Tag: yarn

Christmas Crocheting Gone Awry, Part 2

It’s a 67% bust.

Project #2: Cat Chistmas Stocking

The fin makes it 3-D.

A Christmas stocking in the shape of a cat’s paw. You know it’s a cat’s paw, vice a dog’s because it includes a 3-D fish and not a 2-D bone.

I’ve been wanting to make this project for years, but the first row required a skill I didn’t have: crocheting around the foundation chain. My Dallas tote bag included this technique. So once I took the time to actually learn it, I was able to begin the stocking. It’s pretty damned cute.

{Too bad my cat Remmy doesn’t deserve a stocking. He’s an anxious, high-strung fellow, and not at all affectionate. Except at bedtime when I’m trying to read. That’s when he’s affectionate needy and keeps nudging my book/Kindle away.)

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Damn the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy!

There is a reason I don’t finish my yarn projects, and it is this: I get discouraged when I make mistakes. Especially mistakes that I continually repeat, or those I don’t notice until too far along to easily fix.

My boxy t shirt top as it looked last week.
My Boxy T— a few days ago

The additional yarn for my Boxy T Top finally arrived. Yay! 1 So I took a break from the nautical signal flag afghan to finish knitting the sweater. And I did finish knitting it. Now to join the pieces and weave in the ends.

I recently came upon instructions for changing to a new ball of yarn when the current ball runs low. It said to change the yarn at the end of the row. Otherwise, if you change yarn in the middle of the row, you run the risk of creating a hole in your fabric Now, I’ve been knitting for a long time (off and on) and have added a new ball of yarn mid-row many times without ever creating a hole. Sure, I had to take care when weaving in the loose ends, but it wasn’t rocket science.

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Sunday Seven Afghan Update

How about an update on the nautical flags afghan?

First: Charlie (C) is finished. It’s done in seed stitch. (Ignore the little dot in the top white stripe. It’s a stitch marker to denote the right side. Of course I photographed the wrong side! It’s Murphy’s law. But both sides are the same. It’s just that my yarn tails are woven in on the wrong side.

Nautical signal flag for Charlie (C).
Charlie – seed stitch
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All Stop!

I’ve hit a snag in my knitting. In fact, I was working on a post detailing the extent of my frustration, but that’s going to have to wait. Just like my projects are going to have to wait. Because last night the yarn for my first original design project arrived!

Several years ago L.L. Bean had a quilt of Navy signal flags. I didn’t buy it. Why? I ask myself! Perhaps I thought I would buy it from the next catalogue, but as far as I know, it was only offered the one time. I’ve regretted not buying it ever since. Could I make one myself? Nope. I’ve never quilted nor had the desire to. Quilting seems like a time-consuming process and an awful lot of work. I just don’t have the patience.

I thought about asking a childhood friend (Sam, if you’re reading this!) who loves quilting to make one for me. But she’s got her own stuff to make.

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Ta-Daa!

The tote is done! I announced it last week on my Instagram and half of my followers liked it! (I have only two followers, one of whom I think forgot she even has an Instagram account.)

As you can see from the photo, I fixed the stripe situation. I unraveled only about 10 rows (vice the planned 24) . When I got to the top stripe this time, the they aligned properly. I have no idea what I did differently, so, sadly, I cannot learn from my mistake.

The Dallas tote is finished!
(Not sure what the purpose of this “rounded” pic style is, but WordPress gave me the choice, so I used it.)
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Sunday 7: STILL on My Needles

At the end of his weekly YouTube videos, Tom Daley (yes, I’m still a wee bit obsessed) answers questions posted in his comments and asks for new questions. One question I’d like to ask: Does he completely finish one knit or crochet project before he starts another? I recently went through my stash and found many unfinished projects. Here are just seven of them. (Yes, there are more!)

Seven Unfinished Knitting (& Crochet) Projects

(“Crochet” is in parenthesis because only one project is crochet—the first one shown here.)

Dallas tote bag, making progress.
Dallas tote bag

1. Dallas Tote Bag: from Lion Brand. The yarn is called “Jeans.” I love me some denim, and I love this yarn. It’s soft and stretchy. Of course, I need another bag like I need another hole in my head, but who cares? I’ve made great progress since this picture was taken, finishing the first panel Friday night. Yay!

2. Boxy T-Shirt Top: another Lion Brand project with Jeans yarn. I’ve made good progress on this, too. Took it to the auto dealership on Thursday and knitted while waiting for my car to be serviced. (Knitting is easier for me than crochet.) I also finished listening to a favorite book from Audible—a paranormal gay romance mystery. But that’s subject for another time.

The beginnings of a cute boxy sweater.
The beginnings of my boxy T-shirt sweater.
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The Last 30 Days—Organize Everything

There’s a movement called “The Last 90 Days.” The idea is to end the year strong, concentrating on October, November, and December to improve yourself—whatever that may be. Personally, I think it’s a gimmick to buy feel-good guru Rachel Hollis’ merchandise. Still , either with or without journals, checklists, etc., it’s a great idea since most of us wait until the New Year to improve ourselves.

Since I missed October and November, I decided to start in December and rename my foray into self improvement The Last 30 Days. Sure, December can be a tough month because of all the extra holiday doings we force upon ourselves. But there’s still room to be better, at least there is for me.

There are lots of things I have to do before I can move to my retirement place, wherever that may be. I was going to start with kitchen new appliances and living room furniture this year. The latter might not improve the resale value, but it will make me feel better, which will give me a sense of peace and encourage me to do more Then…

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I Haz Pikturz!

Here ya’ go!  I downloaded Paint Shop Pro 2019 this weekend.  I went with the full version vice the upgrade since 1) the old PSP isn’t on this computer and 2) it wasn’t much more expensive.  And it’s still cheaper than Photoshop Elements.  Maybe Ps Elements is better, but I have years of experience with PSP.  Not so much with Ps, even less with Ps Elements.

Romeo doesn't care for his namesake mitts.
A hand pat and some sun. LIfe is good.

The photos were taken a couple of years ago, back when I was actively knitting and was regularly on Ravelry.  The pattern is called Mitts for Romeo—because it gets cold waiting on the balconey for your Romeo to show up. With a name like that, I had to make them!  And of course, I had to include Romeo in the picture.  He wasn’t all that excited about it.

Incidentally, I can  find only one of the mitts now.  And Michaels no longer carries (or makes, since it’s a Michaels brand) this type of yarn anymore.  Although I do believe I have an extra skein… somewhere.

They’re Done! Sort of. Mostly.

What do you do when you know you’re not going to meet your goal?  Create a new one!  When I realized I wasn’t going to complete my Colorful Tube Socks (as they’re titled on Ravelry) by the closing ceremony of the Olympic games (of which I watched only the men’s bicycling road race, but it was a good and dramatic event!), I created a new one.  I should have said I’d finish them by the end of August, but I went with the much more nebulous “I’ll finish them when I finish them.”  Besides, on August 3o, I wasn’t sure I’d be done by the end of August.

One tube sock down, one more to finish.
Hey, hey! Progress!

Continue reading “They’re Done! Sort of. Mostly.” →