WIP 5 | Through The Yarny Curtain

WIP Wednesday: March 25, 2015

I thought I hadn’t done much crafting in the last week, since I’ve been working with my husband on making tools for weaving. Then I took the pictures for this post and discovered that I’d done more than I remembered!

Dishcloth Tree

I finished all the leaf-shaped dishcloths. I thought I had woven in all the ends, but when I was assembling them for this picture, I found one end that I’d missed. Usually woven in ends = finished for dishcloths. However, these leaves come out a little bit concave in the center and the designer recommends blocking them. I’m going to run them through the washer and dryer to see how they come out. If they don’t flatten out in that process, I’ll block them properly. Since these are part of a present, I think they are worth the extra attention!

Slytherin Houndstooth Scarf

I got quite a bit of weaving done on this scarf. I’m just about finished with it.

It’s so hard to show progress on woven projects because the working surface always looks the same. I tried taking a picture of the finished cloth wound onto the cloth beam. I still think it’s hard to see the progress!

I didn’t notice until I posted the picture that you can see both my spinning wheel and my floor loom in the background of this picture. Yes, my world is made of fiber!

Liquid Silver

This continues to be the project I work on at Wednesday knit nights. I only got through 1/2 of a repeat tonight because I was chatting so much. I discovered that I was doing something wrong on the double yarn overs. Turns out I’ve been wrapping my yarn overs the wrong direction around the needle. I did it right before. I’m not sure when or why I changed my wrapping direction. You can clearly see the difference in this picture. I was going to keep on knitting, but looking at this picture, the obvious difference is bothering me. I do believe I’m going to frog several inches of this project and reknit it correctly.

Travel Planning

Last week, we found out that my husband has to go to India in April for work. And I’m going with him! In the last week, we’ve renewed his passport, made our plane reservations and hotel reservations. I’ve filled out paperwork to participate in the TSA Pre-check (I’ve been meaning to do that anyway) and Global Entry (this allows for faster processing when coming through customs upon our return). Both programs require in-person interviews. I’ve booked the TSA Pre-check interview and am waiting for preliminary approval on Global Entry before I can book the interview. I’ve researched visa requirements, done some online research to see what is in the area where we will be visiting, and through Ravelry I’ve made contacts with local knitters. I seriously love the internet.

We’ll be in India for two weeks, home for one, then in Chicago for a week. Chris comes home from Chicago, but I’m flying from Chicago to New England to attend my cousin’s college graduation and visit friends and family. Since I only have a week at home between trips, I’ve got to have everything arranged for those trips also. I still need to book flights from Chicago to New England and New England back to Orlando. I’ve got to weave the Dr. Who scarf for my cousin’s graduation gift. And do taxes. And get immunized for Hepatitis A and Dengue Fever. And so much more. Most importantly of all, I need to plan my travel knitting! It’s 25 hours of travel from Orlando to India and 31 hours of travel from India to get back home. That’s enough time to knit a couple pairs of socks (although I guess I’ll have to sleep some in there).

The trip to India is scheduled at the same time I was planning to be in Indiana for The Fiber Event. I already had a plane ticket for Indiana, and I’m still planning to go at some point. I need to change that ticket once we figure out new dates. Oh, and I registered to attend the TKGA Conference in July. I haven’t made travel arrangements for that trip yet, and need to do so ASAP. The first room block already sold out and there’s a limited number of rooms in the second block. It’s going to be a whirlwind around here for the next few months!

WIP Wednesday: March 18, 2015

This week, I’ve been focused on only one project. Everything else has been left sitting while I worked on it.

Leafy Dishcloths

Last October, I made a single dishcloth in the shape of a leaf. Apparently, I never blogged about it, so I can’t link you to a previous post, but you can check out my Ravelry project page if you want to see it. That leaf was in stockinette stitch. On the same blog post, the designer had a garter stitch version, so I decided to try it out.

I liked how it looked, so I decided to use this pattern as one of the days of the Dishcloth Advent Calendars. I’m making 18 of those, so I’ve been knitting leaf after leaf.

The 18th one is on the needles now. I just have to finish it, and weave in all the ends!

WIP Wednesday: March 11, 2015

I have been getting a little crafting done. I’ve been focusing on getting non-crafting projects done, so I haven’t had as much time to play with fiber as I’d like. But I have made progress on several projects!

MAPLE LEAF the Ninth

I’m just about finished with this shawl. I’m on the very last corner, and will probably finish knitting it tonight!

Emergency Scarf

I finished knitting the scarf that I started when I needed something to knit during a midnight visit to the emergency vet with Pepper. I just need to weave in the ends.

Liquid Silver

This shawl was the oldest UFO that I found when I did the UFO Inventory in January. It’s been an UFO since Fall 2010. I was shocked to find that I still had the pattern in my Knit Picks magnetic pattern holder, and the magnet was still on the right row! I’ve started working on it again, and have done 1.5 pattern repeats. This is the project that I’ve been bringing to Wednesday night knitting group for the last couple weeks. The pattern isn’t as difficult as it looks, and I’m less likely to have beads spill all over the place at the yarn shop than at home, where I have 3 furry hazards.

WIP Wednesday: February 18, 2014

I started this week working on some UFOs, but later in the week cast on a couple of new projects!

MAPLE LEAF the Ninth!

Yes, really! It’s been sitting around since December, and I finally picked it up again. I was sick over the weekend and spent two days sitting on the couch watching tv, so I got quite a bit done. I’ve finished the first of the five corners, and should be totally done with knitting this shawl before next Wednesday. I’m not sure if I’ll get it blocked or not. My new-to-me floor loom is currently sitting in the dining room, in front of the table I use for blocking. I’m not sure if I have enough leaves in the table to block a MAPLE LEAF shawl or not. If I don’t, blocking will have to wait until I can move the floor loom into my home office.

Sassy Bee Cotton Candy Corriedale

I finished plying this fiber while at spinning group the first Saturday in February. I have it wound onto the niddy noddy. I just need to tie it and wash it to set the twist, and it will be done.

Narwhal

This is the first new project of the week. This is part of a narwhal-along in Ravenclaw Tower. I cast on last Saturday, and expected to finish it that day. Instead, I went to buy a floor loom. I still have to sew on the flippers. I’m also going to find something different for eyes because I think the beads I used are too small.

Scarf

On Monday evening, our cat Pepper did not look well. She was straining to use the litter box, but nothing was coming out. She would get out of the litter box, rest for a while, then try again. She also tried squatting in inappropriate places, like the cat’s toy basket. I realized I was probably going to have to bring her to the emergency vet, and that I didn’t have any knitting that was mindless enough to work on during a midnight wait at the vet. I quickly cast on this scarf, knit one pattern repeat, and bundled Pepper off for an enema at the vet. I got about 4″ knit while I waited. I knit a little more while waiting for dinner to finish yesterday.

Crochet 365

I finished the star-rating index three weeks ago, but haven’t looked at this project since. This week, I started looking at the 90 one-star patterns, contemplating the order in which I want to crochet them. I made three separate lists: one of patterns that use a solid color, one of patterns that use multiple colors, and one of patterns that the author’s note identifies as a “good beginner square.” Along the way, I made notes on the patterns, identifying stitches used or techniques, and contemplating the end uses of these 365 squares. Some of the squares will definitely be dishcloths. Some of the squares might be afghans or scarves. I need to have some ideas so that I can pick out appropriate yarns. My head was spinning a bit after looking at all the information, but it was a good start at determining the best approach, given my modest crochet skills. I hope to make the final project list this week.

WIP Thursday, January 22, 2015

Yesterday was a busy day around here and I did not get a chance to blog my WIPs for the week. Better late than never!