#year of projects

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Knitting 5- Blog 0

Which is to say that lately I seem better at making time to knit than to blog.  Not necessarily a…

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YoP 9/16- 2nd Verse, Same As the First

Prgoress last week was good, I cannot deny that fact, but the truth is there isn’t much in the way…

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Progress- September 1

I won’t lie. The last week(s) has kicked my butt pretty hard so there’s not a lot of exciting…

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The hour is late but the post is still on the right day!

I won’t lie. The last week(s) has kicked my butt pretty hard so there’s not a lot of exciting…

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[yarnberry-blog]

Year of Projects: Week 26 Summary

Another week is over, and we seem to be getting through January quickly. It's even still a bit light when I leave work now, so it feels like we're on the way to spring. I'm starting to think about my birthday and Christmas presents for people this year. One thing I'm considering, is letting my best friends choose a few scarf or shawl patterns they like on Ravelry, then making it up for them in some gorgeous yarn. One of my friends is also having a baby, due on the 31st of July, so I'd like to have something ready for her when the baby arrives, so there might be a few more things on the list soon!

This week I've been working on my Magrathea. We bought a couple more skiens of yarn to make sure I have enough to finish it. The yarn was on sale in the shop, so I got two for the price of one which was a bonus! The pattern states you need 25% of your yarn to complete the lace border once you've reached the length you want. That means, I can use up to three skiens to make the rest of the shawl. I've just joined my second skien and I've done 8 pattern repeats. I think I probably want it around 16 repeats long, so hopefully I should have enough yarn for that, bearing in mind that each repeat uses up slightly more yarn as the body gets wider. Sorry for the awful photo - my desk isn't big enough anymore, so I laid it out on the bed, but the lighting is terrible.

I also started out on a Long Nights Cowl, to use up my Drops Nepal yarn. Originally this yarn was going to be a Broomstick Lace Scarf, but I didn't really like the way it felt when I crocheted it. I love it in garter stitch though, and it feels lovely and soft. I've just joined my second skien of yarn for this, and I think I'm around halfway through. I'm hoping that I won't need to use my third skien of yarn, because I'd like to turn it into some fingerless gloves. There should be just enough in one skien to make a pair.

I've added a scissors case and a needle book to my list below, as they're a couple of things I have missing from my knitting bag. I'll probably make a case for my crochet hooks later too. My plan for these (and the pincushion) is to make them out of scraps and left over yarn.

I've also changed the realta blanket on the list. The idea of making 80+ hexagons, and even more squares and triangles for the blanket is just too boring and I can't motivate myself to do it. Instead I'm going to be making a hairpin lace blanket - I expect it'll probably still be boring, but I'm not going to need nearly so many strips - probably only 20-30, so hopefully it won't be so tedious, and I love the joining method, so I won't have to sew anything. Once I've made a couple of strips I should be able to work out how many I need for the whole blanket. I'll definitely be blogging about hairpin lace later this week if you want to pop back.

Hope you all have a great week!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished

Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished

Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished

Urban Shells <- Finished

Elise Shawl <- Finished

Betula Ring <- Finished

Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress

Magrathea <- In progress

Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress

Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn

Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK

Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes

Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn

200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel

My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky

Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)

Long Nights Cowl <- In progress, Drops Nepal

Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished

Realistic Octopus <- Finished

Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn

Tilly the Panda

Finola the Fox

Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished

Windschief Hat <- Finished

Snowbaby Hat <- Finished

Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished

Hairpin Lace Blanket <- Replacing Realta Blanket

Giselle

Genevieve <- In Progress

Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris

Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere

Calorimetry <- Have yarn

Phone sock/cosy <- Finished

Pin cushion

Fingerless gloves <- Left overs of Drops Nepal, hopefully

Needle book <- Trying out entrelac

Scissor case

[yarnberry-blog]

Year of Projects: All Change

It's Sunday night and I'm being good and writing my blog post on time! I have no idea which week I'm on right now, I'll have to count up sometime.. This week, I've been completely reworking my list. I still have some decisions to make, but for the most part the list is done. When I buy yarn, I usually buy it for a certain project. But sometimes they don't work out, or I change my mind, and I currently have a yarn stash in two plastic boxes. Admittedly one box is completely full of yarn for my blanket (more on that later), but I also have quite a few other balls of yarn. 

The new list is using as much of that yarn as I can. Most of it is scarves and shawls, which I love making, a couple of things I haven't chosen patterns for. The blanket is really my biggest problem. I should be working on my realta blanket, but I haven't done anything to it for ages. I think part of the problem is that the tiles for it are quite big and take a while to make, but at the same time they're very repetitive. I love the look of the finished blankets, but I have no motivation to get there. I think what I need is either smaller blocks, or more variety, maybe both. I haven't made a decision about the blanket yet. That's this week's challenge.

This week I've mostly been working on my Magrathea after finishing off my phone cosy (top photo) on Wednesday. I had a minor disaster where I had to take out a whole pattern repeat yesterday because I'd done something weird with one of my k2togs. I'm not really sure how many pattern repeats I'm going to do. The pattern is 25 repeats, but that's for fingering yarn, not aran. I'm just going to keep going until I'm happy with the length. I love how soft it feels, and the garter stitch body is deliciously squishy! I'm also knitting it now, instead of knooking - but more on that next week - it deserves it's own post!

So here's my new list, with all my new projects and many removed.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished

Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished

Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished

Urban Shells <- Finished

Elise Shawl <- Finished

Betula Ring <- Finished

Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress

Magrathea <- In progress

Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress

Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn

Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK

Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes

Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn

200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel

My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky

Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)

Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished

Realistic Octopus <- Finished

Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn

Tilly the Panda

Finola the Fox

Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished

Windschief Hat <- Finished

Snowbaby Hat <- Finished

Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished

Realta Blanket <- In progress

Giselle

Genevieve <- In Progress

Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris

Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere

Calorimetry <- Have yarn

Phone sock/cosy <- Finished

Pin cushion

Fingerless gloves

[yarnberry-blog]

Year of Projects: Christmas is Over!

Oh dear. My blog has been very neglected during my holidays! I was having too much fun knitting, crocheting, playing games and visiting people. Unfortunately, the holidays are over now, and I'm back to work, and getting back into my normal routine. I didn't manage to post my seven knit bunnies before the holidays, but I did get them all finished in time they were all named after plants (like Thistle and Bluebell) but I can't remember all the names and went off in gift bags to their new owners along with lots of other crafty bits.

I did quite a bit of knooking and crocheting over the holidays, but I also did a lot of frogging, changing my mind and starting again, so I don't have that much to show for the holidays. I started my Magrathea and I love it. I was originally going to do it with my gorgeous blue stash addict yarn, but I kept messing up the counting at the start and mixing up my yarn overs, so I started it again, but this time I used some new aran yarn instead of the fingering yarn. I love how it's coming on so far. It's going to be gorgeous and warm. Although, now I am left with 400 yards of gorgeous fingering yarn to use up in some way. I'm sure I can rise to the challenge though!

I got the yarn for my Genevieve just before Christmas, and I got my husband to measure me up and set to work. The pattern is actually really simple and seems really nicely written and adaptable. I'm making mine nice and long, with a longer back and sleeves than the original pattern, and I can seem this pattern being easy to change to any stitch. The yarn is quite nice to work with, and it's working up pretty quickly so far. I did have a problem when I skipped a stitch and didn't realise for four inches, then had to frog back, but other than that its been fine and as long as I can manage not to tighten my stitches it should be alright. I have a couple more inches to do for the back before putting the arms on, and then it'll be three times as wide!

I haven't actually gone through and revised my list yet, but I'm pretty sure a couple of things will be coming off and more going on too. For now though, I've updated the previous list to my current progress. I'm also working on a new phone sock that I'll hopefully finish tonight and be ready to show off on Friday.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished

Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished

Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished

Urban Shells <- Finished

Elise Shawl <- Finished

Betula Ring <- Finished

Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress

Magrathea <- In progress

Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress

Mochi Neck Warmer <- Have yarn

Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished

Realistic Octopus <- Finished

Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn

Tilly the Panda

Finola the Fox

Chester the Dog

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished

Windschief Hat <- Finished

Snowbaby Hat <- Finished

Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished

Realta Blanket <- In progress

Polo Neck Bag <- In progress

Genevieve <- In Progress

Ginny Cowl

Cap Sleeved Top

Calorimetry <- Have yarn

Phone sock/cosy <- In progress (own pattern)