Is it bad...

.... that the thing I'm most careful to pack on a Confirmation trip is my knitting projects? ;-)

The Other Things

For three years, knitting has consumed my free time. I'm not complaining - it's been a wonderful thing, and the companionship of needles and yarn is surpassed only by the new companions I've found through this craft.

However....

When the squirrel invaded us this week, I went up to the third floor to ascertain how "Nutsy" had gained access. What I discovered (other than that he came down through the ceiling of one of the front rooms) was a much neglected craft room. Stacks of fabric, jars of beads, tubes of acrylics and oil gathering dust next to lampworking material and scrapbooking supplies. And, in the center of it all, my sewing machine and my 45" loom.

It all looked so lonely.

My heart jumped a bit. This was a place that for many years had offered solace as well as nurtured dreams.... and it was all simply sitting there.

It's not that I don't love those other crafts, I've decided. It's simply that those other crafts are far more portable and sociable than knitting. Still, the balance of finding solitude alongside companionable knitting is attractive - especially during Lent.

So.

I'm going to continue to knit and spin. Those still bring me joy and allow me to spend time with wonderful women with incredible talents and a similar passion for the yarn. But I'm also going to spend time apart - on my third floor, reclaiming my craft area and using some of the non-yarnish stash that I've gathered there. It will mean less knitting at home, and at this juncture, that feels as it should. I've got two small projects (fuzzy feet for Dad and a Misselthwaite for a friend) that need to be finished, but after that? Who knows what forgotten jewel I'll re-discover?!

The Central Park Hoodie-of-Doom

It's my own fault.
I 'measured' the hood, declared it done, and bound off. I added the ribbing, and did a beautiful 1-cord bindoff (starting that twice to get the right tension).

Horrors. The hood was way too small. When it was up - it pulled the rest of the sweater up as well.

There are a couple of things one can do when one finds the project one has worked on for HOURS messed up:

1) Wear the frakkin' thing anyway
2) Weep.
3) Put it in the 'fix' pile (located in the back of the closet, behind the ab-buster machine)
4) Attempt to correct it via non-knitting means (scissors, glue and sewing machines sometimes come into play here. Never underestimate the effectiveness of duct-tape and a staple gun)
5) Weep.
6) Pour yourself some good red wine (the cheap stuff won't work as well) and frog back to the point where you need to start over again.

I've done 1 - 5 many times and have found it to be less than satisfying. I've still got my spouse's sweater to correct (he's wearing it every day... I need to wait until it's warmer).

This time? I've frogged it, and will re-knit it.

Why?

I'm worth it. Really.

I'm worth being proud of my knitting enough to fix this mistake, and to wear it comfortably.

(Of course... we'll see if I feel the same way next week when I'm still working on it!)

Tightening the belt

Back in December, I made a trip to WEBS with some yarnfriends. I bought a boat-load of yarns - good stuff too - with the idea that I'd be able to work on those (mostly stockinette!) projects throughout my PhD work. I enjoy knitting and reading at the same time, and have discovered that when I knit, I read with greater comprehension.

I'm glad I bought the yarn when I did. I had done a few "rent-A-Rev" funerals the week prior, which gave me unbudgeted money to play with. It was wonderful to spend with abandon!

Today is a bit different. Looking at finances in the near future (when we'll have both the daughter and myself in school) and I'm going to need to tighten the belt.

It's not a bad thing. I could dip into retirement savings (and will do so if we can't manage our regular bills) - but after reviewing my spending habits over the last six months, I've discovered that an extraordinary amount of money has been spent on yarn.

Even more has been spent on food and drink in the company of yarn. And yarnfriends. ;-)

Does this mean I'm not going to be able to join folks at SB and CB? Of course not. It does mean that I'm going to limit what I purchase (alas... the days of crepes, cupcakes and Chipotle are over!) for a while.... and that's okay. I'm choosing to spend money on things other than noms, stuff that will hopefully benefit our family long into the future.

As for yarn purchases? I've got a lovely stash that I plan on knitting from over the next few years. If I can get myself to a point where I'm out of yarn... well, bury me. I'll be dead. ;-)

Amnesia of the knitting sort.

I picked up my unfinished Pumpkin socks today while waiting for treatment on my knee (the third and final injection of synvisc), and was a bit shocked to find that I really didn't remember where I had left off.

There, in my hands, was one almost finished sock (wait? I thought I kitchenered this one already?) and its mate, which featured the beginnings of the cuff. I could have sworn I was further along! Then, to make matters more confusing, I realized that I didn't actually have the pattern with me - because by the time I had set this down, I was knitting from memory.

Now, had the elapsed time been several months..... but, no. I put these to the side the beginning of December, as to finish the spouse's sweater.

It amazes me how memory, especially knitting memory works. There are times when I'm able to store rather complex cable arrangements in my noggin... while at the same time I cannot remember how to begin the kitchener stitch. It's a peculiar form of amnesia, I believe.

Heh.

Now... what size needles was I using on that other pattern?

When knitting strikes back.

I'm a decent knitter.

Not a phenom, by any stretch of the imagination, but I can do almost anything. I'm also willing to try just about anything - and enjoy learning a new technique almost as much as finishing a new object.

Every once in a great while, however, I run into trouble.

The usual recommendation is to trust the pattern.... which, alas, is much easier than trusting the knitter.

I've been working, off and on, on this gorgeous shawlette by the wonderful Jesh (who IS a Phenom, in my opinion). It is called Misselthwaite, and is constructed in such a way that the edging is done first. A few others in our group have finished it with no issues whatsoever.

Enter the mental block.

I've picked this up several different times - and each time have screamed and ripped it out. (A slight exaggeration on the scream... more like a whimper, but 'scream' makes me sound so much more passionate, no?). I even had the designer (the ever-patient designer) sit on my right hand and walk me through step-by-step.

Today, I picked it up again and knit it somewhat successfully. The qualifier is there because this time I trusted my knitting ability... and began to doubt the pattern. I finished the first section, and although I acknowledged to myself that I was a bit closer than before, I ripped it out. Again.

After tweeting with Jesh (ever patient, ever kind) I was reassured that indeed the pattern was written correctly.... and to my horror realized that I had ripped out perfectly sound knitting.

The only thing left is to knit again. And so it goes....

January - the two-faced month.

January gets its name from Janus - the Roman deity of gates and entryways. He governs the beginnings, as well as the endings of things (and therefore is a bit, well, tw0-faced).

As a nod to Janus, I hope to embrace a bit of both beginnings and endings this year when it comes to yarn: endings - in that I hope to finish my UFO's, and beginnings in that I'm planning on casting on a few new projects this year.

My ratio? Why, 1:1, of course! It is 2 0 1 1, after all!

If you can't be with the one you love....

The big Christmas project of 2010 is out of the bag. After years of ignoring what I was working on with my needles, the spouse decided to actually ASK me what I was working on. He suggested at one point that perhaps it was for my Dad? But, weren't those cables pretty?

A few days ago he mentioned that he thought it was too big for my Dad, and was I sure I was making it for him?

After an exasperated sigh and a deep mumbling about men who are only observant when they SHOULDN'T be observant, I confessed. I also had him try it on.

I'm making the Hedge Fence Pullover by Elinor Brown. It's a delightful pattern - well-written - with scads of yummy cables. Although it wasn't finished it time for me to claim NaKniSweMo victory (National Knit a Sweater in a Month for those on the outside of my Tribe's coolness), I haven managed to finish all but one sleeve.

And emotionally, I'm done with it.

I've reached that point in the pattern when all I want is to knit something else. Cables cross and uncross in my dreams... and I found myself looking at our picket fence out back and thinking how what was needed wasn't a paint job, but rather an artful crossing of two of the beams.

When I pick up the project now, I want to weep. Hell with weeping... I want to CAST ON my next project.

HOWEVER, even though I don't win NaKniSweMo points and even though he knows it is for him, I still have the pull of this being a Christmas gift to help me learn to love the project I'm with. It has to be enough.

This is a common enough theme in my life - whether it be knitting or a project for work. I swear, sometimes I think I preach only because each week it's a new challenge and a new pericope to play with. I don't want to resent my current projects, spending my passion fantasizing the next thing on the needles (only to look at it with disdain a month or so later). Somehow, in some way, I need to learn to love the one I'm with.

You know?

What indeed is the point?

This blog is like one of those UFO's sitting in the bottom of my knitting box. I'll pick it up from time to time, knit a stitch or two, and then pull out something shinier. I guess I'd rather be knitting than writing?

But this is important work too. Ravelry, admittedly, has taken some of the work away. One of the intents of this blog was to track projects. Ravelry offers such a great way of connecting with other folks as well - and I love how my project joins a sister project from across the globe.

Still.

This is *mine*. It's a place where I can not just post my current work, but also the musings and thoughts that come with knitting. So, today I dust it off and look at it again in hopes to learn something of the intersection between ME and fibre. ;-)

$#@*()@#$ Bella's Mitts.

After knitting them up for a THIRD time, I realized how unhappy I was with the sizing. Fortunately, I only knit up one of the pair. It's frogged. And in time out.

I've switched gears and am working on being an active participant in Tour De Fleece. I'm a member of the Lantern Rouge group, which is similar to the Lantern Rouge group of the Tour De France. Basically, we really WANT to do it, but we can't. Or don't. But we do some of it.

It's all good.

I'm working through this lovely stash I bought a year ago - in the end, it will be appx. 2 lbs of stuff. I've already started knitting with it, and know that at the end I'll have an extremely warm shawl which will be perfect for those cold autumn days.

Until then, big wheel keep on spinnin'....

Charity knitting

Today I finished the second set of hat/mittens/scarf for Tender Loving Care Ministries. I hope to also finish the Cleopatra wig for Gracie.

There's something about 'charity' knitting that is different than knitting for myself. Generally, I'm knitting with far less expensive yarns (by request - most places want acrylic!) and so the activity itself should be less pleasant by my usual standards (I'm a touchy feely type.. and a snob), but something else is present in the knitting.

It's all good. ;-)

A little more work on Rogue today as well. Perhaps this weekend I'll be able to finish it.

AND...

...the socks for April are done! Finished in June! ;-/ I've got the May socks already on needles, with a few inches already completed. Given the wonderful gift of some time at the shore later this week, I'm hoping to finish those by next week. Then I can actually begin to work on my June socks! In June! Who'd have thunk?

As the new purpose of this blog is to work out my evil plan for domination of my stash... I thought I'd outline my plan.

Next projects:
UFOs -
Rogue - sleeves
Diamonds - sleeves
2nd Quarter charity - mittens and extras

New (with old yarn!)
Cleopatra for Grace (may need to cheat on this and buy new)
Sweatshirt sweater
Bellas
Mitts for Sam
3rd Quarter charity

The above (plus the sock o' month project) should keep me busy through this summer.

Ewwwie.

So, it's not been QUITE a year - but rather close to that. I guess I spend so much time on LJ chatting about life, and FB chatting with friends... and Ravelry documenting my knitting that this has become somewhat obsolete.

I've decided to give it a go again, if only for the purpose of organizing my knitting a bit better. I'm a bit - um - flighty in the yarn department.

So more for my own good than the benefit of anyone who should stop on by... the blog reopens and we start anew! ;-)

Technology woes....

Finally!

I know I promised pics earlier... but, the laptop died - got a new one - lost the camera cord - didn't have the driver needed to upload.... and now Blogger is giving me grief in uploading pics.

First, the Icarus:

The current WIP is a flowerbasket shawl in silver... I'll post pics when Blogger decides to be more cooperative!

Oy.

Okay... so I promise that I've been knitting. I finished the Icarus actually. It's the camera thing. Oh.. and the laptop died.

Yeah, I know. Excuses.

Feeling accomplished!

Three projects finished - A Dragon Scarf for Mom; A Tweed Beret for me; Ice Queen for me!

Chrysopolis...

75% done!

Bad Blogger Revisited

The post-holiday season bit me bad. It's been so hard to motivate myself to do much of anything. I was sick for a number of weeks, and now I'm playing catchup with all sorts of stuff. Oy.

As for knitting? Knitting continues to bring me sanity in the chaos. It's as if every little looped stitch is a promise that order can exist in this universe of mine, and that I can indeed create that order one stitch at a time.

After a year of knitting almost nothing for myself... literally... I've decided that 2008 is the year of the ME. I'm working on finishing up some projects that I've started (Secret of Chrysopolis is #1 on my list) and my hope is to wear down some of the stash that I've built up. I've also decided that the first part of this year will be the year of lace and socks. ;-)

Pics soon!

The original:

The copies:

:::dance of joy::::

You know how you have those projects that hang over your head - taunting you - that you've learned to absolutely hate?

Well, take one of those projects, and multiply it by three - and add in that it is a commisssioned affair. What you end up with is my angst these last few months.

The projects were (notice the past tense!) Christmas stockings. A good friend's grandmother used to make these stockings for all the children, and then their spouses, and then their children. Although there was some variation in the colors due to different yarn choices, the stockings were all the same. This fine lady passed away a few years ago, and since her passing, several new grandchildren (and a new spouse!) were included into the family.

My job? To make stockings for them based on one of the originals.

I tried my darndest to infuse these stockings with the same amount of love an affection that the original knitter obviously did, but I learned a few things.

1) I hate colorwork.
2) I hate colorwork.
3) I hate colorwork.

I had done some smaller projects - but these three stockings each measure appx. 2 ft in length, and in some sections, the colorwork is a-plenty.

I also learned that I really don't like knitting on commission. Part of it, I'm sure, was having a deadline. In my life, I have so many deadlines that adding one to my hobby was not the best of ideas.

Anyway, I'm free!! (Pics to come)