Day Four: 31st March. Where are they now?

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.

How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which he then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.

This is a fun topic.  I have made more things that never made it to Ravelry simply due to the fact that I have been knitting a lot longer than the site has been around.  I have made dozens of blankets and I love giving them as much as I did making them.

In my 20's I made my then husband and my brother knitted vests.  I know that my brother wore his well into the 90's.  It was a lovely basic vee neck done up in a tan color.  I got the pattern from a Leisure Arts book that I bought at Lee Wards in Memorial City Mall.  Part of me wants to drag out the booklet again and make some updated versions with the newer yarns.  Good thing I like men's sweater vests too, as my dad and brother are the only two I know would wear them.  I have another brother, but he is not the sewater vest kind of man....

For myself, I am most pleased with my Saraha.  I finished it in this post.  I stopped wearing it shortly after it was complered, as I was too heavy to wear it properly.  As I began to get back into shape and my new lifestyle, I started wearing it more often.  I love to wear it with white shorts in the summer to the Mucky Duck.  It is dressy enough but not too much.  I will be making a new version this year and I expect that I will get as much wear from it as I do the first one.

Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches

Today's topic: How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.







So, this is only part of my stash.  This is the sock yarn portion.  I have several totes that have other yarns and WIP's/UFO's.  I know that I have pictures of the rest of the stash on the blog but I am far too lazy today to look for them....

I keep most of the yarn "hidden" from Sassy.  She is a HUGE deterrent to knitting.  She will lay on the entire project when necessary.  See exhibit One:



I have a small stash in my Martha Washington cabinet, which also houses all of my needles and tools that are not in my knitting bag.  Most of the stash in the living room has already been wound into cakes because Sassy won't bother them as much for some odd reason...

My goal for the year is to knit from the stash, so it will be interesting to see how these pictures change by the end of December....

Second Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

What is this you ask.  Well, head to this site and read all the details!

I participated in this last year and really enjoyed it.  Even though I am a day behind, I will make up for it all in this post!

Day One: 28th March. A Tale of Two Yarns.

As many of you know if you follow the blog at all, I love swaps.  One of the best reasons is the yarn that always is a key component of the package.  Many of my spoilers have sent me yarns that are "native" to their country or from a local Indie crafter.  Some have sent me commercially manufactured yarns as well.  This post is designed to speak to a yarn that I love and then to one that I loathe.  Since the Indie ones are not mass produced, I will just tell you that there have been many that I ahve raved about and wish I could get more; however several of them are one of a kind hanks and I love that aspect so I will not venture to brag about them.

Loathe is a bit strong, so I'll simply say that the Twin Twist by Wool In The Woods was not one of my favorites.  I know that it is no longer in production and that may be bad news for those that love it.  The colors of the skein were vibrant and I loved the name, Gem Jubilee.  Overall, I just wanted the project to be over so I didn't have to work with it any longer than necessary.  For those of you that know who you are, Noro is actually the one yarn that I do loathe and despise.  It feels like sandpaper to me.  Disclaimer, that is simply my opinion.



Conversely, one of my all time favorites is ShiBui Sock Yarn.  It is scrumptious!  I used it to make my Clapotis and the leftovers were transformed into a Calais for Megan.  I have acquired additional skeins from Twisted Yarns for a yet to be determined project and I have my eyes set on some additional skeins in colorways that yearn to become a cardigan.  If you have not tried this yarn, you really should do so....even if you use it for something other than socks, I think you'll agree.





Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP

I am directed to look back over where I was last year at this exact time and compare what I know and have accomplished against now to see progression.  What I can tell you is that I finished some VERY old UFO's last year, one that even won me a prize.



I took on lace using sock yarns at first and then I moved to the Xie from SWTC which is bamboo thread.  I liked lace so much that I attempted to do the Ten in 2010 Challenge.  I fell short by three.  I have the Eleven in 2011 Challenge active but I am not sure if I will actually commit to it since it is March and I am doing the self imposed sock of the month club.  I also focused on knitting for myself last year and have carried it forward into this year.  I am also working from the stash this year and enjoying that as well.

As for techniques, I still have a few that I want to attempt but I am not letting that slow me down.  I'll get to them when I get to them and that suits me just fine.  I did attempt to learn how to use a drop spindle and I may return to it in the Fall but for now it is in time out.  And that is all we are going to say about it for now.

So, I am now current and will post the next installment Wednesday!

Friday Fill-Ins 2011-011

And...here we go!

1. Why does it need to be so difficult to get some people to understand Power User is a giant leap above a Normal User.

2. SF and me insist that each of us is equal to the other to insure that we are a complete unit.

3. My favorite breakfast includes a mini bagel with a tablespoon of Almond Nut Butter or Peter Pan Honey Peanut Butter.

4. Tipping the Velvet was the last book I read in less than two weeks.

5. I am SO glad that I have the life I have now.

6. A DQ Blizzard would make me feel better right now.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting the house back in order after the doors were installed, tomorrow my plans include Lady Vols Round Three game versus Ohio State and Sunday, I want to do something outside!

Pictures, no words.....