Eeek, Steeks!

This is the body of the East Meets West Satchel: See that sort of checkerboard pattern across the middle? I have to reinforce it and then cut it into two pieces. I'm scared.

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday? The last week or so has been one awful fog. My brother fell and injured his spine. His arms and legs are slowly coming back to life, but it's going to be a long haul. Any prayers or good vibes or kind thoughts sent in Bob's direction are appreciated.

I caught the flu from hell right about the same time as he got hurt. I was able to work on my favorite WIP once I could drag my sorry behind out of bed. It is theraputic when one wants to travel (brother lives in another state) and cannot. This is the strap of the East Meets West satchel:

I've got a good chunk of the front/back done. It is knit in one piece and then gulp steeked. It's fun. It is also not going to travel with me when I go see Bob next week. 20 balls of Palette aren't exactly portable. Maybe I'll get some of those abandoned Cookies done.

See more WIPs at Tami's Amis.

Many started, nothing finished

I am having fun with the East Meets West Satchel, but it is going to take some time. It involves 20 different colors of fingering weight yarn, teeny needles, and many stitches.

I was distracted by a pattern for a cat nest. It looks a bit like an igloo. I crocheted it out of some old sugar n cream cotton. It is done, but neither cat has attempted to enter it yet. I think the entrance may be too small. I read somewhere that a cat's whiskers act like sensors. If they touch both sides of something, the cat thinks it won't be able to go in. Also the weight of three strands of cotton yarn tends to make the top collapse. I'm considering making the base a little smaller, the entrance a little bigger, and finishing it with a hook size smaller.

I haven't touched any of the three pair of socks in progress since the satchel yarn arrived.

I haven't touched the temperature scarf since the yarn and patterns arrived for the socks. I continue to record the daily highs in a little journal. I'm considering doing all the rows for each month once a month. I think it will result in fewer loose ends having to be worked in.

WIP Wednesday: Cookies!

1. Newton Socks (sock 1)
2. Striation Socks (sock 2)
3. Ernie Socks (sock 1)
4. not a Cookie, but food-related. Secret project.

My inability to focus on a single project is now complete. This arrived today:

It's the yarn for the East Meets West Satchel. I suspect the only cookies in my immediate future will be that bag of Ginger Men I bought at Publix this afternoon.

More WIPs at Tami's Amis.

Nom Nom Nom

Cookie A 2013 sock club bag and February's yarn. It's from Indigodragonfly, who as I already knew, offers some really nice yarn. This is a favorite blend: 80% superwash merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon. Indigodragonfly is also know for their creative and hilarious yarn and color names. This color is "E Pluribus Nom Nom Nom (out of Many Jars, one Cookie). The color in the picture is exactly right. Camera had to do it right eventually.

What do I do with it?

This is:

• 500 yards of 3 ply sock yarn
• 40% merino/40% mohair/20% nylon
• darker green than the picture (I tried taking a picture indoors and it came out looking blue)
• one of the oldest yarns in my stash
• one of the yarns on my use-it-or-lose-it list

500 yards is too much for one pair of socks but not enough for two pair. The mohair makes it a bad idea for anything that would go anywhere near my neck (shawls and the like).

It was a swap gift that came from a mill in Canada. It's nice yarn and I want to use it, but I'm stuck.

Update: I have an idea now. I've been checking the Ravelry pattern recommendations every day. They've gotten a lot better for me (baby and children patterns haven't shown up). There's a horseshoe shaped shawlette that looks like it will work. The tips can be made to overlap a little bit. It sits on top of whatever you're wearing and not next to the skin.

East meets West

The little knitting devils keep poking me with their needles. They say, "It's been 8 days since you finished your last huge crazy project. You must find a new one." It was inevitable that I would find something (in)appropriate to start.

The ironic part of this is that I came across it in the Use-It-Or-Lose-It group on Ravelry. You'd think those people would be into using up stuff, not encouraging people to join a KAL that involves 20 new balls of Knit Picks Palette. ::whining voice:: But the kit's on sale!

It's the East Meets West Satchel. When I read that it is taking some people years to knit and it's the hardest thing they've ever done, I was completly sucked in.

I'm going to pretend I didn't see the post about casting on 450 stitches.

FO Friday

The Flight Socks are done:

The other pair of Cookie A from December are not done. There's still a chance I'll finish them before the February yarn and patterns arrive.

The year of the Snake is done:

I still haven't found the magazine that I used to have that has the Chinese Zodiac amigurumi in it. I bought a replacement off of eBay. I looked for the rest of the pattern information that used to be online, but it isn't there. I eventually found the complete pattern: in the free section at Vogue Knitting. D'oh!

This is a bathmat:

This was originally a sweater that looked horrible on me and then was frogged. I sold some of the yarn a couple of weeks ago and decided to use up the rest. I started a vest and frogged it. Note to self: there is nothing you want to wear that can be made with bulky weight cotton yarn. I'm nearly done with a second bathmat.

Time to see what things the folks at Tami's Amis have finished this week.

But I had a reason

Yes, it's the same weight and nearly the same color as the last yarn I bought. I bought it as a happy birthday and thank you to the dyer. Elise is the person behind Nerd Wars. I appreciate all the work she continues to do to keep the game going. On top of all that work, she's got a yarn business called Ewereka Yarns. There are a series of yarns that salute the first war. This one's called Invicible and I'm not sure which team it represents. I picked it because I liked it. 50/50 silk/merino. Mmmmmmmm.

WIP Wednesday

The last pair of the 2012 Cookie A club are in progress:

Yarn's actually violet. It is from Knitter's Brewing Company. It will count as a use-it-or-lose-it project because the yarn's been in my stash for more than two years. I'm happy because I'll have these done before the 2013 club starts next week. The Temperature scarf continues:

I've been trying different things on the side where the colors change and am not yet happy with it. I suspect that I'll end up crocheting around the edges with some neutral color when it is all done.

Every time I find an abandoned project, it is tossed in the big bag the used to hold the Tardis afghan yarn. I hope to start hacking away at these. The new yarns in my stash keep calling me, though. Stay tuned. Visit Tami's Amis for more WIPs.

Use It or Lose It

I've been having fun reading through people's WIP and FO blog posts. One of them referred to a Ravelry challenge called Use It or Lose It. Every four weeks you dig something out of your stash and either use it or get rid of it. It sounds like a great idea. I missed the first of the 13 time blocks for this year. However, my Elephant socks are using two qualifying skeins, so it makes up for it in my mind.

13 skeins in a year is not all that much when you're approaching SABLE (stash acqusition beyond life expectancy), but it should help some. It might even make me think twice the next time I just have to buy yarn. ::cue howls of laughter::

FO Friday

I like finishing things. It made me very happy to get that darn Tardis done after a year and a half. The yarn for the Luv Bots showed up yesterday and I was able to finish them, too:

ETA:I was reading some other blogs and realized I had another FO. I finished spinning this a couple of weeks ago. I finally got around to setting the twist (which with me is getting the kinks out):

Tami's Amis for more finished objects.