Blue Horizons Circa 1974

After traveling over mounds of stashed yarn, struggling through pages of difficult instructions, and hours of strenuous hooking I have completed my Blue Horizons crochet project (cue over the top music).  Okay, I finished my afghan, my first, and maybe last afghan.  Relieved to back to my sticks and leave the hooks behind.  I used up 3/4 of my Mission Falls stash and hooked about 4000 yards of yarn.  Yes, that afghan has over a mile of yarn in it.  Of course we are on the cusp of Summer and I don't think I am ready to cuddle up with my a wool afghan. Fall will come my pretty.

The original pattern had blues and purple aptly named Blue Horizons.  As I love green and I have a lot of green yarn I decided green it would be.  I added snaps of reds, balanced by a blue and some purples with black for the borders.  In the end I think the colors remind me the early 70s when my mom put in an avocado kitchen accenting it with autumnal colors.  I loved those colors then, I love now and I love this crocheted afghan. 

I need to thank my friend, and teacher, Suzanne, for all the help along the way.  Thanking her and the rest of my crocket group for the patience and assistance to get me to this beautiful finished project.  Feeling I have earned my crochet afghan merit badge.

Lambing Mitts

Sometimes you are just destine to do a thing.  For example the Lambing Mitts by Veronika Jobe(http://www.toltyarnandwool.com/blogs/blog/17124140-lambing-mitts), I was destine to knit them because by a fluke of a mispronunciation at Ellis Island that is my last name.  I thought it would be fun to be the Lambing in the Lambing Mitts.  The pattern was easy and I had some Aran weight Mission Falls I decided to use up.  I was also happy to be using my knitting needles instead of a crochet hook.

First I knit a pair for a co-worker's birthday.  I wanted to use up some of the odds and ends leftover from the crochet afghan I have been working on and decided to use a dash of blue in the red top of the mitt.  This decision was mistake.  The goal of the mitts is to have a garter ridge top to flip up and down.  On the first pair, I have the woven ends on one side, which is visible if you flip the top up.  Knitting fail.

Photo by Siri!

On the second pair, the set for me, I learned my lesson and kept the color changes for the hand garter ribbing.  I kind of love how the mitts turned out.  The turned down top is so wonderfully squishy, too.  I made my pair a large, but used the medium thumb size, which is prefect for me.  Again, what is not to love about an easy pattern sharing your name.  Much Love!

Busting out the Begonia Blocks

After rumaging through my stash, weighing my skeins, and doing some math I finally finished crocheting all my blocks for the blue skies afghan. The last block was called Begonia, and I really loved the dramatic flower in the center.  I am ecstatic to be done with these blocks, but I still have a way to go for a finished product.  As I write I have begun blocking the blocks.  I am hoping next month to begin the process of putting them together (more crochet).  In the meantime, I am enjoying not crocheting and working on knitting projects. 


One of the bittersweet things about this project has been using my stash of Mission Falls yarn. The colors have been beautiful to work with and I have fallen in love with this brand all over again.  Sadly, as this yarn is no longer manufactured, I am using up the last of my stash of this yarn.  My friend Suzanne has said people are holding on to this yarn and taking it to the grave. 



I used all but maybe 18 inches of the lavender.  The last block was a real nail biter, but I went down to a smaller hook and used almost every last scrap of the yarn.  When I made it to the end of the last block I got up and did a little victory lap around my living room.  It feels good to see my stacks of finished blocks.

Still Christmas

Did I mention that I am still trying to catch up with my virtual life and right now my virtual life is still stuck on Christmas? I spent so much time on Christmas knitting it is worth being almost a month late. As long as I have been knitting I have had grand ideas on presenting my loved ones with beautifully knitted items. Sometimes my success is spotty, but I hope each item is at least marginally better than a spray painted macaroni necklace.

My count was four mini mochi scarves, three pairs of fingerless, lace-up gloves, and one adorable caplet. I was very happy with the fingerless gloves pattern I got out of Alterknits by Leigh Radford. Not only were the finished objects pretty, but the pattern was so much fun I made a pair just for me. Every recipient cooed over the gloves. The caplet was another fun project, and the choice of Mission Falls Yarn was perfect for the pattern. The yarn is so yummy it almost knits itself.

But those Mini Mochi scarves are horses of very different colors. Crystal Palace, a company I usually like, sent me a pattern for scarves with its new Mini Mochi yarn. The pattern was nice and I thought good Christmas knitting projects. I was not expecting so much betrayal from the yarn. I bought 4 cakes of yarn, two in rainbow and two other colors for my friends Barb, Kim, Tammie, and Fiona. Three of the four balls had knots in the ball. One of the balls had a knot about 5/7 of the way in. The fiber had been space dyed (long color dye areas which fade to the next color) and the knit completely ruined the colorway. I struggled and struggled to make the change less noticeable, but the scarf just did not turn out as I had envisioned it. Another ball had uneven color repeats. Again a little randomness I don't mind, but these repeats ranged from 2 to 3 inch bars of color to a sudden 6 inch color bar. Maddening, I tell you maddening.

All of the giftees seemed to love the presents (or at least they gave good performances). I am questioning whether or not I want to do this again next Christmas. The pressure is just so intense. Remind me of this next September when I start looking wistfully at patterns and yammering on about Christmas knitting.