Carrying on Knitting – In The HEAT July 4, 2015

 

 

 

 More scarves – I don’t know how many there are now.  And the stash seems endless.

 

Happy Fourth of July

 

Independence = Revolutionary War     (picture and note are courtesy of Linda, a blogging friend, who is very interested in genealogy and is listing her ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War.  This seems like a good project for me too.  I have already found some who were at the initial Battle of Lexington and Concord.  More of that in future blog posts.

Life is busy – I have lots of ideas for blog posts but am not finding (or making) time to write them up.

Believe It Or Not March 9, 2010

Believe it or not – I think the repairs have been completed – at 12:47 p.m Pacific Standard Time March 8.  I have been unpacking since I arrived here 2 months ago but as you know, my unpacking has been very restricted.  Now I can really spread out and all those things I carried upstairs are now being shifted downstairs and vice versa – well, that is a bit of an exaggeration but I think you get the picture.  I’ve made sketches of each of the rooms and allocated areas for book cases or whatever.  All my yarn supplies are lining the upstairs hallway.  Textile and art books go to one of the bedrooms.  Archival photos to another.  Ian’s books get prime of place in the living room etc.  All you readers are saying “eek” but it really is quite enjoyable to feel that some degree of order is beginning to emerge.  Pity that my shoulders are aching so much but maybe that’s from the knitting and  crocheting I do during my breaks.  Hunching over the computer doesn’t help either.  Not to mention carrying a backpack with my knitting and a hardback Henning Mankell book and various notebooks, etc.  Why do I feel compelled to carry so much stuff??

  the bin men came today and yet again they took all the cardboard boxes – I was so pleased.  There are only a few left for next week.

  Blanket no. 9, work in progress

  crochet blanket, a stash project – it doesn’t look great at the moment but I think it will be fine

  the new dishwasher was installed today – the black is quite a contrast.  I’m not sure I like it but I’m sure I will get used to it.  And so long as there are NO LEAKS, it will be fine.

  the kitchen table and chairs are in place.  That kitchen table is a gift and there are 2 leaves so we can expand it for family gatherings etc.

  and this was absolutely riveting.  I kept retreating to quiet corners to read it over the weekend.

Artwork for today November 27, 2009

  from sketch to wash

You might think the above is not a very exciting picture but for me it is.  I had a great time at my art group today.  Usually I just do sketching, but today when I opened up my somewhat abandoned sketch pad, I discovered where I left off last time – namely a sketch of my stash of knitting yarn.  This is the photo I sketched from——-           I really enjoyed doing the sketch and carefully labelling each ball of yarn.  I’m not quite sure when I took the photo or when I did the sketch – not all that long ago but certainly pre-move because the table is now on its way to Seattle.  The project on the needles on the left is now a skirt waiting to be pressed.  The project on the right is almost up to the armholes.

Last night I went to a very interesting art exhibition, and I was particularly struck by the pen and wash work of one of the artists.  So when I opened up the sketchbook this morning, I thought aha – that’s what I’m going to do today with the sketch.  You might think I didn’t make much progress this morning but it was a big step for me to mix the colours and apply the brush.  I’m eager to continue.

Knitting a Blanket November 12, 2009

I am currently knitting a blanket.  I am using the various sock yarns from my stash.  1 strand of self striping  and 1 strand of a plain colour.

 

 

  the blanket at 15 inches

 

Here is a photo of my stash as of a couple of weeks ago.

  approx. 50 balls of wool in my stash

  an earlier photo

  earlier still, approx. 56 balls of wool – and note the knitting on the left.  That has been completed – just needs pressing and a fastening.  The knitting on the right is still in progress.

 

Getting Ready for the Knitting and Stitching Show October 27, 2009

This is a busy week as we get ready for the Knitting & Stitching Show.  Setting up day is Wednesday October 28 and then the show is open to the public from Thursday the 29th to Sunday November 1st.  I’ll be on duty at one of the stands – up on the balcony at the stand of the Irish Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers.   This year the emphasis at our stand will be on spinning.  At the show there is a chance to do a lot of shopping.  Last night I decided to assess my current stash of knitting yarn.  Here is the result.

  Current stock of knitting yarn, October 2009

The above picture should remind me not to buy any more yarn.  Watch this space.

Where Has All The Knitting Gone? October 24, 2009

Regular readers of this blog might be wondering if I am still knitting, what with all my rambling on other topics.  Don’t despair – I’m still knitting – knitting on trains, planes, cars – knitting while watching tv, knitting in between uploading photos (thanks to a slow computer), knitting while reading, etc.  I’ve had a change from doing hats and have been working on a couple of larger than usual projects. 

The brown short sleeve sweater I was working on a while ago has morphed into a tank top and as soon as I’ve sewn the ends, it will make its appearance.

When I was in Connecticut I bought a pattern for a child’s skirt.  I knit round and round and round on that, and now it is waiting for the final sewing of the loose ends.  Soon to appear.  The skirt will match this hat, knit with Noro yarn and Icelandic Lodband.

 

 

And just to have some plain knitting on the go, I am working on another tank top – this one in a nice solid green.  Maybe one-third done.

Usually I find time to knit on Saturday morning at Kilternan Market, but this morning I was so busy that I didn’t have a chance.  Sales in the craft section were brisk.  Hooray.  Of course, being adjacent to the vegetables, we get a chance to sell a few of those too.  I am happy to report that a pair of my handknit socks and one of my notecards were among the sales.  As my woodturner friend at the Market said, it’s these little sales that keep us going.

 

    Socks knit from stash yarn

 

  My stash of knitting yarn, March 2008

 

 

The stash is considerably reduced from when this photo was taken – I’ll change that to considerably altered – I’ve probably added as much yarn as I’ve used up.  But when I sell something at the Market, e.g. socks, then I immediately want to knit more of that particular item, in different colours of course.  You can probably read between the lines and conclude that all those hats I knit recently have yet to find heads to rest on.

Progress on the blanket March 26, 2009

 Another strip completed – that makes 5, only 3 to go – then I decide how to join them and make a border.

A recent activity has given me more definite knitting time – each day, if we are here, we watch an episode of A Touch of Frost from 4 to 5 p.m.  Sir David Jason is such a good actor that I don’t mind seeing an episode again even if I’ve seen it before.  I read on the ITV website that Frost is going to retire this year but not to worry, Sir David is going to make another programme in which he will follow the fortunes of 3 World War II veterans.

 

  another jigsaw completed – no knitting when I pursue this activity.

In London last week when we emerged from an excellent dinner at Strada Restaurant near the London Eye, we discovered that there was a Foyle’s  book store right next door.  Bonanza!  I needed a book for the journey back to Dublin.         Here’s what I found – Dirt Music by Tim Winton, an author I had not read before.                                                                                                                                        

 

I liked the book very much.

Current long term knitting project February 25, 2009

  this is strip one for a knitted blanket.  This is a stash reduction project to say the least.  Each strip will be 60 inches long and 35 stitches wide.  I’m knitting on size 3 3/4 mm needles.  I’m not sure how many strips I’ll have to do but this is going to take a long time.  I’m aiming for a double sized blanket.

Knitting Stash Assessment March 21, 2008

Like most enthusiastic knitters, I have too much stash – yarn left-over from completed projects, yarn left-over from projects that were never started, yarn which I have acquired just because I liked it but didn’t necessarily have any particular project in mind, and finally yarn which has been given to me. 

  So I set out most of my stash and then I practised my sketching skills

  In this sketch you can’t see the numbers I have put on each ball or hank of yarn but on my working copy I have numbered each bit and I have a separate list giving the key to the numbering. 

This is proving to be an entertaining exercise.  I have the photo, the numbered sketch, the guidelist of the yarns, a few ideas, and the needles.  Progress should be made.

I no longer feel so overwhelmed by this stash.  I am whittling it down, slowly but surely.  And assessing it systematically in this way is giving me more and more incentive to use it up.  I’m really looking forward to having an “after” photograph.  In the course of all this, I feel compelled to keep knitting bits and pieces for another blanket.  And I have also been thinking of specific projects for some of the larger quantities of specific yarns in the stash.  I still have quite a bit of the self-striping sock yarn – surely enough to make 2 more pairs of socks.  And I have started a Print o’ the Wave lace scarf with some lovely handspun yarn sent to me by Bettina. 

 here are a few shapes knitted from the stash for the next blanket (hodge podge) number 6

The stash weighs approximately 5 lbs. – let’s see what it weighs in a month’s time – an arbitrary time length but why not.

My Knitting Stash in Disarray November 21, 2007

 This is most of my knitting stash, with my cat in the foreground.  I have had a good time today sorting my stash and trying to put some order to it and adding pictures to Ravelry.  My Ravelry name is Kenilworth if you want to have a closer look at some of the yarn.

Now I want to sit down and finish the sleeves of the Blue Gansey so that I can get going on the yoke – the end will be in sight when I start those shoulder decreases on the yoke.