Year of Projects: Week 7

     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 all I have to report on the knitting front.  I got myself a few things for my birthday, it was back at the beginning of August.  I ordered three things from Etsy and they've all arrived in the mail.  I got myself a new set of US6 DPNs.  I use that size quite often, I used to use two of my set with needle protectors on one end for dishcloths.  I lost one of the needles ages ago and subbed in a random needle I bought at a thrift shop that was actually a US5.  My set was one of the Susan Bates sets I got when I first started knitting over a decade ago, so it was only a 4 needle set to begin with.  It was high time to upgrade.  I got a 5 needle set of HiyaHiya Sharps.  I've never used the Sharps before.  The yarn shop I got most of Hiya DPNs from only carried the regular tips.  I haven't used the needles yet, but my next hat project calls for 6s so I'll use them soon.  

I got myself a hat stand/blocker thingy.  I looked into getting a glass head or a wig stand but they tend to be a bit pricy.  I found a wooden display head from this shop and I think it will work to block hats as well. It's much thicker than wooden sock blockers and fits together very snuggly.

The last item is a pair of mitten blockers from this shop  These came all the way from Finland.  I usually try to buy from shops in the US to minimize shipping costs and to support small businesses here.  I forgot to double check before I ordered this time, but I really really like the things in this shop so I'm very happy with my purchase and will probably get more things from it in the future.

There are two blockers, I just took a picture of the one because they're identical.  There are three sizes, they all nest together including the thumbs.  The shop owner included a needle gauge in my package as well.  I really liked this nesting style when I was looking at blockers.  The sock blockers I got several months ago are also adjustable.  I like to have options.

I've gotten my next contract lined up, I'll be going back to Syracuse and back to evening shifts.  I'm looking forward to being off nights and hopefully not being so tired all the time, but I could only get 5-8 hour shifts and not 10's or 12s like I really hoped, but its Monday through Friday and much closer to home.

I have some painting to help with when I get home this weekend so perhaps next week I'll have a home improvement post.  I really need to stop knitting dishcloths and work on the projects on my list.

Until later.  Happy crafting!

-Q