The Beginninging

I know it's only been a few weeks since I last posted, but it feels like a thousand things have happened!

Finishing that epic cross stitch really messed with me for a few days. I know I talked about it last time, but there really was something like a vacuum left in my creativity when that thing was done.  I might still be feeling the effects.  For example, I am not sure which direction my blogging should go in, while I had pokemon to stitch there was always a page to share and progress to see.  I'm afraid it really might turn into "I started this," and then the next post is "I finished it."  Knitting really does go that quickly for me.

For illustration:

I could share the WIP pictures that went thusly: half a sleeve, one sleeve, half a second sleeve, two sleeves.  But, I'm not going to. 

I will share the selfie I took on Terrific Sweater Day though!

Blocking is magical, lemme tell you.  The sweater eased to the correct size.  The sleeves are just a touch too long, but I actually dig it.  I am supremely happy with the way this turned out.  I want to make a few more out of other leftover yarns and single skeins.  It was such a fun exercise in using stash, and it was really fun to get the colors to work together. Next time, I'll probably start with a wider neck, but otherwise, I like the fit!

So, back to the vacuum.

Speaking of vacuums, I'm getting a new one for my birthday next month, and I am so excited for it.  I'm turning 34, which probably didn't need to be said, me being excited for a new vacuum cleaner for my birthday and all.  And yarn.  I'm getting yarn, too. Naturally. ;)

And we're starting the process of having a house built!  It's going to be a loooooong process, but if cross stitching has taught me anything: Eventually, stitch by stitch, time will move forward and thing will be finished.  But there is something exciting about the beginning of things.

I have started a few things.  One is a spinning project.  This one was a little more involved than choosing a braid from my stash.  Last year, during the cat fur experiment, I got some new fiber tools!  The drum carder you know about, but I also got a blending board.  I had so far not used the blending board yet for anything and I'd been itching to.  A few years ago, right before the world shut down, I had an afternoon crafting with my friends and I got to try out a friend of mine's blending board.  And it was addictive!

Blending boards look like this:

So, you can lay fiber on the teeth, sort of like painting.  You can use color, texture, and sparkle to make unique preparations of fiber called rolags.  This is a woolen prep, so the fibers are technically carded instead of combed. You don't have to pull the fiber off as rolags, you can use a diz and make make-shift top (I think it might technically be sliver since it's woolen prep), but I just made a few rolags out of leftover polwarth and a few samples of colored merino top that I got for giftmas last year:

(I didn't take pictures of me prepping the fiber on the blending board, but I will next time, promise)

And then a few days later, I made some more, kind of separating this into two different projects.  One will be a rainbow:

And the other is a sort of fun sparkly mermaid thing (I don't know why this makes me thing of mermaids, but there you go) :

I've started spinning both. The mermaid thing I am doing on a drop spindle and I haven't gotten a picture yet.  The rainbow is on my wheel:

I've also started some socks for Toby.  His birthday is coming up next week!

I'm making knee socks for him:

I bet you noticed that the first one started with the toe, and finished with the cuff. and the second is upside down!

Well, the people at knit picks are on my list!  They wound the second skein reverse the first!  I noticed when I was just past the toe on sock number 2 having pulled out a few stripes in order to start with orange and make them the same.  The blue was the wrong shade!  They were going to turn out mirrored, which I would not be happy with.

Well, fortunately for me, two things worked out in my favor for reversing the direction of knitting for the second sock. 1) the heel was done as an afterthought, which means I really can easily work top down and have them match, and 2) the colors I pulled out matched the colors of the first cuff.

So, it was inconvenient for sure to have to rip out the toe and restart, not to mention the extra few ends I'll have to weave in at the cuff, but having them match will make this whole thing worth it.

Or else.

And finally I started a shawl project.  This is one I've revisiting that I last attempted in 2017.  I wasn't having any trouble understanding or knitting the shawl then, but I was short on yarn and I didn't want to purchase more at the time.  I actually won a skein of lace-weight Madeline tosh in one of the last monthly threads and thought it would make a lovely Morvarch shawl by Lucy Hague.

This one took a few goes to get going.  The instructions for one of the stitches was confusing, but I finally figured it out on the third attempt:

And I've been knitting on it with alacrity ever since:

I am past the first chart, which is a medium sized square, and the next step is to add triangles to each edge to turn it into a slightly larger square that is 90 degrees turned from the first.  It's an exciting pattern that keeps me on my toes!  I love the cables, and the yarn has a nice feeling to it. A lot of people in my monthly thread were complaining about the pattern though, and it kind of got in my head. I can definitely see how it would be confusing, but I did do quite a bit of the pattern the first go, without any issues that I recall.  I think I was knitting it in the airport, and traveling, that's how easy it felt to me.  This time feels a bit less easy, but to be fair I haven't knit a properly cabled thing in awhile.

Uhm, I suppose next time I should talk about the projects that have gone by the wayside in the last few months/years and why I have abandoned them (or not!).  For example, my vintage cropped tee is not abandoned and I have worked a few more increases into the body, but I'm stymied by the next steps.  For now it is mindless with an occasional stripe, but the idea of having to figure out the sleeves and shoulders again is making me not want to work on it.  (not to mention, knee socks are taking up my vanilla knitting time, so there isn't much room for working on it right now. Also it was 23 degrees this morning, I don't have time for short sleeves!)

So, yes. Next time I'll talk about abandoned WIPs (otherwise known as UFOs UnFinished Objects).  It'll bring some interest besides "I'm making this, and it's done"

Cheers!