juggling

Life as a balancing act is probably my preferred metaphor but juggling also works well. So many balls in the air, so many projects going on at once. I finally compiled the great over-arching list of everything that I have on my plate (craft wise) - projects that are on the way, those that are half started, those for which I have bought the materials and have assigned a little bag and fully intend to do one day sometime soon. I've come up with 37. That's not so bad, is it?

And it amuses me to think of what a visualisation of my juggling would look like, what trajectories all of those projects would take. Some just hang in the air for days, weeks, months. Others come and go in a flash. I rarely drop one - yes, I'm stubborn; I would sooner have something hibernate for years than admit that I'm not going to complete it.

In the meantime, I have completed some juggling balls. The first was a birthday present for a lovely summer birthday that we celebrated in the park on a Friday evening. It has taken me this long to complete all three. They're all different but a close variation on the one above.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Simple Footbag by Amber Lin, kindly available for free via Ravelry.
Yarn: Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic (100 per cent cotton) in Deep Hot Pink, Bubblegum Pink, Bright Lime Green, Deep Red and Cotton Candy.
Hook: 2.75mm
Size: one size
Stash/recycle content: All from stash - I did purchase this yarn some time ago with a project in mind. I wanted to do some tapestry crochet and the Cotton Classic has such a great range of colours but I realised later that they were too vibrant for that purpose. Great for making these juggling balls though.
Start to finish: one - all done on 16 July 2010; two - some time in August 2010 and completed on 15 November; three - 16 to 20 November 2010.

Comments: I filled the balls with barley so that they weighed 85 grams.
Verdict: This is a great free pattern but oh making these was really on the hands, mostly due to my yarn choice. A 2.75mm crochet hook is a very small size for this weight of yarn and cotton has no give but I wanted to create a really firm fabric so that the barley would not leak out. If I were to make them again I would consider using wool and then fulling them slightly.

These are a good illustration of how things go around here - I made the first one in a day, the next took four months to complete, the third took four days.