A Bitter Knitter

At least I have knitting to show for the time that has passed! I have finished one of the two projects I mentioned at the end of my previous post: This is the baby sweater I was talking about that just needed sleeves.  The pattern is "Oriental Lily" and I just love it...  More of these in my little one's future, methinks. I've also completed an itty-bitty pair of booties (pattern: Saartje's Bootees) which are just darling, if I do say so myself: And, third, my contribution to Knit for the Cure 2011 , a "Ground Flower Hat."  I do love the pattern and how the hat turned out.  There may be more of these in my future... In more fun knitting-related news, a couple of friends and I went to the nearest Yarn Harlot book signing  a couple of hours to the north.  Of course, we didn't just go to the book signing... we yarn-crawled our way there first!  The other two ladies I went with knit on the way up, but since the pregnant lady gets ...

Take some yarn... (well, not just some yarn.  Lots of yarn.  About 1200 yards in this particular instance.) Add some knitting needles, a few stitch markers, a handful of blocking pins, and an emergency crochet hook.  Wait 125 days (who knows how many hours... I'm not sure I really want to know that number...) and then, if the Knitting Fates have smiled upon you... ...your yarn will grow up to become a sweater. My NaKniSweMo sweater is finally all grown up.  *sniff*   More photos when I can get some one to take them for me--I'm just ecstatic with the fact that these sleeves are LONG ENOUGH for my abnormally long arms . Also, since my last post, I've finished another pair of socks: These are the first pair of socks I created without a specific pattern--they are knit straight from my brain.  They are also my first socks with afterthought heels.  I love the colours, especially of the variegated yarn.  The LYS I ...

Dear Pair of Pesky Purled Stitches- You hid so stealthily from me while I knit the sleeve of my sweater, waiting until the sleeve was soaking wet to expose yourself.  You placed yourselves on the sleeve right where it would crease at the elbow so that you knew I would see you every time I wore the sweater.  And you did it all to torment me.  You knew that being faced the wrong way would cause you to catch the light differently than all the other stitches in the broken rib pattern.  You wanted  to draw attention to yourselves and away from the sweater as a whole. Multiple people told me that you were just two stitches and no one would notice, that you weren't worth the effort, and that I should just let you be.  But you and I know that isn't true.  From the moment you showed your faces, you should have known that you were doomed.  I could not allow you to besmirch my sweater, and so you had to go. I admit that I was intimidated by you. ...

If I would stop stealth knitting, you would get blog posts.  I'm planning a post for late March that will show you what I've been up to in January and February, but you're going to have to wait until then for most of my knitting progress. For today, however, I have some good yarn-y news. I have finished all the pieces for my sweater! Yes, my NaKniSweMo sweater is finally cast off.  It's currently blocking (perched precariously on my piano) and looks like a puzzle waiting to be put together...  A sweater sized jigsaw puzzle... The second sleeve is hiding down on the piano bench.  Each sleeve took a whole skein of yarn.  Or, to rephrase, it took 200 yards per sleeve to make them long enough for me.  Of course, it was after  knitting all 400 yards (or 50 inches) of sleeve and putting the whole thing in to soak that I noticed the mistake below: Two stitches that should have been knit that I distractedly purled instead.  If I had noticed before...

It's looking sweaterish!  After 18 pattern repeats, I finally finished the horseshoe lace pattern.  I have successfully divided for the back and fronts and managed not to flub the shaping!  Today I begin the sleeves... all 50 inches of sleeve... but with how fast the back and fronts went, I actually don't think that it will be too bad.  (Of course, I'm saying that now.  Ask me how I feel about it later, when I'm done with one sleeve and realize that had I normal length arms I would be a third of the way through the second sleeve.) My niecelette (3yo) has discovered Fraggle Rock.  She called me the other day because she was watching an episode and the Doozers take up knitting because they can't build, which is what they usually do (for whatever reason.  I missed that part).  But they sing a song about knitting.  And I know you want to see it too, so I've embedded it below.  (If you find it hard to understand the lyrics, you can read th...

We're now over a week into the new year.  I've been mulling over the past year and what I want to "resolve" to do this year, so here's my 2011 knitting goal: Complete at least 24 knit projects. That's an average of two a month.  (Last year, my first complete year as a knitter, I finished 20 projects of various sizes, so I think this goal is extremely reasonable, as I was also in school for half the year.) Among those projects I want to: Knit a project with beads. Knit a pair of mittens. Knit a pair of gloves. Knit a pair of toe-up socks. Among my list of things to knit "someday" are the following: Knit an afghan Knit with 100% silk Knit with cashmere Knit a drop stitch pattern Knit a pullover sweater Knit a cardigan with buttons Knit something that has steeks Knit something with entrelac Knit something intarsia I also want to learn how to knit Continental and how to knit and purl backwards.  If any of these happen this year, great...

If there was an award for being an inconsistent blogger, I would win.  My last post was a month ago as I was one week into NaKniSweMo. I think I'm going to add November National Whatever Months to my "I don't" list.  I did get about 16 inches done, which I calculate to be 19,074 stitches.  Not bad for moving in the middle of November, but not exactly a 50,000+ stitch completed sweater. I still have quite a bit to do; It's not close to done by any stretch of the imagination.  But for now it's on hold as I frantically knit Christmas presents.  I read the Yarn Harlot's blog today as I was taking a break from knitting and completely agree with the statement of "I feel like I'm going into this Christmas with no reserves."  I started knitting for this Christmas months ago, and yet I'm still really pushed for time.  (That and my family is Christmas-ing on the 19th, which cuts into knitting days.) I haven't completed anything since my...

Good Morning (or whatever the appropriate greeting might be for the time at which you are reading my blog).  For me, it is promptly 8 am as I type this sentence and is the beginning of DAY 6 of NaKniSweMo.  Thus far I am nine inches or 4.4 ounces along in the knitting of my sweater.  In terms of my goal, I am 0.6 ounces (2%) behind where I need to be in order to finish by the end of November, but have knit 9724 stitches, whereas I only needed to be at 8333 stitches yesterday to reach the 50,000 mark, which puts me almost a day ahead in terms of reaching my stitch goal. Am I boring you with this?  How about a picture? Well, I shall leave this post short because: a) as I previously illustrated, I have knitting to do.  (I'd like to catch up that 0.6 oz that I am behind as well as knit today's full oz.) b) this is the only project I have in my active project basket, having officially hibernated the others for the month.  (Officially meaning I changed th...

My last blog post was two months ago... I have started and frogged multiple projects and am still working on some stealth projects, but I finally have things to show you!  (With all pictures, click to embiggen.) 1- Musical Mitts for Read Headed Sister This is one of the stealth projects I'd posted about previously, but since her birthday is now passed I can show them to you! They are knit in alpaca and are wonderfully soft.  She tells me that she loves them and that everyone who sees them is jealous. 2- Captain Hats 1 & 2 Some of the ladies at Knitter's Anonymous had knit this hat and I just loved it, so I knit one for a friend (tan) and one for me (grey) . It's a very fun, fast pattern (hooray for bulky yarn!)  3- Raspberry Chocolate Mitts for the Cure These were knit at the Yarning for You " Knit for the Cure " event and donated to Susan G. Koman for the Cure .  The colours remind me of raspberries and chocolate, hence the name of the mitts...