Since I have most of the Christmas stuff put away (not including the Christmas card ribbons, which will come down after New Year's, or the small stuff I keep finding around, like the ceramic carolers on the end table and such), I am throwing myself with abandon into rearranging the 'tableaus' on my piano, buffet, and display shelves. Because, you know, it's not enough work to keep house and children clean...I must have a new seasonal display! Because we have to greet the New Year in style!
Really it's just my way of putting the holidays firmly behind us and moving forward with a clean house and clean slate. Plus things get a little stale when you don't rearrange your pictures and tchotchkes and such. Sort of a "New Look for the New Year" philosophy. So, since I recently discovered during an unpacking frenzy all the artificial flowers and holders that I bought when we lived in Arizona (and I picked up some more containers and a few flowers at Michaels on clearance) I have gotten down to business creating some new spring/summer floral arrangements for the house.
First up, I finally did the ivy topiary, which was quite tedious. Using zillions of flower pins and my wire cutters I carved up two faux ivy bushes and now have quite a nice little topiary with artfully arranged reindeer moss at the bottom. I think it looks quite nice in our hallway. Moving on, I finally pieced together an arrangement for a wire bicycle/basket thing that can only be described as a purchase inspired by one of my "I can do country cute!" moments. Thankfully it only looks just a bit twee, and I'm happy to have it on our piano.
Of course, all of this cutting and arranging and fussing was accomplished at the expense of DH, who had to deal with the kiddos and keep them away from all the sharp pointy things that Mommy was playing with. And I had to glue a leg back on my gnome (yes, yes, I KNOW) and miraculously DD stayed away from it while it dried.
Such moments of happy crafting are rare, however, and I don't want you to think that I have my whole house done up for a new season. Oh no. I've only just removed the last of the Christmas greenery and burned it, and there are half-arranged bits and bobs all over the shelves. I am moving things from room to room and I think it will probably take me the rest of the week to finish it all and have it dusted and looking pretty. And I have 3 more arrangements to do, at a minimum...a wall hanging basket, and 2 containers. Maybe I will work on that today during naptime; then again, maybe I will knit some more rows on DH's unfinished Christmas (to come, now) sweater vest. As with everything else in this house, it, too, is proceeding in fits and starts. But a little progress is sweet.
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
No Secret Knitting
I am attempting to knit my first sweater. I have the circular needles in 2 sizes, I have cast on 254 stitches, and now I am belatedly making a gauge square because the stitches look too small to me. The genesis of this project was my overweening confidence in my knitting after blowing through several easy "fun fur" scarves, and even the completion of a somewhat lopsided modern art keyhole scarf. And, my DH had commented on a little sweater vest that DS wears occasionally, and lamented how he would love to have one that matched. Awwwwwwwwww.
I thought, Well of COURSE I could do that! and marched myself down to my local yarn store to buy an easy pattern and enough yarn to do a set of sweater vests for DH & DS. My LYS people were extremely helpful (of course they tend to be effusive in their assurances if they see another prospective customer being introduced the wide world of specialty yarns) and assured me that, yes, I can do this, and that they would help me out if I got stuck. OK.
I was going to be very industrious and work on this sweater only when DH was at work. By keeping it from him, I was going to have a beautiful sweater vest, lovingly hand-knit, and wrapped up in beautiful paper under the Christmas tree. That was the plan.
After a week of trying to skulk around, dealing with my GI issues and doctor's visits, and having precious knitting time constantly interrupted by DD ("What are you doing Mommy? Can you help me with my shoes/my game/onto the potty?") and DS (who I believe is a budding yarn monster), I gave up. (Note that DS is 9 months old, and if there is a ball of yarn in view he pursues it with the determination of a dog after a treat. He LOVES playing with yarn.)
Anyway, I finally gave up all pretense last night, shoved the pattern into the hand-knit stocking which my great-aunt knitted for DS for Christmas, and said, "Merry Christmas" to DH and handed it to him while he was cooking dinner. Somewhat befuddled, DH pulled out the knitting pattern and I explained that, if I was to have any HOPE of completing this sweater for him sometime before 2015, I would have to knit whenever I had the chance and thus he would know what I was making. Merry Christmas. DH laughed and said thank you very much, and he is looking forward to wearing it. He sagely advised me not to attempt to alter the pattern to put some ribbing at the neck, but to keep it as simple as possible.
So now I am done skulking around with circular needles and a ball of blue wool stuffed into my purse or laundry basket. I can knit out in the open, and I can run off to the LYS to ask for help, as I inevitably will. Just as soon as I finish this gauge square, which I believe is going to show me I need to use #8s instead of the #6s. Which means casting on 254 stitches again. Oh goody. Who started me on this knitting business again?
I thought, Well of COURSE I could do that! and marched myself down to my local yarn store to buy an easy pattern and enough yarn to do a set of sweater vests for DH & DS. My LYS people were extremely helpful (of course they tend to be effusive in their assurances if they see another prospective customer being introduced the wide world of specialty yarns) and assured me that, yes, I can do this, and that they would help me out if I got stuck. OK.
I was going to be very industrious and work on this sweater only when DH was at work. By keeping it from him, I was going to have a beautiful sweater vest, lovingly hand-knit, and wrapped up in beautiful paper under the Christmas tree. That was the plan.
After a week of trying to skulk around, dealing with my GI issues and doctor's visits, and having precious knitting time constantly interrupted by DD ("What are you doing Mommy? Can you help me with my shoes/my game/onto the potty?") and DS (who I believe is a budding yarn monster), I gave up. (Note that DS is 9 months old, and if there is a ball of yarn in view he pursues it with the determination of a dog after a treat. He LOVES playing with yarn.)
Anyway, I finally gave up all pretense last night, shoved the pattern into the hand-knit stocking which my great-aunt knitted for DS for Christmas, and said, "Merry Christmas" to DH and handed it to him while he was cooking dinner. Somewhat befuddled, DH pulled out the knitting pattern and I explained that, if I was to have any HOPE of completing this sweater for him sometime before 2015, I would have to knit whenever I had the chance and thus he would know what I was making. Merry Christmas. DH laughed and said thank you very much, and he is looking forward to wearing it. He sagely advised me not to attempt to alter the pattern to put some ribbing at the neck, but to keep it as simple as possible.
So now I am done skulking around with circular needles and a ball of blue wool stuffed into my purse or laundry basket. I can knit out in the open, and I can run off to the LYS to ask for help, as I inevitably will. Just as soon as I finish this gauge square, which I believe is going to show me I need to use #8s instead of the #6s. Which means casting on 254 stitches again. Oh goody. Who started me on this knitting business again?
Friday, August 3, 2007
Welcome Back, Harry Potter...
Oh wait, that's not me. But it feels like me. I feel like I have stepped back in time, back to the darkened yesteryear where I wandered the dark and musty halls of countless military base houses and learned to cross-stitch and knit and do other historically Southern female type projects thrust upon me and my sister by our mother.
Yes, I have started knitting again. I just want some cheapy Christmas gifts, I didn't ask for the trip down memory lane! But no, here I sit, remembering the times my sister & I dutifully knitted with 50% acrylic, making atrocious color combination choices for our scarves and afghans, as that is all my mother knew how to make, I think. And doing all the packaged cross-stitch kits with unicorns and even (*shudder*) Care BearsTM. Ah, the things deemed necessary to teach one's young... And now, I blame YOU, peeps! Yes, YOU. The ones who skulk and read this blog and talk about all YOUR knitting projects. Be-yarn you!
So I start this great project this afternoon--a simple project, just a scarf made of fun-fur. Can't be too difficult...I remember how to do a basic knit and purl, the only problem is I can never remember how to cast on or off. In fact I always had to have my mother do it for me, and when I cast aside my knitting needles at the tender age of 13 or so I lost any interest in acquiring that particular skill.
And here I sat, people, for an HOUR poring over diagrams online of how to cast on, and managed to somehow crochet (I think it was crocheting) a dangly bit of yarn and mutter curse words under my breath until I FINALLY got it through my skull that after the first "stitch" it was just KNITTING, and I was just TRANFERRING the stitch to the other needle. DUH! Yes, I have a Ph.D...but not in knitting. I am slow with crafts, bear with me. And may I just say that this "fun fur" yarn is "fun" for those that wear it, not those that knit with it? There are 2 different threads per stitch, and woe betide you if you get one of those clumpy bits in there, because that just confuses me.
It is rather comforting, and I'm telling myself I am cool because these knitting needles have cool clumpy bits on the ends instead of plain silver buttons that always got the ends entangled in what I was knitting, and hey this fun fur yarn is really neat and soooo much better than mismatched acrylic yarns. And homemade gifts are the best, right? Right?? I am sure I will get the hang of it. Give me another few hours and maybe I'll have this Beginner One Hour scarf done. Just ignore the weird clumpy bit of yarn at the end.
Yes, I have started knitting again. I just want some cheapy Christmas gifts, I didn't ask for the trip down memory lane! But no, here I sit, remembering the times my sister & I dutifully knitted with 50% acrylic, making atrocious color combination choices for our scarves and afghans, as that is all my mother knew how to make, I think. And doing all the packaged cross-stitch kits with unicorns and even (*shudder*) Care BearsTM. Ah, the things deemed necessary to teach one's young... And now, I blame YOU, peeps! Yes, YOU. The ones who skulk and read this blog and talk about all YOUR knitting projects. Be-yarn you!
So I start this great project this afternoon--a simple project, just a scarf made of fun-fur. Can't be too difficult...I remember how to do a basic knit and purl, the only problem is I can never remember how to cast on or off. In fact I always had to have my mother do it for me, and when I cast aside my knitting needles at the tender age of 13 or so I lost any interest in acquiring that particular skill.
And here I sat, people, for an HOUR poring over diagrams online of how to cast on, and managed to somehow crochet (I think it was crocheting) a dangly bit of yarn and mutter curse words under my breath until I FINALLY got it through my skull that after the first "stitch" it was just KNITTING, and I was just TRANFERRING the stitch to the other needle. DUH! Yes, I have a Ph.D...but not in knitting. I am slow with crafts, bear with me. And may I just say that this "fun fur" yarn is "fun" for those that wear it, not those that knit with it? There are 2 different threads per stitch, and woe betide you if you get one of those clumpy bits in there, because that just confuses me.
It is rather comforting, and I'm telling myself I am cool because these knitting needles have cool clumpy bits on the ends instead of plain silver buttons that always got the ends entangled in what I was knitting, and hey this fun fur yarn is really neat and soooo much better than mismatched acrylic yarns. And homemade gifts are the best, right? Right?? I am sure I will get the hang of it. Give me another few hours and maybe I'll have this Beginner One Hour scarf done. Just ignore the weird clumpy bit of yarn at the end.
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