Polgara Knits

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.

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!

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. :-{

Three more posts after today, and I’ll have posted every day for the month of November–woot!  My visitor stats have been very healthy during this time, so hopefully I’ll be able to maintain my momentum, and not fall back on the once-a-week style of posting I had before November.

I don’t have much in the way of yarn news today.  I’m still working with the Lion Suede, which, as I mentioned last night, works much better crocheted than knitted. Omigod yes. I’m even starting to like the yarn, although I still fully expect it to worm at some point. Sadly, I didn’t have the second ball with me yesterday, otherwise the project would be finished by now. Phooey.

I’ve been holding firm on the no-new-yarn-purchases, but it’s hard with that beaded Booga Bag sitting in a corner, pining for one more ball of mustard Patons wool. I try not to look at it.  I think my next bag will be a beaded Balloon, since I already know I have enough yarn for that, and I want to see a finished project with beads, already.

I’ve added a few more projects to Ravelry, including some of the yet-to-be-felted purses.  Yay! I have so many projects still to add, I’ll probably still be adding six months from now. 

Hmm. I need more tea.  Guess that means I’m done!

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!

So far, I’m loving the beads!  They’re doing a very good job of jazzing up an otherwise boring, single-colored Booga Bag. My smallest crochet hook only just barely fits through the pony beads when it’s holding yarn, and not all the beads are exactly the same size, so there’s some struggling with the pulling and twisting and trying to force some beads onto the yarn, but otherwise it’s working quite well. I’m a bit concerned about the yarn, though–I was stupid and forgot to make the i-cord handle first, so now I’m worried about running out of yarn–but it’s a small worry, and cannot dampen the sense of accomplishment I get when I look at the rows of pretty beads.

I didn’t get very far on the beaded bag.  I ended up going out yesterday without my knitting bag, so I couldn’t get started until last night, wherein I got the bottom knitted up, but that’s it.  I went with the mustard yellow, if anyone’s interested.  Tonight, though, I hope to reach the point where I’m actually adding beads.

In other news, please keep Gracie in your thoughts, as she’s back in the hospital with a respiratory infection.

Bag #6 is finished! Well, ok, it still needs the handles to be kitchener-stitched together, but that requires concentration with no distractions, so I haven’t got to it yet, but otherwise, the knitting part is done!  And it’s beautiful, if I do say so myself. I like using the variegated stranded with a solid color.  Sadly, this has made me less enthused to do a bag in a single solid color, which is not good, as I don’t have enough variegated and novelty yarns to mix things up.  On the other hand, I think I’m now sufficiently motivated to try beads on the next purse. I have a little bag of 300 pony beads I picked up almost a year ago that should do the job nicely to dress up a Booga Bag.  Now I just need to decide which color to use with the metallic gold beads–olive green, forest green, mustard yellow, or brick red?

In other news, I hand felted a purse for the first time yesterday!  It was the turquoise and white clutch, and I used a bucket and plunger in the tub.  I beat that sucker for about 25 minutes and just couldn’t do it anymore, even though it could’ve used another 5-10 minutes.  It’s felted, but you can still see the stitch columns (not the rows, though).  I haven’t decided if I’m going to do it again, or wait until I have access to a non-coin-operated machine.  I think I’m waiting to see how my back feels tonight (it usually takes my muscles about 24 hours to protest new activities).  But the finished product is still cute!  Needs some rhinestone buttons for embellishment, though.

For my final ramble, I’m still undecided on what to make for the young girls in my life.  The Elann birdhouse scares me a little, because it requires embellishment techniques that are new to me, and therefore scary to try on something that will be gifted to someone else.  Perhaps I should abandon the idea of felted purses and make them the kitty hats from Stitch ‘n’ Bitch?  I’d really like to do purses, but I just can’t find the perfect pattern.

This is the part where I’d appreciate any ideas or links from you, my reader. (Bolded to catch the eye of those (like me) who only skim posts without pictures.)  My intended recipients are girls ages 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10.  And maybe the two-year-old, too, I haven’t decided.  I prefer felted purses because I’d never get around to lining an unfelted purse, but non-purse ideas are welcome too.  No sweaters, because I need something quick.