Meme

A very fun meme, but probably not terribly interesting to non knitters. Still I think it's kind of fun to take stock of what I've done and what I plan to do. I yoinked this from knittinhoney.

Directions are to bold those things you've done, italicize those you plan on tackling, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-Cord
Garter Stitch

Knitting with metal wire

Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks top down
Socks toe up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens tip down
Hats top down
Hats Cuff-up
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/second-hand yarn

Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting

Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (And probably never will, but I think it's super cool)
Continental knitting
Combination knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Participate in an exchange
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing spinning fibers
Knitted items for a wedding
Household items
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn
Knitting with double point needles
Holiday-related knitting
Teaching a male to knit
Bobbles
Tassels
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular cast on
Free-form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets (horrors!)
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Apple Mittens

Usually, I do my best to keep my crafting budget to a minimum. I alter the yarn recommendations on patterns, or I buy just one skein of a gorgeous yarn. I don't knit many sweaters because they always use so much yardage.

Still, I know that on any given project I might spend a minimum of hours and a maximum of months of my valuable time. Knitting is a very sensory experience- every time you sit down to work on it, you're going to run that yarn around your fingers and you're going to look carefully at each stitch. You are involved with that project. Knowing all that, what is the point of using materials that you do not love, or that do not inspire you?


The yarn for this project is courtesy of Grandma J by way of a Knitted Together gift card. Whenever I was feeling a little stressed or unhappy working at the farms, I had this great fund of happiness I could dip into on that gift card. And boy did I.

I could walk into the store, wander around, find a ball of something stunning and take it home with me, no worries about budget or if I'd earned it. This Dream in Color yarn was one such purchase of complete happiness. The skein is from the Classy line, a merino worsted with plenty of twist to keep the soft wool from pilling, and the juicy color is called "China Apple."





When I started in on these mittens, I worked my swatch with the bone needles and loved every second of the work. I kept stretching it out, looking at the stitches, admiring the evenness and gentle color gradation, demanding Brett look at it and admire it too. And I cast on that night.


Yarn: Dream in Color Classy- China Apple.

Needles: US 6. I don't have a set of these in double points, so I used two interchangable circulars.

Pattern: My own. Double cuff, Norwegian flat thumb. I wanted to keep it simple and let the yarn speak for itself. I might add a little embroidery to the back- something in an apple or leaf shape.


I'm still working on the second mitten, but they're such a fast knit, I'm pretty sure that they'll be done long before winter is. I'm guessing I'll have just a little yarn left over.

The Quilt Part Deux

Today I finished all but two of seams on the quilt. Lest you disbelieve, I also ventured to the Public Library to upload some pictures.

I really love it. There are mistakes. But it is a first try, and I tore out plenty of seams to try to get it just right.



When I took this picture, I had just started putting the horizontal sashing in and I was a little overwhelmed by the strong red. Having had a few days to look at it now, I think it's really perfect. The fabrics I chose for the blocks wound up being mostly blue with a lot of tans/browns/yellows and reds, some greens and some purples and blacks. I like the color distribution in blocks, and I think the red sashing helps pull out the bright, warm tones so that the whole top feels cheery in a very rich way.

I can't wait to head down to Heartworks fabrics here in Fly Creek and pick out a nice piece to use for backing. Mom, any tips on how much to get and how to put it together so I can start quilting?

And what kind of quilting should I think about? I've got all that space in the sashing to quilt. I don't have any stencils or anything to work with yet, so I've got a totally blank canvas.

Right now I couldn't be happier with it, really.

Wish list

Things I would like to be doing right now:

Running outside in shorts, listening to my iPod
Uploading pictures to the blog
Knitting on the back deck, warm in the sun

Life is hard.

Bone

Today I worked on the quilt. I have a few more seams to do on the sashing before I can move on to the next step, but it's coming together nicely. Brett said he liked the way it looked, and I think I do too, although the bright red sashing might be a little overwhelming to the blocks. I'll get a picture up after my next library pilgrimage.

For my birthday, Brett bought me a set of antique bone knitting needles.

Talk about a beautiful tool! You can tell holding them that they've been used over and over again, because the ivory is polished to a beautiful luster. Stitches slide off the way they would on metal, but don't slip. The points are extreemly sharp, but broaden realtively quickly, unlike the stilleto shape you need to keep fine points on metal needles. I've never seen a needle like this before, and I love working with them.

So tonight I whipped up a swatch with the Dream in Color in my stash. Remember? This stuff:


I really do need another pair of mittens.

Interweave Knits

If you don't know Interweave, as far as I can tell, you are missing out on one of the truly great knitting resources of our time. It's a quarterly magazine, full of interesting product reviews, essays about knitting philosophy, great articles on technique and page after page of delicious knitting photography. I can only aspire to be so pretty on this blog. The patterns they publish are usually close to my tastes- sophisticated, but comfortable, with just a touch of special pretty detail, eminently wearable without being boring. When I sit down to start a big project, I know I'll spend upwards of $50 on supplies and weeks of time committed to the project, so I want it to intrigue, challenge, and ultimately satisfy me. Interweave always has at least a few patterns I immediately like and a couple that grow on me. And of course, no one can be happy all the time, but they hit the mark more often than not. Go and take a look, then come back and we'll talk.

My favorite sweater this issue is probably the cover sweater, the Diminishing Rib Cardigan, a very simple, clean design shown in a pretty wheat color. I love the waist definition, the subtle belling at the three quarter length sleeves and the swingy open front. I want to make it immediately.

I also love the violet Silk Cocoon Cardigan. I think the neckline is probably too wide for me, but the wrap would be flattering and there's just enough interest in the bubbly stitch pattern at the cuffs and shoulder. The yarn is the fine and completely luxurious Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk. I very rarely consider the recommended yarn for sweater projects, mostly because it's never within my budget, but this sweater would be so perfect in that yarn it's hard for me to think of a substitute.

I will say that I don't understand the Watered Quartz Tee even a little. The big horizontal stripes and basic square construction make even the very pretty model look unfortunately broad and flat. The texture is appealing, but the whole shape of the sweater seems terribly off to me...

On the other hand, the strong ZickZack Tunic would look horrible on me, falling as it does a good foot below the posterior, but I love the way the drop sleeves create a little flutter and the cowl wraps you in warmth, despite the short sleeves and all over sharp lace patterning. I wonder how this would look if I shortened it to a more realistic length for my hips, maybe with that ribbing starting at my natural waist and continuing to just past the belt line. This sweater was not an immediate favorite, but it has a lot of apparent potential.

The first project I'll probably actually get to is the Baa Rug- a really cute moss stitch throw rug knit with roving, instead of spun yarn, on size 50 needles. I happen to have a whole bunch of chocolate brown camel roving that has just a few too many gaurd hairs left in it to be something I love spinning- this will be a perfect project to use it up.

Interweave also picked a number of accessories that I think are great including the Float Stole, Bettie's Lace Stocking, Net Duffle, and Blooming Cotton Scarf. Small, fun projects like that will be perfect summer knitting for when it's too hot to work with wool.


The article I was talking about yesterday was "Start as Many New Projects as You Can" by Vicki Square. She urges knitters to imagine that each unfinished project has been given to you by another knitter and you have free reign to do whatever you want with them. Like felting down a fair isle project into hat, or cutting (gasp) a cardigan into pillowcase material. This was an idea I had not thought of- my UFOs tend to pile up and I say, "I'll finish that, or unravel that sometime soon" and the prospect of actually tearing them up is painful and daunting, so I never do anything about it. No more! I have productive energy now!

In that spirit, I managed to lose one of my favorite, awesome fair isle mittens this winter, leaving me with just the one.

Any suggestions on what to do with one lonely little mitten. I can't throw it out because it's just too pretty and i spent too long knitting it. So what can I do?

I'm sitting with my laptop at the tiny little Cooperstown library using their blessed, wonderful wireless internet access so as to avoid killing the access we have at the house with Kbs and Kbs of upload information. I hope to make this a weekly pilgrimage so that I can upload photos here and then edit posts at home.

Oddly, I have missed the blogging. Knowing that there are people interested in hearing about them helps me focus on the positive and interesting things about life here. And since work at the moment pays the bills but doesn't do much in the way of intellectual stimulation, it's good to have a chance to try to write well about things that matter. And what matters to me is being able to create things.

Yesterday I got my spring issue of Interweave Knits (thanks Mom!). I will tell you all about how I feel about it and the patterns tomorrow, I think, once I've had another night to read the patterns and give it some thought. But the article I want to talk about right now was about starting as many new projects as you can. There has been so much new in my life lately that in my knitting I desperately wanted to actually finish something. And in January, I absolutely did.

I finished my mom's Bristow Sweater. So much measuring and resizing and seaming and a weeks long search for buttons in this frozen land and finally, at last, a sweater I am deeply proud of. Mom says it's snug, and I probably could have given a few more stitches of ease throughout, and added another inch to the sleeves, but hopefully it's flattering and warm.

Before I sewed up all the seams and wove in the ends, it looked like this:





I forgot to take a picture when it was all done with buttons and such, but trust me, it was a thing of beauty. And rather a lot of cat and dog hair I tried to eradicate without much luck.

I used Cascade 220 Superwash yarn and bought more than enough. There's two and a half balls left! It was a beautiful soft yarn that I enjoyed knitting with, though I did find that the red dye would come off on my hands when I worked with it for extended periods of time. Before I figured it out, I thought I was working my hands raw! I soaked the pieces about a half an hour before I blocked them, and then ran the sweater through a cold woolen cycle before I sent it off, so hopefully most of the color is now fast.

I also finished a pattern for socks that I'd been working on since the summer. I bought the yarn on a whim- my only non-gift yarn purchase of the year and wrote up a pattern inspired by Sophia Copola's movie about Marie Antoinette. Full of pretty vivid colors and over the top luxury, I thought the sweet pink of the sock yarn would be just right for a princess soled sock with a little lacy cuff and a picot bind off.

The end result was this:

The pattern is written and I'm looking for test knitters if anyone's interested in a free sock pattern...

I also worked on a pattern for a slouched hat with Linda's yarn, the one I talked about in my stash post.

The hat turned out like this:

This pattern is all written up and ready to be tested too...

Now, having finished and accomplished and whatnot, I am bored. I started another pair of socks and lost a needle with only one sock done. I started a lace project only to discover that my cat decided that she loves to play with yarn as much as I do and I had to clean up a living room strewn with laceweight.

Plea

Dear Spring,

I understand that you appreciate the drama of a late arrival. You do know how to make an entrance, after all. I know that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that anticipating good things makes them so much better when they get here.

But please, please hurry!

It has been such a long winter and I need a little sunlight and green growing things. I know it's only February and I must be patient. Do you know that your good buddy Winter has left snow on the ground since I moved here in the middle of November? Please, make it stop!

I say all this in anticipation of yet another snow storm on its way tonight. You have the power. You could make all this suffering end. You could bring us warm air and little budding flowers. You could cut our heating bill from the insane hundreds of dollars a month we pay just to hover around 60 degrees. I'm not asking for a vacation. I just need a little break.

So if you could just think about showing up on time this year instead of waiting until late April like you usually do. And if you were really really generous, maybe even showing up a little early to the party? Would tomorrow be asking too much?

-Sincerely
Kate