It's surprised me how little time I've managed to put aside in my two weeks off work for blogging. I had intended to do more, on more than just crocheting, but somehow it didn't happen. Oh well. Back to work for me today, so normal service will resume!
As it's WIP Wednesday, I guess you're all clamouring for updates on my various projects. You can see from the sidebar I've knocked my total WIP count down to just five. I'm almost out of projects! Unfortunately, this means my projects are all either finished (and awaiting Friday's FO post), so close to completion I don't want to show you them till they are finished, or progressing so slowly and steadily there is no visible change to photograph! So this might get a bit wordy.
The Aurora Vest is almost done. All I have left is to crochet the ties to hold it shut, and blocking. As it's 50:50 acrylic/merino, I'm not sure how best to go about blocking it; at the moment I'm thinking a careful and gentle steaming with the iron. A job for next weekend, probably. Fingerless Lace Gloves 2 are in a similar state (and have been for a while), so if I'm getting my blocking on for the cardigan, I may well get them blocked at the same time.
The Tree of Life cushion I mentioned last week is finished, so if you really can't wait to see it, you can find it in my Ravelry projects. But I will be revisiting that on Friday.
The coral snake is progressing nicely, it's the sort of project I can pick up and work on when I don't really want to think about anything at all. I'm onto the third repeat out of eight, the only thing that really slows it down is the colour changes. My filet daffodil panel is growing steadily, but progress was hampered somewhat this week by my spilling Coke over it and needing to give it an emergency cold water bath to soak out the stains! Fortunately, I got to it right away and the Coke came out completely. You can't even tell it was damaged now. *phew*
One old project I've picked back up over the last few days has been my Ultimate Crocheted Socks. When I picked them back up, they looked like this:
I'd done the easy bits, and had reached the tricky heel section. As I'd been relying on kirby grips as stitch markers, I found when I picked it back up that they had all fallen out, and I had no idea where they were meant to go. After some struggling, I decided it would be better for my sanity if I started afresh, and used my sexy new stitch markers to keep on top of things. So I've started a new sock with my fresh ball of yarn, and have just got past the toe increases and am working my way up the foot.
On balance, I think this is a good idea as I was almost out of yarn on the original sock, so I am going to need another new ball to complete them anyway. Will pop into town some point this week and see if I can pick one up. I don't think anyone will notice if the socks come from different dye lots, although hopefully the yarn hasn't been so popular that I will end up with a different colour!
Follow the links below to see more posts (with more exciting pictures, hopefully) of works in progress this week:
Hope you enjoyed your 2 wks off. Welcome back to the grind now. Only 5 WIP, you're doing well. I'm afraid to count mine. How do you get those cool percentage things in your sidebar? I love that.
ReplyDeleteNice colors in the sock I see above. I think those colors would make an awesome afghan, not that I need another project, lol.
Sandy
I did at one stage have 10 WIPs outstanding, so getting down to 5 is a bit of an achievement! The progress bars are a Ravelry widget, info is here: http://www.ravelry.com/wiki/pages/BlogWidgets#add_progress_bars_for_your_wips_to_your_blog
ReplyDeleteI had to skip over to Ravelry to see the coral snake, and alksdjf;l I love it! Those colours are fantastic together. (And oh my, the tree of life cushion. Gorgeous.)
ReplyDeleteI hope the socks go well---sometimes restarting something really is a sanity-saver, and it usually comes out so much better on the second go-round anyway.
Thanks for the widget. I was wondering how you created the progress bars xx
ReplyDeleteThe snake is huge! It's already 19" long, and the six repeats I've got to go will add another 24!! I can see it getting quite unwieldy to work on before I'm done.
ReplyDeletethe girls are wanting me to try making them some socks out of a couple of skeins of the fancy soft yarn that a lady at church gave me. Who knows, I might get around to it one of these days.
ReplyDeleteSometimes starting over is really the best solution, plus the second version always seems to go more easily and quickly because of what we learn on the first try.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see the Aurora all finished :-)
Wow, you have been busy with all of your projects! I'm excited to see your FOs. :) I think having different dye lots for socks is just fine, even different colors!
ReplyDeleteYou've been pretty busy. I'm interested in how your crochet socks turn out and hear how they feel on your feet.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your Tree of Life! I'm going to see if I can wait until Friday without peeking :).
ReplyDelete