Dishcloth Mania

This summer I knitted quite a few washcloths for my knitting girl friends, for our knitting camp weekend. Since then, I have been on a cotton bender. I have finally turned the corner and while I am still knitting some cotton, it's not the only projects on my needles that I'm actively working on.

Here are some of the finished cloths, many of which were made from the leftovers of Reynolds Morocco (a bulky cotton/linen blend):
Garter Ridge Washcloth from Knitter's Stash

Basket Weave Cloth

Starfish Cloth from 

Leisure Arts #3892 designed by Evelyn Clark

 Bubbles Border cloth from Leisure Arts #3892

Berries Cloth (Leisure Arts #3892)

For the cloths, I used Reynolds Morocco, a discontinued bulky linen/cotton, for the Berries cloth, Garter Ridge cloth and the Basket Weave cloth. I used Sugar N' Cream for the Starfish cloth and the Bubbles Border cloth.

I have another cloth that wasn't pictured yet, but it is late, so I will upload it next time. I have cast on for some new projects. Lately I have been in sock heaven and have 4 pairs of socks on the needles. I ripped out one sock that wasn't working out and have cast on for three new pairs of socks, while needing to finish the second sock of a pair I've been working on for awhile. I also cast on for Tomato with some lovely bamboo/silk yarn which I will have to share with you all soon.

One of my LYS is going out of business. The owner has owned the shop for 30+ years and did not find a seller when she was interested in selling the business. As the owner has gotten older, she wants to retire, which is understandable. Strawberry Tree closes its doors on August 31, 2009. This was not the store where I learned to knit, but one that I spent considerable amounts of time after my first knitting class. In the past 8 years since I have become a knitter, I have spent many memorable hours shopping, conversing with customers, winding yarn, sifting through old patterns and sitting and knitting. It breaks my heart that the store is closing, although I completely understand the reasons why. I live very close to this store and will no longer have the option of just popping in on my way home for no particular reason, or to visit one my friends who works there. Things change and we must adjust. I am sad to see this LYS close. Thankfully I live in a city with several yarn shops, but it is still sad to see a beloved yarn store with so much history close its doors. I suppose it is a good thing the shop owner is able to close the shop on her own terms.

School is back in session and I am back in the swing of things. I hope to be back here to post soon as well.

Has It Really Been This long?

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last blogged

First, thank you to all of you were able to contribute to my cousin's Scleroderma walk. That really meant a lot to me, especially as it at the last minute. Anything that we were able to raise was helpful.

Since my last blog post, so much has happened. I don't think I mentioned it previously, but in May I went to Atlanta to visit my with my mom and sister. And I got to see my favorite nephew, Chason. I flew in on his birthday and got to attend his 4th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. And yes, I did volunteer to go this party. Mad props to my sister because she planned it at 10:30 a.m., so there were no other children there. We had the whole place to ourselves, which was perfect for the 4 year-olds who wanted to get on rides too big for them or play games where their feet or arms didn't reach and required adult assistance. I had a ball and it was wonderful to spend a birthday with my nephew. We also took a short weekend jaunt to Tybee Island and Savannah, GA. I had such a great time staying on the beach and touring downtown Savannah, I didn't want to come back.

After that, I decided to take off the summer from school and it was the best thing I did for myself. I really needed a break as I was starting to get burnt out. And there is no deadline to completing school. Better to take a rest than to take a permanent break from school. Now the fall term is upon us and I am refreshed and ready to start anew.

In knitting news, I have been knitting in fits and starts. I decided recently to take the pressure of NaKniSweMoDo off and just knit what I want to knit. I'm a NaKniSweMoDo dropout and I'm ok with that. Our knitting group recently had its annual Camp Retreat weekend and this year we decided to make or contribute items to the goody bag rather than have it assembled for us. My contribution to the goody bags were face/washcloths.

I am posting a couple of pics here:

However, you may look at the rest of the photos on Ravelry at my Camp facecloth collection.

Also, I have completed the Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell and I love how it turned out. I have already worn it three or four times, but I really need to get a modeled pic.

I have another summer top, Pintuck, on the needles and it is coming along. Please excuse the horrible picture. I wasn't able to get a progress pic in natural lighting.

I also have a pair of socks on the needles. Actually two pairs that I just started and I will be ripping out one pair, as I don't like how it's knitting up.

As what seems to be my habit now, every summer I am inspired to knit dischloths/face cloths, etc. After I had to knit 10 wash cloths in about 17 days, one would think that I might be a bit burnt out on cotton cloth knitting. Not so, I am still knitting face cloths, with the leftovers for myself. After three of them and I still have enough yarn to knit 2-3 more, I am moving on to dish cloth knitting. It's time to refresh my kitchen with new dishcloths and perhaps purge some older ones. It's always fun for me to knit up some new patterns and see which cloths are the best to use for my kitchen. I have found that overly lace patterns do not work well for the kitchen. Perhaps those are better suited to the face. I have about 7 skeins of dishcloth cotton hanging around my house. I would be very happy if I could use up what I have and get rid of it. Then when I am ready to buy new cotton yarn, I can just do so.

I'll post some pics of the dish and face cloth pics next time. I'm sorry for the length of this post. Hopefully I'll be back to post again in a shorter time frame.

Till next time . . .