They're Coming To Take Me Away

I made another bag but that in itself is not the reason to cart me off to the funny farm. I made the bag to replace another bag that was not really suitable to its purpose.

I have a bag in which I keep my knitting notions plus a small bag which holds cable needles, sewing needles etc. This bag is the right size but the design is not practical. It is a roll that husband got from an airline and it is not practical because things fall out of the ends.

So having fabric left over and a 50% coupon from Jo-Ann for zipper purchasing and a different pattern, I made a bag. The size of the bag was determined by the amount of fabric I had but I checked the bag would be the right size before starting. The outer fabric was left over from the bag shown bottom left in this post. I purchased a zipper the same colour but used lining fabric left over from a different project as there wasn't enough of the original lining except to make a tab on the end of the zipper. Instead of interfacing, I used fusible fleece on this bag but for a larger bag I think the fusible fleece would need to be applied to both the main fabric and the lining.

I am mostly pleased with this bag apart from not doing a very good job of matching seams for the boxed corners. I love the zipper being extended but next time I would sew it into the bag a little further, although I was replacing a bag because things fell out, I don’t think the little gap will be a problem. The size and design would make a great cosmetics bag.

So why do normal people, especially my husband, need protecting from me? This bag was designed to go in my larger notions bag and it seemed like a good idea to make it out of the same fabric. Except, all weekend every time I opened the big bag, which was happening often as I was finishing projects, I would shout that it had had a baby as I produced the smaller bag. And could I do this once or even twice, no I had to do it every single time.

My Second Oldest Project

is finished

I’m not sure if I should begin with the start, the finish or the middle. Why did I start this project, and why did I choose to finish it and what exactly do I mean by the middle? And that is where I am going to start.

When we moved two years ago I went through all my sewing and yarn supplies/stash and was ruthless in my decision making as to what to keep. I then invited a knitting friend to go through it all to take what she wanted and I invited a sewing friend to do the same. Everything else that I did not want to keep went to Goodwill.

Very good but what does this have to do with projects? In my supplies I had projects that were not only unfinished but looked like they never would be. An example the quilt shown here. But the biggest, abandoned seems too weighty a word and forgotten isn’t true, how about ignored, project was a sewing project cut out but not sewn that I resolved to work on. I decided two hours once a week would be a good target as often with sewing an hour isn’t long enough.

So how come I had fabric cut out but no sewing? Let’s go back to our previous move the one from the US to Canada and then just a bit before that when Jo-Ann had a sale and I bought fabric to make PJs and a robe for myself. I made the PJs but then the move was set up. I vaguely remember cutting out the robe before the house went on the market because I could then work on it during all the waiting time. What was I thinking? We bought, sold and moved in three weeks. Those of you who haven’t given up reading are asking “why didn’t you sew it when you moved to your new house?” That would be the obvious thing to do except we moved at Christmas. And for Christmas my husband gave me a robe he had purchased while on a business trip in China. So there I was with a pattern all ready to go but it would have been rude to have made it.

Now all these years later it is finally finished. I don’t know when I started the two hours a week but I know I wasn’t consistent with it. Also the two hours wasn’t cast in stone. If I came to a convenient stopping place before two hours I would but it was a good target.

Now my new second oldest project which is something I started in Canada will take up the time slot.

Waiting For Photos

At knitting group I was asked how many projects still needed to be cast off. Casting off is not the problem taking artsy farty photos of the finished items is what is not happening. There are five finished projects which are awaiting their debut. One of which being the shawl, but there is also June's charity project, another shawl(ette) and two small projects.

As for those not-quite-finished items. The skirt is still one of those. I blocked it this week but the ends have to be sewn in. There is also a toy that needs to be put together and then yesterday I finished a sock so the toes needs to be kitchenered and the ends sewn in and I finished a hat which has a lot of ends to be secured.

I finally purchased beads for a shawl that has been waiting for a long time but that will be slow going and I started a baby cardigan for a friend's grandchild that is due later this year.

And to help with the stash I sold another ball of yarn. I still have three I wouldn't object to selling but no worries if I don't.

And There's More

Still no picture of the shawl but I do have photos of the hat and gloves I made for a gift and of the socks.

The hat and gloves were for the daughter of old friends of my husband. She has graduated from high school and will be going to university in upstate New York. Coming from the Bay Area hats and gloves are a definite requirement.



The white isn't as blindingly white as shown in the photo but that's about the best picture that I took. I had to buy three balls of yarn for this project but only completely used one ball. The yarn is machine washable merino so I will use what is left for a baby cardigan for a baby due later this year.

And here is the hat. This really was a last minute finish so I have just one photo. The evening before we left I showed finished hat to husband. He didn't like it. So then quickly took and texted pictures to my youngest friend for her opinion - she also didn't like it. This is the before photo.



I managed to removed the tassels and undo the kitchenered seam at the top without cutting any yarn. I was then able to work decreases for a more conventional hat. This is the final result.



And then there were socks. One of the challenges for May was fauna. So I cast on Wonderland Socks. They are illusion knitting with a cat. This yarn was in my stash, purchased, who knows when, for a completely different project. This pattern took exactly 50 grams of each colour. (So two more balls out of my stash :) )



And then to help my numbers, I sold some more yarn. So my yarn in is lower than my yarn out. Can I keep it that way until the San Diego Yarn Crawl?

Photographic Evidence

I promised photos a while ago and here they are. Although I have pictures of only three projects as I need to employ the services of my husband to take a photo of the shawl.

I am going to do this in order of finishing. First off the WIP list were these mittens.



I have had the pattern - Fiesta Mittens by Lucy Neatby for quite a while and even bought yarn for them on last year's San Diego Yarn Crawl. But like all good plans, I changed my mind. The white yarn - Koigu Premium Merino - was purchased for this project but the blue yarn - Jawoll Magic by Lang Yarns was left over from the socks shown here. The other yarn I did buy for this project, I swapped with a friend. So I don't have to think what to make with it now it had not been used for its original purpose. (Yes, I do know that I have to think about the yarn I got in the swap.)



I did not like the patterning on the thumbs in the original pattern so I changed their position and knitted them in one colour.

Next off the needles was a soft toy. The pattern was the very first thing I queued on Ravelry. I don't know why I queued it or why I made it but I like it and maybe a child will play with it one day. It was in my queue for so long because I didn't feel inclined to buy yarn especially to make it. Going through my leftovers one day, it clicked that the yellow yarn could be used for this. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft Baby Sport and the black yarn and stuffing were also in my stash.



The third item to show off is the tea cosy for May. Here is where I showed it in pieces. And now it is finished. I worked the tie as an I-cord rather than crochet. Two reasons - 1) it is neater; 2) I needed something easy to work on at knit group.



At the end of May, I said the finishing of the skirt might be delayed because I had to knit some gifts. This was the case and the skirt hasn't been touched but I did finish a pair of gloves and a hat for a gift and I have nearly finished the second sock. Also I need to buy some beads so that I can start working on a shawl again that has been on hold for a very long time.

Sewing Sunday

Although I have not written about it for a couple of months, I have been sewing. Bags of course. Usually I find a pattern on the internet, follow the instructions and then improve them for the next time. This is definitely the case with these two bags.

The first bag I made just because but it has turned out to be just right for some binoculars which do not have a bag or case. The problem with this bag is the zipper. I think that the blog writer photographed the bag at various stages and then wrote the instructions. The width of the bag is the same as the actual length of the zipper so the zipper teeth are in the seam this is made worse with my bag as I used a chunky zip.



The second bag, although also made just because, I hoped would work as a project bag. There are a couple of mistakes that are entirely of my own making:- despite my trying not to do this, or so I thought, the pattern on each handle faces in opposite directions; I machined the turn up edge of the lining which then meant it didn't stretch which meant it didn't quite fit the bottom of the bag. I am trying to not let this bug me and just use the bag.

When I make this bag again, and I can see my husband shaking his head as he does not understand my need to make bags, I will make the handles a bit narrower, I will place the pockets lower in the bag, and I will make side seams on both sides of the bag so I can add things in both seams if I want. With this bag I added a D-ring on the outside and a swivel hook on the inside.



And in case you are wondering, the base of the bag is a table mat.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

Life, um I mean my stash, took an exciting turn on Monday; I sold some yarn and my stash went down by 5 balls. But yesterday it went back up to the same number as I had to buy yarn for gift knitting. Oh well, I better get knitting.

We're All Looking For A Quick Fix, But........

I was browsing the new groups on Ravelry at the weekend and one of the groups I took a closer look at was Knit N’ Fit 3-week Challenge. The idea of the group to motivate each other in reaching personal health goals in eating and exercise.

The premise sounds good so I looked at the posts made by the group leader (who is in her twenties). She starts off with a post about putting on weight and the decision to get healthy, all good so far until she mentions one plan where she lost 15 pounds in three weeks, most of that in the first 14 days. What? This is not someone who is so morbidly obese that a slight reduction in calories will result in that sort of weight loss. How limited were her calories to lose almost a pound a day, (she said most of the 15 pounds was in 14 days) and how come she wasn't losing weight after that. My guess is that her body had adjusted to the reduced calorie load because it was too low.

I then looked at her other posts and amongst these she spoke about keeping carbohydrates in moderation and in one recipe there was much more protein than carbs. Once again someone has confused all carbs with bad carbs. ie refined carbohydrates are not good therefore all carbohydrates are bad. The majority of our calories should be coming form carbohydrates but that shouldn't be white bread and sugar. In the same way as fat is essential in our diet, it shouldn't be obtained through high calorific trans fat.

What is sad about this group and the host is that she means well and it is good to motivate others for fitness and health but not when your information is just plain wrong.

And Then There Was One

Last week I wrote that I should have four completed projects and I do. Although the unfinished project is not the one that I was expecting but I'm not complaining because four is what I wanted and four is what I got. And when I say finished, I mean finished, blocked and ends sewn in, all that's missing are the final pictures.

I did finish the shawl. As Monday was a holiday, I decided it would be a good time to not do the normal Monday chores and spend time blocking the shawl. I am so glad I did because I love it. (This was the project I didn't expect to finish.)

I'm glad I wrote a list because I actually embroidered the face on a toy. I didn't enjoy it but I did it. The item I didn't finish was the skirt. I picked up stitches along the waistband and I just need to insert elastic and cast off. I could finish it this week except there are two gifts that have to take priority. I am not going to promise myself that it will be finished in a week's time but it will be worked on as soon as the gifts are finished.

Look out for a post with photos. Actually I'll make that a priority after the gift projects.

I Have A Little List

I listen to ABC radio. The A stands for Australian. I like listening to it during the day as it is night time in Australia so there is not too much chatter. It can get a bit confusing though when they give the day/date as one time I panicked a little as I thought I had forgotten my sister's birthday. But, of course, the radio station was already on the next day.

The other day they played The Daleks performing Gilbert and Sullivan. It was funny for, let's say, 30 seconds. Would a Whovian play it for longer?

Anyway, I thought of that when I was writing my list of projects I have to work on this week. It really wasn't practical to keep referring to Saturday's post for what I should be working on so I wrote a list. Nothing fancy, just in the order they appeared in the post and just what the item is. I wrote the list last night and I could immediately check off 1 1/2 projects. :) The list is not in the order I have to work, just an aide-mémoire, but seeing it in writing has me convinced to work on the project that I was most likely to put off. Especially as I like to see things completed that were on my to do list.

Finish Something Why Don't You

I need a plan.

A couple of things happened this week that made me realise that I need to finish some things.

Firstly, I had book group this week. Not only did I have to finish the book but I had to cast on a new project to take with me. Secondly, a friend and I were going to have a fun knitalong for May Gray but I couldn't start it yesterday because both sets of needles in the size I wanted to use were on other projects and one of those projects just needs to be cast off.

The problem is that I like to do something else while I'm knitting, read, watch a movie, chat with friends, but the finishing stages of a project require more concentration. Action is required to actually finish some projects otherwise I will keep adding to them.

So here we go, the projects that are almost finished but not quite.

I have three projects that are actually off the needles but need finishing touches. There's the tea cosy which needs seaming and a drawstring tie. This isn't an abandoned project because I have worked on it each week this month. The tie would be perfect for working on at knit group. I finally finished the cast off for the close-to-being-finished shawl. Now it needs to be blocked. This is something that takes time and cannot be hurried so I will have to block (ha pun?) off some time on my calendar. The third item not on needles but not finished is a toy that needs a face. I find with these things that the embroidery does not take any time, its making sure each feature is in the right place that takes time and care.

Then I have two items that are two rows away from being finished. Firstly the previously mentioned project with the needles I want. It is a sewn bind off in dark wool which won't take very long but I need to do it in daylight. And the other item is the skirt I have been working on for a long time - it's stocking stitch in the round so saved for things like book club - I need to pick up stitches around the waist band, insert elastic and cast off.

So really, apart from the shawl, these projects won't take too long to finish, I just need some daylight hours.

Plan, simple really, pick one project a day and finish it, starting with the easiest. Then I should have four completed projects to report on next week.

Tea Cosy Tuesday umm Thursday?

Last week I said that I had joined in the fun for the May cosy and that I had even made all the parts. I thought I had posted photos of the parts - but no. So here are photos of the front and back of the cosy, which were knitted, and the crocheted flowers. These were the parts completed by last week. And then there is a picture of the flowers sewn on. I do have some buttons that I could sew into the middle of the flowers but they would completely cover the yellow centre and then what is the point of the centre being a different colour.







I still have to embroider the stems and leaves and then sew up the sides. A completed project to show next week?

I do have a completed project to show off this week. It is an oddball blanket which I signed up for as the requirement was for variegated yarns - any pattern - and I had some in my stash. I decided to use a purpley colour left over from a previous blanket. I wanted a pattern a bit more interesting than straight stocking stitch so I found the knot pattern in one of my stitch dictionaries. It is a simple pattern; the knot is worked by purling three together, then knitting the same three stitches together and then purling them together again.



I haven't signed up for any more blankets but I have not ruled out not working on any more.

I completely used up the yarn on my part of the blanket so that counts as a ball out plus I sold two skeins of yarn in my stash so I have reduced yarn in by two balls and associated meterage. Talking about stash, following some brain storming with knitterly friends I am now looking at some yarns in my stash in a different light, also there are some yarns I might sell. This is making my stash seem less of a burden and actually something I can reduce.

Finished Friday

I was all excited about this post as I thought I had a few projects to show off but it turns out that I only have two. Even so two is better than none.

Firstly socks. This is another pattern - Lindsay - from Sock Innovation by Cookie A and is the third pattern from the book that I have made the others being Rick that I made way back in 2009/10 and Wanida that I finished recently.

I want to show some close ups of the yarn. I purchased it at the end of 2011 because I liked the way it was dyed although I had no idea what to make with it as I thought that plain stocking stitch would show it off best but I did not want to knit plain socks.



The colourway is named Christmas Lights and the yarn 80% merino, 20% nylon feels soft. Unfortunately the dyer is no longer dying yarn.

I followed the pattern as written although I was a bit wary about the garter stitch heels and toes but as this is knit at fine gauge they did not come out bulky.



If you're thinking that one looks bigger then the other - you're right. I blocked only one so I could see if there was any difference.

The other item finished was a hat for Operation Gratitude. It is a crochet pattern that can be found here. I used two colours of Vanna Choice yarn that I had purchased recently. I used the size hook stated in the pattern rather than the hook size on the yarn label which I would usually do. So my hat isn't very slouchy but is a good hat nonetheless. This was a quick crochet.



At the beginning of the week when I said I had won some yarn, I forgot to post a photo. So here is the yarn I won from the Operation Gratitude group on Ravelry.

May Madness

I was bored with WIPping Wednesdays so I have gone for a new alliteration. Like many potential posts, this one was written in my head at the beginning of the month but is only now making it into print.

We are almost halfway through the month and I am now writing about beginning of the month challenges. Place in context if possible.

The start of each month brings a new set of challenges. For me it is sock knitters, Operation Gratitude and tea cosies. Away from Ravelry it is the books of the month suggested by Amazon. But I'm just talking knitting/crochet challenges today. Firstly, I know that I do not have to take part in any of the challenges but I have pledged to myself that I will make something for Operation Gratitude each month, also as I want to use up all my sock yarn starting a challenge from the sock knitters group is a good way to go, and why not throw a tea cosy into the mix. Although I will only follow that challenge if I have yarn in my stash hence not making the last two.

The Operation Gratitude project I start straight away regardless of what else I have on the go. Once again the administrator came up with hats and I chose the crochet option using two colours that I bought last month specifically for this purpose. I can't count either of them as balls of yarn out but they are on their way. This hat is finished and will appear in a finished project round up soon.

Having finished a pair of socks at the beginning of the month I decided to dig into my sock yarn stash and start a pair to fit the current month's challenge:- Featured Techniques: Flora/fauna or Science/technology/geek: Featured Designers: Rachel Coopey and Nicki Miller. Looking through my queue and favourites on Ravelry I decided on this pattern, using yarn that I had purchased in Calgary to make gloves. Although the original purpose for the yarn does not matter as long as I use it. I have not got very far with these but the socks I did finish will appear soon.

Finally I decided to take part in the monthly tea cosy pattern. The pattern was for a small size and I do not have any cosies specifically for my small tea pot plus I had yarn in my stash. All the knitting and crochet is complete I just need to sew all the parts together.

And then we come to the projects that were already on the needle at the start of the month. Despite starting the other projects listed above, I have been working on the mittens, one is completed except the bind off at the cuff and the other needs a thumb and cuff but I haven't touched the cast off of the shawl.

And there is another project to throw into the mix. Last week I received an oddball blanket. I put my name down for this one at the beginning of January as it was to be worked in variegated yarn and I had some I could use up. I chose a simple pattern and started on my section last night and I should finish by the end of the week.

I do not record meters out until I have shown photos of finished items so meters knitted/crocheted has not gone up but yarn in has gone up because I was given some yarn. I won Operation Gratitude's group drawing at the end of April and chose yarn. I am hoping I will be able to turn it into projects for Operation Gratitude.

WIPping Wednesday (Last for April)

Another week without a finished item. I was expecting this but I have a couple of projects that are very close to completion; I just need to set some time aside.

Firstly there's the so-close-but-never-finished shawl. I pulled out two rows. I didn't put in a lifeline just proceeded carefully as one row was beads and YOs and decreases and the other row, although plain followed such a row so I had to make sure that I did not undo more than that row. I then added a lifeline so if I still do not have enough yarn to complete the cast off I can pull it out.

The other item close to completion are the socks I started a couple of weeks ago. All the knitting is completed and I just need to graft/kitchener the toes. Usually not a problem, except the socks were worked cuff down with short row toes which means the seam is across the width of the sock. So I have 32 stitches to kitchener in dark yarn - twice.

Having finished the socks I cast on a mitten. Yes I know it is not going to be cold enough for mittens even in Canada but I have had the pattern for a while and I bought the yarn on the yarn crawl last year especially for this pattern so I just decided to go for it. It is two colour knitting so something I can do during all the hockey play off games.

WIPping Wednesday

After two weeks with finished items there's nothing to report this week. Nothing finished and nothing cast on. (Although I did restart the sock I cast on last week.)

I started the cast off of the always close-to-being-finished shawl and reached the half-way mark of the yarn before I reached the half-way point of the shawl. I undid what I had cast off (so glad I put in a life line) and now I have to work up the courage to frog the last worked row which has beads and YOs as well as K2togs and SSKs. A life line will calm the heart.

I am close to finishing one sock but I am not expecting a Finished Friday this week.

Finished Friday

As I said on Wednesday I have two projects to show today. And looking at my current projects it will be at least a couple of weeks before I have any more finished items.

These two projects were finished on the same day.

Firstly socks. I started these on our recent trip to Spain. Start to finish was just over a month but I did not knit on them every day so actual knitting time was less.

The yarn is that shown at the end of this blog post and the pattern is Wanida by Cookie A from her book Sock Innovation. I have now knitted two patterns from this book and am just starting a third. Does that make up for the books where I have not knit one pattern?

The yarn feels soft knitted up even though this is a tight pattern. The socks fit but are a little tight so it will be interesting to see how much they stretch when worn. The yarn was a gift from my friend Clair - check out her store at Purple Gecko Studio. I did not think to check for errata before we went away. (When I first started knitting there were never mistakes in patterns and even now with mistakes all over the place it never occurs to me to check.) When I got to the heel there was obviously a mistake, which I could work out for myself how to remedy, but as we had free WiFi at that point I was able to check the publisher's errata.



The other finished project is a hat for Operation Gratitude. My aim is to make one project a month from the suggestions put forward by the group and I have managed that so far. I have been crocheting the hats but I chose the knit pattern this month as I needed a project for knit group. (Not that you have to knit at knit group, just that this month the knit hat pattern was easier than the crochet pattern.) Start to finish was five days. The pattern is Weather the Weather Hat available on Ravelry and I used Red Heart Soft and a size 5 mm circular needle. It is 40 cm in length and just the right size for adult hats until the end. I used half the ball of yarn. I was going to use the Paprika colour left over from the scarf but wasn't sure if I had enough. It would have been close so I'm glad I didn't try. I had bought the purple yarn earlier this year as I did not think I would have enough to finish this tea cosy. As it turned out I did not need it for the tea cosy which was a good thing as I am only knitting cosies from stash but the yarn could go to charity projects. (I had contemplated returning it to keep my yarn in down.)

WIPping Wednesday (Third in April)

Another successful week of finished items.

Although one item was cast on and finished during the week so it wasn't a WIP for long. This was a hat for charity that I mentioned that I would cast on. I used yarn that I bought a couple of months ago that I thought I would need for the tea cosy but didn't end up using. This was my last unused ball of yarn suitable for charity knitting, so I had to buy some more.

Actually, it seemed from Michaels's flyer that they had a few kinds on sale but the branch I went to had just one type of washable worsted on sale. I bought three balls to keep me going for a few months. So yarn in has gone up but as I don't record a ball of yarn as "out" until it is mostly used I am not showing a reduction in balls of yarn used which is why I have metres knitted and crocheted to aim for that number to be higher than the number in. In is still higher than out but finishing a couple of my older WIPs will change that. Hmm, finishing the older WIPs? I really should set some time aside to cast off the shawl. I think one of the problems is that in the back of my mind I am concerned that I do not have enough yarn to complete the cast off. But I've already ripped out rows because I had more yarn than I thought so what will it matter if I have to undo part of a row?

The other item finished this week was a pair of socks. I measured them against a pair that fit well and decided that although they looked short they were the right size.

As the hat was my charity project for the month, it was not replaced with a new project but as I have sock yarn that should be turned into socks another one was cast on last night.

Finished Friday

As mentioned in the last post, I have two finished items to show.

Firstly a baby hat. I found the pattern through a blog. It is Knit Baby Hat by Bernat. The pattern is worked flat and seamed but I changed to working on the round. I used Red Heart Soft left over from this hat so I worked the smallest size to allow for the thicker yarn. I also worked more increases as 20 stitches is too many to draw up especially with a worsted weight yarn.



The other finished item is a scarf knitted for charity. The suggestions for March were scarves - not my favourite thing to make. Mostly I have been crocheting the charity items as it is usually quicker but I didn't feel like crocheting a scarf so I chose the knitting pattern. It is the windward waves pattern (not capitalized) and is available on Ravelry. The pattern calls for three colours so ideal for using leftovers. The yarn had been used in the hats I made in January and February. With this pattern it was definitely advantageous to be able to knit backwards - ie moving stitches from the right needle to the left needle. I hadn't done this for a while and I was surprised at how easy it was to work the technique. To keep ends to a minimum I did not cut each colour when I had finished with it but carried it up the side for the next time. I did cut each colour once in the middle. I was surprised at how quickly the knitting went. My dates on Ravelry are not accurate as I cast on before we went away but did not work on it until we returned.

This photo was taken as soon as the scarf was finished but I have since blocked it and it looks better.

WIPping Wednesday (Second One For April)

I just noticed that last week's post sat in the drafts folder. It has just been published but if you are a regular reader of the blog (hi husband) now you know why you think you are a week behind.

Exciting news to report. I have finished two items since last week. The hat that I mentioned casting on is not only finished but also mailed off to Canada. Also finished is the scarf I was knitting for charity. Photos of these will appear soon.

I haven't picked up the shawl to work the cast off but I have reached the toe on the second sock. I now have to decide if I want the socks to be longer. The first sock doesn't look very long but it fits fine, I will measure against other socks that I know fit well to see if I should/could add further rows. I also pulled out 47 rows of another project that was very close to being finished but when I tried it on I didn't like one of the patterns so out the extra rows went. The good thing about this is that it is stocking stitch knit in the round so now I have a project that I can take to book club next week.

And I didn't cast on anything new. Although that will change as I will start a new charity project. I haven't cast on the tea cosy for March and as much as I would like to make the pattern for April, I don't think I have enough yarn in different colours. It needs two shades of green and three shades of another colour.

So for once I can report that projects finished exceed projects started.

WIPping Wednesday

I am not so sure reporting on WIPs is a good idea when I don't seem to have as many corresponding Finished Fridays. But there are two projects at cast off stage. The always being close to finished shawl just needs to be cast off. Before I started the last row I put a slip knot in the yarn so that I knew that if I got to the slip knot before the end of the row there would not be enough yarn for the row and the cast off row. Well I kept on knitting and the yarn ball was getting smaller but no slip knot. I had convinced myself that I had pulled out the knot without noticing but it appeared just after I finished the row. So, in theory, I have enough yarn to finish but I can't remember if I placed the knot half way along the yarn or made more allowance. Oh well, I'll either be happy or unpicking.

The other item at cast off stage is the scarf I am knitting for charity. I have been working on this frequently as it is really for March. It will still not be finished even when it is cast off as the pattern calls for two rows of single crochet around the edge. This project will appear as a finished item shortly as my aim is one charity item a month and I will still have to make something for April. Because of this project I haven't worked on my socks much.

Yesterday was Tea Cozy Tuesday. Here's the link to the post showing this month's choice. Week 1 is for gathering supplies. There's just one problem with this - I am pretty sure I do not have enough yarn. And I was only going to participate each month if I had yarn in my stash that I could use. But, it would make a really nice gift. I have yarn for March's cosy; so if I make that in April I can just be a month behind or miss April's altogether. (Or buy yarn.)

So without any completed items, what did I do? Cast on something of course. There is a two-fold reason for this. Firstly, yesterday was guild meeting day and I needed a project to take. (What do you mean I could have taken the sock?) Secondly, when we were Skyping with my son and his girlfriend over the weekend she said the weather was still cold and she was desperately making the knits fit the baby until I sent more. Umm, but I'm not knitting anything for you people up there. So I started a hat that I could work on at the meeting. And it would be really good if it made an appearance on Friday.

Finished Friday

No knitting or crochet projects to show but I do have a number of sewing projects to show off. No surprise that they are all bags. This was going to be a photo heavy post but I was wondering what a button on the photo editing softwear did and it made collages. So here it is, a collage of all the bags I have made recently.



When I made this bag I commented that I was sure that I would make more. I found some shiny material that seemed ideal for a reversible bag by using the right and wrong side of the fabric. The original pattern calls for half-yard of each of two fabrics. I bought two yards. Not surprisingly I had loads of the fabric leftover so I made a reversible drawstring bag. This is different from the other drawstring bags I made as it has a square base and the drawstring is at the top. I purchased ribbon for the drawstring and a toggle.

In this post I showed off my pyramid bag and said I had made other bags. At the top right of the photo you can see the larger pyramid bag I made. I made a tab to cover the bottom of the zipper but after I cut the piece of fabric, I noticed if I folded it just so, I could get a complete cat. So it is bigger than a tab should be. Husband said he liked the tab as it helped with closing the zipper. The bigger bag has a handle made from the same fabric as the lining.

The bags on the bottom and middle right I made for my friend Clair's birthday. Check out her cool stitch markers at Purple Gecko Studio . I used the same fabric for each bag. I wanted the same colour zippers for each bag but they didn't do the colour in the smaller size so I was very pleased with myself that I sewed in a longer zipper and cut to size.

And then, of course, I had to make another bag for myself. I wanted a box bag for all my knitting notions to replace a bag I had stupidly decided I didn't need any more. It is the right size but probably would have been better with more interfacing.

I think that's all my recent sewing to show off. Although it won't be the last of making bags. I still have enough of the shiny material to make one, if not two, bags. And I have some fat quarters waiting.

WIPing Wednesday (no. 2 for March)

You might have noticed a small lack of updates this month. This is because I have been to Spain and decided not to try to update my blog while I was there.

I managed to add two Wips to the pile. I like to take a crochet project on the plane, with a plastic crochet hook so that there is not any question about knitting needles being allowed. I didn't have a crochet project on the go so I started one on the first flight using the yarn I bought as mentioned in my post at the end of February. The good thing about that is that I was working on a project that I really wanted to make; the bad thing is that it used four different colours of yarn every two rows. So I had to have four balls of yarn in my hand luggage. As this project is intended for Christmas it will go to the bottom of my WIPs.

Knitting needles and yarn went in my checked luggage and I did complete one sock and cast on for another while I was away. I used The Fiber Imp yarn shown in this blog post and am knitting a Cookie A pattern from Sock Innovation. This project will be near the top of my WIPs.

I have had to look at my last post to refresh my memory of my other project on the go as I have not got any finished projects to show you. The shawl is at the stage where I have to see if I have enough yarn to complete a row and cast off so there is likely to be more unpicking on that one but it is really close to being finished. I have no idea how many rows of the charity scarf I worked. I remember that the main thing was to get it cast on. I think that should be my main project so that I can finish it before the end of the month and be ready to start another project. The toy is still a yellow blob and I just need some time to finish that. It would be nice if I had something to show next week.

I did not cast on the tea cosy for March. I have chosen the yarn and it should be a quick knit. I would like to complete it in the intended month but I might make it in April instead.

WIPing Wednesday First One of March

The count for the past week is one item finished (the tea cosy shown yesterday) and two items cast on. I know it's not good to cast on more than I have finished but I do have an excuse. One of the cast on items is the car project. I finished the last car project in the middle of February and I decided it was about time to start a new one.

The other project I cast on was a scarf for charity. I have mentioned that the group on Ravelry for Operation Gratitude suggest patterns at the beginning of each month. This month was scarf patterns and I decided on the knit pattern - using yarn from stash of course. the pattern is knit lengthwise so there were 211 stitches to cast on. I decided to get the cast on over and done with so that I could work on the scarf whenever I wanted. it too longer to decide which cast on to use than to actually work it. Single crochet is worked all around the scarf so the look of the cast on didn't matter plus if it was a little loose the crochet would adjust for that but I didn't want anything too tight. The cable cast on was ruled out but I didn't want to work a long tail or any variation. With that number of stitches I was unlikely to get the right amount of yarn at the start and although I could work long tail with two ends of yarn this results in three ends having t be sewn in at the start, not a good idea for a scarf. I ended up with the knitted cast on and knit the first row. It did not come out really loose or with gaps between the stitches so we shall see how it looks once I get further into the pattern.

I frogged back the shawl as I said in last week's post and completed the third repeat of pattern D. I weighed the yarn and I should have enough to complete the border pattern E and the cast off.

Also I finished all the knitting for the toy which now needs to be stuffed and sewn up. Still no photos as it really is a yellow blob.

Looking at these WIPs, I'm not sure that I will have any completed items by next week. We shall see.

Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday

It is the first Tuesday of the month and time for another tea cosy. I've chosen my yarn - left overs in stash - but haven't decided when to cast on.

I finished February's on the 28th. So it qualifies for Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday. Although I thought I was going to run out of the purple yarn I made it all from left overs. The pattern had a flower on the top but we liked it with the top of the lid showing.



You can find the pattern here.

And I can show the baby cardigan that I finished a week ago.



I used two 50g balls of yarn and a small amount of another yarn in my stash, probably Sirdar Snuggly but it didn't have a label. I didn't have enough yarn to knit the sleeves to the length in the pattern but I wasn't worried about that as sleeves on baby garments are usually too long. The pattern is from a collection from Sirdar that I bought when my niece was a baby and she is now 15! I made her the sweater and hat shown on the front cover.



I now want to make another cardigan from the collection for the other baby but that will involve buying yarn. I thought I had plenty of baby yarn but I don't have enough to make a complete garment.

Sew Cute

I could have kept with the alliterations and titled this Sewing Sunday especially as I have a few bags to show but this little bag deserved a post of its own.

Through various links I found a pattern for a pyramid bag. I have wanted a pyramid shaped bag for a long time but haven't bought one as Esty is such a pain to search and want is entirely different from need.

Now I can make my own. I made the pattern as written but I have successfully upsized it to to a project bag. This is a perfect size for stitch markers but I am not intending to keep this one for myself. The best thing about this bag - cost. The fabric was left over from these bags, the ribbon was left over from the baby booties and I used a coupon when I purchased the zipper from Jo-Ann's.

I made this bag last Sunday and I followed it with a larger pyramid bag and a box bag and then yesterday as it was a rain day (like a snow day but warmer), I made another box bag and small pyramid bag. A separate post will include details of these together with a couple of bags I made at the end of January which I have not shown yet.

The photo was taken with my phone with the bag on my computer keyboard so you have some idea of size. (The zipper is 10 cm in length.)

WIPing Wednesday (3)

I have finished one WIP mentioned last week. The baby cardigan was finished. I used a different colour yarn in my stash for the front bands and also used buttons in my stash. It was finished in time for delivery to the baby. So with that off the needles, an easy project was cast on. This will be a toy and no photo as it is just a yellow blob.

I am still working on the tea cosy. It is going slowly but I am more than half way through. I should try to finish it by the end of the month.

The shawl that was this close is now further away. But for a good reason. I wasn't sure if I had enough yarn to complete all the pattern repeats especially as the pattern and the info on Ravelry showed different amounts of yarn required and other knitters said they had run out of yarn. I had been weighing my yarn before starting pattern D and after finishing each repeat. Pattern D is worked three times and then there is a border pattern before casting off. After completing two repeats of pattern D I put in a life line and worked pattern E. I completed it last night and weighed my yarn. I had used less for pattern E than pattern D. So now I am going to frog back to the life line and work another repeat of pattern D and then work pattern E. It does not matter if I do not have enough yarn to complete all the rows of the border. So a project that I was thinking would be finished this week is still a WIP.

And this can be considered a pre-WIP. Yesterday I bought yarn so you will see that my totals are really messed up. But this is yarn designated for 2 projects. Just wasn't planning to start soon. A friend had made a baby jacket that I really liked and thought I would make a couple but later in the year. Yesterday I went to Michael's as I needed more yarn to finish the tea cosy and they had yarn on sale for less than half price. That's too good an offer to pass up so I bought what I needed for the baby jackets. So it will sit in my stash for a while but at least there is a definite plan to use it this year.

Finished Friday

OK, it's Saturday but I was side tracked by hockey yesterday. I was very pleased with myself. I managed to go all day without finding out the score of the US/Canada game.

Three projects to show off today. All simple and small but finished. Although these are all 2014 projects and I should be finishing my old WIPS.

First off the needles was this cowl. When I was looking in my stash for yarn to make hats last month, I cam across this yarn and decided it would make a nice cowl. The yarn is Pavlova by Stylecraft, and had been partly used in 2006. The pattern is Elis by Reiko Kuwamura, a Japanese designer and is available free on Ravelry. I cast on and cast off loosely but I think it would have been fine if the edges had been tighter but there was no way that I was going to unpick either edge. The yarn has a fuzz and clung to itself making any unpicking very difficult. The cowl is for my son's girlfriend.



Next off the needles (although that is not exactly correct as it was crocheted) was a hat I made for charity; another hat for Operation Gratitude. The pattern is called the Joel M Hat and is available for free on Cathy Wood's website. I used the right size hook for the yarn and followed the pattern and the hat came out too big for my head. But that is not a problem as it is for charity and there are people out there with bigger heads than me.



I used three different yarns in my stash. The blue is Waverly by Bernat. I had bought it on sale a couple of years ago as I thought it would be good for oddball blankets but it had not been used so far. The grey is Wool-Ease by Lion Brand which was left over yarn in my stash and the black is Simply Soft by Caron, also left over yarn.

The third completed project is a pair of knickers for a teddy bear. Originally, they were meant to be shorts to go with the sweater in this post, but I ran out of yarn on the first leg and as the point of making these clothes is to use up stash I wasn't going to buy more yarn. It was easy to turn them into underwear.

Here's teddy showing them off.

WIPing Wednesday (2)

I haven't posted photos of finished projects but that doesn't mean there haven't been any. This week I finished the hat I was crocheting for charity and an item of clothing for a teddy bear - also for charity. This is my car project and I have put new yarn and pattern in the car but nothing cast on yet.

I have finished both fronts and the back of the baby cardigan. I started the second ball of yarn about half-way up the back. I might need more yarn for the front bands but I will deal with that when I come to it.



As mentioned yesterday I started the tea cosy for February

but nothing else was started - this is good. The shawl is still this close to being finished as I have been working on the baby cardigan. It would be nice if next week I can report that I just have the bands left. Although I have in my head plenty of other baby things I want to make; with two babies in the family and stash yarn I can keep busy for quite a while.

Tea Cosy Tuesday

I mentioned in a recent post about joining a new group that is making tea cosies. The person who started the group is calling it Tea Cozy Tuesday as she is updating every Tuesday. Here is her blog post about the pattern for February.

It looks like another one that can be made from left overs. I changed my mind a few times about the yarn I was going to use as I was not going to start this until I had finished my charity hat for the month. (It's bad enough that I have 2013 projects unfinished but I don't want to start having projects started in 2014 that take forever to be finished.) I actually started it on Sunday but changed my mind about the yarn as I did not want to run out like I did with the last cosy. So I restarted with a different yarn yesterday. It looks like a quick project, although, it will appear in tomorrow's WIPping Wednesday it should be completed by the following week.

WIPing Wednesday

Don't know what a WIP is? It's a Work In Progress. I don't know when it entered crafting lexicon but most crafters know the acronym.

It has been a frequent complaint of mine just lately that I have too many projects on the go and looking back at my posts I see that it was last April I expressed my concern.

One of the problems with having too many WIPs is that I don't have a finished project to show off. I was going to start WIPing Wednesdays last week to show projects I started as starting projects does not necessarily mean that I have previously shown a finished item. At least I can say one of the projects I would have shown last week as new is now finished. One thing I have noticed about WIPs that I haven't mentioned before is that when I get close to the end of a project I tend to work on it exclusively (depending on complexity level) because I know I will soon have a finished item to show off.

So this week on the WIPing front, I completed one project, a cowl using old stash. It was a quick knit for a gift. Photographs and details to follow as I'm not sure how I am going to photograph it to show it to its best. And then I cast on a baby cardigan, again using old stash. I have two 50 gram balls of baby yarn that I wanted to use while the baby was small. I chose a pattern that requires 100 grams with the idea that the bands could be worked in a different colour if I ran out of yarn, but having worked one front so far it doesn't look like that will happen.

I also have a hat that I am crocheting for charity that should be a finished item for next week's update. (I am also this close to finishing a shawl but I will finish the hat first.)

I'm Still Joining Groups

This is a reference to this post. Although I am doing slightly better with group joining than yarn buying. I have left the dishcloth group mentioned. The last mystery dishcloth I knit with this group was in 2011. I recently left the group because I had not joined in for so long and they were starting to repeat patterns.

As we know, nature abhors a vacuum so I had to fill the space with another group. At the beginning of the year a new group started on Ravelry for making tea cosies. One a month, alternating knitting and crochet. Umm, yes that does mean 12 cosies, and, no, I don't need 12 cosies. But, I'm hoping that I will be able to part with some of them and gift them. I'm also hoping that I will only use stash yarn but that is likely to become more difficult as the year goes on.

January started with a knitted cosy from Patons Canada. I actually had the recommended yarn in my stash left over from a project made in 2006. Amazing that it survived the pre-move clear out. As it turned out, I didn't have quite enough yarn to make the complete cosy; I worked fewer rows of ribbing at the top and didn't work the ribbing at the "armholes". I was tempted to buy buttons but if I'm using stash yarn then I must use stash buttons. And I had just three of these so no odd button left over. As good as completely using yarn.

The good thing is that I really like this cosy - the bad thing? I want to make another!

Left Overs of a Different Kind

These are really left overs. Having completed November's challenge in the Sock Knitters group on Ravelry, I was gung-ho to start a challenge for December. One of the challenges in December has always been using left overs. Meaning knitting a pair of socks entirely from yarn remaining from previous projects. Not necessarily socks but it must be a project knitted by you (no helping other knitters by using their left overs) and they must be partial skeins. (For example if you bought 3 skeins of yarn for a project and used 1 3/4 the partial skein of 1/4 would count but the whole skein would not.)

I have never partaken in this challenge because why knit with left overs when I have plenty of virgin skeins? But 2013 was different. Maybe I felt it was time to knit a pattern that I downloaded years ago. Who knows? Anyway I emptied out my bag of sock yarn left overs and sorted them into piles of yarn type and then chose three colours I thought would go well together.



The yarns are all by Regia - regular and stretch and are left over from these socks.

I didn't use up any of the three yarns but I could not knit another pair from the left overs.

I decided pretty early on that I did not want the pattern on the sole of the foot and changed it to stocking stitch, also I decided to work the gusset decreases on the sole of the foot, I liked the way this came out and am likely to incorporate it into other sock patterns.

The overall project time was 1 2/3 months but I was not knitting these all the time and they sat untouched for a while when it came time to sew in the ends.

Although I knitted socks for Novembers and Decembers challenges, I didn't cast on anything for January and I haven't made up my mind for February. Probably because I have got enough (too many?) projects on the needles.