What are you knitting/crocheting right now?

[kmehrzad]

The colors are very nice, beautiful blanket!

Thank you, Catrin.

[kmehrzad]

Whoa, I just saw this thread! I'm a knitter "first" - cycling is just my newest hobby.

Here's my most recent finished piece:
Attachment 17939

I've been working on the sleeves for my current sweater since Christmas. It usually takes me a weekend or two to do two sleeves, but I've been too fuzzy-brained post-surgery to do more than a few rows at a time. I just want to finish so I can cast on my next one. I'm aiming for 12 sweaters this year.

I like the color and adore cables. Nice sweater there.

[Catrin]

I am quite happy with this shawl I just completed - it's just has a nice soak and is now lying down for a good rest :-)

Full length, though it will shrink a bit as it dries - this yarn is known for growing QUITE large when wet. I decided not to pin or wire-block it (I often do use wires for rectangular shawls) and see what happens. If I don't like how it turns out then I will just re-block it!

Attachment 17973

Here is some stitch detail, I hope that it's cool enough for me to actually wear it at least a few times before spring is really here
Attachment 17974

[ny biker]

I still want to learn to crochet, but right now I have to focus on upping my game at work, learning new technical stuff. I don't know if I'd ever want to learn to knit and take on more complicated projects, but then again when I bought my mountain bike back in 1998 I thought I'd never want to do one of those crazy century rides, and five years later I there I was on a road bike doing the NYC Century. So never say never...

<bump>

Just over a year since I posted this... I still am supposed to be learning new technical stuff at work, but yada yada yada that's a topic for another thread. This past Christmas I asked for "whatever I would need to learn to crochet." And received a hook, a skein of bright blue yarn and a small book on how to crochet. The book is really better as a reference than an introductory teaching tool, but there are so many videos online that I think I've made some decent progress. My initial chain rows tend to be messy but my single crochet stitches are good. Double and and half-double crochets... well I thought I was doing well when I practiced with the bright blue acrylic yarn, but now I'm struggling a bit. I bought some mushroom-brown worsted wool, a nice basic neutral that will look good with many of my sweaters, and I'm working on a scarf. I tried a pattern that I found online, but decided I didn't like the way it looked after the first few rows so I started over with my own simple "pattern" -- ~7 inches wide, mostly single crochet with one or three rows of double crochet every 4 inches (21 rows) just for a bit of variety. I'm more than halfway done with it, on the second ball of yarn. But now I'm thinking maybe I will pull all the stitches out and start over. The DC stitches are looser than the SCs, so those rows look a bit messy and slightly wider than the SC rows. I could keep going and wear the scarf as it looks now, but I'm wondering if it will start to bother me over time or if I will grow to look fondly on it as my first very-imperfect piece. It's certainly good practice, either way.

I suspect that a softer acrylic yarn would be more forgiving of my imperfections. I've already bought some additional hooks in different sizes as well as several balls of "plum wine" colored acrylic yarn, which is a mauve/light pinkish purple color. I'm planning to use it for a hat and matching scarf. (I wear a lot of scarves while I'm at work, because I've found that keeping my neck covered helps me stay warm on cold winter days as well as hot summer days when the A/C is blasting too much. So having many different colors is a good thing.)

My goal for now is to get good enough to crochet a scarf or two to give as gifts next winter. Nothing fancy, just a two-color scarf that looks neat enough to give away.