Make it Monday: Odds, Ends, and Dress-Ups

A while ago (two years, actually), I won a fantastic basket of yarn in a raffle. Nice yarns. Beautiful yarns. Cottons, wools, and mohairs, to be precise. But I soon discovered a problem: there is very little you can make with just one skein of yarn - and the basket held no duplicates! I don't really care to make 20 cell phone cases or finger puppets, which seem to be the sum total of the brilliant, one-skein patterns available, so the yarn sat unmoletsed in that basket for TWO YEARS (can you believe it?). Finally, I decided I needed to either use the yarn, or toss it, so before going to Texas I decided to just start a project I'd been wanting to try (Stimson Ave. Stole) with a skein I had and see how far I got. :) It managed to be about half the proper length, and the other skein I used for the edging got me half-way around and then ran out - but I'm glad I did it anyway. The little girls get it to play dress-up with, and I know now how easy and beautiful the pattern really is. :)

knitting

 Ta-dah! Definitely something I will make again, with the proper yarn amounts. :)

This last week I "finished" the stole and began to search for a pattern that could be used for some lovely, lavender, lace-weight mohair. Fingerless Tea Gloves! I think I will be able to get at least two little girl pairs out of the skein (no prizes guessing who those will go to)...I love how delicate and lacy they are!


crocheting

 After starting numerous projects and not having anywhere close to the right length of yarns, I finally found a pattern for these fun ruffly neck-warmers. I made one of wool (the green/tan one) and one of...some other, mysterious, unlabeled yarn (I have a hunch it's at least partly acrylic). I think they're wonderful, but the picture is model-less, as I've yet to get buttons.


crochet

 After the wool neck warmer, I was left with simply scraps of wool - too little to be made into anything, and too much for me to feel like throwing it away. It is such nice wool! So I've started a sort of "scrap quilt". Only it's crocheted, and not really a quilt at all, just a little zig-zag pattern made out of cozy wool. This one will be a long time in the works, as I will only add to it when I have useless lengths of wooliness left over from various projects. But I like the idea, and feel quite happy with it. :)

crochet


Then there was a great, thick skein of cotton. A while back mama had made some knitted washrags that had different patterns on them by alternating your purl/knit stitch, so I decided to try it for myself! Here is washrag #1 (#2 is still in progress):

And finally, remember when I mentioned that the neck warmers needed buttons? Yes, well, I went to Joann's to get said buttons, but...did not...that is to say... when I returned home, it was not with buttons. I returned with some absolutely gorgeous, brilliantly-colored, happy-smiley bamboo silk skeins, which I've been making up into fun flower-granny squares for a blanket. I don't know yet if it will just be a lap blanket (all I could make with the squares I currently have) or if I dare go back to Joann's to buy more skeins - what with yarns, and fabrics, and patterns, that place is downright dangerous to the pocket-book!

crochet

 And those are the projects that have been keeping me busy this week. I find that I phase in and out of obsession with regards to yarn - apparently I'm in the thick of one such phase now. :) Linking up with Kirsteen from Life in My Houseful of Boys today! :)