And no, I haven't been neglecting my knitting (AP, if you're reading, I'm wearing my hand braces and not overdoing it, so no evil looks-of-death, please *g*); I've just been squeezing it into my commute time these past few weeks while I've been working crazy hours with barely enough time to eat and sleep let along blog.
So, what have I been occupying my scant moments of free time with? Well, pretty much two things. The first is turning out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. It's a Variation on Beethoven's Dickey by *deep bow of respect* Elizabeth Zimmermann, high priestess of all things knitterly and an absolutely brilliant architect of knitwear design. I'm particularly pleased as I'm using my very own homespun -- sky blue alpaca from Winding Creek -- and it'll be the first clothing I've made from fiber I've spun myself. So, woo-hoo me! Here's how it looked a few days ago:
I've done more since, so now I'm working on the front decreases and it'll just be one more short side and the second half of the back till I'm finished. Can I woo-hoo myself again? Of course I can: WOO-HOO, SPLINDARELLA! YOU GO, GIRL!
OK, I really did need those extra woo-hoos because I'm not nearly as pleased with my next project, and the woo-hoos kinda geared me up to facing my complete and utter failure with what must be the simplest pattern on the planet. A little while back I decided that I would have to simplify my Christmas knitting if I was ever to knit for the whole family and not put myself into terminal carpal tunnel-itis. I therefore decided to bag the idea of doing bath sets (MDK bathmats with matching washcloths and possibly hand towels) and try something small but sweet: the felted bowls from One Skein. I decided to substitute the recommended yarn with some White Buffalo 100% wool I had lying around in the stash. The White Buffalo is a 6-ply unspun yarn -- not terribly soft to the touch (hence my idea of using it for felted bowls) but pretty and fun to work with. It also turns out it's fairly water-resistant, which for my purposes means I ran it through a hot wash/cold rinse half a dozen times and only got from this:
to this:
Not really my idea of nicely felted bowls; more like...geez, I don't even know what they're like. what they're not like is the photo of the beautiful felted bowls in the One Skein book. Sheesh. I was tempted to bury them on the bottom of the UFO pile but decided against it when Baby M grabbed the larger one, jammed it on her head and pranced around in it like she'd just found the Holy Grail. You have to understand that Baby M does. not. wear. hats. period. Rips 'em off her head like they're on fire. But this weird un-felted un-bowl she likes.
I'm going to slap a couple of handmade wool flowers on the thing and call it a cloche. How's that for lemons into lemonade?
2 comments:
Love the dickey, Splindy (heh heh--she said "dickey.") As for the bowls, isn't it interesting how sometimes the FO decides what it wants to be? I've been crazy busy like you, but will be in touch.
If I knew how to send a menacing looking smiley I would :) You know the only reason I harass you is because I don't want you to have hurting hands.
I thought the weird looking bowls were hats, and if Baby M agrees... well there's nothing more to say.
Take care, don't overdo it
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