Back to Red

 I still have the red yarn I bought in the early fall, so I'm still pumping out red scarves for World AIDS Day later this year!

A pretty simple crochet stitch from a stitch dictionary.  I did have to start it several times though. Too wide, take off what the math says should come off. Try again.  Too narrow.  Add back half of what you took off. Why does yarn math do this?!

I realized after I started that if I just crocheted the length, the two ends would match. So I crocheted 3 feet, and stopped. Then I went back to the original chain, and worked the other direction for 3 feet. Just a simple thing but it makes it look so much nicer in the end.  This one took 115 grams.

I also knit up a ribbed hat to use up the rest of the navy yarn from the booties. This one I re-did several times for a variety of reasons. I'm not fond of worsted weight for newborn hats, but it's done. 

I swear, it's navy blue, not slate blue. I guess using my black chest freezer for the backdrop wasn't a good choice.

It took a whopping 26 grams of mystery navy yarn.  

Remember how I had found 3 unstuffed mice, a few blog posts ago?  Well, even though this storage ottoman is quite small, I found a bunch more when I decided I was going to take everything out and see what needed finishing.

Some came out a little wild looking--those two green ones!  One has a squished in nose, the other one has a nose like an alligator gar (a fish), or an anteater!

These took a total of  218 grams.  To stuff them, I used yarn ends, a baby photo prop hat that was in the bin that got wrecked when I washed it, scraps of yarn I had in this bin that I didn't like, etc. And catnip!

Not in the ottoman but in the drawer where I keep some other knitting related stuff were some bear parts. I had previously bagged them, there were two bears plus a body and a leg.  I had some trouble keeping track of parts, and I forgot I had used different sized needles...I had to reknit one leg...I used the first one to stuff the second one! 

I love these guys. I tried to stuff on the looser side so they'd be squishy. They took 70 grams.

I also threw out a hat I had made but had issues with and took partially apart and never got back to it. Just threw that sucker in the trash. No trying to save the yarn (I did like the yarn!). And you know what? It felt good! 

The ottoman is still full though. A bag of mice, a baby set, three bears, an old Christmas tree skirt section, and a bag from Lewiscraft...which closed in 2007 (I actually thought it was much sooner than that). I think this came from a friend of my mom, or my mother-in-law. There's a pair of very tall light blue socks, one finished, one almost finished, and a pair of burgundy gloves, also almost finished. I guess I might as well finish them. It might show a difference, but to someone that needs these items, I'm sure they won't mind. Both are too big for me.  

So in the need-to-finish list, I have:

• these socks and gloves
• Christmas tree skirt (started in 2000 I think)
• 3 Sophie purses that need handles attached (the pattern came out in 2004, and I worked on one while in the hospital having a baby so that would have been Megan in 2005). 
• several baby sweaters that need buttons

I've also started on another red scarf! 

I also got rid of a giant skein of yarn I bought from the last time I went to the Spinrite sale in 2009.  I had quite a few people interested and some even wanted me to ship it. Perhaps I should have asked more than $5.  It was huge, but needed winding and had some over dye on some of it.  I figured no one would want it!  I'm not including it in my yarn totals because it was from before I started keeping track and really, it would have made my numbers so skewed.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 115+ 26 + 218 + 70 + 681gr = 1110gr

Balance:  1110 gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0