An update and a knitting experiment

The good news first: the stain seems to be gone! That's where it was, on the left--the whiter spots around the embroidery are where the tear-away stabilizer stuff still is. And the next picture is all three pieces, finished--the one on the right is the one that got the lotion on it. I'm thinking the Oxy-Clean may have bleached it a little bit, since it looks a little brighter than the other two pieces. Or maybe it's just the crappy lighting in here. But I don't think it'll be too noticeable. Either way, I'd rather have that than a big glob of coconut-lotion yellow!





Also, the pendant was found on my driveway, minus a leaf. But that's an easier fix than making an all-new one!


So once I got the embroidery done this morning, went out for a walk (needed sunshine and exercise) and had a late lunch, I played around with the knitting machine some more to see if I could get some workable sweater fabric out of it. I was having a hard time with it today, really-- the yarn-pushing thingy got stuck several times, the clamps eventually stopped staying on the card table so I had to try and hold it in place and move the yarn-pusher at the same time, lots of dropped stitches and latches staying closed/having to knock them open before continuing. So for about 5-6 hours of work, I got a whopping 7 or 8 inches to show for it. Plus, now that it's off the machine, there's all these weird ridges (probably where it was getting stuck and dropping stitches) and it's a really stiff fabric. Which, admittedly, could be the yarn, but there's not really any options to make the stitches looser or whatever it is that would need to be done there. So I'm thinking this isn't going to really be worth it--in that same amount of time, I could have sewed together that entire embroidered shirt and then some. I don't regret trying it, but that leaves me with the option of either learning how to crochet or knit (blech-- I really have not enjoyed it on any of my multiple attempts), or trying to find some sources online for non-wool sweater fabric/chopping up thrift store sweaters. Or maybe trying to hunt down something handmade on Etsy the next time I get the urge for a new sweater.

In the meantime, need to come up with some options for my summer wardrobe shrug. I wonder if this is the right color brown? Though I don't really need 3 yards of it. Or I could go with this...though my inner hippie is protesting vehemently at the idea of a polyester knit. Especially for the humidity that is mid-Atlantic summer. Or I could just keep hitting up my local Goodwills and Joanns and hope that something crops up in the right color (I really want to go with that light tannish-taupish color, since it's a neutral and that would give maximum versatility). Decisions, decisions....