Dragonfly Socks Mini KAL update

Yesterday's post from Wandering Cat was a bit of a kick in the pants ...

After blogging on Wednesday, I actually stayed up and finished the first Dragonfly sock ... The second sock has been started and I will be working on it as soon as I hit publish!

And Dee's comment last Monday ...

This pattern literally flies! I don't know when I've ever knit a pattern so quickly.

My first Dragonfly sock was finished on Wednesday as well, but Thursday and Friday were spent doing other things and I hadn't got around to casting on that second sock. But after reviewing the progress some of the others are making I've made a start this morning. That's how KALs are supposed to work, right? The progress of the faster participants inspires the rest of us? Or maybe it's just my competitive nature?

Whatever the case, I plan to knit monogamously on this project with the hope of finishing up by the end of the long weekend. Besides, I think I'm going to need to free up these needles for my Year of Projects which starts - er, is supposed to start - Sunday.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Over this last week I haven't entirely ignored my advent calendar garland. I've managed to finish two more and make most of a third little mitten. Knitting those little mitts is fun and quick, but the finishing is becoming a bit tiresome. But that's just because I'm lazy, not because of the construction which is actually quite clever.

But for most of the past week I've been working on my first Dragonfly sock. I'm taking part in a mini KAL organized by Dee over at Tangled Up in Sticks and String to kick off the Summer of Socks 2012. Those familiar with the Summer of Socks might wonder what's the hurry with these; after all the timeline for the first pair of socks is the first month of summer, June 21st to July 21st. But there are a bunch of other things for me to do in July, including competing in some Knitting Games which shall not be named.

The Dragonfly Socks pattern is written for 60 sts on size US 1.5 (2.5mm) needles, but I've adjusted the stitch count to 68 sts, by adding a stitch on each side of each repeat so that I can knit instead with my favourite US 0 (2.0mm) needles. The yarn is from Tami at Candy Skein and the colourway is Candy Skein's First Birthday. Neither today's photo nor the one from a couple of days ago does the colourway justice. Too much sun and the colour looks nuclear. Photographed in the shade, as I did today, and the colour looks subdued and flat. Maybe an overcast day would do the trick? For now you'll just have to take my word for it - the colour is gorgeous. And the sock is virtually flying off the needles!

Speaking of Tami, it's Wednesday and she's hosting Work-in-Progress Wednesday over at her blog. Why not have a look to see some of the fun and interesting work that's being done.

Summer of Socks 2012: Dragonfly Socks 01

With year one of my Year of Projects completed, and two weeks before the next Year of Projects begins I finally had a chance to cast on my Dragonfly Socks. We've got a mini-KAL going on - Wandering Cat, Tangled Up in Sticks and String, me and perhaps a few others - for the Summer of Socks 2012. Just a few days into the summer and I was already behind! Time to play catch-up!

For the first month of summer, from June 21st to July 21st, Summer of Socks participants choose their own adventure, knitting a pair of socks using yarn from an indie dyer and a pattern from an indie designer. For my yarn I'm using Candy Skein's Yummy Fingering in her First Birthday colourway. Tami of Candy Skein hosts Work-in-Progress Wednesday and Finished Object Friday at her blog, so I was happy to support her. And what yummy yarn it is!

For the second month of summer, from July 21st to August 21st, all the participants are knitting Lotus Heart Socks, a gorgeous lacy sock pattern which was designed to feature Zarzuela's Chromatic Yarn. The pattern is really stunning and I can't wait to get started on it. I've ordered this yarn  - mmm cashmere - and I've got notice that it shipped. So the tricky part here will be to wait until July 21st to cast on.

Finally, for the third month of summer from August 21st to September 21st, all the participants knit the group's favourite design from an indie creator as nominated by and voted on by the group members. I'll be nominating Wandering Cat's Morning Glory sock pattern. Have a look here to see it, and HEY THERE'S A CONTEST TO WIN THE MORNING GLORY SOCK PATTERN AND CUSTOM DYED YARN! GO!!!

Year of Projects: winding down the first year

Knitting on the Road: (pictured in this order) Canada • Canal du Midi • Christmas in Tallinn • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby

Last night I sat quietly to weave in the remaining yarn ends to finish these Uinta Cabin socks, and while I did, I reflected about the last twelve months of knitting through the book Knitting on the Road for my Year of Projects. Mainly I reflected at how pleasantly surprised I had been; in part by how much I enjoyed these patterns, but also by how much I learned and how much I enjoyed connecting with the other bloggers taking part in the challenge.

Here's a list of just some of the new-to-me techniques these patterns introduced me to:
• English cast on
• Double-start cast on
• Double-thread, double-start cast on
• round heel
• square heel
• Latvian twist
• Vikkel braid
• Kihnu Vits

And having committed to knitting these patterns as far as possible from stash yarns, I've learned a lot about modifying stitch counts and number of repeats to work with the yarn weights I had. One more thing? Several of these patterns provided opportunities to play with colours and patterns in complicated colourwork charts. The big lesson I learned was that too much matchy-matchy-ness makes for very dull colourwork. Sometimes the unexpected colour really makes the whole thing pop!

But it's also been fun to see what all the other participants have been up to, and how they did with their lists. Some have based their goals on learning new skills.  Others have listed a bunch of patterns in their queues and made it their goals to work through some of that. A few lists seemed a bit (or a lot) over the top - whereas 17 pairs of socks in a year was pretty do-able for me, dozens of shawls, hats, mitts and blankets, not so much. And for some, life got in the way and their crafting goals took a back seat. There's a story behind every post and a person behind each blog - it's been nice sharing my online Sundays with all of them.

In fact, it was such a good experience that I'm definitely in for another year. But more on that next Sunday! Want to join us for the coming year? Check out the Ravelry Group here.

Finished Object Friday: Scrap Ripple Cloth

It's a beautiful Friday morning here in Toronto, sunny and seasonably warm. The oppressive heat and humidity of the last few days came to a rainy and stormy end last night. Looks like it's going to be a really nice day and a nice weekend!

For show and tell today I have a Scrap Ripple Cloth. The pattern is written for worsted weight cotton but I decided to use up some fingering weight cotton scraps so my foundation chain row was 54 ch (a multiple of 11 ch, plus 10) on a 2.25mm hook. The resulting cloth is 7" wide, and after a few more of these my urge to crochet a scrap ripple blanket should be completely cured!

In her pattern directions, Anastacia Zittel remarks "I vetoed using plain single crochet or plain double crochet because I felt that was too boring – hence mixing the two in this cloth!" She's right, it does make it more interesting. My shell pink stripes are repeats of Anastacia's first five rows and the narrower lilac purple stripes are just rows 2-4 ... mostly because I only had a small amount of purple. I had hoped to add a few more colours - ivory and burgundy - but the yarn weights were too mismatched so it's just these two colours.

So it ends up as a very lightweight, very fine, very pastel cloth, perhaps more suitable as a baby girl's washcloth than a dishcloth. This cloth took 20 grams of yarn, leaving me with 24 grams leftover of mostly pink. My thought is to make a matching cloth in just pink (hurray that means fewer ends to weave in!) and then bundle them with some baby wash and a small tub toy for a shower gift.

I'm heading over to Tami's Amis now to see what everyone else is 'showing and telling'. Why not have a look for yourself?

is there a gold medal for pettiness?

not a photo of the letter, but it is a true copy
of the text of the letter

In a letter sent to Ravelry.com the USOC says ...

using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

Anyone else feel your "olympic® spirit" deflated?

® the USOC is a non-profit corporation chartered by Congress to coordinate, promote and govern all international amateur athletic activities in the United States.  The USOC therefore is responsible for training, entering and underwriting U.S. Teams in the Olympic Games.  Unlike the National Olympic Committees of many other countries, the USOC does not rely on federal funding to support all of its efforts.  Therefore, in order to fulfill our responsibilities without the need for federal funding, Congress granted the USOC the exclusive right to use and control the commercial use of the word OLYMPIC a and any simulation or combination thereof in the United States, as well as the OLYMPIC SYMBOL.  See the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, 36 U.S.C. §220501 et seq. (the “Act”).   The Act prohibits the unauthorized use of the Olympic Symbol or the mark OLYMPIC and derivations thereof for any commercial purpose or for any competition, such as the one organized through your website.  See 36 U.S.C. §220506(c).  The USOC primarily relies on legitimate sponsorship fees and licensing revenues to support U.S. Olympic athletes and finance this country’s participation in the Olympic Games.  Other companies, like Nike and Ralph Lauren, have paid substantial sums for the right to use Olympic-related marks, and through their sponsorships support the U.S. Olympic Team.  Therefore, it is important that we restrict the use of Olympic marks and protect the rights of companies who financially support Team USA.
In addition to the protections of the Act discussed above, the USOC also owns numerous trademark registration that include the mark OLYMPIC. These marks therefore are protected under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1051 et seq. 

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Today's forecast high is 34° C (93° F) with a humidex of 43° C (109° F), so what am I doing? Knitting socks and mittens! Seems kind of out of sync, doesn't it?

The mittens are miniatures; they're a start on my Smitten: A Holiday Garland. I'm knitting them entirely from odd balls and scrap yarn in my stash. The pattern is written for worsted weight, so I've made a light blue one as written. I've also made a green one from light fingering weight held triple and I'm now working on another using baby yarn held double. The plan is for 24 entirely different mittens to make up an Advent calendar. Each little mitt is a fun and quick knit, but I'm still pondering how to display them at the end of all of this. I was thinking of arranging them in rows to create a Christmas tree shape, but Gavin thinks they could be affixed to a wreath. The wreath idea may win out simply to keep it to a more practical size. We'll see.

Progress continues of my Uinta Cabin socks. Comparing this week's post to last week's, I'm exactly one whole sock further ahead. With just a few inches of foot left before the toe I'm confident I'll be finishing this second sock in the next day or two, but all that colourwork means a bunch of ends to weave in. So I'm less confident that I'll finish up in time to show them off Friday.

That's what's on my needles this week. Have a look at the links at Tami's Amis to see what everyone else is up to. I just hope there's nobody modelling sweaters or blankets in today's heat! Phew, makes me hot just to think of that.

spoiled!

"You'd better hurry up and take a photo, before I eat the rest of it" said Gavin about the chocolate, as we explored the contents of my Canada Day Swap parcel from Mary in beautiful British Columbia. Chocolate doesn't last very long around here, especially not good dark chocolate. The bar is from Roger's in B.C. - Canada's First and Finest Chocolatier.

For the handmade portion of the swap Mary sent three dishcloths ... and look, when you fold a red one on either side of the white maple leaf cloth it's the Canadian flag! Clever! I'm not sure what yarn she used but it's lovely soft. I might have to use them as facecloths instead; they seem a bit too luxurious for my kitchen sink. Certainly it's a very nice shade of red!

The final required item for this swap is a recipe for Canada Day; Mary included two. There's a coconut salmon recipe and a recipe for a Rhubarb drink. Mary tells a story about how her father created the Rhubarb drink recipe one summer as a strategy to use up a bumper crop of rhubarb from the garden. And how years later a friend sampled her rhubarb juice, then turned around and served her an adult cocktail version - with vodka and Triple Sec added -  at a BBQ the next day. These stories really rang a bell with me. When we were kids my Mom used to get giant burlap bags of carrots, potatoes and onions from her farmer BIL every fall; I know a million recipes for those three vegetables :)

Aren't swaps fun? There always something unexpected and personal that really makes each parcel special. Look for us on Canada Day - we'll be the ones sipping Rhubarb cocktails on the back deck!

Smitten

Lately I've been trying to find ways to put my scraps and odd balls to good use. My first step was to search the Ravelry pattern database. There are lots of good ideas there, but the one that really caught my eye is Smitten: an advent calendar in the form of little mittens strung on a garland.

The pattern is written for worsted weight scraps, so I dug out an odd ball of Bernat Satin in light blue to cast on my first little mitten. About an hour later - an hour which included one YouTube tutorial to learn a knitted cast-on - et voilà, a perfect little mitten.

Next I grabbed some light fingering yarn in a multi-tonal green, rewound it in three little balls and cast on a second little mitten. Yep, that works.

For my third mitten - the orange one - I decided to try it with baby yarn held double. Not a bad result but it's a little smaller than the others. Hence a fourth mitten in red baby yarn held double on needles one size larger. Fingers crossed this matches up better to the first two.

I'd really like to come up with 24 different mittens all from my scraps. I've probably got about six different colours of worsted, so that's not going to take me very far. There are lots more possibilities amongst the sock yarn scraps but I'm less keen about using these up. In my year of projects I've been putting fingering weight scraps to good use in stranded colourwork socks. So maybe instead I can make a dent in the shoebox of various odd balls of baby yarn? There's another half dozen colours there. And even more possibilities if I do stripes or patterns.

Meanwhile I'm thinking about all the little treats and treasures I could fill these mittens with. That's the fun part, isn't it?

Year of Projects: Unita Cabin 02

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby

After a week of on-and-off attention, my first Uinta Cabin sock is finished and the second is at the heel flap. Usually I motor through colourwork patterns quickly because I can't wait to see one pattern develop, then the next, and so on. This one's no different. Add to that the fact that I'm knitting the leg on a larger needles than usual and it's full speed ahead!

Chances are the pair will be done in the next few days and with that I come to the end of my year of projects. Since July 2011 I've knit every pattern in the book Knitting on the Road with one exception - I skipped over Traveler's Stockings as I had already knit them in the summer of 2010. For next week's post I'm planning an end of year wrap up, and for the last Sunday in June I'll preview my next Year of Projects. Yes, after the great experience that was Year One, I'm definitely in for Year Two!

work-in-progress Wednesday

Sock knitters know how difficult it is to take a good photo of a sock-in-progress on one's own foot. Unless you're a contortionist. Which I'm not.

Typically I cajole Gavin into crouching down at foot level to take an undistorted photo, but considering he underwent hip replacement surgery ten days ago that wasn't an option. The surgeon was very clear: no bending more than 90° at the hip, no crossing the leg over the midline of his body and NO FALLING. Asking him to crawl around at my feet for a blog photo seemed an unnecessary risk, and maybe a bit insensitive.

So this was the best I could do. Not bad, huh? It only took me about a dozen photos to get one that actually showed the ruffled cuff, the colourwork on the leg, the slip stitch heel and the gusset. The pattern is Uinta Cabin from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. Based on the pattern photos I wasn't sure that I'd like the sock, but now in blue, greens and greys I've decided that it's quite a handsome sock. I wish I could tell you what that main colour yarn was. That ball band - or skein tag as it maybe - was lost some time ago. That's a shame because it's gorgeous, and I'd buy more if I knew what it was. It's a very light fingering though, and I wouldn't try it with anything larger than size 0 (2mm) needles.

That's it for me today; just one WIP on the needles! We're running off now to the hospital to get Gavin's staples removed - all 33 of them - and then I'd better dash to work to try to catch up. After taking last week off to fetch and carry for the invalid, it now seems like I'm several weeks behind. How does that work? If you have some time, check out the links at Tami's Amis - so much fiber-y goodness!

a stack of dishcloths

Our accountant, Linda, works with us one day a week - Tuesdays - and two weeks ago she asked if I could knit dishcloths. Absolutely, I agreed enthusiastically. After all it's a great stash bust, and let's not forget that Linda prepares the paycheques. So this morning I assembled my little stack of dishcloths to take to work. And then it occurred to me: I don't have a final photo for my Ravelry project page.

This happens a lot, doesn't it? Project pages showing half a sock, or a sweater without button bands, and so on. I guess as soon as something's done I'm in a big rush to deliver it. Excitement, maybe? Or in some cases procrastination because I'm down to the very last minute? Whatever the case these unfinished photos annoy me every time I scroll through my Ravelry projects. After all, it only takes a minute, right?

So there it is in all its glory. My finished stash-busting stripey dishcloth based on this pattern inspired by this blog post. As for the rest of my dishcloth cotton scraps, I'm considering some scrap ripple cloths. Hopefully they'll be enough to cure me of my urge to make an entire ripple blanket.

Year of Projects: Uinta Cabin 01

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby

After finishing another pair of socks earlier this week, my sock needles were finally freed up to cast on this last pattern for my Year of Projects. For Uinta Cabin socks, Nancy Bush uses four different colours of sport weight yarn. To use fingering weight yarns from my stash I've altered the primary stitch count from 54 sts to 72 sts. For the stranded colourwork of the cuff and leg, I'm working on size 1 (2.5 mm) needles; when I reach the ankle I'll switch to size 0 (2.0mm) needles. Going up one needles size for colourwork has proven to be a very effective strategy, so I'm sticking with that.

Because I'm working from stash yarns I struggled to pick the four yarns for these socks. In fact, there were only three possibilities of sufficient yardage for the main colour - solid cream, solid khaki green and this dark variegated blue/green yarn. The latter won out, in no small part because it worked best with my remaining choices. The darkest contrast colour is dark grey. Although it doesn't provide a lot of contrast to the main colour, it is used for the heels and toes so this Wollemeise was the perfect candidate - I have enough and it wears like iron. For the medium shade contrast colour I chose this Fleece Artist yarn which reads primarily as a light lichen green with streaks of gold and sky blue. I just love the way it looks with the main colour. And finally, my choice for the lightest contrast colour is this leftover robin's egg blue from Viola Yarns. I wasn't sure about this choice - it seemed disconcertingly bright compared to the others - but I like it now that I see it knitted up.

As you can see from the second picture, I've ended up with the two very similar dark colours and two somewhat similar light colours. As a result the colour changes within the colourwork are somewhat muted. And I'm very happy about that. To be honest I left this sock until last because I thought the colourwork was a bit loud and garish as shown in the book. I like my result a lot better!

To this point, other than altering the stitch count, I've knit the sock as written. But I'm contemplating a couple of modifications for the rest of the leg. First, I think I'll knit the remaining charted elements which should be the lightest colour as the second lightest yarn - mostly to avoid running short of the robin's egg blue yarn. And secondly, I think I'll knit a few extra rounds of main colour above the ankle to make the leg a bit longer; as written the leg goes immediately from the colourwork to the heel. Other than that, I like this sock pattern a lot more than I ever thought I would. HEY! Wait a minute! That's not the first time I've felt this way about a Nancy Bush pattern, is it?

Canada Day Swap

What to include? A small crocheted, knitted or woven felted item that is Canadian themed and your favourite recipe that you make for Canada Day or says Canadian pride in a delicious way.


Bonus Extra (NOT required): A small local treat or postcard; something that says Canada or is local to where you live.

Now that my parcel has been delivered to my swap partner I can reveal the contents. Around here fresh strawberries are in season around Canada Day (July 1st) so I went with a strawberry themed package. Assembled within a pint container are a knitted dishcloth, a recipe card for my favourite Strawberry Fields salad, a porcelain strawberry themed jelly spoon, a small jar of locally made strawberry jam and three crocheted strawberries.

The dishcloth is Maple Leaf illusion - viewed straight on it looks like simple red and white stripes but when viewed from an angle the maple leaf motif becomes visible. It's my first experience with illusion knitting and it's quite effective and interesting. I actually knit two. My first attempt turned out more rectangular than square, so I knit a second (not shown) with four extra rows above and below the maple leaf motif. That took care of the Canadian themed aspect of the swap package.

The strawberry jam is made at our local pick-your-own farm. We used to love going to pick our own when we were younger, although I never really did get the hang of getting my home made jams to set properly. An episode of back spasms after too many hours cleaning and chopping fruit at a kitchen counter that's a couple inches too short for a person my stature spelled the end of my home canning aspirations. Much easier to let someone else make the jam for me, or even better, enjoy the strawberries cleaned and prepared at Strawberry Socials organized by local churches.

I'm never sure that I've done the right thing with these kinds of swaps, although I suppose everyone feels that way. Hopefully my partner wasn't expecting an elaborate recipe - I don't do much cooking, and, as Gavin can attest, when I do it's with mixed results. Simple and fresh is better as far as I'm concerned in the kitchen. All in all, it's a package I wouldn't mind receiving, so fingers crossed my swap partner feels the same.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

a couple of stripes = a bunch of ends to weave in

After several days of dishcloth knitting last week, I would have sworn that I was dishcloth-ed out. But when I saw this I realized that there was still another dishcloth or two in me. The pattern is Alex's cloth, and it's really cute, isn't it?

I especially like the way Dee's cloth striped up, but without any self-striping yarn left in my stash I've decided to switch from white to red for rows 11-14. To avoid contrasting loops across the changeover rows I've modified the pattern slightly, working rows 11 and 15 as straight knit rows. In so doing, the texture of the cloth is muted a bit but it's still attractive.

A word of warning: adding stripes to use up small amounts of contrasting colours may be an effective stash-busting strategy but it does create a LOT of ends to weave in. I don't mind but many others would, so consider yourself warned.

It looks like there's enough dishcloth cotton left to knit one more after this. I haven't entirely decided on a pattern for that one. If I like how this one turns out, the next one may be an identical twin. We'll see, won't we? And don't forget, it's Wednesday so there's lots to see in the links at Tami's Amis.

FO: Hermoine's Everyday Socks

Hermoine's Everyday Socks

Just finished! It's a charming sock pattern but oh my goodness is it boring to knit! That second sock languished on the needles for ages until I buckled down and got it done. And really, I'll confess, only because I wanted those needles to start something else.

The yarn is Regia in a Lollipop colourway. I'm not sure how I feel about it. What I have found is that some people love it and some people hate it. I worried that the pops of colour would distract from the pattern but after a few inches I knew it'd be okay. One thing I do know is that Regia wears like iron, so that's in its favour.

What's next? After reading Dee's blog post today, I think it'll be a dishcloth. This dishcloth. I love the way Dee's yarn has striped up so I think I'll make mine a stash-busting striped version to wind up with something similar. I know, I know, yesterday I said no more dishcloths for a while, but today's another day.

Dishcloth daze

A set of three dishcloths, actually. The pattern is Double Bumps, which looks to me to be a variation of tile stitch. Very nice, I think. Although I like my very stripey version, I wouldn't recommend it ... unless you like sewing in ends. But it was stash-busting, and my intention was to make three the same but different, so ends it is.

Now that all three are done I'm left with less than 7 grams of brown handicrafter cotton. Maybe enough to add a stripe or two to another dishcloth? But that'll have to wait for another day. For now, I'm dishcloth-ed out. Knitting with cotton at a tight gauge is a bit wearing on my fingers. Time to go back to socks!

Thanks for all the good wishes. I brought Gavin home from the hospital this morning so that he can continue his recovery in more comfortable surroundings. The scar on his hip ugly - he gets the staples removed next week - but suffice it to say each day is better than the last. Now, I'd better get to work arranging that disabled parking permit ...

Surmount the Stash June Update

Double Bump dishcloth in stash-busting stripes!

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: Last month's running deficit of $160.00 kept me on the straight and narrow for most of May, however, I did buy some dishcloth cotton and I did impulsively buy a skein of sock yarn in the last couple of days. Retail therapy I think with all the stress around here, so I'm not beating myself up over it. All in all I spent $34 this month, so the running deficit now stands at $144.00. Not great, but better than it was.

Manage my WIPs: Last month I started and finished a dishcloth for my Just the Postage swap, and I have several more planned over the next week or so. Mindless dishcloth knitting is definitely my speed right now. I also finished one pair of gift socks and am nearly finished a second pair for charitable donation. Oh yes, and three 10x10 squares for a group blanket project. There's also some secret knitting done for a Canada Day swap that can't be revealed until my swap partner receives here package. And I knit through all the yarn I bought in April as well as most of the yarn I received from my swap partner. So not bad. This morning there is only my second of Hermoine's Everyday Socks on my needles - perfect for hospital bedside knitting.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash:  I'd estimate that in May I knit through about 1000 yards of yarn purchased in April, 500 yards of yarn received in an April swap, 300 yards of yarn purchased in May and an additional 500 or so yards of yarn from my stash. All added up like that it sounds quite impressive, doesn't it? Now I feel a bit better about my efforts in May, because until I totalled it, I was pretty much feeling like May was a washout. In June, on the other hand, I predict a great deal of progress. I'll be close to home for the next several weeks, fetching and carrying for the invalid, so expect a parade of dishcloths!

Finished Object Friday

This week seems to have been all about small projects. In addition to a secret swap project and a handful of crochet strawberries, I knit this little Owlet to use the last few yards of heathery-purple hand spun. For the body I use some unknown, unnamed beige yarn that was donated to me from the local community centre.

The pattern was slightly more challenging than I expected as a newbie crocheter - it's more of a recipe than a line-by-line pattern.  But given the simple shape and simple construction, I don't think you can go very far wrong with it. My modifications? I added the purple circles behind the safety eyes to make him look more owl-y. And I altered the final round of his head to make his ears pointier, working hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc for each ear.

As for today, I suspect that it's going to be a day of dishcloth and sock knitting. A coworker asked whether she could enlist me to knit some dishcloths for her, so I'm going to make a start on those. Because today will be spent mostly in hospital waiting rooms, mindless knitting is best. It's Friday, so have a look at Tami's Amis to see the parade of FOs in the links!