Warms Up the Whole House

What do you get someone you’ve been friends with since the 6th grade for her new home? It has to be something special that allows you to be part of everything even though you’ve moved away and can’t frequent the house yourself. It has to be the kind of thing that is loved and useful, that can be used for year. And it has to be something that wouldn’t make sense coming from anyone else. Something like a blanket made with your own creativity, talent, and time; something only you can make. Hence my new project, a crochet zig-zag throw, which I hope will be much beloved when finished.

I picked a pattern from lion brand, but am ignoring their color scheme and creating my own. Instead of plotting out the colors, I am going to just see what happens as I go. I like that, with crochet, feel confident working blind and making things up as I go. Working without guidelines normally give me anxiety, but with crochet I prefer it The wonderful thing about crochet is you can add, change, subtract, re-do, test, and let it flow without worrying about it ruining the finished project. Unlike knitting, which needs a plan; and is painstakingly hard to correct, to me, crochet is a medium that wants to be discovered. You start with an idea and let it build with your mood, and adjust as that mood shifts to find something at the end which is completely unique (and absolutely cozy).

The plan for this blanket, right now, is to slowly build blue stripes into a green and beige pattern until it completely replaces the beige. Executed with various width stripes, the blanket should have a sense of movement and tension. Here’s what it looks like so far!

Tennis Sweater

It's finished!!!



Finally

Knitting Blind

For years, I have wondered how women can knit without looking at their yarn. I can glance back and forth, but have never been able to knit by feel, until last week. I was catching up on some TV before work while knitting and, several stitches later, I realized I hadn?t looked away from the screen. I don?t know if I have finally moved to a new level of pre-mature grandma, or if I have just been knitting this particular sweater too long. Lately, it seems like blind knitting is the only progress I?ve made with my yarn craft these days. Here?s hoping I finish the sweater before I can literally knit in my sleep.

Coming Unraveled

I am almost done with the first sleeve but I am afraid I might be running out of pink yarn! I am getting super nervous.

Decreases

So I finally came up with a way to remember which way decreases slant. I got really sick of looking them up everytime i had a decrease.Slant Left - sLip sLip knit (Left = L)Slant Right - knit two togetheR (Right = R)Shoudn't have taken me this long ot come up with this.

Sleeves

Lately, I have been feeling really good about my sweater; like I might actually finish it. However, as I started to make the first sleeve I felt discouraged. The act of casting on made me feel like I was starting again. I know that the sleeves will go faster than the front and back, but I am still a bit exhausted with the project.Any suggestions for how to keep plugging through?

So close I can taste it

I am slowly climbing up the top right side of the front of my sweater (above where the v splits). I just have to finish doing the same to left, attache the front and back, knit the collar, and then knit and attach the sleeves!

I may actual finish this sweater before it is cold enough to wear it. Here's hoping for an Indian Summer!