I'm still standin'

Fear not, I'm still alive, dear reader! This whole wedding nonsense is really getting to me! It's less than a month away!

I returned safe and sound from Buffalo from the shower (flew up, drove back with the parents). You'll be happy to know that I finished the dishcloths AHEAD of schedule and here's the final result. They were a complete hit! Coupled with my mom's coasters, it was the craftiest shower I'd ever seen!

I'm fortunate enough to have such lovely friends, and now I'm stocked! 5 air bake cookie sheets! When I opened my red Kitchen Aid Mixer, everyone applauded. It was a delight!

While I'm not a fan of shower "games' my mother, unbeknownst to me, made everyone go around and tell their favorite memory of me. My neighbor, who's known me all my life, said that when I was three, I used to waddle up to her husband in the driveway and offer him a beer. I would also roll up on my tricyle and ask if they had any good cookies. I must have been a charming child.

On the regular knitting front, I can't seem to get anything done, as I'm feeling so spastic with all this wedding planning. I am trying unsuccessfully to knit some socks for my mom for Mother's day, but that is just going horribly wrong, as I seem to be falling asleep on the couch every night.

Oh me.

If I can survive this month, I think I'll be okay. Most of the planning is done, by I fear my sanity may be lost forever.

Threadfest, or, 35 Feet High and Rising

Finally, I got around to taking some pictures of my loot from Threadfest! Vintage patterns galore! And all of these treasures were mine for under five dollars!

My goal is to make as much as I possibly can. While I can't imagine I'll be knitting and Coco Chanel-esque dress suits anytime soon, there are plenty of great patterns that provide great inspiration. There are some great patchwork crocheted scarves, amazing parkas, you name it! I am so excited at all the possibilities!

On the dishcloth front, which seems to be occupying a huge part of my life, I can safely say THE END IS IN SIGHT. Sure, I have about 5 more to do, and I still have to weave in all those godforsaken ends, but I plan to be done by this weekend. I fear for my sanity. I only had 35 done, with one more about to be finished.

And with that, I'll leave you with a picture of The Leaning Tower of Dishcloths:

stress knitting

A year ago, when I first endeavored into the wild and crazy world of sock knitting, I never would have guessed that it would now be known as my comfort knitting. Last night, while watching the US men's under 23 soccer team team play, and I tried to sort out who to invite to the rehearsal dinner while I emailed the wedding photographer, in between crocheting those freaking wedding shower dishcloths, I looked longingly at Nancy Bush's Knitting on the road : sock patterns for the traveling knitter as it sat sadly on my shelf. So, what did i do? i stayed up, with my frazzled nerves and attempted to knit the sock that looked like a whiskey cask until midnight. Well, gentle reader, it didn't. The vikkel braid is not to be trifled with past a certain hour in the evening, I'm afraid.

I did, however, through the glory of ravelry and its free pattern browse, find the Nutkin Sock and shall start on that this weekend. Even though my sage coworkers are advising me to keep on keepin' on with the dishcloths, they do not understand the soul-crushing power that working with that much cotton can bring. Also, there's some sort of peace and solace that concentrating on starting of on that first sock brings, before you get the pattern down. It's just really nice and calming, and just what this over-stressed, planned-to-the-max lady needs!

This + a cup of tea = heaven, this weekend

captain easychord

spring has finally hit tennessee! i think! today was absolutely gorgeous! growing up in the snow belt, spring was such a rewarding season after 5 or 6 months of grueling cold and soul-crushing snow. since the album came out, i like to celebrate the change of seasons by putting on stereolab's sound-dust and celebrating the lovely change of weather. this is a quintessential spring album for me. it's funny how some songs or albums are tied so strongly to parts of our memory, like the time i was driving home from class during a blizzard and leonard cohen's "avalanche" from "songs from a room" just happened to be playing. i can't listen to that album during the summer, but i digress. anyway, i have fond memories of having the windows down on my car, listening to this stereolab album, driving to my job at the archives and saying hello to the niagara river and lake erie on fine may mornings (when spring usually hit in the homeland). definite plus of living in the south: having spring 2 months early!

i had to get away from the dishcloths! i am happy to report i am up to 30! yes! only 10 (or so) to go! so, i spun this past weekend with the roving i picked up from etsy. behold!


It's about 208 yards and a merino colonial blend! Oh so soft and squishy! I love it! I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with it, but I'll sure it'll come to me. Eventually.

It was so nice to spin again and get away from cotton. Don't get me wrong. I love me some cotton, but everything in moderation, including moderation.

that's entertainment

my roving arrived from etsy today and let me say it's more lovely and squishy than i could have ever imagined. the parents are flying down from the rust belt to thaw out a bit, and i intend on using that as a spinning demonstration as they have yet to see the spinning wheel in action.

the wizard arm shirt has gone on hiatus, as i unfortunately have to do things like go to work and clean my house. so it goes.

but fear not, gentle reader, i am not neglecting the dishcloth. while i have greatly strayed from the original pattern, i have happily wandering into the realm of the geriatric, and have whipped up quite of few granny squares in a small amount of time. stella is quite fond of them, as you can tell. it's only driving me moderately batty. plus, having such lofty goals is a really nice motivating force.


this is probably my favorite granny thus far. behold its old lady glory:

labour for learning

this weekend. what a mess.

i had a burning desire to make a smock. after some extreme googling and finding some sublime inspiration and tutorials, nothing seemed to come out right.

i did all the measurements as per the instructions which left me with something which my friend elizabeth described as "wizard arms."


no thanks. desmond dekker couldn't even save me.

on the dishcloth front, i have a bunch of granny squares completed and am trying some non-granny-squares (gasp!) crocheted dishcloths, but they're taking too long. i could not even finish a single one during the entirety of the oscars.

oh well.

i could also blame this on the massive misfiring of neurons (or whatever caused my massive banger of a migraine that left me incapacitated and seeking dark spaces all of saturday and most of today). things just aren't right. hopefully tomorrow will be better.

next craft i want to tackle: the embroidering of tea towels.

hot grannies

i found away to save my sanity! ramona explained the mystery that is known as reading a crochet pattern, and i was off to the races. i totally had a granny square dishcloth done before american idol was over (i voted twice for the dude who did the creepy and awesome version of the monkees' song). behold!

stella (our little grey cat found wandering on the street at our old apatment) was quite pleased with it too. she must be thrilled for me too, as she wouldn't leave it alone! she was hugging it, swatting it, and giving it lots of love. and yes, dear reader, i have 3 cats, i knit (and crochet!), and am a librarian. i don't have a bun. yet.

stella swipes:



stella loves:

big dreams for a one-trick pony

oh dear. this weekend.

i think i am reaching near burnout status on those dishcloths.

i was having a hard time starting them, doing YOs. come on, now. the first half of those things are the easiest part and i was messing it up. it was time to take a break. so, i spun some lovely silver alpaca roving i had, and proceeded to get it all over my black shirt while watching My Favorite Year with Peter O'Toole.

so, i managed to get some crocheting done. let's play what's wrong with this picture:



could it be that i forgot the hdc (half double crochet) border on the right hand side? could it be that i was so engrossed in "pride and prejudice" on masterpiece theater? correct!

on the wedding dishcloth front, they are coming along. maybe once my crochet skills get less wonky, and can contribute some of those to mix it up a little and save my sanity.

friday binges

hello, roving. you will be at my house soon. all 8 oz of you:



in other craft related news, my crochet skills are improving by leaps and bounds! so, i tried to crochet a heart for mr. wheezy-to-be and it ended up looking like a malformed kidney. i'm a beginner. i seem to have gotten the whole single and double crochet ruckus down, and granny squares are my friends. best friends, even.

so, this weekend, it's back to the regular old dishcloths. the garter stitch knit dishcloths. as much as i may want to procrastinate, i must keep on keepin' on, or i will have some very disappointed guests at the wedding shower, and no one wants that. i could tell myself i could practice my crochet and CROCHET the dishcloths, but we all know that i would lose valuable knitting time in the process, and time is of the essence, blah de blah blah.

must focus.

but once that roving comes, though, all bets are off.

love in the retail trade.

i think it's time for an intervention. someone call the authorities stat.

i can't stop knitting or crocheting with cotton.

the latest offenders:


i also just completed a giant cotton granny square. i think i'm in love.

i tried crocheting a wool heart. it just didn't feel right. my fingers were crying for cotton. should i be concerned?

the harder they come

stats:

• 12 dishcloths completed
• 1 callous developping
• 1 hole in finger
• need to stretch hand on a regular basis
• overwhelming sense of pride that i may actually be ahead of schedule

bummers:

• still have to weave in ends (blerg)
• still have 32 to go

i wish i could say my callous was some rockstar related injury, but alas, it is not. no, it is not from shredding my axe. it's from my US size 8 susan bates needles.

now dear readers, i need some advice. i am planning to finish these dishcloths in the near future, not only to be an industrious knitter, but to also save my sanity. as i've mentioned before, i come from a crafty family, and hand knit thank-you presents would be the perfect gift for the 3 ladies throwing the wedding shower for me. 2 of them are terribly talented quilters, and the other is a jack (jane?) of all crafts. also, if anyone suggests i give them dish cloths, i may just shut this whole operation down (ok, not really).

shawls? i don't have enough time for log cabin blankets, do i? i'm dreamin' big! we can blame that on on glen campbell. he once made me (well, his song did) drive to bowling green, ky just because i was enamoured with that song. ok, so i got lost and ended up in a not so great part of town, but whatever.

PS - don't forget to vote!

epic knitting project, cont'd.

so, i skivved off a work a bit early today to head off to buy an insane amount of cotton yarn. "how much is an insane amount?" you ask. well, dear reader, 29 skeins of Peaches'n'Creme and 2 1 1b. cones is an insane amount of cotton yarn. the cashier clearly thought i was a bit batty. now, nothing can get in my way of providing delight to all those who attend the wedding shower.





oh, and my mother sent me a text asking if 44 invites was okay. so, officially have 6 dishcloths done (soon to be 7), and only 38 more to go.

even though i have this massive task ahead of me, my mind is already wandering on to what i can create next. no, not to the socks that i've abandoned or the hybrid seamless sweater that i've haplessly thrown aside, but to sewing projects, and learning how to crochet. my coworker and lovely friend ramona made me this absolutely stunning pineapple doily, which makes me want to crochet doilies. en masse. and then i want to frame them. but more on that later.

i also want to dust off the old sewing machine, who, aside from providing me with some lovely marimekko-esque curtains, hasn't done much as of late. clothing, people! i'm talking tops! skirts! even dresses!

le sigh.

back to my dishcloths.

40 days and 40 dishcloths

So, it's been a good while, hasn't it? Well, let's just say I have a wedding shower coming up (for yours truly), and I volunteered to knit 40 dishcloths for favors. My mother is sewing some really cute and functional drink coasters. When she mentioned this, my crafty DNA kicked in, and I volunteered to help out. Who doesn't love handknit items? Anyway, I did the math and this means I pretty much have to crank out one of these suckers every night.

Here's the thing: it's the easy peasy dishcloth pattern my grandmother taught me.

Thus far I have 4 done.

36 to go.

Wish me luck.