Crafts

I went to a meeting of the Genesee Valley Handspinner’s Guild today – remember, the bus group I ran into on my way back from Rhinebeck?

There were probably about 50 women there, most with spinning wheels, although some were using drop spindles. I got some great pointers, and met some nice people. Nobody there believed me that I had only been spinning for about a month – I guess my yarn is too even!

Unfortunately, I had no idea how much fun it would be, and had made other plans for the rest of the day, so I was only there for a couple of hours. Next month I’ll know better!

I feel like I’m not getting any knitting done…although really, that’s just because everything I’m working on is a gift, and is secret. I literally have to plan every opportunity to knit based on who’s going to be around, and whether someone might pop in at any moment. It’s starting to get complicated!

I’ve never been very good at being sneaky, either, so I’m just waiting for the minute I slip up when someone asks me what I’m working on and say something like “this for person a, and that for person b, and this for person c” while I’m talking to person c.

Oh, well, I’m getting close to having the bulk of the gifts done, which means I’ll be able to work on things I can show people. I did cast on another aran square, but only did about four rows before I realized I really should have been working on…something else. :)

I started my first official block for the sampler afghan-a-long last Sunday…with the goal of having it done by today – since the idea is to do one block a week. Considering that as of yesterday I’d only gotten the bottom border and the first 8 pattern rows done, I did managed to get quite a bit finished: I only have 6 more complicated rows left (out of 64)…but I’m too tired to try to remember the difference between a 1/1 LPC and a 1/1 LC, and I’ve made (and fixed) too many mistakes at this point. I think it’s time for sleep.

However, I did get a lot of Christmas knitting (and shopping!) done this weekend, which is really more important now, right?

Cindy started up a sampler afghan knit-along…and, gosh, I have a sampler afghan already started, which has become very stalled, so I joined in. I think knit-alongs are great – it’s like a support group for procrastinating knitters like me. And this is the first one I’ve seen where I didn’t have to start a new pattern or buy more yarn.

The goal is one square a week. I think I can fit that in along with all of the Christmas knitting and the one-skein distractions…yeah, about those… See, I succumbed to the temptation of glittery silver and green fuzz the last time I was at the yarn shop. Big needles and a couple hours later, and I have a soft fuzzy scarf! Now that’s instant gratification.

Oh, yeah, anyway, I cast on for another block Sunday. Cables are fun! I think all of my blocks are turning out a smidge big (despite having swatched) so the cables are a little softer than they should probably be, but it’s an afghan – it’s supposed to be soft!

Join the Sampler Afghan-a-long. You know you want to!

So, what exactly was my Halloween costume? Well, you knew I had to work crafts in there somewhere, right? So I went as a spinner! A homespun skirt with lots of layers underneath (I wasn’t planning on it being 70!), a button-up white blouse, the woven lambswool shawl I bought in Ireland, and my drop spindle. I even managed to really, truly spin…while talking and everything! (OK, so I dropped it a few times…but I also managed to get two spindles full of halfway decent yarn!)

The best part? Denis was my sheep. (Well, a spinner has to get her wool from somewhere, right?) It might have worked better if he’d agreed to wear ears, but most people got it with only a couple of hints.

There weren’t as many trick-or-treaters as I expected, especially since it fell on a Friday…but a lot of the older kids most likely went to parties instead of trick-or-treating without costumes. We took advantage of the quiet night and headed to Jenny’s party, where we were treated to a fog machine, s’mores and spooky punch.

They’re just Halloween costumes…so why did I spend all of last night and an hour this morning hand-stitching hems and tacking down seam allowances?

Sometimes I worry myself.

What are proto-projects? Those are the projects I have in my stash that have all the necessary pieces: yarn, pattern and needles (or linen, pattern, embroidery floss; or fabric, pattern, thread…you get the idea). They are in a state where they could be started at any time…I just need to find the time to start them.

Now, these are different from stalled projects, since they’ve never been started (aside from maybe a swatch). They also don’t really qualify as pure stash yarn/fabric/threads/etc., since they’re marked for specific projects. I have, oh, at least several dozen of these proto-projects floating around my house. They’re most concentrated in my craft room, but there are several in my living room, and I’m sure that I could find some in other rooms too.

I think I need to get control of these proto-projects. (I say this as I gaze longingly at the yarn I received yesterday for a new sweater…which can’t be started until Christmas knitting is under control.) I know it’s two months early, but I’m making my first new years’ resolution now: I must at least start a proto-project (thus moving it into my current project rotation…and probably eventually into stalled project mode for some amount of time) before buying supplies for another project. The word “start” is, of course, subject to interpretation… :)

Well, at least I keep telling myself that! Actually, I found this site, ICanSpin.com, which has some helpful videos showing different aspects of using drop spindles.

I am, of course, impatiently waiting for the day when my hands figure this out and I can produce enough consistent yarn to actually use for something. I seem to have two choices at the moment: consistency or speed…although I almost managed to figure out how to draft the fibers at the same time the spindle was spinning last night. Almost.

Sorry, I’m probably going to blather on about my beginning spinning efforts way more than I should for the next couple of weeks. New hobbies are dangerous!

So, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my new lace-weight yarn. I have the Folk Shawls book, and I just purchased this butterfly shawl pattern. Although there are a couple patterns I really like in Folk Shawls, I don’t think I have enough yarn to do many of them – except maybe the Highland Triangle Shawl. I love the butterly shawl, but I think the yarn is too thin, it would be a very open stockinette/garter pattern. Which might be ok. The swatch shows the yarn by itself (bottom), and with a very thin mohair (top)…neither is quite to gauge, and I really prefer the orange yarn alone. Oh, decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on mystery knitting. I’m getting close to finishing up a Christmas gift or two! Yay!