Stash Enhancement Saturday

I've been shopping.

This is A Day in Stars Hollow.  The color's a bit more saturated than the picture shows.  I have no specific plans for it yet.  It's from NeelysKnits. 

This was a purchase on a whim.  It's Opal self-patterning sock yarn and I liked the colors.

Iceland in Crystal Pink from Crystal Palace Yarns.  I may have plans for this but I'm not sure I bought enough.

Startitis continues.  There are project bags everywhere. 

I frogged the Doctor Who Christmas sock and plan to restart it with better yarn once I acquire some.  

I started the Frida Mittens and had to put them down.  The colors are so close that I need to be knitting them only in daylight.  

I started the Mystery Yarn Ball shawl.  I may be doing it a bit differently than it is written because my yarn balls aren't quite right for the pattern.  They should be messier with lots of yarn tails.  I'll probably end up weaving the tails in and reversing the right side and wrong side.  I like it, though.

I found a pattern on Ravelry that uses two different balls of self-striping yarn for socks.  This is my next startitis victim.

Finished Object Friday

Spiny Norman mittens:

Exploding TARDIS bag.  The bad news is that it was originally for my Doctor Who swap partner.  My sewing machine was uncooperative and the lining left a lot to be desired.  I couldn't give it away as a gift, but I fixed it up so that it is good enough for me.  The good news is that it is the size is what I wanted:

It is lumpy because it is full of yarn for the Doctor Who Christmas sock.  That's a whole other fail that I do not care to discuss.  The drawstring ribbon is stuffed inside because my cat eats ribbon.

Go see more Freshly Finished things!

WIP Wednesday

The Arts & Crafts blanket continues:

I found some new mischief to get into.  I was looking at what my Ravelry friends had been doing and found a Doctor Who Christmas stocking KAL.  I intend to knit it from stash:

Startitis, it's a terrible thing.  Well, it is if you don't have multiple sets of needles and hooks.  :)

Go visit Tammy and friends to see what other things people are doing.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

None of it actually went into my stash.  They've all been put in project bags.

Tomorrow's the first day of summer.  What am I working on, you ask?  Mittens!  It's all SpillyJane's fault.  She released three or four new patterns and I had to start them all.

The only yarn club I'm in at the moment runs out at the end of the month.  I decided it meant that I should sign up for one that Mad Color's doing.  I can't remember the name, but it has a Doctor Who theme.  I'm also signed up for a mystery sock KAL.  I ordered the kit which includes yarn and matching beads and stitch markers.  I couldn't resist.

Finished Object Friday

Just one thing is done.  Well, a pair of things.  It's my Love Your Library project for June.

I might be coming down with a bad case of startitis.  There are four project bags here stuffed full of yarn and patterns all printed out.  They are calling to me.  I'm trying to get through 7 squares of the Arts and Crafts blanket before starting any of them.

I've got enough things for my partner in the Doctor Who swap.  Actually more than enough things.  I'm still debating about making her a project bag.  I made a special trip to get the fabric for it and I think the sewing machine can be coaxed into behaving long enough to finish it.  I'm also thinking about picking up a packet of Jammie Dodgers so her offspring will have something in the box.  There are still a couple of things I wanted to do but I have to make myself stop at some point.  It's beginning to border on too much.

WIP Wednesday

I ended up starting the Arts & Crafts blanket.  My experience with the Alice in Wonderland pillow taught me that I do better with side seams than I do with top and bottom seams.  I'm knitting the blanket in columns of squares to avoid the side seams.

Go and see what other stitchers have been up to this week.

Knit something or post something?

I pick post something.  Projects are at an awkward stage.  The only one that's actually in progress is a double knit scarf that I don't want to work on.  I'm not ready to start in on the Arts & Crafts blanket.  My sewing machine is misbehaving, which means sewing projects are on hold.

I saw a cute tea cosy that someone posted on Twitter.  I couldn't find a pattern for it, so I made one up.  I did a different decoration on it because I had the flower shell buttons that match the teapot.  It may not look like it in the picture, but they do match in real life.  Actually the whole thing looks better in real life.  Camera and I have not been playing well together.

When I hit one of these stages with projects, things start mysteriously showing up in the mail.  The reasons aren't actually that mysterious.  The upcoming box of goodies from Knit Picks are for things in my Ravelry queue.  The Mochi-Mochi book has been on order for ages.  The skeins from Mountain Girl Yarns are there because I saw them on somebody's blog.

 The book's great if you're into making tiny cute things.  There are three stories featuring Anna Hrachovec's charming designs.  There are 25 patterns for making things featured in the stories.   I'm most tempted by the rainbow bird and a tiny microwave.

The yarns are very nice hand paints.  I have no immediate plans for them.  Maybe I'll just sit here and pet them until I decide what to do next.

RIP

I just read a tweet reporting the passing of Lisa Grossman, the Tsarina of Tsocks.  I know nothing more.  I was a big fan of her very creative sock designs.  I'll be leaving Shark Week in my queue in her honor.

FO Friday

These are for my Doctor Who swap partner:

The Alice in Wonderland pillow is done!  I was concerned that the 28" square pillow form was going to be too small, but it worked out fine.

I don't know where my brain was when I cut this bag out.  I was thinking I wanted something a little bit bigger than my usual drawstring bags.  What I ended up with was a small duffle bag:

It's a bit lumpy because all the yarn for the Arts & Crafts blanket is stuffed inside.

See what other things people have finished at Freshly Finished Friday.

WIP Wednesday

Mystery afghan squares are up to date, but not new colors yet.

The magic yarn ball project starts next month.  I've got the magic yarn balls ready to go.  The project also takes 325 yards of a single color.  I decided to hand spin it.  I'm over half way:

I started my Love Your Library project for June:

See more WIPs at Stitch Along Wednesday.

Love Your Library - My pick for June

I have the three volumes of The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet by Hunter Hammersen.  I like these patterns very much.  I don't know why I haven't just gone straight through each book and knit everything in sight.  The designs are inspired by vintage illustrations.  Volume 1 is botanical, volume 2 is butterflies, and volume 3 is marine.  Each inspiration is applied to a sock and another non-sock piece (hat, mitts, shawl, etc.). 

My choice is a pair of socks inspired by a shell called Limneus Stagnalis.  It has pretty textured cables.  It's knit in sport weight which should mean a fairly quick knit.

WIP Wednesday

I started spinning some little fiber samples.  I had an idea for them, but there turned out to be not enough fiber for what I wanted.  I decided to finish spinning them before starting in on something else.

I finished the caterpillar squares for the Alice in Wonderland pillow.  3 1/2 more squares to go.

I haven't done my mystery afghan square yet for this week.  It's week 23 of 46, so, halfway!

I've been to the fabric store, so I don't have any excuse for not sewing anything.  I might do some tonight.  Or maybe tomorrow.

See what other people have been working on here.

Biscornu Who

I finished something.  It's almost totally correct.  And for a change, I got decent pictures of it.  Therefore, I must share:

It is for my spoilee in the Doctor Who swap.  Here's the K-9 I made for her:

There really are two ears and they look perfectly fine in real life.  I think my camera has an attitude problem.