What To Do...

With all those little balls of scrap yarn that accumulate in the wake of projects.
I've been knitting stuff for Johanne's ranch shop for a few years now, and all those little bits have been building up. Taking inventory, I found I had 8 or 9 colours of her 2-ply yarn in little balls, and the scale confirmed there was enough for a pair of fingerless mittens.

So with the help of the scale, I sorted it all into approximately equal quantities of each colour in two piles, one for each mitt.

Looks a mess, right? What do we do with it? Arranging things in a gradient order of some sort always helps, I find. (I've been arranging things in rainbow order, gradient order, whatever, since before I started school. I think it's a compulsion.)

A quick swatch suggested that I would have at least enough for 3-4 rows in each colour, more in a stranded pattern. The dark browns had the most, so I figured that would be cuff and trim, and I let the rest percolate a bit. Finally decided on a 4 row pattern repeat with the colours shading in and out along the gradient, and cast on to start.

I think I like the way it's coming out; now it'll just be a question of hoping the colours hold out properly to keep the sequence going. And the weaving in of the ends will be a chore. But hey, as a method for not wasting yarn, it'll do!

While my ideas were percolating for the mitts, I started a new project. I probably "should" have been spinning, or sewing quilt seams, or frogging something in my frog bag - you know, dealing with the things that are already on the to-do list - but I didn't want to do any of those. I wanted to start a new cross-stitch. So I did. I've had this cross-stitch kit around for years, and finishing Frederick last year means I can start something new, right? And the colours are just what I want for the space over my table, now occupied with a print of pansies in blues and yellows, and my dishes are mostly blue and white...As my friend Deb would say, 'Justify, justify, justify!'

A Plethora of Projects

Just because I’ve been maundering on about gardening and historical characters doesn’t mean I haven’t been getting a bit of work done in the fiber division. In fact, totting up the projects, I suspect some springtime restlessness or something is going on.

There are now 3 finished skeins of cria, and nearly two bobbins more ready to ply. And dang, I’m getting a bit bored with it, gorgeous as it is.

I’ve started the neck steek for my Autumn Rose, and I’m on the foot of my first Pamina sock.

I also started a length of tatted lace, a nice easy-to-memorize pattern, so I can take it outside and work while Julia’s prowling, now that there’s a chance I can go out without mitts on.

And I got back to the cross-stitch I started and then abandoned earlier this winter. It struck me that if I want to have it done in time to exhibit for the fairs this fall, I had better get back to it. It does strike me as ironic, though, that my biggest issue in a stitchery of a cat is keeping the (actual) cat hair out of it.

The lace will likely also go to the fairs. Once summer comes, there will be less time to work on things, so entries have to be thought about over the winter. I had a lot of knitting but not much else for handwork last year, so I want more of a variety this time.