My Big Comfy Chair

"Who made this big mess?" If you are a 90's child like me then you might remember Loonette saying this phrase at the end of every episode of The Big Comfy Couch. Every time she asked it the answer was the same. She was always the one who made that mess.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this show let me give a quick run down. Loonette was a clown with a clown doll named Molly. Loonette and Molly spent most of their time on this huge green floral couch. This couch must have been somewhat magical. It always had what they needed deep within the cushions, but they still thought it was comfortable. Need a tennis racket, tutu, jump rope, or rubber chicken? Chances are the couch would have it.

However, Loonette would never seem to find what she needed on the first try. This would result in Loonette creating a huge mess that she wouldn't remember at the end of the episode. After some prompting she would realize that it was her fault and that she would have to clean it up. Then she would do what she called a "ten second tidy" and run around cleaning. Click on the video above to watch one of her famous fast cleanings. 

 Me and the mess ended up on the floor. 

Recently I have been relating to Loonette. I have a big red chair in my living room. This chair is where I tend to do most of my knitting. It is close to bookshelf where I keep a lot of supplies. Although I didn't plan it, this chair has become my knitting chair. So much so that my husband is shocked when I choose to knit somewhere else.

I also find myself mentally asking "Who made this big mess?". Of course I always know the answer will be me. And I can also figure this out without an nod from an invisible person. I am the one who let my knitting spread to the back of the chair, the arms, under the arms, and on floor in front of the chair. This happens especially when I am working on chart or need to write down corrections. When I am writing a pattern as I am knitting the mess gets even more out of hand. I guess I need more room and just spread out. Then the laziness sets in. Why would I take the time to put everything away nice and neat when I will just need it the next day. Unlike Loonette I can never do a ten second tidy.

This isn't even all the mess. 

I am even starting to look more and more like Loonette. I draw the line at the red nose. If that happens I might have to loose the comfy chair and keep a neat work area. As you can see from the picture I like to keep all of my supplies close at hand. At times that can make my corner of the living room look like an explosion from small yarn store. I have finished projects, yarn, knitting needles, current projects, scissors tapestry needles, a notebook, and more. Everything I need is right there. Occasionally I might even have to pull something out from under the cushions just like Loonette. This happens even more when I am using double pointed needles. I can never knit with them without loosing a needle or stitch marker for at least a minute or so. 

As you might have guessed, I made a hat specifically for this picture. However, it is a new original design that is a great weekend project. It can also be worn with or without those pigtails. I started it on Thursday and was finished before the end of the day on Saturday.

I am hoping to upload the pattern soon. In fact I like it so much that I am working on a matching infinity scarf. Follow this blog and my Facebook page @Joywithyarn1 to be the first to see new posts and patterns.


 

Purple Flounces

Last night I was finishing up a shawl that I was working on. Some of you might recognize the yarn from my post a few weeks ago. I wrote about the problems that I had when starting it. After a few false starts, the pattern worked up fairly quickly and easily. Although the pattern is simple I had to keep reminding myself to count the stitches. There are several increase and decrease rows that give

the shawl it's shape and create those fun flounces. After all the problems that I had at the start I realized that the time it took to count the stitches after one of these rows was worth it. Better to spend a few minutes counting every ten rows or so than to rip out entire sections multiple times.

This is one of the yarns that my friend was kind enough to bring from Turkey. She sent me some pictures and although I had no idea what I was going to do with this yarn, I told her to grab me two skeins. Something about this yarn spoke to me. I think it might be because it is a wool blend. The wool gives it that fuzzy look. It would definitely be a yarn that I would be distracted by in the store. The "ohh fluffy" kind of distraction.

So, I knew this yarn was coming and I didn't know what I would do with it once it got here. I just knew that I didn't want to throw it in the yarn bin. It was too good for that. No one knows when I might get around to touching some of that yarn. Soon after this I had one of those light bulb moments. There was a conversation at church about how people show love differently. That is when it hit me. I show love through knitting. I had never really thought about this, but knitting is one of my love languages.

After coming to this realization I knew this yarn would end up being a gift. Not long after that I had a person in mind and some thoughts about what I wanted to make her. I wanted to do a simple shawl and quickly found Fairy's Shrug on DROPS Design. The pictures showed a shawl with a fuzzy halo effect that I knew this yarn would produce.

One problem that I had with the pattern is that I didn't like how it looked when knitting it. As I was going along I thought the flounces looked uneven. It hung awkwardly on the needles. However, I kept at it. I have knitted long enough to know that sometimes a work in progress looks different than a finished project. If you ever question how a project will look off the needles, then remove the needles.

This can be done in a couple of ways. 1) You can just remove the needles and try to pick up the stitches. This method can result in a lot of frustration and some dropped stitches. 2) You can thread yarn through the live stitches. This technique is also known as a lifeline. When the needles are removed the stitches are held by that scrap yarn. There is less of a chance of loosing the stitches when you have a lifeline. I will also do this when knitting a top-down sweater or dress. Having a lifeline allows me to try on the project and see the fit before I finish.

As I was binding off I realized that the increases and decreases gave the shawl its structure. It began to curve as I was taking it off the needles. This curve was impossible to see when it still being worked. Now I love the way it looks and think the flounces hang beautifully.
                 
Although I had some trouble with this pattern at the start, I think this would be a great beginner knit. The pattern is simple and does not require a chart which can sometimes be intimidating. If you can knit, purl, and count; you should be able to make this pattern. It does have some increases and decreases, so this is best for a beginner who wants to branch out. The online pattern also has some videos that demonstrate the more complex techniques. This makes the pattern even more accessible to anyone willing to try it.