make new friends, but keep the old...

i've been in a strange mood with projects lately... every time i sit down to knit, i reach for either some little toy (see previous post) or one of my older projects. it's about time i get some of them off the WIP list!


the clap... i started this back in the days when EVERYONE had at least one clapotis on the needles. Dogs steal yarn made a beautiful story post about a silk garden clapper, and i just HAD to have one! it just looked like something so 'me', and i hadn't really noticed it until i saw her particular take on the piece. someday, i will have my own! :)


lady eleanor, from simply scarves i believe. one of the lovely boys whose blogs i read (ok at this point i'm just too lazy to find the link) just recently posted a BEAUTIFUL eleanor, and i was inspired to dig mine up and start working on it again. i'd like to finish it while it's still cold enough to need a huge-ass wrap like this!

oddly enough, i was reading through old entries last night and it turns out that i went in search of this project once before when i was at another not so great point in my life. something about this is a bit of a comfort project... i bet when i finish it'll become something like a linus blankie for me, haha. that is, IF i ever finish!


this... is the barest of beginnings on a harry potter scarf for my brother. this right here has been the thorn in my side for YEARS. in fact, i actually started knitting about 4 years ago BECAUSE of this scarf.

back in the day, i was crocheting a lot of little knicknacks and huge triangle shawls. nothing complicated, just a little playing around. my brother's birthday was coming up, and i asked him what he'd like me to make him. his IMMEDIATE response was "a harry potter scarf!" so like a good sister, i hauled myself off to my LYS the next day and found just the right colors in some plymouth whatever. yeah, acrylic. shuddup. i knew NOTHING back then. so i asked the lovely ladies at the store just how much yarn i'd need to make a good sized scarf. being a smart lady, the owner asked me if i was knitting or crocheting. when i asked why, she explained that crochet actually used more yarn per stitch, so that would factor into how much i would need. me being broke, i said "i'm knitting of course!" i went home with two balls of burgundy, and one of a nice marigold color... and promptly started searching the internet for instructions on learning how to knit!

by the next morning... i had mastered the knit and the purl. i LOOOOVED it. in my search i found a lot of different techniques, and since i had figured out knit and purl so fast i DEVOURED anything else i could figure out. within a week, i had increases and decreases down. two, i was cabling. three, i made a sock! ok, so it was grossly oversized and knit with chunky yarn on huge needles, but i was soooo proud of myself.

see the problem here though? i got SO distracted by falling in love with knitting that i forgot all about the scarf. every now and then i'd pick it up again... or find some other yarn with the right colors and try to start again. i even had one misguided cotton attempt. every now and then, my brother will poke fun at me and ask how his scarf is doing.

well, i'm smarter now. and i've got skillz, man. so i pulled out the same patons classic wool that i used to make his slippers with last christmas, and decided that damn it, he is GOING to get this scarf before he turns 16! so i've got 8 1/2 months to go :-D