Stitch Markers

I'm taking a small break from knitting... by preparing for more knitting. I made some stitch markers, in order to get rid of these weird plastic beads I bought couple of months ago, when making beaded jewelry was my top hobby. Pretty colors, but every bead has 3 holes. Actually, two regular holes on each side, and one semi-hole right in the middle of the bead. Why the third hole? It doesn't even go all the way trough. Guess it's a mystery.
Anyway, for these markers I used aforementioned beads and some thick wire, 1 mm in diameter, if I remember correctly. The thickness of the wire made it really hard to bend it into a nice round shape, so eventually I gave up and left them in the shape of a noose. The copper colored wire is much thinner, hence the braided, sad attempt on the far left.

"Hanging" shot:

Done, but ugly.

Sharon number 2 is done. Now that I look at the colors of it it, I wonder what made me buy the yarn in the first place. I hate the way it looks, way too bright, with random splashes of bright orange and those brown spots...Blah. Note to self: Variegated yarn is not all that pretty when knitted up.
I doubt this will stop me from buying colorful skeins. I have no self control.
Anyway, onto the specs:


Pattern: Sharon (Berroco)
Yarn: Marina ombre, 100% cotton, mercerized, 3 skeins
Needles: 3 mm flat
Time it took: CO in January 2007 (I think), spent some time as a UFO, was frogged a bit, BO June 21st, 2007.

More socks and a progress shot

I made me some socks. The pattern is the same one I used for my first pair, I even used the same yarn, super warm wool/acrylic mix. Perfect knitting for the very hot temperatures we've been having here. I only wore them for the picture and then I took them off and placed in the closet to wait for winter time.
I think I figured out the whole sock knitting concept. The next ones I make will actually be from sock weight yarn. I might even use a more challenging pattern.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the original Sharon. Here's a progress pic.

Russian join

I finally ripped the back of my ill fated Sharon. There were 2 skeins of cotton in that thing, which produced a nice curly mass of yarn all over my floor. Ripping it without tangling went relatively OK. I washed it all and hung to dry, which took about three days.

I spent almost 4 hours today winding it on a paper towel roll. I was almost done when the tangle happened. And then it multiplied. Oh, the tangles! The tangles almost ate me alive. Almost. But I did learn a new trick, one which will definitely come in handy in the future. Russian join. I don't know who came up with it or if they were Russian, but kudos to you. It joins two strands together perfectly. Thanks to this wonderful join, I don't think I'll ever have to weave in cotton again. Hallelujah! For weaving in cotton always comes out crappy for me, you can always see it on the right side of the project. But thing are looking up now! Thank you, Russian Join!

I also went out today and bought more yarn. Cotton. Again. Well, actually, a cotton nylon blend. It was expensive, so I only bought 3. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but at least it matches my bed cover.

UFO

So I really should study for all my exams this month. But I so don't have the will power to sit in front of a book. It's not like it's knitting. For knitting, I will sit as long as I need in order to finish something. I've been known to sit in an armchair in front of the TV for 5 hours straight working on a project. The consequences of that were sore arms and aching back, but at least I had something to show for it - a hat or major progress on a scarf or shirt. Said progress seems to be lacking when it comes to me studying. I feel like all the information just doesn't stick to my brain.
In order to clear my head I decided to do something useful. Like organize my picture folder on my computer. And then I stumbled upon this:

It's a Sharon - take one. This is what it looked like on April 9th. I was just starting the front. The back turned out too big, so I made the front smaller in width. And then I sewed the two together. Because I simply refused to rip it. I tried it on in all its unfinished, super thick seam, threads hanging, only one strap glory and then I realized that there is a reason the front and back piece should be identical in size. It looked awful. Very much non-fitting.
I tossed it somewhere and completely forgot I ever made it. But now, amids all the studying, I have decided to frog the back and finish the Sharon properly. Making plans to be crafty still counts as crafting, right?