Saturday, May 29, 2010

Paws for approval

Began the day sewing harvest-blanket panels together so I could release the double-ended stitch holders from their confinement. Three done, one to go (one panel still on the needles) and laundry called out to me...

Upon my return:

then

 I'm having a little trouble sewing that fourth panel on.....

Monday, May 24, 2010

Traffic Alert

This morning I realized that, as I approach the front neck shaping for weekend-raglan, ALL my double pointed, end-capped stitch holders are being used for harvest-blanket panels. Sooo what to do?

Start two pairs of Socks! brainless and undulations-socks (gotta have two travel projects in case one crashes)

Is there logic here? YES. I'm on the last panel of harvest-blanket. The assembly will be done at home, thus releasing the stitch holders. I will be needing socks soon and felt inspired to start both pairs, one for travel and one on Stand-By.

All the other projects are Home projects, so i'll work on those as the Spirit moves me.

Happy yarncrafty!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Update

ordered yarn for jackie and sundance-market-bag from Webs; closeouts are toooo hard to pass up! (My long term goal here is to work each Berroco and Classic Elite Yarn Newsletter.)

Still reworking my knitting plan; I've gone back to my original plan of one Receipt project, one Stash project, and one Various Pamphlet project = R-S-VP.
Receipts are exactly that:  i've saved my yarn purchase receipts and have placed them in chronological order. My oldest goes back to 2004 and is represented by wrapped-in-ripples.
Stash is my Ravelry Stash file in alphabetical order.Currently weekend-raglan fills the bill.
Various (or Vogue) Pamphlet is a work in progress. Currently too many on my needles: jackie, tanya, .sundance-market-bag, harvest-blanket and ribbed-gloves.

Knit on!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Feeding the (yarn) animals

harvest-blanket and weekend-raglan have been my travelling companions this week.
harvest-blanket now has one more square done.
weekend-raglan has a body and two sleeves up to the armpits.

My other plan for a Project of the Day (POD) is not working.
I've overcommitted myself to myself and it's starting to feel like work instead of fun....like I've created a second JOB for myself. This is not good and needs to be changed NOW.

A website I love: free clicks to feed animals, organic, free-trade and recycled items for sale that also support the animals, TAKE A LOOK!


The Animal Rescue Site






Sunday, May 16, 2010

Shuffle up and Deal!

Restart me with a new setup for this week:
Sunday:  Tanya
Monday: Sundance Market Bag
Tuesday: Weekend-raglan
Wednesday: Fisherman's-watch cap
Thursday: Ribbed-gloves
Friday:     Wrapped-in-ripples
Saturday:  Lacy-leaves-tunic

harvest-blanket and Weekend-raglan sleeves may be transit projects.
We'll see....

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Cleanup on Yarn Isle

Ribbed Gloves got left behind today; cleanup on other projects instead:

Berroco KnitBits® #2 received more labor on the bottom band and  weekend-raglan has 4 more inches of stockinette on the body and a longer sleeve. wrapped-in-ripples has one color band completed.

Not much for today knitwise; i've been planning and organizing my patterns and catching up on my "yarny-goodness" magazine reading.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Rainshadow benefit

 POD update: weekend-raglan 4 inches left to go in Stockinette stitch IN THE ROUND to underarm seam. Can she make it without losing her mind? And the knitting goes on. Started sleeve. Finished cuff and began main body of sleeve. Body looks like good podcast-listening project.

TP update: harvest-blanket 1.5 squares yesterday and 1.5 squares today...Transit is good knitting time. Only 1.5 strips to go or 9 squares.

I also attended the Rainshadow Charter High School Fundraiser at Barnes & Noble Today: "A children's play written and produced by Rainshadow students will be shown upstairs at 5:30 PM-6PM in the Children's literature section. Other students and adult artists will perform on the first level following the production."
 I purchased Country Weekend Knits - pretty, pretty classic British knits that I NEVER tire of seeing and dreaming of - and Zen and the Art of Knitting, an inspirational compendium of essays, to add to my collection.
A wonderful time was had by all!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Dear Stash

I'm SERIOUSLY trying to address my stash and become more of a "use it or lose it" yarncrafter.
My current plan, as of today, is composed of two parts: Travel Project (TP) and Project of the Day (POD).
My Travel Project is just that: my daily commute project, small and portable or workable in sections..such as hats, socks, mittens, afghan panels, granny squares, etc.
My Project of the Day is my Morning and/or Evening work at home, which I'll work on whenever I have a moment, no matter how small the moment. Since I have seven possibilities on my Ravelry page, one per day perhaps?

Sunday: tanya
Monday:sundance-market-bag
Tuesday:braided-top-tank
Wednesday:aquitaine-pullover
Thursday:wrapped-in-ripples
Friday:weekend-raglan
Saturday:ribbed-gloves

Of course that means some items will take longer than other, but THAT'S OKAY.
We're on stash reduction here, not speed time trials!
Onward!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Knitting report:

harvest-blanket...This blanket is made of 5 panels 6 squares each.
I used a provisional cast-on to begin each panel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSwG6SJ1z2I
I did NOT cast-off; instead I placed each finished panel on a DPN, waste yarn or stitch holder.
My plan is to sew the interior seams then use one circular needle on each side of the blanket, making a very long round for my mitered corners, kind of like a shawl edging.
Picking up the recommended number of stitches in the instructions, I'll increase one stitch at each side of the corner miter. I'm planning on using different sizes needles for top/bottom and sides since my collection of circular needles is not that large. Maybe use the same size needles as the panels for top and bottom and one size smaller for the sides? That way if the border pulls in, it will help the design rather than push out.

The wrapped-in-ripples hit the frog pond again this morning... I guess I can count to 191 but adding 4 stitches to the first row because my tired eyes goofed the setup and shorted my count at the end.
The old "I'll add these here and it won't matter there" routine did not work.NOT a good idea when setting up the baseline for a ripple afghan!
Also, changing from a US13 to a US15 just because the first cast-on attempt seemed to be strangling the US13 needles was also "a slice of crazy pie", to quote Yarn Harlot . It would created a GINORMOUS afghan.
Oh, instructions say "Cast-on 191 stitches loosely" LOOOSELY!
Duh!

Please note: ball bands can lie! The Bernat Denim Style I'm using for my raglan sweater says 18 stitches to 4 inches. Do you ever wonder who does their swatching in Yarnland? Even dropping 3 needle sizes, my swatch will not go there, unless I want a bulletproof sweater that can stand alone in the corner.
So I accept the true gauge of this yarn is closer to 16 stitches in 4 inches on the recommended US8 for me. And plan accordingly.
not being a fan of sweaters

Monday, May 10, 2010

Today's post

Wrapped in Ripples: 2 rows after a couple of frogs...is counting to 191 so hard?

Harvest Blanket: 2 squares done during transit to/ from WORK 
I had made an earlier pre-Ravelry version, also in Lion Brand Wool-Ease. Not happy with borders there.
Starting this blanket, I realized my gauge had been off on the previous version by 10%, or one needle size. I was not thrilled with the straight borders. I'll miter the corners this time.

That's it???? oh, well...
it's a start.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Start It Up

It's raining outside; an infrequent event here in Reno.

I'm restarting my Ribbed Gloves.
I have two other projects going:

a raglan sweater from

and the "Harvest Blanket" also from Bernat:
http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=2848
 

I'm feeling Start-itis coming on for...


and "Wrapped In Ripples" from

Ahhhh, yarn inspiration on a rainy day!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hi! I'm new here

Greetings!
My name is Carol.
I'm new here.

This is Miss Kitty:













This is Wuss:

They live with me and my stash of yarn, or Yarniverse.


Some may say my stash is small, but in a studio apartment, it's HUGE!

The book Wuss is lying on, contains instructions for one of my works- in- progress (WIPs), the Ribbed Gloves from Crochet for Today:

As I work through my stash and seek a better life, I also seek to journal my adventure.
I enter this River of Life here....
All followers are welcome.