Blanket idea - take 2 (or 3?)

I've finished the first square for the Sampler Afghan, but I don't really like the way it's turned out. For some reason when I did my tension square, I got row gauge, but not stitch gauge. This means that instead of coming out the same but smaller, I'm going to have to adjust EVERY BLOCK to fit (& then sew the suckers together - not my favorite task in the world).

Time for another idea. Another blankie I fell in love with when I saw (& immeadiately downloaded the free pattern) is the Yggdrasil Blanket. Hmmm, this one will definately come out smaller if I use this yarn, but at least it should all be relative? (I know, I know, same yarn, same needles, same tension - LA LA LA LA not listening!!)

Love those trees in the middle, but it has really odd increases. Instead of doing a M1P in the middle of the purl background, it uses a M1K which looks kind of gappy & uneven. Maybe I should frog it & try a better increase ...

Fuzzy logic

In the height of the Australian Summer, here in northern NSW where the temperature this week has averaged 30 degrees, what would be the most logical knitting project?

Probably not what I chose this morning.

Melissa Leapman's Sampler Afghan. I found this pattern in issue 3 of The Knitter & immediately knew I needed to make it. I "knew" which yarn I needed, so promptly ordered 12 X 200 gram balls of Luxury 10ply from Bendigo Woollen Mills. When the yarn arrived, I whipped out the magazine & ... oh no! I need 12ply!! The yarn & pattern were put in "time out" while I decided what to do with it.

18 months later & I've finally decided - it'll come out a bit smaller, but ... I'll do it anyway.

As far as summer projects go, this really isn't as silly an idea as it sounds. It's made up of various sized rectangles sewn together in a patchwork fashion, so I won't have huge volumes of nice thick 10ply cables sitting in my lap as I knit (until you get to the knit-on border, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it).

Half a block down, only 25 and a half to go!

Sock Girl!

Fighting against the evil Dr Chillblane; defender of cold feet everywhere!

I forgot to take photos!! My friend D (a.k.a. "Rainbow Zap Cat") did though, so I might be able to grab a copy from her. My goodness, you should have seen us all - capes here, weapons there ...

I wound up wearing my sockie necklace, pinning a multitude of mini socklets all over me & sticking knitting needles in my hair.

I don't normally enjoy dress-up parties, 80's themes, 1920's, or something equally not me. This one I could really get my teeth into.

Blues & purples, purples & blues

I was back in Melbourne last week visiting my beautiful daughter & my mum. It was so great to see them again, & catching up with good friends too.

We managed to pack in so much into such a short space of time - visits to Bendigo (woollen mills & Bendigo Pottery), the city (Clegs, Magnation & lunch with dear friends), & of course the Handweavers & Spinners Guild (lunch with my lovely friend T).

Of course I had a few "accidents" along the way.

(There were more, but they were gifts for friends, so therefore they don't count - in my special little world, anyway.)

There are two baggies of multi-coloured merino tops, a small bag of silk tops, a small bag of de-gummed silk cocoons (should be good in a fibre sandwich) & some more sock yarns.

I think I can see a definate theme emerging here. As I think I mentioned in my last post, my favorite colours are blues & purples, & I seem incapable of buying anything else.

Any excuse for a bit of sillyness ...

I've just been invited to a dress-up party! The theme is "super heros", but not ones that already exist like Superman or Spiderman. You have to create your own - what fun!! Who can I be, & what will my super-power be?

Hmmm ... I think it has to be knitting related, preferably with the involvement of socks somehow ...

Ooooo - this could be a really great excuse to knit Cat Bordi's Seven Socklet Necklace.

See? I knew I was keeping all those little left-over bits of sock yarn for a reason!
(Actually, I have the crazy idea of a mitred square blanket in my head ... )

I have enough leftover sock yarn that I can actually pick out 7 different ones (or more) in my favorite colourways - blue & purple.

Moebius band, with waste-yarn openings to attach the socklings later. I love the moebius idea. If you haven't heard of it before, it's a really groovy concept - it has only one side & one edge. Get yourself a longish strip of paper, give it HALF a twist, & stick the beginning to the end to create a loop. To prove it's one-sidedness, grab yourself a pencil, & draw a line down the middle until something stops you. Cool, hey?

Anyhow, now I have a suitable accessory for my superhero outfit. I'm thinking maybe some knitting needles stuck in my hair, maybe a cape with a few extra socklings on it ... I could be the avenger against evil cold feet! All I need now is a name ...

Time for a minor de-stash

Part of searching for a new knitting/spinning project, is to go stash-diving. When you delve into the deep, dark recesses of the stash, inevitaby (or maybe this is just me) you come across yarn that makes you think - "What was I thinking?"

Time for some of it to go.

Although I could knit this stuff up & either sell it or give it away as useful articles, I know I probably never will. (Some of this stuff is just nasty, & knitting it first won't make a blind bit of differance to the quality - it'll just make me miserable) There's a fair bit of acrylic in those bags, along with some muppet road-kill, & it's all going. I don't know where it's going yet. We're having a swap day at my spinning group next month, so I may see if anybody else wants it, & I might even get something nice in return. If nobody wants it (that's what I suspect), there's no way I'm letting it back into the stash (it's plastic boxes have already been filled with new purchases - whoops!). Maybe a craft group somewhere might take it off my hands?

And after all this effort? I haven't found a new project yet ...