Thursday, March 12

WIP Wednesday

(This was supposed to post yesterday, so please pretend today is still Wednesday. I know, no one wants it to be Wednesday any longer than necessary but 'WIP Thursday' doesn't have the same ring to it.)

I feel as though life has been clobbering me good the last few weeks but things seem to have turned the corner and more of my brain is free to think about things other than basic survival. I usually do my knitting in the evenings, but lately I have just been sitting and staring at the TV like a zombie. Until I fall asleep on the couch.

I only have one real WIP right now, my Anastasia sock out of Misti Alpaca sock yarn.

Anastasia sock in progress

I decided to put in a placeholder for an after-though heel, mostly because I couldn't come up with the perfect heel to use for this gorgeous yarn and couldn't be bothered to use my brain and look something up. (It's the white yarn on the back half of the fabric in the photo above.) Also, after seeing a photo of the sock I realized that the yarn is actually pooling a little and creating a spiral in the opposite direction of the lace pattern. Hmm. Not my favorite look ever, but it is subtle enough to pass.

My other WIP is actually some spinning I am planning to start tonight: 4oz Spunky Eclectic Club Feb '09 "New Day".

Spunky Eclectic "New Day"


I want to make a hat and maybe mittens out of this since it matches my white and orange winter coat perfectly. I am going to try for a worsted weight two ply. So I guess this is my very first attempt to spin something into a predetermined yarn, instead of just however it happens to turn out. It will be a learning experience, at least!

Sunday, March 8

$10 Craigslist Find

Check out my new IKEA Oppala chair:


IKEA Oppala Chair


IKEA discontinued this chair in 2005 and I am very excited to find one, especially at a great price. What does this have to do with knitting you ask? Because of this awesome pattern from Veronik Avery in IK Fall '04:


chair cover


I'm so excited to start this. I haven't decided what yarn to use yet, but the pattern calls for Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool and I might just stick to that. I could buy them one at a time with Joann 50% coupons and it wouldn't cost a fortune. But I am still looking into other options like Knit Picks and WEBS for an affordable option. I think I want to stick with wool, even though it might be warm in the summer, because cotton might stretch too much and too high an acrylic percentage might get sweaty (never a good thing).

(Incidentally, the addition of this chair brings the percentage of IKEA furniture in my house up to about 98%.)