Yarnbombing 2017

Done!  Many thanks to all the people on the team who contributed pieces, and to Jean and Kathy for helping to install them all.  I started the day with a haircut and a fever (controlled by ibuprofen), then ignored all the little hairs stuck in my shirt and headed to the library.  As soon as this is done, I'm throwing everything in the wash to end my itchy torture.

Here's most of what we installed.  A few of these are from 2011, when I last did this, but I brought in adhesive hooks to lift them up from the floor, where they had sagged over time.

This is Jean's fishnet, with little paper fishies inside.  Cute!

There are 4 of these strings of hearts scattered around.

A few degrees colder and I wouldn't have been able to do this.

People who were coming in to the library as I sewed the rail covers in place mostly stopped to say, "Is that a hand warmer?"  I described it to a few people as "decorative vandalism".

Now to get un-itchy and indulge in some more ibuprofen.

Fringes

Last time I was at the fabric store I grabbed a skein of something thick and thin, thinking I could reproduce some neckwear I had been told was popular.  How far could I get with 92 yards?  I was going to find out.  I cast on 40, thinking at 2 st per inch I could get a 20" circumference, but my circular needle was longer than that.  I ended up casting on 54 to get around the needles, not thinking that a 2 x 2 rib needs a multiple of 4 stitches.  So I worked a 2 x 2 rib (with one section of 4 knit in a row) until it was nearly gone, then saved a few yards for fringe.

It's about half as long as I had hoped - too long and stiff to leave as is when you slip it over your head, but kind of short when you fold it over.  And the fringes don't cut it.  Consensus is that the fringe has to go.  I have another skein of a different bulky yarn that was more expensive (Cascade Wool Spuntaneous, 109 yds), so now I'm not sure what to do with that.  Adding a second skein would make it something more expensive than I like to put into the fundraiser, but it won't cover much more ground than the pink stuff.  I will ponder this.

This cranky, bony, disgruntled, shabby-looking thing is my knitting buddy.  Selena is going on 18 and showing her age, and when I knit next to her I hear snoring and strange sounds coming from her guts and occasionally am assaulted by horrifying odors, but she is my companion.  I know I'll only have her a little longer before she becomes part of my pet history, but I'm glad she likes to hang out with me.  There's a little bit of her (hair) in everything I make.

I finished the scarf I was making, and set it aside to await blocking.  I used only a small fraction of the 6 balls of laceweight yarn I bought, now I need a project for those.  I don't like the color combination: 

I need somebody else to choose colors for me when I substitute from what the pattern calls for, I'm not good at it, especially from an online page.

Now I'm making a bunny and continuing to work on this blanket, which feels endless.  I have at least half a dozen projects with yarn and pattern bagged up waiting for me, but I still will probably check out the Super Bowl yarn sales at nearby yarn stores tomorrow, just because.  And besides, if I go to Newtown for yarn, I might as well stop for gluten-free pizza...

Instant gratification

That's what I need.  My knitting and crocheting has been making me a little twitchy lately, and I think it's because everything is a long-term project.  At this time of year I'm working on the larger projects for the December fundraiser, like blankets and large shawls, and when progress for an evening's work is half an inch completed, it's kind of hard to feel like it actually is progress.  There's this, the back of a vest for myself:

The fronts are under way, but this is fingering weight yarn with many stitches, so it's slow going and I probably won't be wearing it this winter, alas.  And I'm not all that fond of making cables.  I saw it as a challenge, but now it feels like punishment.

And there's this blanket, which is a simple pattern and easily memorized, but in the middle of the 7th row of squares I looked up the pattern to find out how many rows of squares I needed, and was dismayed to find that it calls for 23 rows of squares.  That's a lot of stitches.  I'm pretty sure when I made it before as a gift I did not make it that long.  At least it's nice yarn to handle - Ultra Pima, smooth, shiny cotton.

And this scarf, which will look a little different once blocked.  Laceweight wool, so it's very light.  The squares get linked together as you go, and the dangling ends are annoying enough that I work them in every few squares, but there's only so much of this I can take at a time, and I don't like my color choices.  Especially the olive.  I should have included some white and some yellow, but I'm crap at choosing colors.

I finished a sock, which felt good, but then I have to make another, which means slogging through 6 inches of ribbing.  That's something that I can pick up at random and work on without thinking, at least.

So now there's a 3 day weekend and I have no particular plans, so I think I'll put some serious time into creating stuff for the planned yarn bombing of the library.  I was just making random blocks of odd yarns to cover the railing outside, and some hearts to string up somewhere, but some of my Yarnworks ladies are making ambitious plans and now I feel challenged to get more creative.  One plain gray block of knitting will get ears and tail and face and be a flat cat.  I can add crocheted roses to otherwise plain pieces.  Different size pompoms.  Bobbles for texture.  And one lady had a great suggestion - make a treasure hunt sheet to hand out to kids so they can look for stuff we make and scatter around the library.  I'll take pictures, put together something, and let the library hand it out.  

But not tonight.  Tonight I'll just work on that blanket and listen to my audiobook.  Tomorrow in daylight I'll root through my yarn stash and knitting pattern books and see what I can make that's quick and quirky.  Here's a sampling from the last time, which apparently was 2011:

And if you're on Facebook, come join us in the group Yarnworks of Ewing NJ.

Yes, I'm still here

Sorry, my pets, I have not gotten back to this since I came back from my vacation.  I know from the statistics that are available that hardly anybody ever checks this, so I don't feel that badly about depriving you, since you seem not to exist, but I will try to keep this up for anybody who is interested.

What have I been doing since May?  Much knitting and crocheting, and by late October or early November I hit 60 items finished for the Warm and Fuzzy Fundraiser, so I let myself stop that and work on a few things for my kids and myself.  In addition to the stuff I made and that some of the Yarnworks clan donated, other people at my work brought in another 60ish handmade items for the fundraiser, which was held on Dec. 7, 2016.  All of that, plus the bake sale, plus random donations, added up to $4183 for Mercer Street Friends.  Higher than last year, but not by as much as I would have hoped.

Maybe you can help me decide where to put my yarn energies for next year.  I put the items I made into categories, like "hat" and "blanket", leaving out a few random things, then counted up the number of bids and the number of dollars by category, then found the average per item to see what brought in the most.  Here's how it broke down:

average bids per item:
Toy 4.84
Mitts 3.75
Cowl 2.33
Scarf 2.17
Hat 2.1
Blanket 6.5
Bag 2.8
Shawl 1.3

average dollars per item:
Toy 32.36
Mitts 26.25
Cowl 21.67
Scarf 21.67
Hat 11.70
Blanket 167.50
Bag 32.40
Shawl 35.00

So blankets obviously brought in the most in terms of both bids and dollars, with toys also high in both.  After that it's more complicated.  Shawls, I have noticed, attract few bids but those who want them, want them.  Bags brought in decent amounts, but are usually a booger to make if they need felting and lining and handles.  Mitts (mostly fingerless, but some full mittens) did well enough.  Neckwear (cowls and scarves) were lukewarm, no pun intended.  And hats didn't bring in much money each.  One guy bid on all of the baby and child hats, but adult hats weren't going.

So toys, blankets, and bags seem to bring in the most, but also take much time, yarn, and effort.  Scarves, cowls, and shawls can be fun, but don't get as much interest.  Maybe stick to children's hats?  More fingerless mitts, some fair isle scandinavian style mittens?  I have already completed a lap blanket and a cowl for 2017, currently working on a baby blanket and scarf.  I have yarn and patterns bought for these bunnies, these mittens,  this shawl,  this shawl, and this blanket, among others.  What else would you suggest?

Iceland

Iceland is a grim looking place this time of year, unless you know where to look.  I'm enjoying the differences between what I'm used to seeing in my life and what I have been seeing.  Iceland has ugly architecture, beautiful mountains, streams and rivers everywhere, horses and sheep, steam bursting from the ground, tasty fish.  We arrived yesterday and immediately did some touring with our 22-year-old guide on his second tour ever, stopping at the Saga Museum and touring Reykjavik before we ever got to the hotel.  The Saga Museum has some perfectly made dioramas of the history of Viking settlement in Iceland, but the recorded narration goes on much too long for non-Icelandic ears.  The human figures were almost too lifelike to approach.

This hotel (the Grand) is different from all of the others - less European, more Scandinavian.  Simple, IKEA-like furniture, no rugs, geometric patterns for decoration.  In fact, there's a very idiosyncratic design style here - lots of abstract figures.  And a lot of spray-painted street graffiti along with a few well-done murals.  But the buildings are mostly hideous - concrete boxes with corrugated metal roofs.  Right now the grass is mostly brown (except for golf courses), and there are few trees, so everything is winter-looking.  But Skyr is abundant - good stuff, like yogurt but with a richer, smoother texture.

Last night's dinner was excellent - the best lamb I've ever had, but it took over 2 hours to serve 3 courses.  When you've been eating every meal with the same people for 2 weeks, there's only so much conversation to be had.

Today was a great day, although it started out rainy.  We did the "golden circle" and looked at lots of geology - mountains, glaciers, geysers, waterfalls.

Graylag geese who completely ignored us.

Geyser!  This one is unpredictable - every few minutes, give or take, it erupts.

Beautiful, clear, boiling hot water.

Big honkin' waterfall fed by a glacier.

The day was consumed by stops for scenery, walking around scenery, bathroom breaks, gift shops, lunch (smorgasbord and all the pickled herring I could eat!), more scenery to walk around.  Boulders and ground (which is old lava) are covered by all kinds of mosses and small ground cover which is beginning to bud, as are the small shrubs and trees.  I caught sight of golden plovers, the Icelandic harbinger of spring.  My birds of Europe book has lots of dogeared pages from everything I've spotted, including a raven today. And after we got back to Reykjavik, still more sightseeing.

Dinner was a little faster, with lovely salt cod in a sauce with figs, lemons, and almonds, preceeded by cauliflower soup and grilled gf bread.  I took my knitting this time to keep me occupied between courses.  I'm looking forward to the breakfast buffet at the hotel - good food, and when I'm done I can get up and leave.

Tomorrow is a free day until dinner, and my plan is to take the free shuttle into town, visit the National Museum of Iceland (because I love archaeology), the Phallus Museum (just because how could I not?), and the shopping street which may or may not have yarn for sale.  We have seen a lot of beautiful hand-knitted things at gift shops, which are pretty much all itchy, but no yarn, and the stores that sell it might not be open Sunday, but so it goes.  If I find it, I find it, if not, I'll survive.  Some people are planning to visit one of the geothermal pools about 10 minutes away, but my kind melt when wet.  Then walk back to the hotel (they only offer the shuttle one way), have dinner with the group, and pack for an early departure so we can ride by the Blue Lagoon before heading to the airport.  It has been a great trip, but I'm ready to go home and do some laundry.

Scones!

Today we toured yet another lovely garden, but I was distracted by finding out they had a museum of toys, featuring a big dollhouse (actually several).  Without hesitating I paid the 5 euros to enter and spent a blissful half hour.

I even bought the book so I could have the pictures, only later realizing it would have to be part of the excess weight I'll probably have to pay for tomorrow.  This is at Powerscourt House.

Second stop was Glendalough Monastery, where we didn't have much time, but walked around enough to see stone ruins, a round tower (which is exactly where Rapunzel would hang out), and an old cemetary, along with the usual beautiful Irish scenery and sheep.

Then lunch, where I think there was an audible collective groan when it turned out to be roast beef and mashed potatoes for the third meal in a row (excluding breakfast).  That's when I decided to skip dinner, which was going to be dinner and a show - I don't need another typical Irish meal and step dancing, thank you.

Finally we went to Ballyknocken Farmhouse where we were given a lesson in making scones, and they were gluten-free!  We donned aprons and used our hands to mix the ingredients, then consumed them with butter, ginger-rhubarb jelly, and tea.  Even though we had just finished eating lunch a short time ago.  That's when I definitely decided to skip dinner.  

Now it's time to play luggage tetris, getting as close to but not exceeding 5 kilos as I can in my backpack and crossing my fingers that the rest won't add up to too much excess poundage.

And last night I finished a hat, so I blocked it this morning (needing three changes of water because it leaked dye) and it's drying now.  That's two projects finished.