ewephoric

Think of it as practice.

2008-10-12T15:53:00.008-04:00

So, Poem-Man and I were out on our Connecticut theater-food-and-leaves annual Combus Day Weekend jaunt. A great play at Yale Repertory Theater and Indian food in New Haven. Then a lovely autumn morning stroll, pizza lunch, and drive to Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, when we practically crashed into this sign:

WHAAAATTT?

"Honey, can we stop here?" says ewephoric.
"Yes, *secret nickname here,* we can stop," defers Poem-Man.

Then I parked the car, and saw this:

Poem-Man in his talk ewephoric down off the ceiling voice: "May I remind you that you are going to Rhinebeck next weekend?"
ewephoric, sheepish- and peevishly, "I know, I know."

But then inside, this:

Well, what is a girl to do? Connecticut Yarn and Wool is a lovely shop with Carol-dyed (ok, that's the dyer who I met at the store) beautiful yarns that I've never seen anywhere. 4 rooms and a porch full of lovely yarns. And it was all 30% off. Rhinebeck-Shminebeck. Smash the Stash. i bought some yarn:

And some undyed sock yarn that I want to dye up in "Autumn Leaves" colors and will show later.

I think of it as practicing for fondling, considering, and buying yarn at Rhinebeck. I want to be a pro, right?

Oh, and "Big River" at the Goodspeed was almost as good as the scenery outside the opera house.

BTW, I HAVE been knitting even though I haven't been blogging. Darn that day job of teaching--actually I'm grateful that I have the job and love it so much in these uncertain times!

Almost as good as YARN...

2008-08-29T18:42:00.002-04:00

I just love this so much. It took a lot of walking into every lighting store on Bowery and getting a crick in my neck from looking up. It's true I didn't make it myself, but I LOVE IT!

And on another note: To add to my embarassment of KOIGU riches, I also just got into the WOLLMEISE Sock Club. Lord, help me...

Got Koigu?

2008-08-27T17:43:00.005-04:00

I was on my beach vacation, blithely walking off the boardwalk into town, and ran into a LYS that was going out of business. Everything was 75% off. Did you read that? 75% off. Needles, some skeins of yarns, patterns, everything. I picked out some Cascade Tweed in a chunky weight (was going to be $3/skein) and some Addi Turbo lace needles, and a couple of patterns. But I didn't have any money with me, and by the time I found my wallet--I mean, my husband--someone else had taken the yarn and Addis that I had piled up next to the register and paid for them and left. DAMN.

Well, there were a couple of patterns and another Addi Turbo circular needle that were still left behind, so I went to buy those. Then I saw that buttons were also 75% off, so I bought three sets of buttons for some imaginary future projects . I also found a lone skein of Austermann sport-weight sock yarn with the jojoba and and aloe vera in it, so I bought that, too. My total came to $21.76! WOO HOO! A few reasonable purchases for the practically the price of ONE Addi Turbo circular. God love Delaware for having no sales tax, too!

Then I saw it. SHOOT. An entire KOIGU kit for 50% off. I wouldn't be caught dead in the mitered mishmash of a tunic that the kit would allow one to make, but what was in the kit was 2 skeins of ELEVEN colorways at about 50% off what one might normally pay and without sales tax. Oh help me, I bought it. How could I not, right?

22 skeins of KOIGU KPPPM in 11 colorways.

OmigGAWD! What have I done? What am I gonna do with all this? I spent like 10 hours on Ravelry trying to figure out what to do. Babette? Too many variegated skeins, but I would consider it if someone traded me a few solids for some of the variegated. A Charlotte's Web Shawl? Maybe. Socks. I guess--the one pair I made got holes in them, but at this price I paid for this Koigu, I won't be so upset about it. And I hate the mitered square things in this yarn.

Would you give me some advice? I know. I know. I'll give the Koigu to you if I have to...

A kind of antidote.

2008-08-21T14:32:00.008-04:00

So, I was knitting and knitting on the ubiquitous Y-chromosome-approved hunter green wool boring to knit (but fast) straight-forward Cobblestone Pullover. As you might have read (because my bitterness sometimes seeps out), I had knit the whole thing and it was WAY too big for its intended.

I mean look at this, the first attempt being worn by Obie Boy. Yikes.

It would have fit Poem-Man, the father (pictured right), but not Obie-boy, the son, who is a runner and has no body fat (hence the need for a sweater).

But now I've finished the sweater, but Obie-boy is at pre-semester x-country camp at college, so I'll mail it off with the hope that it fits and keeps him warm. I really shouldn't complain. He's wonderful young man and when I offered (somewhat sheepishly and skeptically) to make him a sweater (I mean, I'm not his mom, after all.), he got kind of excited (well, in his way), saying, "I was jealous of all the the warm-looking hand-knit sweaters that my roommate's Mom had made for him, and now I'll have a sweater." Aww...

Pattern: The ubiquitous Cobblestone.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, 5.25 skeins
Yarn enabler: Webs,
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this when I should have been knitting it right: Ok, the first time was from July 26-August 7th. (I knit almost an entire sleeve during Mamma Mia!). The second time took from August 16-August 20. Ok, I didn't really rip the sleeves all the way out and spent a lot of time watching the river and waterfalls from the Brooklyn Promenade.

Anyway, I needed an antidote to all this boringly manly, dark green austerity of a sweater. My girly, summery responses are as follows:

I heart my completed Ravelympics sweater (Go Team SitnKnit NYC!) in a big way, especially considering my initial displeasure with the splitty yarn. I solved the splittiness issue, to some extent, by doubling the yarn, thus allowing for bigger needles, faster knitting, and an entirely different pattern from the project for which it was intended. I basically knit this sweater in between version 1 and version 2 of the Cobblestone.

Ah, I should mention that I totally changed the lace pattern from what is in the pattern since I was going to run into the same problem I whined about before. It is the perfect weight--airy but substantial, soft on the skin. What's not to love about silk and bamboo!

Pattern: Hey, Teach
Yarn: Elann's Soie Bamboo in Voile Pink, about 2.75 cones. April 2008
Needles: Size 5 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this while shamelessly being moved to tears by the Olympics: 8 Days. (See, it's all about the Chinese love of the number 8--cast on at 8 am on 8.08.08 and finished in 8 days!)

Speaking of "TEACH," my summer vacation ends in Sept when we all go back to school. My endless mornings/days/evenings of knitting will end, so I'm casting on more girly, summery, colorful projects like crazy, see--

Details to follow--probably after I come back from Rehoboth Beach. Yeah, BABY!

I don't know why this keeps happening

2008-08-19T17:32:00.004-04:00

a second non-knitting food-related post. I guess it's because I'm trying to eat more intensely. I need to weigh less, but I love food and refuse to give it up or see it as the enemy. Instead, I'm trying to get MORE pleasure from less food with the hope that I will eat fewer calories. I suppose I should eat nothing but poached chicken breasts and celery broth, but that's not how I want to go.

Of course, I am knitting indiscriminately--or fiber-ing indiscriminately--buying, dyeing, knitting, dreaming. It'd be great if I could sublimate all my eating desires towards yarn activities. And then if I could sublimate the food-sublimated-yarn activities to actual physical activities. But let's not get crazy. Wait--does watching Olympics burn calories?

So, a food thing. This is my favorite summer lunch in variations. All include pain au levain from Bread Alone. All include farmers' market tomatoes: heirloom or cherry. Finally, each has ricotta. Sometimes sheep, sometimes cow. Ooh, and the last picture features ripe peach on one. Then a little dash of sea salt, olive oil, or honey as one sees fit.

It does make me happy. So sue me.

We interrupt this knitting blog for...

2008-08-17T15:44:00.006-04:00

For an epicurean, slightly-more-mature version of "I've Never..."

I've eaten 72 of the 100 items on this list. Is that why I'm so fat? Or do we call it eclectic and experienced? Five of the 28 things I've not 'eaten' are alcoholic beverages--I'm just not a big drinker so that's no surprise. I'm a little concerned that there are only 4 things I would really consider NOT eating. I guess that how I got to 73. I think some interesting additions to the directions would be to indicate what you would NEVER eat again AND what you yourself have ever made in the kitchen. Also, I've added my personal comments in italics.

Play the game, too and let me know your results!

Here's the official list and directions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. 4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. ~~Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper~~ I'm just too much of a spicy food wuss.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. ~~Cognac with a fat cigar~~ I've had cognac. I just won't smoke a cigar.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O What's the point of this as an epicurean thing?
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal Again, I'm just too much of a spicy food wuss.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. ~~Kaolin~~ I guess I would consider this if someone explained why I should eat clay.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa This I'm dyin' to try.
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor I always thought this was just too passe to try, but I'd give it a go.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Because one can't knit ALL the time...

2008-08-14T12:40:00.007-04:00

I got a little tired of knitting. I know--call me crazy. Here's the story: I finished a Cobblestone Sweater in about 13 days--just in time to start a new sweater of Ravelympics. Unfortunately, the Cobblestone ended up being two sizes too big, so I ripped it out. You know of course, that means that it could have taken me even LESS time to knit the damn thing in the first place. Argh. So I got tired of knitting--I could not face miles of dark green Cascade 220 superwash stockinette. So sue me.

So instead I went to my new fiber addiction--dyeing yarn. Lookie Lookie!

"Buttered Sunshine" in worsted weight: "Too Blue for Skool" in sockweight:"Last Daffodil" in sockweight:
I've added Arteco Spectrum Gel Food Coloring to my arsenal of Lemon-Lime, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon, Ice Blue Raspberry, and maybe some other flavors of Kool-Aid. I better start to want to know rather than just accumulate self-dyed yarn.

Got any ideas for what to make out of this yarn? Oh--and if I ever do get all my knitting mojo back I could use these that I made this morning in my summer vacation stupor:

But I did cast on for my Ravelympics sweater at 8 am on 8-8-08! And I'm just about done. Not sick of it--I am loving it! Here's a pic for now--more when I am actually all done. I even bought the buttons and everything--

La-dee-DYE-dee-dah!

2008-07-31T16:55:00.006-04:00

Thanks to my dumplin'-lovin,"sure-we-can-do-that" sayin, knittin' Asian temptation gal pals Tomo (blogless but charming) and Jane, I was able to make these!

I'm callin' this colorway Summer Fruit. See the peach? It's like the same colors, kinda. Well, with some mango and raspberry influence. My favorite fruits!

These I'm going with Cool Pool as a colorway name. Not that I need colorway names--I doubt I could recreate them or market them!

I love them. The yarns. oh, and Jane and Tomo, too. hee hee...

So, other then Jane and Tomo's guidance and assistance, I was also helped by Knitpicks, smelly-jelly Kool-Aid, and some plain ole food coloring. Have I mentioned that I'm pretty pleased with myself? I had never dyed anything before, but I had a lot of (wet) fun painting these yarns.

What goes around comes around.

2008-07-29T16:13:00.006-04:00

I love to knit. No, I REALLY love to knit. And apparently I like to knit the same damn thing--or at least variations on a theme. Or two degrees of separation from each other.

I just finished the Henley perfected in this lavender color with this lace pattern.

Of course, in 2006, I knit a lace shawl in the same dang color. (and dare I say the with the same lace pattern in part of it?)

And now, I'm in the middle of knitting a different lace shawl with the same damn lace stitch in most of the shawl.

Now notice the color of lapis blue of that shawl.

Does that color bear any resemblance to this yarn that I am going to cast on for the Ravelympics (Go Team SitnknitNYC!) for this sweater?

If the February Lady sweater turns out to have the same damn lace stitch in the pattern, I may just take up cross-stitching!

I'm getting nowhere...

2008-06-13T17:49:00.004-04:00

I'm knitting and knitting with, I think, not so much to show for it. For example, here's a month of knitting, from here:

to here:
Not much to show for a month, is there? Ah, the vagaries of lace and the patience required. I do love the color and texture of the yarn, though.

Whatever! I did knit a clapotis, two hats, and part of a sweater in that month, too, right? That counts, yes? Oh, ok, here's the sweater:

I'm a big girl--it takes a long time to do a sweater. Mind you, I'm doing the entire body in one piece. Once I'm done here, I'll only have two sleeves before I can put a fork in it!

BUT! My AWOL sock jonz is back! Well sort of--

These I like a lot--the yarn, the fabric, the pattern. I'm so crazy about the yarn, I ordered it in 4 more colors. Stash vow, shma-tash vow. I figure multiple skeins of the same yarn counts as ONE YARN, right? Also, this isn't really a color that appeals to me, but my mother might like it in socks. Her birthday is in two weeks, so I gotta keep crackin' at these. These are, as one might graciously put it, a HOT MESS.

Anybody know what to do with Tofutsies yarn? I thought it would be nice to have less-woolly-intensive socks, and I like the general colors, but it's a unmitigated, variegated disaster! I'm taking suggestions. WILL FROG FOR GOOD SOCKS!

You can't keep a knitter DOWN!

2008-06-07T16:12:00.014-04:00

Ah yes, I have survived Arthroscopic Capsular Release on my left shoulder. It was no fun. I don't like IVs, general anesthesia, hydrocodone, nerve blocks, post-surgical nausea, or, well, surgery. Here's what I did learn about me and my knitting:

1). I can knit with an IV in my right hand. Even though I cried before the nurse put it in because it was the first time I had an IV and was scared out of my mind. I managed to pull myself together and knit while waiting to go into surgery while my husband read to me. (I am relieving you of a picture of it, however.)

2) I can knit with three puncture wounds in my shoulder. (I like to think of them as 'stigmata.' hee hee.) Under those three demure little band-aids, there are three puncture wounds all stitched up.

3) I can knit even though I can't really move my left arm that well--but I knew that BEFORE the surgery. Though I could not knit while the nerve block was still in effect--in fact I couldn't even hold up my arm. Or sit upright since I was still doped up.

4) I WILL KNIT-you just can't keep me DOWN! Even hyped up on hydrocodone or too much Aleve, I can manage an FO in one week!

Pattern: The ubiquitous Clapotis

Yarn: Madil Eden Print--100% Bamboo in "Spring," #037, 6.5 skeins
Yarn enabler: Webs, May 2008--it's a closeout, my friends!

Needles: Size 4 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars

Time I spent knitting this when I should have been laying flat on my back in a pain-killer induced haze: 1 week, May 31-June 7, 2008.

This is my third and, I think, final clapotis for myself. I have one in worsted weight wool/silk that is gigantic. I have another in Wollmeise sock yarn that is a bit small--more a scarf than stole/shawl. Now this one is just the right size and weight for spring and summer!

Knit on through all adversity, baby!

It girlz and boyz

2008-06-02T11:38:00.004-04:00

I was tagged by the lovely Shameka for this meme, so you know I'll be coming after you, too!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

June 1998. I was teaching in a great private school, working on my masters degree, singing a lot professionally, living with my parents in Milwaukee, falling in love with all the wrong men (musicans....), and experiencing generally mild depression. Ya know--some good, some bad.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Work out (yay--did it!)
Knit (yay-did it and will do again)
Get gas for my car
figure out how to lower my cholesterol without meds
make couscous

3) Snacks I enjoy: Cheetos (crunchy, puffy, paws, twists, baked...any kind), peanut butter, lemony hummus on crackers, Carb Smart fudge bars, popcorn, ice cream, chocolate. (Well, chocolate is a way of life, not a mere 'snack.')

4)Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Endow a music school. Pay-off my immediate families mortages. Buy a great house in New York City, an apt. in Paris, and a house in Maine. Endow UNICEF. Endow some scholarships for children I know who will want to go to college. I'm all about endowments--gifts that keep on giving.

5) Places I have lived: Milwaukee (WI) and its suburbs, Oak Park (IL), Oberlin (OH), Rochester (NY), and Brooklyn (NY), baby!

6) Six people I would like to tag are: Tony, Amy, Eliza, Anne-Marie, Sukyong, and Nicole.

When there's nothing else I can do...

2008-06-01T20:43:00.011-04:00

About a week or so ago, Anna, the 15-month old daughter of my musician-church-singing friends, had what turned out to be a malignant tumor removed from her brain. What can one say, do, or even think about such a thing?

It was bad enough when they told me that Anna had had an MRI. I had just had my first MRI for my shoulder--a loud and clanking, but open, MRI that I pretty much fell asleep in, only to wake when the technician told me the the various short segments were over and that I should move. How does a baby manage to have an MRI on her head?

Then I was told that she had had immediate brain surgery to remove the tumor they found. O God. I can't even imagine. There were stories--she was in ICU. She had pulled her IV out. She cried when anyone came in to futz with her stent. Her father had to hold her down while they took care of stitches. I can't fathom it.

Then the tumor is malignant.

Last Sunday when the priest told us during the service about Anna, our final hymn was "Joyful, Joyful Lord, we adore thee." You know, Beethoven's Ode to Joy--a hymn sung at our wedding. Well, this time, I could not sing it--just cried and processed down the aisle out of the church.

Anna is, thankfully, home now, but is facing monthly chemo treatments.

So, what can I do? Not much other than keeping Anna and her parents in my thoughts and prayers, and well, knit. Knit and hope that these little nothings will bring her and her parents a tiny bit of comfort in the months to come and know that I'm thinking of them.

Pattern: Adorabubble Sun Hat
Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton DK--about 90 yards.

Yarn enabler: Knit-a-Way, about 5 years ago.
Needles: Size 4 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars
Time I spent knitting this: a day.

Pattern: Cupcake Baby Hat

Pattern for the Flower: Crochet Picot Flower

Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton DK--about 65 yards.
Yarn enabler: Knit-a-Way, about 5 years ago.

Needles: Size 4 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars

Time I spent knitting this: a day.

Barrel of secret monkeys!

2008-05-14T19:17:00.003-04:00

Look what I got today! Just what I needed to get in the mail on this somewhat difficult day: A spring-y card, some chocolate, and a green package of yarny sock love!

See--my socks from my Sit n' Knit Secret Sock Exchange Knitter:

MONKEYS in a perfectly ewephorically Penelope pinky-plummy-purple!

They fit perfectly and match practically everything I knit. Except I don't think I've ever knit socks in this color. These are socks I didn't even realize I really needed, so thanks, Sukyong!

Merry Janes for Jane!

2008-05-04T20:11:00.005-04:00

Yay! Sit n' Knit just completed its Second Annual Secret Sock Exchange. Just look at all the beauties that the creative women of this groups bestowed on each other. Some socks were by newbies, some socks were handspun or hand-dyed or self-designed or some combination of many features and the list goes on. I think many people were as happy to GIVE the socks as to get the socks!

The socks I knit for the lovely Miss Jane went through a series of identity crises, false starts, and finally joy in a new creation (or re-creation).

I knew that Jane had, um, larger-than-my-own feet. So I wanted to go toe-up. I also knew from discussions that she no longer believed in 100% merino for sock yarn, did not like to do cabling on socks, and preferred socks that were stretchy and able to stay on. Ok--toe-up, cables, ribs, and sock yarn with somethin' in it for strength.

I found the Big Basin socks from the Six Socks Knitalong group while searching with these tags on the much beloved Ravelry site. But the socks seemed somehow too tame and safe to knit for someone with as much knitting chutzpah as both Jane and I have! So I did what I am beginning to love to do--make-up a pattern using someone else's work as a starting point. Is that stealing? Anyway, the Rebecca A. who designed the Big Basin socks also recognizes Cat Bordhi's influence on the sock design, so there ya go.

Pattern: Merry Janes (based on the Big Basin socks)

Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool in "Rose Garden"

Yarn enabler: simplysockyarn.com

Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks Harmony Circulars--two socks at time, donchaknow.

Time I spent hiding this knitting from everyone: One month--March 25th to April 24th.

Uh, fly in the ointment? While Jane does have Size 10 feet, I made socks big enough to fit an WNBA player and needed to for them to be shorter so that they would fit properly. I knew that I had been overly generous in sizing them when I had completed the heel flap and started on the leg, but I didn't want to do anything until I saw the socks on Jane's feet. Yup--too big. That was not going to do.

So- here's the process of shortening completed socks--laid out in medical terms (kinda) in honor of Jane's acceptance into med school. Go Dr. Merry Jane! Thanks for the encouragement/guidance in fixing them this way, Erin!

Sock in pre-op--putting in the row off stitches where the new toe will start.

First incision into the sock--snipping one stitch and then unraveling one line of stitches.

Sock toe amputation complete--sock toe separated, but rest of sock still intact!

New toe knitted on and ready for suturing!

Healthy, thriving, post-op socks! Yay!

Just keep knitting...

2008-04-26T09:58:00.009-04:00

I've managed to keep knitting in spite of myself. In spite of the fact that yarn keeps finding its way into my stash. Argh. The stash vow is broken and as a result, I feel oppressed by my yarn. Isn't that weird? I just want to knit, but all the possibilities of possibilities keep me from actually turning the yarn into knitted items. Should I make this? Should I make that? I have too much yarn for that, but too little yarn for that? Will it be worth my time? Will it look good?

Part of the problem is that I've been knitting for other people right now. When I have to please just myself, I can let mistakes go or feel free to take a risk, but when I knit for other people I get all paralyzed by whether or not the knitted item will suit their needs or taste.

I finished my socks for my Sit 'n Knit Secret Sock Exchange. I designed them myself, and I hope the recipient will like them, but the entire time I was knitting them, I was plagued by worries that she won't. Drat. No pictures or details 'til next week!

I've also been knitting a little thank you gift for my boss who has recently taken up knitting herself. She' s done a lot for me this year, and I've helped her with her knitting (which is a gift she'll give to someone else.) Will she like my present? The color is right, I'm pretty sure. She wears scarves. I like the idea that the scarf is reversible, but will she like the pattern at all?oh...the uncertainty.

I have lots of things I want to do. Design an a cabled sweater. Knit the Printed Silk Cardigan from Interweave Knits. Knit a hat for my brother.

BUT, I FORGOT! (see how easily I am distracted)I have had some persevering pay off. Despite travels, distractions, and uncertainty about the quality of a project, I finished something that I've worn and LOVE!

Pattern: Laminaria
Yarn: Hill Country Yarns Superfine Superwash Sock Yarn in "Teal"
Enabler: Hill Country Yarns Sock Club

Knitted on: Size 7 Knitpicks Options Needles.
Time spent knitting on airplanes and in various stages of distraction: Fifteen days, April 3-18.

I no longer believe in using 100% wool to knit socks, especially 100% merino wool, because I think it leads to holes in one's soles and thus, one's soul. I'm also not especially fond of knitting with cobwebby lace mohair yarn I'm using for Muir, so the teal sock-weight yarn was a joy to knit lace out of. The pattern is well conceived and not too hard to execute--I found I could knit independently of the printed pattern after two or three repeats. I made the smaller version out of yarn heavier than called for, so the size is pretty good. But now, I really want to make a BIG SHAWL.

Blogiversary, baby!

2008-04-15T22:10:00.007-04:00

O MAH GOD!

It's a blogiversary--one whole year!

In the year that has been since I started this blog, I've knit (jeepers):

17 pairs of socks
8 hats
5.5 sweaters
3 scarves
2 pairs of mittens
2 baby items
1 toy
1 afghan
1 bag
1 hot water bottle cozy
.75 lace shawls

I've bought roughly 22, 239 yards of yarn. Crikey!

I have NOT:

gained nor lost any weight.
managed to keep Ravelry from taking over my life.
always maintained my stash vow.
learned how to do steeking.
spun or dyed my own yarn.

And I know it's been ages since I've blogged, but I have been knitting despite many distractions in my life these last few weeks....

Some lovely mittens, now that it is finally to warm to wear them.

A pile of almost-completed-lace-shawl:

If you knit it, it never counted....

2008-02-23T19:52:00.010-05:00

As you've read, I've been bad about maintaining my stash vow. It's been a race between knitting and buying, and well, despite my best efforts, yarn purchased has outweighed yarn consumed.

It's not that I've not been knitting...

I've knit like crazy because I was able to this vacation week. I've knit like crazy to atone for the fact that I went to the sale at The Point at the beginning of my vacation even though I was over my stash quotient. I went to the sale and bought yarn even though I knew I was about to embark on a road trip. A road trip that would involve LYSses that were not local for me and thus were bound to be places I would have to buy vacation-yet-still-breaking-the-stash-vow yarn. I went to enable some friends of mine--not to buy anything myself.

Whatever. I went and brought home some yummy yummy way-on-sale-but-still-breaking-the-stash-vow-yarn. This yarn, I have plans for. the Bird in Hand mittens. Notice how well I've strayed from the pattern-suggested colors. harumph. I know, I know. Yarn you have plans for still counts as stash...

So off on my road trip I went. I even returned to one crime scene: Smith's Furnishings and Flooring (uh, and yarn) in Oberlin, Ohio. My college LYS and first place I really remember buying yarn. Fuschia and teal mohair yarn. So sue me. It's still there (I'm not that old...) and still sells yarn. And though I went into the store and assumed nostalgia buying would get me, I DID NOT BUY ANY YARN! Yay me. Instead, I hung out in the Oberlin Inn and knit like crazy on my Gathered Pullover.

In fact, I've finished the entire body of Gathered Pullover to go with the one sleeve (aka "swatchie") I had completed. Here's a detail of the one interesting thing in the miles of stockinette.

I also completed the legs of my Mad Color Weave Socks because I knit all the Gathered Pullover yarn I had brought with me.

Here's where Cleopatra Queen of DENIAL (about her stash vow) makes an appearance.

Feeling pretty good about my knitting and my ability to be yarn-purchase free for a whole 4 days, I went to Pittsburgh and nonchalantly told Poem-man that there was a yarn store I wanted to go to. Nonchalantly, like I hadn't been madly researching the Web and Ravelry for the best yarn store to check out. whatever. So sue me.

So into Knit One I went. I love this place. I think it's one of the best LYSses I've ever been to. Look at the picture! It's huge. It has mad love for yarn and knitters. While I was there, five people (customers and clerks) complimented me on my Juliet--some of them by name of the pattern. One Koolhaas-wearing woman even pulled a half-done Juliet out of her knitting bag! This place is NO JOKE.

I met one woman who works there and has a book coming out soon! And I met another customer who happens to live about 1 mile away from me in Brooklyn. I met her in PITTSBURGH! The two of them are my newest Ravelry friends. I love THAT!

So of course, I had to buy SOMETHING. Stash vow. Sm-tash vow. Poem-man had exiled himself to a nearby Starbucks and when he returned to procure me 1.5 hours later, I had chatted up my new friends, fondled every yarn they had, and still had NOT BOUGHT anything but was desperate to do so.

Luckily, Poem-Man remembered he wanted a new, warmer hat. Apparently a part-yak Koolhaas doesn't cut it when it's freakin' cold (like it had been in Oberlin for two days prior.) So I found yarn. Bought it. Drove immediately back to Brooklyn. The next day, I felt so bad about breaking my stash vow and was so snowed in that I knit Poem-man's hat.

YARN THAT BECOMES A HAT in LESS THAN 24 HOURS since time of purchase DOES NOT COUNT AS STASH YARN. So sue me.

Pattern: Cashmere Ribbed Hat (mad easy, yo! Thanks, Cricket!)

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Superwash Bulky in "Jeans"

Enabler: Knit One

Knitted on: Size 6 Knitpicks Options magic looped.

Time spent knitting while fretting about the state of my stash: Feb. 21st--4 hours.

Notice that I didn't spend too much time stash-fretting. Notice I knit bulky yarn on Size 6 needles--so that it would be really thick and warm(er) for Poem-man. (Even though he has all his hair, so I don't know why his head gets so cold.) He LOVES it. Wore it today.

And the best part is that I didn't really break my stash vow. not that much anyway...

I think I've lost control....

2008-02-13T16:44:00.010-05:00

When I'm too busy for my own good--even if I'm enjoying the business--things get a little out of control. I'm sure many share of you might recognize these tell tale signs:

The apartment becomes an obstacle course.

Cheetos seem like a reasonable part of a daily meal plan.

The TiVO starts taping ridiculous suggestions like 3 hours of the"HBO on Demand" channel guide.

I want to do nothing but knit.

Instead of doing taxes, I add to the Ravelry queue behemoth.

I break my stash vow.

I begin knitting an entire sweater in sportweight yarn.

I purchase SIX SKEINS (uh, 2790 yards!) of sock yarn to make myself a TUNIC sweater.

It all seems perfectly reasonable, right?

I think it began with my taking 60 high school singers on the road for four days and three nights. Yup-- transporting, feeding, getting them to sleep, and rehearsing and performing with 60 perfectly lovely and imperfectly overly enthusiastic teenagers. It seemed reasonable when I was planning it. In reality, I knitted cabled socks while watching some 40 kids swim in a hotel-(not Olympic-) sized pool and riding a coach bus and watching Monsters, Inc. and Hairspray, the Musical for some 10 hours. The result:

Pattern: Helene Socks

Yarn: Hill Country Yarns Instant Gratification in Russet, stashed November 2007
Yarn Enabler: Hill Country Yarns Sock Club
Knitted on:Size 2 DPNs and Size 2 Knitpicks Harmony circulars.
Time spent knitting when I should have been planning for and more closely chaperoning a lot of kids: 27 days--Jan. 20-Feb. 5, 2008

I HATE DPNs. But I needed size two needles, so I did the first sock on DPNs while waiting for my now-much-loved Harmony circular Size 2s to arrive. And, well, these have an i-cord top and doing a 3-stitch I-cord on DPNs makes WAY more sense than on a circ anyway.

I love this YARN! Sproingy, great color, dense, and the heavier weight on small needles really works for this loose knitter. It shows off this great pattern, too.

I had wanter to start a more mindless project to bring with me on the trip, but because I became obsessed with the Helene socks, I began the Gathered Pullover after the trip ended. The mindless stockinette that comprises 80% of this sweater was a balm to my trip-rattled soul. I coldn't bring myself to really do a swatch, so I just did a sleeve as a swatch, ala Elizimmerman, and it worked out. Because I had fallen in love with I-cord as an edging for the socks, I decided to go with I-cord for the pullover too instead of the rolling stockinette edge. Anyway, here's a picture. Too boring for words.

Oh, and that sockweight tunic extravanganza? Check it out: Abotanicity.
Knit in Trekking Sock yarn. How much yarn for my size? 6 FREAKIN' skeins. Luckily (or unluckily), Webs has a sock yarn close-out of Online Supersocke. It arrived today.

Do I still seem reasonable?

Heck...if it looks to be crappy for a sweater, lots of people are going to get purplish striped socks for Christmas. 1/2 a dozen people to be exact.

We interrupt our regularily scheduled knitting...

2008-01-26T10:11:00.000-05:00

To bring to you the most random geeky thing I could ever knit!

Last Saturday was butt-cold. Our over-heated apartment was uncharacteristically cold, and when I got into bed, I was FREEZING. During a summer trip to Vermont, I had bought a hot water bottle. I filled it with hot water, wrapped it in a linen towel, and left it under the covers of the bed while I went to brush my teeth. I came back, got under the covers, and OMIGOD!

The delicious warmth was profoundly life-changing. Now, it's true, I have Poem-Man's love to keep me warm, but let's be realistic. Sometimes it just not enough. You need not just a hot water bottle, you want a Love Supplement to keep you warm!

But this naked Love Supplement was remarkably unromantic. A little rubbery-smelling, tactically-challenge, and its heat too harsh against my skin. Love Supplement needed a sweater cozy!

So I interrupted my sweater and sock-knitting pattern-driven knitting and started knitting a Love Supplement Cozy. I made up the pattern as I went along and went top-down and in the round so that I could try it on the Love Supplement for size. I cast on for the turtleneck top, began the cable pattern from one of my Harmony guides, and increased past the neck did short-rows to make the 'shoulders" Then I knit straight down to the bottom, cast off all the stitches for the back of the sweater, and continued in ribbing down the front. Once I could kind of fold past the bottom, I picked up a stitch along the side and knit it together with the end stitches of the flap so that I wouldn't have to sew the flap to the side laster. The flap closure works perfectly--it stays closed when I want it to and opens easily when I need to slip a hot-watered bottle into its encasing. It was complete serendipity that the two entire repeats of the cable pattern was the perfect length for the cozy. Oh, the Love!

Pattern: Love Supplement Cozy that I made up myself!
Yarn: Uhuhm, um, I have no idea. I know it's worsted-weight wool. I found it in a bag of random balls of yarn. It's at least 8 years old.
Yarn Enabler: Ruhama's, one of my LYSses when I lived in Milwaukee.
Knitted on: Size 8 Knitpicks circular Magic Looped
Time spent knitting when I shouldabeen writing and correcting exams: 1 week

The REAL Yarn Diet.

2008-01-21T09:03:00.000-05:00

Somehow my sock yarn collection had gotten out of hand. How? I had no control. I was down to maybe one skein of sock yarn, which was ok since I had lost my sock-knitting mojo. But then Hill Country Yarn Sock Club yarn kept coming. (but I think that's done now. whew!) And everyone's favorite girlishly delightful (what?) yarn-pusher, Anne-Marie, made me a sock gift for working the Sit 'n Knit Holiday party (and boy did I work it!--ooh that doesn't sound so good.) of the lovely Noro sock yarn which became:

Pattern: Annetrelac Socks

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock in color #180

Yarn Enabler: Anne-Marie!
Knitted on: Size 1 DPNs and on Size 0 Knitpicks circular Magic Looped
Time spent knitting when I shouldabeen planning for rehearsals: 2.5 weeks

Ok, the best part of these socks is that THESE SOCKS MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT! It's true. I lost 4 lbs in the time I was knitting these. Now, I have never tried any diet program, though I've always needed to lose weight, but I feel like Sock Knitting could become the new Jenny freakin' Craig. hee hee. You see, I was really motivated to go workout so I could knit them. I would go get on a recumbent bike and pedal like a hamster (ok, they don't pedal, but you know what I mean) who is pretending to go up and down big hills and knit like crazy and suddenly 45 minutes and some 300+ calories and a round of the entrelac had passed by! YAY!

YARN DIET--it's not about not buying yarn, it's about having more fiber in your diet! It makes you lose weight as you use it!

Ok, back to reality. I probably should have knit the entrelac legs on Size 0 needles because they're a little loose in the stitches. But I couldn't see Magic Loop being magic for the back and forth fiddley-ness of entrelac knitting. And I didn't have Size 0 DPNs, and I certainly wasn't going to buy them because a) I'd have had to wait til I got them and b) I don't really believe in DPNs anyway. When I got to the eye of the partridge heel flap (my alteration to the pattern) and stockinette foot, I realized that Size 1s were not going to cut it, so with a sigh of relief, I reverted to my Size 0 speedy Knitpicks magic loop ways.

Now this is a diet I think I can maintain, and here's my next load of fiber:

These socks are being made (FINALLY) out of some of my Hill Country Yarn Sock Club yarn. It's sport-weight. Of course, I don't have Size 2 or 1 circular needles, just 3s and 0s, and this is sport-weight yarn. So, FINE, I'm doing them one-at-time on Size 2 DPNs. So last decade....I'm gonna go order some needles right now...

Last question: Would it be ridiculous to knit a a hot water bottle cover out of Malabrigo? I used my hot water bottle for the first time last night, wrapped in a linen towel, and I love it LOVE IT LOVE IT!

Final wrap up and new beginning

2008-01-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

There was a flurry of finishing in December. I've already blogged about the hats, the sweater, and now, my new favorite piece:

Pattern: Felted Stained Glass Fan Bag from knitting dream
Yarn: Noro Kureyon

Yarn Enabler: Yarns Down Under

Knitted on: Size 8

Time spent knitting when I shouldabeen caroling or something: 1 month

This piece is turned out beautifully. It was both enjoyable and fiddly to knit. I pulled all the individual colors of the skein off the Kureyon and made little bobbins of yarn from which I chose the next color to knit. I knit-wove the ends in as I went so that there were fewer things to do at the end.

I felted it twice. I got too excited and nervous the first time and pulled it out off the washer and air-dried it for two or three days. Then I looked at it again to put in the lining and noticed it was too big, too loose, and the stitches too obvious. The second felting, I threw caution to the wind (because I was leaving to return home the next day) and washed it for 15 minutes and threw it into the dryer for an hour. Perfect.

The lining is even pretty good. Not the award-winning stitching, but it works. I also think that the felted I-cord handle is not long-lasting, if I find some other handles that will work, I may go with that.

AND I LOVE IT!

Then there's the TORTOISE and the HARE. Which would you like first?

HARE, baby! I cast this replacement for Poem-man's lost Cap Karma New Year's Eve afternoon. After some knitting on the subway when travelling to the different parties we attended and then aftermath couch potato knitting on New Year's afternoon, I was done!

Pattern: Koolhaas

Yarn: Karabella Superyak

Yarn Enabler: Purl's Yarn Emporium
Knitted on: Size 8 on the ribbing and Size 10 for the rest.
Time spent knitting when I was recovering: 1 day! woo hoo!

So, TORTOISE: Really, I'm a little tired to blog on it. Too much party. Too much holiday. Too much work to go back to. My tortoise is JULIET. This girl has been giving me trouble. She should be done, but NO, she's had to be re-knit TWICE. Talk about star-crossed. She is the Tortoise who will probably win the FO love race, but not yet.....

Wrap it up, Part II: How did that happen?

2007-12-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

So, in my Ravelry-induced mania to record and 'get credit' for everything I've ever knit, I asked my Mom to get out everything I've knit for her. I have NO idea how this happened, but I think my mother has more sweater knit by me than I do. Now, I like knitting for other people to some extent, but I'll be honest and say that I like knitting for myself more--does that make me a bad person? Yet somehow, my mother has managed to come away with some really nice and difficult-to-knit items made by me. I guess she birthed me and everything, but whatever! I suppose it helps that she has a bust size that has ranged from 7-15 (!) inches smaller than mine (my bust size changed, mind you). so it was easier to knit her small/medium sweaters than to make behemoths for myself at one time.

Let's go in reverse chronological order. You'll notice a chromatic theme, however....

I finally finished the Katherine Hepburn sweater. I finished knitting all of it about a month ago, but needed buttons and real-life assurance that it would fit before finishing the whole thing. Pretty much, it's perfect if I do say so myself. The color--the yarn--the texture--the fit--the sleeves. Ok, there's a little wonkiness on the top of the button band, but what can I do?

Then there was the Icarus Shawl. In all honesty, I did not start out knitting this for my mother, but when it turned out slightly smaller than I wanted for myself, she became a grateful yet unwearing recipient. She had actually forgotten about it until I asked her to get it out. Whatever. It was a learning project, and she has new appreciation for it, so maybe Icarus will fly yet.

Then there was this time that I thought, why not learn how to do stranded work on the fly? Mom really liked this sweater, and I figured the stranded work was localized and voila. I like this sweater a lot, and it came out pretty well. I almost like it enough to make one for myself, but who needs big ol' bi-color flowers parading across her ample bosom?

That sweater actually was in the same pattern book as this red-pink sweater that was the original reason for buying the booklet. Again, the lace rib was really nice, and this linen-cotton-poly blend yarn (now unavailable I think) was a great spring-weight sweater for Mom. Notice the color....

And finally, this modern aran delight. I remember NOT enjoying knitting this heavy mercerized cotton shoestring yarn. And it was the first time, I think that I knit an aran pattern and learned to use the chart.I remembered it being a little dumpy. But it has held up well, looks nice, and there's nothing much else like it. Go me!

So that totals FOUR sweaters and a lace shawl that I've knit for my rather perfectionistic mother. Ok, I have four me-knit sweaters I wear and three that I have to frog because they're way too big. Not one of them has color work. I do not have a lace shawl. I do not have a spring pullover. I better get crackin'!

Wrap it up, Part the First!

2007-12-28T12:30:00.000-05:00

I have been knitting. As Anne-Marie once said of me, "Penelope actually knits." As opposed to blogging, yarn shopping, and, well, (as in A-M's case) gestating a baby. But December is a VERY busy time for musicians, and a busy time for this bi-holiday celebrating couple. (uh, two holidays--Hanukah and Christmas. Not that Poem-Man and I are bisexual. Not that there's anything wrong with that...) So here's part the first of what I was knitting, the HAT edition:

I figured that Tina was doing all the knitting and blogging about hats, so I didn't need to do the blogging. I was doing my own knitting, however. And for much of December it was all about hats.

The first was a Foliage Hat that went to my BIL's Significant Other. She liked it. I really liked it and could barely stand to send it off to her. I knit it in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Worsted. It's a must knit. Sorry don't know how to properly link to Flickr: Here it is.

It was so much a "must knit" that I went to knit it for Sit n' Knits Holiday Party Exchange. First I knit it in some Manos del Uruguay dug out from languishing in my stash and did the extra repeat like I had for the first Foliage hat. Too big. Then I knit it without the extra repeat. Too small. So, like freakin' Goldilocks, I went on to knit it without the extra repeat but on bigger needles. NOT just right. Fnck it. Be it known that I started knitting the hat with just a week before the party to go. I went with a different pattern. The Amanda Hat!

In the end, Tina, the December hat-obsessed, ended up getting it! Yay!

In not-self-knitted, not-hat related news, I got these scrumptious mittens from Tawana. I really wanted them when I saw them on her blog and read that they were for the Sit n Knit exchange. I wanted them so much, I yelled "PICK ME, PICK ME!" before she picked a gift recipient name and then she PICKED ME! I LOVE that. and them. (Hey, Tawana, good luck with the final weeks of your gestation!)

Before the Foliage fiasco that eventually fortunately fixed itself. I made myself this crazy thing that I heard about an Stash and Burn. May I humbly say that Jenny and Nicole have a very focused podcast and present lots and lots of pattern ideas with great enthusiasm. I like the hat, but figured it was maybe to weird, but many of my Sit n' Knit grrls seem to like it enough to knit it, so it's a hit. And I Love the Frog Tree Merino Worsted I knit it in.

I guess the saddest thing is the short-lived Cap Karma I made for Poem-man. Four days to knit it and four days for him to lose it to the MTA. He was so sad. Sad enough that I didn't get too mad and bought some Karabella Super Yak to make a replacement (eventually)! Here's the original. If you see it on the D train, would you pick it up and return it to us?

Fortunately, Unfortunately...the socks edition

2007-11-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

Ever read this children's book Fortunately Unfortunately? It begins:

"Fortunately, Ned was invited to a surprise party.
Unfortunately, the party was a thousand miles away.
Fortunately, a friend loaned Ned an airplane.
Unfortunately, the motor exploded.
Fortunately, there was a parachute in the airplane.
Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute."

Ok, here's the Ewephoric Socks version:

Fortunately, One very cold post-Thanksgiving Day, Ewephoric had on some beautiful, hand-knit wool socks .(Sub-fortunately, the color was beautiful. Sub-unfortunately, the name of the patterns was, well, unfortunate.)

Unfortunately, These lovely socks had a hole!

Fortunately, Ewephoric remembered she had extra yarn to repair it with since this yarn had been put up in a whoppingly generous skein.

Unfortunately, There are holes EVERYWHERE, and in both socks. Start over from scratch? With yarn that seems a bit fragile?

Fortunately, Poem-man and I spent the day after Thanksgiving in Cold Spring, NY.
Unfortunately, Poem-man got sick of looking at antiques and at the (awfully cold, but beautiful ) view of the Hudson River, and we had to leave.

Fortunately, On the way out of the Main Street are of town we found a YARN STORE!
Knittingsmith
Unfortunately, On the way out of the Main Street are of town we found a YARN STORE!

Fortunately, The store had beautiful yarn and an appropriate sign.

Unfortunately, Knittingsmith had sock yarn.

Fortunately, Ewephoric's stash was full of sock yarn.

Unfortunately, some Paca-Peds in the colorway "Singin' the Blues" made its way into her stash...even after Ewephoric had recently received an installment of sock club yarn.

Fortunately, Ewephoric does not feel compelled to repair the holey socks since she has new yarns to knit with.

Unfortunately, Ewephoric has lost her sock-knitting mojo and keeps turning sock yarn into non-sock accessories, even though she loves to wear hand-knit socks in the cold winter weather.

Oh, well. How will the story end?

Forging new paths.

2007-11-20T20:03:00.000-05:00

Phew...I'm just about done with 2007 endless project #2. (This being 2007-endless-#1).

Just some buttons, button bands, and button holes to go. I think my Mom is gonna LOVE it.

So--just when I've knit as much as I think I can knit:

1) I tried some crochet. Not a bad effort. The pattern didn't come charted, and I don't know how to read crochet, so there are some mistakes, But I don't care. It's a cute pattern, the SWTC Bamboo yarn was left over from some other project, and--GET THIS--my picture got picked to be the identifying picture for the Crocus Scarf pattern on Ravelry.

May I humbly say that that is the FOURTH picture of mine being used on Ravelry as the featured pic for a pattern. Am I famous yet?

Pattern: Crocus Scarf from Knitting Daily

Yarn: SWTC Bamboo in Fiery Red--bought it in the Summer '06 from someone on E-bay.
Crocheted on: Size 3 Boye crochet hook

Time spent crocheting when I shouldabeen knitting: 1 week

2) I started a second Clapotis. Why? Well, because it was there. I need another scarf like a hole in the head. But I had this lovely Wollmeise Sock Yarn that I couldn't bear to knit for something I would wear on my feet. And I liked the intense, crazy colorway "Suzanne" enough that I wanted something simple to show it off. AND-- I fear I may have lost the first Clapotis I made. Dang. Lastly, I can knit a clapotis in about a week---or at least I did so the first time.

3) I threw a knitting shower! Woo hoo! I've never thrown a baby shower before, much less one that became a Brooklyn yarn crawl. Such fun. And here's the little jumper I knit for Tawana's knitter-in-utero.

Pattern: Brittany Jumper from Minnowknits
Yarn: Cotton Fleece in "Wisteria"

Yarn Enabler: Knit-a-way

Knit on: Size 6 Knitpicks needle
Time spent hiding my knitting from Tawana: 2 weeks

4) I knit some with boys, men, ya know, people who bear that ole Y-chromosome. Really. This PH Knitting group meets in the neighborhood over from me in Brooklyn, is run by a man, and when we met at Freddy's on Sunday, there were four women and THREE men. Poem-man might actually get jealous...

5) I am humbled in my knitting after reading this obituary in today's Times.

I definitely have NOT knit all I can!

Long-awaited debut

2007-11-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

She's been waiting so patiently, this beautiful scarf-shawl of recent completion, to be shown off to her advantage in the blogosphere. I was a harried knitter, recalcitrant blogger, and spending my time being the busiest woman in public school show biz, but we're all ready for our debut: This was a fun, fun, lovely, lovely knitting project because the pattern is easy and creates a beautiful texture, and because the yarn color and hand is so rewarding.

Pattern: Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in "Vergissmeinnicht" (Forget-me-not)
Yarn enabler: The Loopy Ewe, September 2007
Knit on: One 40" Knitpicks Size 3 Circular Needle

Time spent knitting when I should have been eating more vegetables: Oct. 3rd-31, 28 Days.
Size: 72 inches by 8 inches.

So, a little bit about my process and alterations. First of all, I did not knit this in the weight of yarn called for (I went for fingering instead of DKish-sportish), so it turns out to be more of a scarf than a shawl. If I were to do it again, I'd probably have gone two more repetitions wider and lived with a shorter shawl, though I do like the length I have.

The pattern calls for knitting two identical pieces, both starting from what I call the 'teardrop' ends and then grafting the two pieces together to form the middle seam. In order to be sure they actually were identical and that I would use up all the coveted yarn, I knit both halves simultaneously, one feeding from the outside of the ball of yarn and one feeding from inside the ball of yarn.. I just kept knitting until I was out of yarn--like when Lady and the Tramp both inhale the same strand of spaghetti and end up kissing. (Did any of y'all actually catch that reference?!?!?) I was dreading kitchenering the two together along some 70 stitches or so. In the end, I decided to do a three-needle bind off. I had meant to do a 'reverse' three-needle bind-off so that I'd have a purl bump row that reflected the pattern, but I couldn't to it because of where I was in the pattern or where the yarn was or something. In the end, I liked the result and the ease of execution, so I'm sticking with it!

I hate to add to the whole Wollmeise craze, but holy cow, I love this yarn. I know some feel it's splitty. I am not one of those people. Some think it's a little cottony even though it's 100% superwash merino. I say cottony in a good way--i.e. fairly smooth, even a little slick, and not itchy. And it's hard to see in the pictures, but the lapis blue of this colorway is kissed with teal green that just adds to the depth of color. I would advise you to buy Wollmeise, but only if you buy some for me at the same time or at least get the hell out of my way as I rush the e-commerce doors of any establishment that is carrying it. It might be worth a trip to Germany....

Why I don't spin.

2007-10-31T17:05:00.003-04:00

I don't spin because:

1) It looks like sheep don't always have fun growing their hair out for me to shear, process, and then spin.

2) I don't live on a stream that can power my machine carder. (uh, sorry it's sideways?)

3) Yeah, I don't have a machine carder. And I don't think I could carry one up the stairs.

4) I have no spinning wheel, and this wouldn't fit in my living room anyway.

5. Lastly, I don't spin because I would look ghastly in this dress.

I did happily learn about fiber, spinning, and water-powered carders and living 'back in the day' while visiting Old Sturbridge Village, though. They didn't sell any wool in the gift shop, but they did have some lovely fabric for you quilters and sewers out their. And it was a beautiful autumn day.

WIP it WIP it good....

2007-10-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

No longer the WIP albatross it once was, it is now the completed WEDDING AFGHAN!

Pattern: Aran-Style Afghan from Cables Untangled
Yarn: Swish Superwash in "Capri" #23878; June 2007

Skeins knitted: 27 in all, including fringe, roughly 2970 yards
Yarn enabler: Knit Picks, June 2007

Knit on: One 40" Knitpicks Size 8 Circular Needle
Time spent knitting this afghan: 86 Days!

# of days that S & C have been married: 64 days

Repeats completed: 12

Size: 50 inches by 60 inches.

These are pre-washing photos. I trepidatiously (ok, it's not a word...) put it into the laundromat washing and drying machines, to good effect except now the fringe has some 'split ends,' but if I trim the split ends, the next time it's washed (by the receiving couple) the fringe will get even shorter. Probably should have gone with a different border, but it's too late because there is absolutely no yarn left. I also think it should be a bit longer, but there's NO YARN LEFT. Good thing I cut the fringe for the whole thing before knitting the last few rows, as we're talking roughly 120 yards just for the fringe!

Now give me a moment while I do the 'it's-finished-now-I-can-knit-the-million-other-things-in-my-queue dance.'

(MOMENT)

There..I feel much better. Tomorrow, I turn this lovingly (ahem) knitted item over to the bride to enjoy a life in their happy home.

Karma bites my AS$.

2007-09-18T17:55:00.000-04:00

So it's all karmic (though I'm sure I'm using some lame, unauthentic understanding of Karma).

It goes like this:

I'm sitting at my computer and just randomly go to The Loopy Ewe site because I've been wanting some Wollmeise sock yarn. And YIPPEE! There are some skeins left and in colors that I had scouted out and wanted. And I think, no, really you have 10 yarns in your stash, you're not supposed to buy yarn. Yet, I throw caution to the winds and enter the karmic roller coaster and purchase not one, but two skeins, becoming a yarn pigweena (yes, it's a really word. shut up.)

B) So as to not completely shoot my yarn stash vow all to hell, I madly finish socks for Poem-man so as to be able to cast on something else and thus take a yarn out of my stash. Mind your of course that I'm not supposed to be casting anything on--I'm supposed to be finishing the wedding afghan...

C) Unbeknownst to me, the yarn actually arrives in Brooklyn, but not to my greedy little hands because I'm not home on the first delivery attempt and no delivery notice is left either. But that's okay, more time to swatch and get a little new something on the needles. Excellent.

D) I'm walking the few blocks from the subway to Ms. Allena's B-day party (Most excellent fun). As I'm walking quickly (because I'm late) past this tiny, unassuming thrift store, I look in a bin by the table outside the door and find these: Holy Lutefisk! They looked like some kind of authentic Scandavian knitwear. Way authentic, it turns out.

My take was really two pairs of Selbu Mittens and a pair of slipper/legwarmer/mukluk things. The mittens are totally unworn, as they still have the original tags and are still knotted together. The slippers are barely worn. All this for $9! Apparently the mittens are hand-knit. Beautiful find--though now I'm totally too intimidated to try knitting anything like this myself.

So life is good--knitting is happening, beautiful handknits found on in a thriftstore, and beautiful yarn on its way.

BUT--here's the karmic justice. I have to go to our godforsaken post office to pick up my package. Argh. Poem-man actually goes to the Post Office on Saturday to pick up a package for himself, but neither of us know, because no postal carrier left a notice, that there's a package of yarn love waiting for me. Argh. So today, I head home quickly from work and have about 10 minutes to of parking before my car is not supposed to be in front of the Post Office, but right after I go in the busy, godforsaken Post Office, I see a NYC traffic cop issuing me a freakin' parking ticket because I've actually parked NOT in a parking zone that ends at 4 pm, but in a NO PARKING anytime zone. GREAT FREAKIN' damn-you-karma double ARGH!

But in the end, I get my ticket, get my package, and have the lovely, lovely reward of yarn to assuage my pain. sigh. I take this all as a cautionary tale of what happens to a person when they break their stash vow. Consider yourself warned. The kicker is that the name of the colorway of the really lapis blue yarn is Vergissmeinnicht. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's German for "Forget me Not." damn.

It's a race...

2007-09-14T10:20:00.001-04:00

I've been trying to knit as much as possible--opting for the subway rather than driving when I can, avoiding sudoku in order to knit, watching movies at home instead of dark knitting-unfriendly movie theaters.

I got slowed down by the fact that I knit the heel gussets and turned hte heel and had started on the legs (I went toe-up) of these socks when I realized they were too short. The best thing about doing socks two at a time is that they're done at the same time and are totally the same. The bad thing is that when you make a mistake you do it for TWO socks, which means ripping out the work for two socks and reknitting TWO socks. criminy.

In any case, they're done and muchly satisfying to Poem-Man. The yarn is scrumptious and seemingly durable, though I did reinforce the heels and toes just in case. The socks fabric is really smooshy and dense. Nice!

Pattern: Diagonal Rib Socks

Yarn: Shibui Sock in # S323 "Peacock"

Yarn enabler: Webs (in the actualy store!), August 2007

Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular Needle

Time spent knitting these instead of that afghan: 19 days

Speaking of that afghan, I have just 5 skeins to go. 5 skeins and fringe. That's all that's between me and one of three sweaters dying to be cast on. In the meantime, I'm in a race against time and stash because I impulsively, compulsively, and serendipitously bought some Wollmeise sock yarn that had been snuck up onto the Loopy Ewe site. (apparently she sold some 330 skeins of Wollmeise in 2 hours. sheesh.) There's not room in my stash just yet, but if the postal service is typically and mercifully slow, I just might be able to make room in my stash for that Wollmeise....

Keep it comin'

2007-09-08T14:57:00.001-04:00

What's crack-a-lackin'? Yes, work has begun again and the make-your-own-agenda of the summer is over, so knitting time as been at a premium. And with ALL the projects on the needles, progress has been steady, but a little watching-the-grass-grow slow.

And then--SURPRISE!--this came in the mail today.

I had totally forgotten that I had signed up for the Hill Country Yarns Sock Club back in August, so when I saw a package from a yarn company in the mail. I had to squeal like a little girl. And then when I opened the package, I was doubly happy because I love the color periwinkle and I love Sweet Peas (in fact I carried sweet peas in my wedding bouquet.). And boy am I glad that the green sock in the picture of the pattern is NOT the yarn I received...

More incentive to finish the projects on the needles. And to prove that I am indeed knitting, here are some progress shots. I am on Ravelry now, and have 'made it big,' so to speak, because my picture of the afghan is the featured picture for the Melissa Leapman pattern. Yahoo!

infidelity? bad...

2007-08-31T09:59:00.001-04:00

So this is what it might feel like to cheat on a marriage--this having too many WIPs. Sure, I like that when I get a little bored with one project, I toss it aside and go on with a different one. Oh, yes, I love the different yarns--one because its soft, one because its substantial, one because of its color, and one because of its content. I also love different projects: one because of its simplicity, one because of its emerging texture, one because of its complications, one because I know the pattern so well. See how this goes? Too many loves to concentrate on.

The problem is is that I feel like I'm not getting anywhere with every single one of them! And when I work on one, I want to work on a different one. This WIP infidelity is screwing with my head!

For most of my knitting life, I've been a pretty much monogamous knitter, ok, maybe two WIP at a time. I committed and completed each project with a feeling of engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. For example my most faithful project in the last months is the Wedding Present afghan (see wedding=faithful, get it?)

Time elapsed: 49 days

# of days that S & C have been married: 26

Repeats Completed: 8.5

Skeins knitted: 18 of 26.

Length: 37.5 inches

Hence: There's light at the end of the tunnel!

Satisfaction quotient is high, but the afghan was getting so heavy that it broke my knitpicks options cable! I even tried using different needles, but didn't like it! Jane to me to glue the broken one, and I did, so all is better. It is like knitting an endless scarf, though....

Now, I usually kept a small traveling project, like socks that I could knit easily in public and while I was working out. Like these socks:

I like having socks on the needle so much that when I wanted to show Anne-Marie how I do toe-up socks, I thought there was no better way than to cast on socks to make for her Cashew. Isn't she cute and aren't the toesies cute?

So now there are two pairs (ok, maybe 1 and a half) on the needles.

But no, wait! I had to go ahead and cast on a sweater for my mother. Ooh, this yarn feels good after the heft of the afghan yarn and the relative stringiness of sock yarn.

See lots of WIPs to capture my attention. But it seems I'm putting out a lot of energy knitting and not seeing too many results. I just am not a knitting playah. So there. Monogamy for me (well, when I finish all these projects.) ;)

March of Shame Concludes

2007-08-28T07:33:00.000-04:00

Yes, I think I may have broken my stash vow. Bottom line, is yes, I've broken my stash vow, but I think I can rationalize/justify/amend my list to make it seems as if perhaps I have not busted the stash vow.

1) I am removing the Lorna's Laces yarn from my stash list because really I have only one skein. Not even enough for a pair of socks. The yarn was supposed to be for mittens, but I made the pink mittens from some leftover other pink yarn, so there--I'm taking it off the list.

2) Ms.-Met-loving knitter Nicole took the "Coral" (uh, I think it's Mets orange) knitpicks sock yarn off my hands for me. Yee ha!

3) I'm not going to Rhinebeck this year because I have to go to a wedding in Chicago that weekend, so no need to save up stash places for then. I did go to WEBS on this trip and may not be going back there soon, so the shopping opportunity was at hand. And I was so absolutely overwhelmed at WEBS that I lost my stash-maintaining mind.

4) I am now maintaining three projects:

a. One smallish project to work on while working out (socks, mittens, hat)

b. a sweater

c. The wedding afghan. (This is really a phantom project.)

YES! I only have nine yarns on my stash list! Let the shopping begin!

See, I am lacking in shame...

To continue from the other day: I finally tore myself away from the sock yarn at WEBS and walked through all the alpaca loveliness, I went back into the crazy holy grail of the WEBS warehouse there Jen had told me the real bargains begin. There are grey shelves after grey shelves full of perfectly good yarn piled in bags and in single skeins on the shelves, but they're not organized by content, brand, or weight, so you just kind of wander through mouth agape and look at anything that catches your eye. Meanwhile, you're surrounded by boxes of non-bargain yarns trapped in boxes waiting for someone to buy them. It's a scene. I went prepared to buy yarn for some sweaters I wanted to make and came up with these purchases:

This was my most reasonable purchase. Exactly the right yarn in the right color for the first project I had listed in my hands, the Swirled Pentagon Pullover (scroll down to the bottom to see it) from Knitting Nature. This Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL is a light worsted in alpaca/wool. Very lovely, straight ahead yarn.

Then there was the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. The color enticed me. The non-heft of this wool/silk blend grabbed me. The feel of the yarn enfolded me. Then I came to my senses and then the price convinced me, even though it wasn't the right thing for the second project I had written on my list. I bought a ton of this yarn--some 2700 yards. It's pretty thin, though. DK at 22/inch. I think I'm going to design a Aran turtleneck pullover for this or admit that I'm not smart enough to figure it out and knit it into the Weekend Pullover.

This is the final purchase I made. As I brought my goodies to the front of the store where Poem-man was napping in a chair listening to Oscar Peterson on his Ipod, I passed the racks of WEBS brand Valley Yarns, and this slight-glossed wool called out to me: "dark purple." "Eggplant." "Aubergine!"

"Grape Jelly!"

and though I had no plan for it, and it was going to push me over my self-imposed stash limit, a sweater's worth of Valley Yarn Colrain came home with me. Enough, I hope, to make the Byzantine Bazic (altered slightly to include set-in sleeves)

Let me note at this time that each of these yarns cost about $3.50/skein. $3.50 for 109 yds of wool/alpaca. $3.50 for 191 yds of wool/silk. $3.50 for 109 yds of wool/tencel. How does that bad commercial go? I'll never pay retail again! Well, probably I will, but cripes, let's just drive to Webs from time to time! Oh, and these yarns are still for sale online at Webs.

Soon, my freedom of summer will end, but I have my stash to keep my warm and busy. Let's take one last longing glance at the spoils of this March of Shame.

Quick! Look over there!

2007-08-27T11:44:00.001-04:00

See the pretty flower from the garden at Emily Dickinson's House in Amherst, Massachusetts!

Now look down there--careful it's a bee!

Yes, it's true. I'm just trying to distract you from the fact that I've broken my stash vow and am continuing on my March of Shame. We've already passed the first checkpoint at Green Mountain Spinnery. The second and most lethal part of the March continues at WEBS, where I first encountered the sock yarn display...

They had lots and lots of stuff, but I was in search of one thing (which became two purchases...). I passed up the Trekking and the Kaffe Fasset and the hand-dyed house brand and finally found a few remaining colors of Shibui Sock Yarn. Woo hoo!

Details of the yarn are over there to your right in my stash list. This is lovely, lovely, stuff. 100% superwash merino but with a little more inherent strength to it (or so it seems to me) that others like it! Of course, I broke my rule that says no 100% merino socks because holes emerge pretty quickly, but the saturated colors and the feel of the yarn made me go against my better judgement. I did buy some reinforcing yarn to do the toes and heels. Look what I got's going on here! These are socks for Poem-man in the Diagonal Rib pattern. (The color variation in the toes is from the reinforcing thread.)

The other color is for me. I wanted a change from all the multicolored hand-dyed yarns I've been using. These might become Poseidon socks or Whitbys or (insert suggestion here)?

Anyway, that's the yarn from the front of the Webs store stop. After walking around totally overwhelmed by all the yarns in the front, I went back into the really major sales in the warehouse. omigod. But that's for another day.

In the meantime, the wedding afghan is further along and, well--

How is this and this going to become that (which is a gift for my mother?)

Walk of shame!

2007-08-25T10:46:00.000-04:00

I may have broken my stash vow. duh.

I had a wonderful time yarn gazing at Green Mountain Spinnery. GPS was really tiny and felt like some artisanal kind of place, and a really nice woman named Em helped me out while I was there. It was a great chance to handle and see all of their yarns that I had read about, and it seemed that if I didn't buy it straight from there, I would be cheating somehow. (On the other hand, I didn't know that they carry the yarn at Webs, which was my next stop and at a 20% discount. Eek. But, it's the difference between buying at an independent bookstore vs. some Amazon/Walmart kind of place, yes?) Here's my purchase from there: 7 skeins of "Sylvan Spirit" (50% wool/tencel) in Amethyst, intended for Cinxia.

After about 45 minutes at GPS, Poem-man and I had a lovely lunch in Putney at Front Porch Cafe, which Em had recommended. Both the cafe and GPS would be worth another visit!

Back in the car we got and made our way to Webs, a mere 1.5 hours or so from Putney. I should have known what I was in for when the car we parked next to contained two teenage boys totally reclined in the seats playing hand-held video games and the car parked behind us had a sleeping man at the wheel. Poem-man was like, "wait, let me make sure I have my Ipod and my book." I walked in to Webs with a plan. whatever. but that's a story for another day.

Traveling beyond...

2007-08-24T00:27:00.000-04:00

It's been a packed 5 days! I bought a NEW CAR which I love and promptly drove 800 miles though Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. As a native Midwsterner, I still marvel at being able to travel to a gabillion states in like half and hour or something. Most of the time was spent hanging out with some of Poem-man's family, so lots of knitting got done. A pair of Vinnland socks in 5 days!

Pattern: Vinnland Socks

Yarn: Yarn Love Juliet in "Fervor"

Yarn enabler: woolgirl, August 2007

Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular

Time I spent knitting these while listening to my MIL, SIL, and Poem-man carry on: 5 days.

I'm tellin' you this Vinnland sock pattern is genius and a must-knit! It's basically a 2x2 rib, but the ribs swirl and flow, and I memorized the 16-row pattern after one repeat. The ribbing makes them fit snugly and not droop. I'm still having trouble, however, with the looseness of my knitting. The yarn was pretty thin and even though I knit it on size O needles, if you look closely at the stitches they're pretty loose. The merino-tencel combo may be better for me than wool-nylon.

Vermont and Massachusetts were fraught with stash-peril for me. Geez. Here's a little taste of where I went before WEBS, and maybe tomorrow or the day after, I'll actually do the walk of shame.

Oy Welt!

2007-08-17T22:43:00.001-04:00

Poem-man has new socks that he really likes! The colorway makes them perfect to wear with jeans, and the merino-tencel blend makes them cooler, lighter, and comfortable for warmer-than-winter weather. I'm not sure that the chevron welt was the right pattern for the colorway and color-stripey-repeat action, but Poem-man really likes them, so I'm happy, too. I want to make some merino-tencel socks for me because the drape and snugness of this blend is really nice.

Pattern: Chevron Welt from Sensational Knitted Socks.
Yarn: Yarn Love Joan of Arc (merino-tencel) in "Contentment;"
Yarn enabler: woolgirl, August 2007
Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular Needle
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been putting my conference presentation together: 10 days.

Wedding Afghan update! Woo hoo!
Time elapsed: 35 days
Number of days that S & C have been married: 12 days.
Repeats Completed: 6.5
Skeins knitted: 14 of 26.
Length: 30 inches
Hence: I am more than halfway home!

Lastly, I'm off this weekend on another little mini-vacation. While it's true that I will be visiting my mother-in-law, it's also true that I'll be headed to Vermont (a state full of yarn and cheese!) by way (either on the way there or the way back or both!) of WEBS in Northampton. And just look how many spaces I have to fill in my stash!

Muddling on...

2007-08-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

Quandaries, quandaries, quandaries....

I'm not working right now (oh, I'm employed--just a teacher on summer break), so life is lacking structure, and I find that when life is lacking structure, I try to put structure to it in messed up ways, instead of ways that would actually provide the needed structure to my life.

For instance, instead of doing things like: preparing for the conference that I'm taking part in this weekend, organizing my stuff, knitting the wedding afghan, and seeing to my medical needs (which are not onerous--so no worries!), I'm trying to help someone fix his life and relationships (which is not my job), trolling for patterns to add to my dream list of knitting, shopping online for yarn and then quickly closing the cart windows, and knitting more socks in variegated colors all while listening to sappy music and sappier movies. A recipe for disaster, yes? At least I'm knitting!

Anyway! Here's some socks on the needles for Poem-man. Yes, it's modeled on my foot--just imagine them on a larger, wider, paler and hairier appendage. It's a chevron-welt pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, and I've taken to calling them (in my August funk) Weltschmerz socks, which is too unfair and too weighty for these delightfully oceanic blue, merino-tencel beauties. The yarn is a little squeaky (I don't know how else to describe it) compared to 100%merino--think of comparing Wisconsin cheese curds to French Camembert. WHAT? It's yarn that's delicious and quirky in its own right, but not the most buttery of fibers to knit. Well, I know what I mean, anyway. Poem-man has tried them on and likes the lightness and smoothness of the fabric, so we're happy here. I'm on the increases for the heel gusset and hope to finish this weekend on my conference trip.

I'm not talking about the wedding afghan. Except to say that I'm on the 11th of 26 skeins, and I just noticed that I made a mistake in the cable chart back about 15 rows and I'm just going to have to figure out a fudgy way to get back on track because I refuse to frog an entire skein of knitting and you can't really tell in the grand scheme of all these cables anyway!

Wasn't feelin' it

2007-08-07T07:48:00.000-04:00

I do feel the ewe-phoria of an FO. I do like the way the socks fit. The pattern is great: Good for variegated yarn. Good for me, Ms. Loose Knitter, since it had a stitch that one slips for four whole rows. The stitch pattern is also brilliant in that that slipped stitch keeps the fabric firm so that the socks don't have a chance to slouch--nicely snug to the leg and foot! I would highly recommend the pattern--and it's free!

The yarn is good to knit with and the dyeing is very well done. Despite all these positives, I just wasn't feeling it, so even though I have enough yarn left to probably knit a third sock, I stopped knitting these toe-up sock at crew socks. I think the colors, which I love separately, somehow weren't giving me the love I was hoping for. And you can't see it, but the colorway had too much brown--practically the same brown as my skin. And who wants to knit skin? eeuw.

Pattern: Ambrosia Socks
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Signature Yarn in "Festive;"
Yarn enabler: Brooklyn Handspun, June 2007
Knit on: One 32" Knitpicks Size 0 Circular Needle
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been knitting the wedding afghan: 11 days.

I'm thinking that after I knit up the beautiful Yarn Love I have in my stash that it's time to lay off the variegated sock yarns. Whaddya think?

Discovering jewels

2007-08-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

I found a JEWEL in the Connecticut River Valley this weekend. There were many contenders: the lovely, unpretentious B&B we stayed at, Riverwind Inn; the old school French restaurant where Poem-man and I actually got to speak French, Restaurant du Village; the fancy inn where we enjoyed the gardens and elegant food, Bee and Thistle Inn, and the lovely Goodspeed Opera House (unfortunately the production was the fake paste gem of the weekend.)

But the jewel of the trip was Yarns Down Under. Poem-man and I got lost and annoyed driving around the River Valley and as we (unbeknownst to us) neared our B & B, I saw a little sign for the store with an arrow pointing down a road! Woo hoo! Dust flew as a hung a yoouuie (as I call a u-turn) and on we went. I had read that there was a yarn store in the village we were staying in and I assumed I would find it on Deep River's small main street area, but I hadn't, and had thus decided I wasn't really going to go looking for it since I hadn't planned on any yarn purchasing during the weekend, but THERE IT WAS, the place around the next bend that would make our getting lost worth it! We drove on a small road, parked in a gravel driveway over looking a small golf course, and I turned to Poem-man and said if it's scary or small we'll leave right away. We made our way past a golfing office and down some stairs becoming more unsure that this was the right thing to do and walked into a YARN HAVEN! Really, this is a yarn store for Knitters, capital K and double Ts!

All the yarns you haven't seen in person are there, including the great Simply Shetland stuff, Bear Mountain sock yarn, Claudia HandPaints, every kind of Schaefer yarn, all kinds of Rowans--everything! This is a store for people who knit, really knit. What do I mean by that? Well, there's great quality yarn of every kind of fiber, but it's not yarn for the sake of yarn (and expensive yarn at that, i.e. Purl Soho). The store is organized by fiber and weight but is delightfully crammed full of yarn enough to feel like you'll keep uncovering wonderful yarn after yarn. Sheila, the owner (on the right), and Sheryl (Cheryl? Sherri? sorry!) were great people to ask questions of and talk to who really knew their stuff. There are kits they've created for particular projects, yarn spun and dyed (I think) of local purveyors, tons of books, well just everything! I even got a back issue of Interweave Knits (2004!) that I had wanted. I wish I had been more prepared to really shop, list of yarn needs in hand. For instance, I'm thinking my next project is a EPS sweater with a fair isle-ish yoke and this store would have been the place to put that together, but I wasn't prepared. All I bought was some Noro Kureyon for a felted purse (see in my I wanna Knit list). I would go back in a heartbeat to shop. And, they have a knitting retreat next summer---must get on bandwagon! Or perhaps an Autumn trip to this area with a few knitting chums, hmmm?

Well, the wedding afghan has seen no progress since Friday since I was away during this weekend and it is a at-home project not meant to be dragged around in the heat. More excitingly, here's the happy couple recipients-to-be of the afghan! It was a joyous, thoughtful, meaningful wedding and reception. I love weddings! I'm re-inspired to work on the afghan! On the other hand: 1. They're young. 2. It's too hot to enjoy an afghan right now. 3. They know the afghan is coming. 4. Ms. Manners says I have up to a year to give a wedding gift. I'll get it done!

And look we all got mini-wedding cakes for dessert!

Actual Yarn Love.

2007-08-02T07:48:00.000-04:00

I'd been complaining and complaining that I hadn't found any yarn worthy of the FOUR empty places on my yarn stash. I'd been shopping online and even tried to buy yarn at Purl Soho when I visited with the the funsters: the Tawana, Nicole, and Allena. Alas and alack they did not have enough of the O-Wool balance in the color I wanted for Cinxia. DRAT. I waited in vain for Wollmeise to come up on Loopy Ewe only to have it come up and disappear in the wee hours of the morning when people should be sleeping not stalking yarn. Whatever. But then, I found some LOVE from my friends at woolgirl.com. Actual Yarn Love.

The colors are so appealing to me, though I've begun to doubt my color sense. Poem-man even thought both colors masculine enough for socks for him. WHAT???? Maybe he can have the blue colorway... The rose-ish one is a wool-nylon blend and the bluish one is merino-tencel. Never tried the tencel before, so I'm pretty excited to cast on!

Of course, first I need to finish the Ambrosia Socks. I had a 24-hour setback because the first time I completed the heel on both socks and had worked my way onto the legs, I tried them on and thought, "Gosh, these heels seeme loose and bulbuous." Yeah, well, they were because I hadn't slipped the stitches on the hell flap--I had 34 stitches of plain ole stockinette on the heel. Quel stupidity. Anyway, I ripped out and re-knit and NOW I'm on the final stretch. Of course, this is Brooklyn Handspun, so there's like 3 billion yards, and I hate left-over yarn, so I may be knitting hip-length waders.

Oh, I got some other goodies from woolgirl
as well!

Cute, really TINY penguin stitch markers. (See the penny for scale.) And this funny String Warrior girl. I got her as a reward for trying to do yoga again.

In the meantime, the wedding afghan moves glacier-like to completion.

Time elapsed: 18 days

S & C's Wedding Day: -4 days.

Repeats Completed: 4.5

Skeins knitted: 9.5 of 26.

Length: 20.5 inches

Hence: Do you think I could knit it during the actual ceremony and reception?

Dream or nightmare?

2007-07-30T07:23:00.000-04:00

Last night I had images of a past relationship. Partly dream, partly nightmare--it's all how you look at it. I think I was influenced by this: holy sh;t!

See--it's a dream or a nightmare depending on how you look at it. It's a lot of yarn to knit--what a dream. It's a LOT of yarn to knit--nightMARE! Dream: There's a lot of yarn. Nightmare: What yarn do I actually have?

For me it would be a lot like having an LYS nearby that was poorly organized. And of course, in the city, there's no WAY I'd ever have enough room for all that yarn. The pressure of knitting up all that yarn would also weigh on me until I was flatly blocked like some huge piece of lace.

By the way, check out the rest of that blog. Some incrediby cute thingamajigs to knit!

I am happy with my paltry 10-yarn stash (temporarily languishing at only 6 yarns) and knowing my yarn well and having it call out to me what it wants to become. Whew.

In the meantime, here's a wedding afghan update:

Time elapsed: 16 days
S & C's Wedding Day: -7 days.
Repeats Completed: 3.5
Skeins knitted: 7.5 of 26.
Length: 16.5 inches
Hence: I have GOT to get crackin' on this.

I keep getting distracted by these little buggers. In fact, I'm about to go exercise just so I can go work on them...

Saved from a fate worse than death...

2007-07-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

Here I sat, all ready to start a new traveling project (as opposed to the afghan project, which stays at home), but what would it be? I have this lovely Brooklyn Handspun calling out to be socks, but I couldn't find a sock pattern I wanted to do in this variegated sock yarn. hmmmm...

Pomatomus (for a third go-around? goodness gracious)

Monkeys? (no, been there done that, twice...)

Ribs? Cables? Lace? What would it be?

Then this shows up in my e-mail today-- I LOVE Interweave Knits for they have saved me from a fate worse than death (wherein I have the yarn, the needles, and the sock-knitting jonez, but no pattern!)

Because there they were--socks patterns already all ready for downloadable fun--no need to even wait for the issue to show up at my door.

Honeycomb Socks! Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. (Anyone know this old song? I LOVE IT!)

But the heart-stealer of the day, I think is going to be: AMBROSIA SOCKS!

Shout a hearty hallelujah and amen and be seated for some sock knitting!

(PS--Anyone notice that I have 4 (four!) empty spaces to fill in my stash list? Should I wait until I go to Webs? Can anyone get me some Wollmeise?)

Identified FO!

2007-07-25T18:53:00.000-04:00

Why aren't mittens the new socks? I mean, c'mon, I finished these mittens in four days! Bravely, I went ahead with exactly 74 grams of yarn left after finishing my entrelac cap hoping the entire time that I'd have enough yarn. Whew. I made it. What do I like about these?

They were boring stockinette, and I used up the black yarn first so at least there were two colors. Besides, I didn't want to possibly add any yarn-eating feature, so stockinette I went. In the end they seemed to spartan (even in raspberry and black!), so I decided to put my initials on them. I thought I might embroider a whole word on each hand, but my hands are small, and initials seemed clean somehow.

I also like the "Peekaboo" feature of the mittens. The yarn is an incredibly warm wool-blend, so I don't think I'll suffer much from the cold with the pop-top finger opening.

Pattern: Peekaboo Mittens

Yarn: 75 grams of Elsebeth Lavold Angora in Black & magenta Yarn enabler: elann.com in March, 2007
Knit on: One 36" Knitpicks Size 6
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been on the elliptical machine: 4 days.

A winter sunflower...

2007-07-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

In the midst of a beautiful summer day knitting with some great folks with beautiful weather and obnoxious music and inconsiderate mary-jane smokers (aren't I cute...) in beautiful Central Park, I finished the Entrelac Beret. As I wrote before, this was my first entrelac experience, and I really enjoyed it. I got good at knitting backwards and at making things up as I went along. I really got to practice my entrelac skills because I practically knit the whole thing twice. The first time I 'finished' it, you could have used it as a tote bag for three bowling balls it was so big. So I in the end, I only did three rows of 7-stitch entrelac, and then one 6-stitch, one 5-stitch, one triangle row , then the decreases and OUT! Know that I have a big head. Physically, I mean!

Pattern: Entrelac Beret

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Angora in Black (1.5 skeins) & magenta (1ish skein)

Yarn enabler: elann.com in March, 2007

Knit on: One 36" Knitpicks Size 6

Time I spent knitting these when I should have been putting musical theater youngsters through their paces: 14 days, July 8-22.

I can't believe this is how I decide to show my face online. Oh well. It's a bathroom-sited self-taken portrait of me in my slouchin' entrelac beret trying to match my magenta parka lining/inner jacket thing. I couldn't bring myself to put on my whole winter coat in the middle of July. I'm hoping I have enough left-over yarn to make some mittens to complete the set. They won't be entrelac though--I mean talk about overkill...

This picture shows my wedding afghan project. Here are the stats:

Time elapsed: 10 days

S & C's wedding Day: -12 days. (Twelve days to go!)
Repeats Completed: 2.5

Skeins knitted: 5.5 of 26.

o. mah. gawd.

to FO or not to FO...

2007-07-15T10:28:00.000-04:00

Well, blocked and worn, here's DONNA! The sweater didn't come out exactly the way I wanted. I had hoped for a a bit of a fitting, va-va-voomy sort of sweater and instead I got a slouchy, kind-a-roomy sweater which fits and will be a good comfort of a sweater to wear come this fall. The short rows ending up giving me too much room in the bust and the ribbing on the side didn't pull it in in the waist as much as I had hoped. But c'mon, let's remember that a sweater is not a shaper, if ya know what I mean.

Pattern: Donna
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in "Cedar"
Yarn enabler: Webs
Knit on: One 36" Knitpicks Size 5
Time I spent knitting this and about 4 other projects: Three months! Good god, that's a long time for a stockinette sweater. I must have been distracted by the socks!

Hey, it's an FO. And it's going might be the only one around for a while....

Say hello to my ball and chain. It's a gift for someone else's attaching of a ball-and-chain. I say that with more bitterness than I intend because I certainly don't think of marriage as a ball-and-chain affair and because I find the knitting fairly enjoyable. I'm mostly bitter because this is an UFO whose emotional rush of completion is a LOOOONNNG way off. This little panel represents one complete repeat of 22 rows and almost two skeins of knitting. I have 24 more skeins to go and I'm worried that the afghan will be too short and that I may have to throw myself on Knitpicks' matching dyelot mercy. I think the afghan will feel lovely, be beautiful, and be a project full of affection for the marrying friend. In the meanwhile I've decided that whenever I knit at home it has to be on this project and not any other or I'll never finish it. I've already conceded that I won't finish in time for their August 5th wedding, but I refuse to use up the entire year past the wedding in which it is still polite to present the gift. And I have to finish this up with some alacrity as I have another friend marrying in October...

Yup, this is my out-of-apartment knitting. It calls to me regularily because I know with just a few
hours of knitting I could get the rush of having an FO. God, I love that rush. I think I knit and finish things fast because I love that rush so much. But know I must be disciplined...and perhaps knowing that I can knit on it when I'm exercising or hanging out at a cafe or with knitters or while on a subway means this little beret has in its power to get me out of the house.

Here's my future...part of my buying spree was the acquisition of all these Interweave issues from when I wasn't so so so obsessed with knitting. The embossed leaves socks are in there, the Pearl Buck jacket, the Hepburn pullover...new projects to obsess over... to wait patiently in line while I enter the afghan black hole.

And have you seen this? The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic.

Smarty-pants

2007-07-09T15:38:00.000-04:00

NYEAH!

See--here's the thing. My stashing declaration says nothing about knitting accessories or knitting books. So I go online, shop all I want, remind myself it's not yarn, and then buy like crazy. I think this tendency may be where the suppressed yarn desires go to die.

Exhibit A:

The goody box I received from Knitpicks.com today. THREE BOOKS! And two of them don't really even have patterns in them--I'm reading them just for knitting fun. The Vogue book in particular is full of great pictures of great sweaters with NO patterns. Argh. That's ok, though, because there's lots of other useful stuff in the book. And, c'mon they're having a 40% off all books sale! What can a girl do.

Then there's the plastic space bags to handle my stash. I know my stash is not extensive, but it includes yarn for whole sweaters and an afghan, so it's a little out of control right now. I got a yarn cutter because I nearly ripped my hands up trying to break the Wick yarn when I was doing scissorless airline travel.

And then notice how there's THREE Knitpicks color cards? Those evil Knitpicks folks are trying to get me to break my stashing vow. I only ordered ONE color card for Shine Sport. Why did they also send me cards for Telemark and Palette, then? Hmm. pure evil. I already have one for Wool of the Andes....

Exhibit B: Some time two weeks ago, on my NC vacation, Interweave Knits was offering back issues for 5 for the price of 4. I think I got like 10. Ok, maybe 5. That box of shame hasn't come yet.

I'm outta control. I've got to come up with some sort of means of self-discipline when it comes to books and accessories.

In the meanwhile, I'm also feeling like a smarty-pants because I managed to negotitate my way through beginning this entrelac beret/cap. It was full of newish and BRAND-new techniques for me.

1. Tubular cast on? Yessiree bob! I got a tutorial that I love for that.

2. Excel spreadsheet to figure out the right amount of stitches to cast on and work into the base triangles for the entrelac? Check. But I haven't really figured out if the numbers I got for the decreasing in the spreadsheet actually make sense. I felt so, well, math-y, putting things into Excel!

3. Entrelac in the round? With two colors? Uh...I tried a the IK-Eunny Jang tutorial. Didn't get it. I tried following the directions in the pattern. Didn't get it. Finally after getting past the base triangles, I just took two triangles off the main needles and put it 'em on one double pointed needle and looked and fiddled until I taught myself entrelac. Go me!

4. Knitting backwards? YES! I don't know if I'm doing it properly or even in the most efficient way possible, but the resulting stockinette is convincing. Yay! After knitting backwards in entrelac while riding a exercise bike this morning (so proud of myself...like an extra-smart hamster or something), I decided to look at a tutorial for knitting backwards, and it makes my head spin. I figure if it's working, I'm not going to mess with my ill-gotten technique, right?

Lastly, before you all throw knitting needles at me for my flying FOs, know that I'm about to embark on endless projects, and I may never have an FO again for a long time. I have friends getting married in August and October (sadly, during Rhinebeck...jeez. It's a good thing I really like them.) and I have wedding afghans as presents lined up as projects. I know I know, there's always the Bloomie's registry...

So yummy it's...WICKABLE!

2007-07-07T17:04:00.000-04:00

Though these socks were conceived in the crucible of air travel from the Southeastern US, I think they will bring me nothing but good memories to come!

It's nice to not have to worry about moths or lack of durability with this crazy-fiber yarn (soy and vaseline? not that's not it. bamboo and cool whip? nope...bungee cord and hemp? I can't remember.) The yarn was actually pretty nice to knit with, though I may have picked the wrong needle size (basically because that's the only size, other than a size 0, that I had with me on my travels), so knitting was a little 'stiff' for this loose knitter. The fabric, on the other hand, is fluid and of a good density for socks.

And look at those toes, heels, and cuffs! I had never made socks with contrasting extremeties, and now I find the effect particularily charming esepcially with the fresh, clean, fun colorway of this yarn!

Pattern: Beaded Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Wick in #429 Sea Gold and #676 Ocean; (soy and polypropolene)
Yarn enabler: Yarn Paradise in June, 2007
Knit on: One 36" Knitpicks Size 5, Magic Looped.
Time I spent knitting these while stranded in airports and sitting in AC: one week.

For a small city in a fairly warm climate, Asheville did not lack for places to buy yarn--good places. Yarn Paradise was a great store, outside of 'downtown,' but in the middle of the cute Biltmore Village which sits at the entrance to the Biltmore Mansion and has lots of great shops and places to eat. Yarn Paradise is a house filled with yarn--that's my favorite kind of yarn store! I could have spent hours in there, and I'm sure they would have let me, but I went there to find my very picky mother a pattern and a yarn that I could use to make a sweater for her for her birthday. I say that she's very picky in order to extol the virtues of this store--we must have looked at 15 possible yarns in every shade of red and in every combination of fibres, and every time she dinged a (perfectly lovely, IMO) yarn for being not the right kind of red or too scratchy, or too heavy, the proprietors were able to find another possibility for the Katherine Hepburn cardigan. Verdict? They had a lot of great yarn in a million colors. I was even offered some perfect sportweight cashmere at a reduced price, but my mom couldn't see letting me spend $200 for yarn to make a sweater, and I agreed, though I was tempted. The Wick yarn that I bought there was on sale for about $7 a skein. And I left behind tons of Colinette Jitterbug and Koigu in wonderful colors that tempted me to break my stash vow.

*Late added PS because otherwise Annie Knits and Harlem Purls will continue to think I'm some sort of stash weirdo: In addition to the Wick, I did end up buying a Katherine Hepburn Cardigan's worth of yarn. It's the "Merino Sei" that's over there to your right in the sidebar on my stash list. I bought yarn--but I had saved space for it in my stash list-the vow remains unbroken!

Ewe-phoria!

2007-07-06T18:53:00.000-04:00

I've found a place to grow!

Mission accomplished!

2007-07-03T14:47:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the sunny North Carolina mountains where life is so quiet and placid that knitting gets done all of its own accord. Here are the Dungaree Socks I cast on on Wednesday (after I had finished knitting the entire back of the Donna sweater on Tuesday during the long day of delayed airline travel). These socks are enjoying the view of the Smoky Mountains from the vantage point of my parents' front deck. It's not at all like the view from my Brooklyn apartment. duh.

Ok, so in NC everything moves slowly except knitting because by Thursday night/Friday morning (while I waited for my husband to arrive in NC after a TWENTY-SEVEN hour delay,) I had this:

Pattern: Dungaree Socks
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering in Violet and Purple
Yarn enabler: Knit New York in January, 2007 Knit on: One long Knitpicks Size O, Magic Looped. Time I spent knitting these when I had nothing else to do but talk to my parents: 3 Days

What to say about these socks. They were a down-and-dirty effort that served their purposes for me: 1) To use the Louet yarn which I am pretty much in love with for stitch-definition, feel in the hand, and color. 2) To have a small project to finish knitting quickly. 3) To work on two-color knitting. In this case, it was mosaic knitting.

Ok, let's talk about this mosaic knitting with two colors for a moment and how I am not at all a good knitter. I picked two colors that were (on sale, to be honest) harmonious but whose values (is that the right word?) were not different enough to provide sharper contrast in this wavy pattern. Also, I haven't mastered how to do the tension right for the slip stitches in mosaic technique. When I read this tutorial, it said that things should be loose, which is easy for me since I'm a loose knitter to beat the band. The other thing I got from the tutorial is that things will work themselves out in the blocking. I never block socks, but I blocked these because the colorwork looked like a puckered raisiny mess when I finished. They don't look so bad now, but the pattern is still not as sharply defined as I would've liked and the lovely definition of the Louet yarn is showing off my knitting inadequacies quite well thank you. Oh, well. That's what happens on your first attempt at a new technique, right?

In the meantime, airline travel sucks except that it provides lots of knitting time for when your head is exploding from the travel delays of bad weather, broken airlines, crazy gate agents (well, just the one who luckily went away. The other Asheville gate agent was a prince--I should have taken his picture and gotten his address so that I could send him the socks I was working on), and line-sitting while you try to get back to NY. My parents told us that there's a Chinatown bus that goes from Asheville-NYC. As far as I'm concerned, I'll take the vagaries of Fung Wah over Delta's Atlanta hellhole any day.

All total, here's what I've knit in the last week: one entire pair of socks, the back of a sweater, the sleeves for the sweater, and the feet (well, almost) of another pair of socks. Yikes--I'm a fast knitter, but let me reiterate that NC is a little slow (ie, boring) and that Delta travel is even slower.

Donna has been seamed up and is awaiting a neckline, and then I'll show you her mysteries and give you a quick insight into yarn shopping in Asheville another day.

What a little focus can do.

2007-06-25T11:21:00.001-04:00

I loved these enough and am proud enough of these to show you my bare knees. That's some pride and love, doncha think?

Pattern: Wyvern Woman's Socks
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Sock Yarn in "Doublemint"
Yarn enabler: Woolgirl in May, 2007
Knit on: One long Knitpicks Size O, Magic Looped. (I love Magic Loop.)
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been cleaning the floors: 10 Days, June 16-25

Yeah, yeah, I know these weren't supposed to be knee-his, but I loved the color of the yarn and they went toe-up, so how could I not use all the yarn. I have about a yard of yarn left- you know how I love usin' it all up. The sock can have the pattern go all the way around the leg or have ribbing in the back. I have these crazy calves, so I'm all about ribbing and increasing the ribbing so that they fit all the way up my leg. And they're never falling down, believe you me.

The pattern is pretty fun and intuitive to knit--a lot like Monkey socks somehow I think, but without any purling. I also did the MI by doing a grandma increase (pulling up from the row below) on the edges of the front (so I wouldn't have ladder problems) and then did the ladder increase, twisting the loop as I went to do the 'seam' in the middle of the front of the sock. I'm a loose knitter so these kinds of increses made the pattern work out really well. If I could figure out how to take a picture of the back of my legs by myself, I'd show you those, but whatever--now you don't have to look at my, uh, shapely, calves.

I loved the color way at first and then when I started knitting I thought omigod they're baby-color socks and will be stupid. Now that I have them done I LOVE the colorway again. The yarn was a little splitty and hairy--it is a wool-nylon blend (my preferred choice for sock yarn)--but I am confident that I won't have any durability issues with these.

Yay! Now I have more space on my stash, which is great because I'm off for vacation tomorrow. I'm heading to Asheville, NC where I believe there are just a few places to do some vacation yarn shopping. Now, vacation yarn does count as stash in my book, but I've got some space, so yay! If you have any Asheville fiber insights to share, please do. I'm going to be knitting like crazy because my parents live on a mountain and like to golf, so I don't have a lot to do while I'm there. I plan on finishing that Donna sweater that's been languishing in my "yarn and patterns in play" list in the sidebar, and maybe, just maybe, I may start some more socks. I know, what a surprise...

Share and share alike.

2007-06-20T22:26:00.001-04:00

You see it's not all knitting a cardigan for me, knitting socks for me, buying yarn for projects for me.
My friend, Otto the owl, is a little giftee for my friends' 2 year old. I was told she was obsessed with owls, so of course I had to make Otto. Of course, the young recipient is two, so obsessions could come and go, but maybe she'll love Otto anyway.

Pattern: Otto the Owl from And So to Bed, by Lucinda Guy
Yarn used: Berroco Ultra Alpaca. You gotta love this yarn--so soft, so squishy. I love alpaca. sigh.
Yarn enabler: Knit-a-way
Time it took to knit when I should have been: Well, I shouldn't have been doing anything else. This was my illicit project--I knit on it when my hands started hurting from knitting mercerized cotton for this. I never put the yarn on my blog. I never showed the wip because I wanted it to be a surprise. But all in all, about a month or so of intermittent knitting.

I think he's awful cute. The seams were a pain to sew up. All his little appendages are fast but kind of dorky knitting, but the yarn was a pleasure to knit. Lots of good projects in this book, might I say. I think there are some more gifts to be knit up....

Secret Secret Feet revealed. Back when my knitting group had a secret feet exchange, one pair of feet went uncovered for a little while, and they just needed some sock lovin'! My yarn pusher--um--group leader got some lovely Koigu that I made into these lovely Jaywalkers. No need to blog-blather on the ubiquitous Jaywalker or on the merits of Koigu, right? Anyway here they are--I hope Ms. Secret Secret feet liked them!

Past, Present, Future (A story of socks)

2007-06-19T16:31:00.001-04:00

A short poem in the language of socks....

The PAST:

Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

Yarn: Schaefer Anne in some blues and reds of a forgotten colorway.

Yarn enabler: A Good Yarn This is a charming little store/knitting school place in the Fell's Point neighborhood of Baltimore. Poem-man and I were there during February vacation (I don't know why, either, but it was more fun than I thought it would be.) Anyway, A Good Yarn had a little bit of yarn, a wonderfully helpful proprietess, and it made me wish I could lived in Baltimore (!) so I could take their classes.

Time I spent knitting these when I should have been rehearsing for the musical at school: 3 weeks in Feb-March, maybe?

This was another one of those interminable toe-up sock projects whose non-transience was caused by a generous skein of skinny-dink yarn. In fact, knitting these socks forced me to realize that I was going to have to knit on 0s. Zeee-rose, baby! Crap. At least Poem-man has only size 9-1/2 feet and skinnier calves than me. These are knee-socks for criminy's sake. On the other hand, the pattern was easy, and it also was my first venture into knitting with Schaefer Anne. Liked the yarn, would knit it again, but maybe not socks--a shawl perhaps?

THE PRESENT: here's a little teaser of what's becoming of this parcel of love. I know it kind of looks like baby-pastel cat yak, but I think you'll like what you'll eventually see. Check back on me in a few days....

THE FUTURE!!! looks bright:
I received this in the mail today. The colorway? "FESTIVE!" The colors? Pretty freakin' festive. Very happy knitting girl here. I wonder what socks will come of this yarn?

Whew!

2007-06-15T11:25:00.000-04:00

It's just for times like this that I'm glad I've saved space on my 10-yarn stash.

Brooklyn Handspun has new, beautiful yarns to buy!
Quick! While the getting's good...

I bought this. Because it's just how I feel!

Monkeying Around!

2007-06-14T17:02:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Monkey Socks
Yarn: Zen String Serendipity (sportweight) Sock Yarn in "Argyle;"
Yarn enabler: Woolgirl in May, 2007
Time I spent knitting these when I should have been correcting finals: 6 Days!

We love these MONKEYS! I made these monkeys, and then of course, Mr. Monkey-See/Monkey-Do (Poem-man) had to have his own Monkey socks!

They were super-super-fast for SOOO many reasons. 1) I did them in sportweight yarn. 2) I knit socks two at a time on a big ole Addi Turbo #3 Magic Loop. (Me, the loose knitter knitting socks on #3s!) 3) I was proctoring a Regents exam today and had nothing to do but finish knitting socks. 4) I adapted the original Monkey pattern in a couple of ways: I went toe-up and I only did three of the charts around the leg (1.5 charts on the foot) so that they wouldn't be too loose for Poem-man. 5) This yarn is yummy gelato-for-the-hands scrumptious!

And look at this:

I knit the socks from one big yarn cake--one from the the middle pull of yarn and one from the outside yarn and somehow, SOMEHOW, the colors ended up being basically in the same pattern on the socks. The pair is really like twins, and I didn't even try to make that happen. Does this happy accident happen all the time? Or is it really serendipity, like the name of the yarn? The other serendipitous thing is that there was only 241 yards, and I managed to get four repeats on the leg after doing feet for male 9-1/2 shoe sized-feet. Knitting with a finite amount of yarn (there are no more skeins at woolgirl.com or on the zen string site.) is not for the faint of heart. Thank God for the toe-up, two socks at a time technique! Without it, I'd a been freaking out the whole time as I approached the first toe, not to mention the second toe, if I had gone the traditional route. I have NO yarn little yarn ball left. None. I LOVE that. Ok, maybe about 6 inches to save if I have to repair them ever.

What a satisfying project all around!

Fast (and maybe wrong)

2007-06-10T19:53:00.001-04:00

Yay! I finished it!

Pattern: Peacock Plumes Cardigan

Yarn: Elann Sonata in Peacock Green

Yarn enabler: Elann

Time I spent knitting this when I should have been writing exams: Two weeks and two days.

Hmmm, some problems. One of the things I really liked about this podcast was that one of the podcasters had a segment knitting fast and wrong, which I could totally relate to. (Psst, if any of you know these women, could you ask them to podcast again? I miss them.) As you may notice, there are a few finishing problems arising from fast and wrong knitting, which I have fixed since having Poem-man take this picture. I also think I'll take a good hot iron to this and do some more aggressive blocking. The fabric of the body is much better than that of the sleeves. On the other hand, I like the sweater a good bit. The pattern comes out nicely and it's easy to wear.

Though I did cast on some socks, I think I want to concentrate on sweaters a bit. It's been awhile since I've done a sweater and, well, my finishing techniques need practice. I mean, c'mon, there's no finishing to a sock, really. And a lace cardigan in mercerized cotton? Fraught with finishing perils!

I can taste it...

2007-06-09T09:40:00.001-04:00

Whew--I finished those freakin' sleeves. I don't know what my problem was--I had like 1.5 sets of repeats of the 32-row pattern when I whined in this post. Two days later, the sleeves are finished, and the cardigan is seamed up, and kinda fits, even before blocking. Now all I have to do is block it and knit the few rows of seed stitch borders on the neck and fronts. I'm almost done, and I already really, really like it--even those crazy sleeves! I can taste the victory! You see, having this done means I can cast on a new project and buy some more yarn for my 10-yarn stash!

Anatomy

2007-06-07T17:36:00.001-04:00

I hate my arms today for two reasons. 1) They aren't really meant to be uncovered in public because while I've been building muscle definition and there's definitely lean muscle mass there, my brolicness is obscured by the fat that I haven't lost. Damn. 2) Because my arms are meant to be covered, I have to knit SLEEVES for any tops I knit. No cute tank tops for me--shrugs yes, tank tops no. And you can forget about bandeau tops. And I have to buy more yarn for said sleeves.

The sleeves to my lace cardigan are KILLING me slowly. They were supposed to be kimono sleeves, so I cast on 99 freakin' stitches for each sleeve (because why do the sleeves separately when I knit socks two-at-a-time. Aren't sleeves really socks without feet?). Well, that seemed like a ridiculous amount compared to the number of stitches I cast on to cover my bodily-torso fat, so whatever, I decided to have bell sleeves, 3/4 length ones at that. (Thank God my arms, while wide, are pretty short--oh such nice proportions I carry) . I cast on the 99 stitches and knit for a while then figured out how to decrease in the lace pattern (basically omitting yarn overs) and knit for a repeat or so, and now I've increased back up to 99 freakin' stitches and I may die before I finish. I exaggerate. I only have like 4 inches to go and there's not even any shaping to them for a set-in sleeve or anything, and I've only been knitting them for six days, but I'm so tired of knitting them. And now they're so extensive that I dropped the right of the circular needles while knitting them while on the stationary bike exercising this morning. And I have this niggling feeling that once I finish and attach the sleeves I won't like the bell sleeve shape. crap.

I have got to keep a pair of socks going at all times if I'm going to knit while exercising, and I'm gonna be knitting while exercising from time to time, let me tell you.

Because I'll exercise with more consistency and griping if I can knit while doing it, and if I exercise more then maybe my arms can go public, and then maybe I won't always have to knit SLEEVES, and then I can love my arms as much as I usually love the rest of me!

A different kind of love...

2007-06-01T17:35:00.000-04:00

Last week, a few of sit n' knitters went over to the etsy labs to see what was going on there, and I became even more enamored of etsy. The labs look like a fun place to play! They had these really cute postcards advertising etsy, and I loved the artwork on the postcard so much that I went over to the artists' etsy store. There I found and bought this. It came to day, and I love it! Almost as much as I love my recent sock yarn. Well, it's a different kind of love.

The peacock feathers continue to grow, and I'm at work on two mini-secret projects. I'm knitting as fast as I can!

Random things?

2007-05-29T20:59:00.001-04:00

1. I met my husband, Poem-man, on nerve.com--my name was 'startleme' if you're checking historical artifacts. To be more 'proper' I should say we met on salon.com since that's the more 'polite' site and the site he actually used, but umm..yeah...I was serially dating on nerve.com. 1b. If you ever meet my parents, don't tell them that--they don't know how we met. Yeeha!

2. Poem-man's older son just finished his first year at my beloved alma mater. I didn't pressure him into it or anything--I am way low-man on the parenting totem pole--but I do think it's super cool that he goes there and likes it. I highly doubt there's anyone in my graduating class who has a 'child' in attendance there-I'm just not that old! Zoinks!

3. I have an unabashed love for canned meats: Spam, Corned Beef, and Vienna Sausage. No--really, I love to eat them. They are the manna of my childhood with parents-being-not-from-this-country-but-another-country-where-it's-really-hot-so-they-ate-canned-meat. Eek!

4. Though I am a classically-trained-since-childhood musician (piano, viola, and voice), I am best-known among those who knew me in my youth as a Barry Manilow fan. Yeah, yeah, everyone can love "Copacabana," but I know all the words to "When October Goes" and practically tell you the chord changes to "Weekend in New England." No, no, I'm not really a current fan. I haven't been to Las Vegas to see him and wouldn't pay the $$$ to do so, but I would I would be someone's guest in a heartbeat! And tell me, when will our eyes meet?

5. I grew up in Milwaukee. No one ever believes that. I don't know if it's that no one believes that anyone actually lives in Milwaukee other than Laverne and Shirley or that I don't seem to be very M'waukeean. I have lost the accent, if I ever had it. I don't drink beer like a native. I HATE the Packers--well, all sports, really. But I know I'm from Milwaukee because I still stop from time to time and think about where Lake Michigan is so that I know which direction is east, (which of course screws me up in Brooklyn) and I am incredibly polite in that midwest niceties way, so there ya go. ("There ya go being one of those Milwaukee phrases like "oh, fer cryin' out loud.")

6. I don't have hair on my arms. Not even a little bit. Now here's the kicker: I DON'T GROW HAIR on my LEGS at all. Yup. Never have shaved, depiliatoried, or what have you. Ya, ya, I know how lucky I am. One person did ask me if I was upset that I couldn't even try to make a personal political statement about body hair, beauty, and female gender. Of course that was at the aforementioned alma mater...Woo hoo!

7. I don't know what 'meme' means, or stands for, or whatever...

8. I won't turn off the lights before I go to bed. I make Poem-man do it. Even if I wake him up to do it he does it. (Isn't he a good man?) I don't know what I did before I got married. I hate turning out the lights before bed--I think I used to sleep a lot with the lights on.

Thanks to Annie for tagging me. I'm late to this whole blogging thing, but maybe Jane and Tawana wanna do this crazy thing!

Unfold your feathers!

2007-05-27T08:23:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a secret "secret" project which I finished this week and maybe I'll blog about that later. In the meantime, I've cast on a lace project. I'm thinking that the allure of having these beauties in my stash ready to cast on may spur me on to finish this lace cardigan.

Can you see the peacock feathers in the lace or will you have to wait for the magic of blocking?

This lace seems to go both fast and slow. This is a eight-row pattern, but really it's a four-row pattern that repeats with the second four rows starting from a different point. Within the true four-row pattern only one row creates the lace--the other three are basically stockinette. Gotta love it! The nice tourist on the subway was amazed that I could knit lace without looking at what I was knitting and I was too uppity to do anything else but smile without mentioning that I was on a plain ole purl row. I'm not a nice girl...

What also adds to the slow-fast condundrum is that the directions have me knitting the fronts and the backs of the cardigan all at once with a split for armholes, etc. to happen later on. So it's a million stitches, but I'll have the whole body done together--like two socks at one time! On the other hand, this is 100% mercerized cotton--shiny, hardy, lovely, but COTTON. Not that much of a joy to knit.

Fill 'er up!

2007-05-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

I LOVE to shop for, consider, and dream about new purchases of any kind, especially yarn, but I don't really love to BUY anything. I can spend happy moments on-line scrolling through pictures and pictures of yarn of different sellers and happily toss things into my virtual cart and can still be satisfied when I end the experience by closing the window, items unpurchased, transaction unconsummated. (It seems sick somewhow, but I don't know why.)

I HATE buyer's remorse...hate it! One of the reasons I've limited myself to 10 yarns on my stash is so that I discipline myself to only buying something when I really REALLY REALLY have to have it. For example there's this coral knitpicks sock yarn sitting on my stash taking up a slot. I shouldn't have bought it, but there it is waiting to be given away, knitted, or something. I leave it there as a reminder that sometimes, you don't have to have something. You just don't!

So imagine my thrill when after a months of unconsummated shopping, I finally had spaces to fill and could buy to my heart's content. And oh, I love the new yarns on my stash. I could leave them there a long time for the love! I haven't even brought myself to turning into sock yarn cupcakes because I love these skeins so much the way they are.

This first skein is for socks for me. I don't know what pattern may yet be worthy. Any ideas?

This skein is for socks for Poem-man. He picked the yarn out himself (with a little urging from me). I just finished Monkey socks for me, and you know about his thing of Monkey see-Monkey do, so perhaps this yarn is simian-bound.

Details about the yarn are in my stash list over there in my sidebar. If you want to have a shopping experience of love, please go to woolgirl.com. I ordered these prettily packaged skeins late Sunday night and received in the mail on Wednesday.

Oh, the love...

Happy Feet!

2007-05-19T18:33:00.000-04:00

Yay! The best thing about watching Happy Feet is that I finished these socks while watching it. I mean, the movie was ok, but I finished kitchenering the toes as the credits were rolling. And it's just cold enough today (whatthehellit'sMay???) that putting on handknit 100% wool socks is a true happy feet experience. Yowza!

Pattern: Monkey Socks
Yarn: Claudia Hand Paint Fingering Wt "Walk in Woods"
Yarn enabler: Simply Socks Yarn Company
Time I spent knitting in between the two concerts I had this week: 6 days!

These were fast, so fast! After the endless pair of the socks of the recent month, I needed the feeling of finishing something fast and not because I'm in some sort of stalker-competitive race with Ms. Quick. (Ok, maybe I am, but she runs and would kick my ass in any race, so I have to pretend that at least I could knit faster...) The pattern is so easy to memorize and execute. I was also helped by the fact that there wasn't an endless supply of yarn and that these went cuff down. I had to stop when I got to the toes, not when I ran out of yarn. Whew.

The yarn feels very comfy and warm though I worry about the softness vs. durability factor with the socks. I plan in the future to knit socks in yarn that's blended with nylon, silk, tencel, seacell, teflon, or whatever it is that will keep future socks from going the way of my Pomatomous-Koigu socks, but that's a different (slightly bitter) post.

I wasn't that thrilled with the yarn colorway, but I do like how the colorway brings out the pattern and vice versa. This pattern doesn't make socks as clingy as the other ribbing and cable-based socks that I've recently finished, and I'm not fond of the way the heel fits and looks, but whatever. Hell--I finished 'em in a week, they'll be perfect to wear with jeans, I have more space in my 10-yarn stash, and I have cute new socks!

I encourage you to Monkey See-Monkey do!

Monkey see Monkey do!

2007-05-14T18:58:00.000-04:00

Dinner Scenario #1
Me: Do you want some Parmesan on your asparagus?
Poem-man: Are you going to have some?
Me: Yes.
Poem-man: Then me, too.
Me: Monkey see monkey do!

Dinner Scenario #2
Me: Do you want some mango sauce on your ice cream?
Poem-man: Are you going to have some?
Me: Yes.
Poem-man: Then me, too.
Me: Monkey see monkey do!

Dinner Scenario #3
Me: Do you want root canal?
Poem-man: Are you going to have some?
Me: Yes.
Poem-man: Then me, too.
Me: Monkey see monkey do!

"Monkey see monkey do" is one of poem-man's most endearing and annoying traits. So of course, I have to monkey see-monkey do, too.

She's doing it. And she's doing it. And she's doing it. So here I go: Monkey see Monkey do!

PS: Notice how I now have two (2!) places to fill on my stash list!

So much yarn...

2007-05-13T13:56:00.000-04:00

Yay--Another pair of socks finished! These took me forEVer.

1) I was knitting on size Zero Addis with lovely but skinny yarn.

2) I went toe-up, and it's part of my upbringing to use up what I've got--including the bazillion yards of yarn that came with this generous skein.

3. I got side-tracked by the stupid roses. See eariler disaster post.

4. I increased half a bazillion stitches for my um...voluptuous calves. And a shout out sarcastic ha ha to those who felt I should continue to go to my thighs, which would mean increasing 3 bazillion stitches. You and you know who you are!

Pattern: "Cable with Faggoting Center and Rib Socks" from Sensational Knitted Socks.

Yarn and Yarn enabler: Brooklyn Handspun Signature Sock Yarn in "Guava."

Time I spent knitting them when I could have finished three pairs of sportweight socks: 23 days!

Faggoting: a openwork stripe effect with connecting threads across the open area that create a ladder effect. Look inside the cable.
Don't make me say the word or explain it again. I'm too embarrassed.

Look--still yarn left after these king daddies went big for the calf increase and up 2/3 of my shins.

Di(re)gressions

2007-05-11T17:22:00.000-04:00

See...this is what happens. Sometimes knitting (especially for others) seems like a good idea. I conduct a high school choir and have 22 seniors graduating. Instead of getting them dorky carnation corsages to wear at our last concert, I figured I would knit them all corsages. That should be easy, right? The students are always asking me to knit something for them (as if...), so I figured these would be nice little tokens. I research flower patterns, and find some cute ideas.

Pattern: Flowers
The picture to the left shows them before felting.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Worsted and some left over alpaca yarn from over 6 years ago.
Yarn Enabler: Knit-a-way
Time it takes: About 17 minutes for each flower.

These are quick to knit, but sort of hard to form. I've picked the felted ones, but I don't have a washing machine, so I decide to hand-felt them in my sink. Not so bad, I can handle this.

But in the end. They aren't going to do AT ALL. Way too big, heavy, and they look like...well..lumps of felted wool, rather than the charming roses I had hoped for. And the alpaca ones didn't work out even a little bit, so I'd also have to do about 15 more roses in the next 3 days.

So no knitted corsages for the singers of the Class of 2007. Zut alors!

I'm not going to digress from my knitting plans and plan to return to regularly-scheduled knitting.

Got a problem with that?

2007-05-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

So it's a $140 handmade scarf...

I love how people do research into stuff that I call 'duh.' But, on the other hand, maybe we don't have to explain so much anymore. Knitting: the new Mah-jongg (insert leisure activity of your choice)

Read this from the NYTimes. Comment later!

Voila!

2007-05-06T07:55:00.000-04:00

All good secrets bring joy when revelealed! My knitting group had a secret feet sock exchange that had all good thing: enough weeks to knit a pair of socks, a small group of skilled, enthusiastic knitters who (for the most part) knew each other, a beautiful day to reveal their work, and overjoyed recipients. All of us sat in anxiety hoping that our labor would be looked upon favorably by our giftees, which just shows how much we care about our knitting, creativity, and generosity. I think these socks also show how creative and colorful knitters we all are and how highly we think of everyone else's creativity and skill!

DETAILS! I WANT DETAILS! Well, I don't have details for all those delicious socks, but I can do two of the pairs.

My secret feet received:
Pattern: Pomatomous Socks

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Yarn in the colorway "Life's a Beach" (I love that!)

Yarn enabler: Simply Sock Yarn Company

Time I could have spent knitting in public: Two weeks.

This was my second go at Pomatomous, and I want to reassure everyone that these are not as difficult as they may seem. The pattern flows easily, though is a little fiddly when you get to the feet. It was a good knit with lovely, sqoooushy yarn.

I GOT I GOT I GOT!

Aren't these GREAT! My knitter extraordinaire gifted me with my very first Socks that Rock Socks! They're in the medium-weight yarn, and I love the colors-that red shooting through the colors is so so cool. I'm guessing that the colorway is Foofaraw, but I'm not sure. I think she said they're a pattern from Son of Sensational Socks (or whatever it's called). I begin to understand Socks that Rock obsession...

Return of the Blast from the Past

2007-05-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

I have this gig singing in a church choir, and this year the only two women of child-bearing age in my section both had babies within a month of each other. All hormones, all the time! They are both wonderful women who have lovely baby girls that they are enjoying.

I did not join the baby-making frenzy of the altos of the choir, but instead chose to be in the knitted-item-for-baby frenzy!

Pattern: Five-hour baby sweater (I believe based on some Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern)
Yarn: Knit from one skein (only 215 yds!) of Malabrigo Worsted in Color #98 "Tuareg"
Yarn enabler: Stitch Therapy
Time I spent knitting them when I could have..: Who are we kidding? It's like three television shows worth of knitting if you're quick!

I loved this item above for both its construction (It's like 60 rows and voila: a sweater!) AND the yarn. It was quick to knit which was great because I started about 2 weeks before the delivery date, but was sad because I loved touching the yarn so much. Now some have said that it's not worth it to make an adult sweater out Malabrigo because it will pill like kah-ray-zee!, but I figured for a baby, what the heck. I love LOVE LOVE the hand of this yarn. Really I do. I do dream of knitting a bigger version --much MUCH bigger--for myself. It might not be stylish for an adult, but I won't care!

Continuing on. No setbacks!

2007-04-29T19:39:00.000-04:00

I began to feel I would falter at this new blogging thing. I was bogged down by the pressure to knit so I would have something to blog, the pressure to blog so that I would not have failed at a new thing (like the drop spindle spinning I tried yesterday), the pressure of the pure charm and knitting prowess of some of the blogs I read; the pressure to knit so that I could take more yarn off my stash list and abide by my stashing proclamation, and so on. I felt just like this poor little lamby seemingly abandoned at the Brooklyn Zoo Sheep Festival yesterday. No ewephoric exclamations here!

But I knit on and blog on and, life is good!

These are the specifically-correct-yet-uncomfortably named "Cable with Faggoting Center and Rib Socks" from Sensational Knitted Socks. The pictures were taken last Sunday and then this weekend--where I showed the sock from whence it came (well, sort of.) You can't really see the um, center of note, but when I finish these (by next weekend, dang it) and put them on, you'll see what faggoting means to knitting patterns.

This is a detail from the Donna sweater in the Jo Sharp Silk Road DK Tweed in the color cedar. This is the most ambiguous color ever. I meant to buy a kind of heathery greenish yarn to make the Cinxia sweater. Well, then this yarn came in the mail, and it seemed almost black. Dang. Then I knit it and it seemed the green I had been searching for. But in this picture it looks gray. whatever. The yarn feels so soft that I'm glad to be knitting it into a sweater that will touch all over the top of me (ahem, for the most part) instead of a cardigan. This project is also my 'brainless' knitting project to be the foil to my next project which I believe will be some sort of lace insanity.

So a yarn has come off the stash list. Woo hoo! Let the yarn-coveting with credit card in hand begin!

Blast from the (blogless) past!

2007-04-23T17:11:00.000-04:00

Just a mere eight days ago, I was blissfully "blogless Penelope," knitting like crazy, speaking only to myself in amusing, pithy complete sentences, and even photographing my work as a record of the knitting I've done. I didn't keep a journal or notebook or anything, I (or Poem-man) just WORE the dang things I knit, or I let the little works of love go off into giftland.

I even joked with Allena about starting a blog and then posting a new finished object every day like I was some sort of Barry Bondsed knitter, but that seemed like a heartless, devious way to present myself to the knitting folk, so instead I opt for:

BLASTS from the PAST!
(insert your own appropriate song here--Today, I heard Separate Ways by Journey and flashed back to an earlier, limier green, Esprit-wearing time...but I digress in not a good way.)

I'll start with my most recent blogless effort and work kinda backwards until I run out of stuff.

Recipient/wearer: Poem-man

Pattern: Beaded Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks

Yarn: The pair was knit from one skein (only 293 yds!) of Colinette Jitterbug in #55 "Toscana" Yarn enabler: Stitch Therapy
Time I spent knitting them when I could should have been working out: About 10 days

These were a pretty straight-forward knit as they were designed to be knit toe-up (my FAVorite way), but the pattern is only a two-row repeat and almost mind-numbingly boring. My poem-man has only size 9-1/2 size feet, but I kept calling them clown feet because they seemed to take forEVer to knit. Poem-man loves them very much, and I would say that the yarn is lovely to handle.

Stashing declaration

2007-04-21T08:02:00.000-04:00

I deCLARE!

1. I will maintain a stash of no more than 10 yarns.
2. Those yarns of which my stash is composed shall thus be listed on my blog for all to monitor, praise, and mock.
3. I may have up to two (2) works-in-progress and the yarns in said WIPs will not count as the 10 yarns in my stash. A yarn must be cast-on (and not just swatched!) in order to be considered a WIP.
4. I will not purchase any yarns that will put my stash over the 10-yarn limit. 4a) I am allowed to ogle yarns online or in LYS or in other people's stashes for possible future purchase as much as my little heart desires. 4b) It does not matter if the yarn is 97% off or cashmere drops out of the sky--if it violates this declaration, it cannot come home with me. (Hila has already offered to be my gift recipient of any precipitating cashmere.) 4c. There are no allowances for gifts. 4d) All kinds of yarn count---sock yarn COUNTS!

5. I will not respond in any credit-card-fueled way should any persons try to get me to break my vow.

I, mzkwooz, have thus stated my yarn stash oath and testament. I have said it; so be it.

SO THERE!

Woe be the Loose Knitter.

2007-04-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

I was all excited to see everyone's lovely (if grinningly smug) reception of my blog. Then I was so motivated to get started right on another project, so I could take a yarn off my stash list (because I found some other yarn I forgot to add, but they're on the list now) and have something to blog about.

Toe-up I went on the lovely Brigit sock from Socktopia in the Brooklyn Handspun from my stash. A simplistically beautiful cable and rib pattern in a pretty yarn to show off the details. But look...
You can't see a cable or a rib or anything because (deep breath)...

I'M A LOOSE KNITTER! I mean, jeez, I'm knitting on Addi Turbo Size ZERO needles and I still can't get the pattern to emerge.

So, fine, just fine. I'm think I'll use a twisted rib and cable pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks and see if that's any better. Brigit goes on my list of things I want to knit, but I'm still taking the Brooklyn Handspun out of the stash!

I'll never mock a tightly-wound knitter again. Well, maybe not never, and not only for being tightly wound.

Less anyone worry about all the socks I am brashly parading on my 2-day old blog, I've already finished my secret feet socks, she says in her own smug way.

Leap of (sock) faith!

2007-04-16T11:08:00.000-04:00

All right, all right! I'm blogging already...

So, I've begun this tangential hobby (um, blogging) at the instigation of the wonderful new friends I've made in the Sit n' Knit. I've refused to start spinning, dyeing, weaving, even crocheting in order to concentrate on knitting. Then of course, there's the time-taken-away-from-knitting spent reading others people's blogs (lurking), listening to knitting podcasts (which I do to distract myself from the exercising I am forcing myself to do), and shopping online for yarn, patterns, books (a self-denying practice since I am trying to not become a stasher).

But, now I've capitulated to blogging in order to 1) have an on-going journal of my knitting; 2) to stop fishing for admiring comments from my loving, but much put upon husband and instead fish from a larger if less-intimately-known group of people who actually knit; 3) alleviate the mocking of the aforementioned Sit n' Knit bloggers (you know who you are...) 4) occupy myself on the unexpected day-off due to rain from my work today! Woo hoo!

So here goes nothing!

Pattern: Canal du Midi socks from Knitting on the Road,by Nancy Bush

Yarn: The pair was knit from two skeins of Lana Grossa Meilenweit (80% wool, 20% nylon) in color #1104

Yarn enabler: Simply Socks Yarn Co.

Time I spent knitting them when I could be renovating the bathroom: April 8th-April 16th.

New technique I learned: A stretchy cast-off for my rather voluptuous calves.

The two things that I love about these socks is that the top half of the calf is ribbed which makes them stay up really well on my shapely leg and that the pattern is intuitive and easy to memorize. I worked them toe-up using the heel from the Widdershin socks, which is my favorite heel both for technique and fit.

Thanks for reading my inaugural post!