Bits and pieces

Stick with me for a knit storage innovation! But first: I was thinking I might do a New Year's list of things I hope to get to this year, like a To Be Read book pile but for knitting, and called To Be Finished. These little mitts missing only their thumbs and run-in ends would be tippy top of the list:

Only I did a thing like that last year, where I committed to finishing a project every month and only made it through about four months before the wheels came off.

Since then I had been under the impression I had run out of projects to wrap up. Ha! 

Over the Christmas break I did a big cleanup and found so. many. more. Most of which are socks I knit and just didn't run in the ends on (big category one), even though my sock drawer has tumbleweeds blowing through it owing to all the socks that need mending before I can wear them again (big category two.)

Ready for the innovation?

What I also found in that cleanup was heaps of Ziploc bags filled with yarn I kind of forgot I had, because Ziplocs are ugly and my main yarn storage cabinet was already full, so they were jammed into a bigger bag and stashed under a table in the basement. 

While in the meantime, in another room, a large shelf was was clogged up with empty Mason jars I hadn't needed after buying a case in each of two sizes to use for baking mixes.

(this might be another innovation: when you're measuring out the dry ingredients for a go-to recipe, bring out a series of Mason jars and measure out several more batches into them. When you seal the lid the expiry date stays the same as your least fresh ingredient, which is probably months away, and you only have to wash the measuring gear once!)

So I got to thinking... aren't Mason jars just another form of moth-proof storage for wool? And couldn't I give myself storage space in one area by removing the jars to go on display somewhere else?

Answer: YES. 

 

I was so excited to choose the yarns to put in each one, and arrange their beautiful tags so they'd show. I didn't even listen when Pete said they looked like lab specimen jars with pickled invertebrates inside. (To be fair, there's a basket with six more jars in it that really do look like that, which is why I have not enclosed a picture of same.)

Did you do any big cleanups over the break, I wonder? Or draw up a dream list of something you'd like to do this year?

Either way - thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you next Saturday!

 

 

 

Blanket progress report

It didn't feel like I got much quality time with my stripey crocheted blanket the last few weeks, but somehow she's outgrown her cute project bag and is now living in a pillowcase.

How does that even happen?

I'm so grateful I figured this pillowcase out because the whole thing was getting pretty ungainly. As it is now, I can just turn the pillowcase to work from one folded section to another while I crochet or run in ends. 

 

Last time I had enough progress to show off, I photographed it on our dining table, which is the same width this was going to be. But since then I recalibrated and decided to make the stripes symmetrical from a central point (specifically, a claret stripe flanked by denim blue stripes.) You can see it in the pic above, a little to the left of centre frame.

Here's the first half, from the central point (left) to the start (right):

As the wonkiness of the stripes suggest, I'm new to this and winged the colour shifts as well as the rest. I'm really noticing a light patch to right of centre with a run of green/yellow/off-white/pink, but I think when it's reversed the colours should look fairly balanced, don't you?

At any rate, now that the table isn't the measuring tool, here's how far I still have to go: 

From navy blue through to claret, basically, which is about twenty stripes. 

Three stripes take me an hour to do, and running in the ends on those stripes takes another ninety minutes or so. I guess that means I only have another eighteen hours tops with my bestie before it's time to box her in with the aforementioned border. 

I'd say the end is definitely in sight! Though where those eighteen hours are going to come from is definitely a question. I so wish I had paid attention to the pattern instructions and done two stripes in each colour... so much less yarn wasted, and so much less time on running in ends.

Still, I'm really glad I decided to make a blanket, and I'm still enjoying every minute I work on it. Even the ends-running-in part is becoming meditative and pleasant. Who knew?

Good thing I bought yarn to do it all over again, but the right size this time, for the sofa, amiright?

Happy New Year and I do hope you've had an enjoyable winter break. Thanks for making me part of it and I'll see you next week with... who knows what! Except it probably won't be a finished blanket.

Probably.