• Knitting and Crochet

    The Multi-year Totoro Mittens

    So I started these Norwegian Totoro Mittens (ravelry link)… uhhh… a long time ago. I actually am not sure when I started them, because of course I didn’t log them in my Ravelry Notebook. My Ravelry notebook that’s gone largely neglected the last few years. Of course I didn’t. But I do know that they’ve been on the needles a long time. Long enough to have stray strands of fur from my cat Genghis still knitted into them.* And Genghis has been pushing up daisies for several years now, soooo… there’s that. But it’s time to be done with them. I’ve dragged them back out, and I want them OFF…

  • Knitting and Crochet

    It Was the Shawl That Wouldn’t End…

    So I made a Boneyard Shawl (ravelry link). I went with the YO options to create a perforated edge and middle, and I LOVE the way it turned out, but oh, em, gee did I get bored with this pattern fast. It’s a super easy knit, but the bigger it gets, the more tedious the knitting was for me. It’s super mindless, which is GREAT if you’re someone who can like, knit without looking at your stitches? But I still can’t really do that. I’m in awe of people who can read while they knit, or even watch something on TV that’s visual heavy, because I can basically only do…

  • Knitting and Crochet

    Operation: Finish the Afghan

    So I have this afghan. It’s been half-done since somewhere around 2008. Maybe 2009. I started it as a graduation gift for my college roommate, but as it continued to linger and linger and linger, and as years and years passed since both of our graduations that original purpose became moot. And now it’s 2015. I’m three years away from a 10 year college reunion (which I will probably not go to, since I didn’t know anyone I graduated with – I graduated a year early). And still the afghan remains. Unfinished. Languishing in a green milk-style storage carton behind our couch. The time has come. It’s time to be…

  • Knitting and Crochet,  Links

    On the Needles…

    On the needles at the moment is a Liesel scarf (ravelry link) using some of that lovely yarn I broke all my spending rules for a few weeks back. This will be the third time I’ve attempted this scarf – I love the pattern soooo much, but as of yet have never been able to successfully complete it. The first attempt was a number of years ago and I think my lace skills were just not yet up to the task. I don’t follow written lace instruction well – it’s very hard on my eyes – and I hadn’t learned to read charts yet. So after many many mistakes, it…