Short-term and Medium-term WIPs

Last week I shared my long-term WIPs. It was actually nice to go through them and think about what still needs done and what I would like to pull out of the WIP bin in the coming month. Now it's time to look at the shorter term WIPs. 

I'm working on this beautiful brioche cowl, my first brioche project. I started it on October 2nd, 2020.

I'm working on a knitted gnome, which was a mystery knit-along back in December, but I never finished it. It was started December 1, 2020. 

I'm working on weaving a sample band on my inkle loom. This was started February 4, 2021.

I'm working on this beautiful knit shawl, which I just started on March 1, 2021.

On March 12 I started this locker hooked trivet:

And I started two projects in the last week. I warped my Schacht Flip loom for a set of towels:

I also warped my Hello Hydrangea lap loom for a lace weaving sample:

I don't know, do you think I have enough on my plate? :-) I've always joked that I seem to love being busy, and my crafting seems to follow that same idea. It's good to have lots of things to work on as the mood strikes. I am looking forward to finishing some of these in the near future, though!

So, what about you? Do you enjoy having multiple projects going at a time, or are you more of a "one project until it's done" kind of crafter? Let me know in the comments!

Happy crafting!

Slow Week

 It has been a slow crafting week here. I am a public school teacher, and we had parent/teacher conferences, which means I worked many more hours than usual. Also, I got my second COVID vaccine on Tuesday (yay!), which gave me flu-like symptoms yesterday, so absolutely no crafting was done in that time. 

So, in the absence of lots of amazing crafty things to tell you, I thought I would show off what I have in the works right this minute. I'll split them into categories- long-term WIPs (works in progress), medium-length WIPs, and short-term WIPs. It turns out that I have several long-term WIPs, so today's post is just going to feature them. Check back in a few days for my other WIPs!

Long-term WIPs:

I've been making a pile of woven 4"x4" pin loom squares for an afghan for years now. Here's one of the squares:

I'm starting a pile of woven 2"x2" squares to assemble into larger projects at a later date. Here is a recent one:

I'm working on a crocheted "Catch-All", something to hang over the door with pockets to store things:

I'm working on a crocheted afghan, one square at a time: 

I'm working on a crocheted sweater made up of flower/leaf motifs: 

I'm working on a large crocheted afghan that I started YEARS ago: 

And I'm working on a "toothbrush rug", a skill similar to knitting or crochet, but it uses a large needle to sew loops:

You would think I would have enough to work on just from those projects, but no! The grass is always greener on the next project, so of course I have plenty of other things I've been working on besides these. Check back soon to see my other WIPs. 

Happy crafting!

Sprang Weaving

I know that I have talked about last month's Fiberuary a bit already, but I want to go out of my way to talk about one part of it that I particularly enjoyed- the classes on sprang weaving. Here is a link to a Wikipedia page about sprang, if you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

I took the Beginning Sprang Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 classes, and I'm planning to watch the video for Intermediate Sprang that the same teacher taught. I really liked it, and it went super fast once I got the hang of it! By the way, the classes are on YouTube for FREE for a limited time only!

In Beginning Sprang Pt 1, which you can find here until April 1, I learned how to warp my loom, which I constructed out of an embroidery frame and some dowels. Here is what it looked like when I was done:

In Beginning Sprang Pt. 2, which you can find here until April 1, we learned how to weave and created a small bag. Here is my bag, which I will use to hold spinning accessories on my wheel: 

I really enjoyed this! I'm looking forward to watching the Intermediate Sprang class, which is all about interlacing and twills. The class teaches you to make a bracelet. You can watch it here until April 1. 

If you're interested in learning more about Sprang, here are some resources that I'm looking forward to reading/watching, but haven't gotten to yet: 

This blog post from The Sojourning Spinner.

There are some free (and paid) patterns and a gallery of finished items at spranglady.com.

Here is a PDF with a pattern for a bag and tons of other information. 

Here is another good article from stringpage.com. 

There are a ton of sprang weaving videos on YouTube here. 

*Please note: none of this material is mine, I'm just sharing things I've found on the internet through a basic Google search. 

So, if you're in the mood to try something new, I highly recommend some basic sprang! Good luck, and happy crafting!

February 2021 Wrap Up

It's time for the monthly wrap up! February skated by even faster than January. How is it that this time last year seemed to stretch for ages, and now time is flying? The shortest month of the year always seems, well, short, but even more so this year. Here are the projects I completed in February:

I got out my Schacht Flip loom and made these plainweave towels with magnetic closures to put on my oven handle:

I made this tiny knitted bee in black and gray, to be a Glumbumble from Harry Potter lore:

I crocheted this great cowl, which was a test for a crochet designer. It was a lovely stitch to work, it is delightfully squishy, and it is quite warm, perfect for this time of year:

I knitted this amazing shawl, which took most of my crafting time this month, but I loved every second of it. I also learned the sewn bind-off, which is amazingly easy, though time-consuming:

I finished the month by practicing some brush lettering. I made this nice sign to hang in my craft space. The Elder Dorm refers to the name of the group that I am friends with on the crafting website Ravelry:

And that's it! I have several works-in-progress right now that I hope to finish in the coming weeks, including another knitted shawl, a sprang weaving project, an inkle weaving band, a knitted gnome, and a brioche cowl, but you know I'm going to want to start new things, too, so we'll see what I get through this month! :-)

What are you working on right now? What are you excited to start? Are you forcing yourself to slog through a project because you want the finished object? Let me know in the comments!

Happy crafting!