Ripped

Even though I have little progress to report, I have been busy this month, knitting-wise. I got some new yarns, picked out the patterns for them and got down to knitting the first of them. I intended it to be a cardigan for my toddler. I wanted a size larger than the one the pattern was originally in, so I went up a few needle sizes, and that seemed to work well with my yarn. I knit, and knit and knit. I had some doubts that it was turning out a tad bit larger than the target size, but I persevered. I had doubts about the color and the pattern together, but I continued. I divided for the armholes, and continued with body.

 

 I went much farther down the body than seen in the picture. With each passing day, and every growing inch, my dislike for the project grew. Even then, I gave it another chance, and started a sleeve to see if I would like it better once the sleeves were done. In the end, I had to be honest with myself, I hated it, no matter what. Hated it enough to rip out a couple of weeks of work and start afresh. So, I have finally done that. My confidence is still a bit shaken and I am not ready to share a picture of the new WIP just yet. But I know already that I do not hate it. So, there is a good chance, it will have a happier ending. 

Little Craft Projects

While the inspiration for my next major knitting project still eludes me, I tried my hand at a couple of smaller projects. The first one is a bit different from my usual ones and I made it earlier this summer. It is a macrame belt for my daughter.

I used some colored beads from her stash to embellish it.

Macrame is fun but I ran into difficulty when the cord lengths I cut initially, turned out to be quite short and I had to add length. That is why the end section is a bit lumpy.

As for the second project, I wanted to do this for a long time and had saved a stone just for it. It is a crocheted stone.

 

 You probably have seen many gorgeous versions of this around the net. (Here is a google search). They look quite striking in a group. I found some patterns on ravelry too, but in the end, I just picked out the central part of a doily pattern from one of my crochet magazines and improvised the rest of it. Can you guess what it is for?...

 

I mean to use it as a doorstop. In fact, it is already in use and is performing its function beautifully!