Craft projects update

I'm fighting the urge to preface this post with an apology.  While I understand that knitting and sewing are pretty boring for a lot of people, they're some of my favourite things to do and I don't really want to apologise for that.  But I do want to acknowledge that this stuff is not everyone's cup of tea.  So.... consider yourselves warned.

My craft basket is currently at capacity.  I can't squeeze another WIP (work-in-progress, for those unfamiliar with the lingo) in there.

I seem to be in the midst of a creating frenzy with no signs of it abating.  I keep seeing cute things for the kids, and for B, and for myself - even after I swore off adult-sized projects after the Great Raglan Epic of 2017.

Firstly let's start on a high and talk about something I've actually finished - the very creatively named T165 Cardigan.  

To be honest, this was probably way above my skill level.  I had to rip out and start over so many times.  It took me ages to figure out how the holey pattern worked.  And because it was all worked flat and then sewn together, there were approximately eleventy billion ends to weave in.  I still haven't blocked it.  

Oh and J, its intended recipient, won't even try it on.

Luckily there's always A, who will try it on, but as you can see will then immediately start to tear it off.  

In spite of all that, I love it.  I love the yarn, which is a 4 ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mills.  I loved the knitting up and the figuring it all out.  I didn't love ripping out my mistakes, that's true.  I didn't enjoy weaving in all the ends.  But I adore the end product and how much I learned, and I will keep it forever even if neither of my kids will wear it.

Ravelry details here.

So that's something I've finished.  Let's move onto the unfinished projects taking up space in my basket...

Don't get excited, I didn't knit this amazing blanket.  It's the work of B's Auntie J, who J is named after.  That made a lot of sense, didn't it.

Anyway, she knitted the most beautiful blankets for both girls, and this is A's.  I rashly promised to crochet a border and it has sat waiting for me to get around to it ever since.  This is one I really need to work on when we sit down in the front of the tv at night.  It's mindless easy work, boring as hell, and makes me feel guilty every time I reach past it for something more fun to work on.

In the vein of easy projects, I have it in mind to make some pillowcases using these quilting cottons.  We have king size pillows to go with our king size bed (or, in NZ I think it's a super king because why would all countries have the same bed sizes?) which is great except it's almost impossible to get king size pillowcases.  So I thought, how hard can it be?  And bought some fabric to make some.  ...And there the fabric has sat ever since.

This is a cardigan for J, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.  I definitely had some false starts with the lacework around the yoke, and there are a couple of mistakes irrevocably knitted into it, but it's been such a fun knit.  J has picked out the sweetest little red love heart buttons for it too.  Can't wait to get it done for this winter.  And she has already tried it on more than once!

This here is a vest for me and it's going to be a looong project.  Being adult sized there's a whole lot more knitting required, and - what's worse - it's all moss stitch.  Moss stitch is where you knit 1, purl 1, over and over which means that you move your yarn from front to back and vice versa between every.single.stitch.  Means nothing to a non-knitter I know but trust me when I say it's tedious.

The pattern called for 4ply yarn but I couldn't face an entire garment of that so I've gone with an 8ply which will hopefully not be too voluminous but at least works up a bit more quickly.

I keep forcing myself to do several rows every few days.  It'll be totally worth it (I hope).  I figure if I write about it here I have to get it finished so I can tell you about it when it's done.

I'm dying to cast on another project for myself in an amazing soft tweedy yarn I got extremely cheaply at Spotlight the other day.  And I want to make some skirts for the girls and for me to get rid of my stash of fabric that is wasting space in the garage.

I also think I'm sufficiently fond of knitting now that I want to start buying some decent needles.  I have a few cheap aluminium ones from Spotlight.  They're fine but I recently discovered that I'm wearing the tips clean away.  I know!  Hardcore!  So I think I'm ready to take the plunge for a full set of good quality wooden ones.  Partly because the soft tweedy yarn project mentioned above requires a size needle I don't have in my collection.

But!  I've given myself a stern talking-to and there will be no new projects or new needles until at least one of these ones here is done.

Probably.