Leftovers

Still OTN, whether 'N' is needles or nightstand:

On the Nightstand (books I've begun but not finished in 2008)

T C Boyle: Tooth and Claw (Dec 1 - )
Michael Connelly: Angels Flight (Dec 22 - )
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee: Knitting Rules (Dec 1-)
Mary Roach: Stiff (Oct 25-)
Cleveland Amory: The Cat and the Curmudgeon
David Baldacci: Saving Faith
Gail Sheehy: The Silent Passage


On the Needles (knitting)

2nd Henley tshirt in Alpaca (Oct 2 '8 - Jan 2)
My Seriously Ribbed sox (Dec 20 '8 - Jan 1)
2nd Trellis in Bernat Softee Baby (Nov 8 '8 - )
Log Cabin throw (2007 - )
bag to felt (2008 - )
sampler squares afghan (Dec 1 '8 - )
SKP2008 #5 (Oct 31 '8 - )
Scrappy sox (Sep 22 '8 - )
three-tone sox (2008 - )


On the Other Needles (knot nitting)

"Family" cross stitch (May 9 '8 - )
Latch-Hoook Kittens (June 21 '8 - )
wolf puppies cross stitch (2007 - )
sewing room cross stitch (2008 - )

2007 FOs and 2008 WIPs (already!)

I'm beginning the year with the following still OTN:

* coral socklets
* the My So-Called Scarf
* green sox
* Aranmor
* Log Cabin comforter
* wolf puppies cross stitch
* sewing room cross stitch
* Rambling Leaves shawl

...but the pile of FOs for last year is much larger:

24 December 2007: house sox for th'Mr
24 December: Dave's fishing bear
23 December 2007: Cody's scarf
19 December 2007: Tom's scarf
17 December 2007: house sox for Dad
16 December 2007: fingerless gloves for Mom
7 December 2007: modular jacket #3
24 November 2007: basic garter stitch bib
11 November 2007: toboggan (or "watchcap") for th'Mr
3 November 2007: Celtic Cable Scarf, in Vanna acrylic
10 Oct 2007: blue flannel curtains for the apartment
7 Oct 2007: red & black socks for th'Mr
7 Oct 2007: illusion cloth
3 Sep 2007: EZ modular jacket for grandnephew Q's "black bear," in scrap acrylic
3 Sep 2007: blanket bunny buddy in mustard cotton
27 Aug 2007: socks for th'Mr in Paton's Kroy Whitecap, in the BBS pattern
19 Aug: mini blanket bunny buddy in black sock yarn
14 Aug 2007 "yarn harlot" scarf in k2-kb-p1 pattern, in weird old Mary Maxim acrylic
6 Aug 2007 a changepurse for grandniece C in Paton's merino denim - I mailed it unfelted
21 Jun 2007 "Amanda's Squatty Sidekick," in Paton's Merino red, denim, retro, for grandniece C
9 Jun 2007 five 8" squares (and five more from Larissa) mailed to Kansas
1 Jun 2007 Socks for Soldiers #1, mailed 7 Jun 2007
26 May 2007 Janlynn bears cross stitch pillow cover
20 May 2007 two more squares for Kansas
16 May 2007 two squares for Kansas in wool-ease
5 May 2007 wool-ease sox in tan for FIL
13 Apr 2007 twisted rib socks in Paton's Kroy Jacquard
14 Mar 2007 worsted weight wool-ease sox in green & wheat
11 Mar 2007 felted "project tote"
3 Mar 2007 worsted weight wool-ease socks in cranberry & wheat
1 Mar 2007 double diamond dc in greens
17 Feb 2007 ug rug (crochet)
12 Feb 2007 turtle (crochet)
6 Feb 2007 trivet in purples (crochet)
5 Feb 2007 tissue cover (crochet)
5 Feb 2007 trivet in green & white (crochet)
13 Jan 2007 at least nine butterflies (crochet)
13 Jan 2007 N's Pillsbury Doughguy (crochet)
7 Jan 2007 catnip mousie
7 Jan 2007 BiL D's red scarf
6 Jan 2007 niece C's glittery blue scarf
6 Jan 2007 BiL D's red hat
6 Jan 2007 T's niece's blue hat
6 Jan 2007 aunt J's UK Wildcats hat

UgRug is FO!

I really get a boost from F-ing an O, no matter it's just an excuse to get rid of some stash.

If I had it to do over again, I'd put the smaller amounts of color toward the middle of the pattern, then finish with the large amounts. What's in there, is 2 skeins of a variegated green, three skeins of green, one skein of a variegated orange, a partial skein of beige, two of a variegated black/beige - these are all red-heart or equivalent acrylic - then finishing off with my one (to date) e-bay purchase, three balls of an absolutely fugly yarn called Paradisio Cat's Meow.

I only gave 99 cents for the Paradisio, well worth the lesson learned (Lesson: do not buy anything you haven't already petted somewhere else).

Grrrl, our neurotic pit bull, approves of the ugrug. Should have put down a ruler of some sort, I guess, but for a gauge, Grrrl weighs 65 pounds (30 kilo).

ugly rug update

Please excuse the dirty carpet; we heat with wood and unless I vacuum every two hours it will look like this all winter. Therefore, it looks like this all winter.





The rug is about 4' across at this point.

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As usual, I'm striking out in all directions at once.

My ugly yarn rug is not done, because (1) I ran out of the really ugly stuff and have to sort through the sort of ugly yarn, to decide what to use on the last round and a half. (2) I think it would look much better if I ripped out every bit of it and started over, with the outside colors on the inside.

I don't think I'm going to rip it out. It is, after all, going to be ugly no matter what I do, meant as a gift for the dog, who won't care, and probably most important of all, I'm not sure what I'm going to use to make it lay flat - spray starch? and how well that will work.

Here's another pic, this time on the 70's linoleum in the hallway.






The point was to streamline my stash to make it more manageable, which in turn will help me get a handle on the UFOs and maybe even find the needles & WIPs that I know I have but can't find.

Case in point, I know I have two #1 circulars, I just don't know where.

FOs

a small victory: Last night I began and this morning I finished a crocheted turtle.

I mean I finished it, sewed it together, stuffed it, wove in loose yarn ends and gave it two eyes.

The pattern's here

Many thanks to the ladies in the AtMyHouse yahoo group for drawing my attention to this cutie!

ugly yarn update

I began the doily rug on size I/9 crochet hook, holding together two strands of ugly yarn: a green ombre and a solid green that matched.

Yes, green is my favorite color. Something about this shade, though, it's sort of olive, way too much yellow innit for me. And the ombre shades from slightly darker than the solid to lighter, then a mostly yellow green - think a houseplant dying from too much water - then white.

I'm near the end of round 12 of 18 total, and nearing the end of my 2nd pair of skeins of yarn. That'll be all for the ugly green ombre! Yea! Next is an even uglier black ombre.

I have some ugly yarn

I have some ugly yarn, but I'm frugal, or is it spendthrift, or is it OCD... anyway, I can't throw it away just because it's ugly, even though I have nothing invested in it.

See, when a cousin of th'Mr died early last year, her sister gave me bags and bags of yarn she left, mostly acrylic. Since then I've learned about cotton, and sock yarn, and wool blends, and I can only be grateful N wasn't fond of fun fur :)

And most of it's quite nice yarn; I've been finding uses for it - grandbaby clothes, toys, catnip mousies, lapghans, watchcaps, and a sweater or two for me.

But still, I have SOME ugly yarn, and until I use up a lot of what I already have, I feel just a little guilty every time I spend money on more yarn.

Been thinking about doilies & lace a lot lately. Looked at a couple doily patterns and thought, "enlarge that a bunch, and it'd make a cool throw rug!"

So that's what I'm doing today.

I'm crocheting an ugly-yarn throw-rug from a lace doily pattern.

So sue me. You're just jealous 'cause I'm doing it first.