Why I started Knitting

Walmart. I was a poor 20-something, not in college, but not remotely established person, and I did most of my clothes shopping at Walmart. I hate shopping, and will only do non-FOOD shopping when I absolutely have to. So some of my tops were wearing out, and I absolutely NEEDED new clothes. So I bought a few sweaters (same composition, one was yellow and one was blue) and I think some jeans, and took my new purchases home. Those sweaters were the absolute epitome of scratchy. And that is what triggered my wanting to learn how to knit.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could make a less scratchy sweater, even if I used the cheapest, scratchiest yarn I could find. So- I set about teaching myself to knit. It took awhile. But I learned. And I love it. It also helps my ADD.

And bizarrely- I haven’t actually knitted a sweater for myself yet.
And it’s been twelve years.

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DIY Musings

To date I have learned how to make my own candles, soap, and POO SPRAY.
I have also found a better delivery method for fabric softener. It uses FAR less than what we used to use, and the clothes feel the same. (I have not graduated to wool dryer balls yet, knitters. It’s okay. lol)

I have also started making and freezing waffles and pancakes for future breakfasts. (They heat up just like the store-bought ones and taste better! Plus- no crazy added preservatives!) I have also started storing cookie dough for when I need it (That reminds me- I need to make a batch… I think we’re out of cookie dough.)

I think next I will try deodorant. Why? Because most commercial brands are deodorants PLUS antiperspirants. Bad combo. You never want to stop your body from perspiring (sweating). That’s like preventing a dog from panting on a hot day. It’s how he cools down, and no good will come from blocking it. Plus- I’m always complaining about how women’s deodorant always costs $1-2 more than men’s. WHY?

So what’s with this sort of health kick? Well- it’s not REALLY a health kick.
I’m thrifty (the nice way of saying CHEAP). And if I can find a cheaper alternative to things that work just as well as store-bought, then I’m a happy camper. And if I can do cheaper, AND HEALTHIER? Well that’s just a no-brainer.

And now for something completely different!

You know how you get little novelty items for Christmas that you never use? Well occasionally one turns out to be useful. This is that one.

Old Crocheted Lapghan

So. My MIL is on a cleaning binge right now, and my hubby came home with a crocheted lapghan that used to belong to his grandmother/greatgrandmother… not sure which.

I’m pretty sure it was knit in the late 60’s. (Or maybe just using 60’s era acrylic yarn). To me- this thing is hideous. I’m not a fan of granny squares to begin with (although I have seen a few blankets on Ravelry that seemed to use them in unconventional ways), and this is DEFINITELY a stash blanket. As in I have a lot of leftover colors from crocheting various things, so I’m just going to stash down and put them all in a blanket. Yay, me.

Now, don’t get me wrong- with a little planning and coordinating- stashing down can create FABULOUS works of art that deserve to be on display in a museum somewhere. This is not one of those.

And this thing is already older than me (I’m certain of this), and will probably be around long after I’m dead. So I probably will wash it, inspect it for soundness, and (if the hubby doesn’t want it) we can donate it to some blanket charity. On initial quick inspection- one of the granny squares is broken. I may sew that back together. One thing is for sure- it will definitely keep someone warm.

WIP Monday!

This post is coming in a little late (I usually post in the mornings), but you know how it is with holidays- your schedule gets all out of whack.

Here is my current progress on my FIL blanket:

If it doesn’t look like much- compare it:

Original Pic:

Current Progress:

(Here’s a hint- count the blue stripes.  They accidentally started a pattern that I like, so I will be continuing that blue stripe regularly.)

And here is my progress on the colorwork hat:

I would like to be farther on that one, but I’ve been making myself work on the blanket.  After all-  Father’s Day is June 21st.  And that is now less than a month away!  Yikes- time is flying faster than I’d like it to!

And I have husband socks to knit… daddy’s girlfriend’s shawl… and another hat plus earwarmers for my friend Tracy.  Must finish this blanket!  It’s the time suck.  Once it’s done, there will be room for the others.

Look what followed me home!!

*sigh*

They don’t even have to knock me out anymore.
They just wave and jump into my arms.

It’s another one of my favorites- a Noro-like yarn.
I’m not surprised it came home with me, but I AM surprised by the colorway. It’s called CANDIED. And it’s very bright, and rainbow-y. I’m not usually a rainbow-kind of person.

I should also mention that I was just there to buy finishing needles (as I have misplaced my eyeglass case with all of them in it). See- this is why I wanted to separate my supplies out. But now- I’m confident that I will find it. You know- now that I’m NOT looking for it.

I’ve been cheating.

Shh! Don’t read that sooo loud!

I’ve been working on my colorwork hat.
I’m SUPPOSED to be working on the mitred square blanket.

There are two reasons for this.

1. The colorwork hat is more portable, and it stays in my everyday tote. So it’s also more accessible. I can get 1/2 a row done on break… on the ride home… It starts to add up.

2. The blanket is getting huge, and it’s not so easy to carry around. So I can only really work on it at home.

I’m three rows into the charted design for the hat, and even the challenge of carrying three colors across the back isn’t slowing me down much. I also had a minor heart attack that I had written out the pattern wrong on Row 2 last night. And by wrong- I thought that I had miscounted that row in the pattern and added 10 extra stitches somewhere. I didn’t. I just kept skipping from 120-130 in my head as I was counting up that row on paper, so I was coming up with 150 total, instead of 140. I’m special.

I am going to put stitch markers in, so I know where the divide between the four charts are. So that will mean that I’m only counting a max of 40 stitches at a time, rather than counting the whole 140. (The chart was broken into four – three 40 stitch charts and the last one was 20 stitches. So if I put stitch markers like that- the max I will have to count back if I get lost is 40 stitches.)

Pics on WIP Monday! (They should be pretty spectacular, since that is a holiday here in the U.S. and I don’t have to work!!!)

Time to talk about your UGLIEST Finished Object (FO)!

I was recently strolling through the Your Ugliest FO thread on Ravelry, and I thought I’d share mine with you.

It’s soo bad- it’s not even on my Ravelry project page. Not frogged, not hiding out with no picture- it just never made it there. It was made in November 2009. And there were sooo many things that went wrong with this simple little project.

#1: I bought the yarn on a whim.
It was a pretty little donut, so I bought two of them. (I need to stop doing this. This is also why I have some cream-colored thick/thin fingering weight yarn that basically looks like malformed twine. I bought it, cause it was pretty and looked interesting. And that’s when I found out that I HATE thick/thin yarn.)

-The yarn is Moda Dea. I’ve checked the yarns in Ravelry, and I can’t find this one’s name. It was something like Moda Dea Sparkle or Moda Dea Glimmer. (I’ve since lost the ball bands.) The closest one I can find in construction is Impact! Impact! also has the painted on sparkly bits like my yarn.

#2: I was forcing the yarn to be something it did not want to be.
I thought I’d take the next step in knitting and make a moebius scarf. I didn’t know how to make a moebius scarf, so I just knit until I ran out of yarn. It fought me every step of the way. It feels too flimsy to hold a proper shape of anything but the simplest of patterns.

#3: I lost the second donut mid-scarf.
*sigh* So I ran out of yarn much sooner than expected.
It’s too short. It’s almost a moebius choker.

#4: I hate finishing, so I just twisted an end, and safety pinned the ends together.
(It’s still safety pinned together.)

#5: It’s really, REALLY ugly.
The sparkly bits don’t actually sparkle…. I think black was a bad choice.
And the “gold” needs to be brighter. And maybe not painted on.

Oh and did I mention that I found the second donut? Years later it wandered back into my stash. Yes, YEARS after looking everywhere for it. IT is now sitting quietly in a sandwich bag, WITH the scarf. I’m not sure if I want to finish it properly, though. It’s still VERY ugly.

So. Which of YOUR FOs do you think are ugly?

WIP Monday!

So. This is where I am on the Helm’s Deep Hat:

I know- it doesn’t seem like I’m very far, but I am half a row away from starting the main colorwork pattern. So I stopped to write out the pattern.

Here is the goal:

Ignore the coloring. It’s just the words and the font. They will all be sort of one color (Helm’s Deep) against the Seraphim (light purple) background.

And here are the first five rows of the charted word written out:

And I have 34 more rows (140 stitches each) spread out on 10 more pages. It took a while to write out. A LONG while. But I don’t really mind. I just have to pay attention for 39 rows, then I can start decreasing. Once you start decreasing- the ride’s pretty much over!

And now it’s time for a reality break. You know the blanket I’ve been knitting for my FIL? Well… Father’s Day is coming up. Wouldn’t it be nice to finish it and give it to him for Father’s Day? Crap. I SHOULD put the fun hat aside and throw myself full throttle into the blanket. There’s only a month left until Father’s Day.

So… I will probably postpone my crazy little experiment and knit madly on my FIL blanket. *sigh* But- the quicker I finish, the sooner I can get back to my hat, right?

Right!

Let me Introduce you…

To my favorite yarn! And it’s not bamboo!
(Bamboo is my favorite TYPE of yarn. This is my favorite yarn.)

Basically it LOOKS like Noro. So if I’m in love with a yarn that LOOKS like Noro, then I should love Noro, too, right? Wrong. Noro doesn’t FEEL right. It’s a little too rough/scratchy for my taste. But this- this is perfection. Soft and pettable, but strong. And I love most of the colorways. It is 23% wool and 77% other things. Mostly acrylic, cause I’m an acrylic girl! I still have six or so balls of it in different colorways. (My goal this weekend is to find out just how much I have, snap pics, and add it to my Ravelry stash.) The one in the upper left corner of the pic is Universal Yarn, which is 30% wool. I think 30% is about my limit for personal items. I live in Tennessee (and not the mountain-y part), so it gets very hot here. And we have mostly mild winters, so 30% wool is about all the weather will let me have.

The majority of this type of yarn in my stash is Debbie Mumm Traditions, which WAS a JoAnn’s store yarn. It’s discontinued now. I found the Universal Yarn (Classic Shades) on a trip to KnitWitts in Evansville, IN. Lion Brand also has one, called Landscapes, but theirs is 100% acrylic. (I will have to try it, but I’m a little afraid that it won’t wear the same, because there is no wool in it. Plus- it only has seven colorways.) Speaking of- Lion Brand calls it roving yarn, which is weird to me, because I’m used to roving being bulky, super bulky, and OHEMGEE THAT’S HUGE. The idea that you could have thin roving just doesn’t compute in my brain. But- if roving is a category, then it is worsted roving. (Because if you’ll remember- worsted is my favorite yarn weight.)

Most of it says hand wash, but I’ve machine-washed it, and it turns out fine. I just don’t add heat. So machine-wash cold, and dry flat. No tumble dryer.

The comments on Traditions are less than flattering. Since it is more roving than yarn, you will have a problem with tinking or ripping back. The wool makes it stick to itself, so you will have to tug at it, for it to let go. Also people have had problems with the core showing. I have not had this problem. It does bunch a little, but you can control that. Basically- touch it as little as possible in the knitting process, and you’ll be fine. I would advise not using it for complicated patterns, though. Huge cables or lots of lace won’t work. It’s just not that type of yarn. It is perfect for garter, stockinette, or ribbing, though.

So basically- I like the softer Noro knockoffs. (And for the record- I love most of the Noro colorways. I just can’t stand the feel of it. If they ever figure out how to make it softer- I probably will become a Noro convert.)