Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Knit Frustrations

I'm trying to knit my stash, I really am. But I want to make hats and guess what? My size 10 dpns are MIA. No trace, not on any project, not hiding in any project bag, not even stuffed in a pattern sleeve for travel. Gone. And of COURSE every pattern I want to flipping make uses size 10 dpns!!! Bah..

Anyhoo, I'm kind of adrift in the project world because of this, and reading is getting dull because my hands have nothing to do. (I'm weird, can't be helped). So what have I been working on? Arm warmers. I picked up two balls of Lion Brand Amazing because I wanted to try it and got to work. There was a cute pattern on ravelry I liked, but I wasnt about to pay that much for a knitted tube with a button. And in fingering weight yarn, no less, no thanks dear. Matched two balls as well as I could and figured I'd knit til the end for each arm. HOLYCRAPICOLA there is some yardage in those balls. It fits my arm from over the elbow to the knuckles and I still have yarn to go.

crappy in early progress pic

I like it though, means I get warm arms when I'm wearing short sleeves (ya know, when your fav hoodie is in the darn wash and you still havent picked up a spare). Promise to post pics when done, not the "pattern" because a) it was redonkulously simple, just cast on how big around you want it and go and b) this was someone elses idea originally. I won't profit (even if I offer it for free) from someone elses work like that. I'm even filching the idea of button placement, but with a twist. I can't decide between shell buttons and these cute plastic leaf beads so I'm figuring out a way to add both. Again, slight deviation to her work, but will not post how to's.

What else has been going on? Teaching the hellspawn crafy stuffs. Picked up a loom kit at Wally World, all of them have stupid polyester loops though. What happened to the cotton ones you could actually use? But they make nifty coasters in a house that eats coasters.

Urchin in progress, on a pile of blankets she stole and refuses to relinquish 

She enjoyed it, and it's something she can do to occupy herself. I finish it off because I don't want her disappointed and defeated by something as simple as loops. Once she gets the hang of this (more so than now, theres always a few mistakes to fix), I'll show her how to bind off.

le finished object

She's finished two of these now, kit makes four. Once we nab a refill, I'm making some of these myself. I miss doing stuff like this during summer day camp. Boondoggle was another, plastic lanyard might have to make a resurgence. 

My house has been invaded by a mystery yarn. Picked up a mini weaving loom kit (came with the usual acrylic assortment) hoping to replace the shuttle for my other. Of course it was broken, but I salvaged the yarn from it. I won't turn my nose up at Red Heart, it has it's place in my stash same as the alpaca. I found a bunch of pink fluff..


Of course, nothing in there had a darn label. Not even one stuffed inside the ball, not a scrap for a hint of what it might be. And a rav search came up with nada. It's a sparse eyelash with glitter through it, about as soft as most of that glitter riddled stuff is. And I have no idea what to do with it all. One or two balls, a scarf and a hat trim for a kid. But eight? I might have to outfit a doll house in pink everything. There were two or three balls of Patons Cha Cha, but that is at least soft and wearable. Any suggestions for this pink abomination?