Crochet Cables

 Greetings again! The last two weeks have been filled with all kinds of undesired tasks, reducing my craft time to almost nothing. I did however manage to sneak in a few minutes here and there, starting a new scarf using the new Red Heart Super Saver Stripes in Cool Stripes. This is the umpteenth attempt to learn cables and finally a successful one. I do like how the stripes are working out and will probably look into a few different colors of this yarn in the future. This yarn is a little coarse but I think it will be durable and the colors are very vibrant. The pattern I'm using is one I found on Ravelry. It is simply called "Cable Scarf by Laura Cracknell" and can be found here. Cables are a yarn eater but I'm hoping I have enough yarn for a matching hat.

I was also pleased to get the living room floor cleaned up so that I could take a photo of my progress on my C2C blanket. I've lost count of how many skeins I've used but I *think* I'm on skein 12 or 13.

Its well more than half done if you don't count the border, and I have a few more skeins on hand. Its also getting too big to travel easily, as it approaches the size of my queen mattress.

Slow Weekend Stitching

You would have thought that a four day weekend last week (thank you Independence Day) would have been fun and relaxing but it really wasn't. 

In the last month or so, anything that could break down and need expensive repairs or replacements has broken down and the culmination of this was my clothes dryer last Tuesday. It was a second hand dryer that we picked up a few years ago on the cheap at a used appliance repair store. A quick check of the model number showed it was thirteen years old with a life expectancy of ten years. I spent a chunk of July 4th in the laundromat, drying all the clothes that I had washed earlier that day and the rest of it shopping for a new dryer.

The upside of spending all that time in a laundromat is that I was able to make good headway on one of the hats I've been working on, and so I now present the latest hat and scarf combo. I actually really hate the colors of this yarn but was aiming for something that would appeal more to men for donation hats and scarves. I think in the future I'll stick to dark solids, like burgundy, brown, and blue, you know, colors that won't make me grit my teeth while working with them. Oy vey, I still have about 400 yards of this stuff to use up but I may just donate what is left to my church. The yarn is Herschnerr's Worsted 8 and I don't think they even sell this color any more.

When I purchased this yarn, I also picked up another variegated called "spice," a teal, and a sage green. I think its possible that I ordered the ugliest variegated that they had. I have learned my lesson.

In the meantime, I also had a page finish on Waiting by Tilton Crafts.

Magnificent Wizard has also been seeing some love lately.

I'm considering starting a sweater for myself. I'd like to make either the Overcast Sweater or the Hooded Sweater. Both patterns are by Maz Kwok of BeACrafter.com. They take similar amounts of DK weight yarn, so I've been spending my lunch breaks browsing yarn sites looking for the *perfect* yarn. I haven't settled on anything yet but it will come to me eventually. I'm also torn between buying some nice yarn so that I want to wear it when done or cheap yarn since its my first time attempting a sweater. Suggestions?