Playing catch up

I made a deal with myself recently to cut back on my video games and focus on trying to get some UFOs knocked out (it's really amazing how much of your time Lego Batman can suck up). With my sewing machine out of commission until I can get it to Sears for some repairs, that means it's been a week now of just focusing on my abandoned knitting projects.

In that time, I've managed to more or less finish one: a smaller, baby blanket sized version of a kitchen cotton stashbuster blanket I knit a few years ago. My sister had liked it quite a bit, so I decided to make a mini version of it for her baby on the way.



The irony of it is, despite having spawned from a stashbuster, I had to buy SO MANY balls of yarn to finish it...

Right now, I'm wrapping up work on Ellie. It had been sitting since I moved over a year and a half ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a lot less work to be done on it than I'd remembered.



I'm working a short sleeved variation of the pattern, so I really just have a couple more rows of work on the body to get it to the length I want, and then a few rows to shore up the sleeves, and I'm done. Huzzah!

I have a couple more projects to go after that, and I've told myself I'm not allowed to start anything new until I've gotten all of these off the needles. I've got a few baby projects I want to get started on, so it's impetus to wrap these other ones up, once and for all.

Would you like some fruit?

Two years ago, Jerod asked me if I could knit him a hanging fruit basket for the kitchen, since he'd had no luck finding one in stores. I assured him it'd be super easy, and I'd have it knocked out in no time.

Cut to today, and the thing is finally finished and mounted in the kitchen:



I'm pretty pleased with it. Clearly it holds up well to five pounds of clementines, although it's a bit saggier than I'd expected. Any I make in the future will have some fishing line knit in to help keep the shape of the baskets.

A pattern will be forthcoming, but I naturally have managed to lose the pattern notes in the two years since I actually finished the knitting portion of this, so it will have to wait until I have a minute to recreate them.

Update: The pattern is now available here!