New WIPs

If I were disciplined, my current WIP (and my WIP I mean something actually in progress, not just a current or future UFO) would be a piece of jewellery using spaced-dyed cords, but I'm having design problems so it's been put aside for today or tomorrow. Instead I've started working on two other projects -- and it's the second of the two you can see above.

As it got cold, I thought it was time to make a new, warm scarf. While I do have a warm winter jacket and rarely feel the need for a scarf, it could be useful sometimes. And it's a warm to do a little yarn stash busting. This purple eyelash yarn, which I couldn't resist when spotting it on Rusta, is so pretty I really didn't want it to be stuck in the yarn bag.

Only downside to my making a scarf (or two, I probably need a wider one for everyday life around the farm too, the one I made years ago got a tad too skinny) is that I never learned how to knit in school. My mom can knit and so can my sis (to a certain extent), but I can't. I prefer crochet anyway, but in this case that hasn't been an option as I a) don't have the really big crochet needles needed for knitting yarn and b) I worried crochet might make for a too dense scarf and ruin the soft, fluffy effect of the eyelash yarn. So instead I made this test piece on my big Quick Knit. For those who doesn't know what that is, it's like a bigger version of a knitting nancy (påtdocka) and the generic name for them in english seems to be circle loom.

But I'm not sure about the result. It looks ok in the picture, but I think it's too loose with big, gaping stitches -- and at the same time it doesn't feel like I can double the yarn without messing up the knitting. Besides, I can't get the other end of the yarn to pull loose so it can be worked with both ends at the same time. Don't know whether to continue like in the sample or try either mixing in another yarn or find another knit stitch to use. So far I've only ever tried the basic knitting you do with knitting nancies and Quick Knits. There's got to be something out there to try beyond that...

While working on jewellery and scarves, I'm also preparing something else. In this post, I mentioned filling one of the glass dome pieces with autumn leaves and luckily there was one bush left that hadn't shed all its colourful leaves. So I just cut off a few twigs and put them on the table. Not the best way of drying out leaves, but it was what I could think of just at the top of my head. There are more advanced drying techniques that might've been preferable, like using sand which I don't have, but that's too late now.

I also picked three rosehips -- and then after tending to the drying items yesterday, I realised I haven't read up on the best way to preserve rosehips. Drying might work, but that's more for using them in food as they shrivel. I would've wanted them more fresh and plump. We do have several books on everlasting flowers/imortelles with sections on pods etc, but did I read them and take advice? No. Did I even bother to google it? No. And now they look like that. But hopefully the leaves and twigs will be enough if the rosehips end up shrivelled or mouldy. I just wanted them as they are so pretty and autumnal -- and I've loved drinking rosehip soup since childhood. In autumn, nothing warms like a cup of hot rosehip soup. Not to mention my love of roses, which are even part of the blog name.

Well, it's already dark outside and another day is soon gone so I guess I should get back to the jewellery (which has a deadline -- a fast approaching deadline!). But I wouldn't mind having a scarf ready soon too. It'll be a battle between time (= make jewellery first) and temptation (= working with that lovely, fluffy yarn). Hard to tell which will win.