The Velvet Craftblog

I’ve given up on the scarf for Aunt Mad.  I just can’t find something that I think she would like.  I mean, this woman has been knitting for over 80 years, so there’s nothing I could knit that she hasn’t already knitted herself.  Its very intimidating.  I have another plan, an easier one, a knitted gift that everyone enjoys.  Spa cloths.  I’m going to make three sets of spa cloths, one for Aunt Mad, one for Myra, one for Ann.  I’ll go to the Scent Shop that has these great handmade soaps and purchase some, tie the cloths and cute soaps up with a cute ribbon and voila!  I shall have hand knitted giftery that won’t drive me insane trying to make it.

Really, it was making me crazy.  I started with two projects on the needles and now I have four.  I started and stopped countless other projects and my knitting area was a total wreck.  I came to the realization that I don’t want to knit a big gift on a deadline, deadlines make me nuts, the closer the deadline comes the less work I do on whatever needs to be done.  I want to knit my Cozy Shawl, I want to be able to start on Shawl That Jazz without a bunch of other WIP’s floating around.  This is just me being neurotic, but still.

So this week and weekend I shall work on washcloths, then I will go back to my own projects.

So, I’ve been rather remiss in the blogging and the tweeting.  I haven’t twittered since last weekend.  I’ve been working late, and haven’t been doing much thats worth posting, I’ve also been pretty busy during the day at work, and haven’t had any random thoughts to post to Twitter.  But I’m sure that once summer comes I’ll have lots more time for blathering on the net.

I’ve also decided to revise some of my knitting goals.  I haven’t been excited about any of my projects.  I’ve decided to put the Wavy scarf in hibernation for awhile.  The Cosy shawl is on hold also.  I’ve decided to make a Branching Out scarf for my Great Aunt Madelyne.  I started it with one kind of yarn, but that yarn was too thick.  I’m going out today to get some lighter weight yarn.  This is going to be the main project for awhile, as it has a deadline.  After that I’ll probably  jump on the Yarn Harlot bandwagon and make Shawl That Jazz.  I think its just the cutest shawl ever.  And its all garter stitch, but also one big short row, so it should be easy enough to knit without boring me to tears.  Then I might go back to the Cozy shawl, or I might decide to go ahead and start Adamas.  Or I might decide to work on Cozy before I start Shawl That Jazz.  I’m not sure.  But the most important right now is definitely the scarf for Aunt Mad.  I’d like to get it done quickly if I can, but we’ll see.

So, I’ve been in this funk lately.  I didn’t want to work on any of my WIP’s, didn’t feel like a dishcloth, blah blah blah.  Mom had this idea for me to knit something for Aunt Mad.  At first she wanted me to knit a pair of socks, but socks as gifts can go horribly wrong.  And Aunt Mad is 95 years old, so she probably has her own ideas about socks.   So I decided that I would make her a lace scarf.  Specifically, the Branching Out scarf.  She lives in Boston, which gets cold, so I want to make it out of some substantial yarn.  I bought some Naturally Caron Country, but its a tad too thick.  I think a light DK weight or a heavy fingering weight would be very nice.  I see either a Knit Picks purchase or a trip to the LYS in my near future.

So, I’ve sort of been offline for the last week.  Business is picking up at work, which results in longer days, which results in short evenings, and I’m in bed asleep before I can think of anything to blog about.

I’m kind of at a standstill on the crafty front.  I just can’t find anything that I really feel like working on.  The Wavy scarf is in official hibernation for now.  The Cozy shawl is just sitting there, begging to be worked on, but I’m just not feeling it right now.  I started a super-simple hat that is half completed, and also a filet crochet panel.  But I’m just not jazzed about any of it right now.

In more exciting (for me) news.  I had been thinking of going to Boston this summer to visit my Great Aunt Madelyne and her daughter Ann.  I wasn’t sure when Aunt Mad was supposed to come back from Alaska, and what with trying to figure out summer vacations at work, plans were sort of all jumbled up.   Then, in one Saturday, plans just sort of fell into place and everything worked out and I couldn’t be more excited.  Aunt Mad is coming back from Alaska in July, along with her other daughter Myra (who lives in Alaska).  My mom hasn’t seen Myra in 25 years, I apparently saw her when I was two but I don’t remember it.  Anyways, Mom and I are flying into Boston the day after Myra and Aunt Mad get there.  Neither one of them have any idea we’re coming, so its going to be a big huge surprise.  Hopefully a good one.

I feel like I got so much done this weekend.  I should really put all that energy into cleaning the place, but, meh.

Saturday I finished the Mother’s Day Scarf and the Toe-Up socks.  I also went grocery shopping.  Grocery shopping was a somewhat traumatic experience.  I don’t know what it is about the rain, but it seems to make people three times as inconsiderate as they normally are.  People were parking their carts smack in the middle of aisles, letting their kids run absolutely crazy throughout the store (I would SO vote for banning children under 12 from grocery stores).  And then one family actually pulled their SUV under the awning at the exit, and I don’t mean just under it, I mean two feet in front of the door, so no one could get out while they were loading their two cartloads of groceries.  People tried to tell them to move but they acted like they couldn’t speak english.  I made a solemn vow not to go anywhere else for the rest of the weekend, in order to avoid being on  the news with a AK-47 mowing down shoppers.  The bonus was that while driving home I saw that the old Taco Bell (which closed last year) is now a Church’s Chicken!  For the non-southerners, Church’s Chicken is like a soul version of KFC, but the chicken breasts are the size of London Broils.

Sunday, I started on the Cozy shawl.  Love this pattern.  Works up fairly quickly, or at least it seems to.  I have twelve balls of yarn, 75yds a piece.  I got through two balls and started on the third.  If I can work two balls on Saturday and two on Sunday, and at least one during the week, I could feasibly be done with this in a month.  But, I also need to start another pair of socks, as I don’t have a mindless knitting or a ‘knit in public’ project.  I also unclogged my shower and made a bang up Sunday dinner.  I made a herbed pork loin, rubbed italian seasoning on the outside and put garlic cloves in little slits.  I also made some gravy, biscuits and corn.  It was super yummy.