Crafts

I have to wait until I do laundry again to wash more swatches for Anouk, and I have to block all the pieces of the orange cabled hoodie before I can knit the hood. Hm. Am I allowed to swatch for something new if I’m stuck on my current projects? Or should I be a good little knitter and work on something I haven’t picked up in a while?

Maybe I could re-swatch for something old…

I have an old (and when I say old, I’m talking at least 4 or 5 years, although heaven knows it’s not my oldest unfinished project) blanket poncho that I started knitting back in my pre-swatching days. Of course, size shouldn’t matter quite so much for a blanket poncho, unless your gauge is so far off you realize before you’re even halfway through that you’re going to run out of yarn, and finding the same dye lot is no longer possible, because as with all projects you start, the yarn was purchased long before the actual knitting commenced.

Anyway. I’m thinking that this would be a good thing to have for the fall, considering that none of my jackets or coats are even going to come close to fitting me, so I’ve been contemplating ripping out what I had done and starting again. This time, though, I think I’ll swatch!

(Oh, and this was my first ever cable project, and it has bobbles, and did I mention that it has lots of cables? Why, oh, why didn’t I swatch?!?)

Ah, let’s see now…

From left to right, the crayon blanket I made for Sammy, the bunny in the red dress I made for Simone, the orange cabled hoodie I’m making for my baby-to-be, and the yarn for Anouk, which I’m making swatches for.

See? Told you I’d been working on lots of things! I also put up a page for the quilted table runner I mentioned last week.

Oh, and I also wanted to say: Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Monday, my mom and I played hooky from work to take a quilting class. I haven’t quite managed to finish my table runner yet (really, I’m not planning to leave it pinned to a bright pink beach towel forever!) but here’s what I got done in the four-hour class…well, part of it, anyway – just try taking a picture of a 44″x16″ (it still needs borders to get to it’s finished size) table runner, with questionable lighting and a normal camera lens.

It’s not really quilted anywhere, actually. This main part is woven, and the borders are small enough that they will not need any quilting. It’s supposed to be reversible, but since it’s been pinned to that towel all it’s short little life I have no idea what I’ll find when I baste it and turn it over!

I have to admit, I was a little annoyed to find out, after crawling under my craft table (no small feat at 7 months pregnant) to extract the pedal and power cord so I could bring my (heavier than I remembered) sewing machine that we were told we’d need, that we weren’t actually going to get to the part where we needed the sewing machines during class. (I’m not sure why I trusted them that we’d actually get through the weaving, pinning, basting and sewing in four hours, though.)

But what a fantastic way to spend a Monday! (Mom, can we do this every week?)

Is everything I plan to knit for my baby doomed to failure before I even start it? I tried swatching for a little orange cabled baby sweater. I’m using the suggested yarn, despite the fact that it’s hand wash/dry flat (yes, I’m nuts). It’s supposed to need size 11 needles. On size 7s, I get just under stitch gauge, and way under row gauge. On size 8s, I get just over stitch gauge, and still way under row gauge. OK, admittedly, I’m a loose knitter (in the best possible sense, of course) but what’s wrong with this picture?

Moving on, I figure, who wants to knit with thick wool right now anyway? So I decided to move on to Anouk. This time, I’m not planning to use the recommended yarn, because I really don’t need a lot of hand wash/dry flat baby clothes. I decide, based on washing instructions and lack of time to go to a “real” yarn store, that I’ll try using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease…which, apparently, the local Michael’s are not carrying anymore. At least, the two I went to didn’t have it, and only had a couple of bins marked “LB Cotton-Ease: clearance – $2.00” where it should have been. The ever-so-helpful employees had no idea what it was in the first place, let alone whether they were discontinuing it, or just clearing out old stock.

So, tomorrow, I’m going to go to my nice friendly LYS, where they know everything about every yarn in the place, and most yarns that they don’t carry, and look for Anouk yarn. Or maybe just buy more patterns and yarn for those instead…

See? Proof that I’ve been knitting! This star sweater was a gift for my cousin’s 1-month-old, D.J. Of course, I was aiming for the 1-2 year-old size, but I think it might fit him until he’s 4!

I’ve actually been in a bit of a knitting slump lately. I have two projects I’m trying to finish up, then I think I probably need to put sleeves on Rosebud. (Remember Rosebud? It’s been sitting in a corner for several weeks, I guess I’m ready to forgive it for not coming out the way I’d envisioned.) The problem is, I don’t really feel like working on any of it…and I’m not sure I even feel like working on any new things, either. I guess it’s just because I’m so hot all the time now. Even in air conditioning, I still feel too hot to knit. Hopefully I’ll still manage to knit something for my baby!

I’m in the process of cleaning my craft room again…and the guest room/soon-to-be nursery into which more craft supplies have somehow crept. (I swear they got up and walked there by themselves!) In the past week, I’ve realized that I could easily not walk into another craft store anytime in the next, oh, maybe 3 years or so (maybe even 5), and still be able to happily knit, cross-stitch, quilt, spin, bead, draw, paint, crochet, scrapbook…

And this is despite the fact that I’m even getting rid of some of the yarn I know for sure I will never, ever use. (Someone out there must really love acrylic baby yarn in lemon yellow and variegated green, even if I don’t.)

Of course, we all know this isn’t going to stop me from walking into another craft store, right? After all, although I have a fair amount of supplies, I don’t exactly have batting for quilts just laying around, or buttons for finished sweaters. I’m not going to go on an all-out craft-supply-buying ban. But I am planning on being a little more careful about what I buy, and try to knit/stitch/quilt from stash first. Hopefully, this will prevent my craft room from taking over the whole house.

At least, occasionally… I’m actually done with the body of Rosebud. I finished the three needle bind-off on the shoulders Sunday. It only lacks sleeves. So, why am I not working on it? After all, it’s a maternity top, right? I need to finish it if I plan to wear it for this pregnancy, don’t I?

I measured. Not only once or twice, but about a dozen times. I did complicated math to make my off-by-a-fraction-of-an-inch gauge match up with a good stitch count. I planned extra length in the torso and a smidge (like 1/2″) extra room in the bust. And I’m swimming in it. Except in the torso, where it doesn’t cover the maternity panel on my jeans. What happened?!? My gauge, measured in random spots, still matches my original gauge, so it’s not that. Did I measure myself wrong? All twelve times?

I don’t know whether to finish it, wear it despite its flaws, hope that being cotton it will stretch lengthwise (or force it to stretch with a bit of judicious blocking) and just be done with it, or if I should toss it in the corner and glare at it for the rest of its natural life. I’m afraid to frog it, since the yarn sheds quite a bit, and it might just look awful when I go to re-knit it.

Well, I guess I’ll toss it in the corner for the rest of the week, anyway, since it’s just too hot to knit right now.

For once, I have a craft tragedy that Destructo-Boy didn’t cause. Remember my wonderful orange aran sandal socks? I discovered them in a laundry basket earlier this morning…a laundry basket full of clothes that had just come out of the dryer. Keep in mind that while I do throw all of my other hand-knit socks in the dryer, these were made out of wool that specifically said “dry flat”, and I always have. They are now about three sizes too small, and have a slightly fuzzy, felted look to them. All those lovely cables… I’m sure I’ll be able to find a new home for them, where they will be loved and worn, but it won’t be by me. <Sigh.>

In what might have been his worst crime yet, Murphy “Destructo-Boy” Reilly was caught eating embroidery floss this morning. The crime occurred while Destructo-Boy’s guardian was in the shower; she had evidently thought it safe to leave him unattended after several months of good behavior. Investigators have discovered that it is not the first time he has been left unsupervised, and that there has not been a problem in the past.

Destructo-Boy denied the allegations at first, but finally admitted that he might have mistaken the palette of floss (left picture) for the dolly (right picture), which he has always been allowed to chew on.

The owner of the floss has decided not to press charges, considering it a message from a higher power to start putting things away more often. She is, however, looking for replacement thread for Anchor color #275. Apparently, the floss was part of a kit, and there is not enough usable thread left of that color to complete the project. When asked why that was the only color needed, the owner stated, “Actually, the damage was quite extensive, but aside from that color, Destructo-Boy was kind enough to leave enough of the rest of the colors to finish. Somehow he knew that I had already finished with the browns and greens. I am just thankful that he chewed on the floss, and not the completed sections of the cross-stitch.”

This is just the latest in a string of craft-related (and other) crimes that Destructo-Boy has been accused of committing.