This was the snowy view yesterday from my front door. Schools were cancelled, poor Mike had to venture out to work, and I fiddled around with laundry, the crock pot and some random knitting.
I 've received a few knitting goodies in the mail recently, so nothing more was expected....
Kringle, my 15 year old stroke survivor, seemed content to sit at his usual perch and watch the snow flakes fly by.....I was too lazy to light the fireplace, and keeping with our family tradition of maintaining the thermostat at 65 degrees during the day in order to conserve oil, I was thankful for having recently discovered and finished a long forgotten project from the Scarf Style book, Tevya Durham's Turtleneck Shrug.
I grew disenchanted with knitting this for several reasons, which were all my doing:
1. Having modified this pattern from worsted weight to chunky Plymouth Baby Grande Alpaca, I had to swatch and fiddle a lot with stitch counts to properly size the sleeve lengths and the circumference of the turtleneck.
2. Had to frog the sleeves several time as the sheer weight of the sleeves made them badly hang and sag from underneath the arms.
3.Shoulder area became too oversized and droopy.
4. The neck was too tight.
5. the neck was too big.
6. I had a badly needed 50 lb. weight loss.
7. Being a post menopausal knitter, I had failed to take into account just how hot this baby was going to be and that i wouldn't really be able to tolerate wearing this for any length of time.
But, loving the yarn and the designer's creation, I forced myself to blow the dust off this sucker and gave it another shot.
But, loving the yarn and the designer's creation, I forced myself to blow the dust off this sucker and gave it another shot.
After succeeding this time to correctly knit proper sleeve lengths, I decided to modify the turtleneck to give some more options.
Instead of circular knitting a tube as directed, I knit straight in the rib pattern the collar for 8 inches and bound off in the rib pattern. Attaching 5 tiny pearl-like buttons on the wrong side enabled the collar to be buttoned closed, folded over, and were barely visible to the eye. No need for button holes either as the buttons easily slipped through the knit or purl stitch sections. I'm thinking of replacing them with toggle buttons so they are more noticeable and fit a bit tighter in the stitch openings. We'll see....
When things felt a little steamy, I just undo the buttons and I cool off! Then it wears like a shrug with a square collar in the back.
Buttoned up again and not folded over keeps my nose and face warm, but steams up my glasses a bit!
And, of course, you can slip your arms out of the sleeves completely and wrap them around your neck, collar folded over, collar up or collar open, so you're wearing a heavy scarf.
So, whilst I was roasty-toasty warm I decided i needed to tackle a serous problem that's been plaguing my happy home for some time..
The curse of the soap-scummy bathroom soap dish! Having seen an oval version of a crocheted sponge sock in a knitting magazine-cannot remember which one- I crocheted one to cover a square sponge to fit my bathroom wall soap dish.
I just chained a length equal to the long side of the sponge. A snap! A great way to use up leftover dishcloth cotton too! I didn't time it, but I was done in minutes.
So, there you have it! Now my family is free of scummy soap dish angst!
Stay warm and happy knitting!
11 comments:
We had lots and lots of snow here in RI yesterday, too! SO pretty today in the sunshine! :)
LOVE the soap dish cover! I have a soap dish built into the bathroom wall over the sink so I'm still trying to figure a way to do that with ours. I might just knit up some little squares to fit in there and sit the soap on top of. I love the idea! :)
I love what you did with the shrug. How clever! And bravo on your weight loss, it's a struggle, I know !
That does look cozy! Our house is at 68 degrees during the day, but no matter, since my computer is in the basement and that's where I probably spend too much time. I finally knit a neckwarmer, and I'm amazed that just putting wool around my neck can actually warm up the rest of me, too. On a recent cold day, I was in my bedroom, which should have been warm enough, but I was freezing. I put on my neckwarmer and soon I felt toasty. It's the cabled neckwarmer, on Ravelry and I made it out of some Chunky Rowan wool. (I hope to take a picture of it, soon.)
Scarf Style is one of my favorite books ever and I loved you snowy day pictures. I live in North Carolina and had 6" of snow...how fabulous!
How much do you want me to dye up? This is easy enough to dye so that I can do as many skeins as you want.
If you are on Ravelry, talk to me there. I'm ruth on Rav.
Beautiful snow picture. your cat and dog so cute. I want that pattern book. everytime I go to barnes and noble I look throgh that book. Love the knitting. We had snow on Sunday and by Sat I think we will hit the 70's here in NC
Thanks so much for the idea to rid myself of the soap-scummy soap dish! Love that--I've got several skeins of Peaches and Creme cotton; let me see, which color shall I use to cover the sponge I'l put in my soapdish?!
Thanks so much for the idea to rid myself of the soap-scummy soap dish! Love that--I've got several skeins of Peaches and Creme cotton; let me see, which color shall I use to cover the sponge I'l put in my soapdish?!
our bathrooms are the same color I believe!
love the soap dish cover
I like that shade of light green- so Spring-ish! I am fond of pastel colors
The soap will continue to be soft if it can't dry out completely. Unless the cover remains relatively dry and there is drainage under your crocheted cover....soft soap will remain.
Holes in the soap dish to allow drainage will solve the problem.
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