Randomness

All sorts of stuff to talk about.

1) Closing weekend - Seasonal park season is over, I spent the weekend in Chicago with good friends riding good coasters to close out the season the same as I always do. It was a great closing day at Six Flags on Sunday even if I had to leave early and drive forever and a day to get home. First time in ages I've not stayed til closing.

2) Saturday on my drive out to Chicago, I made a mini-yarn-crawl. I drove by 5 shops but only stopped for two of them. My Sisters' Knits and Arcadia Knitting. I had a lovely experience at both and picked up some more fun stuff to play with. I got a gorgeous skein of Susie Grougan's sock yarn in a colorway called Fall Harvest and a black sheep tape measure at Sisters. And I picked up some Rowan Calmer for Shedir and some Lorna's Laces sock yarn in the Tuscany colorway at Arcadia. I also drove past the other 3 I'd looked at stopping at but was unable to find parking so I'm saving them for future visits (it's not like I never get to Chicago, this was the second trip in a month).


3)Dishcloth-crazed. I've finished three more dishclothes in the last week. Two more frogs for my sister-in-law and an Illusion Candy Corn that I left with Cameron as a thank you for letting me stay again last weekend. Finally getting the knitting groove back down, unfortunately, that means the dishes and laundry are suffering again. Must remedy that this weekend.

4) On the needles: I've been meaning to do a rundown of my projects for a while, so here's whats going on with my needles.


Striped scarf - I picked up some Alpaca scraps on ebay for like $1 and I've been striping them on my size 4 Addis to make a scarf. Still have plenty of yarn left and I'm liking how this is going so far with the random widths of the stripes. Will continue til I run out of yarn, block severely and probably gift it for Christmas.


Sophie bag - This one in a heathered blue cascade 220, I've got the bag done, just using up the rest of the yarn on i-cord. This should be done soon. Also a Christmas gift for my mom's Aunt Betty.






Socks - Regia cotton second sock is still on the cuff but it's growing slowly when I pick it up. These are for me, so probably will go on the back burner until after the holidays.





Socks - self striping merino for mom. Haven't cast on the second sock yet. These should be ready for Christmas though. I'm thinking that I'll have time to work on it on the flights to and from Cali in a couple weeks.


Baby socks - scrap yarn from my first pair of socks, I made one baby sock with it, and haven't yet cast on the second. These will either be gifted to a coworker who is expecting, or they'll be doll clothes for mom.



Booga #3 - I whipped out the bag part in a weekend, still need to make miles of i-cord for this one and felt it. This is the basis for my sister-in-law's Christmas gift this year. I already have all the "stuff" to go in it ready, just gotta finish the bag and I'll be done with her Christmas gift.



turquoise bag - More Cascade, this was just a mindless thing I'd cast on a while ago and finished a couple weeks ago so I could use the needles for the Booga. Felted into a nice bowl shape and I have some handles to attatch and I'm thinking maybe an i-cord loop closure around a button. Debating between keeping this one or gifting it to my cousin with her Christmas gift.

I also have some fabric to line this one and a few of the other bags I've finished, I'm just not all that profficient a sewer, so I'm not sure if lining will help or hinder.


Random red scarf - Just cast this on last night to play with the yarn and use up some stash. Not sure if I'll gift or keep this one or where it'll fall in the grand scheme of things, it may not be done in time for the holidays and it very well may just end up frogged.

Some of the other stuff I had on the needles got ripped out and the yarn will get reused for something else eventually. I've managed to amass way too much stash (and several amounts of yarn that I like that is worthy of large projects) that I'm going to try to focus on what's on the needles for a while and at least finish some things up and do some stash diving before spending more money. Maybe a coaster-free/yarn-free winter will help some of my credit card bills move in the correct direction for once.

Other than possibly some more dishclothes, and more sock-yarn-scraps doll clothes for mom, and scratching that itch for a sweater, I don't think I'm going to do much more on the knitting front for Christmas that isn't already included in the projects above.

I'm still itching to make a sweater right now. I've got the yarn for several already in my stash, and as much as I'm tempted to just jump right into a Rogue, or a custom design by me, I think I'll hold off and try something a little simpler for my first time out. I'm also a little hessitant to make a sweater while I'm losing weight, but the itch is strong, especially now that I've found KnitGrrl's NaKniSweMo, so I think on top of everything else (because 7 or 8 WIPs isn't quite enough), I'm going to go home tonight and swatch for the Simple Knitted Bodice.