Starting things...

Recently I seem to be about starting things.  

Hopefully, soon, I'll be about finishing them. 😉

Shortly after posting last week's YOP post I started on this Blue Tit Cushion:

See the legs and the tip of its tail?  This is a fun project and I hope it doesn't take me long to finish it, but honestly...  I've gotten seriously distracted with cross stitch this week.  Last week Jo-Ann Fabrics had a coupon for 40% off everything that was full price and I just couldn't let it go to waste.  So I made a list of several cross stitch projects I'd like to make, surveyed my collection of floss and fabric that was already in my possession, and made a list for some cross stitch supplies to purchase.

I came home with some Aida and Evenweave cloth in natural colors (I only had white and cream in my stash), and some beautiful floss colors.  Finally having everything I needed, on Thursday I got started on this Partridge in a Pear Tree design:

I like the original design (in the little oval picture frame), but see what looks like gray in the wings in the original design?  What appears to be gray in the original is actually two shades of blue - lighter shades than what is used on the head and underbelly.  I liked the gray.  And I didn't want my partridge to have country-blue wings.  So I'm substituting a couple of colors I had in my stash, and so far I think it's working.   I'm committed at this point, so I'm pretty determined to like it.  Hopefully I'll finish it soon.

~~~~~

And finally... feeling a little regretful that I hadn't even picked up my crochet hook since last weekend, I quickly made a little Sun's Out Coaster:

I've been keeping a crocheted coaster on the computer desk, so this will be a fun one to switch to once it heats up.  Wait a minute...  that would be now!   This is the third day in a row it's been in the 80's here.  And it's humid.  Hopefully, we'll get rain today as the weather pattern pushes through and there'll be some cooler air behind that.  I am not ready for 80 degrees in mid-May.  Come Memorial Day we can expect that kind of heat, but I want me some breezy crisp mornings for another week at least!

To see what other YOPers are up to, 

visit our group on Ravelry.

YOP Week 24, Burn Through Stash Like Crazy Week 1

This week I'm hosting a CAL in the Our Happy CAL Place on Ravelry, and I was tickled to find this easy pattern for making a Candy House Coaster:

A super quick project that uses a very small amount of yarn per coaster.  And I just want to note:  What might look like red and white marled yarn above is actually just some size 3 white crochet thread held alongside worsted weight red as I crocheted rounds 3 & 4. 

And I had a larger finish, too.  On a quest to use as much yarn from my stash as I can, it occurred to me that in doubling yarn up I could create a bulky yarn and use twice the yardage of yarn than if I crocheted with a single strand of yarn.  I didn't come up with this idea.  I just remembered it from some other genius who was also trying to use up stash.  

With my "bulky" yarn, I decided to make another of these knitted Ribbed Scarves:

The yarn is Knit Picks Brava Worsted. in the colors Black and Wine. I don't know if it's the yarn, or the thickness of this stitch done on large needles, but this scarf is so squishy soft.    I love this stitch pattern.  

Done on large needles and with bulky yarn, I can make one of these scarves in just 2 or 3 days.   It's a great mindless knit  - though I do find it necessary to check my stitches from time to time.  Checking every row is ideal, but I typically found  myself messing up and not discovering it for a row or two.  I attribute it to falling asleep while knitting - the pattern is that simple.

I like it so much, I immediately started another using some dark purple yarn (a color I wasn't very fond of) and scraps of Boutique Unforgettable yarn (in various colors).  Here's a peek:

I'd like to make another of these, but instead of using scraps of the Boutique Unforgettable, I'd like to use full skeins.  There's just way too much end-weaving going on as I use up scraps.  It's not that I mind end-weaving so much, but at the moment I'm all about using up yarn.  Spending time weaving in ends, is slowing me down from that goal!

To see what other YOPers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

2018 Yarn Stash-Down:  73.76/100 Skeins

A new YOP year...

Today is the first day of another Year of Projects year.  It's always fun to start anew, isn't it?

Many YOP participants will be sharing goal/project lists this week, but since I hardly ever pay attention to the list I create once I've posted it, and since, in the end, I don't find such a list motivating, I'm going list-free this time around!

That said, I'm not completely goal-less.  There are a few things I'd like to have happen (or begin) this summer.

• I'd really like to finish my two Spicier Life Blankets.  I'm getting tired of saying I'd like to finish them, so the time has come to just get 'em done.  They're both a little over half finished:

• And I'd like to make up some quick projects to have handy if called on to host a weekly CAL in Our Happy CAL Place (which I am one of the moderators for).  Those projects will show up here without any fanfare or explanation other than "here's what I made this week".

By the way... last week in the OHCP group this cute cup coaster was the CAL project that another member hosted:

It was easy and fairly quick - and had a video tutorial, even.  I think it might have taken me longer to weave in the ends than it took to crochet. 

• And I'm pretty sure I want to make more hats and scarves for the Bundle UP! charity drive that happens each autumn.  Hot weather is a perfect time for making these small projects.

• And I want to continue to whittle down my stash.  I haven't bought yarn for over 6 months, and I'd like to continue that streak for as long as I can manage it.  I'm open to buying yarn if it's needed to finish a project, but I'm finding the longer I go without buying yarn the more creative I actually become in using what I have.  I'm enjoying that.

Overall, I just plan to enjoy crocheting (and knitting and whatever other creative pursuits I decide on).  I like crocheting whatever strikes my fancy and discovering its purpose later - which is exactly what I've been doing the past few years.  

So...  watch this space and we'll see what shows up.  I don't think it will look any different from years past, really.  I'm just skipping the list.

~~~~~

Speaking of making whatever strikes my fancy...  I've been on a mandala kick lately, and here's my version of the Picarequese Poppy Mandala:

And just in case you missed it last week in the collage of many projects, this Vintage Petals Mandala got finished and I truly do love how it turned out:

It sits on my kitchen table under a bowl of garlic and onions and I love how the gold flowers peek out from underneath the bowl:

My kitchen table isn't a place where we sit and eat.  My kitchen isn't large enough for a sit-down table and chairs.  So a bowl of onions and garlic as a table centerpiece isn't as weird as it may sound.  If it sounded weird.  😉

And that's all for today!

To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry!

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.  ;^)

~~~~~

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!