginning of September, and I didn’t buy any yarn online (although I looked at plenty). Then Carolyn was born, and I haven’t been to a yarn shop since.

So today I rewarded myself with two skeins of Manos in a pretty striated blue for a scarf.

Next weekend if I have time during all the baptism preparations, or the weekend after if I don’t, I’m going to bring Carrie to my favorite yarn store and buy yarn for a sweater I’ve been longing to make for her. Of course, I promise I’ll finish the ladybug sweater first. Honest.

I’ve actually finished knitting something!

Teeny-tiny baby socks for teeny-tiny baby feet. I had some random single skeins of Koigu, and this one just begged to become baby socks. Unfortunately, they didn’t use the whole skein, so now I have to find something to do with the leftovers…

Forgive me knitters, for I have strayed. It has been three weeks since I last knit…

Tonight, I finally picked up the needles again. My mom came over to play with the baby and watch a movie, and I found my hands empty and myself still awake, and a movie – a real, live movie! – was on the TV. I picked up the ladybug sweater, which thankfully was at a somewhat mindless point, and mindlessly knit for an hour. It took a few minutes to get back into the rhythm of things again, but I guess knitting is like riding a bike.

Oh, did I mention that I naively took my knitting with me to the hospital? For some reason, I thought I’d have the time or energy to knit while I was in labor (hah!) or even maybe after Carolyn was born, but before we left the hospital. Silly me! Anyway, it’s a very good thing that the items I’m working on for her are for next fall or even after, because I don’t foresee having much knitting time in the very near future.

I’m such a slacker. Too busy knitting to take pictures over the weekend. Plus, it got cold outside! But, for your viewing pleasure, may I present…

From left to right, the finished Anouk, a baby poncho, and marihøne, the ladybug sweater. (Please ignore the fact that each of those prominently features green and the greens all clash with each other!) Yes, I know, I finished one project and started two more. It really wasn’t intentional…

Also, I have a dilemma. Well, not really, it’s actually just a small decision to make. The orange cabled hoodie has been done for a month, with the tiny exception of buttons. My mom was kind enough to go shopping for buttons for me, and came home with a few different options, and I can’t decide which ones to put on. So, let’s pretend we’re at the eye doctor, shall we? Which is better, option 1 or option 2?

Here’s my thinking on the subject. The pumpkins are a perfect match color-wise, plus they’re round and less likely to catch on the knitted stitches. But. They sort of restrict the sweater to a couple of months out of the year. The sunflowers aren’t as great a match with the color (although it’s better than the picture makes it out to be) and they have little petals that may catch, but they make the sweater a little less seasonal. The third option would be to wait and go shopping for yet more buttons after the baby arrives.

Finally, there’s a picture up on the angel of autumn page. I’ve been diligently working on this for the past few weeks, and have made some sort of actual progress! I don’t think, though, that this will be remotely close to finished by the time the baby comes.

I finally got the pictures off my camera! The first thing I did this week was finish an autumn throw that’s been sitting in a basket in my craft room for two years. (I think.) Thankfully, I got Denis to examine it for any creepy crawlies, because there was a thick web-like cocoon on it that he had to vacuum off. Ugh.

I started Anouk, although the newest picture on that page was pre-frogging because I didn’t like the pocket placement. I do have much more done on that now, but it wasn’t worth taking another picture yet. Maybe when the front is done.

I also decided to start working on some non-knitting projects out of my craft room closet. I found a kit to make six felt Christmas ornaments, so I’ve been working on those. Aside from the fact that my buttonhole-stitch abilities are a bit rusty, that’s going pretty well. I have one done already. I think once I finish these, I might get out my angel of autumn again. She’s been sitting rolled up in the craft room for several months now, and since I have a whole lot of time to kill I may as well put it to good use!

Yay! Football! Real football! Right now! (Sorry, had to get that out of my system.)

I’ve made really good progress (finally) on the orange cabled hoodie. The hood took forever, mainly because it was slightly boring, but also because my hands have been really stiff and swollen (pregnancy-related, apparently) and knitting hasn’t been all that comfortable. But. The hood is done, and I finished sewing in the sleeves and did one side seam at Sit & Knit tonight. I’m not sure if I’m going to tackle the other side seam tonight, though – even though I’m watching football, I’m kind of sleepy. Sleepy is not a good state to be in when you’re sewing up a seam.

Assuming the weather is as good as they’re forecasting this weekend (we’ve had gobs of rain from the remains of Frances over the past 48 hours) I ought to be able to get some nice outdoor pictures of the finished sweater.

I finally found a good needle size for Anouk, so as soon as I’m done with the orange cabled hoodie I’ll cast on. Really, I’m going to wait, honest… (Of course, 10 inches of seed stitch over 60-some-odd stitches isn’t really that exciting, so it’s taking all of my willpower to not cast on something new!)

I ripped down two sections of ugly striped wallpaper in the baby’s room, and thankfully – unlike all the other wallpaper removal adventures in this house – it left the wallboard intact. It also left a nice thick layer of paste residue, but a bit of Dif and some minimal scraping should fix that pretty quickly. Maybe painting can start next weekend!