Status Check

Another post without photos... =/

Cherie Amour: still on the waist, but I'm pretty sure this is the last frog I'm going to do. The 2x2 rib with cables on every other rib looked very wide/bulky, the 1x1 rib looked very dense compared to the lace work, so I'm trying a 1x1 rib with eyelets every 4th row. I swatched a couple such eyelets, but none came out straight. k2tog was almost straight, but still with a bit of a wave; ssk made it look like more of a twist almost. I'm going with the latter because I can call it a design element instead of something that almost worked. It will create horizontal bands, but I think it'll be ok.

So I ripped out the waist and spent the week dekinking the yarn. The last batch is almost dry and it's now that I realize I should have wound them in smaller hanks so they dry faster. Another live & learn moment I guess.

Since I keep frogging and dekinking, I also decided that I'll soak the rest of the yarn before use. I don't notice a difference between fresh-from-the-hank and post-soak, but for all I know there's a big one. Just to be on the safe side, I also wet-blocked what I made so far and it does look nicer and more even already.

Old art: While the soaking and drying was going on, I went on a cleaning spree and found a lot of old art stuff. Most I don't mind getting rid of, but I'm really proud of one of the drawings I found (and in charcoal at that!), and two of the finds are needlepoint--including what I think is my very first one! More details on those after I photograph and post them.

Dom's arm warmers: Dom wants arm warmers--and I'm making them for her! Much more about this later, but for now it will suffice to say that this makes me ridiculously... excited, happy, manic, bouncy, and just overall hyper.

Misc. ideas:

• Elbac: I think I'm just going to rip out what I did and not look back. It's fine, it looks like the photos, but I'm not enjoying it. I still love the idea of reversible cables, but now that I (mostly) understand the technique, I'm not as excited about this project as I once was. Maybe with nicer yarn and a recipient in mind it'll be more enticing.
• A "monthly necessities" bag: the idea for one never crossed my mind until I saw "My Dear Aunt Flo's Felted Pouch" on Ravelry by Christy Tchaparian (non-Ravelrers can find her blog here and her pattern available on Etsy here) and then I promptly decided I must make one. I usually use a purse's inner pocket for such items but the one in my current purse is too small so I end up digging through them to get my wallet, chapstick, flash drive, etc. Plus my coworkers are mostly male and don't need to be exposed to such foreign items, lol. I'm thinking it'll be knit, black stockinette st background with a red seed st heart (first intarsia project?) inspired by another idea I had for...
• A larger bag--black background, red foreground illusion heart bag ...because I'm still fascinated by illusion knitting. Will be lined.
• To use up stash, a black 1x1 rib scarf with 3 pink stripes on either side
• Tetris scarf (or something Tetris)
• Something SMB3. I wanted to do a set of hats with a different character on each (including Mario in Kuribo's shoe!) but I'm having second thoughts about that.
• Chokers
• Plus more WUA sections and such

Oh! I forgot I took some fire photos recently (my bf's fam has a fire pit in their backyard). Maybe I'll go through those and see if there's any I particulary like to post here...

In the meantime, back to productiveness!