This time, it's not my fault

I have a very dear friend that I met at the gym. Since then, our training has never been the same - and we're famous there for talking more than exercising. Despite of that, I found out that my dear friend, S., also secretly likes knitting! She always says we're very much alike, and I think we truly are! :)

The problem is that, despite her grandmother have been famous in the knitting world and have been the owner of a needle shop where she taught knitting, S. didn't know how to make anything but purl. And she had only ventured with scarves. Such a waste!

It was then that she had the idea of making a shrug, and I said I'd do it together - this way I could learn from my mom and my friend L., and then I'd teach her.

I give you the shrug:

Logically this picture is from the pattern. My friend started before me, frogged inumerous times and has already finished the back. She most certainly also has frogged and finished the sleeves a couple more times.  My shrug, however, remained tiny. A few weeks later, S. gave up making the shrug - she herself was tired of frogging and remaking it, until her mother freaked out e frogged it entirely! It seems like my poor friend didn't find much incentive to make the shrug, but I think that after all her mother realized that she really wanted to learn, so she decided to teach her. Now they're both knitting hats and slippers to donate to the elders, isn't it nice?

And after all that, my shrug has grown:

I'm very proud of myself, I've been learning a lot with the shrug! Increases, decreases, and even fitting the pattern to my own body - who'd have thought, huh? In the end, my version is coming along so different from the original that I don't even care about changing the pattern. EZ would be proud of me, wouldn't she? ;-)


S. had given me homework, to make at least 4 rows a day. I was trying! But after the shrug finally started growing, I can only find time for it. I think it will be the first to leave the WIPs list.

What's left to finish: Sleeves and front.

Why I can't finish it: I needed to cast on 80 stitches, which for me is a lot, and therefore it took me a while to finish a row. But this is the project in which I have being worked the most, so I have high hopes.

What I can do to finish it: do my homework. :) And profit the weekends. Maybe take it to work to do it during lunch time? Anyway, since I have S.'s incentive, it's keeping a steady pace.

Someone make me stop, please!

In the beginning of february, if I'm not wrong, the girls from the Crazy Knitting Ladies discussion group decided to enter a regional version of Ravelry's challenge and make 10 scarves in 2010. It seemed so easy! And I just L-O-V-E taking part in projects like that, in which many people do the same project at the same time.

My suggestion for the challenge was the Drift Scarf by Betz White - the story is lovely, read in her blog! The first scarf should be done by the end of march, and I decided to start with it.

I've bought the Sedificada yarn, from Pingouin - oh, it's so soft! I also bought bamboo needles, to try them out. I hated the needles (the yarn does not slide on them), but I loved the yarn!

What's left to finish: practically everything, I must have made about four rows, only. Betz was lucky to use a thick yarn and a huge needle - but who said it's possible to find yarn like that over here? That's why I had to cast on the double of stitches of the original, which takes a lot more time to knit.

Why I can't finish it: I don't think I'll have problems with this project, despite the new stitch I'll have to learn in a few rows. It really is just a matter of making it.

What I can do to finish it: like I said, prioritize. Just do it.

I have to quit this habit of starting new things. They're just piling up around the house... Good thing I held myself up and didn't join a SAL (stitch-a-long), but it was tough: look what Elena, from Coeur de Freesia, is doing. Isn't it cool?

Well, after all I have given up the challenge. With my list of WIPs, there's no chance I can make 10 scarves this year. And let's not forget I'm in A Make a Month project... (was it only me that rolled eyes now? I'm hopeless.)

Christmas all year long

Starting the series of posts about WIPs, here I give you an old acquaintance: the nativity scene in cross stitch!

As you can see, it continues practically the way it was before.

What's left to finish: in this part, it lacks the sky, the stars, and the contour. And then two other parts, one the same size as this, another one the DOUBLE size of it.

Why can't I finish it: it's just too time consuming! Since I started embroidering the sky, I realized that no matter how many hours I spend doing it, only a small piece of it is finished.

What I can do to finish it: I think that with this one there's only one way. I have to pick a day a week only for it, I don't see another way to make it progress. I already doubt it will be done by next Christmas, and that just kills me!