Category Archives: Knit & Crochet

It was worth it

Journal, Knit & Crochet, Needlework

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Back to normal might just be a dream, but I’m certainly looking forward to getting back on schedule. I’ve enjoyed a long break, stitching whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it. I had my sewing machines back from the technician for a couple of days before I even bothered setting them up.

  • Windmill
  • Crossroads

I haven’t been completely lazy as I finished another two cross stitch quilt block (#12 and #13 of 24). Christy posted, and perhaps challenged me to make, this little snowbird. Mine doesn’t look too much like the pattern because I used what yarn I had on hand and handy, but he is growing on me.

When we were putting things back together in the basement after the renovations Pat had two grocery bags full of old computer manuals. He posted them on Facebook for free but didn’t have any takers. I contacted our local Let’s Talk Trash team who consulted with the Recycle BC folks to find out if they could be recycled. A couple of months passed and the books moved from the kitchen to the laundry room. I did a quick search on the City’s website last garbage day and they say books are not recyclable either at the curb or at the depot. So out they went to the curb with a garbage tag on the bag. I went out for some groceries right after I put them out and when I got back home (before nine) the bag of books was gone! Who knows who took them, or what they will be used for but I’m glad they are gone.

Don’t mind the mess – work is in progress!

I played a bit with lights over the holiday. I had a large clamp-on magnifier light that has been moved from pillar to post across the years – sometimes in use, sometimes just stored away. I most recently had it attached to my “craft” table but it was in the way of plugging in (and unplugging) my iron. So I moved it over to the other side of the desk. But it was so dark and stormy the last few days that it was too dark (the fact that another light bulb had burnt out didn’t help) at my cutting table. So I moved the light over there and it is working really well for me.

Over the years I have spent hours cutting up and storing scraps of fabric. Large pieces get stored back in my fabric cabinet, smaller pieces are stored in a chest that I pull from for small projects. Strips get put in shoe boxes and the smallest pieces go into drawers in a small cabinet separated by size. It takes a lot of time and work to get everything where it should be when I clean up.

Stacia, Deloise and I are planning another retreat in a couple of weeks. I had one project almost ready to go but when I read the pattern I noticed that the technique they used for half-square triangles was completely different from the way I have learned; I’d never seen them done this way. I tested this new method out on a few scraps and couldn’t make it work. So I decided to cut my losses (as in recut the pieces I needed) so I could make the HSTs my way. I was so happy to be able to go to one of my scrap drawers and pull out 100 squares of the right size, as well as some strips that were easily cut into the additional 50 squares I needed.

But all was not lost. One of the projects we will be doing together needed 35 squares and from the fabric that I had pre-cut for that first project only needed to be cut down to give me all the pieces I needed.

I think this is the first time I’ve been able to make extensive use of my fabric scraps. It was definitely worth it this time around so I’ll continue cutting and storing in hopes that I’ll again have just the right sizes for whatever project I have in mind.

Market Tote

Knit & Crochet

I had some bamboo yarn that I wanted to use up and, at first, I thought I could make a decent-sized blanket for Taylor. After using up one (of three) skeins I realized that wasn’t going to work.

So I found this pattern online and thought I’d have enough yarn. As I worked through the bottom and started up the sides it felt like it wasn’t as dense as the photo was showing. So I rechecked the pattern. I assumed the blogger I took the pattern from was from the US and translated all the double crochets into triple crochets. But the blogger was from Canada so I should have worked the pattern as written.

So I started over (does this sound familiar?). When I got to the last round of the side I thought I might be able to do one extra set of the pattern to make the bag a bit longer. I tried but then I wasn’t going to have enough yarn for the handle. So I tried to add just a couple more rows and still I didn’t feel like there was enough left for the handle. Eventually the bag was done and so was the yarn.

For now the bag is in my donation basket but it might move to the gift bin.

Poncho

Knit & Crochet

I made this pattern in pink for Christy when she was about six or seven and it was always one of my favourites.

But this poncho didn’t start out as a poncho. I had two skeins of yarn that I bought somewhere without having any particular pattern in mind. When I decided to use it my first thought was that it would make a nice shawl. So I started my standard triangular shawl; I wasn’t very far along when I decided I could come up with a better pattern so took it all apart

I went looking through my patterns and came up with a variation on a shawl – it was called a shawl poncho. It was a free pattern that I’d picked up somewhere and in the photo the shawl went over your head but it was only about shoulder length. So I started knitting but when I was finished I didn’t really like it. Since I give most of my knitting away I wasn’t sure anyone would “get” the idea of it without the photo.

That’s when I remembered the poncho that I had made for Christy. I found the pattern and started crocheting (ripping out the shawl/poncho as I went along). Because I wasn’t sure how much yarn I was going to need I made the poncho in the smallest size but when it was done I still had half a ball of yarn left.

So I moved on to making the next largest size (ripping out this second poncho as I went along). I was within a few rows of finishing the larger size when I ran out of yarn. What to do? I decided I’d tried and failed enough times already that I wasn’t starting over again. So I stopped just short of the larger size but it is a bit longer than the smaller size and I didn’t do the fringe on the bottom. I don’t often donate kids things other than hats and scarves but I think this will work in the Salvation Army Christmas baskets.