Showing posts with label backup projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label backup projects. Show all posts

Monday, April 19, 2021

Fiber Monday - Procrastination Station

 

In Which I'm Working...
Just not on what I'm supposed to be working on...


I have been the busiest little bee when it comes to crochet this week!

Just... not the projects I was supposed to be working on (Lady Sibyl shrug I've been working on since 2018 says W H A T?!).

See, I get distracted easily, and when I fight that distraction too hard, I develop project block, which means that now I can't work on literally anything until I find a way around the block. It happens with writing, drawing, crochet... even reading! Yeah. Try and figure out that one :|

Regardless, I got very, very distracted this month, and now I've got about a dozen UFOs (Unfinished Fiber Objects) in my room. I'm working on categorizing those, but mostly, I've been distracted by a Very Old Problem and a Very New Toy.

New Toy First!

I BOUGHT A DROP SPINDLE!


That's right, folks. I'm one step closer to fiber self-direction! Now in order to make my own yarns all I need are materials which.... uh... I ain't buying sheep or alpacas. Maybe I'll learn how to sow, grow, rhett, spin, and dye linen? Maybe? idk.

Regardless, that is a cheapy drop spindle from Amazon and a package of silk mawata I'm looking forward to experimenting with. What's annoying is the silk was cheaper and easier to get than the spindle, but I can live with that :P

That's a project for another day (and believe you me, you'll be hearing alllllll about my botches with this new thing lol).

Instead, I present to you The Old Problem:

Meet Gordon.

Gordon, short for "Gordian Knot", is a pound of blue sport-weight yarn I bought ages ago. Probably 2012 or so. Wow. Wow I totally lost track of how long it's been. I guess I'm not exactly a beginner, am I?

Anywho, Gordon has been an incomprehensible tangle of blueness for ages and I'm more than ready to have him in working order.

Which he is graciously allowing.

Apologies for the blurriness of that photo - I was on tip-toes trying to get it all in frame.

That's not a tablet, guys. That's a laptop in the middle of Gordon's loop.


Hand for scale

Yes, that's how much yarn I've wound up from Gordon. His messiness means that I cannot use the fantastic ball winder I now own for him. I'd have no way of taking the unfinished ball off of the winder, passing him around the mass or through it and then reattaching the ball back onto the winder. It's just not a possibility. I have, however, learned one of Gordon's deepest, darkest secrets.

He's not truly tangled at all.

He's just awkwardly and unbelievably twisted on himself.

So I have him rounded out on my bed, where I put on a playlist of really fun vaporwave/mallcore ambience playing in the background, and I wrap yarn while slowly wrestling with Gordon.

Eventually, I may even get him put to rights and be able to use him, because that's been the goal for 2021 - USE THE YARN I'VE GOT.

Which is hard when 75% of it looks like Gordon. Or worse.

But if I can prove to myself that poor Gordon is not an overwhelming foe I cannot defeat without a knife, then I can untangle every single skein I have. Eventually.

For now, though, since Gordon is literally the only sport-weight yarn I own, I'm going to look for some nice patterns. Maybe a vest. It's a truly shocking cobalt blue, but I think it'd look quite nice as a fancy vest.

I just like vests, to be honest.

Well, that's what I've got going on. Apologies for the lateness of the blog - I've been running all over creation trying to put my bike in the shed, lower the treadmill (I... desperately need to up my stamina, hence the treadmill), burn some of the brushpile, look up videos on how to spin from a mawata (it sounds simple enough...), etc. Basically I'm pooped lol!

It's beautiful outside, though, despite the 21mph (33.8kph) winds. It's a sunny 56℉ (13.3℃), and it's finally drying off. I could do without the barking dogs, but it's spring and that's what dogs do.

Regardless, I've got some quality time to spend with Gordon now, so I must bid you adieu!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Monday, March 9, 2020

Fiber Monday 312: Progress and Patience

In Which I have made progress!

It's no secret that I'm an impatient person. I like things to happen on my time, regardless of who's doing them. I don't like waiting for anyone or anything.

It's also no secret that this is super hypocritical because I'm super extra lazy and late for everything.

So I try not to let my impatience take over. But boy, is it hard not to be impatient when you do two repeats of your pattern and it only increases things by about half an inch...

On the plus side, I'm a little less than a third of the way finished!
As impatient as I am, it's hard not to get discouraged, so I try to mitigate the tedium of a slow-growing project like this one by starting new, faster projects like this one:

And this is what two hours of work looks like.
Distracted work, no less!
So this new shawl, worked in a weird yarn that I know absolutely nothing about and couldn't identify if I tried, but which I adore, is a very, very quickly-worked one. I'm using a 3.75mm hook and it's... beautiful. Look at that colorway! It's actually a lot more brilliant in real life - that pink is closer to fuchsia than pastel, and the purple is almost electric! Lovely stuff.

It works so quickly because it's mostly chains, which, you know what? That's awesome. I hope someday to use this style of repeat on a rectangular piece of fabric. Maybe I could turn this repeat pattern into a cardigan, even? Who knows - crochet's versatile like that.

Right, I've got to get back to work, guys - these projects won't hook themselves, after all!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC