Mini Maniac

Look what landed in my mailbox on Saturday!

Fingering weight minis! I played along in a swap on Ravelry - everyone sent in a skein (or two) that was already broken down into the minis and in return you an equal amount of minis. These are for my Beekeeper's Quilt project. What a great way to try out new yarns - I am looking forward to working with the Mini Mochi, Trekking, Yarn Chef, and colourphobia minis. There are also several that I already know and love - Lorna's Laces, Malabrigo Sock, Schaefer - even a Wollmeise!

This is such a great pick-up-put-down project. I am up to 27 done - it feels like there should be more, and I know there is a long way to go still.


Each little hexipuff is quite satisfying to complete. I am still saving the leftovers from each mini skein, as I am unsure if I want to make half-hexis from them or stripe them with other leftovers. That is a decision for another day.

While I wait

Trying to keep myself occupied and distracted (without being too grumpy or antsy) this week as I continue to play the waiting game with the lil'nutmeg and the hospital. Thank goodness for knitting! I'm still working away on the hexipuffs:

And have also sent off a bunch of mini-skeins for a swap - I am really looking forward to getting the chance to try out some new yarns this way!

Over the weekend I finished the last of my WIPs! Well, the active more short-term ones - if you look at my Ravelry project page there are several WIPs, but most now are in hibernation. I am choosing to ignore the "Neon Nightmare" and the "Beekeeper's Quilt" as those are truly long term projects, though they are active. This most recent WIP is a gift and has been shipped off to the recipient. Once I know it has been received then I'll be able to blog about it.

This is a very strange feeling to have my needles "empty" for the most part - no deadline knitting (hoping to pick up testing / sample knitting again in September), a closet full of yarn, a ravelry queue that is ~30 pages (?!) - one could get lost in options and my decision making lately has already mostly fallen into the general "Meh, whatever" category. I did decide to go with another project that has been on my mind lately - Andrea's Mitts. These slightly cooler days must have me thinking for fall, so I pulled out some Rhinebeck yarn ( silver Delly's Delights Farm O-So-Soft) and a purple yarn which sadly lost it's tag (I think I got it in a swap, can't find it in the blog, phooey). These might end up a Christmas gift, or I might keep them, right now I'm 50/50.

I started yesterday and am increasing the thumb gusset now. I am surprised as how quick these are working up. So far so good I am enjoying them and I know I have plenty of yarn to make another pair after this if I am so inclined (grey + pink, maybe reversing the purple + grey combo too).

Bit by bit

So it is Wednesday, a day for Yarn Along, and pretty much all I am reading this past week is Lorelai's books and the blogs. My attention span is quite possibly the lowest it has ever been - actually what I have been "reading" the most is to keep my computer next to me while I knit and I can keep an eye on the Ravelry Radar. I started a new project as well - a very long-term project, without any sort of goal at this point in time, and no specific deadline - this is a selfish project for me, The Beekeeper's Quilt. When I first saw it on Ravelry I thought it was cute and clever - especially because it uses sock yarn leftovers! I have a basket full of sock leftovers and sock minis that have made their way into my stash either through trades or swaps or whatever.

I decided to ignore the fact that I am already working on a blanket (the Neon Nightmare) for me and just recognize that I could not stop thinking about this project. I have a lot of sock scraps, I am expecting a new baby any day now and between that and my 3.5 yr old daughter I think I need to have a more portable project for snuggling / waiting in the car / etc, just to keep the knitting going. I've been at it for about a week, and my word, these are addictive little buggers to work up. I can't quite tell if it the addictiveness is due to being able to make a hexipuff in ~45minutes (more or less depending on the amount of distractions going on), the thrill of getting to see the different color changes in the sock yarns work up, or the ease of having such a portable project.

I think I have about 11 done in the last week. For now I'm just keeping them in a clear glass vase on the mantle. I have also been going back through the sock scraps and pulling out some for my own use, some for trade / swap. It is a lot of fun to work with some familiar yarns again, and I look forward to swaps and trades to get exposure to new-to-me-yarns as well.

I am going for a very scrappy look, though I can see how easy it would be to get ultra obsessed and create a picture / pattern with these. The estimates for size run from ~1000 hexipuffs for a bed-size blanket to several hundred for a lapghan / baby size. Right now I'm not sure where I will end up. For now this is a great project and I'm loving it!