Plugging Away and An Upcoming Project

 This morning I find my right forearm is sore from all the blanket knitting I've been doing as of late.  I have been diligently plugging away and finished another square ring yesterday.  While I'm pleased I'm a bit overwhelmed that there are still 2 more skeins left to knit the final edging.  There will be some leftover yarn to be sure, but it's still quite a lot of yarn to knit when I just want to get this project done and out of my WIP pile.  Actually, I want to put it into use as the weather has turned colder and in our drafty house you can feel the difference (not that you can tell by my barefooted short sleeve t-shirt wearing son but that's another story.)

Since I don't have too much new to show you on that project I thought I'd show you a future project I have planned that I'm both excited and a bit nervous about.  When reading the Interweave Press KNITS magazine Santa so kindly left in my stocking this Christmas, I ran across an article about some very unique yarn.  It's called Silver Spun and as the name implies it actually has silver spun into the yarn.  The contents to be exact are 87% Combed Cotton / 5% Silver / 5% Nylon / 3 % Spandex.  We all know what cotton is, nylon I know is added for durability and strength but I was thrown for a loop as to what the silver and Spandex would accomplish.  Well it turns out the silver makes the yarn therapeutic because it has excellent thermal properties as well as making it conductive.  The Spandex is then used to keep the silver from breaking apart.  Interesting no?  The conductive properties really hooked me because that means you could wear gloves made out of this yarn and still use your smart phone.  The Feel Good Yarn Company who makes this yarn thought of that too and put together the above kits with this free pattern for making just such a pair of gloves.  I instantly thought of my husband who is in the tech trade and gets many business calls on his cell phone, sometimes at less than opportune times as he is on call 24/7.  For example, he was walking home from the bus stop this winter with his hands laden down with many bags and got a call on his phone.  He managed to get it out of his pocket but with only three rings before voice mail kicks in there was no time to take off gloves so what did he do?  Why used his tongue of course!  Can I get an ewww!  Yes, that was my reaction too.

Anyway, I purchased this kit right away after I read the article in December, but they have yet to knit themselves into gloves so I thought I'd give myself a deadline.  My plan being to knit these up for Dan's birthday which falls on the last day of March.  Plenty of time of course, but they'll come after this blanket, a hostess gift I'm knitting for a friend who's hosting me on my trip to Washington DC at the end of February and of course since I'm going on a trip I want to knit this scarf to wear while there...  So, I'll probably won't start these gloves until I'm on my plane to see my friend Anna.  They are the perfect travel knit though as they are small and will tuck easily into my purse.  The only reservation I have is knitting 10 individual fingers knit in the round on US size 2 needles.  Sounds very laborious, but hopefully they will knit up fast.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

Distractions - Blanket Knitting

 

The double knit mittens I'm making have my fingers cramping (my needles are very pointy too leaving my finger tip sore from pushing the stitches off - angora yarn can be "sticky") so I started looking about for a distraction.  Well, knitting distraction that is, as there is plenty of housework needing to be done I'm just not of a mind to do it.  But, being productive is important to me, which had me turning to my WIPs hoping for something simple and a bit mindless.  This blanket fit the bill even though it's technically not a WIP, as it was finished and has been in use for some months, but I decided a few weeks back that it was too small at only 45 inches square (it doesn't really wrap around the body enough when cuddling on the couch).  

I began searching for some yarn on Ravelry looking through people's stashes of Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted and Green Line Worsted, as those were the yarns I used previously, to see what was available in the sell or trade category.  This is a good way to find great yarn at discounted prices.  Although, really this blanket is not an economical project even having purchased all the yarn in this manner.  The afghan was knit using 8 1/2 - 225 yard skeins and now I'm looking to add 6 more - yikes!  Tallying up the cost officially is something I'm not ready to face up to, but in for a penny in for a pound and I might as well end up with a blanket in a size I'll regularly use.  See, I never really thought this project through and I think that's the problem.  It began with a lone skein of worsted weight yarn along with a bad case of "start-itis" (you know when you want to start a casting on a million knitting projects at once?  Oh yeah, it's a disease all right which comes and goes like the common cold, but leaves a devastating wake of partially knit projects behind) and thought "Hmm an afghan knit with only ten stitches - that sounds like fun."

Back to searching for those 6 more skeins of yarn.  I found 2 skeins of a Navy Blue which I loved, and I thought would make at least one ring around but I still needed even more yarn to get the 60 inches square blanket I desired.  As luck would have it I found 4 skeins of the exact same yarn, same colorway (Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted in Edgewater) that I began with in the blanket's center.  Yay!  It will now look like I planned the colors out instead of buying random yarn as I went along.  The messages were sent, money changed hands and in a manner of days 6 skeins of yarn arrived in the mail  - easy peasey!

The navy ring was completed yesterday and I'm hoping by next week I'll finish the last 2 multicolored rings.  Then the blanket will be complete and the distraction will have passed and maybe, just maybe I'll get back to those mittens. 

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Cold Sheep and Stash Update - July

 

July has been a great month for finishing WIPs that have been laying around looking at me longingly through their Ziploc plastic bags.  Maybe it's because it's been a cooler summer here in Minnesota that I have felt like doing so much knitting.   Or maybe, it's simply the "high" of finishing one project has just been carrying me to finish more and more projects.  Either way I'm pleasantly pleased!

I finished my teal Pendulum shawl from this Spring, my Color Affection shawl from last Fall, and my 10 Stitch Blanket from the previous Summer!  Also completed are 2 more of these lovely coasters in blue and brown fuzzy alpaca yarn.  With so much yarn leftover from this project I decided to make 3 matching trivets to coordinate with the coasters.  You know how I love using up all my yarn!

Speaking of yarn, I went through my stash yet again and sold everything that I didn't just love, love, love on Craigslist.  So, my load is getting lighter literally and figuratively.  Now I just have a cardigan and a vest on the needles as well as the afore mentioned trivets, 8 patterns in my Ravelry queue with yarn in hand, and probably still too many skeins of sock yarn (but everyone could use some more socks right?)  I really feel in control of my stash again instead of my stash controlling me.  It amazes me how "good" things, like knitting or other hobbies, can turn into burdens if not kept in check.  Purchasing yarn only takes a few moments where as knitting said yarn can take a very long time; as can be seen by the projects I just finished.  Ah well,live and learn as they say.

I have been good about going "Cold Sheep" this month and haven't bought any yarn which puts my day total at 35 days.  Since I only seem to post once a month this Summer I guess I'll see you at the end of August.  Have a good month everyone! 

Joining in with Tami for Finished Object Friday and Linda for Creative Friday.