I have been thinking about our sunroom about to be built. We had to take out a loan to pay for it, so that means that I will be curtailing my spending alot. What that means is that I won't spend any money for anything unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm not complaining, though, because my sewing room is full of projects. I have enough yarn and other projects to keep me busy for the next 5 years, probably.
Then I started to think about Christmas and how much we usually spend. We don't spend a huge amount, but with the number of people in Eddie's family it could get expensive, and has in the past. So, I make alot of things to give as gifts. In fact, over the past few months, I have already bought several pair of pillowcases that I plan to embroider and give as gifts to his sisters, and his mom. I would be thrilled to receive a gift that had been hand embroidered by someone, so I hope they will feel the same way and not feel slighted because I didn't buy them a store bought gift. I think most people appreciate hand made things, but everyone is different.
Right now I'm trying to finish as many pillowcases as I can before I start knitting the sweater that my knitting guild is going to knit this fall. Actually, I'm kind of discouraged about that. The yarn I bought for the sweater is Cotton Twist by Berroco. I love the yarn and the color I chose. The gauge is very close to the gauge the pattern calls for. I knitted a swatch for the gauge with 3 different sizes of needles, and the largest size is the correct gauge, but I don't like the texture of the swatch knitted with that needle. It seems too loose to me and is not closely knit. I like the next smallest needle. So, I have decided that maybe I will use the smaller needle and use the next largest size in the sweater in order to make it large enough. I can't believe that the thought actually went through my mind that I wouldn't even make the sweater at all because of being discouraged about the gauge. I have already bought the yarn for the sweater and I can't go buy more different yarn, so I will have to make do with what I have.
I'm at work now, but when I get home I will try to post pictures of the embroidered pillowcases and also the swatches that I knit for the sweater.
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2 comments:
I'd love to see your embroidered pillow cases! :) To me, nothing is better than hand-made gifts!
I can totally understand how you feel about the gauge thing! I never learned to resize a knit pattern by myself so it's always a pain for me. I recently got discouraged by a project, too. :( I found a great yarn, I was gonna crochet a vest for Hubby. I crocheted about 20 rows, and I didn't like it so I ripped it. The yarn has been left untouched since then. I am now thinking about "knitting" a vest instead of crocheting. Do you know any nice pattern? My yarn is 4 ply knitting worsted weight yarn.
I need to start working on Christmas gifts too... I know one thing... I am going to crochet some pairs of socks. :)
Chie, I know that the people on your gift list would love some socks and also I'll bet they would love your crocheted dishcloths too! I don't know why I decided to embroider pillowcases this year, but I just did. My different crafts takes me by moods. I haven't done much knitting in the past two weeks because I have been working on the pillowcases. Today I brought my gauges for the sweater to work and my coworker and I figured out which size needle I should use. So, I'm somewhat relieved about that. Now, I have to find a pullover sweater or a buttoned sweater that I like the way it fits me and measure to get the right measurements for the sweater. Hopefully, I will get that worked out soon.
I don't know offhand of any vest patterns for men, but I have lots of magazines and I will look and see what I can find.
Sharon
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