Wednesday, October 29, 2008

When Plans Go Awry

Today was my day off. I had big plans.

I was going to stuff and assemble the several-years-old doll that I finally knit all the pieces for. Didn't touch it.

I was going to cast on my first pair of adult socks. Didn't touch it.

I was going to work on my Rambling Rows afghan that I haven't touched since the beach. Didn't touch it.

I thought about casting on for my first ever project for ME - a sweater. Or two. Didn't touch it.

So what did I do today?

I voted.

I cooked. Real food. On the stove and everything!

I bought Iron Man shoes for my baby. Because the puppy ate his Spiderman ones.

I changed the comforter and sheets on my bed to my heavy faux-suede one. Hello! It's almost November!!

So what did (or didn't) you do today??

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Two posts in one week. Might be a record!

Nah, it just means that I'm actually KNITTING!

This is a cruddy shot of my red wagon hat redo:


and both of the final hats together:




I redid the handle on Hat #2. The embroidery didn't work, so I made the i-cord again but this time it looked MUCH better after it was attached. So, the hats are

*finished
*delivered and
*paid for!

Which has now freed me up for more knitting. You'd better sit down for this.......

It's ALL the body parts of the knitted doll that I started somewhere about 2004!




Now, time for stuffing and assembly. And choosing hair color. And style. And a face.

Dang.

I thought she was almost done :-)

Well, at least she won't be nekkid when she's complete. Remember her outfit?




Now, I know I have some Poly-fil around here somewhere...

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Wow. My second post for October!

I haven't posted lately because I have been knitting furiously on my projects.

NOT!!

Well, I do have another FO. It looks incredibly like my last one! Oh, yeah. That's because I made 2 of them for twins! See?





The handles are different because, frankly, I hated the way the first one turned out. It just looked lumpy to me. I simply embroidered the second one and, while it looks smoother, it still isn't great. I haven't embroidered in a while either and it shows.

But I am a perfectionist. We'll see what my boss thinks.

That's right - I said my boss! She commissioned me to make these, and it only took me since JULY 25th to make them.

JULY 25th, y'all!!!

I am so embarrassed by that. It almost makes me not even want to give them to her. (Yes, the babies are still small enough that the hats will fit!)

Of course, I WILL give them to her ASAP because I want them out of my house!! I discovered during this foray into paid knitting that I don't like it. I want to knit what I want to knit, when I want to knit it. This was NOT fun knitting. Either hat. I'm so sick of them now that I just want them out of my sight! (I know: I'm terrible!)

So, please don't ask me to knit anything for you. (Not that any of you would.) If I feel like making you something out of the kindness of my heart, then so be it. But I will NOT be knitting by request anymore.

Now I seem to be in the mood to polish off some UFO's. I only have an inch or so to finish a doll arm. Then I'll have all her parts and will be ready to stuff and assemble her. I already have an outfit waiting.

I also want to work on my Rambling Rows blanket that I started at the beach. Funny how cooler weather brings that "knitting fever" back, huh?

How about you? Do y'all have the fever??

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I'll get by with a little help from my friends.

Well, I THOUGHT I was back to knit-blogging! Oh well...

I need to make those Mary Jane Slippers for my mom pretty quickly, so Red Wagon Hat #2 is on hold. I started the slippers, not too much trouble, until I got to the finishing details. Namely, the attached i-cord, which begins with a provisional cast on.

I'm not afraid of new things, so I read the tutorials for the provisional and gave it a shot. It's the crochet chain method.

I don't crochet, though I can fumble through a short simple chain if I must.

Usually.

Today, I couldn't tell the front from the back, even though the tutorial had photos complete with little pointing arrows and everything.

I threw my knitting across the bed laid my knitting aside, and stumbled off to find a better way. And I found it here at Knit and Tonic.

Ahh, much better!

Now, on to the attached i-cord tutorial here, by the Purl Bee folks. Cool!

Just thought I'd share those two handy-dandy lessons with those of you who still knit. And blog :-)