The unfinished objects report

Whoa, it's April - so much for finishing projects. I was/am a little too gung-ho with the knittery and had a bout of RSI-strains and have been (and should be) off the needles. In the mean time, the projects have grown. Thought I should document them to keep track. Here goes:

1) Crochet scarf (from ISBN978-4-277-17217-2): 4/20 or 24

2) Hexagon blanket (from ISBN978-4-415-10365-5): 9/85 Manage to achieve gauge so will aim for the total of 85 as in the book.

3) Ripple lap blanket: 7/70

4) Shawl/Wrap to be (Leaf and Acorn): Might be a little ambitious but it's for an occasion, so one needs to be ambitious.

5) Experimental raglan something: Got bored following patterns (you know me) so found some guides to do a custom something, so we will see.

6) Sidewinders: 1/4 of ONE sock

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2) and 3) I was initially aiming for a row and a hexagon a day - but currently about 3 weeks off "schedule", but who's counting?

4) Went to check something on the weekend and was around the area - so got more yarn from Pear Tree. It's meant for an occasion so I thought I would get better yarn for it. Except ... I got other yarn (for a jumper perhaps) from them as well. So there goes the spare "craft" money budget (not that I have not bought anything for a while now. Yarn addiction to cure fabric addiction ?) I intended to do the shawl in two colours (ground stitch in one and the leaf motif in another) but bleh.. I can't figure it out from the text. I tried to graph it but who am I kidding with my beginners knowledge.

A few reasons seems to be prolonging my knittery/crochet spell - expensive yarn (it's a waste to not use them right ? Don't remind me of my Japanese fabric stash from last year), and they are all going to be something useful for me (unlike softies - fun creative experiments, certainly less boring and the 3D-ism is a good challenge but what am I going to do with all of them?)

One down

Well, I hope the Easter break was good for you. I got some stuff done and didn't get other stuff done. I practically stayed away from the computer. Still no sewing or feltyness, but I managed to start and finished this scarf. The secret is big needles and chunky yarn (from Pear Tree). Feels like a long time since I finished something so yay! Need to check how to do blocking.

Speaking of not finishing ... I have another owl to stitch - I managed to get a spot at Brown Owls last week. I was sitting near Jhoanna and Anna Laura. Nice to meet them again. And Brooke showed me how to cable cast on (I have my own dodgy method of long tail cast on).

And another yay for a 4 day work week.

Seven

[Yarn "remnants" from Pear Tree. Lovely natural colours. Purchased at a steal from the show]

Since we are on a roll with the memes ... Chalk and cheese tagged me sometime ago for 7 things. Here goes:

1. I was one of the last among my peers to get a mobile phone.

2. Rabbit > dog > cat. Medium to big smart dogs > pretty dumb dogs.

3. Yet to get my driver's.

4. It took me 5 hours to knit about 2000 stitches (including frogging) for the sock the other day.

5. This Easter message made me laugh.

6. Got another rent increase today. I thought we were going to be evicted, so I guess it is a good bad news. Sort of. But I hope we get a place soon.

7. Saw this on Chalk and Cheese's list: I like Okonomiyaki too.

I am not tagging anyone but feel free to play along in you like.

This is ...

... my creation -> Bunny part No. XYZ.

Well the show was fun - lots of chatting and listening. I finally met Angela (also other lovely people) and remembered to play along. Better late then never.

Thanks to Betty the Geek for yesterday's installment.

Look out for the bunnies!

[Made me laugh! Lime mug = happy, via Ikea]

It's all quite late-ish (got the confirmation email few days ago, wouldn't change even if I knew earlier except maybe more parts to bring haha) - I will be a volunteer at the Living Creatively stand at Stitches 08. My slot is the last one on Sunday 16th March from about 1 to 5. The plan is for me to bring a few softies and stitch some softies (maybe more feltyness than softies) there. I don't have much stuff around so am going to grab what I have - most likely some experimental bunny parts and whatever else I can make. If anyone's going on Sunday, look out for the bunnies and come say hi.

Good mail, more on the needles

I guess I am still playing with needles - mainly because it can be done in short spans of time. I need bigger spans of time for softies. Been slack with the blog because I am slow and my WIPs and multiple frogging aren't too interesting to blog. Anyway, I finally got the knitting/crochet books from Yesasia (ordered two months ago! Some things were out of stock and I had to wait and wait).


A little disappointed with the one on the left - nice pics but a lot of them are very simple (i.e. I can make without buying a book). Japanese books in general are better matches to my way of "craft making" - I hate wordy instructions/following patterns.
These Japanese knitting/crochet books certainly do not disappoint with the diagrams - I find them so much easier to follow as I can see the "big picture" which makes it all the more doable for me.

One of the projects I want to make is the blanket on the right book. I ordered some Bendigo wool (gotta love online shopping) and they arrived on Friday. I got the wrong ply for the white - have re-ordered so need to wait. Can't wait to start this one.



My knitting is certainly way crappier than my crochet. After frogging and restarting and frogging a few projects over the week (the Endpaper mitts, the socks, the vest, etc), I started this last night. The motif is from the middle book - original in pink (yucks). I have thicker wool so the diameter is much larger. I am only making 5 of the 6 rounds in the motif since it is already quite large. I got it right the first time - no frogging. Bugger knitting.




Anyway, it's the long weekend which means bigger chunks of time so hopefully some softie experimenting in the arvo and tomorrow.

Finished

Today! It's not very like the real thing. The specimen's quite dead by now, also my lack of skill.