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Hi all - Karrie here! On this past Monday's show, Karen & I challenged you you create EVERY DAY in August by joining our Daily Dose of Fiber 31-Day Challenge!
Here's whatcha gotta do to particpate in the challenge:
- First pick up the button that says you joined the challenge and pop it onto your blog! (See sidebar for blog button!)
- Second, Commit to creating every day in August - at least 20 minutes a day!
- Keep us posted! Link up with our linky so that we can check out your progress on your blog! If you don't have a blog, come back to this post and let us know what you've been up to!
- If you do have a blog - write a post explaining that you are a part of this challenge - linking back to this post!
No challenge would be complete without a prize! Karen has generously donated a book, Continuous Cables by Melissa Leapman. The winner of the book will be chosen at random from the participants who either post to their own blog or to our blog or a combo of both every day in August about how they spent their 20 minutes a day!
14 comments:
Eek, I've been posting what I've been doing on Twitter since I spend way more time there than in my poor neglected blog. Does that count or should I start posting it here instead?
That counts, but start commenting here too!
Ok ladies, I'm in. Saturday (8/1) was What's It? day - half an hour+ of knitting roll-y, fold-y, splitty Crystal Palace Deco Stardust. Sunday was more work on my Clamshell design washcloth for my husband's niece. Worked on both for a bit yesterday as well.
Today I'm assembling a mitered square blanket for his other young niece & not happy with the seams. Both the washcloth & the blanket need to be done by tomorrow night. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.
Since I don't have a blog, pictures will be available on Ravelry.
Definitely got my 20 minutes plus in yesterday. Finished the Clamshell washcloth, in plenty of time to take it to dinner with the extended family last night & give it to Tori.
The mitered blanket was a whole 'nother story. Had it all assembled but could not find my last ball of turquoise yarn to crochet the edging. Had enough to go once around one & a half blocks, then had to stop until the ball was finally unearthed - at the very bottom of my stash- at 4 yesterday afternoon. Convinced DH that he wanted to drive on the way up to Ocean View so I could keep crocheting in the car, & finally finished the edging while sitting & chatting after dinner. 3 year olds are only so patient, & brother Eddie got his blanket months ago, so Sophie had to get hers last night, come hell or high water.
Now that those 2 are done, guess that means back to the What's It today. It's either that or heavy chenille in 80+ degree weather. Frogged a dishcloth before going to bed last night - really didn't like the way the pattern was shaping up - so anything else would need to be cast on.
Still chugging along. Got a few more rows on the What's It but the yarn worms so much that 2 or 3 rows at sitting is all I can stand to do. For a break on Friday I cast on a scarf for my DH, who has been waiting patiently while I have knit for everyone else. Worked a couple of inches, but the yarn we had chosen was too scratchy, so the sound of frogs was in the air. Cast on a new yarn & pattern for him on Saturday evening.
Also took a mental health break Saturday to knit what I hoped would be a felted eyeglass case or change purse. The yarn was a no-ball-band mystery yarn from The Fine Needle's May sale. It looked like it ought to felt beautifully, but when I tried it this morning no such luck. Lots of fuzz but no felt. Okaaaaay, so on to the next brainstorm ...
Got past the 2nd increase on the What's It last night - now up to 135 stitches & plowing ahead. Only 19 more rows to go.
Took a break last Friday & cast on a scarf for my spouse but had to frog it Saturday - yarn was waaaaaay too scratchy. So cast on another version - different yarn and different pattern - & have managed to get about 30 rows of that done. Yesterday's felting attempt on a mystery skein crashed & burned, though.
Still waiting for the yarn I need to arrive so that I can cast on my niece's Sea Oats sweater, which is next up in my queue. Maybe after that I'll actually make something for myself.
Took a break from actual knitting on Monday & spent some time putting my stash in order. Only did a bit of late-night knitting before bed. The Seduce I needed for my next project finally arrived on Tuesday, as did my copy of Big Girl Knits (does drooling over patterns count toward the challenge?).
The scarf for DH continues to grow. It became 20 rows longer yesterday while I was sitting in the doctor's office (waaaaay more than 20 minutes) & added almost another 20 rows last night -- until I noticed an error in the border along one side. It was only 3 rows back, so I figured no big deal to fix. Then I looked more closely & saw the same mistake about 9 rows back from that. Since I was on the road, no double point needles to rip & fix, & wasn't about to tink the whole scarf back that far.
So the What's It got some TLC (why I always travel with more than one project). I'm now about to start the 3rd round of increases. Thank heaven the number of rows between increases decreases as the number of stitches per row heads over 200.
Also had a chance to wander around a marvelous new yarn store in northern Virginia yesterday - Fibre Space in Alexandria. Everything you could ask for in an LYS. Came out with several skeins of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool - a yarn I've been wanting to try - in a rich shade of marled purple. All in all, not a bad fiber day.
Slowing down as we come into mid-month. Got my 20 minutes each day, but not much more - 2 rows done on the What's It on Friday & 1 last night. House guests from tomorrow to Thursday morning - want to record DH's aging aunts & their recollections of the family history while we still can. Not sure how much, if any, knitting I'll get done while they're here.
Sounds to me like "creating" family history counts towards the 31 Day challenge!
I have been knitting every day. I designed, knitted and finished a wristlet handbag and am working on a pair of socks during the 31 Day challenge. I am blogging about it at The Fine Needle Points blog http://www.fineneedlepoints.blogspot.com
Let's keep on knitting folks!
The aunts headed home yesterday after a nice visit. Surprisingly, I was able to add a row a night to the What's It while we were all sitting & talking. I've reached what should be the last increase, but it looks a little short to me. Think I'll add another 5 row strip before the last ruffle.
Off to Washington DC tomorrow in the wee early am - quick up & back for the funeral of an old friend of my husband's. Taking my knitting along to keep me calm & grounded while all get through this. Tomorrow night will be tough.
The What's It? is finally finished!!! Now to finish the scarf for my DH before the end of the month & cast on the sleeves for my niece's jacket.
Yesterday's post was a bit abbreviated since I was so thrilled to be done knitting the What's It (Ravelry photo to come after I've blocked it), so let me fill in. After the aunts & the funeral I took a mini-break from the pending projects to play around with the knit one below idea. Nothing in particular in mind, just curious to see how it would look in a couple of different yarns. Think I might use it for the christmas scarves for DH's nephew & nieces. Also have spent a biiiiiig chunk of time hunting for some yarn for my best friend's Christmas present. Had thought about a pair of mitts in a lovely soft green, but not sure she's really the mitt type, so began looking for the right mix of fall-toned worsted weight yarn for a pair of slippers. Then my eye fell on the neat little felted lunch bag from Knitty several seasons back. Since she takes her lunch to work & I had wanted to try a felted project, looks like that's the direction I'm heading. Saw a couple of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes shapes that would work when combined, & since I'd been meaning to try their product, .... Now I just have to finish my current projects.
Well, I'm down to the wire. DH's scarf will not be finished, but at least I've got it tinked back & the pattern errors fixed, so it can go full steam from here. Saturday night, in need of a little instant gratification, I cast on a little bar towel for him out of Sugar 'n Cream. It's turning out nicely, which gave me the idea of use 2 skeins of Mission Falls cotton I'd bought & was not really loving to make guest bath hand towels - next month. The bar towel should finish up today, along with blocking the What's It? Maybe not as many projects done this month as I would have liked, but still a decent effort.
Congratulations to everyone! I hope you enjoyed the Daily Dose of Fiber 31 Day Challenge! I had a lot of fun!
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