Done

The baby blanket is all done. I actually got it finished right after schooling wrapped for the day. I didn't even pick up the video game once during the day either. Instead I read a lot and picked up the half done, well not half, maybe quarter-done, Armenian lace necklace that I had abandoned when I started the blanket in the first place.

This is the other one I made when I did the triangle ones. I had it made in the cream thread so I felt the need to do it in black as well. So that took some of my afternoon. Of course that leaves me with no projects to start today with. I'm sure I'll think of something, because if I don't, it'll be back to the video game and that just doesn't give me the same feeling of accomplishment that making tangible objects does.

Weekend Recap

Let's see, there has been much knitting, but I am still not done with the baby blanket.  I didn't really expect to be though. Then I got a custom order over the weekend, so I shifted gears and worked on that nonstop to get it done in time to ship out today.

The biggest problem making this piece was that I haven't done so in a long time and I didn't have one on hand to use as a reference. I had to rely on my photographs and thus screwed up more than once and spectacularly.  It took me probably twice as long as making it again would take me now because of all the picking out of stitches and redoing of them. It's done now though and I should be able to get out in the post today. That will get me back to the blanket that I still have two weeks to finish. I should get it done this week, unless I get sucked into another project. Though I would appreciate any new project at this point especially if it's a piece whose pattern I actually have memorized.

Again

Another day, another few inches of blanket created. It was actually an odd little day. There was hair dying right after schooling. Then I taught the oldest child to do her own laundry. Later the kids actually helped with the dishes and we did facial masks in the evening. In between all that there was knitting and reading. My shop as been quiet, but then again that's really the new normal, so I'm just going to keep knitting. When the blanket is done then I'll start wondering what lace to make. Until then, knitting and reading and boring blog posts.

Nothing Much

Yesterday was just knitting and reading. I did also did some hair bleaching, but that's about it for the day. The blanket is about halfway done based on the fact that I finished the first two skeins of yarn and started on the last two. So that likely means it will take another week of fairly constant knitting to get it done which will be about a week earlier than my deadline. I suppose that means I can slow down a little bit, but not much, may remake the beetle wing necklace soon. I guess we'll see how the day goes. I'll try to get a picture of something interesting so tomorrow's post isn't so depressingly boring.

Just Knitting

I didn't manage much creativity yesterday I'm afraid. After schooling, I ran errands. I did a little yard work which mostly just taught me that I have much more yard work to do than I feel like tackling. Then I went inside and started knitting and reading. That was basically my day. I made good progress on the baby blanket and finished reading on novel and started the sequel.

Today is likely to be  quite similar, well save for the yard work. I don't think I'll be doing that to myself again so soon. I might, but it's more likely that I'll try to get more of the blanket done. I love that the pattern looks so random, but it's not. It's also got some interesting texture due to the slipped stitches, that you probably can't see here. Luckily, it is also super easy so I can read while I'm knitting. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something with my day.

Weekend Recap

My weekend was mostly filled with wonderful evenings of friends and days of cleaning, so I didn't really work on anything for the shop. I also started a knitted blanket project because my brother and his wife are having a baby in the spring. Most of my sitting time was devoted to that. It's just a small baby blanket so if I keep at steadily, I should get it finished in a couple of weeks.

I also got a couple of sales in my shop over the weekend. One piece was a quick remake, but I'm still deciding if I'm going to remake the other or not. It's the necklace with the beetle wings and remaking it is definitely a project. I think I might try to get the new Armenian lace pieces ready to list first. I didn't make them in any more colors, yet, but I can still just list them with available custom options. That way I also won't end up with pieces that never sell because I picked the wrong colors. So I guess that's the plan for today. This week promises to be an odd one though, so we'll just have to see how the rest of it goes.

One Done

I had quite a weekend. I finished the enormous novel Jerusalem on Friday. It was definitely worth the read, though again it is not for everyone. I feel like I learned things and achieved something by finishing it. I get the feeling it would have meant even more had I been from Northampton, or really any other small city with real history, but here the history is awfully shallow.

Saturday, I knitted a lot because we were binge watching Luke Cage on Netflix pretty much all day. The binging spilled over into Sunday as well as the knitting. There was another fun task on Sunday though. We recently had a false alarm with all our smoke alarms going off and we learned that you're supposed to replace them all every 10 years. So, alarms were ordered and we sussed out which circuit they were all on, since they're all interconnected in our house. Sunday it was up and down ladders to get them all wired, installed and tested. Basically my legs are sore and I'm surprised that I can hear again today.

I did make significant progress on the knitted blanket, but there's more work still of course. I also got in the other shadow box frames for the doilies, so I might take some time today to get those all mounted. There were no orders in the shop over the weekend, so these are the only tasks I have to start the week with. Here's to a good one.

Knit

Another day of knitting and reading under my belt. I'm at 95% for the book and I got another whole pattern repeat on the knitting project. I was unfortunately, not interrupted by anything more interesting though. I edited the color out of this project too since it is slated to be a gift like all the doilies were. I really do doubt that the intended recipient will stumble upon it as I don't think anyone I know in real life actually reads my nonsense, save for the husband and maybe a couple of friends. Better safe than sorry though, right?

This weekend's plans involve binging a new show on Netflix with the family and likely not leaving the house, so I'm hoping to get the novel read by today and I guess I'll have tons of time to knit then. I'll keep crossing my fingers for a new idea or project to come up though. We've had a lot of unexpected expenditures lately and I could really use some sales.

Nothing Pictured

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of anything yesterday, so I've got nothing of interest to show you. I did spend much, if not all of my day, knitting and reading. I reached the 90% mark in the novel and with a book this long, that both feels great and is likely a misleading milestone. I also made some nice progress on the knitting project. I'm on the fourth repeat of the pattern so it's finally starting to embed in my head. Well, that was a weird sentence. I guess what I meant is that I'm starting to work more from memory than with the printed pattern.

I start today just like yesterday with no other projects besides the knitting and reading. I don't think that I'll finish the book today. In fact I'm pretty sure the end it's still quite a few days away, but hopefully I'll make another small dent in it and maybe another repeat of the knitting pattern. Really though, I'm hoping for something more interesting to happen to give me another lace project. Anything will do, really, pretty much anything.

Knit

I didn't get any new orders in the shop yesterday, so I was left to my own devices finding something to do with my time.  I opted for knitting, reading, and catching up with my DVR. It's amazing how full that thing gets when we're out of the house for five days. I still haven't made a real dent in it. The kids also want to use the television though, so that gave me time for reading.

The knitting I'm doing is a nice and easy draped vest pattern. I adore clothing that layers and drapes. The bonus of this one is that because it's sleeveless, there is no seaming at all. It's just knit in one big rectangle with arm holes. Simplicity at it's finest. In fact if I hadn't had such problems keeping the seed stitch correct while in the car I probably would have finished it on the trip, but I did, so I didn't.

I continue to have no tatting in queue, so I suppose there will be more knitting and reading today and likely throughout the weekend. Hopefully something interesting will happen to get me back to the needle soon. I feel like I should be making something new and different, but i haven't a clue what yet. Maybe it's the early Spring in the air.

A Bit Better

I was still pretty out of it yesterday with the cold, though I seem to be a bit better this morning. It's really too soon to tell how the day will progress, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm finally on the upswing. I'm even typing better this morning. I mostly worked on the knitted lace top I showed you yesterday. I'm using this Cancun Boxy Lace Top pattern as the base, but since I could never get away with wearing something so short, I'm doing it longer and I might muck about to give it more sleeve as well, but for now I've finished one side.

I also remade this tatted bracelet after sending one off to it's new owner. Well that's not exactly the right order. I checked to see if the measurement of the one I had made matched the length in the listing and it was too short so I made a new one first with the right length then edited the listing to reflect the length of the one I had on hand. I tat much tighter than I used to and I find that when I remake old pieces they get shorter. They look better too, but that's not the point. Replicating my older pieces is getting more difficult as I must now change stitch counts so they work properly. Luckily that's only something another tatter might catch as a difference. I try my best to make sure they still look like the photographs.

I did get another order in the shop yesterday, quite unexpectedly. That means along with my knitting I also have a pair of barefoot sandals to tat up. I rarely finish those in one day, so that gives some work for tomorrow as well. I'm still thinking on what to do for a giveaway, but I want to do something before the week is out. My brain seems less foggy now though, so perhaps today is the day I get a good idea. Anything's possible, right?

I Have a Cold

It was quite a whirlwind weekend. Adding to the excitement was the cold that my husband successfully passed onto the rest of us. Yep, I am currently pretty miserable and have been for the last couple of days. Luckily the worst of it didn't hit until after Christmas. We did have a lovely holiday with over 20 people in the house. There were gifts and food and pure chaos. We even managed to get it all cleaned up before misery won and I collapsed on the couch with a Doctor Who marathon for two days.

While my mind was muddled by virus...well, it still it, but that's not the point, I knitted. I found a pattern for a lacy boxy sweater that matched the size of the yarn I have on hand. It's been a nice, simple, repetitive pattern and that's exactly what I needed to keep my hands busy, but my mind resting.

I did receive just one order over the weekend, so I have a bracelet I'm going to tat up today. If history repeats, the rest of this month will see little to no sales in my shop, so it's time to see if I can wake up my creativity again. I think I might have to wait until the virus is dead though...I can barely type a coherent sentence this morning.

Here's to getting better fast and getting my brain back on track.

Knit

It was a housework kind of day yesterday. No new orders in the shop so when the time did finally come to sit down and catch up on shows with the kids, I opted for a little knitting.It's nothing big, nor fancy, just something to keep my hands busy when they would otherwise be idle.

As the days go by, it does get less likely that I'll get any more sales in the shop before Christmas. It's just getting too close to shop anywhere that ships first class. If you were running late though and wanted anything faster, I can ship priority upon request. Otherwise I'm just trying to focus on everything else that needs doing this time of year.

Once the holidays are past I usually have the time and inclination to start designing again, so I'll just start looking forward to that and start thinking about what I might want to create. Until then I'll clean and knit and try not to stress out on anything.

Current Etsy Shop Sale: 15% off with the code HOLIDAY215. Code is good through Dec. 20

Weekend Making

Unfortunately the weekend did nothing to alleviate the tatting slump I'm in. My shop stayed mercilessly quiet and I found other fiber arts with which to occupy my sitting time. Of course I had less sitting time that I would have liked as we continued cleaning out the garage on Saturday. I also tackles more cleaning inside the house in a feeble attempt to keep it clean for the upcoming holidays. More cleaning now means less then, maybe.

What I did do was finish the knit triangle scarf. The second time was charm. I knit it on rather large needles the drape was much, much better this go. It was also significantly larger with the same amount of yarn. I'm just glad it's finally done.

On Saturday afternoon, after the cleaning and some rest, I actually browsed through pages of patterns on Ravelry looking for something to make. I settled on a crochet bag that I could hand on our coat rack and keep all our fingerless gloves in. Yes, I crocheted something to keep all the things I already knitted it. I used this pattern, though I mucked with it a lot. I added some rounds. Then I decided to trim the bottom with a scallop, you know since I still had some yarn left in the skein. Though I realize that you can't see said scallop in this picture. When it hands on the coat rack, it's perfectly visible.

So that's it then. No sales in the shop for over a week now. No tatting ideas and I'm starting to run out of extra stash yarn to play with. The house is even clean, so I can't distract myself with that either. Here's hoping something changes really, really soon.

Elephant

I started the day just working on the knit triangle scarf, but halfway through schooling we took a look at the calendar. There was one more kid's birthday before Christmas that needed a gift. The kids assured me that an elephant would be perfect, so I made one.

I found the pattern on Ravelry here. Yet again I managed to find one that needed no sewing at all. Those are my favorite ones. Funny thing is I don't mind sewing, I just like to not have to do it while crocheting or knitting. It took much of the day to get this one put together though. There was a little complicated short row nonsense in creating the trunk and head, but it turned out so nice it was worth the extra effort.

After I finished the elephant it was back to knitting the scarf. It's been a couple of days since any sale in my shop and a few more than that since any actual pieces were sold, so I'm quickly sliding back into a tatting funk. I was hoping that the creating and posting the patterns would jump start sales or just my creativity, but it seems I was wrong on both counts. Here's hoping the weekend brings winds of change.

Ugh

Let's see, I really didn't do much yesterday. The husband had the day off and the children didn't have school either so we ran some errands and watched some television together. While I sat I finished the triangle scarf I was making, realized that it was awful and then unraveled it. Sometimes following patterns exactly as written is just the wrong thing to do.

I did start over on the scarf. This time I used much larger needles and it seems to be working up much nicer. I can already tell that it will lie better, or is that lay better? How about, it will clearly drape better.

I'll keep working on this while I wait for a better idea. Of course last time I waited for a better idea, I wrote up yesterday's pattern for the blog. If I keep doing that to cure boredom I'll probably never sell another piece in the shop. I definitely need to focus more and making some money especially given the time of year. So here's to a busy shop and busy hands sooner rather than later.

Knit

I stalled for a really long time yesterday hoping that something would come up, a sale, an idea, something. Of course nothing did and even though I had laundry to do and a few other domestic tasks to attend to I started feeling the dreaded boredom. I tried thinking of something new to tat, but I was coming up blank. Instead I browsed through Ravelry looking for patterns that might fit the yarn I have on hand. I landed on a small triangle shawl shaped scarf.

 I'm nowhere near done with it, which is good. That gives me something to do with my hands while I wait for a sale or an idea. I actually think that if this one turns out good, it might make a nice gift for the one niece that was not feeling the crochet cardigan. Of course I'd buy fresh yarn for her, but first I have to finish this one. It's really hard to tell how it'll look when it's still on the needles because of the weird construction of triangle scarves.

That's all I've got then. I'll knit until something comes up. Oh, thanks to all of you out there who have picked up my new pattern. I know I priced it a bit on the high side, but it was definitely the longest one I've ever written. I hope you feel like it's worth it and I can't wait to see everyone's work from it.

This and That

Alright, so let's start off with the weekend finished sweater. Okay, so there's that. It's far from perfect, but it did prove that there is an easier way to knit a wearable sweater than knitting a bunch of pieces ans seaming them together. There was no seaming at all for this one. It was worked from the top down and the arms were added on at the end from held stitches. If I ever run across some nice, cheap, thicker yarn, I might give it another go just to see how it looks with bulky yarn. Either way, it's wearable, so a success.

That of course, is not what I did yesterday. Yesterday I constructed the oldest child's Halloween costume. She decided she wanted to be Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. So most of the individual bits she needed for the costume could be ordered, but I had to create the design on the tunic. Since the fabric I was using wasn't stretchy and the tunic was, the best way was to unfortunately sew everything by hand. This picture was before I actually sewed the lighting bolt on and the last bit which was to add a yellow border to the bottom edge as well. My fingers are still a little sore this morning from the task, but I finished it. We still need to get or make a mask and an arm band, but those are small projects compared to this last part.

I also managed to do a little tatting with my day as well. I
was just remaking this simple metal free choker for the shop. After all that sitting and working, we spent the rest of the afternoon moving about our existing decor to create Halloween displays. The only decorations we tend to put away are the lights, window clings, and some gauzy fabrics. Everything else is on display all year long. So we definitely used our day off from schooling to its most productive end. I even started another crochet project in the evening that I think might lead to a potential holiday gift project, but it's too early to tell.

Today it's back to schooling and only having a little time to waste with yarn and thread. I think I'm actually looking forward to it.

Boring

Well, I kind of failed this weekend. Not because I didn't finish knitting my sweater, I did, I just didn't take any pictures of it so I have to proof. More importantly, I have no pictures to make this post less boring, sorry. I did have to unknit and reknit the bottom of the sweater more than once to get the finishing right. The first time was just to do the new bind off that I discovered. It includes a yarn over element that makes it super stretchy and perfect for this loose knit sweater. Then with the curl up from the stockinette stitch, it was just a bit too short, so again I unknit the bind off and did a few more inches of knitting before doing it again. The sweater was done on Saturday morning, but we were so busy with other things I never stopped to get photos.

We had to do some cleaning because there were relatives visiting briefly. That visit also added to our days events on Sunday. I did spend some time on Sunday learning how to crochet a small skull, for no other reason that it looked like something interesting to do. Again, I have no photographic proof that that happened either. There was even a little time spent tatting up a necklace.

So that leaves me here with today's plan. The kids have the day off school, so we will likely spend some more time cleaning and decorating the house with the small portion of Halloween decor that we actually put away, which is about a quarter I'd say. I also have a costume to finish for the oldest child. So that should keep me busy. If I remember, I'll try to get pictures of the weekend things to liven up the post tomorrow. Here's hoping I remember.

Arms

Though I did get a sale in my etsy shop yesterday, thank goodness, I had already made two of the piece that sold. This means that the sale didn't give me any reason to tat another. Although I might take a break from knitting today to do so anyway, just for the sake of tatting. I was just on a nice roll with the sweater I'm trying to construct. I took some time right after schooling to move the piece from one circular needle to two so I could try it on and lo and behold it fit well. I really didn't know if it was going to work at all given all the liberties I had taken with the base pattern. Really, the only time I was on pattern was the first 10 rows or so.

In fact I managed to get all the way to the bottom of the sweater and start on one arm yesterday. Of course it wasn't all roses, I didn't really like the bind off edge I had done, so once both arms are complete I'm likely going to rip back the bottom a bit and give it another go. I know I've done a loose enough bind off on projects before, I just can't remember which ones right now. I'm certain the Internet will provide all the answers. At the rate I'm working I might should have a wearable garment by Monday. That is of course, unless I muck something up horribly, which is a real possibility.

So I guess I'm going to try for some knitting, some tatting, and probably a little way overdue cleaning. Hopefully I'll emerge on Monday with more things to share.