Knitting and Thinking

In case you needed an explanation for Wednesday’s post, this is the stack of blocks I was working with, and the little doll was only about 1.25” tall.  Will be sewn together, handle added and then fulled/felted in the washing machine to be a nice handbag.

Since I’m making a lot of these one-of projects, and others that are dedicated to a specific gift or purpose before I even finish them, I haven’t updated my Etsy shop in a while.  So, I’m not sure what to do about that.  Of course I still have a few things available at Apotheca, in town, and there is a project I have in mind that I’d like to make a few of, and put up for sale (I just have to make the time to do it!). 

I could certainly postpone the online shop opening a little longer, but there’s the subject of the Etsy groups I’m a part of.  The networking and effort it takes to keep up with each group is, in my situation, very disproportionate to the sales I received last year and the projects I have in mind for the coming month.  The problem is, I love sharing and reading everyone’s blogs… but I have to make creating a priority or I should just drop out of groups.  I feel an obligation to participate in everything, I’ve definitely been slacking, but without anything to sell, it’s all kind of ridiculous.  This week, I’m going to focus on creating and re-opening my shop.  I’ll take it month-by-month and see what I can do and decide before the year is up – prioritizing my time and efforts and deciding what endeavors make the most sense.

Wordless Wednesday

If at First You Don’t Succeed….

… try, try again.

As soon as I saw the Lorna’s Laces Solemate yarn, I wanted to work with it. There was a lot of appeal: there was the cleverly named color Zombie BBQ; the promised warmth of the insulating technology of the 30% Outlast® fiber content; and of course the endearing way Mr. Tamdoll called it “Soul – é  – matte” when I pointed it out to him in the store… like it was something exotic and foreign.

Let me say now – these are not good reasons to buy 425 yard skeins of sock yarn when you have no intention of making socks.

My first project attempt (1) was a cowl.  A lacy, intricate pattern that after 2 or 3 attempts I decided weren’t worth the effort because you couldn’t see the lace through the color changes of the yarn.  And seriously, it would take a really, really long time to knit all that on size 2 needles.  So after a few days of project seeking & brainstorming… even considering sock making!.. I thought of making the yarn into a cord. 

I pulled out my little cord maker and figured that 425 yards would give me about 100 yards of workable, much thicker yarn.  This is what I used:

 

Two movies and many, many cranks of the handle later…. I ended up with 29 yards of cord (2). Only 29!!!!  Well, now I felt stuck that I would have to unravel it all, because what the heck do you make with only 29 yards?   Well, you can see from pictures (3) & (4) that I made it work.  For picture (3), I used size 50 needles, cast on 5 & knit away.  It was too loose and ropy looking, so I tried size 35 needles for picture (4).  Casting on 7 stitches worked perfect for it and now I have a roomy cowl to keep me warm. 

I am so, so pleased!  It’s really unique this way, but I’m beginning to wonder with all the thinking, winding, knitting and re-knitting, if working all 425 yards on size 2 needles would have been quicker in the end?  

I think that I came to the cord idea by looking at lots of projects made with chunky yarns, and I had the Embellish-Knit!nearby on my desk.  Somehow my brain put the ideas together & I’m glad it did.  Do you ever come up with ideas and don’t know where they came from?  or use your materials in unexpected ways?

Starting 2012 on the Right Foot

My first thought was to call this blog post “2012 – the Year of the Do-Over” -- but that sounded too negative to me.  Then I thought “2012 – the Year of Getting it Right” – but that made me feel like I was setting expectations beyond reach.  So here I am, simply going to start off in the right direction and try to keep focused & heading that way as the year progresses.

Some of you may realize the pun in the title, too, since I’ve been home all month recovering from surgery - I have been starting every move with my right foot.  All is well now and it’s given me lots of time to think and work on projects.  And to do them over.

For example, with some luxury yarns in hand, I wanted to make something that I could use every day and enjoy – like a handbag.  Borrowed some graphs, morphed them into my own design and began to knit:

But the more I knit it, the more I thought that these yarns should be next to skin, so I could really enjoy the feel of them.  Yes, I agonized.  Thought about the days I had worked to graph the design and then knit it.  But no matter what, it was bugging me, so I ripped it out.  Decided to try a project I’ve been wanting to make for a while and created a headband to keep me warm this winter:

I think it was a good choice.  I can always rework the graphed design with other yarns & make a handbag with it.  Next was the purple yarn.  On impulse I saw a pattern online, bought it, cast on and began to knit.  Yes, I really did think things would go smoothly after this decision.  No, I didn’t check gauge first. 

Before you say it, I did notice the resemblance to Dumb Donald.  I should have been suspicious when I had to add another yarn to finish this, but I didn’t hesitate too long – since I couldn’t try it on while it was on the 16” needles, I just had to keep working till the end.  Another do-over.  Ripped it out.  A day later, a smaller size, changing to smaller needles in the end, and now it’s perfect:

This flat picture has more accurate color and I’m pretty pleased with it.  No more do-over photos for now, just one last picture – a sheep that I think looks like Yoda:

I’d like this to be the “Year of Getting it Right” but I’m trying for the “Year of Being Patient & Doing my Best”.   What about you?

December's Projects

Here are some of the projects I finished up 2011 with. Mittens, scarves, hats, Smittens.

Patterns at Ravelry, individual pictures at Flickr.

Happy Holidays!

Where Snowflakes Are Born by vladstudio.com

December has gotten so, so hectic … haven’t been able to keep up with blogging much.  I’m taking some time off, hope to be back mid-January with some updates.  I have lots of new things in store for the coming year.

Over at Flickr you can see a new crochet necklace I’ve been working on, have taught it as a workshop during December – original Tamdoll pattern coming soon. 

Wishing good health and happy holidays to you all!

World’s Largest Pom Pom?

Chanukah has begun, Christmas is a few days away and I’m still creating gifts for friends and family.  Another year without family photo cards, can’t seem to get my act together on that one.  But I did make the world’s largest pom pom.

To go on top of a special hat, hope their neck is strong enough to hold that up.

Happy Holidays!