Blockbuster

Bust a Move

This weekend's projects are part of a whole bigger stash busting endeavor. I keep my small stash, UFOs & other knitting provisions in a cedar chest & I hope to have it mostly empty by the end of the year. I must admit that this is when it's advantageous to have several friends having several babies. Babies don't take much yarn. Here's the stash I hope to use up this weekend:

Love You Til Tuesday

Ahhhhhh....I love the beginning of a long weekend. (Since I got to leave work a bit early,) I get a whole extra day and a half to get things done around the house like yardwork and general cleaning...and knitting. I've got several things on the agenda for this weekend:

• finish 2nd sleeve of cardigan (completed a/o 5/26 11:42P
• put together "Lift and Separate" cardigan (blocking a/o 5/26 11:54P)
• knit a couple of change purses for some friends
• knit 3 blocks for a friend's baby
• knit a purse with fringe with friend's 2 yr old (completed a/o 5/28 1:56P)
• wash dishes (completed a/o 5/26 2:03P)
• weed-eat the yard (completed a/o 5/26 6:48P)
• clean the air conditioner (completed a/o 5/26 2:58P)

Huh...just realized how far down the list yardwork is...makes me wonder whether I'll get to that...

In other news: Today I realized I can knit while standing on the subway. I'm so excited about it. I'm always so bummed when I don't get a seat because I can't knit. Now if I can just figure out how to knit while doing the dishes....

How Long

I never realized I have such long arms.

I always thought my arms were proportional to my body, but then, I guess arm length doesn't really impact your life so much....until you have to knit sleeves. This pattern starts at the cuff, has some simple increasing, then suggests you knit in stockinette to your underarm before you get to the next bit. Well, I'm telling you now that it's an inordinately long way from my wrist to my underarm.

I've started to consider 3/4 length sleeves for this sweater. I suppose some people would consider that a cop-out. I think it's creative problem-solving.

Mama Tried

Ode to My Moma

Please allow me a minute on this special occassion

to honour My Moma

who deserves celebration.

My Moma is young and cool and fun,

loving and generous,

crafting handmade gifts for everyone.

She taught me to knit; the reason I rhyme

She passed on her talent

My Moma gave me her time.

When I couldn't remember how to knit one square inch,

it was due to her teaching

that relearning was a cinch.

I knit her some socks in order to say

I love you

on this My Moma's 30th Mother's Day.

L - O - V - E

L is for the way it feels to me
O is for the only yarn I see
V is very, very made from alpaca-hairy
E is even more than anything that I've knit before...

I L-O-V-E this yarn. It's Prime Alpaca and every time I pull out this project, I put it against my face and just *sigh*.

I guess that's good because I think I'm going to be knitting this sweater for the rest of my life.

Tisket, A Tasket

A Green & Yellow Basket...


Isn't my little guinea pig cute with his Easter Basket?

With a Little Help from My Friends

It takes a strong person to admit they need help. A few months before my pregnant knitter friend's due date, she called to ask for help. She'd purchased several skeins of a yarn she LOVED to make a blanket for her baby. Now that she was well into her pregnancy, she realized she was running out of time and would likely never finish it and would I please help her. Of course, I accepted the task. It sounded so easy....the main component was a garter stitch piece all in one color....then an easy border in a contrasting color...
Just after I accepted this task, new babies starting coming at me from all directions, so it was many hats & bootees later when I sat down to start working out this particular project. In fact, the recipient of the blanket had already left the womb by this point. As I am adamantly against gauge swatching, I just determined what my gauge should be based on the yarn's label & then how many stitches I should cast on to assure I'd get a perfect square, all the while thinking that, should it not turn out so perfect, it's only a blanket. Well, "it's only a blanket" quickly became "it's only a scarf." At the end of skein 1 of 4, I realized I was getting a BIG 'OL RECTANGLE that was not at all acceptable or recognizable as a baby blanket.
I was lamenting to my Moma about such things and she suggested that I use her handy-dandy dishcloth pattern. That way, I could increase for 2 skeins & decrease for 2 skeins & was sure to get a square. The next part went rather quickly for a BIG 'OL SQUARE of GARTER stitch. Happily, the FO was indeed recognizable as a baby blanket. But there sat the skein of contrasting color staring me in the face... My friend was so excited about the contrasting border, that I had to complete that part. I mean, who wants to disappoint a hormonal new mother?!
Since I'm as anti-crochet as I am anti-gauge swatch, I combed thru my knitting manuals to find an acceptable knitted border. First I picked up every other stitch around the blanket. I tried a simple rib stitch. It looked terrible. I tried a simple garter stitch. It looked awful. I was desparate, so I turned to *gasp* the directions for crochet. I learned that I am really bad at crochet & that it's harder than it looks. It was time for me to ask for HELP!

Moma came to the rescue again. An accomplished knitter and crocheter, she volunteered to complete the border. And she did. Beautifully.

Easter Parade

HAPPY EASTER!

Baby Mine

My new godson is also my new guinea pig. He gets the stuff I'm dying to make, but for which I may not have a recipient. He also gets stuff I'm not too sure about....which is where this blanket comes in. I was dying to make this blanket (aka my slightly complicated cable commission), but wasn't altogether pleased with the picked up stitches for the border. I LOVE the cable pattern in the middle & the general idea of the blanket, though.

I used the Endora pattern from Berroco and Berroco's Lullaby & Plush as called for. Both yarns have great texture and is very snuggly for a baby, but the Lullaby has so much stretch that I found it difficult to pick up the stitches for the border. It was definitely holey around the sides.

I made the bootees & hat as well - just using up some stash yarn.

It Takes Two

Well, it seems that I may knit a tad differently now that I did a year ago. So, I've decided to start a new trend. Since everyone has a slightly bigger foot, I've provided a slightly bigger sock for the slightly bigger foot of the recipient of this slightly mismatched pair.

REproduction

I hate knitting socks. I hate it because of the "REproduction factor." You finish the first sock & the sun starts to shine, birds sing, the Hallelujah Chorus plays in your head...and then...you are FORCED to knit exactly the same object with exactly the same yarn and exactly the same needles all over again. REproduction of the sock is exacerbated by the fact that you knit sock #1 about a year ago & are now expected to remember any changes you may have made since you didn't write them down, of course. I hate knitting socks.

Disco Duck

After starting the border of my complicated cable commission, I realized that I'd miscounted my skeins....I had one more of the Berrocco Lullaby...drat. I was faced with a decision: 1. Just continue the border, finish the blanket and be done with the whole thing making my stash one skein richer OR 2. Rip out the border. Rip back the cast off edge. Continue the center square with skein #4. I chose door #2! So, I'm still working on the border, but hope to finish it this weekend.

It's really starting to give me a headache - knitting more than one project at a time. After this weekend, I'll be down to 2. Yippee!!

I did just finish a fun little project that I'm calling Disco Duck. I made this Halloween costume for my godson, Will.

I Saw The Light

Yesterday I briefly mentioned my "slightly complicated cable commission" that I've been knitting at home. I'm making Berrocco's Endora and I'm currently on the middle cabled section. It's a 12 row pattern which is fun...the first 2 times. Then you knit it over and over and over again for 24 inches. Fortunately, I ran out of yarn last night after about 22 inches. Yippee! Guess I'm done. I must admit, though, that I LOVE the feel of this yarn.
Can't wait to start the border...I've always loved shag carpeting.

Bad

As it turns out, I'm not very good with keeping up with a blog. In fact, I may be very bad at it. How do all these people find time to knit when they're typing so much??? I like the feel of my new Knitpicks Options (US8) so much better than that of my keyboard. Where's the zen in the constant push push push of the little black keys? At any rate, for my mother's sake, I'll attempt to do better.

Now, generally, I'm a one-project-at-a-time kind of gal, but lately I've been trying to keep up with the local baby boom. I've tried requesting that my friends keep my knitting schedule in mind during their family planning (um) meetings, but they seem to think that's a lot to ask. So, here I am...3 projects on needles!!! One on hold, one for the train and one slightly complicated cable commission for home. And it's driving me crazy. Oh the pressure!!! How do you people do it? I just keep knitting and knitting and knitting and I'm getting nowhere.

Luckily, I got a jury duty summons (my first) in the mail last week. Is it terrible to hope that this will go on long enough to enable me to finish at least one of these projects while enjoying the privilege of being an American and fulfilling my obligation to our justice system ALL AT THE SAME TIME?!?!

One last little thread: I narrowly averted tragedy earlier this week. I have a wonderful little closet in my apt - a miracle closet really for NYC. It's actually a set of stairs inside it's own little room that provides ample storage for my most important possessions - shoes and yarn. On Monday, I attemped to grab my cute little mary jane flats when I was stunned to find out that the door was stuck!! It wouldn't budge at all. So I had to wear my pumas to work & hope that I had another cute little pair of shoes in my office. All day long I kept thinking "my shoes and my yarn are stuck in that closet"... "who knows when I'll get it open"... "my shoes and yarn are being held hostage by that closet"... I casually mentioned the situation to my brother/roommate (ok, I might have been just a little freaked out). Well, when I got home that night, the door was OPEN!! He'd freed them! (Turns out the lock was just broken.) My brother was a hero! I guess I'll have to put that zip-up hoodie he requested back on my "to-knit" list.

Hallelujah!

I'M FINISHED! Consumato! Pret! Ausgespielt!

I've finally completed the Heirloom Christening Blanket after many hours of hard work and cramped fingers. I'm quite pleased with the results.

It's on to the next project now because you know what THEY say: The knit must go on...

Hopelessly Devoted to You

I've come to an important realization...I may never finish my Heirloom Christening Blanket. My brother was nice enough to recently point out that I've been knitting it "FOREVER!!!" Nonetheless, I'm devoted to 1. finishing it sometime during the life of Baby Harris (the recipient who's set to join us in June) and 2. never making this again.
I do keep glancing longingly at my "to knit" list as well as my yarn stash - wondering if I'll ever knit for fun again. I now understand the inclination to have more than one project going at a time, though.
I have to believe that thru the frogging, the pattern errata, & the unclear directions I'll prevail. One thing is for sure - I will never win a medal for this project, but Baby Harris better love me.

After the Fall

I have been defeated - partially by time & partially by my pattern. As I did not complete my entry in time, I have lost the gold medal. It's a sad day in my [knitting] world. In my defense, I did not lose in the spirit of Bode Miller, but rather in the method of Lindsay Kildow, by falling twice. Twice I was forced to frog my heirloom christening blanket and begin again.
All that said, I plan to press on. I think that, if a silver medal was available, it would still be in my grasp. My WIP is so very close to being a FO....

Oops! I did it again.

So, this time it was on the second row that I came upon that blasted extra stitch. I thought all was lost and I'd never attain my dream of Olympic GOLD. But, as any true athlete knows, sometimes you have to go back to the fundamentals to correct your mistake. Patiently, I went back to the pattern and re-read the directions: "CO 161 sts. Work one purl row." WAIT! "CO 161 sts." 161 sts! (I had 166 sts.) With dogged determination, I CO the correct number of sts., worked one purl row and completed 3 rounds of the 4 row pattern. Then I went to bed.............. thinking about 161 sts.

The Choking Kind

It was my first Knitting Olympics event and I choked. I started off strong getting all 166 stiches cast on in under 10 minutes while hiding in my office at 2pm yesterday. I even got the first row done before someone came knocking at my door and I had to stash it in my desk drawer. Later in the game, I resumed knitting. I'm not sure what went wrong, but suddenly, at the end of the 3rd row, there is was - an extra stitch! I got back up and tried to salvage the project, but it was too late (with all the YFs & sl 1s). So, I've frogged it and am anxious to get back in it tonight. I really think I can still pull out a GOLD.