Polgara Knits

Todd wearing his new hat
Originally uploaded by BronzePolgara

I configured my Flickr today to post directly to my knitting blog, so this is me, testing it out. Sadly, you can’t choose tags/categories in this window, so I’ll still have to sign in to edit a little, but I think I might post more often if I’m posting directly from a photo page.

This is the hat I made for my brother-in-law for (after) Christmas. It’s double-stranded Patons wool, ribbed brim with a stockinette base. I was afraid the 80-stitch cast-on might’ve made it too big, but I think it was just right. Not happy with the little peak at the top, though.

Also, I should probably mention that I did NOT chicken out Thursday night and did, in fact, go to the WeHo SnB group at the Farmer’s Market. It was scary, I’ll admit–I expected maybe six people, and there were closer to 20 people there–but I grabbed an empty chair, pulled out my crochet, and even managed to spit out a sentence or two before the night was over. And, I met Ellen Bloom, whose blog I’ve been reading for almost a year, so that was cool too. Which reminds me, I have to go look up the shawl she was working on, it was beautiful–Serephim? Serephina? Something like that.

I can’t say that I fit in right away, since it takes me awhile to warm up to new people and start acting like myself, but I do plan on going again next week, so I call it a win!

I am home now, yay! Well, home as in Los Angeles–at this very second, I’m actually at work.

I have a list of things I need to accomplish before I can do my own projects again:

• a scarf for my sister using yarn she purchased at Webs a couple of weeks ago and a pattern from a crochet magazine (Crochet Today? Interweave Crochet? I forget, they all blend together for me);
• a hat, also for my sister, to match the scarf I gave her for Xmas, using the leftover Lion Suede;
• and a hat for my friend K to match the scarf I gave her for her birthday (fingers crossed that there’s enough yarn left over).

I think I’m free as a bird after that to tackle my own projects, such as:

• finishing my UMass scarf;
• doing something, I don’t know what, with the yarn I bought from Webs;
• tackling my first-ever sweater (I already have the yarn, I just need a pattern);
• finishing my gazillion WIPs;
• and a little (translation: verra ambitious) project I’ve been contemplating for awhile, an intarsia wall-hanging (haven’t decided on a pattern yet–I waver between two or three color movie-poster-theme and multi-color recreation of a work of art).

That last one is the one I’m most excited about, but it really will be a big and scary undertaking (that will require much yarn to boot), so I don’t know when that one will happen.  Hopefully in 2008, though.

I also have to figure out what to do with my now largish collection of felted handbags, since I didn’t give away nearly as many as I’d expected to for the holidays.  I don’t need that many bags myself, that’s for sure, but I don’t feel comfortable selling them since all but one were made from other people’s patterns. I may yet find people to give them to, or I may use them for some charitable purpose. Or, I may continue my lazy ways, stick them in a bag in a closet, and forget about them until next Christmas. Who knows?

And finally, since this blog is horribly boring enough without including any photos, here’s a picture of my sister’s cat Gabby.  Gabby likes to talk (a lot!), is always begging for food, and has the largest eyes any of us have ever seen on a cat.  In fact, her vet even examined them for oddities since even he had never seen such large eyes and was afraid she might be in pain (no evidence of this, though).

Don’t look now, but I’m closing in on post #100! 11 more posts after this one, woot! I should probably do something to celebrate, but I don’t know what–I’ll have to think on it.

I’ve been contemplating the new year, as I’m sure everyone has, and trying to decide what I want to try to accomplish this year, or if I even want to try to set goals. Let’s face it, few people actually stick to the goals they set on January 1st, and I’m no exception. Of course, 2007 was the year when I finally learned to crochet, so goals aren’t always useless.  I haven’t been over-the-moon happy with my life for a long time, so obviously something needs tweaking, so I’ve been trying to compartmentalize stuff to set specific tasks for each aspect of my life.

One of my new goals that’s near, if not at, the top of my list is to meet new people, and to that end, I’m going to try to go to the WeHo stitch and bitch group once I return to L.A. (I’m still in Massachusetts with my family.) I’m terrible at meeting new people, as it requires effort and I’m notoriously lazy (and poor), but the SnB group is near where I live, doesn’t cost anything, and, as an added bonus, I’ll already have something in common with the group. And hopefully, now that I’ve “said” it out loud, I’ll actually do it.

ION, yesterday I taught my friend Jane to crochet, one year and two days after I taught her to knit. We did chains and single crochet for awhile, then she pulled out my Happy Hooker book and taught herself to double crochet a circle. She’s getting on a plane in a couple of hours, where she will hopefully continue practicing her loops and chains.  I love sharing my crafts, and am very grateful to her for her desire to learn new stuff.

Earlier this week, I finished a wool hat for my brother-in-law–forest green knit cap with a ribbed brim and a stockinette body.  I’ve finished seven granny squares for a new scarf in UMass Amherst colors (maroon and white). I started a new sc scarf with a wool/soy blend from…Patons? Bernat? The yarn is on the table and I’m too lazy to get up and look. (Jane and I were at Michael’s a couple of days ago, and I couldn’t resist the 30% off all yarn sale.) It’s a self-striping yarn, ’cause I’ve been getting tired of working in solids.

And in completely non-yarn-related news, my face feels like it’s been sandblasted.  I hate having a cold.

It’s been terribly long since my last post, for which I apologize.  I haven’t really been in the mood for posting, I don’t know why. I’m currently sitting in my sister’s living room, playing Scrabulous in my jammies. I should be finishing the hat I’m making for my bil’s Christmas present, or starting the hat or shawl for my sister, but I’m too lazy to get up.

Last Thursday, I and my sister Nancy and friend Jane drove out to the Pioneer Valley, to a) visit my alma mater (UMass Amherst) for the first time in about 15 years, and b) to visit WEBS! It was raining, and then it was snowing, but that didn’t stop us.  Webs was even more overwhelming than I’d expected, and I’d expected a lot.  We weren’t even halfway through the store proper when a salesperson asked if we needed help.  When she learned it was our first time there, she took us to the back room–the clearance room–where I nearly started to hyperventilate. Seriously! I didn’t know where to start!

I was good, though, and managed to stick to the $50 limit set by the two $25 gift cards I had in my pocket (my geekiest purchase was of the Amherst yarn in UMass colors!). And, oddly enough, it was my sister the non-knitter that had to be pulled away from the store, as she checked out fall-colored yarns and every sample garment, looking for just the right item to ask me to make for her.

In purse news, so far I have gifted three of them–the turquoise and purple bag went to my stepfather’s gf; the brown variegated balloon bag to my sister, and the half tan, half red balloon bag to my sister’s sister-in-law.  The green/yellow and mustard with beads booga bags still need to have their handles poked through, then they’re done.

So obviously, I get a complete FAIL at that whole “trying to post every day after NaBloPoMo” thing. Oops? I blame the holidays, and the accompanying freakout.

I have been knitting and crocheting my way through the stress, although I haven’t finished anymore bags.  Weird, huh? I have a red and white 80/20 booga bag (decreased the stitch count by 20%) that’s been languishing on the needles with only about five rows to go, and the mustard beaded bag is finished except for the icord, which is about a foot too short still.

Instead of finishing those, last weekend I started four–four!–scarves. One is crocheted alpaca (the defunct Lana D’Oro that I’ve been saving for a special occasion for about three years now) and will be a gift for a family friend. One is the much lauded “My So-Called Scarf,” which called to me one night in such a way that I had to start it–it’s currently six inches long, but it’s a beautiful stitch.  The third scarf was intended to accompany my mostly red outfit for my company’s holiday party on Monday, and was made of a very white, very sparkly chunky Wool-Ease.  I used a spiral crochet pattern, and I hated it when it was done–it looked like I was wearing an Elizabethan ruffle, and it was waaaaay too long.  That was Saturday. On Sunday I frogged it and started the fourth scarf of the weekend,  a dc-crocheted scarf of a much more reasonable length. I crocheted up both sides of the starting chain, so it folds a bit; then I sc’d twice in each dc along all four edges in a bright green, which gave it a slight spiral that was much less pronounced than the first one. (That’s me and my scarf in the picture, on the left.) It’s now further adorned with a touch or two of red wine, but it’s barely noticeable.

But! In bag news! Remember the sparkly blue bag that I made for the silent auction at the holiday party? Well, thanks to my boss, and to the other people that got into a bidding war, the bag finally sold for $100! More than any of my other donations have ever made! It went to my boss, who was out of town at the time so I had to bid for him (which was a little weird). He brought it home when he got back to town, walked in his front door with it slung over his shoulder, and his little two year old daughter took one look at it and reached out her hands while declaring, “Mine!” to the shiny bag.  So!cute! I saw her yesterday at the department holiday party, and sure enough, she had it slung over her own shoulder where it was carrying her treasures. Best spent $100 ever, if you ask me.

I spent a good portion of today in a very dark room.  I brought my current bag-in-progress, plus I grabbed a couple balls of extra yarn, in case I finished the bag.  Well, I did, so I started the new bag. In the dark. Without really knowing for sure how the two yarns that I grabbed as I ran out the door would blend. I got halfway through the bag before even seeing it in regular light, but fortunately, it turned out ok.  I haven’t examined the stitches, though, to see if I screwed up.

In other news, woot! End of November! Last day of NaBloPoMo! Yay!

I felted three bags last night–woot!  I chose the purple/turquoise Little Coco, the first Pink Lady bag (I still have to kitchener the handle of the second), and a Burly Spun bag I knit, oh, forever ago, that’s been waiting for felting for a long time.  All the other bags still need some finishing before felting.

I learned a couple of things. First, apparently Cascade 220 takes forever to felt, because the bags I felted last night were done after two wash cycles, and really, they probably didn’t even need the whole second cycle. The second thing is more of a refresher–the knit stitch really does shrink more from top to bottom than side to side.  The Little Coco came out a little shorter than I’d planned.  Oops? It’s still a perfectly serviceable bag, of course, just….short.

Now they are drying, and then I’ll have to figure out if they need further embellisments.

Today I started another bag–I forget what number I’m on, and I’m too lazy to check my own posts.  It’s a Balloon Bag with double-stranded, variegated Lion wool–no base color this time to ground it, so the color explosion is pretty crazy, which means no beads on this one.  I may try to felt some of the others tonight–I have enough quarters and zippered pillowcases to run three bags together for three cycles, which should be enough to felt them.  I have to pick one to donate for the company’s charity auction at the holiday party, which is coming up really fast, so it’s time to risk the sub-par machines in my building’s laundry room. Fortunately I have enough purses stockpiled that if something goes horribly wrong, it won’t be the end of the world.  Damned annoying and frustrating, but not the end of the world.

Last night I finished the Lion Suede project.  I don’t think I’d ever get this yarn again, unless it was for the exact purpose of another one of these projects (which I can’t go into, since I think the intended recipient reads this blog).  Suffice to say, if your project is small, and you crochet instead of knit, and you want something soft, then the suede will work–but use it for anything else at your own risk (of frustration, of anger, of banging your head against a wall, etc.).  On the other hand, it was a nice break for my hands to crochet something after so many knitted bags. I feel guilty for saying this, but I think I like crocheting more than knitting. :-{

The tree is up and decorated, I’ve downloaded new (to me) Christmas music from iTunes, and I bought some of my first presents from the Black Friday online sales–the season has officially begun!

My holiday knitting is coming along nicely, although I ran into a glitch with the beaded Booga Bag–not enough yarn.  Curses! I always forget how very much yarn BBs use.  For the next one I’ll definitely be cutting back on the stitches, probably about 20% to start.  For now, I either have to hit a Michael’s for another ball of mustard Patons (*shudder*), or make the top third brown.  The second option would be my first choice, except the beads make it more complicated.  I don’t think the change in color will work with the beads, so until I can think of a third option that doesn’t require me going to a craft store during the holidays (*shudder*), I’ve put that bag aside and started on another Pink Lady bag, this time in purple and blue.  I started it yesterday, and worked on it a bit after dinner while chilling with my friends, so it’s already half done–yay!

In non-bag knitting news, I’ve had some requests from family and friends that I’ll need to squeeze in, perhaps after I finish this latest bag.  And I have to start felting soon, as well.  Must procure more zippered pillowcases so I can do as many as possible in the same cycles, and save myself some quarters.

That’s it for today–happy shopping!

This is my friend and coworker Susan.  Although an avid sewer and quilter (and talented!), she was never a knitter until she went on vacation to Europe last month and stayed with a friend who sat her down and taught her the ropes.  Around her neck is her first ever finished project, a scarf she made with no pattern.  Her first FO, and already I envy her adventurous spirit to knit without a pattern, just letting her needles take her where they wanted to go.  She’s already started her second project, a feather and fan scarf, and seems to be hooked but good.  Whee!