felicia-on-NS

Been So Long...

2010-03-28T19:01:00.008-04:00

It's been just past the point of embarrassing since I last posted. There's been some knitting. I will have to update those things at some later date.

Cause now I have a Serious Project and will likely need to keep track of it to ensure things work out as well as anything completely insane could possibly do.

Here's the details: Somehow, inexplicably I found myself agreeing (volunteering?) to make a co-worker a stole for her wedding. We looked through Ravelry and agreed that the Hanami Stole was lovely.

Here’s the buts/ands:

but, I’ve never knit a stole before
and, I’ve also never really done a lacy project
and, now that you mention it, lace actually terrifies me, thankyouverymuch
and, also I’ve never knit with beads before

Clearly, I need to handle these issues so I can get to work on her wedding stole. Otherwise, how can I be sure it is done in time...

but, she’s getting married “sometime in July, I think”
and, she’s not picked out a dress yet
and, she’s not sure if she prefers pure white, or creamy white or silvery white
and, she’s not sure she won’t opt for a beaded bodice, etc.

Practically, no casting on until these things are decided. Her choices will dictate what yarn, beads, etc I will need.

Soooooo, I am going to try a practice Hanami since it’s been in my queue since the 12th of forever.

3/26: practice yarn bought! I got some insanely delightful Baruffa Cashwool. It was so lovely I actually bought two skeins. (apparently I am going to start knitting lace all the time now.)

To Vic’s in the evening with the intention of casting on. I will need some help to learn this beaded cast on business.

Except, I need beads.

Thankfully, she has beads and is generously offering them up.

Except, none fit on the tiniest crochet hook I’ve ever seen. Argh.

3/27: Explain all of above to housemate and convince him to come to craft store with me.

Ummm….He may not have been the best companion. He was as seduced by beads as I was. Some $65 later, we leave with beads in abundance. (apparently, I am going to start knitting with beads all the time now.)

Armed with Melanie Gibbons’ exceedingly awesome instructions and a good deal of chutzpah, I attempt to teach myself the beaded cast on…

...and succeed!

Later that night…1st repeat of basketweave done. I cannot express how tiny this yarn is and how huge and clumsy I’ve learned my fingers are.

I’ve decided to add more beads because I really want to get the whole working-with-beads thing down. I even taught myself a way to add them mid-row. Score! Now I need to figure out some sensical way to use them.

3/28 have decided to add a bead above each sk2tog,psso. We’ll see how that turns out. (apparently, I am going to make things up as I go along all the time now.)

I have determined it takes me about 18 minutes to do a pattern row and its partner purl row. The pattern is written with 498 rows.

That’s 4482 minutes or 74.7 hours if I do everything as written.

But wait, now I’m “that girl” - who modifies things despite not having a clue what I'm doing in even the most basic sense.

One thing my co-worker did know was that she wants the stole longer. Fantabulous. So I’ve already determined to add an extra basket repeat, some extra SS rows and will add rows to the flower side to even it out. More than likely I will add 8 rows to each chart through F then do chart G 4 times a la spinayarnforewe’s mods.

So that’s say 84 more rows, or 756 minutes, or 12.6 more hours.

Ummm... for a total of 582 rows, or 5238 minutes, or 87.3 hours

So yeah.

oooh babies...

2009-08-18T18:00:00.000-04:00

People around me are having babies. A co-worker and a dear former housemate. Perfect excuse to make baby things - yahoo!

It seems everyone who knits must make at least one thing designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman. And among those, it appears 99.569% are compelled to make a Baby Surprise jacket. Who am I to fight the tide? And well, it helps that it was the July KAL at my LYS. I started writing about it at the end of July, so this will be repetitious if you've read the earlier entry...

I grew wildly fond of the yarn. It's Boomerang from Fiesta Yarns and is so smooshy and nice to the hands. The colors are pretty awesome as well. TBH, I've never been entirely sure what all the EZ fuss was about. I mean, I know she revolutionized knitting and get the historical legacy bit. However, I've never been so sure what distinguished her patterns.

And then I began the BSJ. Oh holy mother of all knitterly things! What kind of mind conceives of such a thing? It's knit flat, all one piece and when you get toward the end of it, it's shaped kind of like a giant manta ray. Then somehow, you fold it up and surprise! - you have a baby jacket. I mean seriously, it's designed in 3D! That's it; I've drunk the kool-aid. Elizabeth Zimmerman is pure genius.

I scored the buttons at Vickie's and really, I adore them.

I also finished one of my test knits. Karen, from my Rav group (who designed the Viking Bag of last summer) designs such lovely things. I was very honored to test knit for her. And lookee what Val's yet to be born baby girl gets:

The pattern is called Verdandi. It was a great knit and my first time knitting a top down sweater. Annnnd get this: it has absolutely no seams. That's right - no finishing except for weaving in ends, adding buttons and blocking (which by the by, I did not do...yet)

drive by...

2009-08-16T22:53:00.005-04:00

ugh! i've been crazed with work and the never-ending housemate search. but, one of my co-workers is celebrating her 60th birthday tomorrow. she is one of the most vibrant, colorful women ever (and swears like a sailor, which cracks me up to no end). she wears bright colors, seems to favor blues and greens and also sports fun socks frequently. so, in honor of her landmark birthday, i made her:

yep, yet another pair of broadripples!!!

because i'm too tired/lazy/behind on life to be original, i swiped from my project page...

Soph’s bday is 8/17; nothing like waiting til the last moment…(note: i started these 8/4)

I’ll be trying my hand at magic loop for the first time.

changed to DPNs for heel because i couldn't imagine how the whole magic loop thing worked through dividing for heel, working gusset, etc.

8/12 riiight, it will be nothing short of a miracle if these get finished in time. started the second sock (without being completely done with the first) @ 8pm. yikers.

also just remembered this is the yarn/pattern combo that led to my knitter’s stigmata. ouch.

8/14 wowsa! somehow finished with time to spare. and really finished, as in all ends are wound in & they are ready to go. holy smoly.

i still believe this yarn/pattern combo is absolutely to die for. seriously. even my LYSO who strongly dislikes the fixation yarn found herself thinking about casting a pair on. if you (or the intended recipient) can enjoy bright colors, you just can’t go wrong with this combo.

word to the wise though - i feel the yarn really sticks on bamboo needles, so tend toward my nickel plated DPNs. however, with the stretch factor and k2tog’s i did find myself with knitter’s stigmata from pushing those pointy needles through. using the magic loop method on the legs helped a great deal. i think slightly more blunted any metal needles would be wise. darn, darn my love for super pointy needles!

Clap update

2009-07-26T16:44:00.000-04:00

Quick clap update. while in DC visiting mom I thought I was going to finish that clap finally. In my zeal, I was whipping along and got to the last skein. I knit it in and was closing up on completion...when I noted I still unaccountably had two skeins left.

Ummmm.

Yeah, waaaaaaaaaay too small.

I couldn't bring myself to rip out the entire skein. Just. Could. Not. So, it went for a long nap. Thankfully, Gail from the LYS knitting group apparently really likes rippping things back (huh?). She did it in about 3 seconds this week. It is on stitch holders (the needle having been immediately used to start the BSJ) until I can face it again.

Oh, baby, I'm surprised...

2009-07-26T15:54:00.008-04:00

My dear old friend/former housemate is having herself a babeeeeee!

Just in time, my LYSO announced Elizabeth Zimmerman's much made Baby Surprise Jacket as the next KAL. Since I've been working the test knit baby sweater, I almost resisted - until Vicki made me touch the suggested yarn. Whoa nelly, I could not wait to get my hands in it! I am using Fiesta Yarn's Boomerang in Caribbean. It is so super yummy. Bright, delicious colorway that will work whether Heidi births herself a boy or a girl and fabulously soft and springy.

I've been unable to put it down. This pattern is insane. How on earth does anyone think out such a thing? Seriously, it is designed in 3-D. You get some weird schmooshy thing that somehow folds perfectly into a sweater. I get why EZ is considered a genius now.

So, I was tearing along. Bought the yarn last Thursday and it looked as though I'd finish it tonight except...I am about two (maybe three) bloody yards short on yarn. ugh. I've sent Vickie a message asking her to pull some out for me to pick up tomorrow. Soooooo close....

Test knitting???

2009-07-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

I've often seen projects tagged as 'test knits' on rav. It has struck me as exciting to be among the first to try out a pattern. Alas, it has also seemed to me that those who test knit ought to be very, very good knitters, with a fine eye for detail and a good degree of perfectionism. So, you know - very, very not me.

Yet somehow... there are two projects I've started - as a test knitter. My dear friend Karen from the Rav boards (who designed the Viking Bag) teased us with a photo of a baby cardigan featuring the viking cable. I immediately wanted to make one up in a pink yarn. She hadn't written up the pattern at the time, but said she planned to do so. Soon after the tease, a co-worker shared she was pregnant with a girl baby. Well, I became very ardent in soliciting the pattern, in English and she finally wrote it up and translated it to English. All she needed was test knitters. Can you say amen?!?!? So, now I am test knitting it. I fell in love with a deep magenta yarn from Jojoland.

Karen is a goddess of design and so I expected absolutely no snags. She's got that eye for detail and perfectionism I wish I had. I was weirdly proud of myself for finding a tiny miscount/typo and alerting her. It made me feel useful in an odd way. Now, I've never knit a top down sweater and am a little nervous now that I've gotten to the section that divides out the sleeves, etc. Thank goodness she's just an email away to talk me through it!

At the same time, my favorites list was exploding with shawls in my attempt to find the perfect project for the Silk Noir I'd picked up. I think I've fav'd well over 100 shawls trying to find the one that would demand to be made - while also getting me past my fear of large lace projects and triangular knitting. And then I came across the perfect, dreamy beyond dreams shawl...

And it was available for free download...!

ummm... in Finnish.

argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, being tenacious (right?) I began scouring the net for an English translation. And... there was none to be found. I wrote pretty much every English speaking person who'd made the shawl. None could provide a translated pattern. Most said it was easy enough to follow the charts. That's great, except I've never done a large, lacey, triangular shawl and so charts without very detailed instruction were insufficient - no matter how clear they were to others. argh, argh, argh.

Eventually, I wrote the designer, expressing my deep admiration of her creation and asking her to please let me know should she ever translate it to English.

Lo and behold, as it turns out she was in the process of translating it and needed.... (can you guess) test knitters! I explained I was a complete novice at large, lace, triangular shawls but was willing if she felt such a perspective would be useful. I got the pattern two days later - yahooo-ey!!!!

Here's the super yummy Silk Noir:

Fingers crossed!

Oops

2009-07-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

Almost forgot this in all the excitement I felt over Caden's sweater! But, in other news, I wrapped up a long standing, just knit on it randomly project. It's called the EZ Gansey (not Elizabeth Zimmerman, just EZ as in takes almost no actual smarts, per se):

It's super comfy.

But really, it's all about Caden's RHJ for me. That, I love above all knitted things right now.

A little hooking

2009-07-18T16:15:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to learn to crochet forever. I really like the look of crocheted projects in general, but also looove knit projects with crochet accents. I've even got a nice set of hooks. I've been going back and forth on actually learning and then stumbled upon a really cool site with videos. I taught myself how to make a chain and then how to work one stitch - the single crochet stitch. I made a little headband:
hee hee...

Caden's 2008 Sweater - complet-o

2009-07-16T15:02:00.002-04:00

Okay, a lot to catch up on and I'm way tired so, first things first...

Caden's 2008 Sweater. I was zipping along nicely having chosen to frog the original in favor of a cable-filled sweater with a bulkier yarn. I'd chosen Cascade's Bulky Tweed in a yummy red. I loved it and was moving along quite well when I realized I was going to run out of yarn long before completing the project. I was also due to head out of town and thus found myself needing to get some and quickly. I found some online on ebay and I ordered it right up. The seller was super nice and sent it out pronto once I explained my dilemma. Good to go, right? Eh, not so fast...

I'd failed to note the seller was selling the 220 Tweed... and I had the 128. So, while I got some yummy Cascade 220 in plenty of time, I still did not have what I needed to complete the project. I spent the next several days calling and driving all around MA in search of my yarn and.... none to be found. I mean 'none' and I went everywhere (including into Boston during rush hour - ugh). There was not enough time for an online order and I was stuck.

But, I am tenacious. So, I went onto the Cascade website, noted all the potential sellers along the route from here in Boston to Mom's in MD and began calling...

I finally found a seller who assured me she had plenty in stock and double checked to make sure she had the correct color, etc. and she did. And, she was going to be open late the night I was driving down to Mom's. Yay! The fantabulous seller was Woolworks, Inc - outside Baltimore.

Now I just had to make it to her in time...

Let me tell you, I flew on the drive down. I'm not sure I've ever pushed my car and the laws of traffic so hard. I made NJ in under three hours. Let me restate that: I drove from Boston to NJ in under three hours, with traffic. Nuts. But I made it in time and even scored some Alchemy yarn...

I have declared Alchemy Silk Purse as my absolute dream yarn. I cannot imagine when I'll be able to afford enough for a pattern I want, but I love, love, love it. They had some Silk Purse at the store, but only in a cream color. I adore the Desert Song colorway. They had Desert Song, but only in the Silk Straw. One of the women assured me it was yummy when knit up so...

Isn't it lovely???

But, back to Caden's sweater. The woman at the store had pulled the yarn for me and so I got back to work. The hood d*mned near took me out. Hoods are hugmongous in ways you'd never expect. A hood in moss/seed stitch is close to torture. But lookee here....

back - mmm, I LOVE cables

front - and really love how they flow into the hood...

Just another Monday night...

2009-07-06T20:18:00.007-04:00

Just another Monday night in my neck of the woods...

I came home tonight to signs on my street saying "No Parking for Sunsetters." I'd no idea what that meant and was pretty much too dog-tired from yesterday's drive up from DC to care. I thanked the universe once again for off-street-parking and went up. I was just settling in for a little nap (did I mention the monstrous commute from DC last night?) and suddenly heard something I couldn't quite identify. Imagine my (happy) surprise to step onto my porch and see this:

Aren't they cute? They're called the Sunsetters. Here's a blurb on them from my city's website: The S********* Sunsetters are a youth performance troup, performing a mix of classic Broadway show tunes and modern musicals for residents throughout the summer. Comprised of 30 members, ages 11-18... The Sunsetters were a popular singing and dancing group throughout the 1970s and 80s, and has since made a popular comeback. In addition to shows in residential neighborhoods beginning June 26th, the group will perform at the city's Independence Day Fireworks Celebrations, ArtBeat, and the Mayor's Senior Picnic.

Caden and the Clap

2009-06-25T23:42:00.008-04:00

The clappie continues onward. I am closing out the 3rd skein. I think I've decided to go with five skeins instead of six. It feels like it will be plenty long after five and I'm not entirely sure I have the need or stamina for six. The color variations among this same colorway, same dye lot yarn continue to obsess/amuse/frustrate me.

I'm currently pretending that the color changes won't be as dramatic once all the dropped rows are dropped and it's blocked out. Or that I actually find them interesting and character-giving. Or that since I kind of love each variation individually, having them all on one project is fine, just fine-thank you very much. Or... well, I dunno, whatever will get me through the urge to frog and/or cast on a new one I might like better.

In positive Clap news I really, really, really like how sharp the pre- and post-dropped rows look. I'm twisting the stitches before and after on both the knit and purl sides. I think the result is a much crisper line. I'll have to take close up photos to convey what I mean. This silky mal is actually letting me drop rows, too. It might be that I've learned the yarn more, but it seems more than that. I am pretending it's the difference in tension due to the wonderfully twisted stitches.

And for a little clap break, I finally really, truly decided I deeply, irrevocably disliked working Caden's 2008 sweater (found here) and came to accept there was no way I was going to force myself to finish it before 2009 ended. While at Windsor Button for WWKIP/Pride, I scored some yummy yarn.

It is Cascade Yarns 128 Chunky Tweed. I got it cause I grew a little fond of tweedy yarn working on Emma's Viking Bag. And I figured I needed a quick knit - and a kid's project on bulky yarn should be that. And I didn't want to give him another blue sweater, so the red appealed to me. And it was on huge, mega-sale. Score.

I'd fallen in love with Zoe Mellor's Robin Hood Jacket (RHJ). Unfortunately, it's a pattern I can't just download on Ravelry (gasp), and I was feeling pressured to start a project. I hunted around literally through several hundred patterns on Rav. I found many I adored, but the RHJ kept calling to me. Finally, I bit the bullet and bought her book, Adorable Knits for Tots: 25 Stylish Designs for Babies and Toddlers. It's a great book with a lot of awesome patterns. Unfortunately it runs sizes 1-3 years and Caden is three next week. Thank goodness I tend to knit big.

So with yarn in hand and neat, shiny book for pattern, I finally cast on Caden's 2008 sweater-Robin Hood (for real this time). I got a good start on it on the needle size suggested, but it looked a little sloppy-ish to my eye. I frogged it and went down on needle size and like it far more. I've gotten as much done on it as I had on the Devan and am not feeling overly fatigued by it yet. Good sign.

I have about 1.5-2 pattern repeats til I'm done with the back. Unlike what I do historically, I am going to mix it up a little and work a sleeve, then front, then sleeve, then front. I am constantly getting the back and fronts of something done and then thinking "Yay, only sleeves left!" and then getting completely thrown (and often disheartened) by how long sleeves actually take to knit up. Hopefully, this will make it all move more smoothly. Overall though, I've no real complaints. The yarns feels good and knits up nicely and I still really like the pattern. Some had written how much attention it required. I'm not really finding that. I'd pretty much learned the pattern before completing the first repeat of it. I think it's because I can read the cables now (thank you Must Have Cardi and Viking Bags; I do believe I've got the cable thing now!). I am still amused by working with a tweedy yarn and it's coming along quickly thus far. The only caveat I'd add is that I'd forgotten how bleeding heavy cabled bulky yarn can be. Oy, it's murder on the wrists after working with the silky mal.

Soooo, WIPs currently going now include (but are not at all limited to, since I know there's a bunch hibernating and/or forgotten): halloween orange clappie, red clappie, blue/green/purple clappie, Caden's 2008 RHJ, Emma's Viking Bag, my WEBS score jawbreaker, the KAL swirl shawl (though I am 99.7777% sure I am going to frog that baby), the Pink Amanda hat, my new Cookie A socks (more to come on those later) and a pair of surprise gift socks. Oh, and I still need to find the perfect project for the Silk Noir I scored a couple of weeks ago! So, yeah.....

a little something new

2009-06-21T02:48:00.003-04:00

got home and couldn't sleep. also couldn't contemplate the many colored clappie (though i love how nice the stitches on either side of my ladder rows look. more on that later...) somehow it made random sense to me to try something new, as though that would help me sleep.

i've been getting lots of nudges and supportive pokes to finally try my hand at crochet. a former co-worker taught me a basic stitch, but i promptly forgot it. so i checked out a few videos on youtube and after many failed starts made this little bit:

it's just a tiny little thing, but it's a start!

silky mal misgivings

2009-06-20T15:03:00.003-04:00

i am having some silky mal misgivings. i am referring to the silky merino yarn from malabrigo. i've written about it several times - both this specific yarn and malabrigo wools in general. i extolled their virtues, marvelled over the colorways and softness. i still feel strongly that their yarns are about the softest i've ever laid fingers on and their colorways are among the most beautiful i've ever seen. but i am having misgivings.

it seems to me the good people of malabrigo may have decided that since they make some of the most beautiful, deliciously soft yarn, they can afford to be a little 'sloppy' elesewhere. specifically, i have two pseudo-complaints.

tangles. i bought six skeins of the silky mal on my last jaunt and have spent just over six hours detangling yarn. more than an hour a skein does not a happy girl make. not all were unwindable, but of the two that were - they were a real mess. one took over four hours to get wound. not okay.

variances in colorways. okay, let me repeat, i looooove this 'indiecita' colorway. i love it in all it's varied representations. unbeknownst to me, i managed to buy three very distinctively different versions of the indiecita colorway. all contain gorgeous shades of greens, golds, purples and blues. all contain various hues of these colors. but of the six skeins i bought, two are distinctly more purple, two are disctinctly more blue, one is ultra green and one is mostly green. this is after we made sure all six were from the same dye lot and then also did a visual check for uniformity. not okay.

now of course i didn't note these hugmongous color variations until well, well into the second skein of my clappie. somewhere close to 80% into this skein, i stopped to look at photos i'd taken just after adding it. imagine my surprise to see this:

riiiiiiiiiiiight, my clappie went from bright primarily green to bluish purple. yeah, super. but i was about 80% into the bluish purple skein and hadn't yet wound the others (cause did i mention the tangles?!?!?!? after the two hour untangling debacle i'd decided to only wind two at a time, to preserve my sanity). i looked at them and it seemed the rest were more bluish. so i had options, frog the entire thing (um, did i mention this is the third clappie i've cast on in two weeks - no way!) or decide that i fully intended one brighter, greener end, with darkening, bluing happening as i went.

so yeah, let's try that.

however, when i went to wind another skein today, guess what? yep - that's when i discovered my third color combo. i decided it would be wise to wind em all and see what i got and try to do some planning. after 4 hours - yes i timed it - untangling yet another skein, i realized the three distinct color variances i acquired from one bloody dye lot. i tried to photograph one of each, but with another overcast day, this was
the best i could do:

counter-clockwise from the bottom, we have: kinda green, primarily blue and primarily purple. these are far more distinct IRL. the photo is the suck, but is as close as i could get to capturing the differences. and none of these is really even vaguely the same as the super happy ultra greenish-blue i started with and was so pleased by:

since i already have greenish then bluish, my plan is to go forward with the two purplish, then go out with blue and then green on the end. we’ll see.

i’m kind of bummed about this, but am moving forward nonetheless and hoping for the best.

in any case, lesson learned. we did make sure all skeins were from the same dye lot and double checked for colorway uniformity, but apparently that is not suffucient. not by a long shot. i will never again use this yarn without winding all skeins beforehand and triple checking.

naturally, i will have to devote an entire day to this because of the endless detangling.

after which i will likely not even want to knit whatever bloody thing i bought the yarn for in the first place.

so, ummmm....yeah, silky mal misgivings.

and now, it seems i have a wee clap problem

2009-06-14T15:42:00.013-04:00

soooo, i have been working the clapotis shawl finally. i do believe i was the last known knitter on the planet who hadn't worked this shawl. seriously. i'd been super excited last summer when i decided to do one post ravelympics. i spread my excitement to kimberli (ravelympics creator and team, then group leader) and a KAL was planned for last october. i was all kinds of into it and got the supremely delicious malabrigo silky merino on the cheap online, in a colorway i was sure i'd love.

and then...

and then life happened and somewhere between october and last month, i barely touched needles, nor yarn, nor even took a very deep breath.

but i've slowed things down a bit, am regaining my equilibrium and getting things back on track overall - including knitting.

so naturally, i got all excited about the clapotis once again, spread it again and am now in a small KAL. after a good deal of support, i finally wound up my silk mal. it was as soft as anticipated. dreamy soft. heavenly cloud soft and light as a happy thought. i cast it on and it was like knitting a tiny bit of heaven. it glided across my addis like skates on fresh ice. nirvana.

but then...

but then i realized that what appeared (on my monitor) to be a deep orangish-red was, in fact jack-o-lantern orange. and kinda bright. and - to me - kinda nauseating. i sought out my partners and they encouraged me properly - keep with it, i'm sure it'll grow on you,etc. several even commented they liked the colorway and would be willing to receive the shawl once completed. so, i kept at it. at one point, i noted there was alot of orange in my life - much of it by my choosing. so clearly i don't dislike orange per se. maybe it would all work out.

but also...

but also, the dreamy shiny yarn is a bit...sticky. the halo is part of why it's so super soft, but it sticks to itself. this is terrific if you're prone to dropping stitches, which i naturally am. stitches hold even if they're off the needles - in fact, they hold on as if for dear life. this is generally a good thing. but let's remember the pattern:

see those arrows? they are rows of dropped stitches that are dropped and then laddered all the way down. it is kind of what makes the clapotis a clapotis. it adds more drape and drama and is lovely. but with sticky yarn? pure, unadulterated unfun. with sticky yarn each individual stitch has to be unworked . there's no dropping fun when your yarn is holding on to each stitch for dear life. unh uh. nope.

so, what with the colorway that was causing me nausea and the painstaking unworking of each stitch in rows that were growing progressively longer... well, let's just say this shawl and i were fast becoming enemies locked in serious battle.

but let me reiterate: this pattern is hugely, widely popular. and that is because it is a great pattern. knitting on the bias is neat, i love the parralelogram shaping, the drape, the simple elegance of it - when others have done it. and this yarn? there are fan clubs dedicated to it for good reason. those good people at malabrigo are color geniuses generally and the yarn is soft, shiny, smooth and light. it is knitting beautifully colored air shot up with angel blessings and sweet baby smells.

and i was hating it.

so.... i decided to give it a little rest, lest i seriously harm it. but i couldn't shake the promise of the pattern.

and so....
and so i grabbed one of my acrylics. because hey, it's acrylic and thus not overly expensive. i've no fear of hurting it and if i do it serious harm, there's always a michaels or ac moore stocking plenty. and i love, love the color (autumn red). so i cast this baby on and determined i would work at least through one row dropping to see if it bugged me less when the stitches actually dropped. and it did. so i kept on. i also decided to twist the stitches on both the knit and purl sides to sharpen up the stitches around the dropped rows. i kind of loved it.

except....

except it is heavy as heck and as it grows, my wrists are really taking a beating. and being heavier, this is not something i would be likely to use before fall. i would just be a sweat pool wearing this and i was so looking foward to a light, lovely summertime clapotis. finally, acrylic doesn't 'give' like wool - just not the same kind of springy-ness as my silky mal. i liked it well enough, but knew it wasn't going to be my dream clapotis. and the silky mal was stalking me. i wanted to love it. it was so soft. ever since i first saw the clapotis pattern, i knew i wanted to make it up with silky mal.

and so....

and so, yesterday was WWKIP day and boston pride. i headed into town with emma and janet and we had a fine, fine day! lovely people at the WWKIP. lots of good conversation and knitting and the sun came out to dance over the scrumptious yarns. and then walking along the pride parade. just enjoying the vibe and hooting along. and theeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn, a grand finale trip to windsor button! according to their website windsor button has the largest assortment of buttons and yarn in the boston area. i've wanted to go for ages and just never have. it was magical. and ummm, they carry silky mal. there's one colorway i've stalked on ravelry called indiecita. it looked gorgeous - on my monitor. but then, the viena i used on that first clap looked gorgeous on my monitor too and in person it was close to giving me dry heaves. so, it was with a little skepticism that i approached the indiecita. but guess what? beautiful sea colors - with greens and blues of various, perfectly harmonizing hues that shimmer and shine incandescently. it was... dreamy.

so yeah, thanks to emma and janet:

and now, it seems i have a wee clap problem. over the course of fifteen days, i've cast on not one... not two... but three clapoti.

but, this last one? oh yeah - this is the dream.

results of my 'incident'

2009-06-09T22:24:00.006-04:00

my dreamy blue, super soft mmmmmalabrigo Amanda Hat got completed tonight. i loved working this pattern with this yarn. it was super dreamy! i think it’s a little snugger than i’d like at the top. i'd gone down a needle size as i felt the first hat was a little too loose on the head. next time, i think i will go back up a needle size for the second set of pattern repeats. otherwise, i love, love, love it. the color knocks me right out. i am going to try hard to keep this one for myself.

i really, really wanted to get gorgeous photos of my silk noir up. however, today was all rain and grey. according to the forecast, it's gonna stay rainy and grey for some time. so, here it is - though shot in overcast conditions.

this picture does this yarn no justice at all whatsoever... IRL it is far more vivid and rich and red-pink.

a little yarn incident

2009-06-08T23:12:00.001-04:00

i had a little yarn incident. i don’t remember where i was in the village*, but someone reminded me of my abiding mmmmalabrigo love and oops! - i accidentally bought some. it came today at work and is soooo lovely i almost used pencils to cast it on... just to work it a little.

then i went to knit night and… well, i bought more yarn.

i just sort of fell head over heels in love with the silk no ir by the great adirondack yarn co. it was like being possessed. the colorway is called ‘candy apple’ and it is unearthly beautiful. there was only one skein left! i had to have it, right? granted, it’s 900 yds and i did have the two skeins of mmmalabrigo right there with me, but….

…. wait, i think the mmmalabrigo fumes put me in a trance! yeah, that’s it - i was in a trance and in my mmmmalabrigo weakened state i made an unaccountable additional yarn purchase.

all that and i did not buy yarn to make me love the clappie pattern. which means there is undoubtedly another bad-girl purchase in my future.

please send help.

post script, some three hours later: i tried but i couldn't resist the mmmmalabrigo. balled up a skein and am three repeats into the lace background pattern of the amanda hat. the color is divine and working this yarn is finger orgasms.

seriously though.

*the village is a total win group on ravelry.com. it rocks, the residents rock. total win.

Emma's Mingus, revisted

2009-06-07T23:01:00.001-04:00

Emma granted me permission to use the photo she took of her socks. It's a much better photo of her wearing them.

It was through reading her blog and seeing her handknit socks that I found my way back to knitting. Somehow, her feet in the very first pair of handknit socks she'd received and that I made as a result of her blog feels kinda full circle-ish.

So much for project loyalty (and FOs)

2009-06-06T14:40:00.001-04:00

soooo, i am three repeats of the straight rows away from the decrease rows on my clapotis shawl. every bloody row is knit with a slight (but growing!) resentment. i timed it today as i worked the last two repeats and it takes me two bleeding hours to do one repeat. that means six hours til i hit the decrease rows. ugh and ugh again.

on the other hand, in an attempt to escape the clap, i did finish the last repeat on my second viking bag. i celebrated for a moment and then remembered it was i-cord time. i began and yeah, i’d kind of forgotten how tedious it can be.

i am definitely going to need to cast something else on right away. i’m thinking socks as it needs to be something fun and also something i can easily put down and then pick up again when i need some escape.

also i have a sh*tstorm of work to catch up on and am determined to do a thorough cleaning of the kitchen tomorrow.

it's a sad, sad day when cleaning the kitchen looks like a valid alternative to working a knitting project.

when you might be knitting too much (or too late at night)

2009-06-05T01:49:00.002-04:00

This morning I woke up with two stitch markers stuck to my face. That's all I have to say about that.

(other than I kinda wish I'd thought to take a photo)

Ugh, ugh and argh....

2009-06-04T18:31:00.004-04:00

sooooooo, i just started on my third skein for my clappie and suddenly kind of hate it. i couldn't figure out what was wrong when it hit me: (non-triangular) shawls are pretty much just really, extra wide scarves and ummm.... didn't i kind of swear off scarves just the other day because the monotony was unbearable?!?!?!

so yeah, i am at an ugly place with it of either giving it a loooong nap (which doesn't appeal to me because i am going through some sort of phase wherein i need FOs and, i think i might love it when it's bloody done) or buckling down just to get it over. argh.

i am loving the yarn (Malabrigo Silky Merino). it is soooo super soft and light and glitters in the light. sigh. it is knitting heaven. on the flip side (for this project), it is also kind of sticky and laddering down the dropped columns is work, i tell ya. however, given how much panic a dropped stitch usually generates, this is a lovely yarn for me. it holds even dropped stitches like it woolen life depends on it.

Done, given and modeled

2009-05-31T19:56:00.005-04:00

Kristen's graduation party was today. It was a lovely afternoon and I was able to finally give her the hat/scarf set I made. Isn't she the cutest?

I think from now on I am going to ask all recipients to allow me photos of them with (or wearing) their FOs. They feel far more special to me when I can see them with their intended recipients.

Nodding off behind the wheel

2009-05-31T10:21:00.003-04:00

So something new happened last night. I was knitting along on my little clappie peacefully, noting nothing amiss. Then as I was working the last row of my second repeat of the straight rows I realized I'd been nodding off while working it. Indeed, I realized I was nodding off quite a bit - while knitting. Yikers.

Thankfully, I was at a good stopping place. Here is where I was:

This is going along at what seems an agonizingly slow pace. I think because I've been working hats and smaller projects and had forgotten that some knits takes weeks or even months. My patience for CO to FO seems to pan out at about day three lately. I see a lot of hats happening for the holidays if this keeps up. By the by, did I mention I created the project page and bought the yarn and started a KAL for this last August? That means theoretically I've been working this for ten months. So, it should be done already, right?

The color combo had been bothering me. I think it was the orange where I'd hoped to find a rich red. It seemed a little halloween-ish to me. But as it's grown, it's grown on me. Now it seems very fall-like and that, I can live with. The yarn is as everyone says: pure fiber heaven. It is so smooth and light as a feather. It is knitting clouds really.

Still love those cables, baby

2009-05-28T19:49:00.005-04:00

I am making progress on the second Viking Bag.
I love the pattern even more now. Karen is pure genius. I think I am moving along faster this time around because I am 'reading' it as I go. It's somehow making intuitive sense and I've barely needed to look to the actual pattern to know what to do next. It's in the genius of the design - the cables actually follow a logical, knowable pattern. Fan out, come together; over, then under. It makes sense.

This feels different than when I understood the logic of the Irish Moss stitch on the Must Have (lost my mind) Cardigan (oy, remember that massive case of the dumb?). That was a matter of seeing that there was a pattern to the pattern. This feels like something more. I'm beginning to think that maybe (just maybe) I am starting to grow as a knitter - maybe even from being a 'knitter' to being a real, live Knitter. Knitting itself is starting to make sense. I've noticed I am beginning to be able to read my stitches on the needle - to see their slants and whether they are lying (laying?) correctly for what they are to become. There are steps and two basic stitches and I've known those for years, but this is something else. This is feeling the knitting, understanding it in some holistic sense so that it's not just a matter of painstakingly reading each small part of the pattern and working it, but understanding it as whole, how it's meant to come together and then working off that understanding. Nifty.

Of course, now I am sure to do something tragically wrong and debunk this. Must go and pay homage of some sort to the knitting faeries lest they decide to show me what's what!

Because Amanda rules my life now

2009-05-27T22:10:00.007-04:00

I know I was complaining (kinda sorta) about the requests for the hat-n-scarf set I just wrapped up, but I cannot stop knitting the bloody Amanda Hat. Seriously, I have love for this pattern.

So, I give you the Pink Amanda:

Plus, it is knit up with this super inexpensive yarn that is made (in part) from recycled plastic! So I feel totally fine with the fact that I think I am going to make somewhere in the ballpark of 40,000,000,000,000 more of them.

p.s. and i also started another Viking Bag, cause i love-them-cables-baby

All Scarfed Out

2009-05-25T21:15:00.003-04:00

Quickie post to put up the latest FO.

This weekend, I went down to MD/VA and had the best time with some of the most phenomenal women on the planet. That I am related to them is truly a blessing. What a lovely time with great aunts, aunts, cousins, nieces and of course, my dear mamma-san.

We had barbecue and 'sippies' - we laughed, we shared, there was a little dancing, and a lot of reminiscing. Overall, one of the best weekends in a looooooooong time.

And in between, there was (of course) knitting.

Finally finished the scarf to go the with Amanda Hat for Kristin.

Here's the (close-to-matching) set:

Overall, I am pleased with how they came out. But...
I am Totally. All. Scarfed. Out.

For real. This is a lovely pattern, written by none other than my knitting idol (aka The Yarn Harlot). It is impossibly easy to memorize and thus, can be worked most anywhere, anytime.

The problem, then? Well, it is a scarf. Which means it gets knit everywhere and all times in order just to get through the bloody thing. Scarves are endless. My patience and ability to stick with any given thing is...not.

But here's the super-fun part: I've gotten about five requests from people I esteem for the same set. Arggggghhhhh. Thankfully, hat and scarf season is a ways away.

Fav'd

2009-05-18T21:59:00.002-04:00

No photos today, just a silly admission.

I farking looooooooooooove it when someone 'favorites' one of my projects on Ravelry. I just recently noticed the little pink hearts with numbers under some of my projects. I had no idea what they were, had not noted their presence before. The other day I clicked on the one under my Must Have (lost my mind) Cardigan and lo and behold, it announced that six people had marked my little sweater as a 'favorite.'

Are you kidding?!?!?!

Wow - what a tremendous compliment! So of course, I went and clicked on all the other little pink hearts and sent spiritual thank yous to everyone who thought enough of whatever I'd made to mark it so. There weren't so many, but each one was embarrassingly meaningful to me.

Then, as though that weren't enough, the last two CO projects I posted were fav'd almost as soon as I'd posted them.

I was so dorkily thrilled, I could have passed right out.

Emma's Mingus revealed

2009-05-17T16:40:00.011-04:00

Emma's Mingus Socks, finally

So, one of my dearest and oldest (in terms of time known, not age) friends had a special birthday this year. She (and her blog) are what got me excited about knitting again. It was her photos of terrifically turned out hand-knit socks that incited me to try sock knitting in the first place and led to the addiction that has since had me squarely in its grip.

So clearly she was getting socks, right?

But this was a special birthday and so they had to be "special socks."

As is my custom, rather than take things in any logical fashion, I made decisions based on impulse and gut reactions. Having decided on socks, I then had an excuse to head on over to my LYS and you know, do what I do.

So, I walk in and Vickie (only the best LYSO ever) chides me because yeah, it's been a while. We chat and I begin ambling around - no plan, no grand scheme, just ogling and fondling until...

Oooooh, pretty! Ooooh soft! Me buy!

Now Vickie is a great LYSO and I like to think she has her regular customer's best intentions at heart. But realistically, she is also running a business. That being said, I am not clear whether she turned me on to the gorgeous yarns of the Adirondack Yarn Co. because she loves them so and felt I would appreciate their product or because it also happens to be some of the most expensive sock yarn she carries. Whatever the reason, those yarns are insanely delicious! They really know what they are doing with their scrumptious hand-dyed yarns and I love, love, love them.

But also, they had the perfect colorway. It is called Indigo and it is the most delicious blue/purple blend maybe ever. In indoor lighting, it is deep and very royal blue. In sunlight, it really comes to life. The purple turns almost neon and sweeps out of the royal blue base. Unreal. The colors are deep and vibrant and rich and most importantly, to my eye almost perfectly call to mind irises - which are only Emma's favorite flower.

So yeah, yarn decided.

Now, true to form, I didn't have a pattern in mind. Unfortunately, I didn't have an extraordinary amount of time, so I'd kinda hoped to fall for a thicker yarn, perfect for a quick knit. (Oh yes, because P.S.: I also decided to make her a Viking Bag as well. She'd asked after I finished my first one). But I knew this yarn had to be it, so the weight would get to decide me. And since this was the yarn and it is fingering weight, a quick knit was now waaaay out of the bloody question.

And then the perfect pattern came to me. Like a flash of inspirational light and I almost immediately got a headache.

Cookie A's Mingus Socks Pattern.

I love Cookie's patterns. I think she is a bonafide genius. Each and every one is detailed and perfect and lovely and this is my favorite among them.

But, it has been a pattern I cannot master in any way, shape or form. I have been working one sock for almost a year. One sock. Almost a year. I have tinked back and frogged this thing beyond all reason. The pattern is gorgeous, her instructions are always written flawlessly and yet, I cannot do it. Seriously, the universe could guarantee me a free hour to gather anything I want from the WEBS warehouse and yet, I still could not finish this sock. It is quite simply beyond me.

Of course it was the perfect pattern for this yarn. Of course.

Argh!!!

But, me being me, once the impulse hit, it was a done deal. The last eleven months of tinking and ripping back, the endless frustration, the slightly less than eloquent dialogue I've had while trying to knit this one sock be damned. This was it! Plus, it was Emma, my first best friend when I moved home alone in seventh grade, who drove me back and forth during my college years, who was the first person to try to teach me to drive - on a standard, no less, the one person who saw me through...oh, I don't know - everything from age 12 til about age 30. Though years have passed since we've been close, I'd empty a vein for her. Surely I could manage to figure out how to knit these socks on her behalf, right?

Well, as it turns out: right!

Emma's Mingus Socks:

slightly overcast daylight

early evening, using indoor light

heel - I love the detail of this heel

I have never worked a pattern so sloooooowly and so carefully, but I ended up only having to tink back a few times.

And, Emma's very own feet in them! Worth it all.

Finally, because they were so gorgeous, Emma's birthday cakes.

These were made special because in addition to knitting, being a great wife, mother to four [count 'em] kids and being an overall excellent human being, she also makes incredible quilts! These cakes were designed based on photos of actual quilts she's created. Unbelievable. I am humbled by her talent and that of the cake maker.

Soooo behind - thank goodness for 'occasions'!

2009-05-13T00:43:00.006-04:00

Terribly, terribly behind. But here's the latest FO. This pattern is insanely easy and yet...

...and yet the first four times I tried it, I failed. Utterly. And completely.

It is the Amanda Hat and super popular. I've no idea why I've been unable to work it at all - or why tonight I cast it on and finished about 5 hours later. Go figure. I think it's the pressure of it being a gift for someone having a party in a few weeks. Co-worker moving to Chicago in a couple of months.

And now I'm just bold enough to attempt to make up a matching scarf in the pattern I couldn't even do the first four times.

(Cause sometimes "bold" means "crazy," right?)

More for Mamma-san

2009-05-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

Sometime before Christmas (I know, I know) I settled on a hat and scarf for my dear Mamma-san. I finishes the hat in plent of time (I'm pretty sure i gave it to her, right???) but making a matching scarf was sloooow going- and got side-tracked by me deciding to love a different yarn.

Here is the hat itself (it's the Raisin Beret on Ravelry):
top view

on...me (oops, maybe she never did get it???)

It's cute enough. But as one knows, my dear Mamma-san likes colors. And she likes 'em vivid. So, when I came across some Noro Kureyon on sale, well I was compelled to make another. It is here:
inside view

top view

I am sure mom got this one, because she wore it to Obama's inauguration (yeah, I gotta write about being there soon!). Here we (Mamma-san, Yolanda and I) are at the inauguration.
Let me say that again: At. The. Inauguration. Whoa nelly!

See, mom has the hat on. (Clearly she got this one) And for the record, these colors are reallllly vivid and enabled us to keep track of mom - even in a crowd of 2 million people!

But the scarf kept eluding me. I wanted to find one the resembled the hat's stitch pattern. The Noro was no longer on sale and mamma likes her scarves long. Ugh. Finally, I simply used the same bloody stitch pattern as the hat, knit flat and slightly modified and sucked up the cost of the yarn. Here it is:

Hopefully, she gets it in time for next Christmas!

Tis the season

2008-11-19T18:32:00.003-05:00

Someone recently shared this with me and I had to pass it along:

I just received an email today from a friend that suggested when you make out your Christmas cards this year, make one extra one and send it to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Whatever could possibly stop anyone from taking up this offer? Whether you send Christmas, Hanukkah, Rohatsu, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Solstice or Yule greetings this seems to me a win-win invitation. Please feel entirely free to cut, paste, steal and share!

No words...

2008-11-04T16:07:00.006-05:00

OMG - I have no words.

Edit: ok, apparently I need to add a few words, because folks have been asking what this is. It is my ballot!! I don't know for sure how much we are not supposed to take pictures in the voting booth, but... well... I had to! So, these are photos of my actual ballot taken oh, so surreptitiously in the voting booth. Don't report me!

Ah, President Bartlett - miss you so

2008-10-04T17:36:00.003-04:00

I shamelessly stole this from Emma's blog. It was too, too good:

Imaginary meeting between President Jed Bartlett (if you don't know who this is, you likely won't get the beauty of it all) and Senator Barack Obama right here. Seriously, this is gold.

Love-Those-Cables, baby -Viking Bag, completed

2008-09-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

Things have been a blur with housemate interviews, etc. I've taken to working on projects during interviews. I think someone's reaction to my whipping out knitting tells me something about them. Sean, my housemate, was with me as I started wrapping up my Love-Those-Cables, baby -Viking Bag. He was duly impressed. He rocks.

Here's the bag, completed:

I'm not gonna lie - I loooooove it. Karen is a genius. She designs wonderfully - as further evidenced by the absolutely beautiful son she also recently created.

Anti-climactic...

2008-09-22T13:36:00.003-04:00

Ho hum, so I finally finished the Must Have Cardigan. I dunno. I feel like I ought to feel pretty darned happy. It's finally done. I busted tail on it and it's finally done. I should be happy or something, right? Instead, it's like: *yawn* eh, it's done *yawn* . May be a sign of the blah feeling I've got going generally now. Or it could be that this sweater simply ran its course with me a long time ago and now I can't even muster the energy to feel anything about finishing it. In any case, here it be:
I actually finished it last night, but wasn't motivated enough to take a photo. Today, I snapped one and it's not even a super good one at that. Maybe I'll try for better photos once I am feeling better.

Hump Day

2008-09-17T12:30:00.004-04:00

It's a slow moving Wednesday here. I am super sluggish.

Quick update on the Viking Bag:
Words cannot express how much I adore this pattern. It is one of the first projects I am close to shameless in pride over. Karen is brilliant and that center cable delights me.

My dear Mamma-san has now requested a hat to go with her scarf. It was a simple garter stitch, so you'd think 'no problem-o.' But, the yarn is all gone and was bought in Nova Scotia. Oh, and I've never made an actual completed hat before. Sigh.

WIPs

2008-09-13T15:30:00.012-04:00

There's a lot going on right now, so this will be another drive-by posting. Just need to organize what projects I've got in progress now.

Still working on the dang-blasted Must Have (been feeling particularly masochistic to try to make this) Cardigan. Everything is done except the last half of the second sleeve and sewing the sleeves in. All other finishing that could be done sans sleeves is complete. The problem is that I've lost all love of knitting this sweater. It holds no appeal other than I want it to be done and I want the bloody sweater. Fall has already started to make an appearance and I want that sweater as my Fall staple.

Started Caden's 2008 sweater. I am making the Devan Cardigan using this yarn:

It is ridiculously close in color to his 2007 sweater:

Apparently, I really love the idea of deep blue to match his incredible eyes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for his eyes.

Here's my progress thus far (it is limited):
that's the back in the middle there.

I've also cast on the Viking Bag with the good women from the Ravelympics team. One of the team members designed the bag. It is lovely. Karen (the designer) is so clever! I am using this yarn.

It was 50% at Vickie's, so I snatched some up. I am having some difficulty knitting with it. It is largely felted together and very, very stiff. So stiff that if I hold what I've knit up thus far by the needle side, the rest sticks straight out. It is heavy and stiff and does not really lend itself to cabling, but....well, did I mention it was 50% off???

It ruins my fingers to knit this in more than short spurts. So here's my slow progress thus far:I'm about 1/3 the way through with the knitting if I want a cutie purse. I don't think I can do more than that. But, isn't the center cable fun? Karen is due to have her first baby any day now. I guess that means I need to get on top of a welcome-to-the-world gift to send off to Denmark!

One of the other good women from the RavGames (I need an acronym for this: GWFTR. There I feel better already) sent me some of her gorgeous hand-dyed yarn that I had been coveting. It is called Pink Lemonaide and it is sooooooo insanely pretty. Michelle really knows her stuff! I started my first DayFlowers and Leaves scarf with it. However, I am really struggling with the whole dental floss yarn with larger needles thing. I've had to frog it several times and am now petrified that my attempts at lace knitting will hurt my pretty, pretty yarn. It is resting.

I'm also working another pair of Broadripples with yet another Cascade Fixation yarn. My love of this pattern and yarn continues unabated. Several work people dropped broad enough hints that these socks may well end up being my Secret Snowflake holiday gift.

I started to tinker a bit with my Mingus Socks that went so awry. I am not sure they can be salvaged.

Finally (I think), I began work on the Amanda Hat, using this yarn:
This Malabrigo is a farking dream yarn. It is sooooo soft and delicious! No photos of the hat itself yet. I'm not sure I love it as much as I want to and am going through some sort of torture-myself-with-cables thing. I am considering frogging this altogether and casting on the Coronet Hat instead. This is also an intended gift.

Oh! And another of the GWFTR sent me some scrumptious hand-spun and included all sorts of goodies. Check this out:
Seriously? It's like the most generous gift ever! Leah rocks! In the center live the handspun/handdyed yarns - gorgeousness. I just love the colors she has going there. The blues and yellows mixed with sweet browns are a particular favorite. To die for. The bottom three are super pretty mohair/mohair blends to make sachets. They are delicate, sparkly and such fun. Rounding it out - yep - that is fiber to spin! Oh me, oh my. The GWFTR have been encouraging me to try my hand at spinning. Apparently Leah was not content to simply encourage me. Oh no, she sends absoutely divine fiber. They are soft and fluffy and I just want to touch them all the time. Indeed, the fawn coloured fiber is an alpaca/merino blend that was so indescribably soft that I had to break the tiniest bit off and place it in my bra so I could have it all day long. Heaven.

Bre-Bre's Birthday Monkeys

2008-09-04T10:06:00.008-04:00

So, a couple of people asked about my niece's socks. It was super nice how cool and generous a few folks thought I was in giving her my beloved Broadripples. Thanks for thinking well of me.

However...

... the Broadripples remain mine for now. Let me be clear: if she wants them, I'll certainly give them to her. I love her immeasurably, could deny her nothing, really. But, as it turns out, upon reflection I felt the colors were a bit garish for any but me to truly love.

I'd wandered into my favorite LYS and the ever-wily Vickie had some gorgeous MadelineTosh sock yarn displayed right at the door. I saw a most gorgeous red. It was so lovely, I immediately knew it was a perfect color for Breanna. But, it wasn't inexpensive, so I tried to resist, looking around at any and all other red sock yarns in the store. I tried to buy another - also lovely and less costly - yarn, but the MadelineTosh was captivating. The picture truly does it no justice.

Naturally, spurred on by my love of Bre and the insane gorgeousness of yarn, I bought it.

I'd queued about 400000000000000 sock patterns on Ravelry. I was smitten by everything Cookie A. designed but felt not quite good enough to try her patterns. They are works of art, truly. The way she uses the various methods of the two basic stitches is just mind-boggling. I've admired and admired and thought: 'Someday...when I'm a better knitter...'

Well, someday turned out the be the day I needed to knit socks so cool that Bre would choose them over my dearly loved Broadripples.I think I did it!

I give you "Bre-Bre's Birthday Monkeys:

I love them! I can utterly understand why this pattern is the sinlge most popular pattern on a site with untold numbers of patterns. Once I 'got it' they were a super fun knit.

Take a little lookie at the greatness of the pattern and the way it complements the yarn.
Oh joy, the Broadripples may well remain mine, mine, mine and Breanna gets a most excellent, lovingly made gift for her Sweet Sixteen.

knitting through tears

2008-08-28T22:26:00.002-04:00

watching the DNC convention and realizing it is hard to knit through tears...

more later when my brain works again...

Mom's RavGames scarf

2008-08-25T13:28:00.004-04:00

Will add more info later. But here is Mom's RavGames scarf:

Isn't my mom cute?!?!?

I Almost Have a Must Have....

2008-08-25T12:49:00.003-04:00

So, I didn't complete my Must Have (Most My Mind) Cardigan before the end of the Ravs. sigh.

Here is the post I did on my Rav Team's thread, written at 4am on Sunday:

WARNING: this is not a happy post.

I am admitting defeat. I am proud of the projects I completed over the past 16 days, don’t get me wrong. But the Must Have was my big-Ravelympics-project. At this point, my knitting is wildly scattered. I have completed the back and both fronts. I blocked these pieces and knitted the shoulder seams and am about halfway through the buttonhole band. I have about half of one sleeve. In preparation, I’d read the pattern through carefully, I swatched and I even made a bloody excel chart. These were all firsts for me and I learned a lot from the process. I did these things because I knew this was going to be a huge challenge for me. I did all I could but have completely lost focus..and it just ain’t gonna be done. sigh

I’m calling it early because I need to put it down or really start to dislike it. My new found passion over knitting (thanks in large part to the Ravelympics and this terrific team) are not sacrifices I am going to make to finish this before the deadline. It will be my first WIP of the HO group.

I’m bummed not to be able to have this as a completed project for our team. I feel a little like the girl who falls off the parallel bars…Sorry all.

ETA: I think I am going to spend the rest of this time cheering you guys on. Watching your FOs come in is great fun! I’d much prefer that to angry, tearfilled knitting!

This is where I got to:

Mom's Mystery...solved

2008-08-23T14:25:00.003-04:00

Mom's Mystery Socks are no longer a mystery. Completed them today. She already has them on her feet and proclaimed the colors a perfect match for Mardi Gras. I will be changing the name on Ravelry soon.

Now, on to that blasted sweater!

Forty-eight hour countdown....

2008-08-22T12:43:00.006-04:00

It is pretty much exactly 48 hours til the end of the Ravelympics. I am super nervous about finishing this sweater.

The back is complete. Here's where I am on the front (I ended up separating them, by the by):

The second photo is my attempt to take a picture of the pieces together. Didn't turn out super great.

I need to finish the left (right?) front, do the sleeves, block, sew and finish.

I don't know if this is gonna happen....

A Massive Case of The Dumb...

2008-08-22T04:09:00.001-04:00

OMG - I need a special award. Seriously, I have the biggest dumb going ever, ever.

So, the blasted moss stitch that has been plaguing me - guess what I just figured out? There’s a pattern to the pattern. Just tonight, I realized that you knit the purls and purl the knit stitches on every odd numbered row and keep things even in every even numbered row. I mean, it’s so bloody obvious - the odds go odd and the evens keep even. I’ve knitted close to 350 blasted rows and I am just now getting it.

(truly, i believe this merits some sort of special award. grandest idiocy of the ravgames. clearly i should be on a podium.)

Blue Magic redux...

2008-08-18T00:50:00.006-04:00

Couldn't sleep. Soooo, better photos of the Blue Magic Socks:

That's better. Bet I sleep now...

The Blues....

2008-08-17T20:11:00.005-04:00

One WIP down....

I came back to the Blue Magic Socks for a break from the Must Have (a breakdown) Cardigan. They still knit up super fast and the yarn is still super scratchy. I bet they soften up with washing. They'd better...

I was happy I got the stripes to match perfectly. I didn't take a great photo of that and am too tired to do so tonight. I'll re-photograph another day.

Logic, who needs it?

2008-08-16T13:41:00.006-04:00

Even though I felt strongly that the Must Have and I needed a little break from one another, the ticking clock makes for serious motivation. I decided to go ahead and cast on the right front. Then, thinking about what a challenge this has been, I decided to do the left front simultaneously. Because yeah, I make a lot of sense.

It would probably be helpful if I'd ever learned anything about knitting two separate items simultaneously on one circular needle. But logic? Oh yeah, I defy you.

Nothing Lasts Forever

2008-08-15T23:54:00.003-04:00

Today was a tough day for me - knitting-wise and in other ways. The end of a really loooooooong week at work with very little rest. I am starting to feel sick - ugh and just really cranky.

The sweater and I also had a little falling out. We were able to continue to interact, but relations became increasingly strained today, with a slightly resentful politeness closing out the evening. I believe the main point we disagreed on was whether or not the back should be finished today or at some undefined time in the future. We argued, there was a bit of a tussle or two, but I won out:

I am pleased with the corrected cables. But it is time for this sweater and I to have a little space from one another, I think.

Grooving

2008-08-13T23:35:00.004-04:00

OMG - I hit a groove on the Must Have!

I came home from work and about the time I'd completed paperwork and settled in to some serious TV, I picked the Must Have back up. I'd been avoiding it. It was kicking my *ss. Between the painfully slow knitting and the errors, I was feeling ill at the thought of it.

But today I ripped through as many rows in four hours as I did in about seven on Friday. More than that, it started to come together in my head a little. Finally. I mean really, I'm not this dumb in real life, but I could not get this pattern. Until this evening. It was my first Must Have session that did not result in errors. I tinked back very little and looking it over, I can't find huge mistakes. Finally.

I added a few inches length and am ready to begin armhole shaping. I wish it wasn't so late cause it would be ideal to start shaping while I'm in this zone.

Here's the progress:

My arms are so sore though. Time for a break and little sleepy-sleep.

And then there were slippers

2008-08-11T18:54:00.007-04:00

Finished mamma-san's pocketbook slippers today. I showed some women at work and two asked for pairs! Maybe they aren't the ugliest things ever? I dunno. I am still fairly not in love with them. But hey, two quick and easy holiday gifts handled? That, I am a fan of!

And I do think it's kind of magical how this:

Stretches out to become this:

I elected to leave the flowers off. I pinned one on and it was too ridiculous for words.

It is a sock, afterall

2008-08-11T08:19:00.004-04:00

Finished the First of Mom's Mystery Socks. Yahooey. I cast on the second toute de suite to avoid the dreaded SST.

I love/hate this yarn. On the one hand, it is insanely splitty. It unplies at the drop of a hat. It is slippery as all get out and pretty much refuses to stay on steel needles. Knitting is a b*tch when you're worried constantly about stitches slipping off the needles.

On the other hand, it appears to be treated with something (teflon maybe?) that makes it glide across my fingers. It feels great. I know the Lion Brand Sock-Ease is supposed to be treated with aloe and both feel good and have positive affects on the hand, but this stuff feels like it really might be. Also, once knitted up, it is buttery soft. Insanely soft. And once knit up, it gains some kind of wonderful elasticity. In the finished sock, it feels like my foot is being hugged by velvet. In a sock, it makes for a pretty happy foot.

Also, I love, love the colorway. I truly does represent the mardi gras colors richly and accurately.

It's beginning to look like a sock...

2008-08-10T01:01:00.006-04:00

I've been hot to make mom another sock since that first crazy pair. When the ravelympics came up, it seemed like perfect timing. I was beyond thrilled to find a sock yarn in a colorway called "Mardi Gras." Must be kismet, right?

Here's the yarn:
It's Crystal Palace Cotton Panda. I bought in online from the Loopy Ewe.

Here's where I am thus far:
(i've entered the 'ick' - interesting that i suddenly felt the need to be blogging instead of knitting - hee hee)

I've struggled with the yarn. It has a strong tendency to come unplied whenever it wants. It's also slippery as all get out. I eventually decided I needed to switch off my beloved steel DPNs in favor of bamboo. Only problem? I'm missing one bamboo needle in the size I'm using. Solution? I'm using one floating steel with the four bamboo. It actually seems to be helping with my tension. Go figure.

Knitted up, this yarn feels buttery soft. So soft that I kind of love it.

And the mistakes begin...

2008-08-09T17:42:00.008-04:00

Another drive-by post. Gotta get the photos up so I can keep track.

The blasted Must Have is still in progress. I've about 11 inches of this impossibly huge back in. In my new-found love of all things sock, I forgot how slow sweater knitting can be. And I've not made an adult size in forever - never mind a larger adult. I discovered an error in the chart I made and that Liz and I spent an inordinate amount of time making printer friendly. Just ugh on that. But, just a couple of rows ago I began to feel myself in 'the groove.' I've not quite memorized the pattern, but I am starting to intuit things as I knit. Do you hear the heavenly choir?
Well, tell them to hush, because I just hit a hard, brick wall.

One of the things that tends to slow me down is my compulsive admiration fixation. Does anyone else in the world have that? Just me? Figures. Knit a row, stop, admire, knit the next row, stop admire and repeat. It slows me down an insane amount so I have been trying to quell the urge. Well, guess what? There are two blazing errors that went undetected until now. On the lower right side, I've done what can only be called an interesting interpretation of the Irish moss stitch for about three rows (actually, the error is in one row, but it knocks the continuity of three rows) and then....oh, then I completely missed a cabling section! Argh!!!! This is taking impossibly long. I cannot bear to rip back so far. I need to keep going to maintain any energy for the project.

View my shame:

I'm going to ask the good people of the boards (Go Team HO!) to help me live with this. If I have to rip back at this point, I fear I will frog the whole thing. And there's not enough chocolate in the whole wide world to help me deal with that buggerness.

The Ravelympics are ON, baby!

2008-08-08T17:00:00.012-04:00

Finally, finally! Too busy to write much, but want to get photos up. So, random photos for now that I will make sense of at some point:

My first FO: little flowers for mom's slippers

They're wee, but they were my very first flowers and I kinda love them. Two went down in flames before I produced these three. They took an entirely embarrassing long time. I cannot knit. Why do I think I can? But they scored me a trip to the Ravelympics Podium. Yahooey! Even though they're tiny, they are done, thus FOs, thus I was awarded the new nifty avatar of BobicusMaximus himself.

And a medal:

How is this ever going to be a sweater in 17 days???

Okay, starting to look like a potential back of a sweater. But in 17 days? Still seems impossible...

For reasons unknown, I started on bamboo single pointed needles. Um, right after that photo was taken, I slapped myself hard on the head and switched to the nice Addi turbo circulars. duh.

There is one pocketbook slipper:

I do not love this slipper. I don't love it a lot. A whole lot. My lack of love for this slipper may be boundless. No offense to the designer (actually, I think there are two) but this is not a project I find aesthetically pleasing. At. All. It looks cute as all get out when all folded up earning its name. However, when stretched on the foot? Ummm...as I said, I don't love this a lot.

No photos of sock yet. Gotta get back to knitting (and the boards).

Ravelympics Must Have (Been Outta My Mind)

2008-07-20T14:05:00.002-04:00

I'm not a nervous knitter. Knitting is supposed to calm me. This is currently not the case.

I've had two Must Have nightmares now... in one week.

This project is making me a different kind of knitter. The anxiety is the first difference.

Generally speaking, I've determined I am an insanely casual, by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of knitter. Pretty much every project has taken the same route: either I get the urge to make something, or life circumstances dictate it (since most projects are gifts, birthdays, holidays, etc are usually the impetus).

I then go the my LYS with a project in mind (e.g., mom wants a sweater, she hates cardigans, so a pullover). I flip through patterns. I find the one I most love and skim the directions. If it seems remotely written in a language I can grasp, I choose it.

I then approach the LYSO, show her the pattern and ask her to show me what yarns might possibly work. From the options presented, I then get to examine, explore, touch, squeeze, caress yarns until I fall in love with a color and feeling. I buy.

Sometimes, I fall in love with a yarn and then have to work backward a bit. But still, it's all off-the-cuff and based on my impulses.

Occasionally, if I am very smart (read: rarely), I look at the pattern enough to ask the LYSO about any parts that are unfamiliar. But mostly, I take pattern and yarn home, grab needles and cast right on. No careful reading of pattern, no swatching, no planning at all. Just "oh, pretty! I buy and make!"

The inevitable kinks that spring up along the way, I've been able to get by through trial and error. I'm not afraid to rip back. I'm a pretty even combination of process and product knitter. I like completing things. I really, really like FOs. But, I'm also pretty okay with starting something over and over and over, while I try to learn how to do it. People who get knitted gifts from me understand that the birthday or holiday or gift-giving occasion date occurs for me like speed limits: I shoot for the best and try to stay in the ballpark.

But this Ravelympics experience is changing me.

I am swatching.....

I never swatch (bad, I know). But, I am nervous about sizing. I don't think I'll have time to incorporate the upsizing for the pattern, so I am hoping to create a more generous sweater through tension and needle choice. I needed to make some swatches to see if using different needles and trying to knit a little loosely would result in a somewhat larger project. Using US8 needles, I seem to be getting a little more and may get about an extra 1/2 inch per every four. That might work.

I needed to feel out the yarn. I don't tend to favor 100% wool yarns. I know a lot of people love 100% wool, but I like a little blend to soften things up. My very first project was 100% wool and I have sad memories of actually pulling it apart because I tended to knit kinda tight back then. Blends usually are my choice. But, through the magic of swatching I learned a little about how this yarn knits up and think I'll be okay. Also, I read this yarn softens quite a bit with washing.

I'm terrified of the pattern suddenly and reading it closely and obsessively. As I said, I'm not usually worried about the ins and outs of patterns. I generally knit along, trying to understand what the pattern means and just rip out what is clearly wrong and try again. This is fine when I have no time constraints. I most certainly have a time constraint here.

Plus, this pattern has more things happening simultaneously than perhaps others I've done. Some parts embody a four row pattern, others an eight or three row, and another comes in at twenty-three rows. All at the same time. I think I've had to do this before, but I can't remember how successful I was at keeping track and how much ripping back I had to do. Especially since, have I mentioned, I recently learned I cannot count? It is seeming more and more short-sighted to take this particular pattern on for a seventeen day project. But, I've put it out to the universe... So, I needed to try to learn the ins and outs, to minimize errors. To this end, I've made many, many swatches trying to both understand and learn/memorize the panels, etc.

This has also made me realize I am not an intuitive knitter. Patterns are completely mysterious to me. In most cases, they will eventually start to fall into place in my mind, but this takes an inordinate amount of time. Each time, I try to knit along exactly as the pattern is written (as much as someone as haphazard as I can) and just marvel that something resembling the photo emerges. I rarely understand how it happens. I'm just thrilled every time it does.

But, I don't want to take those fun chances here. There's a clock ticking, by golly! I need to arm myself by "getting" as much as possible before that torch is lit.

To this end, I've also for the first time ever, charted a pattern. I hear tell that someone else made an excel file of the Must Have pattern. I thought to try to get my hands on it. Then, following nightmare number two, at 3am, I decided it would soothe me to quickly make my own.

That's funny.

It took.... oh, forever. But I did it.

And know what? Eventually, parts of the pattern began to make sense! I'm not saying I have it cold or anything, but there was a point while making the excel chart when I started anticipating the next bit of stitches. Oh, happy day.

So, I now have swatches. I've learned the yarn and my tension. I've read the pattern eighteen ways to Sunday. I've made a bloody excel chart.

I need to really commit to a color, buy yarn and find buttons (though I may opt out of buttons altogether). Oh! And I've ordered what I hope are fun, speed generating new needles.

Nineteen days til torch lighting...

Ravelympics

2008-07-17T21:11:00.002-04:00

So, I signed up to participate in the Ravelympics. As per usual, I got excited about the idea of something and acted long, long before I thought it through. I joined two events - two events. One is the Sock Put and I'm waiting to hear whether mom's slippers can count toward that. Otherwise, those puppies are on hold until the Olympic torch is extinguished in Beijing. Also, I am kinda itching to get to Mom's Surprise Socks and so would gladly work those instead. The other event is the Sweater Sprint. There I publicly declared I would attempt to create the Must Have Cardigan (MHC).

In. Seventeen. Days.

This is a picture of BrainyLady's MHC. Isn't it gorgeous?
(And complicated looking?)

Thankfully, I found another brave soul taking the project on as well. Hootsister, I love you.

Another Raveler, RenaissanceWoman, has provided some tips. Her MHC is gorgeous and her project honed my desire for the sweater. She's suggested I spend some time working through the sweater panels so I can learn the basic gist of the pattern pre-Ravelympics. I'll be doing just that all weekend.

In the meantime, I had a dream last night. I don't remember all the details, but it ended with me sitting in a huge-mongous pool of mostly knotted yarn, sobbing while my mother made a bisque. I've no idea what the bisque could possibly mean, but the sobbing in a pool of yarn is hard to misinterpret.

Hmmmm....Slippers, eh?

2008-07-15T19:06:00.003-04:00

So my mom sent me a link today with some slippers she'd like me to knit right up for her.

Let me repeat that with proper edification:

So my mom sent me a link today (my mom who struggles with most internet-y things beyond answering her work email and playing games)

with some slippers (slippers?!?!? since when did i start knitting slippers? oh wait. I haven't. Riiiiight.)

she'd like me to knit right up for her. (ummmm, okay-dokey. I'm so really going to drop everything [read: socks] and get right on that. I mean, it's like she hasn't even noticed the sock addiction. Despite me showing her each and every one. Repeatedly. And extolling the virtues or curses of each one. Endlessly. But slippers, oh yeah - that's what I meant)

On the other hand, she did give me life and all.

Le sigh. Next project: apparently slippers.

And that's all I can say about that right now.

Broadripple Done! (and "the ick")

2008-07-13T15:08:00.002-04:00

I finished the broadripples today with mixed feelings. I didn't want to be done. I kinda don't want to be parted from them. I'd been holding out on the last few rows, knowing the toe shaping would come and end our time together all too soon. That only deepens my love of this sock/pattern. I know all about Second Sock Syndrome. And what, with socks being new to me, it's all I can do to finish one before the next sock yarn or pattern catches my eye and entices me. So yep, got that whole SSS thing.

But, I have discovered something even more insidious: I have Foot Finishing Syndrome (FFS).

That is to say, for me, most of the excitement is in the leg (discovering the pattern or how a yarn stripes, etc), the still nail-biting turning of the heel and the zippy fun of the toe.

The inches between ending the gusset and decreasing for the toe are pure, almost unadulterated sock unfunness for me. It feels slow, monotonous, tortuous even. This portion of each sock I've knit thus far is when I grow ripe for the next. It is when I put the sock down. It is when I net-surf for new patterns. It is when I start fingering the other sock yarns. Sometimes (thankfully), it is when I pick up the last sock abandoned to FFS and work on it a bit, just to break things up.

I've wondered if this doesn't suggest I should learn to knit toe-up. Well, obviously I should. I want to learn all the ways of the sock. But maybe with toe-up knitting I could avoid FFS? On the other hand, I really dig learning the pattern without stockinette breaking things up. I like kicking it all off with the leg. I like it a lot even. In any case, each and every sock I've knit peters off somewhere around the arch in my foot...

...except my beloved broadripples. Thus far this is the only sock I've still truly loved knitting through the foot. I thought it was a fluke on the first sock, but having (grudgingly) finished off the second, I noted that had a nice knitter's high straight on through to the zippy toe action.

Clearly the intersection of Rob Matyska's pattern and this yarn is knitter's Shangri-la for me. I think I should probably always have this on needles - you know, just because access to Shangri-la gets kinda limited in the world.

To that end:

I'm flat broke and don't even feel guilty...

Oh no!

2008-07-09T22:50:00.002-04:00

Today is my super sweet niece, Breanna's birthday. She's fifteenand a pretty excellent person. I love her dearly and can remember the first day I held her as an infant. The moment she was in my arms, she owned me for life.

When she first "became a woman" she called right away. I took her on her welcome-to-womanhood shopping/fun day as I had her older sister.

She didn't flinch even a little bit when I requested being her friend on Myspace. And she doesn't talk back or get huffy when I comment on the content of her page or comments. Sometimes, she even listens to my advice.

She calls (or texts) me every mother's day. Every year.

In the past few years, she's even remembered my birthday.

When I called her, she sounded off. Her friend who was supposed to take her for a manicure had flaked and so she had taken herself. I love, love that she took herself instead of sitting around dejected, but she did sound bummed. Then she reported her mother had not wished her happy birthday (it was early evening time) and did not appear to be throwing her the promised birthday party.

Not good.

I am five states away. I work more than fulltime. I am mostly broke. I am in the middle of a sock knitting obsession.

Wait - I am in the middle of a sock knitting obsession!!

I ask her favorite colors? She reports: reds mostly, maybe some pinks and oranges...

Holy mother of heck! Damn blast.

Goodbye, my beloved first Broadripples. You made me truly love socks. Your colors enchanted me. I even bled on you a little, through my finally broke through the skin Knitter's Stigmata. Just yesterday I pledged you to me, me, me....but well, I know how to listen when the universe hollers.

Happy Birthday, Bre - enjoy the socks.

Broadripple love

2008-07-08T20:20:00.001-04:00

I am working on my 1st Broadripple socks. I say 1st because I love this pattern so deeply, it is clear I am going to make many, many, many more. I may never knit another pattern for socks.

This is the yarn I used:

It is one of the Cascade Fixations I picked up when the brightness of Mom's Crazy Socks rendered me unable to calculate color. But, guess what - I love it, too!

I'm about 75% through the 2nd sock and I am kinda... moved by them . This is the sock pattern that led to my "Knitter's Stigmata" and yet, I love it. It is the first sock I truly feel something strong about. I love the blazing color, I love the simple and yet, insanely wonderful pattern, I love the feel of the yarn (though I am not even the slightest bit sure I am knitting this elastic yarn 'correctly.'

It truly is my favorite - the one I most certainly will not give away. These are the oddly colored socks I will wear proudly on my own two feet. These socks I will pull from my feet and show others. I will proclaim, 'Admire these! I bled for these! I made these from brightly colored elastic string and metal sticks!'

These are the socks that truly passed me over into the "sock knitters" realm. I was sort of test driving this whole sock knitting thing - it's been pretty durned okay, I've felt satisfaction. But these socks? These make me want to knit more and more socks. Many more socks.

Woolly Ticks in July

2008-07-06T22:28:00.001-04:00

Okay, my supervisor - who is a nature loving, adventure seeking kinda guy - got flippin' lyme disease.

That's so not okay.

I was moved to wrap up my First Socks Ever and gift them to him to wear during his recuperation.

Then I thought of two things:

-- it's July. No one, but no one is going to be thrilled by a gift of wool socks in Boston in July. I don't care if 1,000,000,000,000 ticks bit him - wool socks in July is just... uncool.

-- they're my First Socks Ever. I should hold on to these puppies, right? Mom always said, 'There's only ever one First.' Sure, she may have been referencing something else (who knows?) but, I'm sure she'd agree the adage applies to knitting as well as any other thing.

So...I needed other socks. Quick other socks. Not-wool other socks. But, I thought maybe he'd not get them right away...perhaps as Fall sets in (um, I do have to realize I am not going to complete a whole lot right now, what with the newness of socks thing going on).

I know lots of folks seem downright disdainful of acrylic yarns. I have many things I am a wee-bit snobby about. Part of me really wants to be a yarn snob. But really? Some of the newer acrylics are kinda lovely - some feel so good and are so farking inexpensive!

I'm not a yarn snob. But, I am a compulsive investigator. When it comes to something I am the slightest bit unsure on, I spend hours (many, many hours) asking about, researching online, etc. I usually feel pretty secure with the wools I buy from the LYS, but acrylics from the chain store not even dedicated in an exclusive way to fiber arts? Ahem, I'm gonna do a little research here...

And so it was that while visiting with mom, I accidentally touched some Bernat's Satin. This is about the yummiest acrylic I’ve touched in some time - maybe even ever. Sooo very soft, so smooth feeling. And it has sheen, for Pete's sake - sheen! I couldn't resist.

Umm, I bought 8 skeins, without doing any research at all!

I've settled on the pattern and now have a yarn. We'll see...

Band-aids/Knitter's Stigmata

2008-06-29T22:47:00.001-04:00

So, I finally ventured to the Broadripple pattern for socks. I am knitting it up with my spiffy new knit picks needles and my pretty cascade yarn. I am in love with this pattern! For more experienced knitters, it may be a different experience, but for me - what’s happening with my yarn is something miraculous. There’s angling, rippling, darling little dots! I love, love it. My new favorite sock. If Rob Matsyka was here, I’d kiss him full on the lips.

About an hour or so ago (knitter's time, where does it go?), I noted that it was becoming painful to give the needle tip the little tap to go through. I remember reading somewhere someone asking about a type of thimble for knitters. I don't recall the message board, but there was an impressive array of suggestions for the original poster seeking a knitter's thimble-type thing. Band-aids were oft mentioned and I have them handy, so on they went. One on each index fingertip - right were I noticed I had developed a dark indentation.

Once adjusted to the weird numb effect, I have been happily moving along on the sock. I've been feeling pleased as punch that I was now able to give both needles a little tap when needed, without pain. It occurred to me the slight adjustment I'd made because of the pain in my near-to-punctured fingertips had been slowing me down considerably and I am tickled not to be hindered any longer.

Then the "I wonder" set it...

I wonder if coming *this* close to actual puncture points in my fingertips might be a sign I need a knitting break?

Conversely, I wonder if anyone who thinks so can possibly understand what it's like to be utterly in love with a yarn and pattern, and to be so committed to the magical outcome of these that knitter-stigmata seems a small price to pay?

Blue Magic

2008-06-28T22:15:00.002-04:00

Secret person's socks...

? admired the yarn yesterday and I wanted to give the new needles a full-on spin, so I cast these on. The yarn has a roughish texture I’m not in love with but the needles are a dream! Cast on with US2 needles at first, but felt it was coming out too big, so I frogged it and re-started on US1.5 needles.

6/28 - I am in love with my knit picks needles! Truly. Finished the first sock.

Mom's Crazy Socks

2008-06-20T21:32:00.001-04:00

Mom was impressed with my sock frenzy, so I offered her my first completed pair. We headed out to WoolWinders (great shop!) and she picked out the yarn she wanted. I tend toward sedate colors (okay, boring), but mom is a bold, colorful woman. She declared she wanted “fun socks” and selected a yarn to match her bold and colorful self.

I was a little scared…

Sadly, the first sock had to be frogged and re-knit as I was displeased with the color pooling after the second sock turned out such happy-making stripes. Mom insists she likes the mismatch, but I didn’t know if I could live with it.

It doesn’t show in the pictures, but I really like the rotating rib pattern I threw in. You know, cause the colors weren’t bright enough

I really tried to love the first round, but the pooling on the leg was driving me bonkers. I was ever so disinclined to frog the whole thing and tried any number of ideas to redo the leg only. But, socks are still new and mysterious to me. I wasn’t sure what to do.

Eventually, frustrated and tired and with nothing to lose except re-knitting the whole thing, I boldly took scissors to it. I cut the most offensive of the pooling away and knit up from there, making adjustments to the yarn every so often to ensure some type of stripes. There’s still two blotches, but I am learning to make peace with them (and well, they’re in the heel/gusset area, for pete’s sake - I’m not touching that).

So, it seemed like time for a fun little pattern , right?

2008-06-16T21:19:00.001-04:00

6/16 - found the pattern. drop everything. cast on.

6/17 - 1st sock done. think i’m in love a little bit.

6/26 - my super fun nickel plated needles came in. they’re so shiny and pretty. cast on second sock immediately. probably unwise to change needles, but i can’t resist them…

6/28 - the new needles rock! can't wait to full on give them a go. i got side-tracked by blue socks, but completed this project tonight.

It is 4:08 am. I cannot stop knitting.

2008-06-15T08:15:00.001-04:00

Actual email sent to my coworker/friends:

Dear coworker/friend,

It is 4:08 am.
I cannot stop knitting.

The mummy-sheet* has been calling from the other room for hours and hours, warning of bugs if I don't stop and wrap myself immediately. I've been unable to heed these warnings. I haven't eaten. I am literally weak with hunger. My hands are shaking from low blood sugar.

But still, I knit.

I haven't sipped my drink. I am dehydrated. Every now and again, I gasp in an attempt to suck moisture from the air. This has proven futile.

But still, I knit.

I have given in to the reality that I cannot smoke and knit simultaneously.
The surgeon general is pleased.

About an hour ago, I pondered how useful an adult diaper would be so I wouldn't have to keep getting up to pee.

On my last trip to the bathroom I did, in fact, bring my knitting. To pee. (Think I got four stitches in while I did this. They were clearly VERY IMPORTANT stitches.)
I was annoyed that I had to pause to engage in proper post-urinatory hygiene (i.e., wipe).

If/when you see me at the office later, please be kind.

But. I did finish the sock...

* oh, this needs its own post...explanation forthcoming.

Next!

2008-06-12T21:12:00.001-04:00

So, after drooling over all the pictures of socks, I wanted stripes. But, I'm the shy sort. I thought I'd start kinda subtle-like...

6/12 - yarn arrives. drop everything and cast on.

6/15 - 1st sock done. I think i want to try nickel plated needles. These tiny woods needles feel like toothpicks.

First Socks Ever

2008-06-09T20:47:00.001-04:00

1st sock done. And HUGE.

It’s not for me, though (thank goodness). I don’t think I’ve ever ripped back so much in my life. I think I re-knit it at least 5 times.

Apparently, I cannot count and heels are a mysterious & confounding thing.

Here is was in the beginning. Such a sweet lil thing. But look at all those needles! Hot dang!
Wow, all the knitting and I'm finally approaching the dreaded heel. Now, the nice lady at the Knittin' Kitten said most people knit to this point...

...and then come on for help. But, it's 2am and I don't think I'm capable of stopping...

Look mom! I made a heel! (and it ain't half bad, says...well, me..)

Finished! And egad, but that's a mighty big sock!

2nd sock finished 7/1. and yes...I made a bloody slide show. Of. The. Sock. Project... Somebody send help. Please.

Succumbing...

2008-06-04T20:45:00.001-04:00

I’ve been knitting along ever so casually off and on for decades. But socks…? Well, socks have scared the dickens out of me. Cautionary tales of heel problems! Kitchener stitches! And all those needles! I barely manage two needles - never mind four or five! But, seduced by photos from Emma (best friend from grade school) and Stephanie McPhee, I found myself actually dreaming of socks about a week and a half ago. And so, i succumbed. With trepidation…

In The Beginning

2008-06-03T20:42:00.002-04:00

Hmmm...okay, I've nothing really to say except that I've been bitten by the freakin' sock-knitting-bug. Argh!!! And it has taken me to a new world of wonderful bloggers, stash building and of course, sock knitting. So this will be my just-for-me space to record the madness I think is going to ensue...

Massive confession/reminder: I taught myself to knit 20 years ago for a boy! I was convinced he would make an ideal “2nd husband” at some point and thought knitting him a sweater was a surefire way to guarantee our future happiness.

Clearly, I hadn’t heard of The Curse.

But yeah, there it is: I taught myself to knit to impress a boy. I made him a cardigan. Since then, I have almost exclusively knit sweaters and almost always as gifts for people. In twenty years, I think there have been 15 sweaters, with maybe 1/2 dozen other projects tossed in. That is a pretty casual knitting life.

And then I was seduced by socks. I woke up one day determined to conquer my fear of socks. Suddenly, I am growing a stash. Who knows where this will lead?

ps. the boy in question did, in fact, grow into a wonderful man. a happily married - to someone else, no less - man. we are still friends.