Finished (a few weeks ago)

I've really been working along on a variety of projects lately, but sadly neglecting my blog. Anyway, here's a look at the entire order of dishcloths I finished a couple weeks ago.







I really had fun making these and have since made two more. And (what is common behavior for me) bought enough cotton yarn for several more. I'm always like "WHEE! So fun! Must knit hundreds of dishcloths, so will buy enough yarn for all of them now!" Then a day later I get distracted by another craft project.

Moving right along

I've been steadily working on the order of 10 dishcloths I mentioned in my previous post. So far I've made five, and did each of them in a different design. I really hope the woman who is paying me for them doesn't mind them being different, since I think I would certainly go a bit nuts if I had to do them all alike. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

She asked for dishcloths that would go with a tan kitchen, and also said she likes orange and yellow. I've been working with those colors the best that I could, considering I haven't had much luck finding all cotton yarn that is actually tan. I did find one that was beige and darker beige (my personal color nightmare house-wise), so I hoped that was close enough.

Here they are in all their dishwash-y glory.













And I couldn't help but notice, but between these dishcloths and the socks I started recently:



and this fabric stack I bought this week at Michael's:



there seems to be a color scheme developing for the month of July.

Yet another new project

I seem to have gotten over that slump I was in a couple weeks ago when I didn't feel like working on anything. The bad part of this equation is that I keep wanting to work on new projects instead of something I've already started.

Work on the shawl has been going great, but it's a lot of the same thing. The same colors and stitches, and since it's gotten so big, it takes a long time to even finish a couple rows. So of course it only made sense to start another pair of socks.

I wanted to use one of my own hand-painted skeins, so I pulled out the three that I was most drawn to at the moment.



(The colors in the photo are kind of washed out - all of the yarns are more vibrant in person.) After pondering this decision for quite a while, I decided to go with the yellow, pink and orange one, since it seemed the most summery to me. And I've been wanting a pair of yellow socks.



I started working on this pattern called Waterfall Socks. It's a pretty pattern, but really simple. That was key for me - I didn't really want to start anything that would require much concentration.



I don't think I'll get much of these done in the near future though. I was working on them this week while in the waiting room of my doctor's office, and a woman came by and asked me about them. We talked for a few minutes and she told me she loves knitted dishcloths, but hasn't found any for sale recently. I offered to make her some and turns out she wants 10! I won't get paid a whole lot for them, but it will help me use up some of the cotton yarn I've been stashing and make a few bucks. Works for me! (Ask me if I feel the same way after I've knit those 10 dishcloths.)

WIP - Shawl update

I've been working pretty steadily on the knitted shawl I started about two weeks ago. I'm about done with the striped portion and will have to do the border next. I know I will have to block this, but I have no idea how big it will end up or if it will be a good size for me and my mammoth shoulders. I am not really liking the idea of figuring out how to make it larger, so I'll probably just cross my fingers and hope for the best.



Having so many works in progress means I have found a good use for some of those box bags I made! They are a perfect size for this type of project. I keep thinking I will post some of these to sell on etsy, but haven't gotten around to it yet. (Story of my life. I love making stuff to sell, but hate writing the little descriptions for the items on etsy. Must. Get. Motivated.)

One down, one to go

I started these socks months ago, and just got going on them again a couple nights ago when I got the urge to do some knitting. I finally finished the first sock last night. And they fit perfectly. Yay!

I'm not normally into blue a lot, but I just love these socks so far! It is a pattern called Blackrose and is knitted in KnitPicks Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn in Lullaby.





And yes, my feet and ankles look really fat in these pictures. They are fat, but they look worse than normal here because I took these photos after I had sat up all day at work and they swelled up. I'm in one of those kinds of moods where having cankles is one of my lesser problems. I'm such a glutton for punishment right now: watching WE TV is one of the worst things to do when you've just gone through a divorce and are feeling shitty about being single. Way too many happy wedding shows! UGH. Just put me out of my misery already.

Oh, and I do have gnomes on my flannel sheets. They couldn't be any more awesome.

Confession

I've been cheating.

On quilting.

I've been on a knitting/dyeing/spinning/crocheting bender. I'm starting to find more pieces of wool than pieces of thread stuck to my clothes. I never thought this would happen.

Can I admit though that I've been enjoying it? Who knew that dyeing yarn, knitting, crocheting and spinning would be so fun? I previously didn't think it could hold a candle to quilting. Taking pieces of fabric, cutting them up and then sewing them back together in glorious patterns and color schemes. And let's not forget the joy of shopping for fabric.

Of course, this was when I only knew how to knit items in squares and rectangles. In the past 12 months I've learned to knit in the round. To make hats, socks, blankets, etc. Now I've even crossed a line I thought I'd never take, and that was to try spinning my own yarn. Now that I think of it, knitting has sort of the same fascination, which is taking something simple and making it into something beautiful. Especially when I can dye my own wool. And again, I'm enjoying the shopping for yarn/fibers. (That seems to be a common thread here.)

I have a TON of photos from the things I've been working on the past few months; this even includes a little quilting. But until I stop feeling so guilty (I just accidentally typed in quilty) and start posting again, I'm going to show off my recent accomplishment: My first handspun yarns! I love, love, love them.

From this (my first attempt):



To this:



From this (second attempt):



To this:





And this is my next bunch of fiber. So pretty! I hope to get it started this weekend.