Posted by: Mare F | May 20, 2012

Time is spinning away…

I just don’t know where it gets to…time. It seems as though just when I think I’m almost caught up I’m once again out of time. It is spring and that may just be part of the problem. I know I’ve commented on the unusual weather we’ve had here in southern New England for the past year, but honestly, I don’t recall mowing my lawn for the third time the week BEFORE Memorial Day! The only good thing that I can see about this is that my mowing muscles will be okay by the time I get to my planting muscles next week. And then there is the plant selection….

On to the topic I’d meant to comment on today. Lately it’s been baby afghans in my world. It seems as though a good portion of the young ladies I am acquainted with right now under the age of 30 are pregnant so I have been making baby blankets for the past couple of weeks. Most of them are for boys and happily no one has seen fit to request pastel pink or blue for their infant’s warmers. There is nothing wrong with pastel colors, but when I make 4 baby afghans in a row I like to have some variety. This also tells me that I’m falling down on my stock. There was a time when I had at least 6 assorted baby afghans tucked away and ready to go. Hmmmm, more time passing….

I’ve also managed to work entirely out of my stash which makes me very happy. There is plenty more upstairs, but I feel good knowing that I am slowing picking away at it. Now if I can only get myself on some kind of a schedule for making certain items I can clean up my stash AND be ready at a moment’s notice. Wouldn’t that be lovely???

I should have the squares assembled by this afternoon then they all be washed – machine wash and dry is a must for baby woobies in my mind – and then I shall be down to one. After that I will start on the bib/washcloth sets which I believe I’d intended to start 2 months ago. So, tell me, how is your stock of gift items?

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Posted in Crocheting, Gardening | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 10, 2012

A balanced week

I spent this week crocheting and tearing out, crocheting and tearing  out, crocheting and tearing out. Well, you get the picture. I’m making a baby afghan for a friend’s grandchild and I knew just what I wanted. Upstairs I went to look in my stash – 3 very large totes of Red Heart worsted yarns from various afghans over the years – to dig out the colors I thought would work. Lavender was a given, a rich purple a probable, a minty/sagey green a definite, and a multi to tie them all together. And I found them all! Of course, I found various amounts of different shades of each just to keep things interesting. Once they were bundled up, down the stairs I went with our yarns and my hook.

I’m not sure quite why, but I rarely knit afghans. Crocheting is much quicker for me and I seem to find patterns that I like better in crochet to make up the afghans. This might be something to analyze at a later date. One thing I love about Red Heart yarn is it’s consistency in weight. Plus the colors are solid and for a child’s afghan it’s good to have something washable that will hold up to some use. Now, if the yarns had been in full skeins rather than bits and pieces it would have been a much quicker project, but then where would the fun have been. I like this pattern and I’ve had an afghan in this pattern for 20 years that still looks like it did the day I finished crocheting it and I have used it a lot over the years.

This has also led me to the “why don’t I have baby things made and stored” question that rears its little head every now and again. It’s usually when I have two or more items to make that I think about this. I don’t really suppose that I could do it that way with the afghans, though, because I try to make each one differently and to personalize them so making them up in advance wouldn’t really work.  Now sweaters, on the other hand….. So, how do you handle baby items? Do you have a safe stash or do you make as you go?

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Posted by: Mare F | May 3, 2012

This is just the way I’ve been feeling lately. I can’t decide if it’s the odd weather we’ve been having or the fact that I used up my entire Spring Break cleaning and organizing, but I’m with Weezie here, ready to camp on the couch and catch a catnap.

And just when I thought I had enough hobbies I was queried by a lovely lady with whom I work about looking at a rug her mother had done quite a bit of work on before she passed away last winter. Of course I said I would do what I could and while it will require a bit of research, I really don’t think I know anyone who does this particular rug making, I think I shall enjoy learning something new. There will also be the added bonus of not having to do the entire rug myself while being a position to see the completed work. It looks to be a win/win for both of us.

This same wonderful woman brought in a kit for an afghan to give me. She didn’t want it back, but I may offer it to her for one of the grandchildren or her sister. I’ve never done this type of work before and I think it looks interesting. If I can comfortably master this I may just start buying the material and using up my stash. This could be just a free-form blast. It’s called an Irish Candlewick afghan and I think it looks very interesting. I would love to hear from anyone who has done this type of work. It says something about me, I think, that I was very excited that the outside label and the chart were intact in the box. Nothing more challenging than trying to find directions to something that is at least 30 years old and no longer sold.  This weekend looks to be challenging while I watch the Kentucky Derby and sorting out directions for one of my two new hobbies.

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Posted in General, rug making

Posted by: Mare F | April 19, 2012

Woodsy Shawl Finally finished

Now I’m going to sound a little simple here, I’m sure, but I finally finished the woodsy shawl that I started a few weeks ago.  This is the shawl that began as totally different creature and slowly became my own beastie. I have to admit that I wasn’t sure that I was going to knit the edging onto this shawl.  The shawl body is basically the same triangle pattern I used for a couple of shawlettes I made out of sock yarn last year and it is just simple enough that you can really color outside the lines with your edging if you so chose.

On this one I crocheted my edging and thought that perhaps I would do the same with this shawl, but part way through I thought that a leafy edging would be perfect with the colors. Now here is where I got lazy. I was looking a pattern book for a completely different project and there, right in front of me, was the exact edging I wanted. I did not get up to look through my crochet books to see if I could find a leaf pattern, I did not check out my favorite magazines to see if they had a leaf pattern, and I didn’t even check out my favorite websites for a crochet pattern. For once in my life I chose to knit a somewhat complicated (more than 4 row pattern) edging. Maybe this is a break-through for me. I am much quicker at crocheting and I like the lacy effect, but I much prefer a knitted body on a project than a crocheted body. Go figure.

So this is the very beginning of the edging. Had I thought about the fact that I would have to make approximately 40 of them, I might had scurried off to my crocheting books, but I didn’t make that connection until I was about a third of the way in and then it was just too far along. I can’t in good conscience rip out that much good work just because I’m bored. I am glad that I did it and I think the result is lovely. Will I do it again? I don’t know. Maybe if the right yarn speaks to me about it. Oh, and one of the best parts…this was out of my stash!

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Posted in Crocheting, Knitting, Organizing

Posted by: Mare F | April 12, 2012

Pattern challenged

Am I the only person who feels compelled to change almost every pattern she sees? It’s not that I don’t like the original pattern completed, it’s just that invariably I see it with a slightly different ending. I recently began the Red Heart KAL. The pattern is Kate’s Shawl which is lovely. Very feminine with a charming pattern in the body of the scarf. First issue I ran across was the yarn I was using lost the pattern in the shawl proper so I started over again with just a plain garter stitch. The ruffled edging would be just as nice with this  tweed pattern, I thought.

While knitting the requisite rows of the body, I gradually began to think about different edgings. The colors in the yarn made me think of woodlands so a ruffle just didn’t seem to be the proper edging for this slightly skewed project. I ran through my stock edgings, eliminating each one as I went for different reasons. The picot edging would be too small and out of proportion. The shell edging would be alright size-wise, but it didn’t seem the right shape for the lovely, woodsy tweed. Then it hit me…leaves! That would be the perfect edging for this shawl.

While looking through Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant, lent to me by a charming friend, I found just the edging. I had a few iffy moments when I considered that it was in a sock yarn in the book and I was working with a much more substantial yarn, but all was well. I started my first leaf last night and even in dim light it looked pretty good if I do say so myself. What do you think?

So, I guess my question is, “Am I the only person who consistently changes patterns when she knits or crochets?” It would be lovely to know that I’m not alone.

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Posted by: Mare F | April 8, 2012

Still organizing

Who knew it could take this long? It feels as though I’ve been organizing myself forever here, okay, maybe only a few months, but still, I think that my surroundings should be in a little better shape. I have made progress, I will admit that, and my stashes are smaller…for all of my various hobbies, but there is still so much to do.

Soon to be organized?

One idea that came to me in the past week, and it’s actually an idea I got from a woman I know who cross stitches. is to actually put yarn from my stash into bags with the patterns that I would like to use them to make. That will show me just how many projects I have in my future. It will also hopefully keep me from buying any more yarn, although with the Connecticut Sheep Breeders Wool Festival the end of this month it seems a stretch. It will also use up those lovely little handled bags I get in shops that I don’t want to toss out, but really aren’t much good for anything else. I can just picture them now sitting proudly in a row on the shelf just waiting to be grabbed and completed. The more I think about this idea, the more I like it. Now, to actually put it into action.

I have the week after next off for our school’s spring break. I’m very much looking forward to it, but I fear that once again my expectations will exceed my abilities. Weather permitting I will do some work in my flower beds,  preparing them for the dye plants I want to start this year. If the weather doesn’t permit that, well, then I’ll just trot upstairs and start bagging up my projects. Of course this will entail going through my pattern books and working out yardage and weights. Hmm, this could be how the distractions start….hours spent with pattern books. Do you find that you are easily lured into pattern books as well?

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Posted in Craft fairs/shows, Dyes, Festivals, Fiber trips., Organizing, Plants | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | March 29, 2012

Of my beaten path.

I finished the Log Cabin Quilt afghan and began my shawl for the Red Heart KAL yesterday. I changed the pattern on the shawl after about 20 rows only because the yarn I chose from my stash for this project is a tweed and the pattern was lost in it. I will do another with a solid color so that the lovely pattern shows up. Now it’s just straight garter stitch until I get to the ruffle. It means that I can really watch TV while doing it now.

crocheted "quilt"

A good friend has lent me her drum carder and that is part of my plan for the upcoming weekend. I have a basket of clean fleece upstairs and I hope to get the two together, after a bit of reading since I’ve absolutely no idea what I’m doing, and see what comes of it. Since I managed to finally spin all of one of my balls of roving I’m excited to see what will come next. If this weekend’s work turns out to be usable, I will try dyeing this batch which will be another first. I am fairly certain that I won’t be able to hand card much once I figure that out just because my wrists just aren’t what they once were, but if I can master the drum carder life will be all the more interesting. Don’t you think?

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Posted in Crocheting, Dyes, Knitting, Spinning, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | March 25, 2012

Scattered yarns

It’s been a scattered couple of weeks for me. One of my cats has passed on and after 12 years it took me a bit to readjust. Mind you,  our other cat adores being an only cat after 12 years of sharing humans so I have plenty of purrs and rubs. I’ve been wandering a bit more than usual and in a fit of minor lunacy I offered to donate an afghan for a raffle to be held two weeks from the time that I offered, now it’s one week. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but for the first time in years I don’t have a single afghan made up. Now as you all know from my last post, I have literally gobs and gobs of yarn so I decided to find a pattern that would put a dent in my stash. Red Heart yarn came to my rescue with a crocheted Log Cabin Quilt afghan and all I had to do was managed to put together the required amounts of yarn in 14 colors. It’s not as simple as one would think.

I had my doubts looking at the first square I made up, but didn’t have a lot of options and decided to give into my gut feeling that all would be well in the end. Really, there are some very interesting colors in my big white basket of goodies and the picture of the pattern finished was done in shades of blues and purples which are lovely. My mantra became “Quilts are lovely, quilts are lovely,” in the hopes that it would spur me on toward the finish. It wasn’t until a short while ago that I took the squares I had finished and laid them out in the final sequence.

It’s not a alarming as I feared. In fact, it may become a favorite pattern for stash busting and I think perhaps I’ll work on one for my bed. That one might just end up being on very large square though, I really don’t like sewing squares together, or sewing anything for that matter.

I did manage to finish my second All Buttoned Up Shawl mutant loosely from the book Austentatious Crochet in the Caron Simply Soft Autumn Red yarn. It is luscious and I may just have to make one for myself. What do you think?

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Posted in Crocheting, Donations | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | March 15, 2012

What’s in your fiber stash?

I knew that I had a lot of yarns and fibers, but I didn’t realize just how much until I looked at it with “new” eyes yesterday. This year has been spent mostly working out of my various totes of yarns, but I still have a long way to go. My creativity will hopefully add a myriad of new and unique items to my online studio. I’m very much looking forward to working outside of my comfort zones with all of this yarn. Also the plan has my totes looking askance at me with hungry glances.

The small totes

The biggest challenge is to decide just what I want to make with my assortment of yarns. I have wool, bamboo wool, cotton, cotton blends, and acrylics in all shapes and colors. I feel that there may be quite a few learning experiences to come on this trip and hopefully some successes in the mix. I suppose I could view it as bonding with my fibers.

Mind you, this is the first corner of yarns. I have a few of the XXL Ziplock bags with Red Heart Super Saver lap robe leftovers, a bag or two of odd ball yarns that have been given to me, and baskets of bulky wool for woven rugs. Yarn shopping should perhaps take a back seat to creation for a while, but at least I know I have something to work on at all times. Maybe this is why I always seem to have so many projects going at one time. What do you think? Oh, and what’s in your stash?

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Posted in Crocheting, Fiber trips., Knitting, Organizing, Weaving

Posted by: Mare F | March 11, 2012

Spring ahead?

I don’t know about you, but this is one Sunday that throws me for a loop every year. My adjustment period to Daylight Savings Time seems to take longer with each passing year. I’ve been up since 3:30 a.m. body time because I knew that it was 4:30 a.m. “real” time and I have a cat who gets meds every morning at the same time. I got up then because tomorrow morning the alarm will go off at 4:00 a.m. body time so it just seemed prudent to begin the change over on a day where I could be foggy if I chose to do so. Needless to say we are going with the K.I.S.S. system today. While I have a few projects I would like to start, and one I should start in case the adult ed class I’ve offered to teach gets students, I think that today will be a quiet crocheting day. I’m working on my second All Buttoned Up shawl, or rather my version of this lovely shawl as I’ve omitted the buttons and just crocheted the 3 squares together, for a friend of mine. It’s in Caron’s Simply Soft yarn in the very rich Autumn Red color. Absolutely gorgeous. I’ll have to find  pattern to make something for myself out of this color. In fact, all of the Simply Soft colors are amazing.

I suppose I could get the pattern and the yarn together for the Red Heart KAL that starts at the end of this month http://www.redheart.com/blog/spring-2012-knit-along . I don’t do many of these, but it’s good to see what others are doing and this is a good way to check in to groups with whom I don’t normally chat. It’s also a good way to learn a new stitch or two. Of course, I had to change the yarn. Happily I did check my stash to see what I had before my yarn imp, Jennifer – a  delightful lady who is going to go the KAL with me – could lead me astray (not a difficult task by any means) once again by purchasing more yarn. She is one of my biggest inspirations, yarn enabling aside, and someone who always seems to encourage me into moving in the right direction. Thanks, Imp!

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