I have been knitting and crocheting a lot lately. Mostly in the evenings in front of the tv. I have about for different projects going right now. I just pick up whatever strikes my fancy and do a little on it at a time. Unfortunately never enough to actually finish anything though.
Last month when the new Knitty came out I was trying to find the perfect project for the new Cascade Greenland yarn that my LYS had just gotten in. I fell in love with this yarn and its rich deep colors. Cascade 220 has been my go-to yarn for a while and this one had all that and more. When I saw the Girl Friday pattern I knew I'd made a match. I bought the yarn and had the back done in less than a week. The fronts didn't take much longer. But I'm stuck on the sleeves. I have crazy long monkey arms and I planned to add a bit of length to the already long sleeves but I misread the pattern and knit them even longer than intended. I was thinking I'd have to frog a pattern repeat before moving on. But last week I did a little remeasuring and decided they would be okay as-is. But I still haven't picked it back up and finished off the sleeves. I could've been done and wearing this by now but I've lost my momentum.
(I apologize for the crapitude of these pictures. It was still dark when I took them but I was motivated so I went ahead anyway.) The other big project I've been working steadily on makes me so happy.
It is the ugly as sin crocheted granny square afghan Emma and I have been doing together. I don't know what it is about this that just makes me smile whenever I see it. It may be the mismatched bright colors, the fact that we are doing this together or the over all tackiness of the entire thing I don't know. But it makes me practical cackle in glee. I just grab random balls of yarn, whip up a square and block it whenever the moods strikes. When I have 6 finished squares I crochet them together and add them to the blanket. The plan is to have it be 6 squares by 8 squares when it is finished (each square is blocked to 8 inches) but it may continue to grow beyond that if the mood continues to strike me. I'm glad I'm assembling as I go because otherwise I'd end up with a bag of finished squares and never get around to putting it together and my grandchildren would inherit them someday and just chuck them in a Goodwill bag I'm sure. Also there is no rhyme or reason to the square placement, I just add the last one finished, so the finished project will be about as random as possible. Another reason it makes me happy.
I am playing the part of Mrs. Armstrong in the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever" in December and this afghan may make its stage debut as part of my costume. Mrs. Armstrong is layed up with a broken leg and I think her character would have one of these afghans across her lap while recuperating.
The next to last project I'm working on is another basic crocheted blanket.
Once I learned the basics of the granny square I decided to try just making one big square that kept getting bigger and bigger as a baby blanket. This is some left over Caron Simple Soft I had in the stash from a cardigan I made Emma years ago. I love the bright colors and the soft washable (cheap!) yarn. I don't know this things final destination. My niece is having another baby in the spring and if it is another girl I may give her this. If not I may just donate it to our church's Prayer Shawl ministry. They give new blankets to all the new babies born/baptized in our church.
The last project I started recently is a Noah's Ark and animals from an Alan Dart pattern insert I've had lying around for some time. They are intended for my grand-niece at Christmas. We'll see how far I get. I have the parts for one elephant done so far. No pictures because it is just a bunch of little grey shapes in a pile.
So there you have it. That's what I've been doing recently. There is more going on in my life and now that I've made a start on catching up with blog posts you may hear more about the other stuff sooner rather than later.
