Sunday, October 12, 2008

A Happy Maker of Things

For once I'm not going to complain. See? I even redecorated for you!

I've been making lots of things lately, which makes me happy, happy, happy! The Dark Lord now has a goofy hat which he loves. I have no idea why given that under normal circumstances anything other than somber, dark colors seems to be taboo lately. For whatever reason, he loves the hat so his knitting mama is quite happy. Knitterly details on this hat can be found here.
I've been doing lots of spinning and enjoying the feel of the fiber slipping through my fingers. The finished yarn is from an old roving I've had around for a while and is about to made into a gift for a certain special friend. The single yarn still on the bobbin is from a gorgeous merino/alpaca roving I bought a couple of weeks ago at OFFF. It spins "like buttah". I have no plans for the finished yarn yet but whatever I make it will be lovely and soft.

I recently got a bee in my bonnet about crocheting a multicolored ripple afghan after skimming through this book. Mind you I don't actually know how to crochet but would I let a little detail like that stop me? I haven't jumped in yet mostly because I can't afford to buy new yarn but I figured a little practice wouldn't hurt. I whipped out a little scarf for The Princess, I kid you not, in the time it took us to drive across town to an art exhibition, to lunch, downtown to pick up a child, and then back home. I now totally get why people love crochet--it's wicked fast compared to knitting. My understanding is that it will take somewhere around two thousand yards of yarn to make a decent sized blanket so I may need to give this some thought before I commit. Oh, and learn to crochet properly.

What else? I spent much of last weekend playing with paper, glue, and my beloved Silky Crayons and turned a child's board book into a cookbook which, admittedly, isn't all that practical but was so much fun to make.

Oh--and I finished a sweater for The Princess. This sweater almost didn't make it as I bought the yarn years ago when she was much tinier. I was short one ball in order to finish and couldn't find anyone selling the yarn locally. Happily I looked on Ravelry and found exactly one person with this yarn in her stash. She cheerfully accepted my offer to buy the yarn from her and shipped it to me from Canada. Aren't knitters the best?
Nothing makes me happier than making things. It isn't just about the finished objects though I am happy to have those out in the world and being loved. There's nothing more satisfying than learning the quirks of a new fiber or blending colors together and delighting myself with the results. I'm trying so hard to slow down and ensure that I have more making-things time because there's nothing better, especially when it seems that the sky is falling and there isn't a thing I can do about it.

3 comments:

Ali said...

I love all the goofy hats that are cool these days, and that yarn is a gorgeous color. I can see how even the DL couldn't resist it.

I want to see pictures of the cookbook (or, I guess, the cookbook itself)!

ElizO said...

Wow, as someone who just doesn't make things, this all sounds pretty amazing to me!

Anonymous said...

See? Crocheting rocks. All I ever learned to do was single crochet but hell, that and some sewing with a big yarn needle is enough to make a scarf, a hat or a really blocky-looking vest. And it's more easily portable than quilting, which is MY needlecraft of choice.