Taking control of the WIPs.

About 10 minutes after I sent off my last post, I started to feel completely overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of WIPs I had going. I didn’t even tell you about the lace stole at the bottom of my knitting basket (the one I only knit a few inches at a time every 6 months or so), or the socks I’m not sure I want to continue. Um, or the quilts and rag rug I’ve got started and not finished. Enough is enough. Every once in a while, I do this crazy thing to myself where I start a million projects for fun and then am almost immediately overwhelmed and bummed out by them. Fellow crafters, why do we do this to ourselves? Why?!

So I decided I better take back control of at least the knitting. I’ve started to work on new designs and the last thing I need is guilt from my knitting basket slowing me down. My usual method is to put aside the larger projects for the moment, and intensely focus on the things I can finish quickly and get out of the pile. So I haven’t knitted anything on Terra all week (though did luckily bump into someone destashing the exact yarn I’m using for that one, so now I should have plenty to make a nicely large shawl), or Umaro (which, unfortunately, hasn’t been so lucky – the long-since discontinued Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky is absolutely impossible to come by now, so it looks like I’m going to have to start over with fewer stitches to get a suitable lap blanket length), or my brother’s cardigan.

Instead, I focused my attention on my Primavera Socks, started back in my Christmas knitting binge. As is often the case, the second sock was less exciting than the first, and they’d been lingering too long. I took them to my knitting-at-the-pub group last night and announced that I wasn’t allowed to go to bed until the pair was finished. One repeat later, I really wanted to switch over to a new project. But The Knitters encouraged me to finish and so I did – before bedtime, even!

And so glad I can finally just wear them already. I’m totally madly in love with these socks – the pattern’s genius, easy to work but oh-so-pretty to look at, the yarn (Trekking XXL) is so warm and bright, and they fit absolutely perfectly. And even better, this was stash yarn, waiting for a use since 2007. Oy! I’m not officially stashbusting or anything, but I am trying to knit from it as much as I can right now. No particular reason, just trying to find the perfect uses for those yarns I loved enough to stash in the first place. It’s very satisfying when you finally find just the right project.

Also from the stash is the Big Herringbone Cowl I mentioned the other day. This Noro Cash Iroha was also stashed in 2007, bought during one of those awesome John Lewis yarn sales. I bought all they had, 3 skeins, which turned out to be a really odd amount. Not quite enough for most shawls, too much for most cowls. This project was finally the exact perfect one – it won’t be quite as huge as the original (I cast on 10 fewer stitches and I’m estimating it’ll be about 11″ wide in the end) but is a dreamy match for the pattern.

I’m concentrating on this one next, because I only started it Sunday and I’ve already started my last skein of yarn. I knitted the first two up in about one evening each, a little longer. It’s such a fun pattern, it just flies by once you get the hang of the herringbone stitch. So I’m not sure it’s totally possible, but I’m going to set a can’t-go-to-bed-until-it’s-done goal on this one today and see how far I get. Think I can do it?

Tags: cowl, FO, socks, WIP

When to say when …

I seem to be on about a two week rotation right now with knitting and embroidery. I binge on one so severely that, after about two weeks, I desperately need a break from it. Which of course makes me go crazy for the other and I end up starting a million new projects at once.

Which is exactly what I’ve been doing for the last few days. The G on my Sajou sampler had me stumped so a break seemed sensible. I like to let these things roll around in my head a bit before I decide what to do. So I started the Umaro blanket (pattern by Brooklyn Tweed, see it on Ravelry) and have made some decent progress already.

And then the Terra shawl, also by Brooklyn Tweed. (He’s amazing.)

I blame this one on my awesome friend Holly, because she was knitting a Terra so beautiful and squishy, I just couldn’t resist.

Then I spied a delicious Big Herringbone Cowl on Instagram, knitted by the also awesome Jaclyn, and had to cast on for that too.

Oy vey, have I no self-control?!?! But in my defence, all of these new projects are using up stash yarn, which is always nice. On the other hand, there’s a good chance I’m going to run into yardage issues on all of them, which could mean trying to hunt down and buy more. Not really in the spirit of stashbusting.

In any case, I think it might officially be time to say when. These WIPs are in serious danger of getting out of control. And I’m not even counting the cardigan I’m meant to be knitting for my brother, or the socks that don’t ever seem to grow, or the new designs I’m going to start messing with this week. I’m pretty sure my project basket is at its maximum capacity.

And you know what? I’m already starting to feel itchy for the Sajou sampler again. Oh boy.

Tags: blanket, cowl, lace, shawl, stash

Little Snow-White, The Musicians of Bremen, and Hansel & Gretel

Here we go – three more patterns released today! This is the next-to-last little group of Brothers Grimm patterns – as I mentioned before, we did a rather large set for our first one, to get Little Dorrit & Co. started off right. The last batch will be along soon enough, and will include another little freebie!

But first things first. Today’s releases included some of my favorites of this collection – starting with Little Snow-White, as she was known by the Brothers Grimm. I was surprised to find that the original story is basically the same as the version we all know now. (As always, click through to Flickr for larger / more photos!)

Little Snow-White is seen as a threat by her vain and cruel Stepmother, and banished to the woods. There she meets seven wee little mining men. She takes care of them and they help keep her hidden and safe.

Until the stepmother tries to poison her, in a variety of creative ways, including the infamous poisoned apple. Thinking she is dead, the dwarves mourn and the handsome Prince is so saddened, he wants to take her away so he can always look upon her lost beauty. Although the modern re-telling has the Prince romantically kiss away the poison, metaphorically speaking, the Brothers Grimm were a little more practical. When the Prince lifts her casket, Snow-White is jostled and the piece of apple lodged in her throat is moved, allowing her to breathe again, marry her Prince, and live happily ever after. The main difference is actually in the very ending, an odd detail we couldn’t help but illustrate. The evil Stepmother attends Snow-White’s wedding, but as punishment for her wicked deeds, she is forced to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance in them until she dies! Geez. Talk about your creative punishments.

We chose to give our Little Snow-White a slightly medieval feel and pose her and her loved ones as if they were ready for their wedding portrait. As far as stitching is concerned, the only thing I could really point out as special is Snow-White’s hair, which we knew had to be dramatic, shiny, and sleek. I used the DMC Satin (for real this time) in black and couched it down with the tiniest stitches I could manage to keep the line as smooth as possible. But when I gave the whole thing a rinse, and this is the trouble with that thread that I referred to the other day, it went all wavy on me. Like Snow-White had just stepped out of the 80s and had crimped her hair. So I did it over, this time using at least twice as many tacking stitches and a disappearing ink pen so that I wouldn’t need to rinse it again. Annoying to do it twice, but I’m so pleased with those smooth curves now.

The Musicians of Bremen might be a less familiar story, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. What’s not to love about a group of musicians who happen to be a Donkey, a Dog, a Rooster, and an old scruffy cat? And the Donkey plays the lute!!!

Because their owners start to think they are a little past their prime, that maybe they’d make a good dinner or two, this group of rag-tag animals travel together to Bremen and embark upon new careers as town-musicians. They get into a little adventure with a robber, but I’ll let you find out about that yourselves.

You’ll notice the little music notes in this pattern and the next, as well as a few others in our Brothers Grimm collection. Music appears surprisingly often in these tales, usually as an indication of where to go or how to find someone. We’ve stitched them the same in every one, couched in Anchor Lame, to be a little thread (no pun intended) that floats through the whole collection.

Lastly, one of my very favorites, the classic story of Hansel & Gretel. These two wee things are left in the spooky woods to fend for themselves when their father and stepmother cannot afford to feed them any longer. Hansel’s a pretty smart boy and uses white pebbles to make a trail leading back home, knowing that the moonlight will reflect on them and make their path easy to see. We made the moon huge and the pebbles bright in silver, contrasting with the blues we used to give the feel of the dark of night.

But, despite their best efforts to get home, they catch the sound of a little bird singing and follow it, only to find themselves at a very tempting, tasty-looking house. The witch is waiting there, ready to cook them up, but they outsmart her in the end and manage to get back to their family. Don’t worry about them.

So there we are – almost to the end of our Brothers Grimm fairy tale-inspired embroidery patterns. They’re all available in the Little Dorrit & Co. etsy shop – and we hope you stick around for that freebie I mentioned, coming up soon!

Tags: Brothers Grimm, etsy, fairy tales, Hansel & Gretel, illustration, Little Snow-White, Musicians of Bremen, pattern, stitches

Prepping for Umaro

I’ve been all about the stitchy lately, so I thought it might be a good time to tell you about some knitting plans. I’m in the middle of some not-so-exciting projects and was trying to make some decent progress on those before I started anything new. But I’m a yarn addict and I’m weak. I’m sure you can sympathize.

Wanting something warm and cuddly to play with over this freezing weekend, I lost my last tiny bit of resolve and started prepping a new project: the Umaro blanket. Based on the Hemlock Ring I knitted for my mother, I want this one to be a pretty small lap blanket. For those evenings that are a bit cool, but a full blanket is just too much. Or for times when a full blanket draped all around just isn’t practical – sitting at my desk, surrounded by embroidery bits, etc. I have plenty of bed-sized blankets, this one can be a small one.

So I frogged a sweater I’d never worn, skeined it, and gave it a wash to get rid of the noodle kinks.

I’ve never done this before, so I was surprised that I had the whole process done in a weekend. I was also kind of amazed by the way the kinks just softened right out of the yarn almost immediately on hitting the warm water, it was kind freaky. I have a few skeins hanging over my radiator, so maybe I can get started really quickly.

Of course, now I’m worried that I don’t have enough yarn. Typical.

Tags: lace, cables, blanket, home

Not G after all.

So, hi everyone! I know there’s quite a few more of you out there now, after the so-very-exciting (for us) Feeling Stitchy post about our Little Dorrit & Co. patterns. That was pretty much amazing! No matter how long I’m involved in it, I’ll never get over how supportive and encouraging this crafty community of ours is. It’s just too dang awesome. So welcome, newcomers, it’s great to have you here!

It’s been psychotically busy around here for the last few days, but I just wanted to give you all a little update on my Sajou sampler progress. That is to say, my non-progress. This G is making me crazy! I fussed for days over how to stitch it, then finally decided on a backstitch fill, only to find that the way I was doing it made such a thick, dense underside that I worried it might cause a framing problem down the line. It was also causing the fabric pucker – just a bit, but enough that I didn’t want to risk it getting worse. So out the stitches come.

So, um, I’m kind of stuck! Any thoughts on what stitch to use to get this G done in the two colors shown? I’ve been puzzling over it long enough on my own, I’m open to suggestions! Can you see in this Instagrammed-up photo the way that the pulled-out teal stitches left a sort of speckled effect behind them? I’m intrigued by that, it’s like very fine seeding – I wonder if there’s something in that?

Tags: Sajou, samplers, stitches