Weakness

So, I had a week of excess.  I lost some self control and bought some yarn. They were calling my name and I knew they'd never come around again, so I bought them. The weird thing? They are almost the same yarn in yin/yang form.

Here's the first one.  Lots of white and then and little rainbow in the pattern. 

And then Friday, a completely different dyer makes this one--grey with another hidden rainbow!  Eek!!

I'm usually very good with New Years resolutions, but I definitely slipped this year.  BUT, I still was very good.  

Now, on to my works in progress and a lovely finished work of art.

Here's my modicum hat.  It's very pretty and it's done in fair isle.  I took it to work to work on during my break and then forgot it Friday.  I had intended to finish it Friday night, but I was foiled by my quick exit.  I used a Tosh Tea Cakes set to get the coordinated colors.  When I tell you I love this hat, I'm not exaggerating.  I love it so much that I'm getting ready to make another one in black, scarlet, grey and white.  Get jealous now, because it's going to rock!!

Here's the Burberry leg warmers I'm making for Sara at Bob Evans in Gahanna.  How do you say no to someone who says she's been thinking about the socks I made in this yarn ever since she saw them and she begged me to make leg warmers for her daughter.  I caved.  I'm a sucker for flattery.

Here are the socks I got stuck working on because I couldn't finish my Modicum Hat. Bah!

And finally, I finished the 198 Yards of Heaven this week and it is lovely. Can't wait for Fall.  I have a whole skein of this yarn left and I'm considering making another one with a larger needle and in reverse color order so that there is more orange.  We shall see....

  Pretty, huh?

I seem to have lost two weeks....

I realized today that I haven't posted in awhile.  Like two weeks...  I'm sorry. I seem to journal my life through Instagram, and I sometimes forget about my blog.  So here's what I've been up to.

I finished my String Theory Continuum socks.  They are lusciously silky with cashmere built into the fiber.  I can't wait to wear them!!

I may have broken a promise and bought yarn.  (I know, I know!) 

I was accused of shoplifting.  And I gave him hell.

Tavion snatched my phone to take a million pictures of himself.  Yes, I'm back at school. August 11th.  But it's cool.  I actually missed the kids!

I finished another pair of Kroy socks.  These are in Spring Stripes colorway.

And I'm almost finished with my shawl 198 Yards of Heaven. I picked a gradient colorway and it is looking pretty awesome!  Only 14 more rows and it's done.

So....what have you been up to?

Neato is Completo!!

I finished this beautiful shawl this morning and immediately fell in love. Serious, heartfelt love.

Since it's in stockinette for 98% of the pattern, it definitely needed a soak and a good block.

Here's it is all stretched out and 7 feet long.

I've been stalking it most of the day waiting for it to dry, but it's humid in Cleveland so I'll have to wait another day.  I'm secretly hoping for a cold front so I can wear it this week!!!!  And I've picked out a pink yarn to make myself another one! 😍☺️

Where did July go?

I've been terribly lazy for the last few days.  Sleeping a lot and reading.  I've been working exclusively on my Neato shawl and trying to finish it.  I thought I would finish today, but I got distracted by a book and a nap!

Here's one of my latest acquisitions: Flowers! I realized today that my yarn diet was not as good as it was supposed to be.  I wasn't to buy any yarn this year, but I failed.  It's really hard to give up everything when you go on a buying hiatus. My stash grew despite the diet, but I have managed to work through a lot of what I have so I am happy about that.

I finished pair 19 last weekend.  My goal is 39 pairs, but I seem to have slowed down. 2.25 pairs per month will fix it!

And here's my Neato shawl fabric,  I had to start a new skein this evening and was very sad that spade spite the fact that I bought all my yarn from the same store and the same time frame, the colors are not a vibrant as what you see here.  This is Cathedral in madelinetosh Tosh DK. My last 20 or so,rows don't match, but only picky knitters can tell. 

Back to school Monday for drumline camp.  I'm getting a little bit excited!!

Wednesday Workings

Since I finished the mittens, I decided to cast on another asymmetrical shawl.  This one is called Neato and I'm using my MadelineTosh DK in Cathedral.  Yum!

Here's the 19th pair of socks I'm working on. This is Desert Vista Dyeworks that mom bought me for Christmas.  Halloween in July? Yep!

And here's the completed mittens.  The pattern is LINDEN mitten by Jane Richmond. Next pair I'm taking out the increase on the outside edge.  It just looks weird to me.  Yes, it fits, but I'm still eliminating them.

And tonight, I decided I needed some shrimp creole.  A double batch all for me because Andrew won't eat it!  Yay!  I may freeze some, but I doubt it.

Another Weekend Update

I spent the past week and weekend finishing a mitten, finishing a shawl, starting a second mitten, starting a sock, and starting and frogging a shawl for the second time.

Here's the Ripples shawl in all it's beauty. Swoooon.  I really love it now that it's done.  I questioned its beauty several times, but it wins!

I started the Rondelay shawl and decided something was wrong. 

There was.  The instructions were very unclear.  I followed them exactly, but apparently I had to also read the author's mind.  Yeah. I'll try again--never.

And to ease my wounded spirit, I whipped up this cowl on Sunday. Sometimes you just have to finish a project quickly to get your mojo back. 

Or not.  No knitting today--so far.  More interested in puttering aroundand creating chaos...  Maybe later I'll knit.  I'd like to finish the mittens and socks this week before I got to Columbus next week.

Weekend Update

I've been crafting some more.  Below are the scraps of my scraps and I have a string of 35 lights that I decided to dress up to hang in my craftroom.

Here it is completed and hanging from the closet to the back door. As soon as I get rid of my fish tank, I'll have an open outlet to light this puppy up!

My duct tape key chain finally bit the dust. (It took 2 years!  How's that for quality!!). So, I decided to finally make myself a new one. I got the hardware from amazon awhile ago.  I've had the other materials for a long time too...  So I finally put them together.  I was hoping the glue line would disappear once it was dry, but it didn't.  Oh well--it's just a keychain for me.

Ok, me and a few others...  Andrew got all dramatic about "you said you weren't doing any craft shows...."  And I'm not.  I just have 9 extra key chains.  😜

Knitting madness overtook me Saturday.  My Ripples shawl has 11 ripples out of 18.  I started the second monkey sock and a plain striped sock and a mitten.  Yes!  A mitten!! I've needed mittens forever, and now that I can make socks, I felt very confident I could make mittens!!  😍

Mojo

So, I'm less listless than I was.  Seem to have gotten part of my crafting mojo back.  Also, I've been purging my crafts again--coming to terms with projects I will never do.  But this one below? It's a keeper!  I loved making this wreath!

I cut up 3 of my infinity scarves and tied the scraps onto this wreath base. (6" by 1" strips)

It looks really awesome in my craft room!

Swoon!!!!

July

July is usually busy and hot.  So far (7 days in) it's pretty mellow.  I've started 2 pairs of socks and a shawl.  I've also decided to get working on my summer craft list.

I've been in this weird mood lately where I don't like anything I knit.  These guys are debate-able.  I have a love affair with variegated yarn, but then when I transfer that love to socks, I get weird spirals that irritate me.  I'm going to finish these socks--NO MATTER WHAT.  And I will love them.  I hope.

These are my Monkey Socks by Cookie A.  I've gotten to that point where I like lacework in my socks.  I guess the firefly socks broke me in.  These guys are going faster than the ones above. Go figure. I'm on the 3rd repeat of the pattern. I should be at the heel tomorrow...

This is the Ripples shawl.  It uses short rows and a yarn I just had to have. I'm on the fifth petal and I like the pattern.  I'm questioning the choice of yarn, though.  But I told myself very sternly this evening that I'm going to finish it in this yarn and if I don't like it, someone else will.  And my reward for finishing it will be 2 skeins of madelinetosh sock yarn in Button Jar Blue so I can make it again.

Found this lovely craft on craftgawker....

....so I took 3 of my infinity scarves I had that never sold and I cut them into 6"x1" strips and got to work!  It's going to look awesome in my craft room!!!!

Summertime

Well, I finished my lovely shawlette yesterday.  I blocked it and it is dry and stored away safely.  It is over 5.5 feet long and it is going to look awesome with just about any color I wear.

I made good progress on my Spring Forward Socks.  I turned the heel today and am almost done with the fourth of six repeats.

And this is the yarn I've been eyeballing...  Just sayin'.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish the sock and restart a new shawl that I started today, but am going to modify to make it skinnier.  It is called Baktus and it's free on ravelry.  I'm using my MarigoldJen yarn in Cumulus.  I don't have much blue, so this should be unique to me!

End of June

I did pretty well this month whe it comes to knitting.  3.5 pairs of socks, 1.5 shawls, and a cowl.  I have been slowing down this past week for some reason. And I make matters worse by casting on 2 more pairs of socks and starting another shawlette. I must be mad.