What I've Been Doing, Part 2

Dead Laptop Screen

My last update was apparently truncated by Blogger. Or it might have been the antiquated G4 I've been using this week since I smashed the screen of the 'good' laptop Monday afternoon (It's being fixed, but can't get back home soon enough!)...who can say. The great thing about this resurrected dinosaur of a laptop is that we've sort of opened a time capsule - all of our favorite websites from four or five years ago! Photos we forgot we had! Silly MP3's we never bothered to put on the new computer's iTunes!

The not-so-great thing, of course, is that the computer is slow as hell, and most of the websites I need to do my job well either don't work at all (this thing doesn't even have OS 10) or are so slow I can make myself lunch while they load. It's better than nothing, though, and I've been able to find some apps for my Android to help fill in the spaces and cobble together some semblance of a work-week.

So what else have I been up to that Blogger apparently doesn't want you to know about?

Let's call it done.

Just yesterday, I bound off for the body of Tyler's sweater - here he is modeling it! I just need to knit the sleeves and he'll be ready for winter. I'm going to be bold (or crazy or stupid - I can't decide really) and attempt to do them two-at-a-time. I've done that many times before for sleeves, but they've never been attached to a big ol sweater. It's either brilliant or a huge disaster, I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

I also dusted off the ol' spinning wheel - I have two projects that have been sitting around, waiting to be plied for the last 4 months to a year. You know it's bad when you're bumbling around, trying to remember how to set everything up! However, I plied both of them and they are so beautiful I want to knit with them immediately. It's also renewed my interest in spinning, and I had a great time digging through my fiber stash - I have some really cool stuff that I completely forgot about! Some mystery fiber I dyed when I was still working at Lorna's Laces....unbelievably soft merino/silk in a lovely natural tan color....some black alpaca fiber I bought at Stitches 3 years ago...1 handpainted Falkland braid and 1 BFL braid I bought at YarnCon last year....yeah, I really need to get back to spinning. It's almost criminal.

I also have three socks going...yes, three. I'm working on the colorwork socks I'd posted about earlier, but needed something to knit on the bus, so I started some ribby socks from Nancy Bush's Vintage Sock book with the yarn I got for free at Stitches. I wasn't super excited about the socks initially - I knit a pair a few years ago, and they were really nice, but I don't tend to knit the same pattern over and over again. Anyway, I wasn't particularly jazzed until I realized the pattern was changing with each color change!
Total dumb luck, of course! Sock # 3 is an emergency test knit for a pal's soon-to-be-released sock pattern.

Finally admitting defeat, I frogged my Koukla Cardigan. There's nothing wrong with the pattern - the instructions (what I knit of them) were easy to follow and made sense. It's a great sweater, too...but for some reason I just wasn't excited about knitting with it, and it's sat at the bottom of my project bin all summer long. I found a different sweater pattern to try once I finish Tyler's - here's hoping I actually finish this one! I also finished a project that's been on the needles since April. I can't give any details because it's a gift, but it turned out much better than I could have ever hoped for!

That should pretty much bring us up to date. *crosses fingers that this post doesn't get mysteriously deleted once I hit 'publish'*

Easy DIY: Beaded Vintage Snowflake Ornament Kits from Solid Oak Inc.

I was really excited to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new as part of my "Christmas in July" theme this month. The kind folks at Solid Oak Inc offered me a chance to review one of their Nostalgic Christmas beaded crystal ornament kits I couldn't resist. My tree is already full of ornaments I've inherited or been gifted from other family members and friends, so these pretty crystal beaded ornaments will fit right in I think! I was super impressed with this compact little kit , which includes everything needed to create three gorgeous vintage-style ornaments - just add a pair of round nose pliers (I found mine on Amazon for less than ten bucks). The instructions had some fabulous tips for newbies like me; for example, it recommended sorting the beads and laying them out in order on a towel or beading mat to prevent them from rolling away. That may seem obvious, but I was totally ready to start beading on my kitchen table without a

What If I Didn't Add Heels?

Last weekend, I finished the first sock with my Waterlilies yarn , and just for yuks, I tried it on even though it was basically just a tube sock. Much to my surprise, it fit really well, even without a heel. Who knew? So, that got me thinking: what if I just didn't add the heels? I never thought a tube sock would actually fit nicely, but I genuinely like the fit, so...why spend time to add the heels? As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.... Let's say I decide not to add heels once the second sock is done - there will still be placeholder yarn for the afterthought heels, as you can see above, so should I leave it in and just weave in the ends? Or should I remove it, put the live stitches back on needles and at least graft them together using more of the Waterlilies yarn? I plan on mulling all of this over as I knit the second sock, and I'd love to hear your opinions of what you think would look best (or if you think this whole "n

Overdyeing A Finished Knit

Even after just a few years of knitting or crocheting, you're bound to have some finished projects lying around that never get worn or used. After 10+ years of crafting, I have more than just "some" or "a few"....and with my ongoing quest to declutter my house this year, I've become obsessed with going through these forlorn projects and making some Big Decisions. Sometimes, they are perfectly fine and just need a new and loving home. Other projects may have not turned out quite right: there might have been some mistakes in the knitting that I thought I could live with, or the yarn was gorgeous but not well-matched to the pattern, or my taste has drastically changed since I finished making the project...in any case, why on earth did I keep knitting?! Who knows, but I don't feel good about gifting anything that falls into this category to someone else. These projects have been relegated to the "frog pile" (or should I say, frog pond?), to b

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