I began this blog as a digital version of show-n-tell, in the spirit of those structured fun times during elementary school when all the classroom kids gathered together and shared something cool, weird, or otherwise meaningful to the one standing in front of the others. Everyone took their turn. On a blog, it's always the blogger's turn; it's just that the cool, weird, or special things being shared wait around on the blog until someone discovers them.
On Scrapdash, I lumped all the parts of my life I wanted to share because it was a convenient place. I'm most interested in cooking and a couple forms of crafts (sewing and knitting), but one or two, more in-depth monologs have found themselves here as well. The last few years have been about thinning down The Stuff. Yarn, mostly, and that effort will continue because there are miles to go yet. Yeah. Literally, I guess, measured in marathons.
Along the way, my interests divided from the one path into two by, oddly enough, my sewing and knitting combining into the creation of project bags I have sold to local knitters and crocheters for about five years now. Because I sold them locally and not also online, I never got around to talking about them here on the blog. While the paths had divided into personal and professional, they ran parallel and close together.
Now, however, I'm working my way toward selling my wares on the interwebs. It's a slowish process for me because I do everything like I'm wearing velcro shoes on AstroTurf, but it's forward motion nonetheless. As a result, I am moving my future knitting-related and probably sewing/quilting-related chitchat onto my business' blog Jennamay made. For anything else I might have to say, I will keep it under the Scrapdash header, but I'm posting all that wisdom and know-how to a new Scrapdash address. Both blogs are on Wordpress, a place I'm hoping will help me streamline how I have to say what I say.
I have no plans to take down the content here on the original Scrapdash blog. Only the new stuff will appear at the new places. On Jennamay made, I'm revealing the yarn I'm giving up to make up for the Deep Stash Half Marathon's yardage deficit. I'm also starting the new Stash Marathon there. Disasters in the kitchen that manage to be tasty anyhow will show up in the new Scrapdash site. I may post more reflective stuff there, too, including book reviews (because I can't get away from grade school exercises, apparently).
I'm also not migrating the followers list and email notifications list from here. I don't know if that's possible, anyway, so this is an opportunity for current followers to lighten their loads if they decide not to opt-in to notifications on the new sites. You're welcome. Whether or not you follow me to the new blogs, thank you for being curious about my shenanigans this far. In all the antics on the internet, I'm grateful you have stopped by to turn an eye toward mine.
Showing posts with label Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Friday, January 6, 2017
Hip to be Squares
So scrap yarn blankets have been all the rage for a few news cycles now, but I had started one years before I knew to be cool. It's made of tessellating fish, and this wee, single fishy is the only one I got done during the Deep Stash Half Marathon.
It's made of the last tiny bit of the heathered, dark red Berocco Comfort from which I made the NICU baby hats in the last post.
Sock yarn scrap blankets seem to be the most popular weight of cuddle-wear just now. I went ahead and started a blanket in this yarn weight, too, but instead of going for the mitered square pattern that spread faster than a stadium wave, I decided to weave my blanket squares into being.
Each square is four-by-four inches and was woven double-stranded on a Zoom Loom, a modern version of a pin loom, made by Schacht Spindle Company. Both sets of these squares are made from the leftovers of the socks I mentioned in the last post. It takes about 15 grams of fingering weight yarn to make four squares, and each set of four will be coupled in my blanket with another set of four as well as a single square in a different color to go in the middle of nine-patch blocks. I started out as a quilter, after all, and a nine-patch block blanket is a pretty basic, beautiful layout.
Now, the final object that counts toward my DS Half Marathon yardage is a square that is not for a scrap blanket. In fact, I think the term "square" is too demeaning. It is a block, dear ones. A Block, and not one meant for a mere blanket but for an afghan. That is, the Great American Aran Afghan. (And lest you think I'm getting all pompous up in here, I usually refer to this long-term project by its street name GAAA.)
I started my GAAA back in 2013 with Berocco Comfort yarn I bought in 2009. I add to my collection of blocks slowly. This one, designed by Ginger Smith, is the sixth of how many I know not will be needed. I simply cast on one when I get the yen.
Now, yardage of all these individual blanket/afghan parts count toward the yardage total despite the fact the blankets/afghan aren't done because once the yardage is in that fish, square, or block, it is not coming back into the stash. It's out. Forever. Even if the larger project is never completed, that yardage has been cast out of the nest to make a life for itself in the cold, hard world.
So, drumroll, please...in your imagination...
Yardage for this post:
Fish: 14.7
Zoom Loom squares: 132.6
GAAA block: 142.8
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Total yardage from this post: 290.1
DSHM current yardage total: 13,470.1 (7.7 miles, rounded up)
DSHM yardage remaining: 9,602.4 (5.5 miles, rounded up)
So! I did NOT finish my Half Marathon challenge by the end of 2016. Surprise, surprise. I did at least manage to purge a little more than a quarter marathon. This means I will need to surgically remove almost ten thousand yards of yarn from the Deep Stash, in order to honor the terms of the challenge to myself. This I will do. I will! In an upcoming post. Stay tuned for that and for an announcement of my plans for 2017.
It's made of the last tiny bit of the heathered, dark red Berocco Comfort from which I made the NICU baby hats in the last post.
Sock yarn scrap blankets seem to be the most popular weight of cuddle-wear just now. I went ahead and started a blanket in this yarn weight, too, but instead of going for the mitered square pattern that spread faster than a stadium wave, I decided to weave my blanket squares into being.
Each square is four-by-four inches and was woven double-stranded on a Zoom Loom, a modern version of a pin loom, made by Schacht Spindle Company. Both sets of these squares are made from the leftovers of the socks I mentioned in the last post. It takes about 15 grams of fingering weight yarn to make four squares, and each set of four will be coupled in my blanket with another set of four as well as a single square in a different color to go in the middle of nine-patch blocks. I started out as a quilter, after all, and a nine-patch block blanket is a pretty basic, beautiful layout.
Now, the final object that counts toward my DS Half Marathon yardage is a square that is not for a scrap blanket. In fact, I think the term "square" is too demeaning. It is a block, dear ones. A Block, and not one meant for a mere blanket but for an afghan. That is, the Great American Aran Afghan. (And lest you think I'm getting all pompous up in here, I usually refer to this long-term project by its street name GAAA.)
I started my GAAA back in 2013 with Berocco Comfort yarn I bought in 2009. I add to my collection of blocks slowly. This one, designed by Ginger Smith, is the sixth of how many I know not will be needed. I simply cast on one when I get the yen.
Now, yardage of all these individual blanket/afghan parts count toward the yardage total despite the fact the blankets/afghan aren't done because once the yardage is in that fish, square, or block, it is not coming back into the stash. It's out. Forever. Even if the larger project is never completed, that yardage has been cast out of the nest to make a life for itself in the cold, hard world.
So, drumroll, please...in your imagination...
Yardage for this post:
Fish: 14.7
Zoom Loom squares: 132.6
GAAA block: 142.8
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Total yardage from this post: 290.1
DSHM current yardage total: 13,470.1 (7.7 miles, rounded up)
DSHM yardage remaining: 9,602.4 (5.5 miles, rounded up)
So! I did NOT finish my Half Marathon challenge by the end of 2016. Surprise, surprise. I did at least manage to purge a little more than a quarter marathon. This means I will need to surgically remove almost ten thousand yards of yarn from the Deep Stash, in order to honor the terms of the challenge to myself. This I will do. I will! In an upcoming post. Stay tuned for that and for an announcement of my plans for 2017.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Head to Toe
Or, in this case, toe up. That is, I'm starting with the Half Marathon projects for the feet.
My first dive into Deep Stash back in July was when I cast on for the Twists and Turns socks with Cascade Yarns Cherub Collection 4 Ply, in green. This pattern by Adrienne Fong was the first sock for the 2016 Tour de Sock Competition. The entry fee for Tour de Sock is used to benefit Doctors without Borders, and the competition coincides with the Tour de France bicycle race. There were a handful of other sock patterns one's entry fee bought, but Twists and Turns is the only one I made. I think that's because I got a little burnt out on socks, having made several over the prior year. I didn't pick up my skinny needles for another pair until December.
For several years, my husband and I have exchanged stockings as our way of giving each other Christmast gifts. Among the goodies in my stocking, I always get a tin of Altoids. For the last two or three years, he's gotten a bar of some luxurious shaving soap from me. This year, he got a pair of handmade socks, too.
This is the first pair of socks I intentionally made for him. He got the first two pairs because I knitted the feet of them just a touch too long for me, but just right for him. Turns out, he likes colorful socks (one of the pairs I messed up is orange). So, I dug out two skeins of Regia Cotton Color in the creative colorway name 5433 and worked up Ann Budd's On Your Toes pattern, a toe-up and ribbed sock. He wore them just after the appropriate length of time admiring them on Christmas morning. This man is knit-worthy.
Case in point: His brand-spanking-new Felted Clogs.
For his birthday this winter, I finished the slippers I had started for him in honor of our wedding anniversary over a year and a half ago. I can't remember if we'd replaced our old washer by then, but I know when the time came to replace it, I tried to pick out a model from the modern generation of top-loaders (all sans a central agitator) that might still be able to felt a willing wool.
As you can see, the clogs felted down, but it took all. night. long. The yarn I used, Patons North American Classic Wool Merino, is a tried-and-true felting wool for me. But, even with a full load of sheets, then blankets, then quilts, those suckers shrank slowly. I lost track of the loads of water that had to go through a full cycle of washing before I could start another load all over again. My old washer, before it quit, could be stopped mid-cycle and restarted at the beginning without pumping out all its water. Change in technology is not always an advancement.
Anyway, the rest of the projects, for the top of the human body, are for babies--newborns who are either going home right away or in the hospital for a longer stay and in need of some cute warmth.
These and the purple hats below were made from Morgen Stamate's LCD Basic Hat Free pattern. The heathered red hats above are knit from a remnant of Berroco Comfort, and the purple hats are from remanents of Caron Simply Soft.
These are my first pom-poms, thanks to the Clover pom-pom makers. The purple hats went to Kansas Children's Service League, for their Period of Purple Crying hat drive. This program distributes purple baby hats as a visual reminder to parents of newborns that they should not take out their frustrations on their baby during its sustained bouts of crying.
This baby Citrus Hat is made of Serenity leftovers from my Saqa sweater. It and the red hats above went to a local hospital's NICU.
And now for the yardage tallies:
Twists and Turns socks: 297.6
On Your Toes socks: 298.7
Felted Clogs: 666.9
Red baby hats: 065.1
Purple baby hats: 272.4
Baby Citrus Hat: 067.0
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Total yardage from this post: 1,667.7
DSHM current yardage total: 13,180
DSHM yardage remaining: 9,892.5
My first dive into Deep Stash back in July was when I cast on for the Twists and Turns socks with Cascade Yarns Cherub Collection 4 Ply, in green. This pattern by Adrienne Fong was the first sock for the 2016 Tour de Sock Competition. The entry fee for Tour de Sock is used to benefit Doctors without Borders, and the competition coincides with the Tour de France bicycle race. There were a handful of other sock patterns one's entry fee bought, but Twists and Turns is the only one I made. I think that's because I got a little burnt out on socks, having made several over the prior year. I didn't pick up my skinny needles for another pair until December.
For several years, my husband and I have exchanged stockings as our way of giving each other Christmast gifts. Among the goodies in my stocking, I always get a tin of Altoids. For the last two or three years, he's gotten a bar of some luxurious shaving soap from me. This year, he got a pair of handmade socks, too.
This is the first pair of socks I intentionally made for him. He got the first two pairs because I knitted the feet of them just a touch too long for me, but just right for him. Turns out, he likes colorful socks (one of the pairs I messed up is orange). So, I dug out two skeins of Regia Cotton Color in the creative colorway name 5433 and worked up Ann Budd's On Your Toes pattern, a toe-up and ribbed sock. He wore them just after the appropriate length of time admiring them on Christmas morning. This man is knit-worthy.
Case in point: His brand-spanking-new Felted Clogs.
For his birthday this winter, I finished the slippers I had started for him in honor of our wedding anniversary over a year and a half ago. I can't remember if we'd replaced our old washer by then, but I know when the time came to replace it, I tried to pick out a model from the modern generation of top-loaders (all sans a central agitator) that might still be able to felt a willing wool.
As you can see, the clogs felted down, but it took all. night. long. The yarn I used, Patons North American Classic Wool Merino, is a tried-and-true felting wool for me. But, even with a full load of sheets, then blankets, then quilts, those suckers shrank slowly. I lost track of the loads of water that had to go through a full cycle of washing before I could start another load all over again. My old washer, before it quit, could be stopped mid-cycle and restarted at the beginning without pumping out all its water. Change in technology is not always an advancement.
Anyway, the rest of the projects, for the top of the human body, are for babies--newborns who are either going home right away or in the hospital for a longer stay and in need of some cute warmth.
These and the purple hats below were made from Morgen Stamate's LCD Basic Hat Free pattern. The heathered red hats above are knit from a remnant of Berroco Comfort, and the purple hats are from remanents of Caron Simply Soft.
These are my first pom-poms, thanks to the Clover pom-pom makers. The purple hats went to Kansas Children's Service League, for their Period of Purple Crying hat drive. This program distributes purple baby hats as a visual reminder to parents of newborns that they should not take out their frustrations on their baby during its sustained bouts of crying.
This baby Citrus Hat is made of Serenity leftovers from my Saqa sweater. It and the red hats above went to a local hospital's NICU.
And now for the yardage tallies:
Twists and Turns socks: 297.6
On Your Toes socks: 298.7
Felted Clogs: 666.9
Red baby hats: 065.1
Purple baby hats: 272.4
Baby Citrus Hat: 067.0
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Total yardage from this post: 1,667.7
DSHM current yardage total: 13,180
DSHM yardage remaining: 9,892.5
Friday, December 30, 2016
Sweater quantities, part 2. Saqa
For National Knit a Sweater Month (NaKniSweMo) in November, I dug through my pattern books and found this Jane Ellison design. It's meant to be a blanket sweater for more slender figures, and when it's laid out on the floor, it's easy to see why.
I choose Saqa because it's boxy, comfy, easy, and eats a lot of yarn. In this case, a lot of Premier Yarns Serenity Worsted Weight--also known as "the Deborah Norville yarn"--I purchased in 2009 (only a day or two after Mariella's Knit Picks Palette, in geologic time).
Even with so much going for the pattern, the sweater took me every day of November to finish it on by the end of the month. After the knitting, there was the seaming. Fortunately, since I slipped the first stitch of every row, seaming with the mattress stitch didn't take a lot of concentration, either.
I'm impressed with how well the neckline turned out. I haven't picked up stitches for a neckline in an age (again, geologic time), and I twisted the picked up stitches like I do in socks so as to tighten them up. (Thank you, Jen H., for teaching me that trick.)
Another glorious feature of this simple sweater is that there is no dedicated front or back. I can just throw on the thing and not think about checking which side is which. I've been wearing the heck out of it this last month, too. It's just so squishy, I can't stand it! A knitting friend bought yarn for one of her own when she saw Saqa in person, and she even went hunting online for the out-of-print booklet by Miski. Saqa recommends itself, apparently.
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Saqa yardage: 1,824.7
DSHM current yardage total: 11.512.3
DSHM yardage remaining: 11,560.2
I choose Saqa because it's boxy, comfy, easy, and eats a lot of yarn. In this case, a lot of Premier Yarns Serenity Worsted Weight--also known as "the Deborah Norville yarn"--I purchased in 2009 (only a day or two after Mariella's Knit Picks Palette, in geologic time).
Even with so much going for the pattern, the sweater took me every day of November to finish it on by the end of the month. After the knitting, there was the seaming. Fortunately, since I slipped the first stitch of every row, seaming with the mattress stitch didn't take a lot of concentration, either.
I'm impressed with how well the neckline turned out. I haven't picked up stitches for a neckline in an age (again, geologic time), and I twisted the picked up stitches like I do in socks so as to tighten them up. (Thank you, Jen H., for teaching me that trick.)
Another glorious feature of this simple sweater is that there is no dedicated front or back. I can just throw on the thing and not think about checking which side is which. I've been wearing the heck out of it this last month, too. It's just so squishy, I can't stand it! A knitting friend bought yarn for one of her own when she saw Saqa in person, and she even went hunting online for the out-of-print booklet by Miski. Saqa recommends itself, apparently.
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Saqa yardage: 1,824.7
DSHM current yardage total: 11.512.3
DSHM yardage remaining: 11,560.2
Sweater quantity, part 1. Mariella
Today is a double-header posting here in the Scrapdash blogdom because I'm going to be showing you the sweater quantities of yarn that left Deep Stash since July.
First up, the Mariella cardigan made from ancient yarn picked up during the Mesozoic era (2008 AD). Yes, Knit Picks Palette was around then, in Rainforest Heather. Apropos.
And nigh, an epoch or so later, a human appeared whose forethought in the sweltering temperatures of the middle plains made preparations for the coming autumn...when temperatures are only slightly less sweltering because summer just doesn't know how to let go around here.
I took a class from a friend, the fabulous Chauntel of Firebrunette Knits, because there are a few bits and bobs in this pattern I would need help with, especially the part where I added sleeves one size larger than what I made the body. Oh, and I shortened the sleeves--see the aforementioned complaint about stubborn Kansas summers.
The great thing about this class was Chauntel taught us how to make this cardigan reversible. The neckband already sports a reversible cable design, and Chauntel helped us graft the top of the band and seam the part of it that rests against the back of the neck in invisible ways so the cardigan can be worn knit side or purl side out. Brilliant. With her permission, I'm sharing my progress pictures of the grafting method which can be found as Option 1 on Techknitter's blog.
Since the neck band is ribbed, I separated every other stitch at the top of the band onto four different needles/stitch holders so I could graft first one set of knits to knits and then the other set. It's not perfectly invisible, but there sure isn't a seam bump on one side, and both sides look the same.
One problem I encountered was moth damage to my yarn. The yarn has been in the stash a long time, folks, and I have been battling cloth moths for the last year or so. I sanitized my stash using mostly the freezer method found here, and everything is now in plastic bags. However, the damage was done already to this yarn, and I had to deal with it. Those pesky moth larvae neatly cut through fibers, so I had a lot of ends to weave in.
But once I was done with all that, I ended up with a sweater that actually fits me. The first time ever. I am seriously happy. Thanks, Chauntel!
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Mariella yardage: 1,538.5
DSHM current yardage total: 9,687.6
DSHM yardage remaining: 13,384.9
First up, the Mariella cardigan made from ancient yarn picked up during the Mesozoic era (2008 AD). Yes, Knit Picks Palette was around then, in Rainforest Heather. Apropos.
And nigh, an epoch or so later, a human appeared whose forethought in the sweltering temperatures of the middle plains made preparations for the coming autumn...when temperatures are only slightly less sweltering because summer just doesn't know how to let go around here.
I took a class from a friend, the fabulous Chauntel of Firebrunette Knits, because there are a few bits and bobs in this pattern I would need help with, especially the part where I added sleeves one size larger than what I made the body. Oh, and I shortened the sleeves--see the aforementioned complaint about stubborn Kansas summers.
The great thing about this class was Chauntel taught us how to make this cardigan reversible. The neckband already sports a reversible cable design, and Chauntel helped us graft the top of the band and seam the part of it that rests against the back of the neck in invisible ways so the cardigan can be worn knit side or purl side out. Brilliant. With her permission, I'm sharing my progress pictures of the grafting method which can be found as Option 1 on Techknitter's blog.
Since the neck band is ribbed, I separated every other stitch at the top of the band onto four different needles/stitch holders so I could graft first one set of knits to knits and then the other set. It's not perfectly invisible, but there sure isn't a seam bump on one side, and both sides look the same.
One problem I encountered was moth damage to my yarn. The yarn has been in the stash a long time, folks, and I have been battling cloth moths for the last year or so. I sanitized my stash using mostly the freezer method found here, and everything is now in plastic bags. However, the damage was done already to this yarn, and I had to deal with it. Those pesky moth larvae neatly cut through fibers, so I had a lot of ends to weave in.
But once I was done with all that, I ended up with a sweater that actually fits me. The first time ever. I am seriously happy. Thanks, Chauntel!
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Mariella yardage: 1,538.5
DSHM current yardage total: 9,687.6
DSHM yardage remaining: 13,384.9
Monday, December 12, 2016
Deep Stash destashed
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Destashed yardage: 7,768.2
DSHM current yardage total: 8,149.1
DSHM yardage remaining: 14,923.4
If you want to know which yarns I have freed from my Craft Grotto and sent back into the world, read on. If not, now you have time to read something truly useful.
As you can see above, I have released over 7700 yards of yarn so far during this half marathon. This is yarn I didn't work into a project. Sold or given away, it is now out of my house. I'm glad to say I didn't have to throw any of it into the trash.
I don't have much time left in the year to winnow out more yarn, and I'm sure I will have to give up additional scads to meet the gap to 23,072.5 yards that my projects don't cover. And I do have projects to write about. Sweaters, y'all. A few hats. A couple pairs of socks.
And then the gap. Oh, the gap.
So, some lucky soul at the DAV or Goodwill or some knitta friend(s) still will find stringy treasure they may or may not appreciate.
Like how some of this already destashed yarn was tough for me to appreciate, apparently. Unger Fluffy? What was I thinking? I bought it because it was in a bargain bin, unwanted, like a basket of burgundy Persian cats I didn't have the cold heart to turn away. I never did anything with it, though, or the lonely skein of Paton's Divine that is a cousin to the Tribble. Both found homes this year, however, and I'm glad to have adopted them to better places.
The lace and the sock yarn were a little tough for me to let go. I've used Sockotta at least twice before, and I love the colorways, but it's hard on my hands. So, it left with my blessing. Misti Alpaca Lace is a joy, but Christmas elbowed me into passing that delight on to another.
I'm not going to list all the departed yarn, complete with individual yardage counts, because I'm trying to preserve some respect for our time, but here they all are in a neat-o keen mosaic.
Honestly, I can't even tell any of this stuff is gone from the Grotto. I smell another variation of the marathon in the works for next year.
Destashed yardage: 7,768.2
DSHM current yardage total: 8,149.1
DSHM yardage remaining: 14,923.4
If you want to know which yarns I have freed from my Craft Grotto and sent back into the world, read on. If not, now you have time to read something truly useful.
As you can see above, I have released over 7700 yards of yarn so far during this half marathon. This is yarn I didn't work into a project. Sold or given away, it is now out of my house. I'm glad to say I didn't have to throw any of it into the trash.
I don't have much time left in the year to winnow out more yarn, and I'm sure I will have to give up additional scads to meet the gap to 23,072.5 yards that my projects don't cover. And I do have projects to write about. Sweaters, y'all. A few hats. A couple pairs of socks.
And then the gap. Oh, the gap.
So, some lucky soul at the DAV or Goodwill or some knitta friend(s) still will find stringy treasure they may or may not appreciate.
Like how some of this already destashed yarn was tough for me to appreciate, apparently. Unger Fluffy? What was I thinking? I bought it because it was in a bargain bin, unwanted, like a basket of burgundy Persian cats I didn't have the cold heart to turn away. I never did anything with it, though, or the lonely skein of Paton's Divine that is a cousin to the Tribble. Both found homes this year, however, and I'm glad to have adopted them to better places.
The lace and the sock yarn were a little tough for me to let go. I've used Sockotta at least twice before, and I love the colorways, but it's hard on my hands. So, it left with my blessing. Misti Alpaca Lace is a joy, but Christmas elbowed me into passing that delight on to another.
I'm not going to list all the departed yarn, complete with individual yardage counts, because I'm trying to preserve some respect for our time, but here they all are in a neat-o keen mosaic.
Honestly, I can't even tell any of this stuff is gone from the Grotto. I smell another variation of the marathon in the works for next year.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Fitzgerald Scarf
Deep Stash Half Marathon 2016 update:
Fitzgerald Scarf yardage: 380.9
DSHM current yardage total: 380.9
DSHM yardage remaining: 22,691.6
I have more yardage to add from a pair of socks and some sold/given away destashing, but I'll post that later.
Ravelry Stats on my Fitzgerald Scarf project page.
The Fitzgerald ticked a few boxes for me. Besides yardage for the half marathon, it's my donation to this year's Red Scarf Project campaign and my challenge during the Olympics while playing Ravelry.com's Ravellenics Games. Both events need some explanation, I suppose.
Briefly, then...
The Red Scarf Project is part of a care package program for college students run by Foster Care to Success, America's College Fund for Foster Youth. For the last several years, FC2S has included a red scarf in its Valentine's Day care packages sent to students who have aged out of the foster-care system. I read about the program through the Now Norma Knits blog and have been making annual knitted contributions for the last six years. If you're interested in making a red scarf for some chilly student, please read the guidelines.
The Ravellenic Games run concurrent to the Olympics and are an opportunity for fiber enthusiasts around the world to knit, crochet, spin, and weave on challenging projects as a celebration of the athletes from around the world doing the amazing things they do. Much like the Olympics, the Ravellenics have events (Scarf Hockey, Afghan Marathon, Sock-Put) for which feats of astounding crafting are attempted. Finished lines are crossed, virtual medals and laurels are awarded to all participants with completed projects, and warm fuzzies are felt. It's been a fun way to sit and watch the games in Rio.
That said, this scarf nearly did me in. Not because it's hard. It is not. It is, in fact, addictive. But I started it halfway through the Olympics and had never finished a scarf of this magnitude (6 inches by 75.5 inches) in less than ten days. This one took me seven, plus one day to block. Rows flew by, but there were oh-so-many! Two rows in each repeat require a couple stitches for every eleven to be completely off the needles, flapping in the air conditioning. While you'd think that might be nerve-racking, it's not. Those stitches stay put like good little kiddos until you need them again.
I had thought I would like to make a blanket with this pattern. However, the fabric this stitch creates rolls horribly. I blocked the dickens out of the scarf, but it still wants to roll in on itself when handled and not sitting still for photos. Don't know if a lap full of this pattern would behave the same way, but I'm not eager to find out now.
The scarf before blocking, but it rolls up after blocking, too.
Anyway, here's to the first scant quarter mile in the half marathon. Onward!
Fitzgerald Scarf yardage: 380.9
DSHM current yardage total: 380.9
DSHM yardage remaining: 22,691.6
I have more yardage to add from a pair of socks and some sold/given away destashing, but I'll post that later.
Ravelry Stats on my Fitzgerald Scarf project page.
The Fitzgerald ticked a few boxes for me. Besides yardage for the half marathon, it's my donation to this year's Red Scarf Project campaign and my challenge during the Olympics while playing Ravelry.com's Ravellenics Games. Both events need some explanation, I suppose.
Briefly, then...
The Red Scarf Project is part of a care package program for college students run by Foster Care to Success, America's College Fund for Foster Youth. For the last several years, FC2S has included a red scarf in its Valentine's Day care packages sent to students who have aged out of the foster-care system. I read about the program through the Now Norma Knits blog and have been making annual knitted contributions for the last six years. If you're interested in making a red scarf for some chilly student, please read the guidelines.
The Ravellenic Games run concurrent to the Olympics and are an opportunity for fiber enthusiasts around the world to knit, crochet, spin, and weave on challenging projects as a celebration of the athletes from around the world doing the amazing things they do. Much like the Olympics, the Ravellenics have events (Scarf Hockey, Afghan Marathon, Sock-Put) for which feats of astounding crafting are attempted. Finished lines are crossed, virtual medals and laurels are awarded to all participants with completed projects, and warm fuzzies are felt. It's been a fun way to sit and watch the games in Rio.
That said, this scarf nearly did me in. Not because it's hard. It is not. It is, in fact, addictive. But I started it halfway through the Olympics and had never finished a scarf of this magnitude (6 inches by 75.5 inches) in less than ten days. This one took me seven, plus one day to block. Rows flew by, but there were oh-so-many! Two rows in each repeat require a couple stitches for every eleven to be completely off the needles, flapping in the air conditioning. While you'd think that might be nerve-racking, it's not. Those stitches stay put like good little kiddos until you need them again.
I had thought I would like to make a blanket with this pattern. However, the fabric this stitch creates rolls horribly. I blocked the dickens out of the scarf, but it still wants to roll in on itself when handled and not sitting still for photos. Don't know if a lap full of this pattern would behave the same way, but I'm not eager to find out now.
The scarf before blocking, but it rolls up after blocking, too.
Anyway, here's to the first scant quarter mile in the half marathon. Onward!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Deep Stash Yadda Yadda
So, the DS marathon isn't going anywhere, as is evidenced by the scads of blog entries I haven't posted about it. I also haven't been keeping track of the yardage faithfully (and there is a little some to keep track of), so the idea of going through the backlog to count it all is just a bad one. It's not gonna happen.
I maintain that the marathon is a good idea, I've just been going about it too casually. A marathon is a race, after all, and I haven't been acting even like a tortoise in a race. It's time to introduce the game into this game and set some real goals and real consequences.
[Insert ominous music here.]
And knock down the yardage miles a bit to, say, a half marathon.
Beginning July 1, I'm running my first ever Deep Stash Half Marathon. I have until the end of the year to work through 23,072.5 yards of deep stash yarn (13.1 miles) or else I must sell/give away/toss the difference of what I don't use in projects. Either way, I will be rid of just over 23K yards of yarn. Gone. Outta here. Boom. The sad consequence will be that some of it I won't get to use myself; it'll just be yarn echoes in the corners of my mind.
[Insert Debbie Downer sound effect]
And there are rules! As follows:
Deep Stash is yarn that has spent five years or more in the stash (added in 2011 or earlier).
Only yarn taken from Deep Stash counts toward the DSHM2016 goal total, not from more recent stash.
Yarns can be held in multiple strands while working them into a project, and the individual yardage of each strand will count toward the goal total. Because yardage that is gone, is GONE.
All projects finished by December 31, 2016 (using DS) will count. They do not have to be started after July 1, 2016.
The goal total that isn't met by completed projects will be met as well by destashing methods (sell, give, toss) from Deep Stash.
Deep Stash destashing may occur at any time during the half marathon, not just as its end, and count toward the goal total.
So, how much do I have to work into projects to avoid the dreaded DESTASH decisions?
23,072.5 yards = 3,845 yards/month = 961 yards/week = 192 yards/day (for a five-day week).
Right. Knitting almost 200 yards a day isn't setting myself up for failure. Nope.
Yeah, I know it is, but the challenge of the race here is the difficulty. I'm simply trying to work as much yardage through my fingers before I have to destash the rest, unused.
I intend to report yardage totals as I complete each project. So, the blog entries may come sporadically, but I hope there will be several between now and the end of the year.
Now, if anyone wants to join me, great. But, this isn't one of those decreasing-stash-alongs where there will be prizes. Therefore, there will be no rule nannies to keep anyone in line. If you want to use my rules for your race, fine. If you want to expand the rules to your entire stash, great! It's just that, I know my deep stash alone is still at least 138K yards (78 miles), so I've got a few half to full marathons in front of me before I've whittled it down to a more comfortable level.
So, okay then. Get ready, get set...
I maintain that the marathon is a good idea, I've just been going about it too casually. A marathon is a race, after all, and I haven't been acting even like a tortoise in a race. It's time to introduce the game into this game and set some real goals and real consequences.
[Insert ominous music here.]
And knock down the yardage miles a bit to, say, a half marathon.
Beginning July 1, I'm running my first ever Deep Stash Half Marathon. I have until the end of the year to work through 23,072.5 yards of deep stash yarn (13.1 miles) or else I must sell/give away/toss the difference of what I don't use in projects. Either way, I will be rid of just over 23K yards of yarn. Gone. Outta here. Boom. The sad consequence will be that some of it I won't get to use myself; it'll just be yarn echoes in the corners of my mind.
[Insert Debbie Downer sound effect]
And there are rules! As follows:
So, how much do I have to work into projects to avoid the dreaded DESTASH decisions?
23,072.5 yards = 3,845 yards/month = 961 yards/week = 192 yards/day (for a five-day week).
Right. Knitting almost 200 yards a day isn't setting myself up for failure. Nope.
Yeah, I know it is, but the challenge of the race here is the difficulty. I'm simply trying to work as much yardage through my fingers before I have to destash the rest, unused.
I intend to report yardage totals as I complete each project. So, the blog entries may come sporadically, but I hope there will be several between now and the end of the year.
Now, if anyone wants to join me, great. But, this isn't one of those decreasing-stash-alongs where there will be prizes. Therefore, there will be no rule nannies to keep anyone in line. If you want to use my rules for your race, fine. If you want to expand the rules to your entire stash, great! It's just that, I know my deep stash alone is still at least 138K yards (78 miles), so I've got a few half to full marathons in front of me before I've whittled it down to a more comfortable level.
So, okay then. Get ready, get set...
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