Crafty Rantings

I'm Crafty. I Rant. These are Crafty Rantings!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Don't Scold - At Least I'm Blogging!

I made gifts for Christmas and didn't want to post any pictures until later. Well every weekend I think I will get to blog and am just too tired or busy or otherwise occupied. Time to shut up and blog.

The scarf on the left is really a variegated pink/red/white but it looks mostly pink in the picture. This was for my mother. It is a longer version of the scarf on the right (which is green if you can't tell) which I made for Matt. This is the same pattern I made really long (since it's crochet it's easier to modify!) and used 3 different colors put together with black to make an afghan for me. I haven't made a big project in a very long time!
I will take a picture of the afghan to post. I keep thinking I have and I have not. I have other things I've made that I need to take pictures for posting. I recently did a duplicate green scarf, this one for my brother's grandson Andrew. I need to mail that out. A few washcloths although I do more of those in warmer weather. I did a scarf for a swap. Need to fringe that today so I can mail it. AFTER the picture, of course. I keep trying to remember to take pictures.
I am working on knee warmers. I have never made them. I am going to try to shape the knee but I am confused by the directions so they might just be straight pieces to slip on. I am using size 4 needles because I wanted the stitches smaller but the directions didn't give a needle size so this is a guess. The stitches still look kinda big to me. It's got about 2.5 inches of K2P2 ribbing which I truly hate. I have messed it up and had to tink more times than I want to admit. We'll see how these come out. And how long they take. Guess if I hadn't been so tired last night and kept falling asleep in the chair I could have done more. After the ribbing, if you don't shape the knee, it's just straight stockinette. Easy. And when it's done if I do the set for commission (which is what brought all this up). Once this first test knee warmer is done I will see if I need to modify the pattern (or if I want to, say for instance have less ribbing). I like the contrasting color in the ribbing (halfway there) but I am thinking 3 rows is enough instead of 5. And I am doing them on 2 needles which means sewing a seam. If it turns out it is not big enough around I can add stitches (thank you pattern for telling me that!). I'd like to make a pair for mom (hopefully the test pair) and then the commissioned and then one for me. I am using Vanna's Choice yarn. I know it's not "real" fiber but it's soft, warm and everything I have made with it gets compliments. I am looking forward to finding out how much yarn these take to make, too.
I have a pattern for a wrap that I want to try once the knee warmers are done. It's crochet which I like. And then I think if I really like it I will pick a different yarn and make an afghan with that pattern, just longer than the wrap. But that will involve buying more yarn and finding time to go to the store in Chico. I have tons of cotton yarn so when I do finally get back to doing washcloths I will NOT need to buy yarn. And so maybe I need to join a swap where I send yarn. Swap-bot had one a while ago but I didn't join. I think I'll start one.
A lot to do today so off I go. Happy crafting!