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Someone on Ravelry (in the counted cross-stitch group) started a "how many current projects do you have?" thread. I realized that (*shudder*) I'd gone over 50 again due to the ANG meeting that I didn't actually attend (a combination of extreme allergies and a Nuclear Security Summit are to blame for it this month). So, time to take a look at The List, and see what I can (or should!) finish off quickly.
Stuff I've started this year and not yet finished:
"Hello Kitty" Illusion Scarf. Side One is finished, Side Two is started, and I've misplaced my notebook with the Happy Star and Happy Heart patterns (which will be available for free here and via Ravelry once I've finished my scarf, since they're cute, and other people might want to knit something with them in them).
The Yarn on Thursday: Stitch Edition Blanket. Yeah, that's not gonna be done for quite a while!
Rogue Hooded Pullover. Since getting it almost finished, then frogging half of it back, I've not quite had the heart to figure out where I was and get it restarted. I need to do this. There's still a wee small chance I'll have it done in time for the Celtic Festival (although with my allergies acting up so badly, I may not be able to go - still, just in case...!).
The Enrelac Doll Blanket. Well, I've only got about half a skein of yarn left, and, for entrelac, it goes pretty quickly. I figure this will be done by the end of the week, and certainly by the end of the weekend. (My friend's birthday party on Saturday *always* develops a S&B corner!)
The Kiev Mini Stocking. Goes with the Kiev Canvas I got at In Stitches last month. Started during the day on monday; I've already frogged a few bits, since they weren't coming out quite as I'd hoped. Decided to stitch all the stuff that I knew would be in Continental stitch first - the purple and the black!
Other Stuff I've Started that I Could (conceivably) Finish This Year, or Sooner.
There's a really intricate, pretty version of The List from July, 2008 here - as you can probably tell, I was spending more time making The List pretty than actually working on anything on it! There are a lot of things on that version of the list that have since been finished, unraveled, frogged, discarded, or put aside until a better home is found for them.
Lake District Designs' "English Knot Garden". I picked this up at my very first Stash Festival - Spirit of Cross-Stitch, I think, back in the mid-90s, and it's been on the list since the list began. (The list says it was started in 1996; I will trust the list.) If I can figure out where it's stashed in my house, I vaguely recall that there's only about twelve colors left to stitch, and most of the tricky bits are done. I think it went into its bag last time when I was faced with what seemed like an inordinate amount of backstitch. Evidently, I've never taken a photo of mine; I'll have to fix that when I find it. Here's a photo of hers that Sandra C. posted (and click on that there link - she's done some lovely stuff!!)
Aerlate Studios' "Small Ferocious Beastie/Gryphon" - I took two of their charts and merged them to make a personalized Gryphon for myself. I've got about half the black stitching around the border to do - slightly less than half, now, really, and most of the gold-work. The idea was to make it look like an illuminated manuscript page, and it will (someday) have a suitably baroque frame. According to this blog, it got started sometime in 2008.
(at end of summer, 2008)
A couple of projects need finding and frogging, because when I start them again, I'm going to start on smaller needles, with a fresh chart. It will depend, however, on (a) how far I've actually gotten and (b) how the knitting looks, esp. decreases and increases - I'm much better at those now than I was even a year ago, thanks to the TKGA classes/Masters. Among these are Gwenivere (Secret of the Stole #1). I've restarted her, but I think I need to do a complete restart. Luckily, I love the yarn and the pattern, so I know she'll get knitted someday. (And my Secret of the Stole #2 is still the only shawl I wear regularly. It sits in its place on top of the Hello Kitty plush Halloween basket, in case I get chilled.)
The Tiger Eye stole. OMG, I love this yarn... and this is really the pattern I want to make it in. However, I think I'm still using too-large needles, and I really need to write myself out a REAL pattern, with pages and pages and (gasp) row numbers.
And I should really turn in my Level 1 Masters stuff. I really, really should.
I've got a partially stitched "Bargello Flames Bag" that needs to get completely frogged. I started it when I was completely in love with Bargello, but didn't quite get the scale I was working on. Well, maybe not... it *does* look pretty cool. Dunno. (And I need to finish the canvas you can see behind it, too. And find those really cool little scissors - where the heck are they now?)
So many projects that *could* be done, if I could focus/actually carry them around/still wanted them... so little time!!
Well, the Traveling Roses doll blanket wasn't working. That pattern really calls for a yarn with just a bit of fluffy to it, which, soft as it is, Dreambaby DK isn't. So, I decided to play with entrelac. And by "play", I mean see if I could remember exactly how it works, not having done any since early 2009. I'm sure I amused most of my new knitting group on Saturday by repeatedly knitting and frogging the corner "square"... by that evening, I'd finally given up, and resorted to looking up "entrelac" in Stanley. Then things went swimmingly! Haven't had much time to work on it, so I'm only on the third "row" (but given I cast on 85 stitches, and an entrelac row such as I'm doing is 1,300 stitches...):
Since I landed a Lily Chin class at the TKGA conference in July, I dug through the pile of knitting magazines I scored at last fall's Library Book Sale. I was pretty sure I had something relevant, and I did:
I wonder what the etiquette is for having teachers sign stuff at TKGA classes? If not sign it, I'm at least going to show it to her. (To see LC's post about the issue - for which she designed the cover item - click here and scroll down to the bottom post.)
Okay, I started re-knitting swatches 1&2. Nothing really interesting to photograph there. I *really* need to get going on my swatch tags already. Maybe tomorrow, I'll bring in my copy of Stanley and get my page numbers. (I have, of course, lost track of my knitting notebook somewhere in my house.)
I did get my confirmation for the Knit & Crochet Show in July, so wheee!
I'll be at Master's Day, and I got into the following classes: 1. Measuring Gauge Accurately (Arenda Holladay)
2. Celtic Cables (Melissa Leapman)
3. Advancing Finishing (Margaret Fisher)
4. Tips, Tricks and Hints (Lily Chin)
That leaves all day Saturday to run around at the market! There's homework for each, which I figure I'll start about when I send in my Level 1 binder. Which will hopefully be sooner, rather than later. Sigh!
Also got a suddenly-came-open spot in Jared Flood's upcoming Girasole Crash Course at Fibre Space in Alexandria. While paying my invoice for the class, I accidentally bought enough Neighborhood Fiber Company yarn - in a lovely, vibrant orange - for the blanket version. Yarn, it follows me home. I decided on orange because I like it - even though, really, I should've gotten deep brown and bright yellow - "Girasole" means "Sunflower".
There are a lot of very, very lovely versions of this stole out there. A small sampling:
This one, in blue, is knitted (and shot) by KayRay
This one, photo & knitting by PatQ, uses a lovely variegated yarn.
I love that her blog title is "Not Now, I'm Counting!!!"
Here's the edging of the one knitted (& photographed ) by Woolgatherer
Click on the link above for more lovely photos of the shawl,
and - even better - a spreadsheet to track your progress!
You'll be hearing all about my progress after the class. Since next winter is supposed to be just as bad as this past one (darned Almanac!), I'll want a nice woolen blanket before then!
Things I saw and didn't buy in the last 30 days (and have no plans to buy in the future):
The start of my Webkins Llama herd.
Discussed herds with spouse; no llamas allowed in the house.
Plush Peep rabbits.
Because come November, I'll be knitting 30 of 'em.
PS, can you guess what you're getting for holiday this year?
That's all I have right now. Y'all have a good weekend!!
The project: Knitting all the stitches in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory.
The yarn: Anything you want. I'm using a Phentex "Monster Ball of Yarn" (32 oz. 100% acrylic), which won't block, but will give good stitch definition.
The needles: Again, whatever you want that goes with your yarn. I'm using my beloved Lantern Moon size 7s, because they're pretty.
Why this is happening: Because lots of people want to learn new stitches this year!
This week's stitches: #38 - Single Chevron, #39 - Spaced Checks, and #40 - Squares In Squares
Okay, I need to get back in the swing of things for this giant yarn-taking-over-my-armchair project. First up, the Single Chevron. This is a "multiple of 8", and this time, I decided to go with two horizontal repeats, rather than three, for sixteen stitches. This means 7 seed stitches before and after the 16 pattern stitches. I did four pattern repeats, with an altered extra row - not exactly Row 1 again - to finish off the swatch. The altered row was *k4, p1, k3; rep from *; end with k4. Because of the extra row, there are five rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.
What I noticed about this pattern: It doesn't curl much at all, so it's acrylic-friendly, and it's quite pretty, to boot. Fast to remember, too. I may try a doll blanket out of it, or... DISHCLOTHS! I bet it would be a nifty pattern for dishcloths... it's also one of the few "fill" stitches that I didn't find really boring, either. It's regular enough that the eye would sort of glide over it if there was more interesting stuff nearby, but it's interesting enough that it could stand on its own. (Think tiny baby sweater... ooooo...) I see myself actually using this one in the near future.
Next, we have Spaced Checks. This one makes me think of dotted Minky, but you probably need fine cashmere to make it that soft! This is a "(Multiple of 10) +2" - as is the next pattern - so 22 pattern stitches it is, with four seed stitches both before and after the pattern stitches. Since it's a ten row pattern, I did two repeats, then repeated Rows 1 and 2 to "center" the swatch. I did six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch.
What I noticed about this pattern: Another easy knit, with a bit of visual interest. Because of the purl blocks, the fabric tries to pull in both ways, so it would really, really need blocking. Again, I'm thinking doll blanket or afghan square. Or perhaps a toddler sweater?
Last, but not least, we have Squares in Squares. This is a "(Multiple of 10) +2" - as is the next pattern - so 22 pattern stitches it is, with four seed stitches both before and after the pattern stitches. Since it's a ten row pattern, I did two repeats, then repeated Rows 1 and 2 to "center" the swatch. I did six rows of seed stitch before the next swatch. Yes, that's exactly what I did for the swatch above, too!
front
Back
What I noticed about this pattern: Reversible, and needs to be blocked. The squares try to disappear in on themselves otherwise!
Now, I did try to take photos of the backs of the first two swatches, too. Evidently, I was on a LOT of antihistamine due to the ridiculously high pollen count here, since I took lovely photos of the fronts again. *Sigh.* A note on the whole project: Since there are 139 stitch patterns (some are listed under multiple headings), plus 7 different edgings in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory, I'll be trying to do two to three stitches a week, minimum. This should get everyone a goodly number of new stitches by the end of the year, and hopefully get me a blanket. No worries if you "fall behind" or "start late" - this is for fun & education, there isn't *really* a time limit of any sort on it. If you're just discovering this project, this link will take you to the beginning, and this link will pull up all the related entries. Just knit on, and have fun!
