New Books... and Ideas

Hooray for the mailman!! He brought me new knitting and crocheting books this weekend. I had a nice heavy box waiting for me on my desk this morning with four new books. Just after a quick thumb through, ideas are racing through my head. AAAAHHHH!!! There is not enough time in the day to do it all!! :)

First, I got Pop Knitting by Britt-Marie Christoffersson. O.M.G. I'm loving this!!! Great pictures. Great instructions. Simple layout. BUT. BUT!! OH THE IDEAS!! She's got some really cool, edgy stuff. I'm loving the slip stitch and stockinette patterns and the holey knitting. I can't wait to try this. Must hurry to get other projects finished so I can start some new things from this wonderful idea book!

  

Second is The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert. If you don't know by now ... I LOVE GRANNY SQUARES!!! There's 75 granny square patterns plus some projects. What I love about this book besides the fabulous patterns that will make fantastic things is the book construction. Why can't all knitting/crocheting pattern books be like this? It's a hard back book with an interior spiral spine so it opens easily when working on a pattern. There are some great floral granny squares that will definitely be used toward another one of my way-cool Boho Scarves.


The other two books I got are 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet (Lesley Stanfield) and The Complete Book of Crochet Border Designs (Linda P Schapper). I haven't had a chance to thumb through them yet but the appear to be great resources with awesome pictures and instructions. I've got to have good pictures and easy instructions and these two books look like they have it. The flowers are sooooo cute! They'll be great embellishments. There are even leaves and acorns and radishes AND ASPARAGUS! besides morning glories and peonies and lavendar and roses and...and... and... Do you get the picture? :) And in the crochet borders...there must be 300 classic border motifs! HOG HEAVEN!!!

Do I have to work now? Can't I just curl up in the supply closet or empty office somewhere and look at my new books and try things out? I want to make granny squares! I want to make flowers! I want to do some pop knitting!!  

I want! I want! I want!!!!

::pout::

Yarn Nightmares

Every knitter has a stash. Usually an incredible stash of magnificent proportion. We never buy just ONE skein of yarn...we always get 2-3 skeins of that color just in case we want to knit an octopus a sweater. You never know what you will need! It's always better to err on the side of caution and get extra skeins.

Well today, it happened. With ALL my tubs of squishy goodness I call my stash and all my "hidden" stashes in baskets and drawers and suitcases and bookcase shelves and in/out trays on my desk, I ran out of yarn for a project. Yes, the unthinkable happened. Go ahead, pick your jaw up off the keyboard. It's going to be okay... I think... I hope... I pray.

See, I'm trying to finish up a baby granny afghan I started back in March. It was going to be for a worker in the deli at the office but then she left and we've lost touch. But then my new neighbors across the street are preggers so I thought... PERFECT! I've got plenty of time to finish it. Guess what. She had a bouncing little boy this weekend. UH OH!!! Baby blanket had been put on the back burner and I only had 30 squares completed out of the required 81. ARGH!!!!!

Time to reassess.

Using 81 squares is going to make this blankie about 55 inches square (9x9 with 4-inch border.) That's big. SOOOOOOOO now I think I'm going to make it an 8x8 with a 3-4 inch border requiring only 64 squares. That's do-able because I've already got 30 squares done AND another 30 center squares done. There is hope. Finished size will be about 36 inches square plus the border. Plenty big.

I was cruising right along this evening adding the white around all the color squares. Got 14 blue and yellow squares finished. YAY!!! I could have this done by next weekend. Moved on to the green squares but when I got to the 13th square, I noticed that my white yarn was disappearing. O.O  NO!!!! Very carefully, I started the 14th square watching the end of the yarn quickly approaching my hook as I crocheted around the square. Will I have enough? Can I make it to the end of this row? Those are questions that always haunt knitters and crocheters. I MADE IT! I got the 14th green square done...BUT ...BUT ...shit. shit. shit. dammit. I still have pink and purple squares to add white rows to. I looked in my project bag. (Yes, I have a bag for every project. I'm anal that way.) There was no more white yarn anywhere. Not even in all the tubs and scattered stash. dammit!!!! 

Guess you know what that means now. Means I have to go buy more yarn. shit. What a torturous thing to do...to go buy more yarn. The horror! The atrocity! The unthinkable agony! damn.

Needless to say, progress has come to a screeching halt. I can't even sew squares together cuz I ain't got any off-white worsted weight yarn. ::pout::

I laid out the squares I have so far to see how it looks and measure. It got JackCat's approval. Thank goodness! I'd hate for him to disapprove. It's not a pretty sight. I'm anxious to get it all seamed together and get the border on it. I think it's going to be really cute.

Hope there's a yarn shop open tomorrow!!!

Lost Mojo

I am such a slacker lately. I think my knitting mojo is sinking. Not sure what is up with that. I have been crocheting. It just seems nothing is exciting me right now. I know! That's sacrilege!!! A yarnie with no mojo.

My hooks have been busy making and designing bags. AND I've been making Queen Anne lace pieces for my mom. It's just that none of this sparks my drive. ugh.

There are lots of UFOs in my bags...a baby afghan, 2 sweaters, 3 bags, and LOTS of ideas of things I want to make. I would really like to enter in the county fair this year but I just don't know what. ugh.

blah.

Any help is appreciated.

FO: Spring Fling Bag

I LOVE THIS PATTERN! I have made TWO of these bags this week!!

First, it was my Infrared Flower Burst. NOW...it's a Spring Fling!

This time I used some Sugar'n Cream Hot Blue, Hot Green and Sugar'n Cream Twists Mod (I think this color is discontinued now.) I like using the worsted weight cotton for these.

It's a great cotton stash buster to make instead of washcloths. PLUS...the color combinations are just infinite! I'm looking at what all I have in my stash and how I can mix it up.The original pattern has it as all one color. BOOOOOOOOOOOORING!!!


One thing I did after the fact was cut a piece of plastic to the size of the bottom as an after-the-fact stiffener for the bottom of the purse. Next time, I'll make a more traditional stiff bottom.

I wonder what color combo will be next. :D

Wonder if I could sell these? Hmmmmmm.... How much could I sell them for?

FO: Infrared Flower Burst Bag

I was searching for some crocheted flowers yesterday and stumbled across this adorable free pattern from Chocolate Mints in a Jar... Flower Burst Handbag. I LOVE IT!

So I grabbed some cotton I had in my stash...Lion Cotton in Poppy Red, Orchid and Purple. HOT colors!! :)

Let me tell you...this is a great little pattern. Fast. Simple. Fun. and I'm done! I started it yesterday evening and finished it today.

I did make one adjustment. The pattern called for 42 chain stitches to make the handles. It was too long. I chained 28 and did four rows instead of three.

Finished size is about 10 x 2 x 12.

And it's Jack Cat approved. :)

I think I'll start another one.  Maybe turquoise and apple green. SQUEEEE!

FO: Lady Chadwick Cap Update

A couple of weeks ago I finished test knitting a new pattern, Lady Chadwick Cap, for a friend of mine. It wasn't totally finished...it still needed the finished button. Buttons set the whole mood for your knits. You want it to be just right, especially after you've spent hours, days AND years knitting or crocheting something. Again, I had a problem deciding what to which button. There are SOOOO MANY to choose from!! :(

First we looked at feathers. Then silk flowers. Then combination feather, flowers and buttons. And finally buttons. Oh man! The buttons!! o.O

We looked at a neat distressed wooden button with simple peach and teal flowers painted on it ($7). Nice. It looked good with it but it wasn't a post button. There was a really nice brass button with Celtic knot cut outs ($8). It was really nice with the cap. THEN we saw a black button with pink and teal inlay in a flower design. Oh my. $15. OH MY! DAMN!

Well, thank goodness I had a 50%-off Jo-Ann's coupon because it was the perfect button! At least I think it is. :P

It's a fabulous hat!! Can't wait for Andrea to start selling this wonderful pattern. LOVE

Mailman Love

I just love my mailman! Have I told you that? He is an AWESOME DUDE that brings me wonderful things to my mailbox ...well...most of the time. Yesterday was a happy mail day!

First... I got SPARKLES!!!! I got beautiful sparkly yarn from Forbidden Woolery. It's FABULOUS! plus... IT SPARKLES!!! Did I say it sparkles? Well, just in case I haven't told you yet...IT SPARKLES!!! The color is wonderful. I'm participating in an Olympic KAL this summer. Now I just have to figure out what to knit with such wonderful SPARKLY yarn.

Then there was a second package in my overflowing mailbox. It was from DizzySheep. JOY! They had a "spin-off" a couple of weeks ago. (It's sort of like a Woot-Off but with fiber.) Instead of offering a "Bag of Crap" like on Woot...DizzySheep offers a "Bag of Knit". It's like a mystery grab bag for $10. No telling what you'll get...yarn...roving...needles. I snatched up a couple bags. It's always exciting to see what comes in the brown paper bag. I'm always nervous about what color I'm going to get. Drum roll, please..........

Score! I got two skins of Berroco Linsey in Shell colorway (on the left). I adore anything Berroco! In the second bag was two skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery's Cotton Comfort in Mint colorway (on the right). I've never had in Green Mountain before. This will make a great baby sweater I think. It's not as soft to the first touch as I like...it's a cotton and wool blend.

Has anybody used the Green Mountain Cotton Comfort? What did you make?