progress! productivity!

Finished the Scarf of Doom, finished the mittens for Samuel, and finished handwarmers for me! I know, I know, I can't believe it either!

Here is the scarf:

I rather like how it looks over the back of the chair, so this is where I leave it when I'm not wearing it. I like that it is displayed and not shoved in a closet. I do wear it sometimes, too:

Yikes, not the best picture of me... or the best lighting... not to mention the less-than-picturesque setting of my bathroom... oh,well.

Here are the mittens:

Still not the colors I would have chosen, but I am over it. I think. I still haven't gotten around to lanolinizing them, but they kept his hands pretty warm in the snow. I am hoping that the lanolin will help keep the snow from sticking to them... I have no idea. We probably won't get much more snow this year (I hope!) so I'll find out next year.

And here are my hand warmers:

Yet another Knitty pattern. I was going to make the men's version for my dad for Christmas, but mine aren't quite the same size. I'm not sure why. Anyway, that did not give me a lot of confidence in making a gift for someone else, so I bought my dad a pair instead. I'll try to make a pair for dh, maybe, and see how that goes. Then at least I'll have him right there to try them on.

For my next project, I might make those handwarmers for dh, or maybe a sweater vest for Samuel (he'd like one in argyle) or maybe I'll get a headstart on Christmas gifts. Not sure yet. I've done a few practice swatches of some different techniques, though, like double knitting and illusion knitting (like this Alien Scarf).

Oh, and I'm on Ravelry now (as organiclilac). Heaven help me. Trying very hard not to spend our life savings on yarn.

and now you know why i titled this blog this way...

...because I am still working on the same silly scarf!!! However, I am almost done, really and truly this time. Like, just a few rows to go. Like, I could probably have finished it in the time it will take me to write this blog post, and I might just do it when I'm done here. And then I get to post triumphant pictures! In fact, I am SO sure that I will finish it soon that I felt confident enough to go buy yarn today for my next project! I am going to make Samuel a pair of mittens that I hope will hold up to the cold and snow this winter, and keep his little fingers warm! We use those little hand warmer thingies that get warm when you unwrap them and go in the boots and mittens. Last year he had gloves, so the warmers didn't quite reach his fingers, but with mittens, he should be all set. Oh, here's the pattern. Yep, another from Knitty - I am all about free. :) But they are totally cute, right? Except that I don't like the colors he chose. I kept trying to gently guide him to choose something different (read: better) but he wanted navy blue and bright kelly green. I just have to keep repeating to myself, "These are not my mittens. These are not my mittens." Deep breath. LOL!

scarf progress and Jesse Tree ornaments

Despite the lack of activity on this blog, I have been working since my last post. I am still stitching away at my clapotis, and it is shaping up nicely, although nowhere near done. At this rate, I am hoping that I'll be able to wear it in the fall, as I've totally given up on its being finished before the spring. I've discovered that people have an insatiable curiosity about knitting, and are often quite fascinated by seeing someone knit in public. I am always asked what I am working on, and I admit to feeling kind of lame in answering "A scarf." It just seems so unimpressive. I really have to restrain myself from telling them what a cool and interesting scarf it will be. The other question that just kills me is when they ask who it is for. I feel incredibly guilty and selfish telling them it is for me! In my defense, I have thought of zillions of things I would like to knit for other people, but I don't feel that I am a very accomplished knitter yet, and hate the thought of screwing up a gift. I am hoping that this will give me some practice so that someday I can be that cool knitter who gives everyone beautiful handknits for Christmas.

The other major project I did recently was to make ornaments for a Jesse Tree swap. I was tasked to make a dozen each of 3 different ornaments, and after the swap had a complete set. It was a lot of fun and the ornaments turned out really beautiful. Here are the ones that I made:

This one is Joseph's coat of many colors. I made it by randomly stitching lines of color onto tan felt with my sewing machine, before cutting out the coats. I cut them out with fronts and backs attached at the shoulders, and then put glue on all the thread ends to keep them from unravelling. After that was dry, I glued them at the side seams and hung them on little hangers made from gold floral wire.

The next one is the wall of Jericho and the Ark of the Covenant. The wall is just cut out of stiff grey felt. I pondered how to get a nice, detailed Ark on there for quite some time and finally hit on the idea of using Shrinky-Dink plastic. It worked very well! Then all I had to do was glue the Ark onto the wall and add some wire for hanging.

Finally, the crown for Jesus is King of the Nations. I was originally going to make this out of wire and beads, but that was NOT working. My mom and sister had recently had success in making cinnamon ornaments, so I decided to give that a try. With my veteran ornament-making sister, I made the crowns with the cinnamon dough. I didn't have a cookie cutter in the right shape, so I made a template out of paper, laid it over the dough, and cut out the shape with a paring knife. We poked 2 holes in the center of each crown for inserting the wire for hanign. After the ornaments dried, I added the wire (which I bent to make a decorative swirl) and Samuel added dots of gold glitter glue and stuck a bead in each one. These turned out great, and smell so good!

Here is the recipe that we used for the ornaments:

1 cup ground cinnamon

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup white craft glue

Mix together. Turn dough over and over until the consistency is smooth and dry. Let the dough stand for one hour. (My mother recommends taking this time to relax in the hot tub - if you don't have a hot tub, or just don't want to wait an hour, be assured that when my sister and I made these, we skipped the one hour rest time and the ornaments were fine.)

Then turn out 1/4 of the dough onto a cool, flat surface, then flatten the mound with your hands. (We used parchment paper.)

Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. We kept checking with a ruler to be sure. If it becomes too dry, spritz it with water. If it sticks tothe rolling pin or work surface, sprinkle it with cinnamon. (We didn'thave any trouble with either.)

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Poke hole with toothpick for hole to hang with. Lay on paper towels on wire rack to dry. Repeat with remaining dough. Let ornaments air dry for at least 24 hours, turning every 6 hours or soto keep them flat. (Not a problem with ours.)

If desired, you can bake them dry. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer the ornaments to a baking sheet. Bake, flipping once, until dry, about 2 hours.

To decorate an ornament, spread white glue over the surface. While the glue is still wet, hold the ornament over a bowl of glitter or beads. Sprinkle the glitter on with a spoon and tap off excess. Hang with wire or crochet thread.

finally!

I've had this blog for quite some time, and have just not gotten around to doing anything worthy to post on it. Well, I am finally knitting up something that I've been wanting for a couple of years now: a clapotis! After a long search, I found a great yarn in a variegated blue that is a blend of wool and soy. It is nice and silky soft, and I think it will be perfect! This is really the first thing I've ever knitted in a quality yarn - well, except the scarf I made for ds from Fisherman's Wool. He was supposed to choose a color so that we could Kool-Aid dye it, but he keeps changing his mind. So, it sits uncolored. I made that one in 1x1 ribbing, so it's nice and thick and stretchy and reversible. I'll post pics of both soon. And, hey, maybe I'll even get my sewing corner cleaned up so that I have room to actually sew something!