Slackin' again

I noticed I've hardly blogged at all this month. It could be the heat, but more likely I'm spending time online other places instead of here. I know I shouldn't be so fickle.

So let's take a look a what all's been going on lately. Honestly, this past week I've done a lot of mindless knitting. The knit group I'm in has decided to do a community service project instead of a swap for the holidays this year. We decided to knit stoma covers which are used by people who have had tracheotomies. They are collected by the Atlanta Knitting Guild and given to Grady Hospital. I've made 4 of them this past week. Easy, mindless knitting for a good cause.

All the things that look like bibs are stoma covers. I'm sure there are patterns out there, and you can use it to practice a new stitch pattern, but then it wouldn't be mindless knitting.

The pattern I used is of my own invention, such as it is. If you care to knit any up, the finished size needs to be between 6 - 7" in both height and width. I figured out how many stitches I needed to cast on to make one about 6" wide, knit every row (garter stitch) until it was long enough, or it looked like I may not have enough yarn. On the final row, I knit 3 stitches, bound off all stitches until I got to the last 3, and knit the final 3. I put the first 3 stitches on a holder (safety pin), and worked a 12" long 3 stitch I-cord with the final 3. I bound that off, picked up the 3 stitches from the holder and made another 12" I-cord. These are fast and easy. I made 1 in one day, then cast on for the next one. The striped orange one is made from 2 yarns, 1 a solid and the other a self striping with a large amount of orange in it, changing colors every 2 rows.

For the record, as I was using dk weight yarn, I cast on 36 stitches. I have some crochet cotton that I'll probably use for some more this fall, and I'll have to cast on a lot more stitches than that. Check your yarn weight and work accordingly.

It's been a great way to use up leftover bits of cotton.

I do knit pretty firmly from doing all those socks, so these are quite sturdy. I think they will hold up well to multiple washings.

There has been some sewing on the horizon. As you can see here, I was cutting out pieces for my next Barcelona Skirt when Lily had to help as much as she could. Lily has been rather grumpy lately. We've had temperatures in the mid to upper 90's for most of the past week, and I've been bringing her inside by noonish. She's been cranky that I'm not letting her stay out, but a couple of times she's looked almost like she's having heat stroke. She can be very fleet and sneaky, so I've had to go after her a few times, and in her crankiness I've been bitten. Unfortunately for her, I ignore the biting and carry her protesting (and sometimes growling) into the house. I think all the sitting on the pattern pieces and fabric was her revenge. I can deal with biting, especially when the alternative is rushing her to the vet for heat stroke.

Summer of Socks 2009 officially started at 10:00 a.m. on June 21. These are not my SOS socks, but instead part of a pair that are going on hibernation until September 1. I just thought I'd show you a sock picture. I'll have more pictures later this week.