Sunday, February 18, 2007

Crochet, Knitting, and the War Zone

This nasty cold/sinus/lung attack has laid me low for a few days. I feel a little better now. Here is what happens to a person consumed by fever. Example #1: The knitted dishcloth.



I am making this out of overdyed cotton yarn, the stuff you can get at WalMart for about 5 bucks a piece. It has about 800-900 yards on each cone, and knits up really soft. Much softer than you would imagine, if you go by the way it feels on the cone:



Why am I knitting this? For one thing, it is mindless knitting that I can do with a temp of 101. For the second thing, the colors match my soon-to-be-remodeled kitchen. For the third thing, these are really useful in the kitchen (I have made others). For the fourth thing, I want to make this design out of the "coned" cotton yarn:



This is from the Winter 2006/2007 issue of Vogue knitting. I think it would be nice as a little spring/summer topper, and wool is WAY too heavy and hot for where I live. And, I can make it with just 2 cones! Less than 10 dollars! I hope I can find the cotton in a solid aqua color.

After I finish the dishcloth, I plan to put it in the merry-go-round with cold water and then into the DRYER. I want to see a) how much it shrinks and b) how soft it is after washing.

Example #2: The crocheted baby blanket.



This is a ripple pattern from this book, available just about everywhere:



Hopefully my finished blanket will look like this:


I am using lavender yarn, instead of the peach. One cannot buy what WalMart does not have, now can they? I am using Bernat Baby Soft yarn for this, and it really is soft. Tends to split a lot so you have to be careful, but really works up nicely and is easy care. Again, this is another easy mindless project suitable for chills and fevers.

It seems like the entire house has fallen apart this week. Right now I am running on caffeine and decongestants and the merry-go-round is hard at work. Good thing, since there are ten gazillion loads of laundry to be done.

Who Nuked This Room?????

For this next series of photos, I caution you all to protect your eyes. Wear sunglasses. By all means, don't allow innocent children to see these photos. You are about to see what appears to be a nuclear war zone--the current state of my sewing room:
















Looks like a craft store threw up, doesn't it? I warned you.
I have a holiday tomorrow, and my goals, health permitting:
1. Clear away the nuclear waste.
2. Finish smocking Purple Passion.
3. Finish the dishcloth.
4. Put another pattern repeat on the afghan.
5. Make a large pot of vegetable soup.
6. Cut out Cornflower for a certain young lady..........
And yes, those boxes and bags are full of vintage patterns!

2 comments:

CandlebyNight said...

How could I not comment!
You sew, smock, knit and crochet? Plus make vegetable stew?

Now for that sewing room. HEHEHE.
How wonderful to have all that space for just your sewing and other crafts! I have 1 1/2 walls of sewing. I will post a pic on my sewing AREA on my blog.

Can't wait to see pics of it cleared up.

Dana

Anonymous said...

Ha. You think that is bad, you should see MY sewing room.