Rather than suffer, attempting to force myself to focus when my brain simply does not have that capacity, I'm working on embracing the disjointed times. And thus my short attention span of late has effected my choice of projects, as you'll well see. Since my last Check-in I've finished five more things! Granted, they're all small, but still, that's pretty good. They're finished, and that's what counts. And they work toward my project goals for the month.
Tom wanted a pair of thick squooshy slippers to replace his felted ones (they wore through) for around the house. This time I went with a superwash wool so that I could throw them in the washer and dryer with his socks. He's happy, and that's what counts.
This photo was taken after the slippers had been through the washer and dryer, and they came out soft yet plump and squooshy. I carried a thread of woolly nylon on the sole and heel to add to their life span, and have most of a skein of yarn left (these took 4.2 balls) to do patching when they begin to wear out. They are a doubled worsted weight yarn, 100% wool, ONline Linie 157 Tessa.
These fingerless gloves were crocheted in Lorna's Laces sport weight superwash wool in the colourway Aslan, and took about two thirds of a single 70g skein. The buttons were in my stash. They're handy for driving (steering wheels can get cold in the winter).
I don't have a photo of me wearing the Ice Queen cowl, and probably won't (not in the mood to model these days). But trust me, it's lovely! The yarn is a fingering weight wool, mohair, cotton, nylon blend with metallic gold bits, so I didn't add any beading (not necessary - the gold bits add all the glitz of beads, without the effort). While it blocked to 18" long, it shrunk back to shorter off the pins. When I make this pattern again (and I will - I want at least one more, beaded) I'll make sure I have more yardage and add extra pattern repeats for length. This one drapes like a cowl neckline, all flowy and pretty, but isn't great for wearing up over the head. But oh, the pretty!
The cowl above is the alpaca one, and is just a little too long (8" as I wanted to use all of that expensive yarn) and itchy to use. Plus it isn't really my colour. I think this will go in a bag to be given away to someone who loves the colours and can handle the itch. Those pesky guard hairs! The skein felt amazingly soft, but I still cannot handle this yarn. Oy - a $22 lesson in my low tolerance for alpaca. Oh well, it could have been a sweater!
The colouring of the blue/brown cowl above is gorgeous, and perfect with a denim jacket. It will become a staple of my wardrobe, I think, for days when I need a little extra warmth with the denim, but don't want to change coats. The scalloped edging was a little extra I added to the bound off edge, and ate up most of the remaining yarn from the skein (less than 5 grams left after adding the scalloped edging). For a one ball project, it has high wearability and practicality, and I really like it. Not bad for $7!
All of these smaller projects kept me interested and busy through the latter part of January, and now in early February I'm working on a pair of slippers for me, from the same yarn in a different colour. Tom's are so warm and nice that I decided I needed a pair too, especially seeing as I've been wearing through all of my hand knitted socks like crazy lately. I think I should wear slippers indoors and save the handknit socks for when I leave the house, and that will extend their lives. So after I finish the first pair of my slippers, I'll put another pair on a future project goals list. And no, my slippers aren't beaded (the yarn is too thick to use with my beads), so they will be the exceptions to the beaded footware plan. Socks = beads. Slippers = nope!
I've been having great difficulty deciding on what sweater or cardigan to make. With such a large stash, I have lots of different options. And with Ravelry in my life, my list of favorite patterns is long. Hopefully I'll make my choice within the next week or two and get started while I still have time to finish in this quarter!
My sewing room is not progressing at all, and I really need to buckle down on that. But with this flightly brain of mine at present, that's a bit tough. I'll ride it out a bit longer, and push back the quilt goals if I have to. Bummer, though.
Next update in mid February! Hopefully I'll have made a start on some larger projects.
