Month: May 2012

Memorial Day was a busy one for myself, and I have the aches to prove it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the amount of destruction I did to all those wild plants growing near the woods. Many of those plants were taller than I. I guess that’s not saying much, since I’m only 5′.

But, I had a great workout, three hours nonstop weed whacking with my handy scythe. As I used it, I thought… “Wow, this could really put a hurting on someone!” It cut down small trees easily.

The main plant that received a lot of the my attention is this wild plant, that I haven’t bothered to identify (yet). It’s been in this area since I can remember….

And it must be the plant kingdoms version of the cockroach. That sucker is hard to kill! You think you’ve dug up all the roots, but it still comes back.

While I don’t have pictures of all the yard work I did yesterday, or the mystery plant that sort of resembles bamboo, I did take photos of my knitting. To be fair, when I’m working, I don’t have time to take pictures. If I’m constantly snapping photos, I can’t be working, can I? 😉 But I’ll try to take outside photos later today.

During my down time, I did frog the knitted stockinette scarf and  it was reborn as the knitted scarf you see below. My daughter was completing a school project, and I was giving her pointers. With knitting, I don’t have to look at my work. My hands “know” where to go.

As you see, the yarn color and weight have changed. It used to look like this…

It’s now been upgraded to a bulky yarn. The exact color is Mulberry. I did decide to use the same knitting stitch; stockinette. I must say that I like this one much better than the other stockinette scarf that I’d made.

If you look closely, you might see streaks of black mingling within the mulberry. I like it, it’s very subtle.  My circular knitting needles stayed the same; size ten. I was contemplating on using a size 15 circular needle, but perhaps I’ll use them next time?

While working on this scarf, I realized that my father could use a scarf, for the colder months.  He only wears them at his home. But, since he does a lot of yard work, A thick scarf, such as this, would come in handy, and perhaps my mother wouldn’t fuss at him so much about staying warm?

The scarf he uses now, he’s had for years. It’s a dull chocolate brown, and it has seen better days. I actually believe it’s part of an ensemble; scarf, hat, and gloves that he received from work. That was at least fifteen years ago. He’s been retired for about eight years.

So I do believe its high time that he received a scarf upgrade, don’t you? He tossed the matching brown hat, the moment I made him a hat. It’s similar to the crocheted chunky hat I made for my five-year old nephew.

So yes… my father appreciates handcrafted items. I do put a lot of effort into anything that I create, and as I mentioned in an earlier post. The recipients won’t find any mistakes with their hand crafted item, since I’ll rip them out in a heartbeat until it looks perfect. Once this scarf if finished, I’ll cast on a scarf for him, and then some matching gloves.

They’d make great Christmas presents, But I’ll gift him with the scarf and gloves, as soon as the weather turns cold.

Yesterday I had the chance to work on this knitted stockinette scarf.

This is one of the items that will be donated to a local charity group.

Although the stitches look fine, there’s something I’m not liking about the scarf, and so I’ll be frogging this project. What I do like is how the scarf drapes, and I like the color… just not for this scarf. I’m thinking this color will be used to knit a cowl. We’ll be staying home this Memorial Day, and I’m sure I’ll have a chance to crochet and knit. 

This new scarf will most likely be created using a cable or seed stitch.

I believe I spent about six hours knitting this. Good thing I don’t mind ripping out my stitches, eh? 

Whether I’m crochet, knitting, jewelry making, sewing, or making soapmaking…

It’s all the same…

It’s the process that fascinates me!

Recently my fascination has been focused on yarn, which is made apparent to the numerous posts about crochet… and now knitting.

I love watching the hanks of yarn turn into something amazing. Occasionally I’ll make mistakes; everyone does at some point. But, I don’t hesitate to frog the project. With crochet it’s a lot easier to fix, since you only have to pick up one missed stitch. Knitting isn’t as easy since you’re picking up an entire row, to correct mistakes. But knitting doesn’t have to be complicated, if you get into the habit of adding a lifeline. In the above picture, you can see a lime green yarn woven through stitch. That’s my lifeline. While the row was still on my needles, I wove the yarn into that row using a darning needle.  If I make a mistake, I have only to frog back to my lifeline.

When it comes to crafts, some people are usually surprised about the amount of items or projects that I make. But that falls back to enjoying the process. Once I’m completed an item, I’m usually moving on to something else. Over the years, the speed and accuracy with all my crafts have increased. But that doesn’t happen overnight it comes from a lot of practice.

I must say, not being afraid to rip out mistakes guarantees the items I gift to people will be a high quality hand-crafted item.