Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

      I had a fairly productive week.  On Saturday, once I was done with work, I drove straight back from Rochester.  I usually make a pit stop in Syracuse to get gas and do some grocery shopping at one of the BJs locations.  I didn't need to stop for gas and we didn't really need any groceries, so I drove straight through.  I really like to have that pit-stop.  It's about a 3 hour drive and after working a 12 hour overnight shift, I find I get achy and cramped up near the end of the drive, without a break in the middle of it.  I had a hair appointment on Saturday so I wound up being awake for nearly 24 hours.  I really try to limit how often I do that.  My hair dresser is going on vacation and is booked up most of the time, so I have to take whatever appointments I can get, usually.  It worked out pretty well, though.  My daughter came along and got a quick trim.  School starts back up for us in about two weeks, so now her bangs wont be in her eyes.     Once I got back up

      I finished two more dishcloths and got the ends woven in on the little pile of 5 total that I made from this pattern since the 1st of the month.  I procrastinate very badly when it comes to simple finishing.  I usually have a stack of things that need a small seam, to have the ends woven in or needs a quick steam block.  A couple weeks ago, I went through my pile and seamed up a whole stack of dishcloths and trimmed ends.  I had the ends woven in but I didn't trim them.  The worst part of that is I keep a thread snipper in the same notions pouch as my tapestry needles, so it's not like I even needed to move to get the snips.  So here are the other two cloths.  I did do a candy corn colored one and I love it! I grabbed whatever scraps I had in the project bag at the time and did this last one with those while I was watching TV one night. I think out of all of them the black, white and orange one is my favorite.  Here's the little pile of them all together: That's a

I dont have too much to report on the completion front.  I'm working overnights for this contract and I just have no energy.  I tend to stay on my night schedule on my days off and sleep all the rest of the time.  I have been working on some dishcloths.  I pretty much always have a couple going.  I really should have put that on my list of projects for this year.  I've been looking back through past project pages and I'm knitting a few patterns again that I liked knitting the first time.  In the case of the ones I've just done, I've knit these many many times.  The pattern is  Tricolour Dishcloth .  It's in my top 5 dishcloth patterns of all time.  I have the pattern memorized and I enjoy it very much.  It takes three colors and doesnt use much yarn.  It's great for using up small scraps. Its also got a ton of texture, so its very scrubby.  I need to weave in the ends yet but here are the three I did in the last two weeks.

     I've decided to join the Year of Projects group on Ravelry.  This group has been around for quite some time and run the year from July of one year to July of the next.  Since its just the beginning of August I won't be too far behind.  Here's to some writing and crafting motivation for the next 40 something weeks.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up the weekly motivation but I'm certainly going to shoot for monthly and go from there.  First things first a list of projects that I'll most likely add to as the year goes on. New Projects: - White Whiskers  colorwork hat.  I have yarn and needles in a project bag ready to go. - Drops of Spring Mitts  colorwork fingerless mitts.  I have a bunch of small leftover balls of Malabrigo Rios I want to use for these. - Artyarns lys 2023 shawl  lacy shawl.  I got the yarn and pattern in a "kit" from Yarn Cupboard on LYS day.   - Modular Cable Afghan  Next long term project, maybe.  I want to start accu

     Today I'm going to share a pattern for a small scrubby or coaster.  The pattern is very simple and something I derived from the stitch pattern of a dishcloth I knit years ago.     Hexagon Scrubby Pattern Materials Needed:        Dishcloth Cotton (worsted weight non-mercerized cotton)  I'm sure other yarns could be used for these depending on the end users needs.       Size US 6 needles or preferred needles for working with dishcloth cotton Gauge is really not important. Abbreviations:     K: knit     Sl: Slip as if to purl     W&T: slip next stich as if to purl, move working yarn from back to front of work.  Turn work to opposite side.  Your working yarn will now be in the back.  Slip the stitch back to the right needle.  You've just wrapped that stitch.  Continue working in pattern.   Directions: Cast on 10 stitches. Row 1:  (and all other odd rows) Knit. Row 2:  K1, *Sl1, K1* to last stitch. W&T last stitch on needle. Row 3:  Knit Row 4:  K2, *Sl1, K1* to 1 s