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.

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.