Knitting Olympics 2010

The Knitting Olympics will begin tomorrow.

Here is how they work:

• Cast on a project that will pose some sort of challenge for you during the opening ceremonies.


• Finish said project by the time the Olympic torch is extinguished 16 days later.

This has posed a bit of a problem for me...I really want to participate, but with work and school pressing in on me I don't see how I'll be able to take part to the extent I would like.

I would like to be able to cast on a sweater, or an intricate pair of socks...I just don't have the time to devote to knitting that those types of things would require.

So instead I am making a bit of a compromise. Instead of choosing a project that is a time/skill challenge, I am choosing a project that I have been procrastinating on. I will knit something that has been in my stash for years. This is a challenge for me. I have a lot of back log in my stash. There are many projects that I was in love with when I planned, but being the fickle person I am, I dumped them and moved on without a backward glance.

Nominees for Olympic Knitting include:

• A cinema shawl out of some blue mohair I purchased when Sweet Stitch was still open(so...4 years ago...)


• A mobius cowl neck vest out of some blue heron cotton that I also purchased at Sweet Stitch.


• An earflap hat out of the periwinkle and white llama yarn that, yes, I purchased at Sweet Stitch.


• The Candleflame cashmere scarf out of the GORGEOUS cashmere yarn that...you guessed it...I purchased at Sweet Stitch! (In my defense, I was making a scarf out of this, but the stitch pattern didn't work with the variegation...)

Decisions, decisions!

FINISHED

...kind of.

That is to say, I have done all of the knitting required for everything in the Christmas queue.

I still have all of the finishing up to do...such as weaving in ends, blocking, etc.

This is a continual struggle with me. I finish the knitting and my brain is creatively satisfied. I know what the finished product looks like, or will look like, so I have no more motivation. Also, I hate weaving in ends. HATE it. This is how I have, in the past, ended up with garbage bags full of projects with "tails".

I need to buckle down and bust out the darning needle.

I need to do it. Tonight. NOW.

The goal: by this time tomorrow the queue will be both completed AND wrappable.

Must...Not...Procrastinate

I finished MDM...sort of...

...I still need to weave in the ends and sew the neckline facing...

But, rather than do that, I have decided to work on something else that I have been procrastinating on...the second Rivendell sock. I cast it on, like a good little girl, immediately after finishing the first one. I even knit the first 2 rounds. Then came the rounds which required chart reading...and, well...the socks went in the work basket.

This has not only kept me from enjoying/wearing the Rivendell socks, it has also effectively blocked all other sock projects. (I only have one set of sock needles...) Last night I was minorly stressed and wanted to do some sock knitting and couldn't cause charted sock knitting is not relaxing! So, in order to move on to some less intensive footwear, I need to finish what I started.

...and the MDM will be woven in and seamed up tomorrow when I am more awake. I don't want to do shoddy almost midnight work on this beauty!

Finally Got Around To It

When NorCalGal was in the process of moving back down to CA, she discovered a really neat little yarn shop in downtown Sacramento. She brought back some rust colored Baby Alpaca chunky yarn for me as an incentive to get me to move. (I figure her thinking was that she could lure me south with the promise of quality fibers...and apparently it worked cause here I am!)

I only had one skein, but that was ok. I had made kool-aid dyed beanies for Sister and Sis-In-Law out of chunky yarn, but never got around to making one for myself. I decided to use the alpaca instead of doing a dye job...the rust was the ideal color, and not one easily achieved with beverage powder!

I had used my swift to ball the yarn prior to the move down. I just hadn't cast on. Other projects kept cutting in the queue. (Besides, I didn't NEED a beanie...I lived in CA!)

Labor Day weekend, I took the ball with me to WA to use as a nostepinde demo. (I didn't want to take my swift, so needed a ball instead of a skein.)I impressed the aunts with my nifty notion, and got a more usable ball in the process. As long as I had it rewound, I went ahead and cast it on. It was a speedy knit, and I got it made up in a single night.

Not a needed item. Not even that impressive of an item. But still something that I can check off the to-do list, and one less ball in the stash!

(It did turn out pretty cute though...didn't it?)

Sometimes I Impress Myself

I took several projects with me to work on on my WA trip last weekend. Specifically: Les Tuileries, a chunky cabled beanie, the last of the Cousins Beanies...and the Rivendell socks.

I have been "working" on the Rivendell socks for over a year now. I purchased the yarn before I moved to CA. I begged my parents for the Eclectic Sole Book for my 2008 birthday. I even cast on once...only to second guess my yarn choice, rip them out, and proceed to knit several other pairs of socks instead of the Rivendells.

Finally, I decided that enough was enough. The original yarn choice was great, and I was not allowing myself to knit any other socks UNTIL I knit the Rivendells.

Truth is...I was scared of them. They have something called a "yarn cluster"...there is a ton of cabling...they REQUIRE a chart. (I can read charts, I just prefer to use written row by row directions...I am less likely to lose my place.)

Anyway...I psyched myself up and cast them on again this last weekend. With all of the driving we did, and with all of the sitting and chatting and drinking tea...I got quite a bit done.

In fact, I had the whole cuff done before the flight back to CA Tuesday morning.

Frankly...I am pretty stinking impressed with how they are turning out. That may not be a humble admission, but it is the truth!

I am proud of me.

(Since the picture was taken, I have actually finished the heel flap and picked up the gusset stitches...the rest of the sock is simple straight-forward vanilla knitting, easy, breezy, and beautiful...I'm just not thinking about the fact that I have TWO feet!)

Little McBeanie

Little Mc, BigOne's younger brother, had a birthday.

He had a birthday a while ago.

I promised him a handknit, and gave him an IOU for a blue beanie.

The poor kid.

Birthdays of departing folk, impending births, graduations, and going-aways all kept cropping up...and I kept putting off his beanie. I felt bad, I really did. But, as I am sure you all know, I am the Queen of Justification.

Justification #1: Little Mc was not leaving the state anytime soon.
Justification #2: A beanie is winter-wear (regardless of JoNo's constant wearing of his) and this is summer.
Justification #3: He isn't pestering me like everyone else.

It was that last one that killed me. Little Mc was not making a stinker of himself like EVERYONE else always does. He just waited patiently, knowing I would get around to it. Why, I asked myself, should he be punished for good behavior when everyone else clearly is benefiting from bad? So, with much love, I set aside the nostepinde the last 2 nights and knit. I ignored all other projects and chores that called to me...I just knit.

And I finished it. It is ready and waiting to grace his head on Sunday. YAY!

(I actually feel even worse because I finished it so quickly...was I really incapable of finding a measly 2 nights of knitting time all summer?)

Port Townsend...finally

I finally buckled down and felted the Port Townsend Purse. Its only been completely knit for what? A year now? (And the award for best display of procrastination goes to...)

The purse is called the Port Townsend because I bought the yarn when I went with Sister to Port Townsend for Memorial Day 2008. (Fun day. Lovely yarn shop. Also, the first time I ever parallel parked...proud moment.)



The yarn is 100% alpaca...which is my favorite fiber, but not one I had ever felted before. (I just like to pet it. A lot.) I think it felted rather well! It is Misti Alpaca worsted in peacock melange and chartreuse melange.

The pattern is original. I like it, but it didn't come out quite the way I envisioned. I ran out of the green yarn before I had the purse body the length I wanted. Port Townsend was too far away to go for more, and the likelihood of finding the same dye lot was slim anyway. As a result, it is longer and skinnier than I had anticipated. I think I will try the pattern again with some greys that I have in the stash. Make a larger, less clutchy purse.

And It's About Time, Too!

THE BABY SWEATER OF DOOM IS FINALLY FINISHED!!!!

It only took me, what, two years to do?

I think it is adorable.

Now I just need to decide which baby this one goes to.

Unlike past years, everyone this year appears to be having a girl.

I am pretty sure it will end up going to Blossom since I used Ark and Fish for motivation.

Once I got past the mental block about this sweater, it actually was quite simple to knit. Also, fairly fast and appropriate for television knitting. The biggest hurdle was actually finding ribbon to use as ties. The color is too peach for most pinks, and too pink for most peaches. I ended up waiting to do the making up till I was home for grad school last weekend. (I had exhausted all ribbon resources in my area, so decided to try the ones in WA. Funny...I ended up knitting ties in the end anyway!)

I already have yarn in stash to make a couple more. But I will be smart, and make sure I can find ribbon for them BEFORE casting on.

Finally, Someone is Having A Girl!

That sweater, that lovely peach baby sweater, the one that I have been avoiding like the bubonic plague ever since I realized I had to frog back about 3 rows, is finally going to have to be faced.

All of my friends, up until now, have very accommodatingly all been expecting boys. Until now. Both Dessert and Belle are expecting girls now. Also, Red doesn't know what she is having, but it might be a girl. So the excuse of no baby to knit for is now out the window.

I do have the added excuse of my book with the pattern being in the display case at the library...but while that might keep me from moving forward, it can't really keep me from frogging back. (Besides, the display comes down tomorrow, so not much of an excuse.)

In other words, I am going to have to bite the bullet and frog. The impending babies are just the motivation (gun to the head) that I needed.

I will put it off a few hours longer though. I am babysitting Ark and Fish for Belle tonight, so I think I will wait until then. Maybe being faced with as-yet-unborn Blossom's big brothers will give me an additional kick in the pants.

The Scarf that didn't WANT to be Knit

I went to Target a WHILE ago with Broseph and Matador. (And by a while ago I mean a couple weeks before Halloween!) I needed to get some key components for my NCIS Abby costume, namely goth boots. Before we left, the three of us wandered over to the men's accessories section...where all of the hats were. While trying them on joking around, Broseph picked up a very suave brown fedora with a tan and orange band. It looked amazing on him. Matador and I, with some help from a Target employee who wandered by, convinced him that he had to buy it. He could wear it when he does concerts. My wheedling took the form of a promise to knit him a scarf to match the hat.

When I got home I promptly designed the "Fretwork" scarf, which had a slipstitch detail loosely based on a guitar neck. I even found two balls of Debbie Bliss yarn in chocolate brown in the stash. I cast on immediately.

I knit that scarf in my down time for several weeks, even getting so far as to join the second ball to the first. When I was 3/4 done I realized that I had cast on WAY too wide and that I was going to be stuck with a weenie little short scarf. (As she puts it in her candleflame scarf pattern...I was going to have a highwater scarf.) This was unacceptable.

The problems were:

• I should have realized the scarf was too wide when I went to join the second ball...duh, that was the halfway point!
• I had used stash yarn and lost the ball bands so there was no way to get additional yarn.
• I was using smallish needles for a scarf, so it was not a fast project to knit.
• The yarn was a solid color, so there were no little color surprises to keep me intrigued.
• The pattern, while pretty, could not be brainlessly knit during movies or tv shows when the lack of color variation wouldn't have mattered, because I had to actually look at every row I knit.

But, since I love Broseph, I unravelled the ENTIRE scarf and recast it on. Now I just had to go through the whole painful process again. So, I reacted in the same way I always react. I procrastinated. I knit A LOT of other things before picking this one up again. In fact, it was only guilt that finally drove me to force myself to knit it again.

To add insult to injury, the last 1/3 of the yarn was knotted into a riotous bundle of nastiness. I spent almost 2 hours untangling it and rolling what was left into a neat little ball...which then, of course, rolled all over the floor as I finished the scarf. (I seriously need to learn how to hand wind center pull balls.)

The end result, I must admit, did make the whole painful process worthwhile. I finished the scarf right before class started at Preacher and Psych's house last night. I wove the ends in and tossed it across the living room to Broseph. The wonderful guy wore the scarf for the duration of class and the rest of the evening. I think he really did appreciate it. He wanted to change before I took a picture... but I just wanted the thing photographed, blogged about, and DONE WITH!!!

Now...I just have to convince him to buy a camel corduroy blazer to wear in concert with Fretwork and the Fedora!

I have a wonderful father!

I meant to post this earlier, and just forgot.

About an hour after I posted my previous entry about the woeful lack of a cable needle, my father came by my condo.

He had seen my needle sitting on the table and, knowing I was stuck at home, thought I might want it. So, along with some library books my mom had checked out for me, he brought it by on his way to the office.

He noted that it appeared a little the worse for wear, since both their cat and puppy had gotten a hold of it. He offered to buy me a new one if it was ruined.

It wasn't ruined. I got a lot done on the sock...and was able to put off frogging the baby cardigan yet again!

Isn't my dad the best?