So much for being a better blogger! With new restricted access rights at work I have been unable to just whip up a new post during a boring conference call or on a lunch break. I was told to clean out my mail because it was taking too much space and found the long-lost email address I could use to send a post. This is my first time using it so we'll see how it goes.
What's on the hooks you ask? Not much these days. I spent the summer making blankets for our Children's Pastor's grand-kids, three of them. The fourth, the oldest got one when he was adopted a couple of years ago, the newly adopted youngins coveted it so I couldn't resist. They live in Texas so it was nice to make them all out of cotton during our warmer weather. I sent them with grandma so they would remember HER giving them rather than "some lady at grandma's church that we don't even know". I hear they are well-loved blankies which makes me very happy :-)
Now, just because my hooks are empty, which is not entirely true because I'm sure I have a few UFOs floating around the yarn stash, does not mean my yarn has been idle. Much to the contrary! I have been busy perfecting sock construction! I have now made two pair for my daughter, one for my husband, a pink pair for my sister who had a mastectomy this summer, a pair of "yoga socks" (no toes or heels) for my daughter's dance teacher and two pairs for Christmas which shall remain nameless in case they're lurking. ;-) OTN right now is another pair of "yoga socks" for a friend of the dance teacher who feels guilty about not giving away her pair when her friend admired them. Making them out of DK weight on #5 needles hoping they'll get done a bit quicker. Christmas socks pair #2 seemed to take forever (3 weeks) because I made a longer leg than usual trying to use up most of the yarn...still probably have 2+ total oz left. At this rate, I may have to shorten the sock list but hoping it won't come to that.
God bless your stitches!
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Back to blogging
I am bound and determined to be a better blogger. I've been reading a lot of other's blogs, fiber related of course, and they make it seem so easy....a few random thoughts about this and that, a couple of pictures of work in progress (ok, in my case that could be the size of an encyclopedia volume)....i could do that, right? i really like the idea of a blog being like a journal. i go thru phases of journaling, i have at least a dozed of those really pretty books with lined pages, mostly only half used! so here is to the rebirth of my blogging/journaling - YEAH! So, to keep it related to yarn i'll start with this....
Something OTHER than crocheting?
After about a 14 month delay, i am once again trying my hand at knitting. Blaspheme you say? Well, i've got barrels and barrels of yarn laying around (really, i'm not kidding...just ask my husband and kids!) so anything to use it is fair game in my book. Anyway...last January (2008, so i guess technically that's not LAST January but a YEAR ago January) I made two New Year's resolutions 1. Learn to knit, 2. Unravel all the sweaters i bought the previous March (2007) when they were all $1 at the Marklund Thrift Store before buying any more at the 2008 March sale.
Number 2, well that was just unrealistic. You see in between the barrels of yarn are bags of sweaters yearning for new life. Besides once you really get underway with a resolution its the end of January and February is short to begin with and 2008 was a leap year...so march (and the new sale) came up VERY quickly. I did make some progress but not enough to call myself even marginally successful with it given the number of new sweaters acquired. However, to my credit, this year I stayed completely out of the thrift store until i was 100% certain all sweaters were hidden from plain view!
So what happend with resolution #1? Having had this thought that i would love to knit a pair of socks in my head for quite a while i had purchased several pairs of knitting needles from my favorite thrift store on one of my sweater excursions. I got out my little $1 version of Knitting for Dummies and turned to the Continental Knitting chapter. Being a Crocheter, mom told me it was much easier to learn that rather than the way EVERYONE ELSE knits! Yep, Mom's right again. (boy I hope I'm so much right when my kids are grown) So on to the Knit stitch. Pretty straight forward, I can do this. I started with about 6 inches across on my size 10 needles. After about 2 inches of that i was bored (later to find out this is called Garter stitch). On to the Purl stitch. About an inch into serveral rows of purls it looked remarkably similar to a bunch of knit stitches . BORING! and this doesn't look like ANY knitting that i've ever seen. where are all the stitches that look like little V's? that smooth, draping texture that every sweater i've ever worn has? Oh, that's the next chapter, the stockinette stitch. the problem arose when i found out my purls were twisted wrong...hmmm. nobody who knows knitting could figure out what i was doing wrong (becuz they all knit the OTHER way). not that it was awful but i could tell they were tighter than the knits and once i was shown they were twisted it REALLY bothered me. the perfectionist in me just couldn't tolerate it. "darn you knitting!" "into the closet with you!!!"
sigh, the story eventually has a happy ending but that's another day....
God Bless your stitches,
nance
Something OTHER than crocheting?
After about a 14 month delay, i am once again trying my hand at knitting. Blaspheme you say? Well, i've got barrels and barrels of yarn laying around (really, i'm not kidding...just ask my husband and kids!) so anything to use it is fair game in my book. Anyway...last January (2008, so i guess technically that's not LAST January but a YEAR ago January) I made two New Year's resolutions 1. Learn to knit, 2. Unravel all the sweaters i bought the previous March (2007) when they were all $1 at the Marklund Thrift Store before buying any more at the 2008 March sale.
Number 2, well that was just unrealistic. You see in between the barrels of yarn are bags of sweaters yearning for new life. Besides once you really get underway with a resolution its the end of January and February is short to begin with and 2008 was a leap year...so march (and the new sale) came up VERY quickly. I did make some progress but not enough to call myself even marginally successful with it given the number of new sweaters acquired. However, to my credit, this year I stayed completely out of the thrift store until i was 100% certain all sweaters were hidden from plain view!
So what happend with resolution #1? Having had this thought that i would love to knit a pair of socks in my head for quite a while i had purchased several pairs of knitting needles from my favorite thrift store on one of my sweater excursions. I got out my little $1 version of Knitting for Dummies and turned to the Continental Knitting chapter. Being a Crocheter, mom told me it was much easier to learn that rather than the way EVERYONE ELSE knits! Yep, Mom's right again. (boy I hope I'm so much right when my kids are grown) So on to the Knit stitch. Pretty straight forward, I can do this. I started with about 6 inches across on my size 10 needles. After about 2 inches of that i was bored (later to find out this is called Garter stitch). On to the Purl stitch. About an inch into serveral rows of purls it looked remarkably similar to a bunch of knit stitches . BORING! and this doesn't look like ANY knitting that i've ever seen. where are all the stitches that look like little V's? that smooth, draping texture that every sweater i've ever worn has? Oh, that's the next chapter, the stockinette stitch. the problem arose when i found out my purls were twisted wrong...hmmm. nobody who knows knitting could figure out what i was doing wrong (becuz they all knit the OTHER way). not that it was awful but i could tell they were tighter than the knits and once i was shown they were twisted it REALLY bothered me. the perfectionist in me just couldn't tolerate it. "darn you knitting!" "into the closet with you!!!"
sigh, the story eventually has a happy ending but that's another day....
God Bless your stitches,
nance
Monday, January 12, 2009
It's been a WHOLE year?!!!
Wow, what a lazy blogger I am! Or maybe just busy? Not always with crocheting but life in general. God has really been working in our lives this past year. More on that to come in my Battles in the Spiritual Realm blog. I started many crochet projects last year and actually finished most of them by the literal end of the year. What's left to complete are MY afghan (yes, I think I'll actually get it done before the end of winter), a bag using Omega nylon, and a baby sweater/hoodie (once I figure out why the sleeves don't fit into the openings in the body!). I also have a poncho about 1/2 done that was started about 3 years ago...toying with the idea of frogging it but might dig it out and finish it for early spring usage, we'll see. I don't have any big projects in mind as of yet. I would like to use up a lot of my current stash. I've been making baby hats for people out of left-overs. I would also like to do more recycling of sweaters from last year (and the year before) from the thrift store $1 clearance sales....which would give me lisence to buy more sweaters. I haven't taken apart a sweater in MANY months. I did use one 100% wool sweater to make a blanket for Allen...used my mom's knitting machine during a sleepover with the kids over Thanksgiving. But once done it was just WAAAY to scratchy so I felted it and gave it to the dogs. They LOVE it!! nothing wasted :-)
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