I have a bad habit of taking a small project and talking myself into making several of them, turning it into a much larger project. Sometimes it’s a practical idea, especially for gifts, like the three Boo the Bat amigarumi toys knitted for my three great-nephews last Halloween (note: after looking at the picture I remembered a 4th one went to my sister.) I took it a bit further with the 40 placemat project for Meals on Wheels (finished way early!) for this Thanksgiving. This had double points since it was such a great stashbuster—using up small batting scraps and fabrics.
Continuing on, last weekend 20 cosmetic bags for charity used up the largest pieces of upholstery samples from my SIL and the last of the gross (144 in the box) of turquoise blue zippers gifted to me by my FIL. Next up is a batch of quilt tops from some large fat quarter bundles that must have been a really good price some years back.
On the knitting front, I have made eight charity scarves from washable wool, using my Bond knitting machine. It’s a good way to try new techniques, and using up yarn that probably would not have been loved in sweater form by anyone in my family. I learned to skip needles for better drape after the first one came out a bit stiff (but still very wearable). The fabric knits up with a slight ribbed appearance, though when one of the first scarves was wet blocked, the tension evened out and it disappeared.
One small scarf/kerchief knitted as a triangle was a success, with interesting patterns from the sock yarn. I started from the long edge and decreased on both sides as I worked. The next attempt was to knit a larger one sideways, but I’m just not getting the increases to take. I foolishly plunged on trying to knit one half, starting from the center, but hadn’t done my math and came to the halfway point of the yarn way too soon, so will have to practice on some other yarn and try again later (was attempting to start from one corner edge, with increases on one side until the full width of needles or the yarn halfway point was reached).
Continuing on, last weekend 20 cosmetic bags for charity used up the largest pieces of upholstery samples from my SIL and the last of the gross (144 in the box) of turquoise blue zippers gifted to me by my FIL. Next up is a batch of quilt tops from some large fat quarter bundles that must have been a really good price some years back.On the knitting front, I have made eight charity scarves from washable wool, using my Bond knitting machine. It’s a good way to try new techniques, and using up yarn that probably would not have been loved in sweater form by anyone in my family. I learned to skip needles for better drape after the first one came out a bit stiff (but still very wearable). The fabric knits up with a slight ribbed appearance, though when one of the first scarves was wet blocked, the tension evened out and it disappeared.
One small scarf/kerchief knitted as a triangle was a success, with interesting patterns from the sock yarn. I started from the long edge and decreased on both sides as I worked. The next attempt was to knit a larger one sideways, but I’m just not getting the increases to take. I foolishly plunged on trying to knit one half, starting from the center, but hadn’t done my math and came to the halfway point of the yarn way too soon, so will have to practice on some other yarn and try again later (was attempting to start from one corner edge, with increases on one side until the full width of needles or the yarn halfway point was reached).Yesterday I brought five pieces of garment fabric to my ASG meeting and four of them found new homes. Most of it was rayon, one piece of silk, all of them older than my son. I have a collecting bag for Project Linus going too, and a project box collecting pieces for next year's ASG national project making drawstring bags for the troops.
No comments:
Post a Comment