update

so, domestic operative 26, how did you fare in your mission?

um...

i got 3 squares done
stained the ottoman until i ran out of stain
finished the pillow
finished the t-shirt
practiced my spinning
did all but one load of laundry
didn't touch the dishes (oops)
almost finished packing
didn't touch the guest room

so, sort of okay, i guess.

my mission(s)

should i choose to accept it them, is are:

1) complete 6+ squares for the wedding afghan
2) finish staining the ottoman
3) finish the ring bearer's pillow
4) finish the flower girl's shirt
5) practice spinning
6) do laundry
7) do dishes
8) finish packing the family room
9) clean the guest room for company

total hours in which to attempt this list: 9
start time: 2:20 pm

ready? set..... GO!!!!!!!!

my first spinning adventure

i made yarn! i made yarn!

courtesy of the fiber boards on craftster, some miscellaneous internet reading and "Start Spinning" by Maggie Casey (and my DH (well, almost... 8 days!), who made the spindles for us), pauraniente and i learned to spin!

we bought our roving from our local yarn store, Home Ec.; just some plain, undyed wool. i think the tage said corriedale, but i don't remember for sure and now i can't find the tag!

so here's my spindles (made from materials found at hobby lobby, and seriously cheap to boot)

and my first skein! seriously, this must be the tiniest skein in existence... it can't be over 2 yards! it's just a single, spun on the heavier top whorl spindle, and washed and soaked and weighted to dry.

my second skein was also spun right after the first one, on the lighter bottom whorl spindle, and i really really wanted to ply it last night, when i spun it, but i was told i had to wait.

but i plied it today!

it's a bit thick-thin, but not so much that it's unusable... i plied it with silver thread, and i want to spin more so i can do it again! here's in skein form, with a quarter for reference.... that strand is about the average size of the yarn i spun.

i actually plan on using it in a creamy baby alpaca hat i plan on making... i can't wait to use my own homespun in one of my own projects. it's so fulfilling.

don't know how much longer...

...i can keep up this pace without going mad. all this crafting work (fun, but there are always parts of some projects that, well, aren't), plus the wedding in 10 days (10 days! eep!), then we move right after that... ohmigosh.

official square count for the august wedding afghan?

76

yeah, baby. it makes me want to start another project. yarn harlot calls it "startitis" and i got it baaaaad. i want to learn new knitting techniques, i want to start my hubby's mittens, heck, i even want to work on his vest. do i want to work on the dreaded-tension-cursed-baby-blanket? heck no.

here's my knitting progress:

i think it'll end up being a little scarflette when it's done. i'll put some metallic fringe on there to match the yarn and i'll start combing the thrift stores for a cute little shawl pin to keep it closed, seeing as i have no idea how to do buttonholes yet.

i finished the flower girl basket!

not bad for my first time flower arranging, though the picture is a little washed out. i started with a plain wicker basket, spray painted it silver, added all the ribbon, bows, and gems, added the little handkerchief, and stuck all the flowers into some styrofoam in the bottom. it helps when you've got high-quality silks to work with.

and the finale of my yarn deconstruction process! (okay, the penultimate part, i guess... there's one more skein drying)

ta-da! that's going to be about 775 yards of sport weight yarn. i'm thinking about doing this pullover on ravelry... of course, it is knitting, and my skills will have to take a major upswing on this one. i wonder if i can find a simple rollneck raglan sleeve pullover that would work with the yarn i've got... short sleeved, of course, with a band of ribbing at the bottom of the sleeve and the body...

i gotta stop posting so late at night. it robs me of my wit.

busy busy busy bee

i did sooooo much today i'm kinda surprised i'm still going.

had a wedding appointment, went to the bank, paid some bills, then worked on my knittng, surfed ravelry, worked on the wedding afghan, took a nap, went shopping to get painting stuff, stained, painted, did three and a half loads of laundry, worked on deconstructing the sweater, and did two sinkfulls of dishes.

and watched a movie.

here's some picture goodness for the day.... i think most are fairly self-explanatory

in the middle of things

construction on the arbor commenced today. and while my almost-hubby was doing that, i worked on filling cracks, sanding, and staining an ottoman he made for us a looooong time ago. got one side done. then it started to rain.

here's a better picture of the headpiece. okay, maybe not a better picture, but a cooler one:

and i finished the produce bag today! the cording was too big for the plastic squeezy thingy i wanted to put on the end, but i think it worked okay.

and just for amusement, here's a larger version of what's going on in this picture:

"mom? mom? hey mom, whatcha doin' mom?" that's my girl.

and here's a pattern for the produce bag (for reference, it's holding about a pound of apples in these pics and doing just fine).

materials:

one ball sugar n' cream cotton yarn, or 95-125 yards of worsted weight cotton. i used sugar n' cream twists in "cottage twists," the link is for a different colorway, but eh, whatever works.*

* whatever color works. i would definitely recommend cotton for this project. strong, sturdy, and the yarn won't stretch, even if the bag itself does. and besides, wool just isn't practical.

size P crochet hook (11.5mm)

1 yard cotton cording

gsuge:

gauge isn't really important for this project, but i would say if you're normally a tight crocheter, ease up on the tension a little!

directions:

using a slip knot, make a loose loop.

this project is worked in the round. i just kept spiraling around; you can do this or you can join every round if it makes you more comfortable.

round 1: sc 6

round 2: 2 sc in each st (12 sc)

round 3: *sc in first st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (18 sc)

round 4: *sc in first 2 st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (24 sc)

round 5: *sc in first 3 st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (30 sc)

round 6: *sc in first 4 st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (36 sc)

round 7: *sc in first 5 st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (42 sc)

round 8: *sc in first 6 st, 2 sc in next st, repeat * around (48 sc)

round 9+: sc in each st around, and around, and around until the yarn runs out!

tie off, weave in ends

to finish: thread the cord in an out of the second row of stitches from the top, secure in any way you like. you're done!

in other news, sweater surgery continues.

it is now without both button bands and the collar, with very little wasted. i've been using this great tutorial (p.s., i totally want to steal her roving!)

in fact, to help myself out a little, i made a swift with some wood scraps in the garage. this one measure 18" across, so each loop of yarn is roughly a yard, but i thinks i gotsta make me a bigger one.

there was soooo much yarn by the time i was done unravelling the collar. how much, you say? take a look at the bundle of yarn on the right:

it's soaking now, trying to undo it's "perm"... anyway, the bundle on the left was one of the button bands... the other one had machine-sewn button holes, so it was kind of a waste. the button band was 33 yards, give or take a few, and the bundle on the right is at least if not more than 10 times that much. and i still have two fronts, two sleeves, and the entire back to do! yay! pretty yarn....

the countdown begins

16 days until the wedding. i have five seven more projects to do. it was five (pillow, basket, 3 pairs of earrings), but then i made my final trip to the rental place and the "wood arbor" they had us renting for $250 was painted plywood that was so flimsy they have to stake it to the ground so it doesn't blow away. shit, i can make one for about $50 and then sell it after the wedding. and we need something to put the wedding cards in. i shouldn't even count that one, all i have to do is wrap a box and cut a hole in the top.

i made this yesterday; my headpiece for the wedding!

the flowers are my grandmas, from her wedding headpiece about 50 years ago, then i used seed beads and 2 sizes of swarowski bicones to fill in the rest of it. there were a ton more on hers, but i'm more of a delicate gal. i had my hair done today for my bridal photo session and it looked pretty good! i just can't get good pictures at night because the flash washes everything out.

i went shopping with pauraniente yesterday, ostensibly to find something to put wedding cards in, but instead i rescued this guy from the thrift store:

i think he's some sort of giraffe. anyway, technically he's supposed to be a planter but i put my crochet hooks and scissors in there. handy, i thought. i was also going through my cupboard trying to figure out creative ways to store stuff and came up with this idea too:

just an old vase i had lying around and the leftover tiny balls of yarn from projects. i thought the tape measure ribbon was appropriate.

oh yeah, and i made this tonight too:

yep. a giant hat. no, not really, not a giant hat. it's a produce bag for fruit! it just seems silly that we go to all this trouble to use reusable shopping bags and then throw away our efforts by putting our fruit and veggies into plastic bags. i'm not a fanatic about recycling or anything; all i'm saying is sometimes you can't choose your packaging (for your food), and sometimes, you can.

it still needs a drawstring cord, so more photos and a pattern tomorrow. but i'll leave you with an artsy close-up of the yarn; peaches n' cream twist in some colorway i forget, but it reminds me of a cherry candy cane. (why do they make the cherry ones rainbow colored?)

i'm a harlot, i know....

it's time. hi, my name is ScrapJam and i have an addiction to yarn. this is my stash. *ahem* er, um, sorta, some of my stash. the other bits not shown is all the afghan yarn.

in my defense, most of this stuff has a purpose. the pink stuff in the upper left? felted slippers for someone for christmas. the stuff in the upper middle? socks for me and my man and some mission falls cotton i couldn't fit in the tub. there's really too much to name... the clear boxes in the back is most of my wool/silk/linen/cashmere/merino/alpaca/bamboo yarns. in other words, the good stuff. there's some peruvian highland and some wool blend left out in the back right of the main portion, but for the most part what's out is acrlylic. the basket is for leftover or small balls of yarn, like the patons soy wool stripes on the top. the baby blue and chocolate brown in the front left are a shawl that has yet to be born. the other pale yarns are baby yarns for when i get to occassionally make a hat or some booties for a charity effort in town. all of this stuff had plans for it, once upon a time. i just bought the gray yarn in front today to make mittens for my hubby, but i'll be darned if i remember what some of the other stuff was for.

so, in other shameful news:

the afghan was driving me crazy. this is a crochet version of this knit vest, done in red heart "peruvian print" colorway. i originally had mittens planned for this yarn, back when i didn't know any better, so now the yarn gets sacrificed as test yarn. plus it's an outer garment, so i don't have to worry about it being all scratchy next to my skin.

remember the lotus cardigan from ravelry? i looked at the pattern and had real trouble figuring it out. so i dug through all my magazines, looking for the right shirt/sweater/cardi with the right yarn weight and yardage, and i found these two options:

(from crochet today)

(crochet fantasy; excuse the model, it was the mid-80's)

i actually think i'm leaning toward the peach colored one. i really like the boat neck, the flutter sleeves and the ribbed bottom. would it look good in purple? i have this knitpicks yarn in eggplant, and i know i definitely have enough. if i do the other sweater, i'll have to shorten the sleeves.

back to the afghan tomorrow, though i may reward myself by working on my vest in between squares. i've been soaking the red squares over and over to try and bleed out as much excess dye as possible. they've been through three 8-hour soaks and a machine wash, and i think that's about it for them. they're drying under a fan in the kitchen now. i've decided that instead of sewing in all 282 ends by myself, i'm going to have a sewing party in july.

 
and you know, it just occured to me, i've got space in the upper right corner of my yarn cabinet.

eh, not much.

my soon-to-be hubby and i checked out the local ren faire on memorial day, and this was the cool part:

he said he was pretty sure the horses were destriers... they had hooves the size of dinner plates. they didn't do any actual jousting... they said they would later, like, full armor and all but we didn't stick around. too many drunk girls dressed as "woodland faeries" and toting trolls on leashes. they didn't even have a spinner! or any craftsmen, for that matter. a few jewelry places, and few places with swords and the like... we saw a ninja selling pickles. yeah, i'm not sure about that either.

yeah, no more swapping for awhile. my shirts from the shirt swap were pretty awesome, but the bracelet sucks expletives. most of the charms and plastic and glittery. so what i said i didn't want. for those of you who don't know how swapping works, you fill out a questionnaire with your likes and dislikes and you try and craft something for your partner according to their likes. usually there's a theme for the whole swap, so you've got some ideas. mine was crafted from my dislikes list. the cheek of her. at least she sent. she disappeared for three weeks, so i was fairly certain i was going to get flaked on. come to think of it, it probably would've been better that way.