First things first: I actually finished stuff!  I’m still suffering horribly from what Kay  so aptly called “startitis”, but as Christmas gets closer I figured I should at least try to see things through to completion.

I had some Sugar ‘N Cream kitchen cotton sitting in my yarn basket, so I decided to knit up that soap saver i’m planning to use for bath baskets just to make sure I liked the pattern.  It was super quick, super easy, and actually pretty cute.  I made a couple of alterations, namely going up to a US 8 needle and increasing the CO from 28 to around 40-something. My homemade soap is generally pretty large, and the original pattern would have been way too small.  I don’t think i’ll use this pattern for all of the ones I need to make, but it won’t be bad for one or two of them.  I’m in the process of working up a new pattern, i’ll post it once I decide on something I like.

Next up, I actually finished Fetching.  I went through so many fits and starts with this pattern, I just knew it would end up never being finished.  But, with the weather finally getting cooler here, I figured I should get some finished before my hands froze.  I originally started this pattern with a self striping Bernat acrylic, but the cables looked like ass.  I ended up using about a skein and a half of Lion Kool Wool I picked up a few months ago for about $.50 a skein, simply because it’s been discontinued and I won’t be able to buy more to make something bigger.  This yarn is bulkier, so I had to go up a needle size, drop my CO down to 40, and work fewer rounds of ribbing, but it still worked pretty well.  The yarn is a 50/50 merino/acrylic blend, and it’s actually quite soft.  These are most likely just going to be my around-the-house gloves, i’ll make another pair once I get the Berroco Ultra Alpaca I ordered.

I also decided I needed to try my hand at crochet again.  It baffles me that crochet is the one thing I can’t master…pretty much every female in my family is a whiz with a hook, my mother could practically crochet in her sleep.  Me?  I end up makiing things that look like this:

That’s supposed to be straight.  Head, meet Desk.  Obviously I need to stick with knitting and only pulling out the crochet hooks when I need a chain, or i’m working fringe.

Remember the Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed I posted about?  I went to cast on for a bag with it, since I can’t be bothered to order enough for something larger, and the damn yarn broke 3 times just while casting on.  This pisses me off because A.) The yarn is gorgeous and I want to use it badly,   B.) I just ordered another skein in a different color to use with the skeins I already have, and C.) I didn’t pay $42 for 330 yards of yarn just to have it fall apart on me.  I guess my only option, other than just glaring at it, is to knit very carefully and then felt it so it will actually hold up.  I had wanted to use some sort of cabling on the bag, but I suppose that’s right out now.  Maybe i’ll do some sort of intarsia instead.  Meh.  Very disappointed.