Other crafts

A week using my laptop at work has really bothered my wrists, so I have been avoiding knitting (what else is new?) and focusing on other endeavors this weekend.

One is drawing a picture of Roo from this photo...

The other is sorting through these books from my dad's and selling them online...

Another is making these stockings for Dan's family...

And finally, I finished a very, very old WIP.  I didn't even put it on Ravelry, because I thought I would publish the pattern.  I'm still not very into it, but it has a little bit of sentimental value.  He's my first felting project! I used Paton's wool, and a big rubbermaid container and a plunger.  I remember sitting in the bathroom of my dorm pounding it in water and soap with the plunger.  He's a slug!

I was so "creative" then... I had so many ideas.  Now I guess they've all dried up.  Or I just feel like I don't have the time to do them, or I think they're not worth my time.  Whelp... sorry, that was me being a bit of a downer.

Don't you think he looks a little nervous? I think his mouth is so cute!

Yummy Yarn

This is the first year that I haven't gone to Rhinebeck.  I have mixed feelings about it - I WANT to go, to just sit around and watch the people, to eat the tasty fair food and oogle (and buy!) yarn.  But I have so much yarn! And I would like to use my money to pay off all that student loan debt... and I'm sick. 

Still, I tried desperately to find an excuse to go.  Several friends are busy this weekend; some didn't return my texts.  Some are sick like me! I couldn't find anyone to meet up with.  I couldn't think of any books I wanted to have signed or to buy.

So, I spent the weekend at home taking it easy.  But I still wanted to get some nice yarn.

Enter this.

I ordered it from Revelations of a Delusional Knitter's online shop, here.  I got it about a week ago, but I figured I would save it for when I needed a pick-me-up.  So yesterday I opened it up and oogled the pretty yarn inside.

The colorway is Reeses, but it reminds me more of fall colors.  I think the photos capture the color really well, one of those oranges is a little more pink, but overall it's pretty good.

I can't wait to make some fall socks for myself!

I Love This Shawl!

I didn't take photos last night because when I got home, Roo came to hang out and decided to sleep on the pile of knitwear that I had left on a chair.

But, first thing this morning I took some selfies! You can tell because of my hair.  And lack of very good makeup.  I did put on lipstick! That's something.

I just love the way the yarn feels around my face.  I'm going to be wearing the heck out of this this winter, even if it isn't blocked.

Speaking of not blocked... the edges are curly and the spine isn't straight.  Usually even if I block something, the spine isn't straight, but... still!

Yeah, my project area is pretty cluttered.  I have a lot of little things to do right now, and not a lot of time.  It's funny - the cleanliness of my work area is related to how stressed I am.  The more clutter, the worse I feel.

But I have a method! I'm not allowed to take anything off the table until I've taken care of it.  So, the only way to clean it up is to work on the projects.  Which keeps me from packing things away into oblivion.

My photo-taking came to an end when Dan poked me and told me I had to eat breakfast.  I think the photo turned out kind of cute.

Poor Res Photos of My Dream Shawl!

I finished the shawl yesterday, then washed it to be blocked, and then... I made a horrible discovery. My new apartment doesn't have carpet!

Okay, this discovery isn't really new... I LOVE my hardwood floors... but where am I going to block my shawl? At my last place, I found some out of the way place and blocked it using the carpet and mastic to hold my pins, but here, I don't have that! Even before, I used homosode board from Warren's stop motion set.  I don't have that either.

I guess I'm going to have to invest in blocking mats.  I tried to use the futon cushion but the pins wouldn't go in well, and when they did they were easily pulled out.  I guess I could use the mattress to our bed, but then where would we sleep? Would Dan make that sacrifice? (Probably not.)

Still, I love this shawl.  I took it down from it's farce of a blocking spot and played with it when I got home from work, and tried to take pictures on my phone.  Of course, it's after dark, so that probably doesn't help! But here are some photos.

Tomorrow I will pull out the camera and take some REAL photos that you can actually "Oooh" and "Ahh" at. For now I have these, and some photos of my landlord's cat.  His name is Roo and I steal him sometimes when they aren't home. >_>  (Not really steal, I always send him home when I hear them come in, and I don't feed him anything or keep him overnight.  And if I thought it bothered them I wouldn't do it! I swear! I would just lie on the porch or in the stairwell and cuddle him.)

Until then... V for Victory over a shawl! Mwah.

The surgery was a success!

My Haruni shawl is back on the needles! Armed with a "repeat of chart A's worth" of yarn (can we make that a unit of measurement?) and Kitsune's tip that I can do a bind off with zero yarn left over, I'm confident that I can finish this.

I really benefitted from the fact that I'm working with Qivit, I think.  When I pulled out the needles, the yarn stuck together on it's own but still unravelled when I tugged gently on the end. 

The End is Here!!

I couldn't work on my Haruni shawl for a long, long time.  It sat in my bedroom, in it's awesome case, forlorn and alone.

But then I decided to just go for it. 

And here we are.

I knew I wouldn't be able to make it, and I was right, I didn't...

Only hope now is to frog back and make the overall shawl shorter.  I'm going to go back one repeat of the chart, and if I mess up I'm just going to wind the whole thing up into a cake and cry.

It's a dark, dismal day and I've been feeling really down. I still have a lot of stuff I need to do though, for work, sadly... It will be really fun to do but I'm setting everything up. Lately at work I have just felt like Henny Penny. People want me to do things, (things that shouldn't even be my problem, really, since they're not even remotely connected to EHS) but no one wants to lend a hand and help me do them, and when I feel overwhelmed, of course the only thing to do is work alone at home on a Saturday night.  But the feeling of getting it done will be really good, just like the feeling of finishing this scarf. 

So I'm going to do it ;) (Both the work and the knitting.)

PURPLE Caps

Despite not being able to knit too much, I've made some caps for the NH Children's Fund CLICK for Babies Campaign.  It's a campaign to prevent child abuse by educating people about the period of PURPLE crying, which is a normal stage in a baby's life where they cry a lot, a frustratingly lot.

I only made 4 caps, and one is terribly small - almost too small to donate.  But hey, maybe some super tiny baby will get it.  Who knows.  

I improvised two of the hats, but for the other two I used the Berry Baby Hat pattern.  They remind me of little eggplants! 

I failed the goal of this, which was to make a ton of hats... but 4 hats is better than nothing, and hopefully 4 little NH babies will look adorable in them.  Next year I'll get started earlier, and make the whole month of September baby hat month!