WIP's and UFO's

My husband has a friend coming to visit this weekend from the Navy, Harry came to the West Coast to visit his grandmother while he is stateside (he just returned from Iraq). I decided that I wanted him to visit a clean home, without traces of a craft explosion (he deals with explosions enough in the sandy lands. He is on an EOD team). So as I was cleaning, I found traces of projects long forgotten or given up on. One such project was a flat double knit panel that had at one point been the start of something, and then forgotten. It was about 3 inches of Lion Brand Homespun in Lagoon on the Green Knifty Knitter Long Loom. I sat down to frog the project and the next thing I know it is almost 2 feet long. I guess this piece was not meant to be frogged. I decided that I would make a blanket (that way, if I get board I can create a shawl out of just one panel.) It is not a really heavy material when it is knit up, but it is soft and cozy. I am thinking that it will make a nice throw blanket when it is done. I also have Lion Brand Homespun in Hepplewhite and Waterfall.

Now these colors go together wonderfully, but I didn't want to work with even stripes (normally this would bug the crap out of me) but I wanted to push my own limits, and make this artwork a little more...abstract so to speak.

I found online in my searches and travels this wonderful website by Biscuits and Jam. This site generates a random stripe pattern. It allows you to choose your colors, the number of rows you want, and the width variances of each color you'd like to allow, then gives you a row count of each color and a visual of how the pattern will look. If you don't like the first generation of stripes, just refresh your page.

I'll post pics of my first panel when I finish it, I plan on making it about 4.5 feet wide, and making 5-6 panels. I will have to buy more yarn. Michaels in the local area has a sale running right now on Homespun, and in fact all Lion Brand yarns.

Another work in progress has been frogged, in sacrifice for the blanket. My mom's slipper socks have been exchanged for a homemade dinner. I will be making her slipper socks for Christmas, and think I may make them from Lion Brand Yarn's Hometown USA in Red or Blue. This is a super bulky yarn that is SUPER warm.My husband works in a bar with a back deck, and as he is often on the back deck at closing (Last call is 2:00 am) I made him a scarf out of this yarn. Now, while he found out he can not wear this scarf at work (too easy to grab onto in a fight) he finds that it is sometimes too warm to wear even off the clock (He will not be saying that when the real winter hits).

In other crafts, I received a suggestion, perhaps even a request for some lobster claw clasp stitch holders for use with crochet, and so my journey begins to find that box of clasps I had before I moved...so- into the garage I shall go! Talk to you all later, and thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate it very much.