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

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....

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...

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.

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

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?

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!

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?