I haven't posted in a few days, because on Tuesday evening, my phone simply decided it was never going to charge again. I bought the phone back in December, so that's definitely not something it should be doing, even though it's a refurbished phone, so I'm in the process of seeing if repair or exchange or something can be done so I don't have to buy another phone again so soon. In the meantime, I've decided to just post about my projects without photos for now, seeing as how I have no idea how long this process will take. A friend said they might have an older phone they can lend me in the mean time, so if they find that, then I'll be able to post photos again, but until one or the other happens, this is how it is.
I plied the calico, and it's awaiting it's turn in the bath along with the socks I mended, my winter headscarf, and my new spring headscarf. It's looking like it might be DK when finished; not sure of the yardage yet. I'm at least halfway through the new alpaca I've been spinning, maybe a little more. When I finish that I've got a little bit more of the grey alpaca (a lighter grey, like a silver), some black that is still drying, and then I'm starting on the fawn fleece. I've also got some BFL roving I wanted for socks, but I wanted to dye the fiber before I spun it, and I haven't decided exactly which socks I'd be making with them, so I don't know what color(s) to dye it. I suppose that's something I should look at this week.
It's been hotter this week, so I haven't been working as much on the quilt because I haven't wanted to sit under a blanket on the couch as much, but I suppose I should get back into it or else it's never going to get done. I also have to plan a trip to the fabric store to find some fabric to finish up lengthening the skirt for my daughter. She's also requested a few more dresses and skirts, so depending on what kind of sales they have going on, I might pick up a few yards to do that with as well. I also have some fabric at home I've been wanting to make myself a skirt with, so I might clear off the table and cut the fabric for that as well this week.
I've also been making amazing progress on the blanket strip. I'm about 60 inches out of 75 on this one, and I'm very excited to finish it up and sew it on to the blanket. It's getting to be the wrong season for such a blanket, of course, but being 9/15 strips of the blanket has me wondering if it might be at all possible to finish it in time for the upcoming winter. I want to say no because it's taken me 5 years to get this far, but I also haven't ever worked on it steadily at all. It's always in fits and spurts and I've gotten multiple strips done in a year before. It really depends on what my yarn and knitting production looks like. That and I fully restarted this blanket once before, so there's no reason to believe it *has* to take me another 5 years. I don't know if I'm being overly optimistic or not. Probably, if I'm being honest. But I'm so close to finishing the 10th strip and that feels like a really big milestone. Plus, I've been loving exploring stitches through this blanket. The first 3 were garter and stockinette (one regular, one "reverse" stockinette, even though experiencially, knitting them was the same, it was more a matter of which way I sewed it on). Then a strip of seed stitch, a strip of mistake rib (created a nice waffle texture with most of the yarns I used), a strip of Roman stitch (which I'd never tried before, so that was fun). I got that one from this little pocket stitch dictionary I bought from a Joanns forever ago, and since that was the point at which I was out of all the stuff I had memorized (besides like simple 1/1, 2/2, etc. rib, which I didn't want to use because I didn't want all the draw in or simple rope cables or tear drop lace, which I was avoiding for similar tension reasons) I decided to rely on that book for the rest of the blanket stitches, just going through it one by one. The next one after Roman stitch was one I honestly do not remember the name of. I would look in the book, but we are in the process of rearranging the living room and all my books are in storage totes, and of course I didn't think to write down which books were in which totes, so until I pull them out, it will have to remain a mystery. It was a similarly horizontal kind of stitch, a row of pattern stitch with rest rows in between. I wouldn't use it in a garment, probably, but both are fine for blankets or scarves. Maybe a hat or cowl? Then came Irish moss, which I'd seen before but never actually done. I liked it, it was pretty rhythmic. Unlike the Roman stitch and the other one, I could see using that one in a garment. It has a nice allover texture that's interesting but not distracting. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else.
For the strip I'm working on now, the next stitch recommended was linen stitch, and I got a few inches in, but the gauge was just so different from everything else, and also I hated doing it, so I frogged immediately and moved on to the next stitch, which the book called tweed stitch, but I think I've seen it called half-linen in others. It's basically linen stitch with a rest row, so that makes sense to me. I actually really like the transition zone where I switch colors in it the best. I think two row stripes of two or more colors would be really cute in this stitch, plus it's still stretchy enough to work as a hat or other garments, maybe even socks. That's what been the most fun about this project, to be honest. Trying out the different stitches and thinking about how best to use them. When this blanket is over, I'm casting on another one, immediately, both because I will always have need to use up scraps and of course will always need more blankets, but mostly just because it's been so fun! Wish I could show a photo of the color transition right now; goals for when I get another phone, I guess!
I keep forgetting to put the modge podge on the new whorls and things. That's another thing I'm going to have to remember to do this week, along with my other chores. I'm also hoping to maybe start a windowbox garden this year, maybe grow some nice tomatoes and some herbs. It would also be fun to see if I can sprout some carrots. That's the problem isn't it? There's always so many fun things to do, and not enough fun time to do them in!
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