August Excuses

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

This is the first time since I've started this blog that I didn't manage a post every week. Two weeks is still quite fine, I'm just a little sad I wasn't able to keep it up. I've been doing a lot of socializing and a lot of summer activities and something had to give.

My next update probably won't be for another two weeks again. I've got a lot of things planned but the big one and the one that will be robbing me of quite a bit of stitching time is that I'm heading out of state (500+ miles according to google maps) to go on vacation with my friend Kristina. We will be learning about communism (okay... 19th century Shakers) and hiking and doing much yoga and eating seed-to-table freshness*. I will feel so granola. I'll probably have to go see a really crude movie when I get home and eat some McDonald's to even it all out. :p

*This is really not so different from normal life. I cook a lot and much of my veg comes from the garden, but we're ignoring that fact for now.

Simply Charming

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

Note to self: Angled morning light is really bad for those ridges.

Stitching on poor Stormwind is touch and go. I'm really never especially keen to work on it when the weather gets all hot and humid and muggy. It forces me to abandon my pretty ugly chair and the fantastic light I have next to it and seek refuge in the air conditioned living room. I like stitching there from time to time (how else am I going to watch Marco Polo as I stitch, right?) but the lighting is awful and it really kills my eyes. I wear a headlamp and that's a huge help, but it starts to give me a headache after awhile.

The pretty in pretty ugly chair is not a synonym for very. The pretty ugly chair is so named because it is both pretty and ugly simultaneously.  I bought it for $5 at a yard sale.

Mixing mustard and tangerine with sea foam is probably a crime somewhere.

Moving on...
Before I could cast on my beloved's Threaded Cable Throw I had to sort out my yarn situation. I am a huge fan of both Willow Yarns Wash and Berroco Comfort. They're excellent examples of how far acrylic yarns have come, all cushy and soft and yummy.

So we've got Wash in Deep Pond and Wash in Sapphire on the bottom and then Comfort in Primary Blue on the top.

... Give me a minute, I'm still amused by "Wash in Deep Pond".

Amusingly enough (to me, anyway) the winner is Wash in Deep Pond! The Comfort in Primary Blue is where my heart is colorwise, it's just a bit darker and more saturated, but I got scared after reading reviews on Ravelry that say the Berroco Comfort pills and fuzzes after a lot of use. My experience with it has been pretty positive, but I've only used it for smaller objects like hats and arm warmers.

Whilst waiting for the yarn I thought I'd make myself some proper stitch markers. Closed and with lobster clasps because those I can use in crochet. Up to this point I usually made do with those itsy hair ties for little girls. They only work for knitting though and they like to roll under the stitches so they're not ideal.

I used these sort of pre-strung charms and just added to them. They're all kinds of wonky and need to be straightened out but perfectly functional even as is.

My mom got really excited when I showed them to her. She knits teeny, tiny little doll clothes with lace weight yarns. She asked if I could make her some smaller stitch markers.

So I spent a couple hours more whipping up four sets of six for her. Hers were constructed all of separate findings.