beandelphiki

Enough emotime, though.

I have a new knitting project. Mom is teaching me her pattern for washcloths. She seemed pleased that I could read it, but it's really, really basic. It's different from the plain garter squares I've done before because it's knit on the bias (i.e. from corner to corner, rather than edge to edge), and it has an edge with lace-like holes in in, so I now know how to do yarn-overs. (Not like they're hard; I just didn't know that before!) I'm using a yarn that's yellow and white...Mom called it "corn."

So I'll be knitting a bunch of washcloths for my Aunt Krista for Christmas, because she specifically said she would LOVE knit washcloths as a Christmas gift. HINT.


Also, my cat blanket is coming along...I have about 16 inches or so of length on it so far.

I had it spread out on the floor to measure the width yesterday (looks like it will be quite close to the desired 24 inches!), and Callisto quite deliberately walked over...stepped on it experimentally with one paw...and then walked onto it and made as if to plunk his fuzzy butt down. But then got distracted and left before I had to shoo him off. (Geez cat, it's not finished yet.)

I think that's a good sign.

Since I made my first Poverty Projects post, my knitting projects plans have undergone some shifts. For one thing, I keep knitting squares. Partially because I'm not satisfied with previous ones, and partially because they're fairly quick and simple.

I think I'll be moving on past squares now (not that I won't still be knitting them; just that they won't be my only projects on the needles). As a modification to the list in that post, I'll be starting with:

-some washclothes (which can also be donated)
-a cat blanket for my kitties

(They like to take turns sleeping in this open box in the basement, and they especially like it when we pile one of our afghans in it. Unfortunately, anything they lie on a lot obviously gets covered in cat hair - to the point where it isn't even washable anymore. And I don't want that to happen to our afghans. So I'm making them a blanket to line the box with.)

After THAT, scarves. Really.


And just in case you were wondering if I'm making this up (hey, if you knew how hopeless I am with my hands, you might!), here's a project dump! This may not be that interesting to other people (truthfully, these all look pretty much the same), but I like the idea of keeping records of what I've made - especially since most of it will be leaving my house and heading to various donation bins.

We can't get digital pictures onto our computer at the moment, so these are all scans. Squares are flat, so they aren't TOO bad to scan. The color is a bit funny when first scanned, though. I did my best to clean these up in Photoshop [CS2], but there's only so much I could do - these would definitely look slightly different in natural light.

(There's four images behind the cuts, and each of them SHOULD take about 10 seconds or so to load on a 56k modem. Unless Photoshop lies to me, which is always possible.)

( Sorta-squarish squares )

And just for fun, I have one more image here. I scanned in the last square I did while I was working on it, just to see if I could show you guys one pair of my translucent needles. And if I turn them at an angle, it doesn't work out too badly!

( Still looks like a scan, of course )

Okay, so that's it! Gonna go look for basic cat blanket patterns now. I have to hit the library, but I figure I can grab some more cheap yarn for said blanket while I'm out.

*waves to his list*

Working on my square still. (Six-and-a-half inches, yay?)

I had one stitch being a pain in the ass, and as I was struggling with it, I twisted my goddamn wrist. OH HOLY FUCK, that hurt. I've been having more trouble with my wrists too, so am not happy. (I would blame it on being online more, but this slight flare actually seems to pre-date my extra internet time.)

Remind me NOT to do that again. If a stitch isn't cooperating, I need to stop and regroup.

Seriously, I've done this more than once. Ow, ow, ow. I've been warned I have some HEAVY work shifts coming up in August, so the last thing I need is to seriously re-injure my wrists. *sigh*


In other news, I discovered this through a link listed in one of my mom's knitting magazines, and it's quite cute (it's for children):

The Good Scarf Project

Evidently inspired by this kid's book: Knitting Nell. Which looks like a good book to add to any list of inoffensive, positive children's books.

(I myself was raised on a fairly steady diet of "positive theme!" children's books and educational software, and consider myself not-much the worse for it - I did manage to miss a few classic films, apparently, but oh well. Also, I did sneak some DOOM in there, but nothing's perfect.)

Following links, I took note of this book on Amazon: Knitting For Peace. Weird, because I recognize nearly all the other books in the, "Customers who bought this book also bought..." section from my mother's collection, but not this one. Does she not have it? I'll have to ask.

Also, for anyone who knits but hasn't seen these communities, or who may become vaguely interested over the coming weeks as I occasionally ramble about it:

knitforcharity
knitforchange
craft_for_cause
Edited to add: knit_for_peace

...Because really, unless you have a child that's still too young to protest being shoved into whatever you make it (intending no disrespect to anyone, but I REMEMBER this indignity - awwww, MOM!), then what ELSE would you knit for besides charity?

(Well, I guess there's just because you like it. But still, I don't really know what my mother's going to DO with all those socks.)