Pink Quickie Cowl

Here is the finished cowl. An extremely quick knit. I knit 50% of it yesterday while enjoying a Netflix marathon. The pattern is Quickie Cowl. I will absolutely make more of these. This one used a single skein of bulky yarn. I knit this one flat, lengthwise, and joined the ends using a three-needle bind off. I may knit the next one in the round if I have two skeins of a particular yarn. If knit as a continuous loop, the rib pattern will be oriented vertically. I'm quite happy with this and it is going in the gift stash. I must dismiss the thought that it goes perfectly with my pink sweaters......

Gift Stash/Destash

This is the project on my needles now. It is knit in Bernat Softee Chunky, so it will be a quick project. The pattern is called Quickie Cowl and is available on Ravelry. I am knitting this as a straight length. When it is done, I will either join the ends to form a circular cowl or add buttons so it can be worn flexibly. The yarn is from my stash.

Last week I undertook to clean out my stash as part of a general desk cleaning. In general, I don't dispose of yarn before it has been knit. The rare instance being when I suddenly had an allergic reaction to some yarn I bought years (and two states!) ago.

This time, I just went ahead and threw out a few skeins of variegated acrylic yarn that was just not worth my time. I see no reason to buy more yarn just to save $4.00 worth of acrylic in a color scheme that is not working for me. The yarns were in beautiful Autumn colors that looked so inviting in the skein. Once knit.......not so good, more like kitty spew.

As for the other things found in stash....I am knitting gifts ahead of time. I do have yarn that I bought and still like. This way, I can have a supply of gift items ready well before the next round of holidays, birthdays, whatever. Also, small, easy projects, such as scarves, mitts, hats, will give me something mindless to work on while dreaming up the next geeky project. I always have a few ideas in mind, but they can take years to accomplish.

TARDIS Socks, finished

Here is a shot of the business end of the TARDIS socks. The photo was taken under UV light, to highlight the glow. Still doesn't do it justice. Never mind why I have a UV lamp handy. I have lots of niche tools. Anyway, that is why my thumb is in the photo. At the top, you can see my thumb holding the casing of the lamp. The white embroidery of the sock is reflected in the surface of the lamp as well.

I have given the socks to Zuchar for her birthday and she is pleased. She has been instructed to sit in a dark room and stare at her feet. I am actually debating making a second pair of knitted TARDIS, this time as mitts. That way, I get to start with the fun parts and I can play with them as I like. If I knit socks, I'd pend to much time staring at my feet.

Brevity mitts

This is the current project, fingerless gloves in worsted weight yarn on size 5 needles. I am using the pattern, Breve that is available on Ravelry. These mitts are wonderfully easy to make, just 40 stitches of 4 X 1 rib knit in the round. After both tubes are knit I will add "afterthought thumbs".
My goal this year is to knit up some stash yarn and have some gifts ready for when I need them. In particular, I plan on giving these to ********. \One thing I really like about this particular pattern is that the fabric has a sleek look, nice and uncluttered. Worsted weight yarn knits up quickly so the project won't take forever. That also gives me time to day dream about the next geeky or complicate project. I am planning something that came to me in a dream.

HairyAss TARDIS Socks

That is EXACTLY how I feel about this project, right now. Knitting the socks themselves is OK. The @#$$%^^ glow-in-the-dark yarn is something else. The yarn in question is Nightlights. It is a long-filament, 100% nylon sliver/roving. It won't hold a twist. As a result, the fibers form a hairy-ass hot mess unless you use them exactly right.
My first attempt was NOT right. Damn, I had glow-in-the-dark spew all over everything. It tangled and snagged and $$#@!@%%^& all over everything. Much frogging and some rather nasty language resulted. I spent yesterday re-knitting, slowly, but with a better result. Now on to the next sock. I hope to post the next photos under UV light so you can see the glow. Supposedly the yarn glows for 4 hours on it's own. We shall see.

Socks TARDIS

Totally forgot to post this. I am working on my first pair of real socks. The last attempt turned out as giant Technicolor mittens.
These will be a gift for someone and will feature a TARDIS theme.
Made of KnitPicks, Palette in deep blue. I am knitting both socks together on separate sets of DPNs. This gives me the best chance of finishing the socks and having them match.

Rare Gilding Sighting

Rare photos of myself. Every once in a great while I will get in front of a camera. One problem is that I take terrible pictures of myself. Candid photos are best. My family members are uniformly terrible with a camera. In this case, I am showing off a new hair cut. I usually wear my hair bound up.
I must admit that I am totally enjoying this. I grew up with a grandmother who had very strict ideas about what was proper. I was raised to be a lady according to standards that came from, oh say 1900.
At any rate, Grandma's rules kinda got shot to pieces.

This is me at work, wearing the scarf. I love the scarf, but I need more practice in wrapping it just so. This is also why I am camera shy..... I make faces.
Anyway, I love the scarf. I'm going to make at least one more. The red and black version was knit with sock yarn. The next version(s) will be knit in sport yarn. I want a faster result and a bigger scarf.
This scarf came out to at least 60" wide by about 16" in depth. It took quite awhile to knit. Sport yarn will be faster. I want a really capacious shawl next time (I think).
My current project is for the feet. I am just finishing up a pair of footie socks in worsted weight yarn. This is the learning project for a pair of socks for a birthday present. Nearly ready for photos.