Slowly

Do you remember when you were a kid and life seemed to go by so slowly? A single day lasted forever, let alone the length of time until it was until Christmas or your birthday. Lately life seems to be going so, so fast and just speeding up every minute. I’ve been in desperate need of something to slow me down. Crafting does just that.

I started spinning some superwash BFL quite a while ago – long enough that I forgot about it. I never thought I would be the kind of person who would forget about a project. I finished spinning the singles, and decided this yarn needed some beads.

It turns out that if you add scads of beads to a yarn, it takes a lot of effort to slide them all down the yarn as you ply. The tension and abrasion from this broke my single, so I took most of the beads off, and I’m periodically adding more to the yarn in more manageable amounts. Won’t the finished yarn be gorgeous, though? I’m thinking of using it for a shawl.

I have shawls on the brain right now, and beads, it would seem. I’m reading through the Knitter’s Almanac again, and have come to the conclusion that I desperately need a Pi Shawl. A little search through the stash, and I came up with my Rumpelstiltskin yarn that I finished last year. I love this yarn so much. It’s recycled sari silk with beads every few inches. The drape of this yarn is incredible! Every time I see it I can’t help but think of a pile of treasure!

So that’s me, slowing down. I have a kitchen to clean and laundry to do, but yarn is just so much more interesting!

Washpocalypse

My husband commented the other day that we had run out of washcloths. *Gasp* how could this be? I immediately cast on for a washcloth with the half-ball of Peaches and Creme that I had in my stash and ran to the store for more.

Then I commenced washcloth knitting hard-core. Ok, hardcore may be a bit of a stretch, but I had a goal to prevent the Washpocalypse!

The first washcloth was the simplest garter stitch square. Cast on 50 stitches, knit 50 garter ridges (100 rows) bind off. Pure zen.

I like a generous washcloth, but this one was a little too big. The next one was log cabin, and I aimed for a 40 stitch/row square.

This was oh so satisfying! I really wasn’t sure about the log cabin pattern until I picked up the 4th log, and then I truly began to love it. I see more of these in my future.

The 3rd washcloth is the Ballband Dishcloth from the first Mason Dixon Knitting book. I’ve been meaning to knit this for quite a long time. It was such a fun knit! I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on! Stripes, with slipped stitches. Instant colourwork!

I think I’ve begun to amend the problem (it turns out doing the laundry also helps with the washcloth situation), so I think I’ll take washcloths off the “must make now” list for the time being. But I still have a few balls of dishcloth cotton in my stash. You know, just in case.

What is your favourite washcloth pattern/recipe?