WIP Wednesday: Still Mashing

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Happy Wednesday! I’ve been busy! Time for some show and tell.

The Hook

See that? Eep! That was me on Monday. Actually crocheting! I follow Heather of The Patchwork Heart on Instagram. She invited her followers to join her for afternoon tea and crochet using the hashtag “acuppaandhookywiththepatchworkheart.” That was just the nudge I needed. I cleaned the pretty tote holding my afghan yarn of all the detritus that had collected in it, brewed a cup of tea, snuggled under my quilt, and got to work. Ziva felt the need to supervise.

Oh! Speaking of Heather, I must show you something! When I was learning basic granny squares, all the instructions said to keep the right side of the work facing me and not to turn my work. My “squares” didn’t come out square, though. There was a bit of a pinwheel effect. Subtle, but bothersome. Well, Heather has a way to fix that. In her tutorial, she suggests just the opposite: turning one’s work each round. Since each round is going the opposite direction, it eliminates the pinwheeling. I decided to try it.

The difference is amazing! The square on the left is done the traditional way and the one on the right is done Heather’s way. Both are unblocked. I’m sold!

The Book

Originally, I wasn’t going to put anything here. Then this appeared in my Facebook news feed:

Yes! Yes it is. So, I’m heading back to Hogwarts. I’m starting, of course, at the beginning.

It’ll be good to go back.

The Needles

It’s still a Monster Mash at my place. Hugo and Bea (orange and striped pink) are all knitted and are just waiting for stuffing. Petunia (speckled) needs her legs. The stripey gray body is a bit of a Franken-monster which I can’t expound on yet. I should be able to talk about it next week.

That about does it for this week. What are you working on it reading? Let me know in the comments. Better yet, come join us over at the Yarn Along.

See you there!

~Janet

WIP Wednesday: Monster Mash

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Myrtle2911

Well hello, Dear Reader. It’s been a while! I seem to have taken an unintentional hiatus for the entire month of July. Truth be told, July wasn’t the best month for me. I managed to be sick twice, first with the worst case of conjunctivitis I have ever had, and then with a nasty tummy bug I caught from one of my little kiddos at work. In between being ill, I was working a bunch of extra hours and feeling rather exhausted when I was home. Blech. Not conducive to blogging.

Craft wise, I was working on a super secret project for my mom’s birthday which I couldn’t blog about and making abysmally slow progress on my February Lady Sweater.

Alas, July is now over…and with it, hopefully any illnesses…so it’s back to the blog and my link-up with Small Things. I have missed it!

The Hook

*sigh*

Nada.

The Book

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I finished reading Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King. It did not disappoint! The mystery was tense, the writing impeccable, and just when you thought everything was solved, she throws in a whole new twist! A large part of the story is set in 1920’s Japan. I found myself craving green tea, rice, and a stay at a ryokan, which I’m not sure even exist anymore. At least I can get a taste of the cherry blossoms as the Seattle area is climatically close to Japan, and flowering cherry trees are popular decorative trees in many gardens.

Ms. King has another Mary Russell book coming out next year. I’m looking forward to it immensely!

The Needles

My “super secret project” for my mom was a monster. “Sammie the Sock Monster” to be precise. She had requested him around Christmas. I’ll give him his own FO Friday post, but here’s a peek:

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In fact, it’s been a regular monster mash around my place these days.

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My nephew, Jonah, requested “Hugo the Couch Potato Monster” at Christmas as well and talks about it a lot, especially after he saw I made Sammie for my mom! So, what else could I make him for his birthday? 🙂 He originally requested “rainbow” for Hugo’s color, but changed it last month to orange with red stripes. It’s a terribly hard color combo to photograph! The red is a true red, not maroon as it appears in the picture.

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Hugo’s knitting is all done. He’s just waiting to be stuffed.

The dark and light pink thing is “Bea the Basement Monster.” I’m knitting her for Jonah’s little sister, Carly. They practically share a birthday, and we’ll be celebrating both on the same day, so it made sense to make monsters for both of them. Bea just needs her ears knit and then it’s on to stuffing her and Hugo.

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The little speckled monster is “Petunia the Patio Monster.” I started her because I needed something small to take with me to the Mariners game two weeks ago and I was a little sick of baby hats. 😉 I don’t have a home in mind for her yet, so she just might end up living with me for a bit.

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Hugo, Bea, and Petunia can be found in Rebecca Danger’s book, The Big Book of Knitted Monsters. Sammie is available as a pattern in her Etsy shop.

I’ve also made a wee bit of progress on my February Lady Sweater. The safety pin in the photo is the halfway mark. That little ball is all I have left of the third skein of yarn.

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And that about does it for this post. I hope to get back into a regular, at least weekly, blogging schedule. I’ll see you at the link up!

Have a great Wednesday!

~Janet

WIP Wednesday: One Less Rabbit

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Myrtle2911

Happy Wednesday to you! I have to admit to being a little pleased with myself for managing to post here three weeks in a row. It takes a bit of forethought, which isn’t exactly my forte. On with the show (and tell)!

The Hook

Once again, knitting projects have consumed my crafting time, so no progress has been made on my afghan. I really should be getting a couple of squares done each week if I have any hope of using it next winter. How some crocheters can knock out an afghan in a weekweek — in DK yarn no less! — is beyond my comprehension.

I have to admit that I’ve been eyeballing all the fun colors in my stash and have been getting the itch to start another afghan. Maybe a smaller one? I mean, just look a those!

That reminds me. I don’t think I ever said what I did with those flowers. I need to get a better picture of the garland before I show it off.

The Book

I made it through the chapter in Embracing The Body that I mentioned last week. I really had nothing to be frightened of. Tara is a beautiful guide. However, the subject of sexuality/sensuality (which, btw, are two different things) tends to be a “hot button” issue, with me at times, and with the Church at large. So much so, that I immediately seem to balk when the subject comes up…which, of course, in a book about embracing our bodies, it is bound to do. Tara handles it beautifully and makes some great points that I’ll be taking with me long after I turn the last dog-eared page. I’ll let you discover them for yourselves, though. Seriously. Get this book!

The Needles

As you can see, I’ve made tremendous progress on my Milo! I am loving that cable! I chose the bigger twist over the other cables in the pattern because 1) I thought it would be more visible on that dark blue yarn, and 2) I’m actually pretty phobic about cables and will usually avoid them like the plague. With only one cross every 8 rows, I though it was doable.

I got started on my February Lady Sweater. It’s just rows of garter stitch at this point, so it’s pretty mindless. After looking at pages and pages of project photos, though, I’m starting to get a little nervous that it’s going to wind up being a very unflattering mass on me. The yarn I’m using is 80% cotton and 20% merino, which I’m afraid might stretch out badly while being worn. I shall just keep plugging along at this point, though, and we shall see.

I did manage to get one project done done this week (one less rabbit), my purple baby hat for CLICK for Babies. I made it with worsted yarn because that’s what I had, but I prefer DK or lighter for infants. I’ll pick up some DK this week. The pattern can be found here. It’s really easy to modify and has become my go-to baby hat. I tweek it by adding the twisted stitches every 4th row. This hat is also 48 stitches vs 68 and knit on US-7s due to the thicker yarn.

That about does it for me. As usual, I’ll be linking up with the Yarn Along over at Small Things.

Have a great Wednesday!

~Janet

Slender Threads

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