Halfway

I'm a little over halfway done with two different projects - a honey cowl for a counselor friend, and a pair of fingerless gloves for one of my good friends from high school:


But now I'm starting to think about starting a new project... and it doesn't help that there are several online knit-a-longs that are tempting this month. First, Knit Purl is hosting an informal KAL on their blog for the Draper Shawl, and I have 2 skeins of Sea Silk that are asking to be made into a shawl...

Then the Cowl Group on Ravelry is knitting the La-La-Love-You Cowl for their February KAL. I love heart-shaped things, and have some lovely dark red Berocco Pure Merino that needs a project...

But now it's almost halfway through February, and I don't know if I want to join a February KAL. Too many projects, too little time!

Overdue

So, it's been entirely too long since I've updated. And since my last entry was the month of lace, it seems fitting to (finally) post pics of those projects.

Here's the finished Ishbel Shawlette:



and Branching Out Scarf:

Month of Lace

Trying to start blogging again! Seems to take awhile to catch-up on projects from the last 9 months, so let's just move forward with what's current...

I bought a skein of Farmhouse Yarns Bonnie's Bamboo during the Portland Yarn Crawl with the intention of making a scarf for my mom's birthday. A few weeks ago I realized I should probably get started, since her birthday is in the middle of July. After some searching on Ravelry, I decided to make Branching Out.

I haven't done much lace knitting before - a few yarn overs here and there, and tried a few projects that got frustrating (though in hindsight, attempting a first lace project with mohair probably wasn't a good idea). But so far I'm enjoying this pattern, and the yarn is nice to work with. I still prefer written directions to charts though.

So I'm about halfway done with the Branching Out scarf, and started thinking about starting another lace project (why wait until this project is done?) and apparently I had good timing, since Knit Purl is starting their month of lace...

As part of the month of lace, they are hosting an Ishbel knit-a-long. I had a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk I bought because it was on sale, so this seemed like a good opportunity to use it!

Still not very good about adding pics to the blog, but at least that gives you an idea of what I'm working on...

Birthday Presents

I haven't been very good about finishing projects in time for the recipient's birthday, but better late than never... guess I need to learn how to knit faster. Or maybe I just need to learn to stop procrastinating, and start thing earlier...
Some of these ended up being later than others:

Hat for one of my friends who just graduated. Pattern is Truffle:



A couple of pouches. The first is knit with Tanglewood Fiber Creation's Rose Garden colorway:



Next one is done with Blue Sky Organic Cotton. The colors make me think of Charlie Brown:



Currently I'm working on a pair of ribbed socks. Trying not to buy any new yarn, so working on knitting and spinning from the Sock Summit stash!

Muffins and Yarn

Yesterday I made blackberry coconut muffins. Everyone who has tried them seemed to like them... Not sure I would make mini muffins again though. I ended up putting one whole berry in each mini muffin cup, and the muffins were kinda flat. I like bigger tops on my muffins, so will need to experiment some more!

Also took some more pictures, so here's one with two mini skeins of hand-spun:



The darker green yarn is the Spinner's Candy. I posted a picture of the unspun fiber a couple of weeks ago. The lighter yarn is one ply of an organic wool from April's Phat Fiber Box (you can see the fiber in the top right of the picture) and one ply of sea green merino from Material Whirled. Still have more of the Spinner's Candy fiber to spin, so hoping to end up with enough yarn for a small scarf or a hat. Having fun spinning, but haven't decided what to make out of my handspun yet!

Last Thursday

So last night Big Alice and I went to Last Thursday on Alberta Street. I had heard people talk about Last Thursday before, but didn't realize how big of an event it is! I'm not really sure how to describe it... it's a combination craft fair and swap meet, so people are selling all kinds of things. The art galleries in the area also stay open late. There are people everywhere, including street performers. We must have walked over 10 blocks, and we didn't even see everything!

Also went to Cork since my friend Shelly has paintings on display there. We got to try three wines for $5 which was fun. Cork also has a decent selection of wheat beer, so I got a Japanese hefeweizen to try. Which means tonight is pizza and beer night :)

Scrapbooking and Gifting

I haven't done as much knitting or spinning this week, but got inspired to do some more scrapbooking. It's more of a journal than a photo album, but it's been fun to put together pages and figure out what information I want to include. It's interesting how my crafting goes in cycles... Last weekend I got a couple of quick knitted projects done, and before that was mostly spinning... Still catching up on taking pictures though!

Also starting to think ahead to what kind of projects I want to make for holiday gifts. The holidays always seem to come faster than I can knit ;) and I don't think many of my family members would like to receive a skein of yarn. Maybe I should work on teaching everyone to knit instead of trying to knit them all socks... there's an idea....

Next I'm hoping to channel my creativity into cooking. It's been too hot to do much baking this summer, and I'm starting to look ahead to what I want to make for fall. Also looking ahead to a crazy 45 hour work week when internship starts, so need to come up with better ideas for what to make for lunch and dinner. Especially for days when I won't get home until after 9pm! I think I'm also trying to cram in as many craft projects during summer break as possible ;) At least I can knit on the train, but not so sure about spinning on the train yet. And scrapbooking is pretty much out unless I'm at home.