The Boring and the Beautiful

I could place a photo of the WIP sequined beautiful but boring afghan here. I could. Except the laziness that I am currently operating under will not let me get more dressed, go downstairs, load the camera, place the afghan wip outdoors, take a photo (or five) come back in, attach the camera to the PC and download the photo.

I'm fatigued just writing about doing it. As an aside, I visited the Julie/Julia website; you know the one that inspired the movie about the woman who made all the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook? Not one picture. I went there thinking I would see photos of those creations. Nope. Nada. Rien. Nuthin'. Just saying.

I am on the third skein of yarn and the second bag of sequins. I did a little count of the sequins already in place and the count was approx. 350. I am about halfway through the project so there will be lots of bling. I have to say that is the most fun part - seeing the light hit the pailettes and they just sparkle like crazy. And since I vented yesterday, I have to say the project seems to be moving more smoothly so I expect I will be taking the photos of the finished object in a very short time.

To completely change the subject: I need your input.
I am a writer by profession - though I guess I am no also a knitter by profession, but first came the writing. Well, the knitting came first way back in grade school - no, matter, not important to what I need your input on.

I have three books crowding my brain saying they need to be written. I trust them when they say they need to be written; I just don't know which needs to be written first. I need you to read the synopsis of each and tell me which one I should work on.

My Father's Son is a historical novel about two boys: one born of a slave, one born of the slave owner's wife, both sons of the slave owner and how their lives take different paths as they both fight for freedom.

The Coffee Club is a novel about five friends (three black, two white) and the strong bond that gets them through a painful divorce, the death of a spouse, a surprising new love and living the single life.

Short Rows is a book about the connection of knitting and life. Short little musings about this craft we all love so much.

What do you think? Which one of these babies should be pushed through the creative canal first? Let me know your thoughts. In the meantime, I'm gonna throw some laundry in the machine and get back to the afghan.
031004

The Need to Knit

One must knit.
There are those of you who understand this concept and do not hesitate to agree.

One must knit.
In fact, I would hazard to say that most folks who follow a knitting blog, do so because they must knit. (That leaves room for those of who who just support me no matter what I do and those who love my writing..hahahaha.)

One must knit.
I must knit. Even if it means the knitting is sometimes painful. In this case, it is not a physical pain. It is a mental one. I am knitting an afghan/wrap. Very simple stockinette pattern. It's all stockinette. Except every fourth row I put in sequins at the beginning and the end of the row. So there's a band of sequins then plain stockinette and then sequins. This is after a few rows of sequins all the way across.

I don't need to put a photo there, do I? You get it. You can imagine how it's going to look. Well, you can if I tell you the color is kinda rust orange. I believed the yarn is Burnt Pumpkin and the sequins are a close copper color. When it's done there will be a rectangle with sequins on all sides and a clear stockinette middle. It should be very nice.

My stitches have never looked better. When stockinette is the main pattern, it's important the stitches look nice and even because it's the canvas. I was admiring my stitches last night. I was saying to myself they looked nice and smooth and really professional. I was complimenting myself on my improving in my craft.

It's going to be lovely with the fall color and the shiny sequins.
Assuming I haven't died of boredom.

Did I write that out loud? I believe I did. Do you know the cause of the boredom? It's not that it's stockinette because it's a four row repeat and you have to pay attention to the placement of the sequins because it's not the same: the placement starts on the 3rd stitch on one row and on the 6th (so I guess it's an 8 row repeat) but it can go wrong. That's not the source of the problem.

It's the needle size. I'm using size 9. Relatively small for an afghan with one stitch. It will be stunning when it's done but it's going to take a lot of rows with that size of needle. It's an afghan after all. The pattern called for it to be a short throw - but come on, it needed to be bigger. I couldn't stop at the 36 inches or the 500 sequins it calls for. No, It must be at least in the 50 inches range and it must have 750 sequins at least. (Which is why I changed the pattern from adding sequins every 6th row to every 4th row.)

Don't know why I didn't change the needle size while I was changing everything else. But I didn't and I'm too far to go back and though I think I have been working on this for a little more than a week, it's already playing with my mind. Don't suggest putting it down and working on something else - I have to get through it or else the effort I've already put in will go wasted.

Sigh.

I feel better just getting it out. Now I won't carry thing vibe with me to the project and it won't feel my little outburst and snag or something. It really does look nice and it will be stunning. We just have to make it through this little stone in the road. But we will because sometimes you have to go through these things to get to the other side. And it's worth getting to the other side.

Because one must knit.
030904

I Feel Pretty!

I am, for the moment, a purse knitting machine. You all saw the one from last week. Well, there's another one that was done on Friday.
Her name is Bling. Can you guess why? At first I thought I would put the pailettes on one side only (and I will probably make a version like that) but for this first one, I thought I'd just go pailettes crazy. And you would never expect this to be a soft little bag, but it is! And it manages to be soft and also strong - which is why I know she's a she.
I have another purse on the needles and she should be done some time today. The next one is bling free but cute nonetheless. Her name is Carly. Don't ask me why - that 's the name that came to me. I think it has to do with Carly Simon, but I haven't even heard a Carly Simon tune in...since the last time I heard one.
Bling has been placed in her protective bag until someone decides they want to take her home. She's in with Blanche, the purse I made the other day that has the iridescent pailettes. OK, I think I may be done with sequins on the purse, though I do have some ideas for scarves and wraps that have them.

On another, sadder note, I went to church this morning and learned one of my favorite people had passed. Cora was like a Mom to me, in fact, I called her Mom and she called me her daughter. You don't know Cora, but trust me when I say there's a new angel walking the streets of Heaven. But she left her husband Jon here on earth and this isn't going to be easy for him and he has not been in the best of health. So please say a prayer for Cora's Jon that he may be brought peace and comfort and that he stays wrapped in the love of the spirit.

See you tomorrow.