Radio Silence

Hey all. Sorry for missing my usual post date last week: I got sick and couldn't do much in the way of crafting. And now, work has picked up (I have a presentation to give in a few weeks), so that's cut into my leisure time as well! So, unfortunately, I don't have much to show you all.

That being said, there are some projects in the works. I'm almost done with the diamonds shawl (after man, many hours of work), and I've started another scarf which is going well. Plus a belt, some softies, and there's always the Aubrey cosplay. A lot of things are in progress!

In lieu of crafts, have this picture of a frog that I took the other day. It's using a leaf for shade (its friend is not so smart)!

Sock it to Ya!

Socks are a staple of any knitting diet. Who doesn't like having toasty warm toes in the middle of winter? (Besides people who live in warm climates, that is!) That being said, I had never tried to knit a pair of socks before last month. Other projects just appealed to me so much more.

I got a chance to try it when my local knitting club started a sock-a-month knit-along, and I stumbled across a rather pretty skein of self-striping sock yarn. Perhaps fate was nudging me in the direction of knitted footwear? I took out my smallest set of circular needles and got started, and while it did take me a bit longer than a month, I came out of it with socks!

I have to say, I really like the striping pattern. It makes these plain stockinette socks look much more impressive than they actually are! As is traditional for first socks, they don't quite fit properly: I need to go up a couple shoe sizes to do much with them. Ah well, they'll be walking-around-the-house socks. I can show off the yarn more like that anyway! Let's look at those pretty stripes a little closer, shall we?

Aside from learning the joys of self-striping yarn, I did discover one other thing with this project. I do not like knitting socks!

Yeah, it's just not my thing. I'd much rather make mittens and scarves and sweaters, things that don't get hidden in you boot and pants cuff! That said, I'm glad I tried it, and I'll definitely get some use out of the ones that I have. Now onto another, non-footwear project!

Resourceful

I should really stop promising that I'll get these resource pages out "soon"! That being said, I did add the embroidery page as promised, and I threw in a crochet page for good measure. Finding decent online resources is surprisingly tricky! But then, that's exactly why I'm collecting them. I hope you find them useful whenever you want to try your hand at a new craft!

What's the Mat-ter?

I haven't posted anything woven in a while, have I? Well, time to rectify that! My mother has been pining for a nice set of placemats to match her dining room, and I'm always up for making a gift or four. So, I got myself some nice linen yarn, dyed a portion of it bright red to match the walls, and set to work!

The red combined with the off-white of raw linen fit really well with the dining room, so I'm quite pleased with the results! It was very simple to make as well: I doubled up all the strands to give a basket-weave effect, but otherwise it was completely plain weave, with a set of off-center vertical and horizontal stripes to add interest. The weave is quite open, and so these placemats feel light and summery.

I had enough yarn to make four placemats total, which adds up to a nice little set for my immediate family. I still have a bit left over, though, so perhaps I'll make napkin rings or something else to match!