64 Squares

Recently I went through the stash and did some reorganization. My sock yarn has multiplied. It’s multiplied a lot. Instead, however, of me doing something about that (making socks for instance or working on my sock yarn blanket), I decided to tackle yet another afghan. At least I have the yarn for it already.

So I am doing another Woolly Thoughts pattern: the Penrose with Cascade 220 Superwash. It’s done in squares and parallelograms. I’ve knit 51 of the 64 squares required. I think it’s going to be rather sharp when it’s done.

Recent projects

So as you can see, I’ve been productive. For someone who hates making scarves, I have sadly, been making a lot of them. This first is the Sea Lettuce Scarf by Lucy Neatby. I am glad to say that the hate never entered the garment. My Ravelry link is here.  I liked making the picots and I was endless fascinated with how the wedges kind of forced it to turn in on itself. Yes, yes, I am easily amused.  So this is a Christmas present for someone – haven’t determined who the lucky recipient will be yet. I’ve also discovered that I like short rows. I like how they can add dimension to a garment and now that I understand how to do them, I like doing them.

Then we have this tube scarf. Truth be told this was an unplanned project. I started it while I was waiting for another skein of yarn for the above scarf. I won a knitting basket at a silent auction and this kit was included in the basket. I have no Ravelry link to share well because I couldn’t find it on Ravelry. Essentially you cast on about 60 something stitches onto a circular needle, join in the round, and knit till you’re out of yarn. Then you sew up the ends and voila! You have a very warm muffler/scarf. I think this is going to be for me. It wasn’t terribly exciting to work on, but it was very good TV knitting. Nothing like garter stitch to get you through complicated plots.

And last, but not least we have my mom’s Christmas present, a pair of cozy bed socks. These are the Spiral Rib socks from Getting Started Knitting Socks, by Ann Budd.  Ravelry link is here. Mom has been asking for socks from me for the past year, but I’ve had a block about sock yarn. Sadly, I have no such block about buying it. Since I love my mother and would like to make her something she can use, I went looking for an interesting worsted weight yarn project. I made some adaptations to the pattern, but these were insanely quick to do. I started them on Dec 3 and finished by Dec 6!

I’m somewhat proud of myself

So this is me. This is me in an adult-sized garment that is not an accessory. In fact, this is me in an adult-sized garment that is not an accessory that I knit all by my very self. As you can see there are some issues with it. The sleeves are way too long. I trusted too much in the pattern and since this is knit almost entirely in one piece, by the time I realized that, it was too late to go back.

The pattern is “Elizabeth” and I knit it with the awesome Classic Elite Liberty Wool. Skills learned: cable cast on and mattress stitch (boy, did I learn mattress stitch).

Ravelry link is here.

Yes, it’s a scarf.

molly2, a photo by mlzafron on Flickr.

I know, I know. I swore I would never do another scarf.

So about a month ago, I go to the LYS to buy a novelty tape measure as a birthday gift for my friend. That’s all I’m going to buy, right? I’m at the cash register with the tape measure in hand and I happen to glance over at the wall to see the Molly scarf on display. The next thing you know, I’m buying the pattern booklet. I hold off on the yarn because I have a lot of that at home. But it’s so pretty. It’s this lovely variegated stuff and it feels good. I am resolute though and I leave the LYS.

Except that the yarn (Classic Elite Liberty Wool) haunts me for 2 days and nights. So I went back and bought it. No complaints about this scarf. It was a fairly quick knit. Not boring to work on at all. But that’s the last scarf for awhile. I mean it. Really. I mean it.

My first “lace” knitting

Lace Scarf, a photo by mlzafron on Flickr.

It seems a cheat to call this “lace” knitting, but I gather it qualifies. The pattern is Yellow Dog’s Trellis Lace Scarf, and it came out very nicely I think.

Unfortunately, I think it was too easy a pattern for me, because I got bored very quickly and then the scarf hate set in. Still it’s pretty and I’m going to have a little karma cleansing ceremony or whatever and it’ll be a Christmas present for someone.

The day I became a Knitter

This Wednesday, I was knitting with a friend during my lunch hour and we were talking about when we first felt like we were Knitters (note the capital K there).

I started knitting in 2005 during the waning years of the novelty yarn scarf phase. I knit a lot of scarves in various types of yarn. Some of these were beautiful. Some of them were um…not.  I knitted squares that made up blankets for coworkers’ babies. Heck, I even knitted an entire baby blanket for a friend’s newborn (using a dishcloth pattern “moon and stars” and alternating with plain squares in a variegated cotton yarn).

But when I think back. Honestly? The first time I felt like a bonafide knitter was on the train from A
lbany. I was making this.  I have written about the experience in more detail in this post. Essentially, at some point on that journey I figured out how to deal with a dropped stitch.

I think in that moment I became a Knitter.

And there was the Curve of Pursuit!

It is done! My version of Woolly Thoughts‘ Curve of Pursuit is complete! The Ravelry link is here.

I love how it came out.  I had planned on doing an I-cord bindoff to edge it, but the yarn and my energy is running low.

Oddly enough, this never turned into “the project from hell.” I had feared that because it’s just such a large project. I never really got sick of it. It was relaxing to work on and it looks fabulous if I do say so myself!

Daring to knit

When I first became a librarian and started attending regional and national conferences, I was appalled to see a number of attendees actually knitting or crocheting during presentations. It struck me as being rude to the speakers. How could they possibly focus on listening to the speakers while they were working on craft projects?

Fast forward years later. I am a fairly proficient knitter — my novelty scarf days are long behind me. Also, I have tenure. I can watch pretty involved movies and television shows while knitting; I can manage to follow the plot and turn out decent work. Do you see where this is heading? I brought my knitting to the conference.

I had picked out a pretty simple pattern that I’m doing in magic loop. My efforts to sit in the back were stymied by a presenter who insisted we move up front. I almost lost my courage, but noticed that in the same row was the woman who had taught the CE class was knitting too so I dived in and started my project.

Normally, I’m that fidgety attendee who can’t sit still. I’m that annoying person shuffling through papers. I doodle. I drop things. I nervously move my feet around. Knitting in my hands and man, it’s better than Ritalin.  I took notes. I paid attention. I sat quietly. It was an entirely different conference for me. I was focused.

Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Note: found that photo on Creative Commons. I think the knitters may be archivists. Anyhow, the photo belongs to LollyKnit and I borrowed it from her Flickr Photostream.

Curve of Pursuit in progress

I present the beginnings of my Curve of Pursuit afghan. So far I love it. The bitterness will probably come later.

I’m using 4 long circulars so there is less going back and forth with stitch holders, but it’s almost at the point (there has been progress since this photo was taken) where I may end up using stitch holders because the needles are not long enough.

Really loving the color combo.

Second mitt syndrome – conquered

I went on a mild jag with the fingerless mitts. This is the project where it all started to go horribly wrong. The pattern comes from The Knitters Book of Yarn, a totally awesome book.  These are the Princess Mitts (Errata can be found here). So I made these for my mom out of a skein of the Sublime DK cashmere merino silk. It’s nice stuff to knit with.  Unfortunately it didn’t have quite enough yardage. The camel color stuff was the best I could do on short notice.

So first time with a chart and I’m totally nervous, but the first mitt? knits up fast. It is also the first thing I have ever knit that I didn’t frog a couple of times. Heck, the first mitt is totally virgin yarn. Then I got cocky. The second mitt, well, let’s just say that if Mitt #1 is a virgin product–Mitt #2 is slutty, slutty, slutty.

I finally finished them and my mom loves them!