Slow Progress

Ok, so the rest of the aran yarn is in hiding.... And I made a mistake on the top row. This mitten definitely needs to be lined, as the stranded yarn doesn't feel good. Besides the mitt would be warmer in the end.

Stranded Mitten Progress

I have got to say the best part about doing smaller projects is that you see the results of your experiments a lot more quickly. :)

A Small Holiday Drawback...

Whenever there is a holiday, the contents of my craft stash get put back into the closet. This means of course, that whatever yarn I didn't think I wanted to use in the near future somehow triggers a subconscious alarm, "you must try..." So that counter to common sense when company is coming, I found myself digging in my closet trying to find the right yarn.

I'm trying another pair of mittens. Not strummed or pseudostrummed, but pseudo fair isle. I have 2 balls of sport weight woolease, one aquamarine the other pink, that are completely different from everything else in my stash. I don't know why I bought them, especially the pink. Especially since I only bought 1 ball of each, and I have no other sportweight. (Don't even know if it's even sold locally anymore.) So I thought 2nd Mitten attempt here we go!

Slight problem though with needing a size 2 needle for the cuff it takes a lot longer, and moving into the body with a size 3, I became concerned about the thinness re warmth. So, I want greater thickness but still to use the yarn, and another challege - so fair isle, with a regular weight woolease. I have now already ripped out the first attempt. While my pattern on the back of the hand was going ok, I made the poor choice of knitting with both the aqua and the aran on the palm side, meaning it was too thick for the gauge and pulling the fabric out of shape.

Now after googling for fair isle weaving, I think I know what the book was trying to tell me. I think I'm stranding right now, and apparently I knit English style. Which made the book's conteniental example confusing.

So digging in my closet for the rest of the woolease Aran (first search was futile). And am suddenly wondering if it might be in the bottom of the laundry basket of clothes I need to put away...

Completed Mittens

Doneness. :)

Second Mitt Cont.

Finished the body, and am now working on the thumb - first went the wrong way with knitting the thumb - so it'll have a ring of garter at the base, but think I'll likely drop stitches if I go back - so onward.

Am contemplating ripping out the ribbing on the hat that I started to go with the mitts, and knitting down from the stockinette. I did 1x1 and the gauge went way too big, really should have gone down a needle size (another lesson learned).

Second Mitt Progress

At first the second mitt seemed to be flying.. But with accidentally losing my fifth needle in the pencil section of a desk drawer for a day (and spending too much time looking for it), and having to go back several rows more than a few times (for some reason I get going and forget to strum).

And finally, wasted time today pulling out the waste yarn on the thumb hole, and then threading it through the empty loops. I just wanted to be able to put my hand in the mitt properly and see how I'm doing. (And it's fun.) :)

The nearly complete buzz...

I have to say the best part about working on smaller projects than 6' x 5' Afghans, has to be the frequent 'I'm nearly done!' buzzes. Most of my afghans took 2 years - mostly off, to be done. But I've gotten done more hats and scarves and mittens in the past couple months than I have ever done afghans.

It's also been challenging, after all garter stitch afghans you don't need to see to do right. I've gotten almost competent on dpns (which I didn't know existed 2 years ago). I've learned a lot more about patterns - though I have yet to follow one completely. And before the only patterns I've followed have been cross-stitch ones. (Which reminds me, I really should take out the long neglected Santa project.)

But here I am, 1:30 in the morning - working on finishing a hat - with a giddy smile that would make you think there is Apfelsnapps in my tea. :)


And now it's done.

Gotta Love Price Wars!

Filled up my gas tank for $13!

Love it!

:)

Second Mitten

Correcting some mistakes with the second mitten. I've K4, M1 instead of K3 M1, and so the hand is a bit smaller, and is knitting up a bit faster. I'm already to the thumb row, and am comtemplating using waste yarn for the stitches and removing it when I'm ready to knit the thumb.

I'm juggling too many projects now, but I'm making sure to knit a little on each daily, so that they are working towards the end. I think gauge might be a bigger factor on speed than I thought. The size 3 silverlume twisted rib hat takes more out of my hands than the size 6 silverlume ribbed hat...

Checked out Etsy, and there is some pretty cheap alpaca roving out there... Am comtemplating making a traditional pair of strummed mitts with that...

First Mitten Done

Just finished knitting the thumb. Took out the first attempt, as it was way too big (going to shrink the number of stitches in the thumb hole next time), still oversized enough to comtemplate lining it with the wool. But that was after k1 k2tog for the first pink row. Think I would be happier with merlot color, but would have to order that..

Mitten Musing...

I'm nearly done with the body of the first mitten. And I've learned a lot from it, I think.

Mistakes
1) Adding too many stitches after the cuff. I don't recall how many I added. (Need to recount) But with going to the size 4 needles, I could have added 5 less at least.

2) I should have plotted out my felting yarn inserts, especially near the top where I began doing decreases.

3) Not keeping count so I know what to redo for the second mitten. lol


I think I'll decease the number of stitches a bit, on the second mitt. Still contemplating how to handle the thumb.

--

BTW, watching the news while knitting today was quite depressing. I think the worst part is that on US tv, there was scant foreign news - like the fact the French have bailed out their major auto company. I hope the jobs report pushes through the loans. And I found it interesting that Senators/Representatives from states with foreign based car plants were the biggest naysayers.

Brown Tufted Mittens cont.

I'm surprised at how fast this is developing. Though I admit it would be going much faster if I wasn't turning it inside out to check that it isn't a total mess.

Startitis or a new hat, and my first attempt at a mitten...

I've started another hat, since I finished the Aran one. I am thinking of making another tam, but now am uncertain. See my 1x1 Rib is far too loose. I'd added a few extra stitches at the beginning and had hoped a section of ribbing would correct the issue, but it seems there will at least be elastic and perhaps felting in this hat's future.



I've also started with a mitten, in the same yarns. I've never knit one before, but the online patterns had too tight of a cuff, so I'm improving. I'm using Patons Merino Wool for the MC and using Bernet's Felting Wool for "thrums". I had each brand's Rosewood colorway, and used it in the cuff with the Patons, and am now using Brown for the mitten body, and am trying to decide if the thrums will be enough color challenge in the mitten itself, I've been thinking about making the back of the hand pink, and the palm brown but I think that might be easier knit separately rather than in the round....

Dance of Joy

Finished the Lion Wool-Ease Aran hat I started to go with the double ribbed thin scarf I'm still working on with it. The hat has a double rib on the beginning, and then stockinette, then I decided to double rib again at the top. :)

Size Matters

Size & shape of the needles really does matter.

For example, on the oversized charcoal scarf I'm using huge size 15 bamboo needles. And my hands are killing me by row 4. So I've been doing 4 rows at a time, so I get one pattern iteration each time.

With my hats, the size 4 16" circular Boye needle is okay. I think the needle is plastic, which is a bit odd, as the cable seems heavier than the points. But with working in such a small round seems to make my hands work differently, and I can only do a few rounds before my hands hurt in a different way. I got the Silverlume size 3, 16" and the needle is much longer and more comfortable, but the bends in the cable at the end of each needle bend so much I'm afraid they are going to break. It's much better than with the previous needles.


I also have a ribbed scarf on size 6 straight needles. But the ones I were using were so long it was excessive, and none of the local stores sell short size 6 needles - so I got a set of clover dpns and put point protectors on the ends, and it works wonderfully.

Santa Hats

So, last week at Jo-ann's Fabrics they had Lion Brand chenille and Patons Cha-Cha on sale - and the Cha-Cha was only 1 dollar a ball.


So seeing this I thought it'd be perfect for a Santa's hat. Especially since one of the needles I got from Sit and Knit's going out of business sale was a 10 1/2 Clover 12" circular needle. The thing that is holding me back is the gauge. Not sure if my needle size is big enough or what my per inch will be. And you can't really reknit chenille. Heck, it warns you on the label!

Pondering....

From scarves to hats...

I finished the red wool scarf. Well, except for weaving in the beginning and tail ends... I hate weaving in ends. Which is probably why the afghan I "completed" 3 years ago and that has been on my bed long before that (best place to store a blanket WIP), still has ends to work in. Plus it got gored by the metal frame for my bed, so there's a patch job.

So, having completed the red scarf - as I only had 4 balls of Lion Wool in that lot, from when the local Walmart clearanced out its craft area. Lion Wool has less yardage per skein, and I've been burned by wool-ease balls so often, so I didn't get this until it was about $1.50 per ball. I have 3 more balls in a different lot number (thought I only had 1) so I immediately latched onto the idea of making a matching hat. (Once I confirmed that the Patons red beret I knit and felted (as I knit it far too big) was the wrong color.) However, in small circular needles, I only had a set of size 9 or 10, and with size 8 on the scarf, the gauge was too loose for a hat, so I'm thinking 7 or 6.

This meant, I got distracted and made a nice black hat with the size 4's in the meantime.


Roll brim, ribbed row then an increase, with a circular decrease on the top, trying to flatten it out.






With that done, still distracted, I pulled out some old Wool-ease that I last used on my brother's afghan (that my Mom has in addition to her own 62 is a good house temp with blankets), and have been trying another roll brim, with an diagonal rib.

The problem here is that I started with 160 cast on, as I know that it would be thinner than the Paton's. I went with my double ended 3's, but I stink at multiple needles (I keep making accidental yo's at the new needle) so I went to the circular 4 16" needle, but could see even more light with the rib, so have gone to a 3, and now to the only 2's I have double-ended.

And still there doesn't seem to be the density I want for a hat.

Fall Frost, and Knitting Resumes.

I had a kick for a while this summer with knitting washcloths. I didn't realize how quickly Sugar & Cream loses its color - I mean I've read that it fades quickly- but some of the ones I knit in the spring look like antiques. Another factor is that I think I'd move up another size with the needles for the next time I feel like knitting cotton - from the dryer they shrink so much they look too small, but wet they grow an inch or so.

With the cool weather I've resumed my large double-stranded Red Heart yarn afghan. It's huge and heavy - and I think probably more than half done - but the weight makes it impossible to knit more than 2 rows at a time max, and lately my hands are cramping less than halfway through 1 row.

I've started 2 new scarves and finished both of my old scarf projects. The aqua toned one curls quite a bit being mostly in stockinette, and I've been debating whether I should felt it. I really have no idea how it would felt - if the width would shrink more than the length or vice versa. But I'm learning towards felting it with the curling.

The near permanent dirt under my fingernails

I haven't been doing much knitting, as when the AC goes on, I feel wasteful knitting under a blanket. I have been gardening, though the rain and recent temperature spikes haven't cooperated. My irises were gorgeous this year, with a couple of colors I didn't remember showing up well. Grass though has been a hard to get out weed in my flowerbeds, only really sprouting in my perennials, and they are loving my creeping phlox. I did make an attempt to kill all the grass in the phlox on my corner bed, but only succeeded in killing the phlox. :(

Spring Clean Up

I'm not sure how most cities and towns do this, but in my town there are 2 big trash days a year - Spring and Fall Clean Up. That week all sorts of big items are put on the curb, garages are emptied of the junk, and the recyclers drive by slowly. It's funny, there is a rather long list of things that are banned like a/c, dehumidifiers, and the like - but you can put them out anyway as anything metal tends to be grabbed up within hours of being on the curb.

I thought perhaps there would be less people this year - as the cost of gas is so high that it might rival the amount they get for scrap - but all through the night the sounds of slow passing trucks continued, though the day crowd had already grabbed up the metal from our shed clean out pile. (That's the creepy part, the after dark scroungers.)

Of course, after it is picked over, there is still the question if the garbage men will actually take it all, and a bit of a cheer when they do. Because sofa cushions that may have seen the 60s, and belong to nothing, really don't need to be in a shed.

Life's List

Saw this at http://yeaiknit.com/blog/ and thought I'd add my two bits. You are supposed to bold what you have done.

Life’s To Do List

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger (and dated for a while)
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (this is what you are supposed to do at a family wedding!)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (Isn't this required at college.)
42. Had amazing friend
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero (Underroos!)
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane (does sitting in the flight deck count?)
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care (this one among others seems too specific, I've had loved ones in hospice, I've cared for loved ones...)
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

Washcloths

Since the last post I have knit 3 dishcloths. Peaches and Cream green mix & one of the remainder of a green with white. I have to say it is quite remarkable how much softer the white is - at least of the few balls I had. I got Sugar & Cream at another store, as Peaches was out in the green var., and found little difference except for pricing and Sugar being Canadian made. The white Peaches was ever so much softer than all the rest, though. In the wash there was pilling and some color bleeding, but the white stayed softer.

One odd thing, I discovered I was rubbing the back tip of my index finger a bit raw - as I kept pulling my finger under as I did the purling for the checkerboard pattern I used. And switching from the cotton back to the felting wool was a different sensation as the yarn felt more wispy and fragile - which was born out by it snagging on my desk, so I need to rejoin to resume knitting - and while that was a new and fun experience for the first couple times - it's lost its charm. Plus, I must say the satisfaction on getting a washcloth done in an evening or two, really makes up for my finger tip aching. :)

Incompleteness Reigns.

No real progress - many rows, but nothing especially notable. Except for an issue with the green scarf - it had 2 decreases in the repeated pattern, and I only did 1, meaning an additional 40 stitches in the last 10 or so rows. Rather than rip back - as I did for another lace pattern oops, I think I'm going to do the same lace pattern again - but correctly this time, and play off the extra in the middle as intentional. It puckered the fabric a bit, and was done about every 4 stitches, so the additional wasn't that obvious except I was suddenly taking much longer to get done with a row.

Some colors of Paton's Merino Wool Yarn was on sale for half off at Meijer's, which I hadn't noticed them carrying before. It makes me wonder if they are permanently reducing their stock - as it seems like a lot of yarn is half off, and the bare spots on the shelves aren't being refilled.

Red Pepper Suet

It's advertised to repel squirrels but still attract, and not hurt, birds. However, the squirrel was quite happy hanging down and eating it this afternoon, although it seemed to avoid the last red pepper suet cake.

Been cross-stitching again, starting with the one I'd left in my hoop all this time, a Noah's Ark.
The rusty orange is a bit annoying, and the linen is quite rough, with a great deal of variation in the thread size, which makes counting over empty space a rougher task than usual. But in the interest of getting something DONE. I'm working on it. It is definitely a project that makes you appreciate the definition that backstitch gives, though I'm not one to wait until the whole project is stitched anyhow.

The Strasbourg yarn is now mostly a scarf, that is a bit wide, and maybe a bit short, but the garter has a lot of give. The question is: do I want to make a hat? And what yarn would go best, with the less than full ball of Bouton d'Or that I have left? Of course I still need to weave in the ends, making me enjoy being able to join the Caron yarn more (but making me feel an idiot for paying so much for so little yardage.It looks even shorter in this pic.

False Spring

The last few days have been relatively balmy - but today the cold wind is back and the bright sun lies and makes you think it won't be still winter.

Leisure Arts got me a nice photocopy, to replace my holey chart. :) Now to figure out what the heck I was doing back then.

The new colorful scarf is going well, I've been experimenting with lace patterns, when I get bored of stockinette. Plus, the Caron's felting wool is soft and smooshy - a nice contrast to the french scarf yarn which is firm and scratchy.

But French scarf might get done soon, probably only needs 30 more rows.

I've been contemplating what to do for my first sweater. Thought there was a cardigan in the new Interweave Knits, but apparently, the one I was set on doing isn't pictured there - so I'm trying to figure out where I saw it. I was thinking of doing this cardigan that was full length on the trunk but only buttoned on the top with 3 buttons, with princess sleeves (puffy and short).

The blahs of Winter

Last night I decided that it was too dreary outside for a gray/dark gray scarf and made my ribbed scarf yarn again.


Besides the hat was too small for my head, so why make a matching scarf for a too small hat?

Worked on the lace shawl yesterday and messed up the garter ridge. The whitish marks and arrows here point to my oops.

Don't want to rip back, so am going to attempt to do it with a crochet hook, but am more nervous because it is on the edge.





Went through my cross-stitch projects, and have found I'm missing at least 3 books to 2 of my WIPs. Though Rocking Horse is a longer term issue.It's an old pattern from Leisure Arts, and at the time I was in fourth grade. I have a the chart still, but I had covered it with clear contact paper, and the middle of the pattern is gone from folding...

I know you used to be able to get parts of patterns back from them, so maybe I'll e-mail them and get my oldest WIP finally done. :)

More Log Cabin

Why is it that the newest WIP is so temping? I have pieces that are semi-close to done, but for some reason they don't have the same appeal. Perhaps it is because the log-cabin is different from the others - more of an experiment. The needles are midsized (8), unlike my French yarn scarf (5), or my huge afghan (15, double stranded Red Heart), but though it takes more rows for my hands to cramp up, it's the experimenting that is keeping it interesting.

I experimented in circling the rectangle - though only went halfway around so I could see if the yarn over and increase coming back would work. It looked ok. But I think it needs more color. I like the look of keeping the stitches live; it feels more knit, binding off and picking up the stitches gives a greater stiffness. Plus the back is looking cleaner and cleaner as I go on, mostly from getting better at picking up the stitches - but it does lend to a feeling of progress.



Also I'm using mostly stash yarn - left over from other afghans - which is hiding evidence that a bag of yarn apparently went missing when I bought some of it, or that I overbought in response to running out and not being able to go out to fetch more immediately. (If you've never had to stay home, then I don't think this will register.)

On another note, I went to Goodwill. I had the thought the other night about virgin wool, and googled recycling yarn. A variety of interesting blogs popped up where people had gone to a thift shop, found a promising sweater and then ripped it apart for the yarn. Which seemed like an interesting idea, and added to the suggestions in other places that it might be a decent place to find needles and yarn... I went. And have come to the conclusion that the people who found silk blends, and other nice non-polymer knits were in bigger and wealthier areas. Only found one silk/cotton some nylon blend - no wool - and that had a huge multcolored motif on the lower front corner - not enough yarn, or good enough to attempt to dissect it.

And they were right about one thing - it breaks your heart to see the granny square blankets in near pristine condition. Perhaps I can think that maybe someone spent all those hours and intentionally donated some of them - I hope so. And perhaps it is a good thing, that family members donated the old 70s yarn colors afghans that were there too, at least they weren't tossed.

Log Cabin Knitting

So, inspired by a blog or five, I have begun a log cabin afghan. I must say the initial rush of having a place mat sized semi-finished piece wore off fairly quickly, as the aggravation of picking up the stitches grew. So I decided to leave the pieces live on circulars and see if I could just pick up the garter rows... - and after knitting around with the extra chiming of the holding needles and the uncut and unwoven ends - finally got to the first live side. It looks pretty good. I'm getting a purled looking ridge - but I had that until I realized I was picking up the stitches in the r to l and the reverse would have given me the nice garter consistency.

On another note, it meant I needed to get more end caps and spare cables for my Boye needles. I was very unhappy to find that the newer packages bore the Made In China label. Augh. I bought the pieces of the set I had as it was made in America - even though it cost a little more. Now, I think I'll switch brands. The knitmates (or interchangables or Wrights) do have issues, the cable untwists a bit, I have had one cable snap near the end, and the needles do lose their points and near the screw sort of spread out - like a sharp washer - this can be eliminated easily with sandpaper. But despite the issues I was happy enough, but not if it is made in China. Wonder if anyone has tested the new Chinese made needles for lead paint....

On the same log cabin knitting revelations theme, has anyone else noticed that the new Red Heart Yarn now says Made in America of imported fibers? Is this why it's scratchier than before - cost cutting and quality crimping? I had tried using some Bernat I had in Rose, with the stash Red Heart yarn, and the section is out of gauge and fluffed up from the rest. So I purchased some Rose Red Heart - and it is noticeably courser than my older Red Heart... But the color and gauge work much better with the other Red Heart Yarns - though I'm wishing I hadn't used the black sparkle now...

Knitting

I'm working on my first "lace" shawl.

Beginning Blogging

Welcome to my brand new blog.

As a long-time crafter, gardener, and more recently genealogy buff, I find I tend to obsess on one craft or hobby for a period of time. Switching to another obsession after a tiring immersion in one to the near exclusion of all others, perhaps is due to some of my hobbies' seasonal nature. Knitting in the summer only good with air conditioning.

My current obsession/hobby is knitting. Spurred on by recent completions, and discovering the wide range of knitting bloggers - who have inspired me to expand my range.