In Progress

I feel like I haven't completed anything in quite a while. However, I've started my latest knitting project three times, and it's presently still a ball of string. I'm trying to make le petit sac. The first time I cast on, I missed a plain knit stitch on the first pattern row and had to start again. I struggled mightily trying to make do with the only pair of size 2 needles I have, an Addi Turbo circular that's too slippery for linen and too long for the project, and finally after messing up too badly to fix it, I gave up and bought a 16" bamboo needle. Then I messed up because the frogged yarn has lost its twist and is splitty. I'm going to cast on a fourth time with fresh yarn and bamboo needles because I really want that bag, although I plan to line it because even though it's knit at a small gauge, the pattern stitch still has yarn overs, and not lining it seems a good way to ruin it way more quickly than I'm able to knit it.

So fighting with that yarn has eaten up quite a bit of my crafting time, with nothing to show for it. I did finish one thing, but all I had to do was install a snap.

I really, really like it! This fits more snugly than the first one I made. My daughter immediately tried to claim it, so I agreed to make one that's toddler sized, using the same blue fabric but embroidering one pink and purple butterfly in the center. "Do that right now," she said. I swear, my kids think I'm some sort of short-order crafter. I've told my boys that if anyone asks what their mother does, simply to say, "She makes things."

Speaking of my daughter, I was making quick progress on her rainbow girls (until I took a break to ruin some nice linen yarn).

I picked it up again last night and began the blue girl. The plan is to make bean bags with them, sewing each girl onto her own bag. That way, G can carry them around with her, which is what she wants to do. (Thanks so much to Wendi for the bean bag suggestion!) So you can see that when I'm done with the embroidery part, I still have some work to do on the sewing machine.

I'm also waiting for an order from Dick Blick that will have way more stuff than I have time to use. While I wait, I've been reading Making Monotypes Using a Gelatin Plate. The instructors from the printmaking class I took had a copy and said it was THE book on the process, but it's out of print and used copies start at about $60. So I requested a copy through our library system--there are three copies in the state--and I read it straight through then started again at the beginning, in hopes that it sort of buries itself in my brain. I plan to take notes too, of course. A gelatin plate is just that, a printing plate made from unflavored gelatin. In other words, something easy enough to do at home and safe enough to do with kids. I do a lot of art activities with my kids (although school is a huge time suck, in my opinion). I am brewing lots of ideas for all of us.

Now, though, it's time to turn on some baseball and decide what to work on tonight. Another go with the yarn? Or the satisfaction of finishing the blue girl first? I think I'll go for the sure thing...