lisa’s place

So… the general crappiness that has engulfed my body lingers… not venturing far from my bathroom… but…

More progress on the knitting/crochet front (and a much cleaner living space).

The Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl starts to take shape (Wednesday night, maybe)…

A little blocking problem here … or… a little size problem with my blocking boards and teeny “dining” table. Either way, the damn thing just won’t fit.

My plan it to not worry too much about blocking it really well. The yarn is pretty floppy and the shawl is very soft and floaty, so I don’t even think that the block would “take.”

I am happy with the finished product at this point:

A big soft and smooshy doily that you can wear, what could be finer?

Finally cast on for those Monkey Socks with some really nice new yarn. This is a quick moving and pretty intuitive pattern to knit. I think it may take a while to memorize it, but it is pretty clear when you make a mistake (at least so far).

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a cool day lacking excessive bathroom visits Yeah, right.

Or… not…

So, I came home last night with the best of intentions and a great idea for how to spend my Friday nights. It always seems like I should be working that night but when I do, I am never productive (I am just very, very bitter about having to work when everyone else is playing). The general idea is this: I will only work to finish UFOs on Friday evenings. This way, I still get to do something I really want to do (knit or crochet or spin), but I will still make progress on something that I might not have made any on. (Hard to make progress on anything when you are having a pout-in at the office.)

However… I got some super soft and wonderful new yarn yesterday:

And… I just could not stay away from it.

The very, very strange thing about this yarn? I purchased it with a project in mind! I finally got this book. I love this book, but more about that later. For now, the project I had in mind is the Chrysanthemum Tea Shawl. Basically, you just crochet an enormous doily on a large hook and…. ta da… you have a pretty, round shawl.

As it turns out, this was SO much fun to work on that (while my intention was to start and then work on a pair of unfinished socks), I kept working on it until the wee hours of the morning (something like 3:30 am).

I do hope that this yarn will block out some of my messiness. If not, I can’t imagine I’ll care because it is SO soft and smooshy and nice.

All right, off to the concert!

Okay, so I may be giving my crochet ability too much credit. I absolutely fell in love with a sweater I saw this summer and decided I absolutely must make it. Of course, I completely ignored the fact that I am a very new to crochet. Well, after a few frogging sessions (okay, maybe not just a few), I finally have made some progress on the first sleeve and the body of the sweater.

Now that I have done a few repeats of the pattern, it is really quite fun! I love how easy it is to tear back if you make a mistake – a common occurrence still, I’m afraid. Tearing out my knitting literally brings me to tears (and dangerous acts of tossing stuff around the room). Ripping back crochet is still frustrating, but much easier – the lack of hundreds of slippery, live stitches really takes so much of the pain away!

The sweater is “Patti” from Melissa Leapman’s book Cool Crochet. While the rest of the book is not exactly my style, this sweater is absolutely perfect. I like it SO much that I think I could rip the whole thing out and start over if need be to make it fit (a first for me). I have looked everywhere for a picture of the finished sweater and cannot find a single one. The pattern isn’t even in anyone’s project list or queue on Ravelry. As far as I can see, this is a very rare thing. Just about every pattern I’ve searched for seems to be indexed there. Let me just say, you all are seriously missing out

The other great discovery I’ve made on this project is Addi crochet hooks! I can’t believe how very much easier this inexpensive little upgrade makes the entire process. Just like the other Addi products I have tried, these hooks are comfortable in your hand, sturdily built, and the metal is oh-so-smooth. Every other hook I’ve used (not that this is a long list, mind) has been a little snaggy – not so here! The way the hook curves down the neck really grabs hold of the yarn and keeps a firm grasp on it while you are negotiating your way through the stitches (even if you aren’t doing this gracefully). I often have problems keeping the yarn around the hook when I dip into the stitch to begin another stitch – but no longer! I don’t think I’ve had more than two stitches fall off.

After much thought about the utility of a heavy wool pullover in the south (I really never even wear a jacket in the winter here – maybe a sweatshirt), I do think I may make some changes. Yeah, yeah, yeah… here I go… I know. The sweater as it is designed is a mock turtleneck with the aran panel (shown in the pictures) up the front, back, and sleeves. What I’m thinking is to make the sweater into a cardigan with a round (maybe) neck. Possibly, I will just modify the aran pattern to a smaller version to run up the right and left side of the front. I haven’t yet worked out all of the details, but this would be so much more useful. Maybe the weeks of 90+ degree days have finally made me realize that I may NEVER stop sweating. The thought of cloaking my body in wool actually makes me feel like I might vomit. By the time I get finished with this sweater, it should be much cooler out. Let’s just hope it won’t be hot again.