Blathering On and On

Self-Portrait Sunday

1. I can be very possessive.
2. I can also be horribly, hatefully mean if I choose to be…
3. …And spiteful. (And no, I am not particularly proud of 2 and 3.)
4. I almost always expect the best of people…
5. …this frequently leaves me disappointed or with hurt feelings.
6. I am a stickler for the rules. (speed limit, grammar….)
7. I love (relish, really) explicit, detailed, written instructions. I think this may be part of the reason I haven't embraced knitting charts. I like the written directions.
8. I am a neurotic list maker. I love lists. During particularly hectic/stressful times, I have been known to put things on my to do list that I have already done, just so I have something to check off as done.
9. I do modular origami. I do the regular kind, too, but modular is my favorite. (I do a lot less origami since I learned to knit.)
10. I am a visual learner. Most of the time, if you show me something once, I will be able to do it from then on. Usual.
11. I like houseplants . . . but just in a vague, “oh isn’t that nice” sort of way. My husband is the only reason that our houseplants stay alive.

Some Knitting Pictures

I have some pictures to share with ya'll. I feel like I have been doing a crazy lot of knitting lately but then when I got the pictures together, there really isn't that much to show. Whatever. Here goes.

I've made some fun fur hats for Kate's project. These two are from the Patons ChaCha, in Salsa.

This one, which I have since finished but didn't take a new picture of, is black Patons Allure combined with a partial ball of purple fur and lime fur.
I have a little more fun fur laying around and may decide to knit another hat before the 28th of February but for the time being, I am going to get these in the mail.

Earlier this week, I finished my mother's socks. (I believe I heard the angel choruses singing when I was weaving in the final toes.)
I took them to her and she (not at all reluctantly) put them on immediately. She declared them very comfortable and a good fit. And really, what more could a knitter ask for with her very first attempt at socks?

The sock minutia:
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Peacock colorway
Needles: Size 0, Susan Bates metal dpns.
Pattern: A basic sock pattern, spoon fed to me by RC. (Thanks again!)
Review: I love this yarn. It is very soft and dreamy to work with. As a general rule, I am a comparatively tight knitter. I would not use Size 0 needles again with this yarn. The final socks were pretty thick/sturdy, and while they are excellent socks, they are more suitable for house socks. They probably wouldn't be very comfortable in her average shoes. I am sure I will use this yarn again (because I have several skeins of it and it is fabulous) but I will use the Size 1 needles.

After finishing the socks and the hats, I was feeling a little restless. (Do you ever get like that, after you finish a project, not sure what to start next?) So, I worked on a hedgehog and then another little something I am working on and then I got to thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know) and I decided that the next time I knit socks for someone, it would be nice to have a little knitted something to put them in.

Sidenote, I can't remember if it is in the book Weekend Knitting or in Last Minute Knitted Gifts but one of them....it talks about wrapping knitted gifts, and the added touch of a knitted receptacle. That's what got me thinking about this.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. . . I came up with the idea of making a little felted pouch/container/bag. Here it is.

Front & Back, Pre-felting:
After I Sewed Them Together: Post-felting, Front:
Back: So what do you think? Silly? Lame? A waste of knitting time?

Personally, I am pretty happy with the results. It is actually exactly what I was going for.

The details.
Yarn: Cascade 220, navy and green (I can't remember the specific shades.)
Needles: Size 7 Knit Picks Options (which I got from my sister for Christmas)
Pattern: My own design (which I am happy to share with the world. I created it in an Excel file, though, and don't know if I can post an Excel file on the blog. I am sure with the new blogger and being tied in with Google and all, there is probably a way. I just don't know it. I can convert it probably, but I just haven't fiddled with it. I just completed the pattern yesterday afternoon.)
Size: Pre-felting 8.5" tall by 7.5" wide (exculding the button tab on the front.)
Post-felting 6.25" tall by just shy of 6" wide.
Notes: I am not a fan of intarsia. For some inexplicable reason, whenever I do intarsia, the stitches of the inlayed color look all wonky. The only satisfactory solution I have come up with for me is to felt anything that I do intarsia. Because it is all pretty close together, I used one one ball of navy and one ball of green and carried along the back. For the sickos among you who like to see the dirty details of the back of the work, here you go.

So, all in all, a successful experiment.

I don't knit from charts but I laid this out in excel, drew it basically, and then wrote out the instructions from that.

Whew!! This has been a long and rambling post. Thanks for sticking it out to the end. I am going back to work tomorrow...so who knows when I may post again. Have a great week!

Today's Quote:

“If the work of God could be comprehended by reason, it would be no longer wonderful, and faith would have no merit if reason provided proof.” Pope Gregory I, c. 600