Knitting. So much yarn, so little time. I have a significant S.A.B.L.E...Stash Available Beyond Life Expectancy. It's a real struggle to divide my time between my hobbies: Reading, Knitting, Beading, Painting. Then there are the mundane chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes. Sigh. I'm not a compulsive 'starter'. I only have one major project and one TV/Social Knitting project (wash cloth, garter stitch blanket/scarf etc.) on the needles at any given time. A great deal of my SABLE was purchased with no project in mind at all. But sometimes I buy for a specific purpose. I took a Fiber Road Trip in April 2019 to attend a spinning class given by Kate Larson at The Fiber Event at the Putnam County Fairgrounds, Greencastle, IN. Kate was so informative and patient with the small class. We weren't overwhelmed with statistics or extraneous details. I learned a lot. While I was the...
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Or Blankets for the Whole Family. Some 9 years ago a Dear Friend asked me to make a particular knitted blanket for her daughter 'ET's 13th(?) birthday. Well I didn't knit at the time so I crocheted one. Add caption 'ET' loved it and used it every night on her bed. Well apparently her younger brothers 'MT' and 'BT' loved it too and would sneak into her room and steal it! They needed blankets of their own so, I used the left overs from ET's blanket and made them each a blanket of their own. Add caption Eight years after the youngest boy was born, My Dear Friend gave birth to another girl 'ST' and of course she needed a blanket (or three) as well. Add caption All this brings us to the point of this post. 'ET' is now 22 and has had a baby of her own! So the tradition continues. I knit these for ET2 in May during the COVID-19 (continuing) Isolation Period . All of these were made with acrylic (Caron and Red Heart) so as to be mac...
Last Fall I decided to start Stash Busting with my Acrylics... this is Winter's Coming by C-Lo, free pattern Do you see a Storm Trooper face? I wanted to try stranded knitting. I tend to be a tight knitter which doesn't really lend itself to carrying yarn. Not my best work but as my friend Holly says 'They'll fit somebody!' This is Copy Cat C.C. Beanie by Emily Ingrid. It was a fun knit. Sometime in December there was a request for yarn donations for school kid crafts. About then I gave up on Busting my Acrylic Stash a donated the entire tub. A non-knitting friend admired my blue Tilted Texture and asked if I'd knit one for her. I don't usually say yes but I love, Love, LOVE Jennifer Weissman 's patterns!! Every time she posts a new one I'm like "Damn! I HAVE to knit that one too!" I bought the Dragonfly Fiber , Dharma (50% Yak-50% Mulberry Silk) in Cognac...
I took some classes locally in various media. Batik Silk Scarf painting with Libby at Walhalla Artworks This is not an art for perfectionists. Lucky for me I'm not one :D Tried my hand at quilting a table runner. Learned I don't like quilting :D Took a Needle Felting Techniques class with Irene Heckel at the Wool Room in Henderson, NC Learned that needle felting is addictive! Took two more classes :D Irene recommended using real pumpkin stems for a more realistic look. Winter Gnomes are so fun! Got this idea from Pinterest. Troll Ornaments Watched some YouTube videos on fabric painting. And messed around with acrylics on canvas too. These paintings were inspired by others I found on Pinterest.
After accepting the I discovered I needed to make some changes to my queue. There were some errors in available Stash, yardage and weight. There will probably be more changes but at least this Challenge is keeping me motivated. I've complete 3 projects in 3 weeks. Dangling Conversation is a triangular shawl, paid pattern by Mindy Ross. I used a color changing cotton by WOLLEE's , purchased in 2013 at SAFF . It's basically 480 yards of 4-ply sewing thread. It sounds 'splitty' and difficult to knit with but it wasn't. The Cloud of Softness neck gaiter is a free Ravelry download by Marji LaFreniere. It was a late Christmas gift made from one skein of Bijou Basin Bliss Sport weight 50/50 Yak & Cormo. It is a really lovely fiber, very soft and very nice to knit with. The recipient was very happy with it :D The Mini Bunny & Baskets were also a late Christmas gift made from scrap acrylic yarn. ...
Crochet is always faster than knitting for me. I guess 40 years of experience will do that for you ;-0 Feather and Fan Baby Blanket by Alexis Middleton I used Red Heart Soft Baby Steps for this blanket. I always use acrylic for baby items. Acrylic these days is way softer than it was when I first started crocheting back in the stone-age '70's. And what new mother has time to hand wash a blanket or the room to it lay flat and wait for it to dry???? Free pattern can be found here . Whipped up Dakotah's Fabulous Scarf by Kathy Lashley at ELK Studio Handcrafted Crochet Designs in a couple hours. Don't let the 'crochet through the 3rd loop' scare you off. Super easy! So quick and easy I made two! Again I used acrylic for wash-ability. Above is Red Heart Unforgettable in Dragonfly colorway, below is same yarn in Echo colorway. This is a free pattern as well. And becaus...