Year: 2022

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A New Beginning

This is a new beginning for a project that withered on the hook.You remember this from some time back? It hasn’t grown since then. I fell out of love with it and I didn’t want to save the relationship. Still loved the yarn – didn’t love the outcome,

So it just sat there.

 Until I decided to look into doing something new. I thought I would give crochet entrelac a go. Saw it on a YouTube video. It seemed worth a shot. 

It took me two days to learn. Two solid days. I have lost ground on other things because I was obsessed with mastering the techniques. Here are photos of my efforts:
 I was stuck here. I followed the instruction and it looked like what was in the video but didn’t work the same. This is after I commented on the video that I couldn’t make my sample wire. I was just getting a 2 square strip. The designer assured me the way to make it wider is shown in the video and I stayed up til 3 trying to fix.

When I woke up the next morning, the answer was waiting to slap me awake. Of course I had a two square strip, I was using a two square sample. It wasn’t going to get any wider until I added another row. So, watched again, followed the instructions and I got something that looked like sample in the video – see the photo – but left the squares on the left unworked. I went to one of the Facebook groups and found someone who had done it and she told me what the problem was but that still took me another few hours to work it out.

Again, I had to go back to the designer was using a two square sample; I now had a five square sample. I had to repeat what she did on the first square until I got to the last square and then I could do what she did on the last square.

DA-TA!!!!

OK great. Figured it out. But I wasn’t digging the color. One of the ideas behind reversible entrelac is to let the color changes do the work. 

That’s when I remembered the abandoned afghan. 

 

Beautiful huh?

 

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Second Half

Sample afghan squareI’ve started the second half of the sample afghan. I finished the last of the gray squares and did this first square on the way back from Wisconsin where we drove 2 hours to spend 10 minutes buying apples from an orchard. But they are good apples. They were less than $3/pound and I spent abut $15. Lots of apples. Mr. Honey bought some, too.

The square on the hook will be frogged because there are two different textures and I want to use just one. Since the first square is on the blocking board, I will make all the squares the same so the gray squares with their different stitches can be the stars of the show.

I managed to lose a crochet hook. I am pretty sure I put one in my bag because I took the yarn with me to crochet in church. Never did get the chance but I might have taken it out trying to get to something else in my bag. I didn’t find it when I went to look for it. I’m not going to pretend it’s my favorite hook but all hooks are special. It’s like the parable: I will leave my other hooks to run this one down. It’s either in the car or on the pew. I will be at church Wednesday night to see. If it doesn’t turn up before then.

 

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Never Will I Ever

Never will I ever knit this. Well, maybe I would. Jesus could order me to make it. But it will have to be a handwritten note. Every year, this thing shows up on my Facebook feed and some friend (more than one) will think it clever and ask me to make it for them. My answer is always a variant of: No. Hell, no. I would rather stick needles in my eyes, I would rather stick needles in your eyes. and No, but thank you so much for thinking of me.

I’m upset someone even made the one in the photo and messed up knit life for the rest of us. The only thing that matches my frustration is when spring comes, they’ll send me the one with the men in the crocheted shorts; skinny as hell and psoing like Madonna.

This is a rite of passage for serious knitters. Those who know how to knit may not have to go through with it. There is a difference between a knitter and someone who knows how to knit. Big difference – IYKYK. Google Bad Knitting. Look at the images. We suffer for our craft.

Speaking of the craft

I am on square 9 of 20. It is the trinity stitch so I don’t have to look at the instructions. The 4 row repeat is pretty easy to pin down. I have one more square to make with the varigated yarn and then I will move on to make the 10 cream squares. They will all the the same and crocheted instead of knit so it will go faster. Never will I ever complain about that.

I finished with the Ten Commandments digital stickers. They are being prepped to be sold. Somehow doing that led to the creation of the new logo at the top of the home page. It was fun making it and I think adds to the personality. 

 

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Should Have Known Better

They should have known better. They/know I cannot be trusted on my own. We had our first in person knit group a few days ago – though everyone was crocheting. Afterward, on my way home, I bought this:

They should have known better than to leave me to my own devices without as much as a ‘now go straight home and don’t stop for yarn.’

I have to say the Big Twist Hush is a surprise. It is squishy tee shirt soft. 100% polyester. I wanted to get some more if only just to squeeze it. I will eventually get to hitting with it. The only draw back I see is that it doesn’t come in a great variety of colors. I can see a blanket coming from it.  The One Pound skeins will be used for afghans. I have some in mind. the same for the Ombré. It looked so pretty in the store. There’s an afghan there, too. Not just those two skeins but using then with other yarns. 

I didn’t buy more because I have a feeling there might be some more in the domesticated yarn. Considering there was a lot of yarn calling my name, I cam out better than I had any right to expect. But seriously, Imma have to get some stuff off the needles.

 

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Wedding Delay

Emily afghanWould it be wrong to ask for a wedding delay? Some of you may remember this post. It was about making an afghan for Emily’s wedding and you can see the squares there. Would you like to see the progress? I saw Emily yesterday and won’t see her again until after she’s hitched. This obviously isn’t ready. Now she isn’t getting married for another month so I could technically get it to her before the day. She know it’s coming and she’s perfectly fine with it coming later.

But I’m thinking she should move the date back a week or so just to make sure. I mean, really, what’s seven…or ten days. They’ve been together for a while. Seriously, is there a rush?

I know it may seem a bit unusual for someone not even invited to call for a wedding delay but life should be filed with new things. I am guessing, though, this would not have gone over well had I asked. Em is already stressed enough. So I shall press on with the work and it will get there when it gets there. Recall, the inspiration for the blanket is this pattern from Yarnspirations.

Five of twenty will come from this pattern, the other five will come from another book and the last ten will be cream in color and be crocheted using my favorite stitch combo of sc and hdc. We’ll see if I can make it.

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Flying the Coop

Lucas is flying the coop.  (That’s him holding the afghan.) He’s actually flown already. He is away at college and enjoying himself; if his texts are any indication.

Sorry the photo is a little blurry, I was multitasking – and maybe tearing up a little bit as that guy who I’ve seen as a little person is now on his way to college.

I made him that afghan in his school colors. Here’s a better look at it. I used the Mocha Ripple Afghan from Toni Lipsey as my inspo. I like how it turned out. Because I am who I am, I started it more than once because that’s how I roll. Ended up being made over a two week period.

Making afghans is my legacy go to. I make them for weddings, graduations and other occasions. I made one for each of my brothers and sisters. And now this one for a guy who calls me Second Mom and texts me from school. (After making sure I wouldn’t annoy him with too many texts.) 

Flying the coop is something we all must do. But it’s a good thing to know the coop is still there. Making legacy pieces is a connective thing. It connects people to people and people to places. Lucas has a great set of parents – whom he obviously loves – and he has a loving church who prays and hopes nothing but the best for him. And he has a blanket from Second Mom. He can value it or not; it’s his. He can give it to a girl if he wants. What’s important is that he knows it was made just for him. It connects him; not just to me but to an act of love.

Those of us in crafting – particularly knitting and crochet – know this to be a love craft. Of course, we make things to keep for ourselves but giving them away is a part of every knitter and crocheter I know. It is an act of love to give that time to someone. It is also why so many of us are disappointed if it’s not received the way we think it should be. I tend to not be of that mind but that’s another post.

For right now, the kid is off the college and having a good time. With a blanket. That’s a pretty good start.

 

 

 

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I Struggle

I struggle to know which is better. The one on the left is before. The one on the right is after I purchased some of those soft storage containers. I must say they do hold a lot. 

There is this moment when one is reorganizing that the area looks worse than it did before the project started. That’s where I am right now. The struggle here is temporary. I already have in mind to just get the range free yarn in their pens and then go back and organize by color and cakes. Big skeins and cakes can be together; regular skeins and balls go by color.

Maybe.

It’s actually enough for me to have them contained. Keeping it in some kind of pristine order sounds too much like work. There’s nothing wrong with work but that’s just not my thing. Work is my thing. Organization of yarn in colors is not my thing. It looks good for photos and nice to do but when it comes down to doing my work, I can’t really roll like that.

I like I can see the box bins. I like everything will be easier to move if I have to get into the domesticated yarn closet. The windows in the soft bins means I have some idea of what’s in there. And the handles on the bins are righteous. I mean they are packed with yarn and are not at all heavy. Four of them have taken almost all the yarn. There are five more empty containers and I don’t think I will need them all unless I decide to lose the hard bins. Almost certain one or two could be gone if I did it.

It’s a thought.

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Being a Wool Pig

There is no use in denying being a wool pig. The term was first used by Stephanie in the Yarn Harlot blog. It was cute when I read it with no thought that status would be mine some day. There are traits I have had for some time but I believe, based on today’s events, I must embrace all that I am – that includes being a wool pig.

The story: Mr. Honey and I have been in our condo for two years and we are not decorating the place. We are going through the boxes for about the third time. The first two being the sorting of what to keep and what to donate. This last time being put it where it goes or trash it.

He came across the pictured bag. “I guess we throw this out.” says he. “You can’ throw that out.” says I. “That is the stuff that granny squares and BoHo knits are made of.” “Looks like garbage.”

More than twenty-five years together and it’s like he doesn’t know me at all. Don’t get me wrong; I have learned the art of throwing out yarn. I have thrown out a fair amount since the move. (Fair is in the eye of the beholder. It probably amounts to 5 balls of discontinued yarn that no one wanted when it was available.)

This yarn has potential. The truth is it will take me weeks, months  some time before I get to using this yarn. I have no idea what is lurking in there and it has to be sorted and balled. But potential is something. Isn’t it? 

Wool pig. That’s me.

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The Borg Afghan

The Borg Afghan. That’s what this afghan is becoming. It is part of the Borg collective. I feel I should name it Loctus, Jr or something.

All of a sudden it is September and I have to get a move on with finishing this afghan. Not only do I want this wedding present to be given before the wedding, I also want to offer a custom made afghan in the shop so it needs to be done for that.

There are 20 squares in this afghan and I am just on square 5. 5 of 20. Borg. And I feel an act of science fiction is needed to get this thing across the finish line on time.

This afghan is a mixture of three sources: my own mind, and two sampler afghan patterns: The Caron Sampler afghan and Leisure Arts Sampler Afghans books. See? A collective right there. Melded together to create something new. I am also frogging a WIP afghan to make these squares so assimilation is going on all over the place. There should be a star ship for me to captain.

I have been resisting the urge to buy more yarn. I really don’t need it. If I needed it, there would be no hesitation or pouring over what to buy. I would just go get it. This is a clue to me that it is an emotional purchase. I can probably get the am rush by looking through the domesticated yarn in the closet. There would be some pleasant surprises in there.  I am taking this as a sign of maturity. Let me have my moment.

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Knit in Public

It’s been a while since I knit in public. I can’t remember the last time and it was something I did on the regular. I would take my knitting and go sit in the cafe at a bookstore or at one of the Paneras. Most of the time I was alone and I would be enjoying the moment and there would always be a few folks who would comment about it. That was the success of the moment, to have someone comment on my knitting or crochet – even when they got the two confused.

Actually, people don’t call knitting crochet but they often call crochet knitting. This tells me knitting is the dominant even though granny squares have recently given crochet an uptick in popularity.

Covid chased us indoors and my knitting group hasn’t seen the sunlight since. I’m thinking it’s time we emerge again. This also comes on the heels of me wanting to create stuff to sell at church. I can create things at home, of course. but knitting in public is great PR for the craft and for the crafter.  It’s also the end of August. I figure we have about 6 more weeks before the too cool to knit outside/outdoors hits. We still knit in public, but we will be indoors in warm spaces. This is not a complaint.

The pastor asked if I were open to starting a craft circle in the church. Not just for the needle arts but a time and space for folks to come in and paint, draw, as well as do needle work. I am open to that. Knitting in the parlor was a very nice experience. Having a regular place for some creative crafting with all different genre sounds empowering and inspiring. It is something to think about.

In the meantime, I have orders to get out and it’s date night and we are doing Famous Dave’s. That means dinner will be two buffalo wings and a rib tip.