2011 FO Round-up

Tags

finished objects, stash

It is time for this year’s Finished Object Round-up. This year I finished 27 knitted, sewn, or woven objects. There are only 26 pictures because I didn’t get one of the second of the fuzzy blue bunnies and it has been absorbed into the vast quantity of stuffed animals in our house.

How depressing! And now for the even more depressing part: I calculate the amount of yarn in my stash and it is somehow up to 71,727 yards (or 40.75 miles)! That is almost three times what it was last January. That seems impossible tome somehow. I think I either miscalculated then or now. I’m not sure which. I calculated how much yarn I used (not counting the six projects I made with Karen’s yarn) and I come up with 5,714 yards used. That is less than previous years but that still doesn’t account for 50,000 yards of yarn!

I think that I’m going to stay in my cozy little denial corner and refuse to believe it. That and maybe I will drag out the yarn this week once the kids are back and school and try to assess. There must be some that can go! Yeesh.

colorwork: DONE

Tags

cowl, double knitting, knitting, knitting pictures, tapestry cowl, wip

Hey, look!

That, my dear reader, is all of the colorwork portion of this cowl done. I have 19 9 rows of stockinette double knitting and then the dreaded kitchener. But still, the colorwork is the hard part, am I right? I know I am.

NaBloPoMo round up

Tags

latkes

I missed four days this time around. Also, I talked a lot about not having anything to say. Sorry about that.

In knitting news, I’m up to round 58 out of 67 of the chart from hell. It’s 67 rounds of non-repeating colorwork with 110 sts per round. That is ridiculous. I am not sure why I even decided it was a good plan. Actually, I know why, the cowl is gorgeous when it’s done! I hope mine will be.

In Textiles news, my mom finished putting together both quilt tops and backs (thanks, Mom!) and the kids and I put the back, batting, and top together and they have worked on quilting both. They are, as usual, big into the beads for embellishment. They have one more week to work on them and then the quilts come home for me to pretend I’m going to bind them until a couple of weeks before the Arts Focus show. At least I know myself, right?

We got our Christmas tree today and then went off to the JCC for a latke cook-off. Gotta love a multi-cultural family, right? We didn’t stick around to see who won but in my mind there was one clear winner. Although, it’s hard to make a bad latke, I think. There are just less good ones.

See you next November! (Or before, I really do hope to keep up with regular posting but I know myself, as stated previously, and I’m not good at that.)

NaBloPoMo Day 29: pictures of stuff!

Tags

home, ikea, knitting, knitting pictures

I realized yesterday that I didn’t show the thing in the kids’ room that makes the grass rug perfect: a tree!

Also, look how cute their new comforter covers and pillow cases look with the new rug.

I guess it’s growing on me.

Also purchased at Ikea yesterday: adorable LED snowflake lights.

They are on my kitchen window and I love them. I want to go back and get a second set so that they can actually go all the way around the edge of the window.

In actual knitting content news (this is a knitting blog, remember?) I am now on row 50 of the neverending-double-knit-cowl.

The end is so close I can taste it. Only the kitchener looms large and scary. My goal is to finish this before Christmas. Think I can make it??

NaBloPoMo Day 28: field of green

Tags

home ikea

A portion of my day was spent at Ikea, procuring the green rugs pictured here.

It’s a long and annoying story why I needed the rugs but I didn’t really want to buy them. When I saw the shaggy green, though, I thought the kids would enjoy how it looked like grass. I was right. My younger son proclaimed, “Our room is so beautiful now! It looks like a field with patches of clover.” He’s so sweet.

NaBloPoMo Day 27: better late than never

Tags

aidez, berroco, berroco remix, finished object, fo

I was going through my photos from 2011 today to pick which ones I want to use on our holiday card and I found photos of my Aidez(-ish) sweater that I never uploaded. They aren’t great and I think I thought I’d get better ones some day but that day hasn’t happened, so here they are.

Side view.

Front view.

If you click over to the pattern page for Aidez you’ll see that the original sweater is knit in bulky yarn and is adorably slouchy on the pixie-like designer. It looks great on her. I’m not pixie-like and don’t need any more slouch, so I knit it in a DK yarn, eliminated the back cables and basically made a raglan using her cables.

I like the way it turned out but I wish it had a closure. I have actually put it into my “almost finished just needs one thing” basket because I really think it needs a zipper. I need to figure out how long of a zipper and procure said item, though. Neither of those things has happened and doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. It’s a shame because I do like this sweater!

NaBloPoMo Day 26: cowl progress

Tags

knitting, knitting pictures, tapestry cowl, wip

While watching TV tonight I knit a few more rows on my cowl. I’m actually making progress!

(Apologies for the color in this picture. The iPhone plus artificial light plus me being too impatient to wait until morning for a photo leads to some wacky color.)

Anyway, here’s the picture from three days ago to compare.

Of course, since the color work has no repeats and I didn’t take a photo of it from the same spot, it’s not as obvious. I think you can see the progress, though! I am now on round 44. That doesn’t sound like a lot of progress (three rounds today) but it’s a lot more than had been knit in the previous three years or so! Here’s hoping I don’t stall out before it gets done.

NaBloPoMo Day 25: sewing as fast as I can

Tags

arts focus, knitting, quilt, quilting, tapestry cowl, textiles

This is what I did today.

That is half of one of the two quilts I needed to put together for the kids to quilt on Thursday. I did manage to get all of the squares neatened up, ironed, and trimmed to the same size with a lot of help from my mom. She has also volunteered to finish putting them both together. Whew!

In knitting news, I am up to row 41 on the 67 row chart for that cowl. I’m actually enjoying working on it again! Also, I want to be able to wear it this winter. The real test will be if I hide it away again when it gets to the point where I have to kitchener all 110 stitches. Yikes. I will worry about that when the time comes, though.

NaBloPoMo Day 24: giving thanks

Tags

thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to those of my readers who celebrate this most delicious holiday!

What I am thankful for (in no particular order):

1. Not cutting more of my thumb while chopping onions for stuffing.
2. America’s Test Kitchen’s foolproof pie crust recipe.
3. Stefan being able (and willing!) to walk 2.5 miles with my mom and me.
4. Niels’ love of various games that I also enjoy.
5. The fact that Erik hasn’t smoked for two weeks!
6. Cooking with my mom.
7. That my Dad is the world’s most appreciative audience for said cooking.
8. My friends everywhere.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

NaBloPoMo Day 23: a day for baking

Tags

baking, cowl, double knitting, knitting pictures, pie, tapestry cowl, wip

I did a few things today that I feel are noteworthy. (And yes, we’re going to ignore that I missed yet another day yesterday. Shh.)

I knit on my double-knit cowl that I have, apparently, be working on for three years.

I’m on round 33 out of 67. At this rate, I will be done by 2014. Go me!

I baked an apple pie (not pictured), a pecan pie, and a pumpkin pie.

I also baked cracked wheat rolls which were delicious but did not photograph well.

On tap for tomorrow: more cooking! (In case it wasn’t obvious.)