My peripheral neuropathy (numbness/tingling/reduced motor control) in my fingers (from the chemotherapy) was so bad for a while that I wasn’t able to knit. Thus, the red sweater for Brian is still in the “first sleeve ON” stage.

I finished the quilting on the Irish Chain quilt, and got the binding all pinned on, to discover that there was a 1″ gap between the two ends, instead of overlapping enough to finish off the binding. I cut an extra piece of fabric to add on to the length, but haven’t dealt with it yet because right then . . .

I started the Quiltmaking II class, and then went on vacation, then started back at work. I’ve completed 3 out of 12 blocks, but got behind, and missed a couple classes because of being exhausted from being back at work. I have been doing a lot of reading because of not having the energy to quilt or knit.

So that’s where I’m at with crafting right now – pretty much nowhere.

But I have been getting some stuff done.

I frogged the cabled pillowcase because of the pattern errata that called out the wrong size yarn so that I had just enough to do half the project. I also steamed and re-skeined the yarn so now it’s all pretty and waiting in my stash for a new project to crop up for which it is the perfect yarn.

I started and finished the Vortex hat from Knitty.com’s Winter line-up:

Vortex hat

Instead of weaving in all the ends from the shortrow work at the point of the hat, I braided them on the outside, so in addition to having the pointy part, it also has a funky tail. I used Paton’s Lacette and Allure to make the different color stripes – had to double the lacette to get the right gauge.

Then I started working on this WIP:

Brian's red sweater

This is a very basic sweater – I’m making it to the measurements of a sweater that Brian really likes, out of Lion Brand Homespun in Candy Apple Red. It’s just K1/P1 ribbing and stockinette with drop shoulder sleeves. When I pulled it out, I had the back done, and about 1/3 of the front. After shaping the neck, I realized that I’d completely bound off the back, when I was supposed to have left the shoulder-seam stitches on holders so that I can do a three-needle bind-off. Perhaps that’s why I set it aside, although it shouldn’t be too big a deal to undo the bind-off and the last row. I am about halfway done with the first sleeve, but because of the peripheral neuropathy, I’m finding it hard to knit for any length of time without getting frustrated at the lack of mobility in my hands. Even though I’m using size 11 needles, that doesn’t seem to help.

And finally, I was looking in a basket down by my recliner for a pair of scissors, and discovered this all folded up at the bottom:

Trellis shawl

Trellis shawl - detail

This is made with Lion Brand Trellis yarn, in the Pastel Garden variegated colorway. I had long ago finished knitting the shawl and cutting the fringe for it, but adding fringe is just about as bad as doing I-cord, so it sat in its mostly complete state for who knows how long! I spent about 2-1/2 or 3 hours adding fringe, and voila – it is done. Yet one more UFO off the list ;-}

The Irish Chain quilt has been sitting for quite a while because my sewing set-up isn’t really suitable for quilting, although it works fine for piecing. I have to sit higher to quilt than to piece, so we have to rig up a special platform for my foot pedal to be raised; we have to bring my office chair downstairs; and there’s a support board under the dining room table that prevents me from sitting close enough to the machine, so my neck, arms, and shoulders get very painful after just a little bit of quilting. Nevertheless, I’m slightly over halfway done with it, and am persevering with it, since that’s one of the things I can do that the peripheral neuropathy doesn’t affect so much. Of course, I’m starting my next quilting class (the one planned exception to my stash diet year) in a week, which means I really want to get this one done so I can show it off. I’m a little disappointed in how the quilting looks – I’m doing a curvy stitch (one of the built-in machine stitches, not free-motion), and it varies in length, probably because I’m not preventing the weight of the quilt from dragging on the needle. I am getting better at it though. Good thing it’s for us!

After I finish the Brian sweater and get *that* UFO off the list, I’m planning on starting a new knitting project instead of picking up another WIP – I’m actually running low on knitting WIPs, and I hope to keep it that way. Right now I’m trying to decide which yarn I should use, and from there, I’ll figure out what pattern. Hopefully, the further away I get from my last chemo, the better the PN symptoms will get, and I’ll be able to focus more on the knitting.

Oh yeah – I finished the top-down sweater way long ago (sometime in March), but we got an e-mail from the niece whose son I made it for, and she’s going to be here this weekend, so instead of mailing it, I get to give it to her in person – yay!

I started working on the cabled pillow cover again, after it had been set aside for so long:

Cabled Pillow cover - Jo Sharp pattern

As I neared the end of the first of four skeins of yarn, I realized that I was barely 1/3 done with the *front* of the cover, but I should have been at least 2/3 done.

I grabbed my tape measure and checked and rechecked my guage – everything was coming out exact, so what is the problem? Well, the larger size called for 7 balls, and the smaller size only called for 4, but it wasn’t *that* much smaller – maybe Jo Sharp made a mistake on the quantity of skeins?

Worse than that. I did an online search, found the Jo Sharp home page, and after having to search for errata, discovered that Jo Sharp printed the wrong yarn type – instead of Silkroad Aran Tweed, it should have been Silkroad DK Tweed, which has almost 50 yards more per skein, as well as being sportweight versus heavy worsted. Grrr!

I should have realized something was up when I was getting the perfect guage with the needles the instructions called for – I usually have to go up at least one size, sometimes 2.

Since this is a stash diet year, rather than biting the bullet and purchasing more of the yarn (I figure I could use a not-quite-exact dye lot for the back, if I were going that route), I am frogging it and will come up with something else to do with the 400 yds or so of Silkroad Aran Tweed yarn that is now back in my stash instead of being a UFO.

This wasn’t the way I intended to work my way through the UFOs, though.

As a warning for anyone interested in Jo Sharp pattern books, let the buyer beware. Of the couple dozen books listed on her website, *all* of them have errata, and it looks as if most of them have several patterns that have corrections listed – and if you read the fine print, you’ll see that these are just the ones that they’ve admitted have problems – you can’t contact JoSharp.com directly with a possible correction – you have to go through your LYS, who then contacts JS.com, who reviews it, and *if* they decide there is a problem, they will get back to your LYS, who then has to get back to you. And presumably then they’ll publish it on their website. My Jo Sharp Contemporary Knitting 2 book has essentially 1/3 of all the patterns requiring corrections.

I’d say they need to do a better job checking their patterns.

But in the meantime, before I pick up another WIP, I’ve started (just in my head, so far) designing a cabled scarf  that will use up the yarn – since we’re getting out of heavy scarf weather, I probably won’t work on it too much right now, although if I can get a basic pattern planned, I can pick it up later this summer for a Christmas gift for Brian, maybe.

Guess that’s one way to get a UFO off the books . . .

I gave him a list of items that I “need”, and he managed to pick the one that I was most interested in:

KnitPick's Harmony Options Interchangeable circular needle set

Wow! so very cool, and I really needed the extra sets of cables in the longer lengths – the set comes with 24″ and 32″ cables, and he got me the next 3 sizes also (47″, ??, 60″). One of the projects I plan to start once I finish a couple more UFOs is a lace shawl that requires at least a 47″ cable.

But even better is what he got for me under his own impetus:

Focal beads from Vacaville

When he was down visiting his mom the week before last, he saw a bead shop and spontaneously went in and found these beautiful glass beads.

How’s that for a wonderful husband? I’m very lucky.

I got him tickets for a Dave Mason concert next week – of course, I benefit from that also, but then Brian gets knitted things from me, so I guess we kind of balance out.

1. Thread crochet Pineapple Tablecloth

The story behind this is that about 11 years ago, one of my nieces became engaged, and had set a nice long engagement. So I thought what nicer gift could someone want for their wedding than a crocheted tablecloth? I chose a pattern, bought beaucoup thread, and started hooking. I got 7 squares of 108 done when the niece disengaged, and the project languished. In retrospect, I should have kept crocheting, and I might actually have been close to finished when she finally got married (to someone else) two years ago.

At any rate, I picked up the project, grabbed the hook size that was on the pattern, and made another square with a nearly empty ball of thread to see how my gauge was. Good thing:

Latest on the right

Obviously I had not made notes about what size hook I’d actually been using – it called for a 7, and while I know that I was crocheting tightly and need to loosen up some, not by *that* much. So I’m going to try another square with a size 5 hook; if that doesn’t get it, it’ll be a 4.

Even at the rate I’m (not) working on it, it might still get done by the time my youngest niece, who is around 7 years old, gets married. Or if not, it will make a nice, rarely used heirloom gift for someone when I die (I’m pretty sure it will be done by then, since I have no plans to die for 30 – 40 years, at least. On the other hand, I don’t plan on using that as my project time-plan, because then it *still* might not be ready).

I think I’ll give the small square to a 10-year-old cousin for use in her Barbie doll house – hey! I actually finished a tablecloth! Hee hee hee!

2. Beaded knit amulet bag

This was a nice simple project that was in the dreaded I-cord strap stage – that and seaming the sides were all it needed. But like any self-respecting knitter, I *loathe* I-cord. Besides, I thought I’d be fancy and add the beads in with the I-cord also. So this sat for probably 3 years, forgotten in the mists of easy-to-finish projects.

When I found it in with the other thread projects, I was pretty annoyed with myself. I tore out the I-cord, dispensed with the beads on the strap, and did a simple crochet chain/chain (where you chain out, and chain back in the back loops of the original chain); seamed the sides, and finished it in less than an hour. I can only wish that the rest of my unfinished projects were so quick – some of them are just as easy, but with a lot more work to be done.

Simple knitted beaded amulet bag

and finally:

3. Knitted beaded necklace that magically converted into a beaded macrame bracelet

I had tried about 5 times to accomplish a certain look with knitting and beads for a v-shaped necklace, and had to frog it each time. The last time, it got stuck in a drawer figuring I’d pick it up again after I actually knit something I knew how to do, and then, well, you know, it’s been 2 or 3 years since.

When I found it in the drawer, I decided that I still didn’t know how to accomplish what I wanted to do with the knitting, but that I thought I could do it as macrame. As I frogged it for the final time, and as I got out my macrame project board, pins, and a couple books to remind myself about knots (I haven’t macramed anything for at least 20 years!), I played with ideas in my mind, and the end result is that it morphed into a bracelet from a necklace, changed into a totally different pattern, and became more focused on the beads than on the macrame.

Not having done any macrame for such a long time, it’s taking me a while to get my technique back – I’ve also never worked with such small thread before, so I had to get my magnifier out. But it’s all coming back to me, and I’m pleased at how it’s turning out.

Sorry about the lack of detail - camera not very good!

So I’m down one UFO, with progress on at least two others. I’ve managed to stave of the startitis by converting the necklace into the bracelet, at least for now. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out!

I remembered that there were two more sets of small drawers where there were some balls of crochet cotton, spools of ribbon, beads, etc.

When I delved in, I found an unfinished doily, the very beginnings of an unfinished crochet cotton tablecloth (5 squares of 108!), a beaded amulet bag that just needs the neck strap done, and a piece of orange perle cotton with some orange beads strung on it (I think I was planning on knitting a necklace).

The doily had quite a bit of thread pulled out, presumably I pulled back to a point where it was correct; so I decided that it looks as if it might be the closest thing to done, and pulled it out. I finished it during some of my insomniac nights, and here’s some photos of it:

all floppy off hook

pinned and blocking

in use

I haven’t done any thread crochet for I can’t even guess how long – probably the late 90s, so it was nice to have it come right back, but at the same time, I blame that for any flaws seen here.

I also finished Oncology Hat #2:

Ready to wear

I’m really jonesing to start something new, but I want to get a couple more UFOs out of the project bins into the FO pile before I start something else. Maybe now is the time to start weaving in ends on all those scarves I made last year; or the baby top that needs seaming; or finish that baby-afghan-turned-cat-blanket-because-of-the-huge knot-of-fiber-that-is-making-it-unsuitable-for-human-consumption. But instead, I have picked up the cabled pillow top. I haven’t gotten to a cable yet, but I’m not having the problems I had before. The next row will be the moment of truth. . .

I’ve been telling myself for months that I really need to quit buying new materials and starting new projects. Each time, I would finish up a project or two, but then there is always something new that calls my name. Not even quiet little whispers – it’s like constant yelling.

But this time, I mean it. I sat down this weekend and started wading through all the yarn, beads, and fabric I have (not to mention all the partially done projects), and decided that I have at *least* one year’s worth of projects of various kinds to make. The first part of the plan is to finish up the following:

1. Topdown sweater (gift for April birthday; status: done but making hood cord, sewing hood for cord, washing/blocking, wrapping, mailing (OK, sounds a lot worse than it is – I’m nearly done with the cord))

Sweater - entire

Sweater - detail

2. Crib quilt (gift, originally due in late December; status: pin-basted, ready to quilt, nervous about quilting it)

Crib Quilt update

3. Knit hat (for chemo suite general stock at my oncologist’s; status: still needs about 9″ of ribbing, 3″ of decrease) – I’m trying to make one of these a month using Lion Brand Homespun. The first one actually went to Brian, because I could see him eyeing it lustfully as I was finishing the ends, and he *just happened* to mention that his old watch cap was too short to cover his ears twice.

Oncology hat

4. Orange/black Irish Chain quilt (for quilting class ending this Thursday; status: top pieced, back pieced, need to pin-baste, pin basting on my living room floor kills my back and knees, need to get over to quilt store to use their wall, unless:

Irish Chain Quilt update

4. a. I can get this “wall” finished. Brian and I got the chipboard home, but we had a piece of soundboard that we were going to glue to it that had a transportation disaster on the way home. We obviously didn’t do a very good job of tying it down. But the soundboard seems as if it will be a perfect solution to stick T-pins in to hold the backing and batting in place, while one pins the top; so I hope to get another piece (we’ll probably have Home Depot cut it in half so we can transport it *in* the car) this weekend, maybe get the gluing done too.

Pinning wall pieces

5. Cabled pillow cover (for us; status: started it, hate doing the cables, but hope that perseverance will get past the really annoying part of it – I’ve cabled plenty before, so I think it’s just the width of the cables plus I may be working too tight. May frog it and start over, but modify the cables, making them more slender but adding another one in or something…)

Cabled Pillow cover - Jo Sharp pattern

6. Zigzag bead necklace (for me; status: need to add some more fringe, may add a strand with some fringe wrapped around the herringbone tube, need to add cones and clasp.)

ZigZag necklace w/o findings

ZigZag necklace - bead and fringe detail

7. Painted Hummingbird quilt wall hangings (for us; status: one top pieced, need to piece second top, etc.)

Painted hummingbird quilted wall-hangings

Now, don’t get me wrong – this is not by any means a complete listing of every project I have started, but this is a good representation. There’s the Brian sweater, the cougar cross-stitch (oh, boy, is *that* one ancient! but I really love it, and really want to finish it, but it keeps getting shuffled down the list), the half-finished socks (half meaning one sock less some Kitchener is done), the anniversary “Love is. . .” cross-stitch (hey, I figure I can have that one done in time for our fifteenth anniversary), the needlepoint chair covers to replace the upholstery on Granny’s dining room table chairs and the piano chair, and, well, you get the idea.

I’m not going to limit myself to simply finishing existing projects, however, because that would probably make me break my resolution a lot sooner than might otherwise happen. I’m also going to make new projects, as long as they come from my stash. If I find I need just one little thing to make something using mostly stuff from my stash, then I may go ahead and buy that one little thing, but generally it is going to be stash-only. Most of the new projects will be gifts, although I may have to be more creative about who gets what based on what I already have. I have already identified a couple projects that I want to start later this year that will require some new knitting needles – I don’t have any circulars long enough. I will be giving Brian my “particular” gift list for birthday, etc., so hopefully he will buy some of those items ;-}

The year started as of January 1 – even though I started the quilting class in mid-January, I already had all the materials (fabric, batting, thread, etc.) for that quilt, and I’d already started cutting strips when I first started taking the class in 9/07; so technically, it was already a WIP.

And here I am, I’ve already finished one hat, nearly done with the sweater, and cranking out the next hat; the Irish Chain quilt is probably going to be fairly easy to quilt, once I get the pin-basting done. So I’m encouraged at already making progress; and seeing all the sorting I did, getting projects together, I’m going to be able to pick and choose what to work on next very easily.

We’re almost two months into it, so I’m 1/6th of the way through the year without buying more materials – still plenty of potential, but I’m feeling pretty firm about sticking to this diet.

So I went the first class and had all the materials, etc., got some strips cut and sewn, but then as of three weeks later, discovered that I couldn’t continue. So then I wanted to take the class in the spring of ’08, but then I had my final reconstruction surgery and ovary removal surgery. So it sat and waited.

And of course, this past summer I had a recurrence, lumpectomy, radiation, and am now going through chemo. Not a good time to restart this project, eh?

I started this class in mid-January, and managed to keep up with all the classes until the 4th out of six. Even then, I had everything done except the backing pieced, which I planned to do, but discovered that when I’d bought the fabric back in ’07, I’d gotten all the fabric I needed to make the larger rectangular version of the top, but only enough fabric to make the backing for the square wall-hanging size.

So in class the week before this last one, I bought more material, and was able to cut and piece it (because it is batik, which doesn’t shrink very much), with the plan of pinning everything in class this past week, and maybe getting the quilting started.

This week, I was suffering non-public side-effects from the chemo, so could not make it to class. Thus, I’m going to try to pin-baste using my living room floor as my pinning wall, and hopefully at least get started quilting it tomorrow.

At any rate, here is the top, a basic Irish Chain design, using a combination of cottons and batiks. The backing is what I call my “forest fire batik”, a very autumny colored pine woods fabric that has a nice green that goes with the rest of the fabric very well. Once I get it pinned and quilting at least started, I’ll post another picture, and include a picture of the backing.

Pieced, ready to pin-baste

So off I go to pin baste. I’ll be giving an update on the top-down sweater soon. It is nearly done, but I’ve mostly only been working on it during chemo appointments because I’ve been spending so much time quilting recently. I’ve also got a couple small quilting projects that I’m planning on finishing up.

More soon!

**************************

I finished the top of the crib quilt yesterday, and pieced the backing together.

Pieced, ready for quilting

Now all I have to do is figure out what sort of quilting I want to do on it. I was considering just a basic cross-hatch, but I’d really like to do something a little more complex. For the border, I’ve come up with a simple pattern of “braided” wavy lines; but because of the pattern of squares and number of rows being irregular, I’m having difficulty with the body.

BTW, I had to figure out for myself (with huge amounts of help from Brian) how to do the half-rectangles. The website that I’d found was *WRONG*! Guess that’s what I get for believing what I read on the internets ;-} Fortunately, I had extra material that I could play around with. I’m going to write up the method I used (probably isn’t the only way, but it works without having to have any special rulers). The only thing is, because I used batiks, there was no right-side/wrong-side issue with the fabrics. I will have to experiment with some one-sided fabric to make sure I cover both types of fabric; and also the orientation aspect (which direction the angle goes).

So I’m off to go searching through my quilting books to see if I can decide on a quilting pattern for the body – if not, I may actually have to drag out a pencil and see if I can draw something I like (and believe me, drawing freehand is not one of my talents. . .).

My latest knitting project is a sweater for a niece’s 4-year old step-son. I made an afghan for her new baby, and I want to make sure that LS knows that it isn’t just the new baby who gets special attention. Of course, they live around 1500 miles away, which means we don’t get to give them personal attention very often, so making things for them is about the only way to let them know we’re thinking of them.

I’ve never done a top-down sweater before, and I’ve also never made a seamless sweater, either. So far I’m really pleased with both techniques. I tried converting a lace-patterned baby top from a seamed garment to an in-the round pattern, and although I got it right in terms of keeping the pattern, because I was working it in the round, it started to skew the lace. I later read somewhere why that happens, but I haven’t been able to find the reference again, and my brain is like a backless drawer – the more I put in the front, the more stuff falls out the back.

At any rate, here is a picture of the sweater before I started the split for the side slits. I think I’ll have the body done by mid-next week, then I’ll start on the sleeves, and the hood will be last.

face-on view

side view

I’m a little bit worried about the cotton yarn – Blue Sky Organic Cotton. It’s lovely to work with, and machine washable/dryable, so I’m hoping that it will be easy-care for a young mother with two children, who also works; but a friend suggested that it will stre-e-e-tch badly. I’ve heard about this being a problem with some yarns, and indeed, had the problem with the aforementioned baby afghan.

baby afghan using Rowan Classic Cashsoft Baby DK

This afghan was made with Rowan Classic Cashsoft Baby DK. A simple strip afghan made with garter stitch, using the “Circle of Friends” pattern from “Last-Minute Knitted Gifts”; and I carried it with me to work on pretty much wherever I was going. I found that, if I happened to be standing rather than sitting while I was knitting, I had to loop the strip over my arm to keep the weight of the strip from stretching it all out of gauge as the strip got longer. And once I sewed the strips together, the weight of the afghan dragged out the middle and top, and the sides stayed relatively in-gauge. So I tried blocking it three times, and each time, the same stretching action happened. I wasn’t terribly pleased with the end result, although working with the Cashsoft was a lovely feeling – it was soft, slid nicely on the needles, and perhaps with stockinette stitch, or some other pattern than plain garter, it wouldn’t stretch so badly.

I’m really jonesing to start a lace project – I’ve got a sock pattern that I’ve adapted to a scarf, and I plan to make it with Kidsilk Haze. Hmmm. Lace socks are made in the round, so why don’t the lace patterns skew there?

I should probably finish the sweater for Brian – I’ve finished the back, and nearly finished the front. I’m using Lion Brand Homespun in Candy Apple Red. But it takes up a lot more room in my bag and is a lot heavier, and right now I’m trying to limit how much I’m carrying because I’m not supposed to carry a bag on my shoulder during the radiation treatment. Afterwards, maybe, although they really don’t want me to.

The other piece I need to finish is a Fair Isle hat, but because of the yarn colors, I find that I really need good direct lighting to work on it, so carrying it around is wasted effort.

Once I’ve finished the crib quilt, I’ll pick up one of these as my “home” project, and carry the scarf or a new Fair Isle project.

Or perhaps this – the other thing that is on-needle is a cabled pillow cover by Jo Sharp – I don’t really remember why I put this down, although I seem to recall that the cables were kind of a pain – I mean, they’re just regular cables, but they were wide, and the cross-over was puckering the fabric. Maybe that’ll be a good one to carry with me. . .