Back to basics

Worked on an 'ole standby today....

 

Winter Dish Cloth Swap

The knitting and crochet group at my public library is having our Winter Dish Cloth Swap today.  Each participant was tasked with knitting or crocheting two dish cloths for our partner and surprising them with a little goodie to accompany the dish cloths.

I chose two free patterns from Ravelry.  I knew my partner M's color preferences were green, white, and purple, and I wanted to include as many colors as possible.  Do you know how hard it is to find a solid purple dish cloth cotton yarn in a small, rural area?  Very hard I learned and I ended up going with the greens.

First, I crocheted the Flower Power Dishcloth by Doni Speigle.  Since it was mostly double crochet, it worked up quickly and easily.

 

My second dish cloth was the Ripple Scrap Dishcloth pattern from Anastacia Zittel.  I loved the way the chevrons/ripples worked up and it kept my interest as I was crocheting.  I think I'll have to make a few of these for myself and play a bit more with the color combinations.

 

Off to the library to see what my package contains...

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

It's that time again - the time of the year when everyone is invigorated with goals and new to-do lists for the incoming year.  The crafting goals though - those just keep getting better and better. 

Before I take a look at this year's, I think it is time to revisit the 2012 goals.  They were:

1. Finish the Adeline blanket.
• Finished!  The Adeline Blanket wrapped up in April 2012 and I couldn't be happier with it.  It's currently residing on my couch and is a perfect size to cover your lap while watching TV.
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project.
• Completed!  On December 31, 2012, I knit the last few stitches and wove in the ends.  The yearlong progress on the scarf seemed slow at times but in the end, it was worth it.
3. Continue my self imposed sock club.
• Completed!  While not on time for every project, I did complete all 12 months.  Whew.
4. Knit more items that I've had marked for years! I keep post-it noting, printing, and storing the patterns.
• This was kind of....a fail.  I organized, cleaned, destashed a bit, and got most of my crafting life physically in order this year, but failed to use many of the patterns that I earmarked on my "To Do" list.  Since they didn't make the cut, I must not have wanted to knit or crochet them that badly. 
5. Try to knit more patterned socks.
• Another fail.  I didn't knit a single pair of patterned socks!
6. And finally....Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012. Any type of project as long as there are 12,000 yards at the end of the year.
• Completed and a success!  All added up, I knit, crochet, and wove 12,514 yards this year.

Overall, I think I did well.  The Adeline Blanket and the Sky scarf were both lengthy projects spaced out in between smaller ones.

For 2013, I have a simpler, more streamlined set of crafting goals.  For the past several years, I made extensive lists for everything - craft goals, personal goals, work goals - you name it, I bet you I had a list for it.  This year, I'm forcing my type A personality to take a break from the comprehensive list of previous years.  As my brother (type B personality) would have said, "Just chill."  As a result, this year's crafting goals are flexible and will allow me to craft whatever I want whenever I want. 

In 2013, I'm aiming to:

1. Participate in the 13 Finished Plucky Objects in 2013 (13Plucky2013, Ravelry link).  During 2013, I will aim to complete 13 different finished objects using yarn from The Plucky Knitter.  This will give me the chance to use some of my club colorways.
2. Stashdown!  I was originally going to set a specific number of skeins, but I felt that would tie me down too much.  Instead, my target is a 20% stash reduction by the end of the year.  I'm going to use the numbers in my Ravelry stash to help guide me.  I think it is doable and not too far out of my reach combined with my first goal. (Last year was a very good stashdown year too, I'm hoping to continue the streak).

After college and graduate school, when I had the chance to get back to crafting, I was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of crafter.  When I saw a pattern or project I liked, I gathered materials and started it.  I miss that instant inspiration and spontaneity in my crafting and I would like to get back to that.  I'm going to skip the personal sock club projects every month too and I imagine that I'll come pretty close to the same output with the stashdown goal. 

So, that's it - just two goals this year.  How about you?  Do you have goals or resolutions for 2013?

Comfort

In every crafter's repertoire, there exists a pattern or project that they can do without thinking and is immediate gratification when other projects seem unyielding, frustrating, or just plain disappointing.  This project is always in the back of your mind, you can produce it without thinking, and it is normally provides a level of reassurance when stressed, tired, or just plain bored.

I have several.  Top down vanilla socks, garter stitch scarves, and yarn winding, can all be yen activities that act as stress relief.  And dishcloths - cotton dishcloths.  Whether I have five minutes left in my lunch break or a lazy part of a Saturday afternoon, they are always instant gratification, require no thinking, and produce an amazingly useful result.

I'm working on several.

How about you?  What are some of your comfort projects?

Fan Bookmark

I whipped up this bookmark for a friend yesterday.  Since I am behind of my personal sock club, it is going to count as my July project (my rule is basically that a project has to be made out of sock yarn).  I used The Plucky Knitter's Superwash Merino Fingering in the colorway Father Goose, which is leftover from the Adeline blanket.  Quick project and it ended up using 6 grams of yarn when I was done with the pattern.

Revisitng Goals

At the beginning of the year, I set the following knitting/crochet/weaving goals for myself.  Halfway through June, I thought it was time to check in and see how I am doing. So far, not bad.  I'll have to push a little bit to get through them though.

So far,

1. Finish the Adeline blanket.  Done!  Finished!
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project.  So far, so good.  I'm caught up on the scarf and on track to have it finished at the end of the year.
3. Continue my self imposed sock club.  I've managed to meet this goal too!
4. Knit more items from my queue.  Fail!  I haven't knit that much from the queue - I haven't knit that much in general after finishing the blanket.
5. Try to knit more patterned socks.  Again, fail.  I have reverted back to plain vanilla socks.  Maybe I can try to do this for some Christmas presents?
6. Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012.  Not bad.  So far, I have used 4,984 yards and have 7,016 to go!

Adeline Blanket Border!

Do you see that? Do you know what it is?  That my friends is the base for the border on the blanket. 

It's official - the end is in sight!

I decided on a scallop edging in the gray color because, frankly, it's what I have the most of remainging.  It should mirror the double crochet in the blanket and finish it off nicely.  Before the scallop round goes on, it requires a round of single crochet to build on.  As you can see, I'm working on that right now.  I hope to have it done by the end of the week.

Adeline Blanket Update

I'm working on the Adeline Blanket slowly.  Each roud is taking close to 2 hours right and taking around 16 grams of yarn to complete.  I had two skeins of each color, and I am close to halfway done with the second skein of each color.  I have decided that the border will be the silver/gray color - since I have a third skein of it available.  The goal is to have it done by the end of the March.  We'll see how it goes!

Still chugging along...

The Adeline Blanket is stilll chugging along.  I have added several more rounds to it.  I feel like I am making slow progress though.  Completing each round now takes around two hours and I then I weave in the ends before moving on to the new color.  It is surprisingly warm though!  I'm glad that I am attemping to finish this during the winter months.

When it is completed, I am hoping that it will be large enough to use as an adult size lap blanket - big enough to curl up with on the couch.  I'll be washing it and blocking it out as well, so it might grow a bit more during that process.

I have yet to decide what the border on it will look like.  Of all the colors, I have the most remaining of the silver (a whole extra skein to be exact).  Right now, I'm leaning towards a simple scalloped edge on it - using the extra silver color.  I thought about leaving it without a border - just having the last round be the end - but now I wonder if that would be too simple or too unfinished. 

Thoughts?

The Adeline Blanket

The Adeline Blanket has been an ongoing WIP for some time now.  I started it in summer 2010 when I was looking for a crochet project to tide me over a non-knitting spell.  My family has several inherited crochet blankets and I wanted to make an updated version.  I've named it after one of my grandmothers who was the creator of several of the original blankets for our family.

Digging into the stash I found (unsurprisingly) that an astonishingly large number of sock yarn skeins had been accumulating, so I decided to put some of that fingering weight yarn to good use.  I spent several days soliciting feedback on color schemes (thanks girls!) and finally settle on the five that you see here.  The yarn is The Plucky Knitter 100% Superwash Sock.  Each skein hovers around 400 yards.  So....

10 skeins (2 of each color) x 400 yards = 4,000 yard project

This fact is exactly why this is still an ongoing project in 2012.  It is, however, listed on the Fiber Goals of 2012.  I hope to have it completed this year.  Not only do I want to use it, but I want the space in the WIP basket to start a few new things!  Since it is now halfway, I think this is a do-able project....

 

....only 2,000 more yards to go!