Mot-less Monday: Never Say Never

How Blue Can You Get?

I've bitten off more than I can chew and still I continue to nosh.
Wanna see some knitting?  I can show you some, but not all...
And the stuff I can show you... is BLUE.

Look at this tiny blue stuff with a drinking theme.  The deep-stash yarn is discontinued:

 

Cheers! [Rav] by Cheryl Niamath; knit with just a little bit of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in colorway Teal

How bout a Nightcap? [Rav] by Julie Tarsha; knit with just a little bit of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in colorway Teal

It's the start of a blue something:

Campside [Rav] by Alicia Plummer; knit with Malabrigo Sock in colorway 856 Azules

Here's a blue test knit:

knit with Malabrigo Sock in colorway 856 Azules

There has been a gigantic knitting behemoth that I can't share yet.
As usual, I'm le tired.  Blue is soothing, right?   zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

WIP Wednesday: Long Term Like Whoa

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while (hi, Mama!) may remember last year's vlog entry: my own and only video blog post as part of Knit & Crochet Blog Week.  And in that high-production-value fantastixtravaganza, I brought up my long-hibernating Spoke WIP, and I expressed hesitation and apprehension and all sorts of okay-I'll-start-this-again-but-I'm-not-sure-how-long-it-will-last feelings re: this sweater Of Doom.

HAHAHAHAHA I stopped working on it almost immediately! That edging was demoralizing -- fingers crossed I can finish this month.  Turns out this acrylic-merino blend is slightly more non-SW merino than my eyes can deal with.  Worsted weight and everything.

You said it, Oda Mae.

So as of four days ago, it looked like this:

Ooh  aah  curling.
Let's see if you can spot this week's contribution,
as of two days ago:

Boop!

Hint: the answer is there is now a sleeve and some.

I'm taking a break every other night because it's August and I can...
but I will get this done.  Soon.  Vengeance  Completion will be mine!

Sporadic, As Is My Wont

So!  Where were we?
... ... ... ... ...
... ... ...
OH!  Blanket!

mod of Half Square Triangle Blanket [Rav] by Lion Brand; knit with 8 skeins of Crystal Palace Panda Cotton Print in colorways Trail Mix, Muir Woods, Seascape, and Coral Sea

The bamboo-cotton blanket is bound off and bordered and on a bed.  Success!

 

I think I've finally gotten the hang of single crochet, though I'm still a little iffy on corners.  How many extra stitches should one use?  Three seemed like overkill, but two seems to be pulling a bit.  I dunno.

The FIFTH Maple Leaf is finished as well -- phew -- in three weeks.  That will never happen again.

Maple Leaf Knit Shawl [Rav] by Natalia @ Elfmoda; knit with half a skein of madelinetosh tosh lace (sadly discontinued) in colorway Flashdance

I will miss you, tosh lace.  :(

 

 

 

I think I'll be taking a leaf of absence (groan) from these shawls now and focus on some other stuff.  I've got some ideas percolating and some new yarn!!  Yarn gifts are amazing!

All the pretty Wollmeise will be joined in a stripy shawl with this new acquisition (thank you, Mama!):

And there's a test knit on the horizon.  And Christmas knitting plans.  And I want to finish at least one long-term WIP in August.  Plans!

Mot-less Monday: A Tale of Two Corners

 

Note to Self: It's Nothing Serious

The fourth Maple Leaf shawl is done and dusted, and I must say that I am thoroughly in love with Wollmeise:

Maple Leaf Knit Shawl [Rav] by Natalia @ Elfmoda; knit with most of a skein of Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash in colorway Mistelzweig

The wonderful commissioner of this shawl is allowing me to keep the leftovers AND has very generously sent me some Wollmeise miniskeins as further payment:

I am so looking forward to working with all these pretties!

I've been doing a boatload of crafting lately, using my commute rides in the mornings to single-crochet a border around the blanket I've almost finished...

...and spending my evenings shotgunning a FIFTH Maple Leaf at 5% a night, to finish by the end of next week, fingers crossed:

65.34%

All this copious evening knitting has been accompanied by marathoning House, M.D. -- the entire eight-season series -- and I find myself affected in more ways than one.  I've been experiencing twinges and weakness in my forearms, insomnia is back, and I've been dropping things more than usual (read: "usual" is frequently).  My husband is very sensible, so he thinks that between my arthritis, my eight-hours-at-a-computer job, and my minimum-three-hours-a-day crafting, something's gotta give.  My nightly consults with the brilliant Dr. House have me thinking it's probably early onset Parkinson’s.

I'd switch TV shows, but I've only got 18 episodes to go!  And break month is only a couple of weeks away.  I can do this, right?

FO: Where Are My Dragons?

My early mornings have children's television as a background, so as I'm typing this, a small yellow and green bear is helping random kids while acting like a secret agent.  Turns out he's supposed to be a stuffed animal, which somehow disturbs me more than if he was a real live bear...  which makes no sense, now that I think about it.

You know what I'd rather think about?  DRAGONS.

 Stormborn Shawl [Rav] by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich; knit with almost two skeins of Verdant Gryphon Eidos in colorway Empedocles

 

 

Cyprienne of the House Ravenclaw, the First of Her Name...

The Game of Thrones MKAL shawl is finished and I love it and I'm wearing it to work today.

A Focused Frenzy

So there was this one time when it rained a lot and tiny ants overran my home and the kid got sick and the husband got a new job... we call these the Lost Days of Late Spring.  But what's a few weeks between friends, right?  Let us never speak of it again. 
Long story short: I've been making shawls and blankets.

There's a Maple Leaf or two!

 

Maple Leaf Knit Shawl [Rav] by Natalia @ Elfmoda; knit with half a skein of madelinetosh prairie in colorway Lowland

 

 

yarn is Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash in colorway Mistelzweig

And a mystery knit-along, inspired by Game of Thrones!  (my progress is far behind most people; the full pattern is now available)

Stormborn Shawl [Rav] by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich

I'm beading each dragon scale, because I wanna.

And blanket squares!  Long-term blankets!  Brand-new blankets!  All the blankets ever!

 large squares: a modification of Norma [Rav] by Meghan Jones, each knit with 50yds of fingering weight yarn; blanket fish from A Recipe for Fish [Rav] by April Broken

a modification of Knitted Diagonal Blanket Square by KOGO [Rav]; this one is in Knit One, Crochet Too Handpainted Ambrosia in colorway 1934 Turkish Rug

The main blanket is a bamboo/cotton blend and it's a secret present for Punkin Q. Pie, the Small Girl Child.

 

Half Square Triangle Blanket [Rav] by Lion Brand Yarn; knit with Crystal Palace Panda Cotton Print in four colorways

That's it for now.  On with your lives, citizens!  And thanks for making a pit stop here with me.

Mot-less Monday: I'm Back

 

 

Looking Back, Looking Forward | 5KCBWDAY7

Look back on last year's Day Seven post / look forward again to one year from now.

Too many balls in the air kept me from posting yesterday -- but this one writes itself: I have officially completed 2.5 of the 3 goals I had for myself last year at this time!

WAYBACK MACHINE SAYS:
* Finish 12 Shawls in 2013, and be on track for a similar feat in 2014...  DONE!

The specifics for 2013 are here, and I'm at 50% shawl progress while at 37.5% year progress...  I wish Present Me could tell Past Me that there are definitely practical applications for math in my adult life.

* overcome my fear and steek something... DONE!

 

I steeked a thing!  It was horrible!  I'm never doing that again unless someone pays me!  With alcohol, if possible!

* Track down all of the knitting needles I supposedly have in my house and come up with an adequate organizational system...   
um, IN PROGRESS!

I've been working on this, recently and in earnest, but it's not ready for today as I hoped it would be; you can track the current status with the label "projectneedles", because there's no way that name could ever be misinterpreted.

And on that note, my goals for the next year are as follows:

* finish up what I started with #projectneedles, complete with whiteboard!  No barcodes, though, too sexy.

* publish my first original shawl pattern.  #TNOFTW   
It's about time.  Actually, it's about space.  And Hawaiian mythology.  You'll see.

* begin to teach my kid to knit.  That's a good idea, right?  #childsplay

* finish 12 Shawls in 2014, and be on track for a similar feat in 2015.

*  *  *  *  *

I want to thank the incomparable Eskimimi for organizing this fantastic intarwebz event yet again!!  Finding new crafter-writers to follow is always a highlight of my year.  Good times were had by all!
And thank you to everyone who stopped by, first-timers and familiar friends, especially those who have left comments for me this week -- it means the world to me -- and thank you, as always, to my family for sticking with me offline.  :)

To read other posts from those taking part in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 5KCBWDAY7, or click here.

Something A Bit Different | 5KCBWDAY5

Adventures in Yarn YOUR CURRENT WIP COLOR VACATION SPOT ADJECTIVE NOUN PET`S NAME COUNTRY VERB INFINITIVE ADJECTIVE ROOM ADJECTIVE

To read other posts from those taking part in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 5KCBWDAY5, or click here.