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Spring knitting
May. 20th, 2013 05:13 pmAfter seeking advice from HRH Isabel, I've finished knitting my first lopi yarn project in several years, but I fear I have made comedy Dr. Seuss slippers, rather than neatly fitting comfy slippers, in spite of doing a tension swatch AND felting it, in advance.
I'll keep washing and felting them, but I suspect in the end I may have to cut the knitted fabric (!) and sew them up again, to get a slipper that fits...or just make another set with different proportions. Evidently using the DROPS pattern with a nameless Icelandic lopi yarn wasn't a success. Sigh.
However, this leaves me free to start a long-planned pair of extremely nifty socks. My borrowed 2.5mm circ is too short for this pattern, so I had to shell out for longer one, and got a long 3.0mm while I was at it. I think I'll be purging my knitting needle supply before long...
The long needles will be useful if I end up trying any of these patterns - my copy arrived a couple of weeks ago. It might be a great way to use up still more of Master Paul's monster yarn stash.
I'll keep washing and felting them, but I suspect in the end I may have to cut the knitted fabric (!) and sew them up again, to get a slipper that fits...or just make another set with different proportions. Evidently using the DROPS pattern with a nameless Icelandic lopi yarn wasn't a success. Sigh.
However, this leaves me free to start a long-planned pair of extremely nifty socks. My borrowed 2.5mm circ is too short for this pattern, so I had to shell out for longer one, and got a long 3.0mm while I was at it. I think I'll be purging my knitting needle supply before long...
The long needles will be useful if I end up trying any of these patterns - my copy arrived a couple of weeks ago. It might be a great way to use up still more of Master Paul's monster yarn stash.
Virtuously finishing UFOs
Nov. 1st, 2012 04:17 pmThis week I finished a pair of socks, and finished a baby project.
Ok, finish is a strong word; they are less unfinished.
One requires weaving in (about 5 mins work), and the other needs buttons (anywhere from 15 mins to sew on plastic ones, to all evening, if I knit them).
I've been trying to clear my crafting in-tray of projects, before starting anything new.
This is a bit like resolving not to buy fabric til you've reduced your stash; good in theory, but easier said than done, especially faced with serious temptation like fabric-you-see-while-on-holiday-that-you-can't-get-at-home.
But I've made some headway, really: the knitting items were nagging me, and finishing them will allow me to actually close my projects box, without having to sit on it.
I'm in a clearing, reducing, dealing-with-it mood. It's not continuous, and I may fall off the crafting wagon yet, but man if feels virtuous.
Oddly, the effort involved in finishing a UFO is almost always a fraction of the guilt/avoidance sentiment of not-finishing. But it's not my rational self that puts these things off, so I can't really make sense of it.
In other clearing projects: shredding still in progress (it was a big box of paper); and I've deleted fully half my neglected inbox.
Do I really need confirmations that I'll be at drinks meetings from 2005, really? And no: deleting messages from people I love does not mean I don't love them anymore.
Stupidly, it's still hard to do, and I may be comforting myself with more hours of 'Angel' than is strictly necessary...while, uh, finishing my knitting tonight.
Ok, finish is a strong word; they are less unfinished.
One requires weaving in (about 5 mins work), and the other needs buttons (anywhere from 15 mins to sew on plastic ones, to all evening, if I knit them).
I've been trying to clear my crafting in-tray of projects, before starting anything new.
This is a bit like resolving not to buy fabric til you've reduced your stash; good in theory, but easier said than done, especially faced with serious temptation like fabric-you-see-while-on-holiday-that-you-can't-get-at-home.
But I've made some headway, really: the knitting items were nagging me, and finishing them will allow me to actually close my projects box, without having to sit on it.
I'm in a clearing, reducing, dealing-with-it mood. It's not continuous, and I may fall off the crafting wagon yet, but man if feels virtuous.
Oddly, the effort involved in finishing a UFO is almost always a fraction of the guilt/avoidance sentiment of not-finishing. But it's not my rational self that puts these things off, so I can't really make sense of it.
In other clearing projects: shredding still in progress (it was a big box of paper); and I've deleted fully half my neglected inbox.
Do I really need confirmations that I'll be at drinks meetings from 2005, really? And no: deleting messages from people I love does not mean I don't love them anymore.
Stupidly, it's still hard to do, and I may be comforting myself with more hours of 'Angel' than is strictly necessary...while, uh, finishing my knitting tonight.
