Sunday, September 4, 2016

With just a little bit of yarn...

It's the weather.  I'm excusing my lack of direction and inclination to work much with yarn on this beautiful weather we're having.  It's been in the 70's for the last half of this week with overnights in the 60's and 50's.  It has me happily gadding about in my free time, not doing anything particularly worth mentioning, except that well, you know... errands need running, groceries need buying, friends sometimes need lunching with...   And I've been enjoying doing all these things in the context of glorious days after several weeks of trying to avoid spending unnecessary time out in the spiteful heat and humidity and rain.

To be clear, though,  I'm not complainin'.   I'm just explainin'.   My heart goes out to those who've experienced hurricanes, tornadoes and floods in recent weeks.  How is it in your corner of the world?

What I did manage to start and finish this week are these cute little Apple Coasters:



And this simple autumn-ish doily kind-of-a-thing:

Both of these projects were short CAL's on Ravelry.  And both were made with just a bit of yarn. One of the apple coasters will sit on my computer desk this autumn.  And the doily kind-of-a-thing will hopefully find something to rest under.  A plant maybe.  Or maybe I'll just put it out with this little kitty creamer.  :)  The kitty creamer is an antique that I believe at one time was my grandmother's.  It's from the 1940's I'm guessing from what I can find online.   And the yellow formica counter top is only a couple decades younger than the kitty creamer.  Yep, that's my kitchen counter.  My sad old   stylishly vintage yellow kitchen counter.  ;^)

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On the knitting front...  I have decided not to post pictures of every single dishcloth I make, but I will report that I knitted two more simple ones this week.  One had some mistakes I tried to turn into design elements - I accidentally knitted a row on the purling side and for some reason thought purling on the knitted side later in the cloth would give me two nice" ridges", but all I really got was one nice ridge and one loosey-goosey sloppy row of purling.

Oooh, okay...  Here's a picture:

Of course, I figured out several rows after I did that loose purl row that I should have just knitted on the purl side again - and I'd have a nice tight ridge like the first one.  It was a head slapping moment, and I consider that a good thing.  That means I'm learning!

The second cloth, I'm happy to report is a work of art.  In a kindergarten knitting class, that is.  I'm getting the tension tighter on my purling.  I still don't know how anyone manages to have such perfect enough tension that they nonchalantly make lovely large items like shawls and blankets, but I'm contenting myself with seeing some slight (and somewhat consistent) improvement in this area in my humble washcloths.

On that note I want to thank you, reader, for indulging me and encouraging me in these weekly posts about my knitting progress.  I truly hope to look back on this time as a quaint and innocent period of my knitting life.  Innocent of what magnificent creations I eventually may be capable of.  :)   Wow. Where did that come from?  A week ago I was a happy humble dishcloth knitter.  This week I'm aspiring to magnificence.  =^/
~~~~~

This week (hopefully) I will get back to my second Spice of Life blanket.  Making two at a time seemed like such a good idea when I started these in July, but having laid one aside in order to finish the other during the Ravellenics I find that I've become a bit apathetic about finishing the laid-aside one.  But finish it I will.  I trust that just picking it back up again will overcome the inertia I'm experiencing at the moment.  This is such an enjoyable pattern to crochet and I actually like these colors better than the colors in the one I finished already, so really... I imagine it will fly off my hook once I get going on it again.

Here is the last progress picture I took of it (back in July):

I've crocheted a good number of rows beyond this point and I'm sure I'm about halfway finished, so really... I should be able to knock this out in a couple of weeks.  And that's so good, as I have ideas brewing.  I may have to start them before my Spice is finished if the yarn I'm waiting on arrives, but that isn't likely to happen for a few days at least.   My main goal is to accomplish something on this Spice this next week.  And probably knit another dishcloth.  ;^)

To see what other Yoppers are yopping about, visit our thread this week on Ravelry!





12 comments:

  1. Oh those apple coasters are sweet. The autumn looking thingy is perfect on your vintage counter lol. I love the colors in the dormant spice of life blanket. You are getting better and better at your knitting. Soon you want to syart designing.

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  2. Thank you for sharing your 'design element' pieces, and your explanation of how it came about. It helps a non-knitter like me to understand the process of knitting more.
    Apple coasters and Autumnish doily are fun, and I love the vintage creamer and the yellow worktop. Wish my worktop was yellow instead of red and green (yes thats right, a dull red and a dull green).
    The second Spice of Life blanket is looking great. Can't wait to see an update on it.

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  3. I love your apple coasters and the little doily, lovely autumn colours, that creamer is gorgeous. The second spice of life is lovely, I know what you mean about two at once I did that with the Around the Bases, one completed and one still to finish, I sure you will be more single minded than I am. lol.

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  4. Your coasters are gorgeous. Other people's crochet projects make me wish I could do it better. I have no where near the patience that you have with your knitting to master it, so magnificence on your part is definitely on the cards.

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  5. Your coasters are so sweet! I love them. I'd have been extremely disappointed if you were not aspiring to knitting magnificence you are much closer to it than you think or give yourself credit for. The fact you knew what you should have done does mean you are indeed learning. You should take out one of your first cloths and compare it to these ones and you will I promise see the improvements. I love the colours in this Spice of Life also and I can't wait to see it finished. I'm intrigued as to what the new plans might be...hmmm can't wait to see.

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  6. I love those apple coasters! What a cute project. Very lovely doily. Knitting takes practice and you are doing great. And when you have a moment of clarity it's awesome. Keep at it!!

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  7. Terrific progress made :) I really like the fun apple coasters. And the crochet spice blanket, weelllll what can I say, beautiful work. By the way I have done that many a time knitting or pearling when I should have knitted etc ....

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  8. Your coasters are so inspiring! Particularly that apple coaster. It won't be any time at all before knitting will be a breeze and it will open a whole new world of projects that you will love - including socks!!! Or maybe they crochet socks? I don't know enough about it but I do know knit socks are one of the pleasures in life :)

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  9. I love those coasters....let's face it...I love everything you do. Also, your doily looks LOTS better than mine! I think your knitting stitches look very good! I was going to mention my cloths with the Halloween designs have lots of purling and knitting for getting practice in your tension as one side is mostly knit stitches and the other side is mostly purls. Just a thought. I love the colors of your Spice of life...I think your other one was for summer and this one is your fall version. Now you can make one for Winter and Spring! I want to copy everything you do. Have a great week and I hope you are far from Hermine!

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  10. I feel like such a copy cat. I've added the autumn doily to my ravelry page and I think I'll start knitting dish cloths as a way of practicing my knitting. Once I finish my granny squares I plan on a starting a Spice of Life blanket. I want to use up yarn I've had for a long time. This seems like a great project for using stash yarn. You have the best ideas and they are always so pretty! I promise I won't make everything you do.

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  11. I've had those coasters on my mind for a while. Too cute!
    I was looking through my yarn stash the other day and decided some old fashioned doilies in bright colours might be just the thing to cut down on some of this stash.
    Good luck with the blanket: I think I am blanketed out for a while but I like to see what other people are hooking up.
    Happy Days!
    Jenn

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  12. So excited that you are getting into knitting!! Looking forward to seeing your progress! If you ever have questions, you can always email me and we can knit-chat :)

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