Yarnification

Ugh. I’m printing out application forms for patient assistance programs to see if we can cut down on some of the some $250 to $300 a month we spend on prescriptions (no insurance). Filling out these forms makes me wildy anxious. I don’t know why, whether it’s the complicated process and the fact that I have to come up with different proofs of our income for five different applications, the fact that I’m being confronted with how little money we make, or what. I had to take a break from it because I was getting panicky. Like break-out-the-xanax panicky. In the interest of not freaking out completely, I’m posting here to try to distract myself.

So. Photo. I still don’t have all the sensation back in my finger, though it’s been a little better every day, so I’ve been scrounging around the stash and my patterns for things I can make with a J hook or bigger. (Even for a J hook, which is what I did this with, I’m having to put a pencil cushion around it to keep it off that finger.) And I found most of a ball of Lion Brand Incredible (color is autumn leaves) and made this scarf/belt pattern with it.

(Clickable. I’ve trying to remember to post thumbnails instead of full-size photos, with mixed results.)

I am so completely in doily withdrawal, but I figure don’t dare do anything with thread until I have all the feeling back in that finger or it’ll likely just go all numb again.

Over the weekend I was trying to avoid crocheting while I waited for the feeling to come back in my finger (it’s getting there, probably about 80% better now). But I just couldn’t. I had to crochet something. So I played around with hooks for a while to see how I hold different hooks. The steel hooks and the smaller yarn hooks, through about size G or H, all hit right across the numb spot on my ring finger. But my big hooks, around size L or M and bigger, didn’t even touch the fingertip. And there was much rejoicing while I sat around trying to decide what to make.

Eventually I decided to make a basket. I’ve had this basket pattern printed out for eons but have never gotten around to trying it. And I had four balls of this hemp/wool blend yarn that’s a little weird to work with. It tends to vary from thick to thin and back again so I’ve had a hard time finding a use for it, but it was $1 per 4-oz ball, and how can you turn down yarn that only costs a dollar? So I decided it would probably do fine for a basket. I used four strands instead of the six the pattern called for and a size P hook instead of a Q but otherwise mostly followed the pattern for the small basket. When I make another one I’ll probably use an N hook; it’s tight enough to stand up on its own but could stand to be a touch tighter.

First, a bit of advice for any of you using Gallery for your photos: Never, ever, ever try to edit the description text of one photo while you’re uploading another photo. I just did that, and the text for the one photo got attached to the new photo and vice versa. No amount of re-editing could fix it, and I had to delete them both and start over. (Grr.)

I finally finished the thread version of Jess’s Winged Hair Kerchief that I’ve been working on for a while. Photos:

And from the front, not that you can see much of it due to the angle:

It’s me, standing in front of a block wall! Kinda like a mug shot, only with a cute hair accessory! (I’m at work, hence the block wall background.)

I just kept on going with the pattern until it was big enough. The only thing I changed was the last bit of edging around the front, which I changed to hdc because I decided it would look better since everything was so tiny to begin with. I chained about 99 for the ties. Started to slip stitch back up the chain to make it more substantial but decided not to. I probably should have, since the ties are pretty thin and a little hard to get hold of. I might attach more thread on and slip stitch down the chains after all to make them thicker.

Tip for making bullion stitches: I got lots of practice with these since there were so many more than in the first one I did in ww yarn. My major trouble with them was getting the hook through, and I found a trick to it. (Aside from wrapping the yarn loosely enough, which is of course crucial to the process.) If the hook gets stuck partway through, try twirling it a bit. I started doing that and they went so much easier after that. A bit of twirling and the hook would free up and slide right through.

The other main thing I’ve been working on lately is Marvie’s Purse with No Name. I’ve been through the desert with a purse with no name… Er. Sorry. That made that song run through my head. (Or does the purse have a name now and I haven’t caught on?) I’m very nearly done, but I got stuck on the handles and needed to put it down for a bit, so I spent a few days playing with tatting and finishing up the kerchief.

Right now I can’t feel the tip of my left ring finger. By “tip” I mean most of the entire end of the finger from the last joint on. While I was finishing the kerchief last night, toward the end I noticed that fingertip getting a little bit tingly, but I ignored it because I really wanted to finish. Then when I was done I realized it all numb. I’m left-handed and hold the hook knife-style, and picking up a hook to check, the numbest part is right where the hook rests against that finger. It’s got to be from the pressure or something; doing that last bit of edging took some work since I was working into tight bits.

At the time I figured it’d be better by morning. It wasn’t—it’s just as numb today. I am slightly freaked out by this. I figure I’ve just pinched a nerve or something and it’ll get better over a few days, but it’s still a bit disturbing. And strangely enough it’s practically all I can notice. You’d think that with it being numb I wouldn’t notice it, but I keep noticing it because it feels wrong.

And that’s just what it is…a thing. It started out as the two-color edging pattern on page 417 of my copy of the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (I don’t know this particular pattern is in the newer editions; mine’s from 1979) and then kinda went downhill. But considering the fact that when I started this pattern I hadn’t yet learned to make a chain, worked with two shuttles, or fully mastered the slip join, I think I got reasonably far before making a mistake so bad that I had to just cut and start over. I did forget to reverse at one point, though, which I think would have made it impossible to keep going before long. (I do realize that this is a sorta unattractive color combination; right now I’m still trying to use threads that contrast with each other some so I don’t get things mixed up.)

I wonder if I’ll be able to get halfway decent photos when I get good enough to start using actual tatting thread. This is done in size 10 thread and is pretty blurry.

It was good practice, though. I’m definitely starting to get the hang of this. Some of my stitches are still sloppy and my picots are still uneven, but they’re not as wildly uneven as they were at first. And I found instructions recently on how to make a picot gauge so as to have them come out more even. Yay!

Considering that I spent a good chunk of the 80’s listening to Metallica and hippie music, I didn’t score too badly.

Final Score: 114

When I took French in school (six years, but now I can barely speak it because I haven’t used it since) the teachers gave you a French name if your name could be reasonably translated, but if it couldn’t you didn’t get one. I always thought that was kind of a bummer since mine didn’t translate. So now I’ve got one, even if it bears no relation to my real name…

Your French Name Is

Valérie Michaud

I’m not sure how to handle the Snowflake Mondays thing. I want to do it, but on Mondays I usually don’t get any crocheting done until evening, and I don’t have internet access at home. So I’ve been wondering whether I should hold my Monday snowflakes until the next Monday and post them then, or just do my Snowflake Mondays post on Tuesday, which is of course the wrong day. Hmm.

But on the plus side, I am now the proud owner of the December 1985 issue of Magic Crochet, which I found at a flea market yesterday for a dollar. There are a whole bunch of snowflake patterns in there, and also some pretty cool doilies.

Now I just need to work out how to crochet from a diagram. I have a basic understanding of how it works from making the Pineapple Squares Thing since I got the pattern out of one of the Harmony stitch guides, which show a written pattern and a diagram for everything. While I was making the first of the squares I got confused by the written instructions in a few places and used the diagram to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I’ve never made an entire item from just a diagram, though, so this should be interesting.

Anyway, I get out of work early today so I’m going home to make snowflakes. (After I wash the dishes and clean the litter box, unfortunately. But at least I’m not the one who gets stuck mowing the lawn!)

I don’t have anything finished to post today, but I thought I’d do the WIP Wednesday thing. I grabbed the button ages ago but I never remember to do it on Wednesday (honestly half the time I don’t know whether I’m coming or going, I’m just like that). Today I saw it at Kari’s blog so that reminded me that today is Wednesday. (I swear, my life would be so much simpler if I could convince the doc to prescribe Ritalin for me. He agrees that I have ADD but only wants to prescribe that Strattera stuff, which typically makes me grind my teeth at night and also gives me nightmares for a few weeks, and then when the side effects drop off, the stuff stops working altogether…)

• Dreaming doily—the smaller version probably, which would make me almost done since I’m on round 14, where you stop for the smaller one. But I don’t know, I might decide to keep going and make the big one.
• Ankle socks—I’ve been 3/4 through with these socks for a couple of months now. It might become fall before I’m in a sock-making mood again.
• Marvie’s Purse with No Name—this is technically not a WIP yet because I frogged back to the beginning but I’m starting again this afternoon. (I should never start a new project after midnight because it radically increases the chances that I’ll flake out on reading the directions, screw it up, and have to start over, and I started this one at one o’clock in the morning and thought I had read the instructions when I actually hadn’t read them all that well.)
• The shelving unit skirt thing. I probably won’t get back to that until fall because it’s big enough that I do not want it in my lap until then.
• Thread hair kercheif. Getting there—just a few more rows and then the edging, I think.
• Also still haven’t blocked the Pineapple Squares Thing, but other than that it’s done.

Hee!

Your Outrageous Name Is

Mary Wanna

Tonight I noticed a couple of things: First, my feed was only giving summaries, not full posts. And second (once I’d fixed the first thing), my hotlinking protection wasn’t set to allow Bloglines to display my images, so once the full posts showed up the images didn’t seem to be showing up.

This should be fixed now. The feed should show up to 25 unread posts, full text rather than summaries (unless you set it to show just summaries in your Bloglines subscription), and the images should show up. If anyone sees any problems, please let me know, okay? Either in the comments, or my email address is over on the sidebar. Thanks! :)