Blanket Progress
Seriously ya'll, don't faint, but I have fiber stuff to report lol.
Through no fault of my lovely new camera, you can't actually see any detail on the squares. It's the yarn's fault. You can see the detail in person though, really. I promise lol. What you see here are three completed squares and one WIP. The to two are knitted, the one on the left is a double wedding ring cable pattern from here (picture at bottom of page) The one on the right is a lattice pattern, i got the stitch out of my needlework book. The one below that is a crochete square, done in simple bdc, sc. None of them are actually the same size lol. The crocheted one is the only one that is 12", the rest will have to have some edging and stretching, but they'll work. The cables really suck the sides in I've discovered. The wedding ring square does come a lot closer to size if you stretch it just a teensy bit, but I think it only measures 10.5" as it lays right now.
The last one, the WIP is a woven cable stitch that I found in my friend's knitting and crochet stitch book (something like the Harmony books I have for crochet stitches only hers has both) I wish I could get the book myself, or one that's just knitting stitches since I already have so many crochet stitches... but that'll have to wait till after we move home. Or maybe Christmas, depending on money. I'd rather give the boy a good Christmas and not bother with ourselves if money is tight. The needlework book I have has quite a few stitches in it, from cables to lace. With that and the internet I should be able to find enough stuff to keep me occupied till I can buy some knitting books =)
So, anyway, I'm working on square number four, then I'll crochet another and the first row of hubby's blanket will be done. I plan to edge the first five and join them before I start the next group. I figure I'll do each row of five and join them as I go, then at the end I'll just have to join 8 rows and give it a border. I can probably have the first two rows (at least) finished before my trip home. I figure I can finish the other six rows on the trip, then when we get home I'll take a break from it all till cool weather returns in the fall and finish it up then. Gives me plenty of time to complete it before the deadline, plus time to work on other things =)
Some of you have already heard the good news, but there may be a few who haven't yet sooooooooo
Hubby came home the other day and surprised me with my new camera! I'd figured it was a no-go with the financial diet/debt pay-off thing, but he'd already bought it! So, I got my nifty new camera lol. I haven't played with it extensively, but I can tell you that the pictures are light years better than my other one. Much more clear and crisp. He also got me a tripod, so no more blurry pictures from this chica *g* The only drawback to it vs my other one is that this one takes four batteries and at the moment I don't have enough rechargables so I have to use regular batteries. He did bring home a bunch of batteries to get me started though, and since I now know the blanket squares don't photograph well I probably won't have many pics to share for a while. I'll scrape together enough money to get some more rechargables as soon as I can though cuz I don't want to watch my money go down the drain on batteries, nor do I want to have to weigh the choice to take pics vs the cost of battery replacement!
We did our last big grocery trip yesterday. Stocked up on some of the things that would be budget killers. Not enough to get through the whole summer, but enough that I can make it stretch a bit longer. I wrote down prices as we went though the store, so I can plan things each week and figure out ways to stick to the budget. I still don't think I can stick to $75, it's gonna have to be much closer to $100 a week. Until I can comparison shop, I just can't do it. Fortunately, I planned the monthly budget in such a way that I can squeeze an extra $25 a week out of it without changing the bill payment amounts. It will mean a little less "leftover" money, but that's why I planned leftover money. I'm gonna make this work dangit! It's a point of pride now I think. I've made up my mind to be debt free before the end of this year and by the Gods I am gonna do it lol.
Hubby thinks the hardest part (for me) is that I didn't give myself a yarn allowance. He really doesn't have a clue as to the size of my stash. I really think that with his blanket to occupy me for the next several months, my trip, and the heat of summer my stash will get me by till we get home. Especialy now that I am so interested in knitting. Knitting takes longer, so I'll just knit more projects than I crochet. That'll stretch that stash out right nicely ;)
Plus, towards the end of the year I am gonna get really busy getting ready for the big move. It took me months to get ready to come here. The sorting and purging alone took a good 6 weeks or so. Course, I had a baby running around too because I was doing home day care then, so I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to get things done. But still, I figure December is going to be a month with little fiber work. January even less probably.
Then figure in the fact that the healthier cooking I've been doing takes a lot more time than opening boxes and cans. Searching out recipes, prep and cooking time, that all takes away from crafty time. (note to self, bake bread today) <---see? I doubt I can finish the square I'm working on today lol. 40 squares, average two+ days each... more than 80 days of squares. Another week or so of edging and joining, if not more, that's at least three months on just his blanket if it's the only project I work on. I want to do at least two, maybe three sweaters. It takes *good* knitters at least a month to do a whole sweater. I'm not a good knitter rofl. No telling how long a sweater would take me! Yep, I think I'll be ok. I might *miss* buying yarn, but I doubt I will run out of yarn either. I might just have to get creative in what I do towads the end lol. I might find myself working on a scrap 'ghan with all those leftover bits or something.
Well, I guess I should go get some bread started. I hope ya'l have a wonderful Sunday!
posted by Marvie at
5:32 AM
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