It has taken most of the morning; a lot of experimenting and playing around to accomplish this. At least it is done.
My time this afternoon will be spent setting up house here. There are links to add; a header to customize; a sidebar to set up and a few other things to do. Right now I am not even sure what Theme I want to use.
I realized a few minutes ago that I have not been writing about knitting or crocheting here in the past several weeks. There are a few reasons for this which all come down to life getting in the way.
The hard drive on the computer quit working the Friday of Labor Day weekend. My plans were to gets a lot of things done on the computer that weekend. We have a ‘new to us’ computer purchased from my favorite store: EPC. They are the best in our entire area in my opinion.
Another reason for not posting is that I have not been knitting or crocheting very much. We have been taking a lot more family time for talking, playing games like Scrabble and family reading. We are home schoolers and those activities take priority. There are times when I knit or crochet during family times, but I have not done so recently.
The last reason for not posting here is because there is a new blog in my life. It is:
Dish and Wash Cloth Mania. I am collecting lists of free Dish and Wash Cloth patterns found on the internet. When I began the project my original site was here:Dish and Wash Cloth Mania.
The lists of patterns grew very quickly and I chose to move it to a home that would allow for its growth. My free time is being spent adding to it. At the moment it mostly has knitted cloths on it. I am working on adding more crocheted ones to it. This weekend a lot were added. It is taking longer than planned because there are only so many hours in a day.
Wow!!!
The past few weeks have been so very busy. It’s hard to believe that it has been so long since I have written anything here.
The main reason for this is that my old hard drive quit working on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. That was a real bummer because my original plan to to spend lots of time on my blogs over that weekend. Oh well….Life happens like that sometimes.
Instead of lots of computer time for me and lots of video game time for the guys, we had lots of family time. That was a very good thing. Since the computer is home now, I am getting caught up on blogging and emails.
I have been busy knitting some ballband dishcloths to replace my supply of dishcloths that are wearing out. Crochet projects include weaving in some loose ends on squares for a charity project. There are also a bunch of hats with loose ends waiting to be woven in before it gets any cooler outside. Those are going to a local charity.
It feels like it has been forever since I have written anything here. Life has just been busy.
We have geared up academics now that the end of August has arrived. This means me concentrating on being organized and preparing lesson ideas a few days in advance. Even if they are not written down, they are in my head…..What a scary place to be. LOL!
For the past few weeks my only knitting or crochet time is in the car with my husband on the way to and from work. Mostly I am making some MDK Ballband dishcloths. Not only are they an addiction, but since I make them using 33 or 39 stitches, they fit my hands easily and well. There are more than a dozen in my kitchen. This way I don’t hesitate to be particular about changing them often.
Today I realized that the last week of August is approaching. This means that I had better get busy and start making some dishcloths as Christmas gifts for some people on my gift list. I can’t name them in case they happen to read this. It is also time to get busy making some red scarves for the Orphan Foundation of America. Last year I did not learn about this until a few weeks before scarves needed to be dropped off for them. This year I want to be prepared for this event by having some scarves made in advance. Once it gets to be a little bit cooler my needles will start having red yarn them.
I have rambled enough for now…..More will come later.
I haven’t been knitting or crocheting much at all in the past few days. There a some squares with loose ends waiting to be woven in. The stack needs to be finished tomorrow so it can be mailed ASAP….Hopefully my family will be open to the idea of Family Reading time this evening. If they are, then I will weave in the loose ends during this time. We have plenty of books in our ‘To be read’ pile for such times. The hard part is choosing which one of many to read.
Once the squares are completed I will move on to completing the Ball Band cloth that is on my needles….I look forward to posting a picture of it. The colors are nice. The yarn so soft!! It may end up as a facecloth rather than a washcloth. After that is done, I have not decided what to make……Perhaps another dishcloth. I don’t know yet.
I decided to move my new site Dish and Wash Cloth Mania to a new home because of the difficulty finding a template that fits my goals for it. You may find it here :
Dish and Wash Cloth Mania.
This is still my main site for fiber arts. and other topics.
I haven’t done much knitting or crocheting done in the past few days. I spent a bit of time on Saturday evening weaving in loose ends on some squares that need to be mailed in the next or so. I have also been working on another Mason Dixon Ballband dishcloth. I’ll post pictures of that when it is done. At the rate I am going, it will be a few days.
This evening after my husband gets home from work we are spending the evening mowing the lawn and doing some basic yard cleanup. Today is being spent working on blogs, doing dishes and straightening the house. They aren’t exciting things, but still need to be done.
I can’t believe it has been so long since I have posted here! The weeks have flown by in a blur of activity. There have been several times when I have wanted to sit down an write, but have not been able to do so for a number of reasons.
My hooks and needles have been very busy. I made a bunch of crocheted 8 inch squares for a project I was involved in on Bev’s Charity Challenge.
They were made with some of the abundance of worsted weight acrylic from my stash. It was a good way to use some scraps for a good cause. I am amazed at how much scrap yarn I still have after this project.
I have done 11 MDK Ballband dishcloths so far. The first batch of 9 out of1o were made by casting on 33 stitches and making 9 bands. They looked like the right size for my hands before washing. Unfortunately I neglected to take into account the shrink factor and the fact that everything is normally dried in the dryer. Needless to say, they shrunk. They are still usable. I have learned to stretch them once they are wet to make them a bit larger.
Dishcloth #10 was made with 33 stitches and 11 bands. It turned out to be the right size for my hands in terms of length butis not quite wide enough.
I am now on #11 which has 39 stitches and I am planning to make 11 bands wide. This one is an experiment because it is being made from some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece which was a gift from a friend. It is the first time I have ever used this yarn and I am loving it.Since one of my concerns using this yarn for the first time is how much it will shrink. After it is finished I will measure it before and after washing to see how much it shrinks.
I have recently discovered a pet peeve. It is tightly wound balls of yarn. Now mind you, I like the yarn….It’s the tightly wound part that is unpleasant, to say the least. In the past week I have discovered numerous of these yarn balls in my stash. True enough, they should have been dealt with before, but alas!!!…They got lost in the shuffle. The poor yarn in some cases has been wound so tightly that it looks like string when an attempt is made to use it. Most of them arrived like that, poor things.
These days I am on a rescue mission to revive them. It takes a while, but it is worth it to restore them to a better condition.
My solution is to unwind it and set it on the kitchen table to relax for a while. Sometimes it stays there all day or overnight until I decide it looks as if it has regained its elasticity. When I decide to rewind it, I do so very loosely so as not to undo the good that has been done.
I have had to make some difficult choices in the past two days….What gets my attention: My needles or my hooks. The answer was…Drum roll…………..Hooks.Alas, my most recent Mason Dixon Big Dotty dishcloth is abandoned in its place in the kitchen. It has been banned from its place on the table. In its place is a huge plastic type bowl full of odd pieces of yarn surrounded by more yarn, some patterns, a small open notions bag, scissors and worst of all: the dreaded crochet hooks.
The reason is complex, but simple. An online group to which I belong is having a contest to see who can make the most 8 inch squares from now until the end of the month. That is simple enough. The complex part is that I also want to use some of the many bits and pieces of yarn that live here. You know the ones I mean. They are the leftovers from that skein of yarn used to make that beautiful scarf you made you mother. They are the scraps from the afghan you made several years ago. That particular yarn has been discontinued. The list goes on, but you get my point.
When I began making the squares I felt overwhelmed. My stash is so big. Where do I begin to choose yarns to use? I had to think about this one for a bit….Aha!!! The light bulb went on in my brain. It is time to use the odd balls that are taking up space in my yarn bins and recycled ice cream containers on one of the desks in this room.
I pulled out a fairly large bowl but discovered it is not nearly large enough to hold the amount of yarn it needs to hold. I then chose the largest bowl in the house to become the Bowl of Honor.
I also made the rule that squares for this project are supposed to made from the contents of this bowl as much as possible. I am allowed to supplement my yarn supply with co-ordinating colors if necessary.
In a mad frenzy I attacked the ice cream containers first. Their contents were raided. They were placed in this bowl. This morning I started tackling the Bowl of Honor. As it stands now the contents of the bowl have yielded ten 8 inch squares of assorted colors. The bowl is still full.
The pattern being used is the one I posted a couple of days ago. You might not recognize the squares as having come from this pattern when you see them. Color changes are made based on the amount of the scrap color being used. The corners are changed depending on my choice at the moment.
I have looked at and considered using other patterns, but this one is so much fun. :)
Pictures of my efforts will be taken another day.
Now it’s time to say “Good night to all my friends and family.”
Lately I have been on a dish and wash cloth make craze. At first I blamed it ( tongue in cheek ) on the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I have come to realize that there is more to it than that.
There are lots more reasons than that ranging from them being a quick portable project to the simple fact that I enjoy making them. They can be knitted, crocheted or cro-hooked….It just depends on my mood.I have been thinking about the ways they are used. In my house they are dish cloths, wash cloths, coasters, placemats and when worn out become rags. Last weekend at Stitch and Chat one of the ladies shared that her family uses them as cloth napkins. This sounds like a good idea. I wonder what other uses can be found for them.
