Hello there!
This fortnight was again a bit too centred around my work, but I also travelled a lot.
I still managed to start a new WIP. Oh, well. There is nothing that can be done about it now.
Crochet
Stitch
Despite him being done for a while, I just want to share how my boss liked it :D. I was stitching during a call with cameras on, and later that day, he asked about the project, so I showed him the (rainbow ripple) blanket. He commented something along the lines, “Wow, that must have taken so much time.” Yep. It did. But I showed him Stitch that was sitting on my desk and told him, despite his size, this little fella took me so many hours, and it’s not even visible.
He asked if I could bring him closer to the camera so that he could take a screenshot. I might give Stitch to him because he has young kids. And I like giving my stuff away to people directly rather than through a charity.
Josje
Do you remember how I said I wanna have her done by Tuesday/Thursday? HAHAHA. Best joke ever. Of course, she is not done.
Amis do take time; I’ve been making them for a few years, and I always underestimate how long they take, at least for me. I do crochet quickly, but I take my time with sewing and adding details because I know it will be worth it.
Anyway, I also need to correct her name. It’s Josje, not Josie. And the designer (group?) is also present in the pattern. It’s Guusje Pluis. Apparently, I have problems with reading.
Now, as I corrected myself, I can show you the current state of Josje:
The poor girl is bald and will stay bald. The only thing that is missing is her hat and details. I bought some blush powder for kids, and I am terrified to put it on because if I screw it up, there is no going back. Apart from cutting off her head. Ugh! Wish me luck.
I wanna share this creepy picture of a headless Josje:
Such a cute doll and yet so creepy.
Rainbow blanket
I did one row on this one. It counts, but it’s not worth a picture, trust me :).
Knitting
Abby socks
I did a few rows on the second sock, and it’s almost ready for the heel as it was before, but closer.
Garter blanket
And I will repeat myself, but - I did a row or two, and it’s not worth a picture.
I try to work on all my active WIPs during the fortnight window, at least a tiny bit. I did not lose interest in any of them, but I just needed to finish other things.
Fortaleza socks
This is the new WIP I started. When I started with socks, I’d never imagined having two socks on the needles. And yet, here I am.
In my defence, I needed a quick WIP for travelling. I knew I wouldn’t have much space for knitting, and I couldn’t knit all the time because I needed to do other stuff, but still, I needed that WIP. And there is no way I would fiddle with a heel while on the go.
So I took the opportunity and caked up the Malabrigo Fortaleza hank I had since January/February. Again, there is no need to treasure the special yarn in the stash because I want to wear it and treasure it that way.
Acquisition
I got some things, and I have zero regrets.
Needles
#stopInterchangeableAbuse
I bought Chiaogoo 9”, 2.25~mm circular needles because I don’t see a reason why I should abuse the interchangeable set since I will have socks forever. That takes the needle size and cable out of the set and makes it less interchangeable.
Yarn for a coin
Many, many years ago, I renovated an old Stingl Original piano and found two coins inside of it. I thought nothing of it and googled the value of them. One was worthless, and the other was a bit valuable. Nothing super rare, but I decided to keep them and sell them later.
Years passed by, and I still carried them in my wallet. When on my travels, I was walking around a city, admiring the architecture, and there it was - a coin shop. And around a corner, there was a yarn shop. Yep. I sold my coins and got this:
Hot pink, so hot it burns. With a white buddy that will set it off even more:
Originally, I wanted to do cuff, heel and toe in the white, but now I want stripes on top of that.
Next on the list is this lovely navy blue merino:
It’s not for socks; I wanna make a cowl and fingerless mitts. And I want cables and all the texture as it is a solid colour.
I cannot leave a fancy store without a hank of Malabrigo, can I? I have Archangel Arroyo, so now I will have it in socks also:
Not so yarny chit-chat: Evaluating NYRs
It’s almost the end of 2023, so I think it’s fair to evaluate how I did in regard to my New Year’s Recommendations. It’s fairly straightforward, but let’s get some details.
- Make a full-size person blanket: done. I made at least two, and I am working on another two.
- Learn to knit and make a hat: done. This may count as two, but nah. I made a hat; it’s wearable, but I am not into hats at the moment, so I decided not to make more.
- Knit a pair of socks: done. Again, I did at least two, and I have two on the needles at the moment.
Now, we are entering the failed territory:
- Send 50 postcards to the world. I failed this intentionally. I was fed up with the site that gives addresses of people to others in countries that are labelled as terrorist countries by the EU. I want to, but I am not ready to go back.
- Buy yarn more mindfully. I failed this a few times when I went bonkers in the summer. But most of the year, I was good.
Not so bad, not so good. Certainly better than my personal NYRs. I failed quite a higher percentage of those. For example, I wanted to read ten books. I finished like four. I wanted to watch 50 movies because my watchlist has over 750 items. I watched 32. I managed to do most of those that are good for my physical health, but I failed to relax and chill.
I will think about my NYRs for 2024 and think about ways to accomplish the chill ones, and share them with you.
The next blog post should be on the 31st, but I might skip that one and start on the 7th again.
See ya in 2024~