Kniteruptions

I'm just not having any project love at the moment.  It's totally not something I should be worried about and I'm sure it's just part of the recent emotional overload that has been life for the past few weeks, but the only project that's making me happy at all is this...and it's going to be over with by Friday.

It's fabulously mismatched, but every time I see it or work on it I'm not thinking how it doesn't really "work" as a piece, but the fact that so many knitters and crochet-ers came together on super short notice to make it.  I'm hopefully going to pick up the last 3 pieces tomorrow or Wednesday, and by then it will be just about getting them in as I'll be finishing up the strips that run up and down the finished blankets, attaching them quickly and then putting on a border.  And with a little midnight oil, I'll be able to hand it over at the "life celebration" on Friday.

My project count for projects outside Amy's blanket is creeping up as I continue designing things for Good For Ewe.  I love the yarns and I love the projects, but I'm just not as excited about finishing things that will be photographed and put away for trade shows and trunk shows.

I have finished (but waiting for the photographer) a pillow and a pair of slippers and a hat designed by Cheryl Beckerich.  I think they're all pretty cool.

I have on the needles:  a baby blanket, a cardigan, a fair-isle cowl, and a hat.

I have in my brain: another cardigan, another hat, and a lace shawl.

Yikes- no wonder I'm not thrilled about finishing anything.  Because there's a thousand other projects going "my turn! my turn!"

As far as personal projects I've got:  A pair of boring socks, a boring sweater, an unbound quilt, 2 cross stitchings, a mermaid, a sock yarn blanket and Knitting Olympics pullover which is currently 1 sleeve (up to the armpit) and the first 9 inches of the body.  It might get finished for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

And the project I can't stop thinking about starting: is a plain black jacket in some super rough tweed that I got in Ireland a few years ago.  I'll have to frog it from the fugly shapeless beast it has halfway become, and I know that miles and miles of plain stockinette is going to be really boring, but I know Fall is coming, and darn it, I want a super thick black cardi that is heavy enough to count as a jacket. And that awesome Fall jacket is going to have to wait in line.

On the bright side, I have a fabulous boyfriend who nods and smiles and mutters comforting things when I mention my project funk.  And that's pretty awesome. (Forgive the awful picture of me.  It was right after a long night and a 2 hour car ride)

Blankets galore

Saturday came and went, and I dropped my 5 "competitors" off at the State Fair to be judged.  This means that I'm going to be biting my nails until I get to go to the Fair, which could be next Monday, or could be whenever Grandma & Crappaw Darling decide they'd like to go  (I know you're reading this, and I'd just like you to know the suspense is killing me).

I haven't gotten pictures of my crochet stash-eater afghan, but I think you kind of know what it looks like already.  Hopefully there will be a pretty ribbon on it for the post-Fair pictures.  Same goes to the red lace tablecloth, which I also didn't get pictures of.

As you may know, I've been working on 2 projects exclusively since then- Amy's afghan which is a real group effort, and I'm shouting out another huge THANK YOU to everyone who has helped so far or still has a square on the needles/hook. I've been getting little envelopes and boxes in the mail with your donations and it makes me go a little fuzzy on the inside to know that you amazing crafters are taking time out of your day to work on something for my friend.  Here's the afghan as it sits now:  I'm also working on a white square with flowers on it, not pictured here.  The wake is next Friday so I'm crocheting as fast as I can to get them all there and put together.

I'm also (barely) competing in the Knitting/Ravelympic Games in the sweater sprint.  I'm almost a week in to this sweater, but I can't work on it without feeling Amy Afghan guilt.  I don't think it's going to happen.

And lastly (and my very favorite-ly), here is an update on my very first quilt!  A lady that took this class with me came to the last of the 3 classes with a finished quilt.  Not a quilt top, but a top, a back with batting in the middle, completely quilted and bound.  It was one of the more beautiful things I'd ever seen.  I was trying to pick my jaw up off the floor and ask how she could possibly make a queen sized quilt in 6 weeks, and she told me about her long arm quilting machine and offered it up for a few hours.   I had to wait until this week while she finished the project that was on it (which I completely understand) and yesterday I took over my top and bottom (finished Monday night) with my batting and we started around 9 am.  By 2:30 I had this.  It was awesome!

It's not done yet (still needs bound, which I still need to learn how to do) but it is now technically a quilt.  The binding is going to have to wait until a few more projects get done.  I hear it will only take a few hours if I do it by machine. Here's the back while I'm thinking about it...  I think it looks like little stockinette stitches.

Here's a close-up of the quilting pattern that Sally designed just for me and my quilt!  It's perfectly whimsical and I love it!  The fabric is cotton and the batting is 80% cotton (I couldn't find any that was 100%) so I'm hoping that it will crinkle up nicely when I wash it and get that fabulous vintage "been in the family for 80 years" look to it. And I'm really hoping that the crinkling will cover up the fact that I'm a beginner at quilting and don't have the sharpest corners. 

And my favorite part of yesterday sounds a little bit silly, but I'm going to share it with you anyway.  It was Mary Poppins. 

Mary Poppins is a Welsh Terrier.  I feel like it's not a terribly well-known breed, but it was the breed that I grew up with.  Sally has 2 of them.  I lost my Welsh, Toffee, about a week after I left for school in Essex, and it really tore me up for quite a while that I wasn't there to say goodbye (I'm tearing up a bit now actually).  But for 5 1/2 hours yesterday I had a dog that looked like Toffee, threw pillows off the couch and then flopped down like Toffee, snorted in the A/C like Toffee and cuddled like Toffee.  And it was a wonderful thing.