Very, very tired of hemp

Been doing much knitting lately. I had the bright idea to make wash cloths and dishtowels for a friend of mine that was buying a house as a housewarming gift. Simple in theory, right? I mean, they're just small squares. I can knit one of those up in no time! And I'd make them with a really nifty yarn like hemp or something rather than the obligatory cotton because I'm just THAT cool.

So I purchased allhemp 6 yarn in lilac as my friend's favorite color is purple. Found a simple pattern that looked good and got going. Quickly realized that all hemp is very fine, relatively speaking and that if I wanted to actually provide a washcloth that was more yarn than holes I'd have to knit it on smaller needles.

Size 3 needles in fact. Surely you can see where this is going timewise? My original plan was for four washcloths and a dishtowel, provided that I had enough yarn for such. So I knit. And I knit. And it took me three days of excessive knitting to finish one. Whee! So I downgraded it to just four washcloths.

Then I got some more yarn in that I'd ordered for myself. 100% pima cotton (crayon from knitpicks) in purple. And a nifty entrelac pattern for hand towels. Hey, that would be more fun to knit than this boring pattern in this tiny, wirey yarn right?

So I started that. Plan was downgraded to two wash cloths and a dishtowel. Now entrelac was fun. And it seemed to knit up fast. But a hand towel, astonishingly enough, isn't exactly a SMALL square. It's more on the order of half a small scarf. And I'd never done entrelac before. And this was on size 7 needles so not as slow, but not as fast either....

So yeah, she's been in her place for a week and a half and I just finished last night. Go me!

So here's some pictures. I actually have another wash cloth I made for myself that I need to put up too but the picture I snapped sucked on first look so I need to get another.



The washcloths. They're actually not as wobbly and weird looking as they look here, they weren't laying at all flat and I was tired. The hemp is interesting, supposed to get softer with use but it feels like plant, if you know what I mean?



The towel. It's very soft. I wished I'd had two colors of cotton to use instead of the one because entrelac in one color isn't nearly as impressive but I hadn't, you know, like planned on making this.

I'm taking a break from knitting for at least a week...too many other things have been on the backburner.

The neverending project

I baked cinnamon rolls last night so that I'd have something to have for breakfast for the next couple of days. I suspect I may be one of the few people that bakes so they DON'T have to go to the store. Whee! They're tasty...I didn't have my usual orange juice to use in the frosting so I used cointreau instead. Necessity (and alcohol) is the mother of invention. And possibly tipsiness but it tastes good.

I've been doing a fair amount of knitting the last few days. I had the bright idea to make a friend some washcloths as a housewarming gift. A week before she was due to move. In a fingering weight hemp yarn on size three needles. Needless to say she's moved and I've only finished one and a half of the things...I'd originally planned four and maybe a hand towel depending on how much yarn I had. So...yeah, knitting tonight.

I've actually become quite enamored of knitting washcloths. I have this tendency to decide to do big, complicated projects like lace shawls and blankets, having something small to work on is a nice idea. And they're useful! And I get to work with a bunch of plant fibers I've never used before so it's kind of a win situation all around. Pictures tonight, perhaps.

I also got some hemp to play with spinning wise. And miles of pima cotton. I'll be a busy boy, I have to say. I want to get some more drawing in too. And I have to pack for our move the first week of next month.

Work has no water today. This means the bathroom is unusable and we have to run across the street. Why am I here again?