Finished off projects.........yippeeeeeee!

Finally finished off something or two.......my Nicky Epstein flower scarf is sewn, finished and blocked. This took two days to sew the flowers together. I had to make the border longer and make 7 more flowers to get it to the length I wanted it to be. What a nightmare!

But, am happy with the finished scarf, I love the colors, the feel, the look....it is a bit bulky due to the flowers.

I think I will make another in ivory and make it not as wide.

Here is a close up shot of the flowers. I used angora, mohair, alpaca and handspun wool.



....and the second finished item. A spring sweater with Blue Heron beaded cotton in seaweed colorway. I ran short of yarn and improvised with some berrocco suede in blue. It turned out nicely, since the pattern called for
a contrast trim.


The pattern is the cover photo on the Spring/Summer 2005 Family Circle Easy Knitting Magazine. It was really easy to knit. Finished it in two weeks.





And here is my new KIP project, the Frenchy Camisole by Katie Himmelberg, from the Interweave Knits magazine Spring 2007.

I am using some variegated silk yarn I found in my stash. Not sure whose it is or where I bought it, but I suspect it was an early ebay purchase.

It is on 7 circulars. It is an easy knit and suitable for a take along project.




I am also working on the Dean Crane, candle flame shawl, with some Blue Heron variegated silk yarn which, is coming alone nicely. Will put up a photo with the next post of my progress. This is the KAL for the Bucks County Stitch and Bitch group on Ravelry.


Well that is all for today, I have to get moving, showered, to the bank and up to sign the lease for my new shop in Doylestown. More on that later. This is big and overwhelming, lots to do.


Wishing you all a wonderfully creative weekend........

Smiles to you,
DC

I should be in bed sleeping, BUTTTTTTTTTT......

I have been sleepless ever since I realized how many unfinished projects, I have sitting around. I am annoyed at myself.

The good news....and yes, there is always some....is while, attempting to finish the nicky epstein scarf, I decided I did not like one of the yarns I had first selected, so I went in search of other yarn from the stash and did not find a shade of grey that I liked. What I did find though, was some grey roving that I had carded some years back and never spun...........

soooooooooooooo...........

guess what I did.......I spun and spun and spun.......and spun some more. I finished 374 yards of spun grey singles from a beautiful coopworth sheep and I found some sorted fleece that was an even better grey and finished carding that up this evening and am in the process of spinning that into singles. I already made 4 more flowers with the sample of the latest singles and am pleased.

I have not spun yarn for quite awhile........and IT FELT GREAT!!! It was incredibly relaxing. If you are a true fiberholic, and you have never spun a fleece....DO IT....learn...it is worth your while.

I also will make up some novelty yarn from the nubs and short hairs that I pulled out of the fleece and already carded it up with some scrap yarn that I chopped up. Will take photos tomorrow.

I also finished another project last night, that has been in the works for a year....old bottles that needed cleaning. I had them soaking so long.....I had forgotten about them. I found them and decided to finish them up. I am happy to report that they are done, except for 8 which, still need more soaking to get really clean. What a relief!!!!

I have decided to be a better working artist, I need to have more self discipline. I am lacking...and suffering from a bit of creative ADD..........my mind works faster than my hands....it is an ever present problem....so I have worked out a deal with myself....to work on UFO's for at least two hours per day, to catch up. I hope I can keep to this schedule. So far I am doing good. I even got some dreaded house work finished this week.

Now, I have to get more disciplined with writing up my patterns. I hate doing that.

I also have been taking some free online courses that american express is sponsoring at
Ilearn. The first course I took was on being a more effective communicator. It was pretty good.

Now I have signed up for a course on web design, since I would like to set up my own website and know nothing about it. This blog has been a big challenge.

Lastly, some inspiration. A friend sent me a photo of his night blooming sirius plant. This is really beautiful. I want one of my own.

wishing you all a wonderfully creative day,
smiles to you,
DC

I got motivated to clean..............

my UFO closet..........and then I GOT DEPRESSED. First the good news...I recovered the following items :


* 2 knitting susan bates "knit cheks" - for measuring stitch and needle gauge. good news- I've been looking for them all year. bad news - no excuse for not doing a gauge swatch.


* tape measure - good news- I needed one. bad news - no excuse not to take my body measurements.


* 6" ruler received from http://www.gotyarn.com/ . good news- it is nice to have. bad news -I am thinking about all the great yarns they sell on that site...and I am on a YARN DIET this year and doing well thank you..........at least I was....LOL!!!


* set of blue aluminum straight knitting needles......good news- I was looking for them. bad news- they are free to start a new project when I should be finishing up my UFO's


* 3 sets of double pointed needles in sizes 3, 4 and 5. good news- I do not have alzheimer's...I knew they were in this house somewhere. bad news- I found 1 dp plastic size 3 and 2 size 2 dps that are missing their mates.


*1 small scissors which is already being put to good use, no downside.

Here is the guilty list of UFO's uncovered:


1 shawl or poncho in fun fur and ribbon. Not sure this deserves to be finished. Possible FROG. (2005)


1 baby sweater, designed by me out of my handspun yarn and a partially finished baby hat. I was able to locate more of the yarn that was needed to finish this, so I will do it, soon. (2005)


1 partially made white summer cotton sweater, second sweater to proof the pattern I wrote. Must have gotten side tracked, because it is nice. I like the finished sweater and wore it several times this year and got compliments. (2005)


1 partially finished sock, in noro silk garden. First sock. I guess I got tired of making socks...right before everyone else seems to have decided to knit them like crazy. (2002)


1 lilac cardigan out of patons grace from the spring vogue of 2004. back done and one side.


1 berger du nord mohair sweater. this is the worst calamity of them all. I think this originates back to the early 90's. I knit the back, the sleeves and almost finished the front when I discovered that I had missed the first and last row of the graph on the back and sleeves and not the front. I quit, because I could not decide what pieces to FROG!!! UGGGGGGGGHHH!!! This sweater is knit on number three needles. I am going to put this one at the top of the heap.

This is the case of a sweater turning UFO, because of perfectionism, when the truth is it looks perfectly fine with those two rows missing and easy to rip out the front and finish it off.


That is 6 items found in one closet....ONE CLOSET!!! I was disgusted.



In my bedroom basket there are 10 projects waiting for completion:


- free-form jacket. almost complete and then assembly. (2002)


- nicky epstein 3 bobble sweater. all bobbles done, with the front started. (2007)


- the green softball sweater that I designed with blue heron yarn. One sleeve to complete. bottom peplim to finish designing. write up instructions and block. (2007)


- red scarf, free form from several different red yarns. (2007)


- nicky epstein anniversary flower scarf. 23 flowers finished. binder complete. finishing up remaining flowers hopefully today and to be sewn and blocked. (2007)


- v- neck tank from knitters spring 2005. front is half finished. back complete. (2007)


- white crocheted cardigan. shell pattern. fronts and back done. sleeves to be finished.(2007)


- blue crochet bikini - cups finished. bottom is 3/4 finished. started in 2006.


- blue shawl with various blue novelty yarns. (2006)


- red, fushia and orange side to side cardigan, my own design. front and back finished. one more front to do and sleeves. I have no idea why I stopped this project. ( 2001)


This brings the grand total bedroom UFO's to 16 projects. I freaked. Then I got depressed. NOW, I am knitting like a fiend. I plan to finish the bedroom floor items first. NO NEW PROJECTS FOR ME, until these items are finished or frogged and patterns written up.


I know that I have a few more UFO's lying around this house in other closets. I am not looking until I finish what I have. This is an exercise, that I have been putting off and made me realize,that I have not completed many projects this year, because I start and do not finish. I am wondering now, if this is an analogy to other areas of my life. I will be thinking this through as I SIT DOWN AND KNIT....because, I am going to make every reasonable effort to finish up what I have started.


I realized that this year, I finished 4 scarves, 3 soap socks and only one sweater and one tank but, I started 13 projects in total. I think my new policy will be that I will only ever have three projects going at once, in the future. The more unfinished projects you have going, the less likely you are to finish any of them.


Maybe I should stick to buying just one ball of yarn and knit swatches. At least I would finish them. Are dishcloths in my future? soapsocks? scarves? hats? Is this the reason for the popularity of these items?


A KNITTING TIP FOR YOU:


Use an over the door shoe bag for organizing all your knitting needles and gadgets in one handy place. I bought mine at a dollar store. Nothing fancy. It has 20 pockets. I labeled one pocket for each of my needle sizes 0-19. The remaining pockets store my gadgets. I can always find my needles and gadgets fast, this way.


My inspiration for today is this stella mc cartney coat dress designed for neiman marcus's 100th anniversary and listed as a must have! It looks like an easy to knit item as it is entirely garter stitch on very bulky needles.

The dress description is : "Gray mélange.• Stand collar.• Elbow sleeves. • Button front.• Gathered skirt.• 80% fleece wool, 20% cashmere.• Dry clean only.• Made in Italy." and it retails for $1295.oo.

If you click on the dress description link above you can see other views of this coat dress. I love it...and would love to knit one up for myself.... but...I am focused and trying to remain focused on completing my UFO's before beginning another new project....still a girl can dream...can't she????

wishing you all a pleasant knit filled evening,

smiles to you,

DC