Flying through projects

Flying can be a hassle, but with the right planning you can get a lot of knitting or crocheting done.  From Trenton to Orlando and back, and in between, I got a lot done!

First, this scarf.  I decided 4 feet long was enough, leaving enough yarn for a hat or mitts.  I tried to make a hat with the same stitch, but after 3 tries gave up.  The pattern is too flexible, I think - all my attempts to make the starting circle turn into a hat shape just gave me a bigger flat circle, so I rolled the yarn back up and simply made 2 rectangles to sew into fingerless mitts, leaving a hole for the thumb.

The yarn is merino, colorway Wisteria, from Morehouse Farm.  It wasn't as smooth as most merino, and felt almost like cotton.  I finished these in Florida, except for sewing up and weaving in.  So I patted myself on the back.

Second project for the trip: this cowl.  I had one small skein of brown alpaca that I didn't think was enough for a project, but at $13 a skein I hesitated to buy more, knowing that sometimes the bids for an item don't cover the yarn cost.  But when I saw the same vendor at the NJ Sheep and Fiber Festival, I bought a white skein of the same type to combine with the first.  I like how alpaca farms usually tag each skein with the name of the actual animal from which it came.  Their critters don't get eaten, so they are around long enough to be friends.  I thought maybe I would make something striped, but then I found this pattern.  I finished this after I got home.  I worked until the white ran out and bound off with the brown (loosely - I looked at Jeny's stretchy bind-off, but didn't have the patience to try it).  All done except for the blocking and weaving of the ends, and very soft and thick.  The brown bind-off isn't as neat as the white cast-on, but I needed to make sure it would stretch enough to go over a head.

Trip project #3: these yoga socks.  I was down the cuff, past the opening, and ready to make progress on the foot when I thought to try it on, and dang if it was too small.  I didn't do any gauge testing, and I think the original was made with thicker sock yarn.  So I pulled it all out and started over with more stitches and this is where I am.  It's a little boring, K2P1 ribbing for most of it, but it requires little thinking or extra tools, so a good project for travel.  

Obviously not done yet, and another to go, but a good project for watching TV.

Before I left I started Nessie, so when I got back I finished her body, once I found where I had put the pipe cleaners that needed to go into the neck.  Now I just need to add flippers.  What a cute pattern, and so well designed.  Her head looks like a fruit bat's.

But the rest of today is probably going to be cooking, to use up the CSA from this week.  3 quarts of plum tomatoes, 3 pounds of other tomatoes, a quart of various cherry tomatoes, plus potatoes, eggplant, squash, yellow beans, kale, raspberries, and probably some stuff I forgot.  The potatoes and beans are cooked and cohabiting with pine nuts, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.  The eggplant and squash are stewing with Amish ground sirloin, garlic, basil, mushrooms, and Ragu (yes, from a jar).  I'm in the middle of skinning the tomatoes to make sauce and thinking it's a good thing I only get a half share.  Later today or tomorrow I'll wash and tear apart and cook the kale for the freezer.  And because I'm delusional about how much we will eat, I picked up a cauliflower and some green beans while I was at the farmer's market for the meat.  Taking a share in a CSA means you have to be ready to process a whole lot of raw vegetables.  And my compost pile feeds a whole bunch of vertebrate and invertebrate critters and countless microorganisms.  But I do my best not to waste anything.  Alas, the chard from 2 weeks ago was not a keeper once I got back from Florida.

Back to skinning tomatoes, and then maybe time for a cup of tea and another flipper.

Sea silk

Something I thought was pretty cool: yarn spun from a sea creature's uh, secretions? Parts? Turns out it's from a clam's saliva and is known from ancient times.  Click the link for a BBC article about something rare and precious that can make yarn.

Fall is coming!  Here is a free pattern from KnitPicks for little pumpkins, both knitted and crocheted versions.  The Lion Brand website also has lots of patterns for Halloween/Fall decorations you can make.

Yarnworks business: once we get all of our hats and things out of the library display cases at the end of September, we will be able to donate them (except, of course, the things you want to keep!).  I like Mercer Street Friends as a recipient - they are the beneficiary of my Warm and Fuzzy silent auction for which I make most of the things I post here.  They have a day care center and a teen program that will take hats and warm clothing, so I just need to figure out when and how to do that.  But I have a bunch of tags that I can print and attach to the items, so I thought it would be nice to have Yarnworks tags, which can also be used to indicate washing instructions or size.  I could use some help.  The tags are Avery 80511, a scalloped circle.  If you go to Avery Online and put in that number, you can then design tags.  They have a lot of pre-made designs, none of which are yarn-specific, but many are pretty.  If you go there and take a look, tell me your favorites.  I made this template, but I'm not sure what else I should put on it.  Ideas?

Today Ann (the farmer) and I went to the NJ Sheep and Fiber Festival to look at lambs for sale, spinners, and yarn.  I was good and only bought one skein of alpaca to complement one I already have.  Lots of beautiful stuff, but most of it too costly to justify making something for the fundraiser - if I spend $40 on yarn making something and the bids don't reach $40, it feels like a failure.  I wanted some angora but didn't like the way it was spun, she didn't find any lambs she liked, and we finally decided to use our original spinner to spin the rest of her wool.  She took the 11 hats I gave her last week to a market, and sold 3 of them!  The ones with sheep and the ones with earflaps were popular, so that's what we'll focus on.  I have 7 more hats drying after their wash, and only enough yarn for one or two more, so I'll finish them up, then work on other projects while waiting for more yarn.

I have a crocheted bunny in progress, a knitted cat (I hate the finishing details so I'm dragging my feet), a scarf barely started that will go to Florida with me, and I keep finding bags of half-done stuff, so I need to sort that out.  And stop myself from starting something new until I finish something!

Eleven and counting

Today I dropped off 11 hats made from Stonybrook Meadows wool to Stonybrook Meadows' owner.  I embellished them somewhat with colorful wool from my stash, but mostly it was the farm wool, and those 11 hats took nearly 2 1/2 pounds of yarn.  We are thinking of having more roving spun, but she wants to do it while spending as little for shipping as possible, so someone local or within reasonable driving distance.  Know anybody?  I will keep cranking out hats till the yarn runs out, and this first batch allows her to see the economics of it - what will people pay?  What sizes and designs are most popular?  What's a stinker that won't sell?  Is it worth making any more yarn?

That's not all I did, though.  I kept plugging away on items for the fundraiser, sometimes just finishing little details.  Like, voila, the Biohazard socks are done!  I sat on the last one for a week or more before I got up the mindset required to graft those last toe stitches together.  Now they just need washing and blocking, which also requires the proper mindset.

And I finished this little guy once I got the hooks and eyes for his feet:

I love well-designed crochet patterns.  This and the sea otter (still on the to-do list) came from June Gilbank of Planet June.  If you're looking for some good patterns and don't mind spending a few bucks (I think each of these was $5.50) hers are well worth it.  Another good designer is Kati Galusz.  Her animals are incredibly lifelike in form and pose, like these:

Wow, look how realistic that cat is!  I'm pretty much a cheapskate (I was recently thrilled to buy jeans from Goodwill for $7 and find them on sale for $3.50), but I will gladly pay for a skillfully executed pattern.  The vast majority of the patterns I use are free, but there are a few I find enticing enough to pay for.  You know how much work you put into making something, and you have to know that the designers put work into it too.  Most of the paid patterns I find on Ravelry are between $1 and $6.  I also try to guide people toward buying their own copy of those patterns rather than sharing, because I want to help promote the designers and help them earn a living from their skill.  So if you ask for a pattern and I send you to a website instead of giving you a copy, that's why.

More projects are lined up.  Still working on a knitted doll family, I have to finish a lamb hat (which may be too big for anybody willing to wear it), but I have patterns and yarn bagged up for a scarf (beautiful merino from Morehouse Farms), Kroy sock yarn and a yoga sock pattern, and a purple Nessie.  I'll make the scarf on my way to Florida later this month, and maybe take the yoga socks as an alternate project.  Nothing with multiple colors or requiring stuffing, eyes, or other tools.

Are you going to the Garden State Sheep and Fiber Festival?  I'm going on the 13th to look at beautiful yarn and tools, and talk to spinners who might be local.  Did you know that a baby alpaca is called a "cria"?  I learned that there.  Check out the list of vendors on the website to see all of the yarn-related things that will be for sale.  I may acquire a little angora.  One year we watched a woman spin yarn right off the back of a live bunny sitting quietly in her lap!

I hear my crochet hook calling me.  One more row, then another hat base is done.  Maybe a white pompon and some embroidered snowflakes for this one...