Friday, January 19, 2007

Coming soon...

Stash knitting has been such fun! No really! It's forced me to think up new ways to use up odds and ends of unloved yarn and turn them into something beautiful. And it is so satisfying to boot! I feel completely different about my stash now than I did before started this destashing exercise. I feel inspired...



I haven't knit much this week. Though after all that knitting last week I needed a bit of a break. By the way, I feel I should note that the only reason I've been able to knit so much in the past couple of weeks is because I am still on house arrest* until I deliver the baby in March. I've been passing the time knitting, thinking up designs and watching DVD's we got for Christmas (Gray's Anatomy season one, Scrubs season one, the Ali G Show, and the West Wing season 4).

This week, I've been experimenting with felting! See that in the photo above? It is 100% wool felt made by me with a little help from my new friend, a present I coerced my husband to get me for Christmas. I say my new friend, but really I'm thinking of dumping it! I don't think I'd ever use it for anything other than making big long pieces of super loose stockinette for felting because it is such a horrendous, pain in the a$$ to use!

Seriously, once I've felted everything I intend to from the stash, I'm totally putting it up on ebay. I mean it will probably make someone who finds hand-knitting tedious and who has the patience and committment to learn to use the thing properly very happy. But that person is not me. And I don't feel bad talking about a present I lovingly received like that because, like I said, I totally made my husband do it! Shame on me!

So what am I going to make with all this felt? Well, I've got a few ideas up my sleeve...

*aka Doctor's orders to rest, avoid stress, exertion, and to stay off my feet as much as I can until the baby arrives - hopefully as close to March 19th as possible!

13 comments:

  1. I had to do that--bed rest, lie on my left(?it's 21 years ago) side for a month with each kid. I had my tubes tied after the second. Wasn't doing that again!

    Bond machine--it's much, much harder to use this cheap machine than it is to use a better, more expensive machine. That being said--I hate using knitting machines!

    The other thing you can use them for is to knit up yarn for dying. Don't remember URL but you can do very interesting and unusual things that way.

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  2. Anonymous7:02 p.m.

    Yes they are very noisy and frustrating to use! I have one hidden deep somewhere and do plan to use it for some dying and felting one day. But right now I have enough noise and frustration in my life! Can't wait to see what your felting up!

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  3. Anonymous2:25 a.m.

    Wow you will have a lot of time to do knitting with all that rest, but the baby is worth all that rest time. Cant wait to see what you make with all the felt that you create too.

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  4. Anonymous6:16 p.m.

    Pretty colors!!! I'll be interested to see what you create with those materials :)

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  5. Anonymous10:16 p.m.

    i was on house arrest (restricted activitiy they called it) after the second trimester ended. enjoy the tranquility of your life with little man now - it'll be multiples of fun once little man #2 arrives!!!
    keep those feet up!
    XOXO

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  6. Anonymous10:34 a.m.

    My mother in law uses a knitting machine and I've watched her do it. Holy pain in the butt, batman! I don't blame you for putting it up on ebay. :)

    Bedrest sucks, but at least you have dvds and knitting. :) Do you have any names picked out for the little one yet?

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  7. Anonymous12:56 p.m.

    You are MUCH better at using up your stash than I am!

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  8. Anonymous1:10 p.m.

    I bought one decades ago when I was knitting kids sweaters for shops - they work well if you use it to whip up plain sleeves, or backs of sweaters - leaving the fun hand knitting for the front of the sweater. You can really rip - spend one day on a handknit piece, knock off the remaining 3 sides in an evening. Gets easier with practice - but the noise never does goes away!

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  9. Anonymous1:41 p.m.

    I had my second at home with a midwife on Dec. 23rd at 35 years old and towards the end, we were worried with foot swelling and BP a bit. He was "due" Jan 7th, but I always thought that was off. And my midwife said something that makes a lot of sense: babies come when they're ready. It doesn't matter when we think; there's a reason for when they come. May that be a comfort and congratulations.

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  10. Anonymous7:39 p.m.

    Hi Anny,

    I just came upon your blog via the Harlot.

    I agree with everything you said about the Bond. There was no joy for me in sitting in front of the fiddly machine and pulling the carriage back and forth (when the knitting didn't jump the needles or jam). I gave it a few weeks of trying then passed it along, and have never regretted that decision.

    Enjoy your knitting now--two kids are more than twice the work of one, and you know what those first several weeks are like
    =8-@

    It's a good thing the babies are cute, or we'd toss them out the window! But then it settles down again. So hang in there!

    Knitwit

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  11. Please, mind the medical advice. I am a neonatal nurse practitioner working in the NICU with preemies. I don't want to heard about an early delivery for you! You could use alot of your stash with the bedrest!

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  12. Anonymous9:07 p.m.

    Love your blog; found you via the Harlot...

    One of my sisters-in-law had to go on total bedrest with child #2...at first, she thought, "woo, great! I'll be able to do lots of handwork [she's an amazing quilter] and read ..."

    um, no. She was constantly dizzy. About all she could do was watch lots of extremely bad TV and every rental movie they could get their hands on.

    If you can a) knit and b) blog, you are doing GREAT.

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  13. Anonymous8:38 a.m.

    OK, I saw the thing about the BOND knitting machine and I laughed and laughed. Me and my friend bought one together YEARS ago and we have joint custody, but all I ever use it for is felting! PITA for sure. EBAY is an excellent idea.

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