Things to come, a teaser post

A quick view at Ravelry shows that I have been knitting for 10 years come this fall.

A decade of fiber and creating.
One hundred and twenty months of making things and sharing them.

Some of that time includes spinning.
Some of that time includes designing my own patterns.

Most of that time has been making things and not writing down how I did what I did to make what I made.

The good news is that a new pattern will be written up soon! The first prototype was finished and soon a second test will be done. And then a document and some photos put together. Finally, the results will be published.

The Hoodie Scarf. Coming soon!

In other news I finally went to a local fiber event. I got to attend the Back to Back Wool Challenge.
An annual get together of spinners and knitters to see if they can beat last year's record of time from raw wool to sweater.


The participants used spinning wheels and supporters had drop spindles, wheels, looms, hooks and needles in use all around.



Watching them go has reminded me of my own spinning wheel, terribly neglected as it has been. Soon, it will come back out for use. I will make a new attempt at using all those rovings and batts that I have been collecting.

Sooooon.....

Catching up with the times

After a lot of kicking and screaming, I have joined Pintrest.

As such, I have decided it would probably be a good idea to revamp this blog, just a bit. Which is to say, I will be posting cooking and recipe things now as well as knitting things.

Stop laughing.
I expect this will help increase posting frequency.

Seriously, you are going to hyperventilate if you keep laughing that hard.

Anyway.....

I have been knitting lately. In fact, the weather is cooling off and I am itching to start more projects. Alas, I am afraid to let the current project get any downtime. It is a blanket. These things usually take years for me to complete because I get too bored. I am tying myself down to finish this one before starting anything else.

Laughing yourself to tears, now? Really?

Stop laughing and admire the blanket:

A confession

I recently took up several scarf projects.

Three scarves of the same pattern, same needle size, and in the same color but different yarn (so not *really* the same color, but still...).
I am done with one, half way on the other and have already wound the skeins for the third.

This project, which has the side benefit of showing off how different yarns handle cables, is so that I can having something to work on at work. The shawl I am working on has reached a point in the pattern that interruptions by customers could have a dangerous outcome. Not that I have been knitting the shawl at home either. I figure I just need a little break before tackling the next section which has nubs (a new technique for me).

During all of this, I decided I should make a scarf for an old friend. You know, a light something to knit when watching TV, because the shawl needs no distractions, you see. So I asked him what his favorite color was. I picked a super simple pattern that had a great texture and would be just fine for a guy. Then I settled on a yarn from my stash, because knitting from stash is very important and makes any project justifiable.

It is a very nice yarn. Soft and thick with layers of color qualities! Absolutely gorgeous! I had two skeins in the requested blue, two in brick red and two in bright red. In two days I knit up the scarf. It is perfect. The pattern, with one adjustment for knitting without turning, came out even better than I could have hoped for in this fluffy yarn. The scarf has already received acclaim for those who have come in contact with it. This scarf is everything one could love about a non-lace scarf.

Well, almost everything. The one thing it is not, is mine.

I have already promised it out. It ships this weekend. Soon it will travel 1500 miles away and hopefully be appreciated and not regifted. (I will hunt him down and do serious damage to him if this scarf ends up in the possession of another.)

So now I have four skeins of this yarn in colors I dare not wear. They can not fix this problem.

There is a fix though. A very simple one. One that even comes with a bonus of the words "SALE"......

So yeah. Yarn diet? That was so last year.... right?

Addictions and their many forms

I have often read about people who are addicted to sock knitting.
Some are hooked on crocheting blankets. (See what I did there; hooked, crochet... why are you covering your eyes?)

I think I might have an addiction. Well, one besides collecting yarn and making scarves. I do so love the ease and adventure of scarves.

Now, I think I might be a bit caught up on lace shawls.

I have several books on the subject. My queue is heavy with them and my yarn collection has an obvious leaning toward lace weight and such.

In fact, while I am currently working on one shawl, waiting for blocking wires for another shawl, I have already started sorting out shawl patterns for some stashed yarn.
Currently, I am leaning toward the North Roë Shawl or the Aeolian Shawl (both are listed in Ravelry).

We shall see if this last through the part on my current project where I have over two hundred stitches and more for each row. (The next to the last row is 323 stitches across).

Starting over, at least on some things

A mere five days ago, I took some beautiful Malabrigo Sock yarn and settled down with a pattern for it.

I had completed the cast on and the 9 setup rows, as well as 4 repeats of Chart 1 of 4 (I do not count the setup row chart, I don't think it needs a chart number).

Then I dropped a stitch. A stitch that was actually part of a decrease and may have taken out another stitch with it.

I did try to pick it up, but it was no good. The stitches got away from me and I had to start over.
So I did what any sane woman would do.

I reset the project start date in Ravelry, bullied through to the first of fourteen repeats of the main pattern chart and then walked away from it.

Tomorrow it will look smaller but not terrible much different from before the accident. I am glad I was only so many repeats in. Had I been farther along, some nearby bystander might have been injured.

Dusting off and restarting

Well, hasn't this been another long silence.
Here it is only hours away from August.

The good news: I have started knitting again and have even finished a couple of items!

The promising news: I have become away of a lack of photographs or decent upkeep on the tracking of my yarn stash on Ravelry, and there for in life, and I have a desire to correct this.

The it-could-go-either-way news: I finally ordered my first ever set of blocking mats and blocking wires (and the Knitted Lace of Estonia book, but that was because I was only $5 away from free shipping and it was on sale). So far only the book and the blocks have arrived. The eventual blocking of my first full size lace shawl is still a future thing.

The not-exactly-bad news: I have no idea where I am going to start from to pick back up on the blogging, or really the writing in general. Currently I am undergoing 'blank white page' syndrome. Hey, at least I got this post out, right?

So now I will write up a few teaser points.

1) I am on the third part of a matching three piece set. That is a hat, a scarf and gloves (the gloves are the part I am working on casting on currently).

2) I got some new yarn. Always a bonus!

3) The writing up of patterns is going to happen. Some free, some not. Interested?

4) I will be studying up on and doing some beading work soon. Technically, the project is very much past due, but the technical skills have not been actually acquired yet.

Ok, so that was more than a few points. Not bad for someone working on getting back in the knitting-and-blogging saddle, eh?

Secrets to a happy knitter

I recently had the opportunity to become an ecstatic knitter.

Way back in May of 2008 I happened across a large selection of Berroco Chinchilla yarn in several corresponding colors. Some months I got a long US 13 circular needle and eventually cast on a project named the Autumn Blanket. Also known as the Wavey Throw and often called 'oh, yeah, I had forgotten you'.

After three long years of knitting and storing and then knitting some more, I finally finished it! In fact, it was January 9th that the cast off occurred. I had started taking the blanket to work (as it has been very slow lately) and after a few days of nearly eight hour shifts I made it through the last few skeins.

I have not taken any new pictures of it and it really needs a gentle washing, but that can wait. It waited this long just to be off the needles, it can wait a bit more before it is really presentable.

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In other news, I have some projects I will be posting the patterns to soon. There will be a cabled scarf pattern and a knapsack. Of course they will be entered in Ravelry as well, for easy downloading of PDFs.

See, I still make plans for the blog. I just am slow about getting them going.....

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Next week the local Knitting Meetup group is having a Spin In meeting. I will be taking my lovely travel wheel and attending. This will be fun as I haven't really played with my spinning wheel in a while. I got a bit discouraged by the speed/thickness issue. I have enough fiber that the willingness to be daring should be present, and yet I am treating it as if it were a special skien of yarn that I don't want to touch until I know what I am doing.
Spinning does not really work that way. I know I must practice or I will not get anywhere with it. So this next meetup will be the perfect chance for me to do just that!

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I am down to one UFO right now, which is the shawl. The weather has started to show signs of warming up, which means lace knitting will be where I will be focusing again. Of course, the fact that I have been knitting two other projects that are using worsted and super-bulky yarns respectively will also help. I think I will have the shawl wrapped up before mid-summer!

After that I can start a whole new set of long term projects.... or I can try to keep my knitting to more manageable arrangements. We shall see, we shall see.

A quick free gift pattern!

Having taken a long vacation from the blog, I now return with the gift of a free gift knitting pattern!



Behold! The Scrap Yarn Bags!

First step, find scrap yarn. You don't want a large ball, but you want more than a yard of it.

Next, figure out what needle size is recommended for the yarn. If you can't find this information, don't sweat it, just grab a size US6.

Next, cast on.

You can cast on as few stitches as you want.
On average, I am not casting on more than 20 stitches for a dk weight yarn and no more than 15 stitches for worsted weight.

Knit 1 row.

-Now, if you want to do a drawstring closure, a bit of math is needed. You are going
-to want 4 holes. So divide your number of stitches by four. If you end up with a
-left over stitch, save it for the end of the row. If you have two left over
-stitches, add a "k1" to the beginning of the row. Your final number, minus 1 stitch -becomes X.

*kX, k2tog, yo*; Repeat four times and knit any remaining stitches.

-For example, on my 15 stitch bags the yarn over row was: *k1, k2tog, yo; repeated 4
-times, knit last 3 stitches.

From here on we will stockinette until we are nearly out of yarn!
-If you would like, you can change between two different yarns every two rows.
-So you will knit two rows of yarn A, then switch to yarn B and knit two rows, then repeat.

Once you are nearing the end, you will repeat the yarn over row.
Knit one more row.
Now cast off!

The easy part is complete and you should have a rectangle.

Fold the rectangle in half so the yarn overs meet up and the purl side is facing out.
Now you have a choice, you can whip out a needle and thread and sew up the sides, or practice some crochet and seam the sides with a chain using any remaining yarn you have or maybe even some other yarn of a complimentary color.

The last part is finding a ribbon or taking other scrap yarn to make an i-cord for the drawstring.

These can be whipped up very quickly and make great use of left over yarn. Each one will make a different size. Sometimes you will think the bag is at risk of getting too big, so you just move to the last steps, cut off the remainder and save it for another bag. (Note that I made three in the picture and they are all the same yarn, but different sizes.)

What do you do with the finished bags? Why make gifts of them!

* Put gift cards in them and hand them out.

* Put some change or small amount of money and give them away.

* Fill them with potpourri or some cotton balls that have been dipped in scent or sprayed with perfume, then stick them in a personals drawer, or in the boxes in storage or give them to friends who need to freshen up closets, drawers or storage.

* Write wishes or dreams or what-have-you on to some paper, put the paper in the bag and set it free.

There are lots of things little bags can be used for, but remember these are little HAND MADE bags, so are great for gift ideas.

Enjoy!

Two years and some erratic postings

It is hard to believe that I started this blog two years ago, and yet as of next month, that will be exactly the situation.

Admittedly there has been a great reduction in posting here, and over at my regular blog as well. I have my reasons but they sound suspiciously like excuses when put to paper or else wise shared, so I will keep them safe and strong in my mind.

I have been knitting.
Really!

When I haven't been doing other things.

I think that I am having an issue of only knitting for other people right now, having really large UFO's and not knowing what I would knit for myself if I was going to.

I did finish the purse. When last you heard of it the knitting was done and the sewing had yet to be started. Last month I cut the fabric. Last week I did the sewing and attached the handle (incorrectly, it turns out). Then, having decided that 1.5 skeins of left over Rowan Summer Tweed was a bit much, I decided to make an accessory. So I made a simple necklace. I might still make a bracelet, we shall see.


I am happy to report that the mittens got made and, while huge amounts of unwanted snowfall prevented the hand delivery, they did make it to my friend's mom. Thrumming was easy enough, though there was a bit of a learning curve before I found how I wanted to stick the thrum into the stitch. Plenty of online sources about how to make thrums, but until you do it yourself it is just a vague bit of fiddly pictures and words.

Shortly after the gloves I made the matching hat. I can post a picture of the scarf that the hat matches, but not the hat as I have unfortunately developed the habit of giving away the finished product without taking pictures. In most cases I have been able to arrange a photo later, like the situation with the purple scarf for my other friend. (See, I have more than one!)

In even older knitting news, the Surprise Stuff Toy is down to the body section which requires making more stitches and therefore more knitting than just what is there. The airy scarf and the drop stitch scarf are unmoved from their current stage. I think the airy scarf may have frogged itself, but I haven't gone looking for them and they haven't come looking for me and that is just how it is with them right now.
The Icarus shawl received a bit of attention back in February, but then I realized I had no idea where I was in the pattern and I am going to have to rip back so that I can move forward. This idea is not pleasant and as such the shawl is being treated to the silent treatment until we can get some couples counseling going on.

In the meantime I have been working on a stripped scarf for a coworker. He picked out his colors and said he wanted stripping that wasn't too plain. So I worked out to vary the stripes in a spectrum style. It is over half way done and if I really put myself into I could get it down this week or next. The scarf has the advantage of being sized to take to work and be knit. The Surprise Stuffed Toy is very large and the stuffing has a tendency to make fly aways that spread like milkweed seeds upon the breeze. This would not be appreciated in the office.

I have been able to maintain not buying more/new yarns. Excepting of course the $60 skien of light fingering weight silk in gorgeous colors of purple, gold and green. That totally doesn't count.

So, that is our catch up for today.
See you again next post (which hopefully will be sooner than later this time).

And I bet you thought I forgot you....

Well, that was a long hiatus.
I was not really knitting, so I was also not blogging about knitting. In fact, I had gone so far as to stop visiting Ravelry and was filing off my emails from knitty rather than even read about craft related stuff.

Why?
At first I blamed the weather. It was slow to get cold this winter, but then we had this very unpleasant cold snap and weather was no longer an excuse.

The fact is when I come home I watch TV and I don't do anything. This is a bad, bad habit. My only knitting has been at work.
Because of my work schedule, I can not attend any knitting meetups. This means I have been rather lacking of chances to play show and tell and have people asking me how things are coming along.

I mentioned before about Christmas knitting and I figure I can give you some updates at this point.

First, the Pillow. See the completed glory:



The sewing for the back was a hurdle that caused much procrastination, but eventually the whole project was tamed just in time for delivery. Unfortunately I had to work on Christmas day, so I missed the presentation of the gift. I am told it was claimed as a wonderful example of my crafting skills. (I am guessing she wasn't looking too closely at those seams.)

As for the purse/clutch, well that has taken even longer and has not only missed the Christmas presentation, but also missed the birthday just a couple of days ago. It took me forever to settle on a pattern. When one as finally resolved it was canceled because it didn't work. A second pattern was selected and discarded after several rows. Wash, rinse and repeat with two more pattern selections and finally my desire to get the stupid thing started overrode my desire to make a stunning piece of knit-work. I settled with a simple moss that was expanded into a vague checkerboard type style. The knitting part is complete. I have only to sew on the lining, seam the piece up and attach it to the handle/closure-thingy. This might take some time.

Currently there are no update photos for the purse.

In the midst of all of this, I decided I needed to make a scarf for a friend. So I cast on some rather fun purple yarn and did a nice entrelac pattern with some finishing fringe. It was relatively quick and is being enjoyed by the recipient. Pics to come eventually. This project was finished after its intended birthday due date, but because the birthday girl in question was sick that day, the truth shall just be our little secret. Okay? Good.


After the scarf, but before the purse was really going, I got fidgety for some knitting that wouldn't join the ongoing UFO pile. I took some left over Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn (left over from making a child's knit cap), and did some quick and dirty no pattern fingerless gloves.
They are actually rather nice and if I lose one, I have just enough yarn to make another. They are interchangeable and there is no wrong way to wear them (unless you mistakenly try to put them on some body part other than the hands).





Just recently I decided I could continue this forward momentum and finally cast on the matching hat for my friend's two-row scarf. I pulled up the seaman's watchcap pattern. I went out and found some more Galway Paint yarn and set aside the correct needles.
Then said recipient of planned hat called me to remind me that I had promised to knit some thrummed mittens for his mother after her husband had passed away. Specifically he called to ask if I still planned on making them. Of course I did. Great, he said, she will be in town with in a month and they can be hand delivered then. Absolutely, I said.
After I got of the phone I thought about all the mittens I have made before, which is none. Can I do a pair of thrummed mittens in less than 30 days? I don't know and honestly I didn't even have the yarn for the project. Yesterday I picked up some yarn and hopefully today I will be able to get started. These will be my first mittens and my first bit of thrumming. Boldly onward and all that.

Meanwhile, his hat will just have to wait.


So that is where we find ourselves now.
I have started poking around the knitting blogs again, made some posts on Ravelry and have even thought about catching up with my knitting related email. Small steps to getting back on the knitting horse. (How is that for a mental image?)

Knitting, where have you been?

The surprise stuffed toy, the blanket, the airy scarf and the drop stitch scarf which is awaiting a decision about the stitch pattern and the possibility of frogging for a different pattern, are still in the same stages that they were back in July.

The Icarus Shawl has been going along pretty well and I restarted my toe up socks for tension reasons.

Then I had several projects to knit for the classes, which ended up being this month instead of last month.

The entrelac class went fairly well. No one quit and every one seemed quite happy with my offer of continued assistance if needed.
The MultiDirectional Scarf (pattern by Ann Norling) class started last week and concludes this next Tuesday. This one is going even better, mostly because it is a bit easier of a technique.

I have finished my knitting for classes, but now I have knitting for family. I have a pillow front (in entrelac) and a purse/clutch.

After that I hope to get some Me knitting in, but let us not hold our breath yet. We are coming up on the holiday seasons and I still have a hat to knit to match a scarf I already did. Oh, and a summer weight willy warmer. And I have a stuffed toy to complete.

Good thing colder weather is coming on!

The heat is on

Here it is, just past the middle of July and not a post made.

Currently, my roomie is knitting more than I do.

I am working on a new scarf pattern which I will be teaching at KnitWits Knitting and Yarn Specialty Store in Virginia Beach.
I will be teaching Entrelac, Multi-Directional Knitting and Knitting without Turning in two part classes. The first class is August 4th, 6 p.m. and then the second part and finishing will be August 18th at 6 p.m.

Once I finish blocking my demo, I will be putting it on display at the store (where my Mini Mochi Rainbow Shawl is already on display). After the first class is over I will be posting more information about the new pattern.

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Other than preparing for my first knitting class, I have been working on a hat for a friend's child. I knit this hat once, but that one didn't work. So this time I am taking a teddy bear head pattern and adapting it to be a kid's hat. My roomie says I need to knit the ears too.
Ear issue aside I should have the hat done today.
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I finished knitting a box.
I made it so I would have a place to put my female necessities that was not just a plastic bag or the manufacturers container. The picture isn't the best, but I wanted to get my projects page updated so it will do.

It worked up pretty easy, but not too boring.

Could have been made a bit shorter.
I added a simple crochet edging to the top, to make it cover the box more, after it was done.
Next time I might simply cast on an additional 5 stitches on each side.

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I suppose I have been a bit productive, if you don't look at the surprise stuffed toy or the blanket or the airy scarf or the drop stitch scarf which is awaiting a decision about the stitch pattern and the possibility of frogging for a different pattern.

With warm weather comes slower progress.
The heat and the humidity make working on the blanket out of the question.
The stuff toy is at the larger body section and besides being unwieldy, I am puzzling out shaping again. I don't want to end up tearing back, so I wait for inspiration to come along and provide a solution.
I will be tearing back the scarf, I am not happy with what I have so far. I want it more airy. I want more negative space. The kidsilk needs this.

Thus, if I can finish untangling the lace weight merino yarn I will be casting on for a lace shawl.
Perhaps I will find the lace I am looking for and will get it done too.

Three Crazy Days

When my friend told me that our local Pride event was coming up, I knew what I had to do. She told me on Thursday and the event was on Sunday.

As soon as I got home, I cast on for the Northern Lights shawl with my Mini Mochi in Rainbow.




I dedicated myself to the project.
No other projects received a single stitch nor a second glance. Not that the neglected projects in my life are surprised by this treatment. Goodness knows they have gotten good at being left alone. I expect that any day now those projects will start knitting themselves.

It was my first full chart/lace chart knitting.
On the second day of knitting this project, I had to call my LYS for help. They were wonderful and, although we never came up with an answer, I found out it was my own mistake that was solved by simply knitting that segment three times.



I decided to keep it at one skein because as I was reaching the end of my first skein, the long color repeats were turning out not to be long enough. I feared bad pooling ruining the project.
As it was, I was seeing colors come in at one side and were nearly gone by the time I knit back to that section. The yarn goes across colors as smoothly and gracefully as I have ever hoped to see in yarn. This means that while I was seeing the yarn go from yellow to orange, put in perspective with the rest of the project, it still looks like the colors are stretching all the way across.
I knew it wouldn't last, so I did not carry on to a second skein.

So I made it a Shawl-ette.
Of course, this also means I was able to complete the project with time to spare.
It was a wonderful coincidence that probably saved me from bulling through even though I knew it was better to keep it small.
I have never owned a shawlette before.

Honestly, I could have probably squeezed out one more row, but I didn’t want to risk it. There have been too many times that I have run out of yarn in mid-cast off or had to make the last few stitches tighter to stretch the yarn just that much more.
This time I did not do that. I saved myself and I am proud of my restraint.
I knit row 85 and then did a very loose cast off.

I think it is nice.

Who me?

Yes, I feel bad. I have so let the blog slide into silence again, but I have good reasons this time. Really!

I finished the Windmill bag. It is quite lovely and modern and I can only think of two changes I would make to the pattern. The first is the handles, I would have made them shorter. The second is the gauge of my yarn, it could have been more consistent between panels.

Immediately following the cast off for the Windmill bag, I decided to cast on for a box.

Yes, I am knitting a box.
It is a Rose and Espresso colored box for feminine items to be stored in. I did it in four parts. There were two sides and a front piece. The bottom, back and lid were done as a single piece. The lid boasts some stranding work of a rose.
I finished the box, but I am going to tweak it by adding some crochet edging to the lid. Perhaps the box could have been a bit shorter, but it seems to be doing fairly well.

Before I could finish the box, my Roomie who now knits, decided to start the Debbie Bliss Teddy Bear. I suggested a knit-a-long. Then I explained what a KAL was and grabbed some yarn. The next week of knitting was the bear (and since I knit faster than he does, when I caught up I would do a bit of work on the box).

What about my other projects? Like the blankie that has gotten a couple of pattern rows in the last month? Or the custom lace scarf? Perhaps I could do a bit on the socks that I want to knit for myself? Maybe I could get some progress in on the Surprise gift?
Ha!

Serious knitters know that if you don't have a deadline, you don't have to work on UFO's!

Now that I have done those, I am going to work on my first lace shawl.
Yep. I am already on the second chart of three!

If I don't look at the UFO's I won't feel bad for them. Right?

Theoretical Knitting

Lately I have been proving myself very talented at a new skill, Theoretical Knitting.

Theoretical Knitting is the art of thinking lots and lots of knitting thoughts, (design elements, yarn qualities, needle sizes available/needed, how the FO should look, more complicated design elements, things we should be knitting and how we would knit them, and so on), but no actual knitting time.

I have thought about casting on. I have considered putting needles and yarn together.
Long hours have been spent mentally knitting.

No physical effort is required for 332 Theoretical Knitting. One does not have to find the yarn choice lacking, or the design flaw, or rip out complicated elements that did not work, or rue the failure of the FO to look like it is supposed to, or become frustrated at the lack of correct size of available needles for a given project, or actually produce knitted items that were requested or something.

Why, through the practice of Theoretical Knitting, I have been able to branch out into Theoretical Crocheting! There are only two crochet stitches I can actually do, but I am limitless in my Theoretical Crocheting skills!

I have Theoretically Crocheted an entire couch.
It looks a lot like the one I sit on while I think about the fiber arts.

With a bit of practice, anyone can become good at this.

Eventually, I will get back to knitting stuff.
I mean, people have been requesting stuff again. Someone even gave me a request with a deadline, so I can't rely on theory forever.

Right?

Technology and knitting blogs

There are many, many knitting blogs out on the net.
Some of my favorites are listed on the side bar -->

A couple of the blogs I visit have cool widgets and add-ons that I want to have too (like the project and progress bar). Some of the ones I have found I have already incorporated here (like the flicker pics).

Now I have added a new one.

I am now including my twitter on my blog, mostly because I will now be twittering my knitting news.

This means you don't have to rely on my frequent posts to keep up with me! (I make a funny!)

Stranges things that happen with knitting

I seem to have recently developed a gauge problem.

This is notably visible in certain projects that have been knit over time and are supposed to have shaping.
In fact, just this last Saturday, I cast on a worsted weight yarn onto a size 9 needle and started a top down knit cap for a friend's child. At first I thought it was knitting a little thin, but I felt that a thin hat wouldn't be too bad.
I finished it yesterday and it totally lacks shaping. The knit is so loose that even when I switched from increases to stockinette the hat continued to bell out. I finished it only to have to frog it. I am going to have to get yet more dpns so that I can get a smaller size going.

This shaping problem also infected my laundry soap bag. While that project was done on only one size needle and with set yarn, the top half and the bottom half do not seem to have the same tension. The bottom bells out so much that rather than looking like a jar or old Grecian urn, it looks like a knitted U.F.O. The irony is that the project is no longer a UFO as it reached the point of FO last week.

Oh, you want to see the wild hair stranding that I made?

Just remember, there was absolutely no pattern for the whole thing. Nothing inspiring to look at when I was knitting it up and deciding which color was going where. It was totally play.

On the Other Hand

On one hand I have my slower, longer term projects.
These are the ones that take multiple skeins of yarn or a large amount of attention to detail. Examples are my Autumn Blanket (still in progress) or the Secret Project (which requires a lot of attention because I am designing as I go).

On the other hand, I have projects that I have started and finished rather quickly. Fast enough that they often did not land on the On the Needle section above. This would include the Calorimetry I finished in two shifts at work and the Airy Scarf (which would be done except that I decided to throw in a lot of personal lace design AND write it down) which I am doing at work and will be done before long.

The Secret Project has not seen any new stitches since the last Yarn For Breakfast meetup, mostly due to me either a)not being home or b)being tired due to ongoing shift changes at work.

There have been cat toys that few off the needles in a single sitting and 13'foot long scarves that were knitted in secret and took over a month of sneaking time in.

There are projects I whipped up with no plans, like my Ramen Packet Holder, and there are projects that I have not even started really drawing up, like my eventual top down sweater that will be custom designed.



Knitting is not simple, repetitive, boring or limited.
Sometimes, knitting avoids being predictable too.

An End & A Beginning

It was a seven month journey.




Even longer if you count the time spent trying to get the recipient to select a yarn.






It was an on again, off again project. Months of work and months of not touching the yarn, the needles or even the measurements.




There were highs, when precious stitches were saved and new techniques learned, and there were lows, when inches of ribbing were ripped back and stitches were left hanging in the air and needles snapped in my hands.






Was the journey worth the effort?

Perhaps.


So far my roommate seems happy with his new socks.


(Of course that might be because I have made it clear that he will be happy with them or else.) (The kitten thinks she has a new something to chew holes into.)



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A few days ago, in a fit of "it would work if I knit it this way", I cast on for a new stuffed toy.

This one is a secret surprise for a friend of mine who happens to like pink birds.

Can you guess what it is?

Now what?

As I mentioned before, I finished the red scarf.
Then I finished the green scarf.

I have cast on for the second sock, but progress is a bit slow. The math question was solved with "subtract one stitch per inch", so I am going to get this bit finished.
I am still working on the blanket and the laundry soap bag should be finished after a few more weeks (remember, I am only knitting on the bag when I am at the laundry mat).

This means I only have three projects in process.
For some people, this would be enough. Many would say it is more than enough. To me, it means I need to get planning my next project. I don't think I am feeling like a productive knitter if I have less than half a dozen or more projects stacked up. It means it takes longer to finish any given one, but if timed correctly I can get a whole week of FO joy, one right after the other.

So I have been flipping through patterns again, going through my stash and trying to pair things up. I think this is the part of knitting that is the most fun. I have some really, really nice yarn stashed up and there are some great patterns out there and sorting through them all fills me with hope and inspiration and almost lets me forget that on this second day of March everything outside is covered in ice.
As I am typing this, it has started snowing again.

While I was moving through patterns and looking at my Project Queue '09, I started eying the shawls I have lined up. They are top down, but apparently top down means the last rows are even longer as you knit down and up the triangle sides, which kind of goes against my idea of purpose of top down shawls (which is shorter rows as you reach the bottom tip). In general, the starting section confuses me a lot. A really really lot. I shall be needing help to translate what the pattern wants me to do.
Thus, I started looking at different patterns for some of the other yarn I have. I looked at a very nice beret/tam had done in entrelac, which I have yet to try.
Then I got to looking at knitted bags and such and queued up a market bag for some aran weight cotton yarn I have. The pattern is nice and just about screams for some improvisation. Which lead to me thinking about designing.
I do plan on being a designer and I need to increase my knitting skills to get there. I also need to get done with other patterns I need knit up and write out. For example, I have a few variations on my wine bottle that I want to work on. I want to make some adjustments to the pattern and see if I can make more and better wine bags.
This got me thinking that maybe I need to make a list of knitting skills I need to practice and things I need to learn to knit:
Entrelac
Drop Stitch variations
Color work
Sweaters
Top down shawls
Gloves
Cables

I am considering re-doing my Project Queue '09. As long as I knit from stash and have a minimum of one project per month (which I am already a bit ahead on), then I will be keeping to the original plan.

The other day I was lamenting to my friends that I have yet to actually knit myself a warm scarf. (So far I am planning on keeping the silk scarf, but it is not warm, really.) Of course, my knowledge of knitting has improved enough that now I can't settle for just a garter stitch scarf. Nor will I knit myself a scarf of a pattern that I have already done a few times. I think, in order to make a scarf I will be happy with keeping, it will have to be a self designed scarf.
And it will need a matching hat.
Perhaps even gloves to go along.

I think on my next day off, pending it is not a beautiful weather day that begs for outdoor exploration, I am going to pull out all my yarn and reorganize it.
I also need to recount my knitting needles as I seem to be missing some.
This will be an all day affair.

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Stay tuned: Big news coming later this week!