WIP Wednesdays: Anna Karenina

So this blanket is named after the book.  The interminable, never-ending book.  I started it while reading Anna Karenina... almost a year and a half ago (!!)

I finally cheated and finished reading the book on iBooks.  The blanket?  She remains.  Linen stitch takes forever, yo.  I don't really intend to finish this blanket any time soon; maybe next winter or the one after?  As new yarns find their way into the scrap pile it changes the look.  Of course, the look of this blanket will always be a crazy hodpodge of everything but the kitchen sink.  But that's what I love about it.

A very unhappy baby for scale.  You'd probably be unhappy too if somebody interrupted your playing to lay you down on a blanket and take pictures!  This blanket is about 3 feet (yes I measured it which means, basically, baby girl is HUGE!) so it's about halfway done.  I had to set it aside during summer but now that the weather's cooled off there's no better knitting project than a big, heavy half of a blanket you can curl up under while knitting =)

What are you working on now that there's a chill in the air?  Or is summer still going strong where you live?

wip wednesday: when whales fly

appropriately enough that's probably when i will finish this.  when whales fly, that is.  

but if i do ever finish it?  totally epic

pattern here.  if you ever embroider check this site out.  i'm sure my grandma never could've imagined i'd be embroidering flying whales or calaveras.

WIP Wednesday: whatever happened to knitting?

i've been in a terrible knitting and blogging incaseyoudidn'tnotice rut recently.  there are some reasons, or excuses if you will, for both of these egregious oversights.

let's cover knitting real quick as i think it'll be more entertaining.  after all who doesn't like to gloat over hear about others' failures?  i know i do.

first there was the ill fated black recycled lace sweater.  there was so much wrong there it's actually hard to know where to start.  first, i did not make a game plan.  i had some notes on gauge and how many stitches to cast on, which would have been enough, but i lost them.  into the ether apparently cuz they never turned up.  then i started seriously doubting  whether or not it would even be a flattering style for me and i didn't think there'd be enough yarn.  and then came the kettle corn.  my god... the kettle corn.  i don't think i'll ever get all the kettle corn out of the knitting, much less the yarn cake.  fail.

then there were the socks.  ships that passed in the night, as it were.  halfway through the second sock i started looking for the mate (cuz, you know, socks get lonely without their sole mates... and yes you can expect to hear that pun many more times on this blog).  gone.  undoubtedly absconded with the sweater notes.  (sensing a theme here?  i really need to get organized =P)  double fail.  that pretty much killed my willtolive knitting mojo for awhile.  now that the weather is turning and fall is decidedly creeping up my thoughts have turned to woolly sweaters so i've finally cast on a new knitting project.

finally, my swift is and has been broken for.ev.er.  my dad made it and insists he will fix it... but i may have to go buy a new one.  when all your yarn is in hanks it becomes a paramount task (not to mention team effort) to cast on a new project.  damn the evil spider that broke my swift.

as for the blog i can only blame myself (blaming the kids would be too easy) for my broken camera, sticky laptop keys (note the lack of capital letters and spaces... now you know why), and sporadic internet connection.  so the last one isn't really kid-related but it definitely puts a cramp in my style iykwim.  so all i can say is that i'll try and be better.  i've certainly been sewing quite a bit and reading about all the great sewing/costume making so now i feel ready to get back to it!

now that i'm done whining, anybody else started thinking about fall makings yet?

WIP Wednesday

Quilt sandwich is made.  I'm wondering if my machine can handle it.  Hell, I'm wondering if my table can handle it!  It's a tad bit bigger than I'd expected.

Next: a new pair of Little Heartbreakers for my little heartbreaker.  He's managed to outgrow all his pants so I've got these cut out and ready to go.  It'd be nice if I could get them done before we go to the zoo on Saturday, but that means churning them out in the hours before the kids get up Saturday morning so we shall see...

Chocolate brown corduroy with minty accents.  Mmmmm...

wip wednesday: herringbone quilt edition

I've finally finished the quilt top.  Now it just needs sammiching and, umm, quilting.  And, you know, binding and stuff

I wants to help.

See how much I'm helping?

Scooch scooch.

And the aftermath.

Linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Wip Wednesday: Bunny to Be

This one's for Britta.  But aren't my stitch markers pretty?  Christmas present from my dad =)  He makes 'em just for me!

It's a dark, chocolatey brown.  Yes.  Chocolatey is a word I assure you.

That's all for now on this WIP.  Linking up again for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Hopefully I won't be run out of town for linking up a knitting project, it seems like mostly people are linking up quilts in progress.

wip wednesday

Why do i bother making blankets?  They are, without fail, horrid, never ending projects that i hate the sight of when i finally (years from now) finish.

All right I'm done being melodramatic.  In progress pic of my mom's birthday present.  It's a new lap blanket (lapghan?) since the last one I made her is getting quite ratty.  Her birthday is at the end of February so I'd better get cracking.  

By the way, I make blankets because so many scraaaaaappppss.

This will be my first time trying to link up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Before this week I thought that it was merely the alliterative appeal that had so many people doing WIP Wednesday.  But no, duh, it's because there's a linky partay over there.

wip wednesday,,,

on thursday...  but wip thursday doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

still chugging away on my endpaper pullover.  i've finished one of the sleeves to the underarm and am just about to start the bust shaping on the body.  i cast on the second sleeve and have the ribbing plus about 2 inches of colorwork done.  all in all i feel pretty much on schedule to finish 12 sweaters this year.

but then, the year is still young eh?  anybody else have any overenthusiastic goals for this year??

wip wednesday

it's gettin' there

isn't it purty?

left: last week. right: this week

i thought this sweater would take forever but i'm making pretty good progress.  we'll see if i make it to 12 sweaters this year, though. my guess? not at this gauge! 

wip wednesday

of (let's get real here) apocalyptic proportions.

i made a list.  not a list of things to make, but one of things that i am currently making.  there were 14 items on the list, and those are just the ones i could remember.  6 of the items on the list are blankets of various sizes, intentions, and crafts.

holy frijoles.  it's too much.  i can't even take it.  i have to finish some of this stuff so i can move on with my life and get to my (overoptimistic) list of christmas pressies.

aaaand here's a collage of messed up pics (hope my camera isn't broken) of just the most pressing wips

my goal is to cross at least 3 things off of the list by next wednesday... hopefully more.

this weeks goals:

the boy's mitts

chevron mitts (#2)

big fish

grammy's apron?

cupcake?

i'll be psyched if i finish all that.

wip wednesday

who decides what's hard?

is steeking hard?  what about buttonholes?  or cables or lace or sewing knits or or or....

you see where i'm going with this.  i think a lot of the time people think something is hard just because they've heard it is.  things may seem intimidating or be difficult the first time you tackle them, but i always find when i finish a project using a new technique by the time i'm finished i don't feel like it's hard, per se.  a pain in the arse perhaps, but not hard.

on the other hand, is piping hard?  

i'm gonna go with maybe...

see this?  this is a problem.  there's a hiccup i hadn't forseen due to the placement of the piping since i have no idea what i'm doing...

ahem...

at this point i'm just hoping it's all gonna work out.  i find i almost always get this mid-project panic where i realize that i'm doing everything wrong, my color or pattern choices are terrible, and basically the project is probably not worth finishing.  that's where i am with this project. 

i figure that even if it does end up just being awful at least i learned to make and sew on piping?  after all if you can't laugh you just have to cry right?