Monday, May 25, 2009

And the scarves go on...

Pictures now, words later...lol Knitted scarf is Jodi's, crocheted scarf is Ronni's....good night! LOL


Close up of the 5" I knit on Jodi's scarf (color is off, but at least you can see the cables! LOL):




Jodi's scarf so far (this picture is more accurate in color):




The 5" I crocheted on Ronni's scarf:




Ronni's "tecnicolor scarf" so far:



Now that I actually have the time to sit down and write...(at least for the present 10 seconds...) Things have been insanely busy around here! DH just got home from deployment less than a week ago, we're trying a new system for discipline, and everything keeps breaking! We've lost (and gotten back!) our Internet connection about 3 times since DH got home, lost the phone connection to the States, the car stopped working, and the lawn mower won't start, either. Absolutely insane. And as of this moment, I have a 2-year-old that thinks everything is the end of the world...he upstairs screaming and crying as loudly as possible. lol

But back to the scarves (which, hopefully, the fact we don't have a working car will not interfere with them getting out tomorrow in the mail...); the mail over here has been absolutely insane. It's taking forever for them to get to me and forever for them to get to where they're supposed to be going! The knitted scarf, Jodi's, I actually had before my husband got home, but I was so swamped with last minute preparations that I didn't have time to work on the scarf...so I finally got around to it...and the pattern I had come up with in my head just wasn't working as it came out of my fingers. So I tried something else. Still didn't work. Then I settled on the 5 cables that I ended up using (and really liking!) , but as I got further into it, I noticed it was significantly thinner than the section below mine, and I know she wanted the scarf to remain somewhat consistent in width (which I totally understand!)...so I had to undo it and try again in a different size needle...still wasn't large enough, so I went up to 8's. Finally, I was satisfied! I think it turned out quite well and am thinking 5 cables like that would look pretty cool as an entire scarf, not just a small piece of one!

Same goes for the bit I did on Ronni's...I had actually intended to use a different pattern altogether, but as I worked it, it also made the scarf a bit misshapen. So I got to frog and pick a new pattern. It didn't cooperate either, so I figured I could change how I was doing it to go off of the number of stitches that worked best with the section before mine instead of trying to stay with the same number of stitches that were used in the beginning section...sure enough, easy as pie! LOL I quite like how it turned out, actually. And I love the whole "technicolor" thing! I think the colorway I chose fit with that mantra all too well. :)

But now it's back to life...cleaning and washing dishes and trying to keep everything else from breaking and keeping the peace between the boys and...well, you get the idea! Hopefully I can fit some more crafting into there somewhere!

Friday, May 15, 2009

The ransom has been paid!!!!

It's done! Projects four and five of my ransom are completed! Well, just about...I finished the scarf a couple of days ago, and would have posted about it, but was without Internet for a couple of days. This scarf came about because of the scarf travels round robin group I'm in. I wanted a skinnier scarf than the only pattern I could find on Ravelry, and I really like the whole Irish hiking thing. So I set about making one of my own original design...took the time to write it out and everything...I was in the middle of making this scarf (a while after sending out my starter) and, lo and behold, I found a pattern nearly identical to the one I created! LOL But I really like how it turned out. I used one full skein of Red Heart and it came out to be 110" long! Long enough, I think, for my tall best friend to wrap it around her neck and have it hang to her knees! LOL





And the final project of the ransom:



This is the bag that I originally was making for my spoiler...as I tend to crochet tighter than normal, I figured I'd go up a hook size to preemptively amend the potential problem...turns out I should have checked the given gauge first...it was enormous!!! And as I contacted my spoilee more, I just didn't feel like it was the right bag. So I ended up making her a different one instead and frogged the huge one back and redid it (in the proper hook size) to donate for angel kits. Just finished it up today! I still have to add a lining though.

But the fact that I completed the yarn portion was good enough for the friend holding my sweater yarn hostage...I got my yarn from her!!! I can start my very first sweater!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Over halfway there!

Or at least, if you're counting the number of projects, I'm over halfway there...I just finished project #3 of my sweater ransom!!! I was originally going to be this pattern, but I'd hardly gotten into the hat at all, so instead I frogged it and opted for this (much quicker, simpler and easier) pattern. LOL I did make a couple of modifications, though. Instead of increasing to 52 double crochet's on row 10, I kept to 48 dc's. I wanted more of the beanie look instead of the slouchy look. I also didn't take the dc's 19 rows, just 14, and after the one row of sc (which I did loosely so it wasn't too tight), I also did a fpsc/bpsc "ribbing" for one row. It worked up very quickly, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. : ) Though I think it is still a little slouchy...just a teensy bit. (Not that I'm a perfectionist or anything...lol) So I'm 3 projects closer to my sweater! Yay! The only thing is...the bag and scarf I have left are probably each going to take as long as the blanket did! LOL Ah, well...back to the hooking! ; )

P.S. I'll add a couple pictures of the hat once my camera is charged! : )

Saturday, May 2, 2009

So much for stick-to-it-iveness...

Ugh! I have next to no desire to finish projects! Still! Even with my sweater yarn being held hostage! That just makes it worse...I thought that would motivate me to get stuff done, but it's just making it worse because I have no motivation and am now starting to resent that little box from knit picks...I've still been starting new projects. Even though I wasn't going to and even though I wasn't supposed to. Thankfully, though, I haven't gotten far into them, so it won't really be painful to frog them. ; ) Speaking of started projects...I finally finished project number two of the five for the ransom of the sweater yarn...and here it is!:



I think, though, that the scarf travels is actually helping stem my desire to start new things. It's a chance to knit (or crochet) 5" of any yarn or pattern and then pass it on! I finally got my new debit card in the mail (after a week!!!) and was able to send off the first set of scarves yesterday, and last night did 5" on the next scarf, ready to send out tomorrow when we're on base.



Tomorrow is A's birthday party (he turned 4 yesterday!) and I have things to prepare for on that count, so I'm off for now! : )