Of course that would be a lot more exciting if I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow…

Anyway, guess what kind of Friday this is?  Frog or Finish???

It’s a FROG!!!

I’m froggin’ this:

which was to become the  Butterfly Lace Cropped Cardigan.  Why frog? Well, I don’t remember doing this, but I had listed the 7 unused balls of this lime Cathay on Ravelry as “will trade or sell,’ and well, I sold it.  So no more Lace Cropped Cardigan for me…  I’m actually not sure that I’m actually going to frog this. I think I may just bind off and block and some agent or the other may like it as a Webkinz blanket or such.

Lots of stuff going on around here this week.  First, we started with a snow day which included a trip to the ER and a hospital stay for my dad. (He is ok–he is going to rehab today to gain some strength though.)  Then I had some catch up stuff to do at work followed by finally sending out my samples to Jesse at Phat Fiber.  Yesterday, I had a marathon day of photographing and listing items in my esty shop (I still have more, but running out of time again. drats.). This morning I ordered new wool, an upgrade to my Photoshop elements, and Quickbooks.  (I really hope Quickbooks is easier to use than Photoshop or my next blogpost may show the little men in the white coats coming to take me away!)

So to close this turbo-blog post, I’ll leave you with a mini-sneak peek (this is really mini as these are just the labels–I forgot to take a photo of all the finished ones before I sealed the box.) of my Phat Fiber samples for the March Box.  Have a great weekend!

I can’t believe a whole week has come and gone and it is back to Finish or Frog Friday!  It is crazy, isn’t it?

This week’s project is a scarf I started in September of 2006. (I know that because the sales receipt was in the bag with the yarn.)  When I worked at a LYS, there was this brand of yarn that we had SO MUCH OF, but people rarely bought.  I felt sorry for it the way I used to feel worry for yellow crayons.  (Yes, I used to go out of my way to use yellow so it wouldn’t feel neglected–little did I know that someday, I would have a child whose favorite color is yellow (Agent J)).  So the poor sorrowful yarn was Gedifra Techno Hair Oro in pink and silver.  I bought black and pink Gedifra Fashion Trend to combine with it to make a striped scarf. (I was trying to mimic a scarf I saw at Limited Too.)

I was pretty sure that this was going to be a Frog week, but I consulted with Snickerdoodle for a second opinion:

Hummm… decisions, decisions…

OK!  Let’s frog this baby!

Yes, I’m a beautiful cat and I know it.

Time for a little yarn snuggle.

A little frogging frenzy is good for a kitten.

Yarn! Glorious Yarn!

What? It’s over already?

Update on Frog it or Finish it Friday Episode 2:

Felted Bag for Agent J is finished and Felted! Woot!

Also – my new washer felts just fine.  Yay!   I used an assortment of cycles so I’m not sure the quickest route to success, but next felting project I will swatch and test different options.  So if you are thinking of getting an LG front loading steam washer, you can be rest assured, that it does felt.  (What it doesn’t do is a solo spin cycle which really sucks.  It does rinse and spin, but not just spin…).  First I threw the bag in for a speed wash with a load of misc things on hot.  Next, I put it through a rinse and spin by itself.  There was a little shrinkage at this point but no real felting.  My washer does have a sanitary cycle that uses very hot water, but it takes literally hours for it to run so I didn’t really want to try that one. Then I had an idea.  The steam cycle is only 20 minutes and it gets very hot. I ran it through 3 times and it turned out great!  There is still some stitch definition, but it turned out to be a good size.

Pre-felting

Post-felting:  the i-cord felted exceptionally well.

I can’t get J to pose with her bag at the moment (she is up to something involving Sharpies) but here she is with the prefelted bag on Tuesday:

Have a great weekend if I don’t get a chance to post again, and  please remember to stay tuned for next Friday when I once again either frog something or finish something.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Frog it or Finish it Friday.  This week’s project is a finisher, so I’ve just been working on trying to finish it.  This is a project that I started quite a while ago.  I would say it was probably in the summer of 2006 because Hoops and Yoyo are in my original picture:

The yarn is Steadfast Wonderful Wool  ($3.74/oz.) and Knitpicks Palette ($1.13/oz.). I was trying to design my own felted purse for Agent J. I had some notes so I was able to pick up where I left off which was here:

One side is complete and the other side about half way.  So far I have finished the second side and seamed them together.  This is not, however, the original plan.  I was going to knit a long strap to connect the two pieces together and my notes say something about using short rows, but you know what?  I just don’t remember what my intentions were so I’m making up a new version.  Tonight, I think I’m going to knit an applied I-cord along the top and then decide what I shall do for straps.  Really, the main reason this project is a finish and not a frog is because Agent J insists that I must finish it for her.  And it is not like I have really ever forgotten about this project because I’m sure she has been reminding me at least once a month for the last couple of years.  When I first started talking about Frog it or Finish it Fridays, she jumped at the idea and lobbied for her project to be at the beginning.

The above photo show a close up of the beads that are randomly inserted throughout the fabric.  I’m not sure what they are going to do during the felting process, but I think I’ll be able to get them to all poke through to the correct side in the finished product.  Of couse, the whole felting process is another matter as I did make felted swatches when designing this, but they were felted in my old washer and not my new one.  As a mater of fact, I haven’t even felted anything since getting my new washer.  I guess I have plenty of yarn to do another swatch, but wouldn’t it be more fun to just run it through and see what happens?

Camera Update:

Thanks to everyone for all the camera advice/opinions/support.  I haven’t been back out to look at them yet.  I hope that maybe they will have some left at Circuit City that I can go see this week before they close.  I went to Ritz Camera last week to look and the salesman was extremely helpful and I just can’t go back when I know I don’t intend to actually make the purchase there, but I think it would be ok to go and look at Circuit City as they are going out of business anyway.  I have been very busy with asking around to find out what kinds of people I know–Canon or Nikon.  Canon seems to inspire more passion and loyalty among its supporters.  At least so far,  we shall see…

Next Week’s Frog or Finish Project:

Stayed tuned for next Friday (ish)  when I will show you the results of Agent J’s Felted Bag and I will attempt to retrieve a project from the depths of a box filled mostly with random balls of yarn (if I can find that box, that is.)

On November 14, 2008, I started working on the Cobblestone Pullover as a Christmas present for IHA. Realizing that there was no way I could make this and not knit in front of him, I tried to stay low key and I was actually able to knit for quite a few days before he asked me what I was making.  “Um….um… a blanket!  Yes!  I’m making a blanket!” I said.  And he asked no further questions.  I knit and knit and knit and knit some more, but it wasn’t until I was up to splitting for the sleeves that I realized something may be amiss.  I had stealthy measured IHA one day without his knowledge and somehow came up with the chest measurement of 46 inches.  The closest size to that was 47.5 and I thought that just would not be enough ease so I decided to jump one more size to 51.5 inches. At this point you set aside the body and start the sleeves.  As I cast on, I thought, “wow, this sleeve is huge!” and I put the project away.  I did wrap the sweater, needles and all, for Christmas so I could work out the kinks before continuing on.  Which brings us to today, Finish it or Frog it Friday.  I felt it was best to confer with IHA before making the decision so I waited until he was home from work to bring it out.  (I bet you can tell where this is leading, right?)

Clue 1: Comparison with existing well-fitting sweater

Clue 2: A sleeve that looks like a bangle bracelet

Clue 3: Is this a sweater or a kilt?

Clue 4:  Seriously?

The decision:

Goodbye sweater…

Did I mention that the actual circumference of this sweater before ripping was 56 inches?  I guess my gauge was off and 10 inches of ease is just a bit of overkill.  I told IHA that I could continue knitting it and it could be an around-the-house sweater but he said that I would never want him to wear it because I wouldn’t be able to bear looking at him.  I also think that me and this yarn are just not meant to be as this was a pre-frogged sweater having started its first life as the Cambridge Jacket.  Will the third time be the charm or will this yarn remain forever frogged?

Stay tuned for next week’s Finish it or Frog it when I review Agent J’s pink, green, and beaded felted purse…

I just bumped into an intersting looking KAL via Mostly Self Taught Knitter.  It is called Finish it or Frog it. On Fridays, you evaluate your WIPS, choose one, and then decide if it is ever going to become a FO.  If it is, then Finish it!  If it isn’t, then Frog it!   The KAL is sponsored by Major Knitter. It has a Ravelry group and some cool buttons.

This is the general button to use on participating Fridays:

Here is the Finishing Friday button:

And obviously, the Frogging button.  I hope I get to use that one – Frogging can be so therapeutic sometimes:

You know, I don’t even know how many WIPS I really have right now.  I think part of the fun will be digging them out.  I know that I have some things that are not even on Ravelry yet.  I also think I may expand this into sewing and scrapbooking too.  I don’t even want to think about all my unfinished Scrapbooking pages.  Speaking of which — this Saturday night is for Scrapbooking so I better get packing!  Have a great day everyone!