Is The Knitting Malaise... Broken?!

Perhaps. I was inspired to knit my own coffee-cosy/cup sleeve thing on DPNs. What I created is really only a rough copy and totally not fit to photograph, but I managed to have the measurements fit and a venti-sized Starbucks cup securely hugged by a cuff of knitted yarn, which is about all I want from it. When I make a second one - this one with the join connected right, possibly in something zippier than light grey - I'll take a picture and stick it up here. For now, I'm pretty much just rejoicing that I managed to get something knitted, and it didn't totally suck!

The Things That Keep Us From Knitting

I really can't say for sure why my knitting not only slowed down considerably but ground to a halt for the last few weeks. General crafting malaise? The overwhelming breadth of my blanket project? Feeling trapped by my lack of organisation? I would say it was probably the blanket - after you've unknitted something in the neighbourhood of 80 stitches because you missed a slip stitch, not only once, but twice, you tend to feel a bit grouchy. You may even consider a trial seperation, which is I guess what I did. I can't actually remember the last time I picked up the needles. Tonight, however, I foraged through my circular needle wallet, picked out the 16" size 10s, and have begun casting on for a hat. I would like to make a beanie with a 1 - 2 " seed stitch border, stockinette for the body, and earflaps. Sounds like it would go pretty quickly, not terribly ambitious (seriously, I don't think I knew what I was getting myself involved in when I started a KING SIZE BLOODY BLANKET), something to get the ball rolling again.

I fell into knitting so hard and fast, intending for it to be that one, true, lifetime craft, that I'm afraid I burnt myself out before I had a chance to pace myself. I'm still interested, but I doubt my commitment. I did, however, buy a stitch dictionary today, so I guess I can't be too far gone.

Well, time for bed, or reading, or something. Hopefully I might have photographic evidence of actual knitting to post, sometime soon!

All Part of a Complete and Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast of Champions!

I have been knitting, but the latest project is so stupidly ambitious that aside from one almost successful attempt to try and devise a waffle-weave type stitch pattern (nothing I try looks anything like what I want, but this particular experiment yielded an interesting result), I haven't really had much to photograph or talk about. And what is so stupidly ambitious? Let's try a king-size blanket, knitted in one piece, using a honeycomb-style slip-stich pattern, with a worsted-weight yarn, on size ten needles (47" circular), somewhere in the neighbourhood of 560 stitches. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking, either! But it's good fun, something I can do while I watch TV (though... I took a pretty strong painkiller for lady cramps and then started knitting while watching a particular silly movie, slipped a stitch where I ought not have and didn't notice for about 70 or 80 stitches... that was a fun bit of unknitting. Don't self-medicate and knit, kids!). When I started, each row took about 25 - 30 minutes to complete, but I timed a couple of rows the other day and I think I'm down to 20 minutes per row. So far I've spent about nine hours on that sucker. It might be ready by the time cold weather hits!

As for where I dug up this most fab stitch pattern (second one on page), there is so much stuff at Knitting-And.com that I would be completely selfish not to share it with y'all. It's a wonderful source for all sorts of interesting stuff and packed with projects galore... like some I can't wait to get started on (like this Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl). Another great resource is Knitting Pattern Central. Acres upon acres of knitting potential (and some stuff for those who love crochet, too!).

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I started writing this Monday morning and here it is, Thursday night and I'm finally getting back to it; oh, how time flies. I had a trip to Little Rock on Tuesday for my Ongoing Medical Oddity Odyssey (it's a long story, I'll post something after next weeks' journey to see the rheumatologist... hopefully something will actually come of it to post about!), and Wednesday I had to cover a morning/daytime shift at work and ended up napping away most of my evening. Work today wasn't so bad but I was just tired all through it, I'm glad I was able to get away a bit earlier than usual. I think I'm going to have some dinner and work on my blanket for a while, if I don't fall asleep on my plate, that is! :)

Timid Forays Into Lace Territory (And Other Tales)

So after learning how to do feather-and-fan, and realising that yarn-overs weren't actually the scary thing I believed them to be, I sort of became hooked on lace. I've been looking up lace patterns (starting with simple things, of course, but printing out much harder-looking patterns for future reference), put a couple of lace books on my amazon.com wishlist, and have generally been trying to ferret out as much information as I can about lacy knitting while trying to restrain myself from all-out obsession (because the budget we're living on doesn't accommodate such luxuries as new sets of needles in much smaller sizes and actual decent yarn suitable for lace).

After a few stitch patterns kind of crashed and burned right on the needles, I finally got the hang of arrowhead lace, and I felt more prepared to branch out. After searching for "simple knitted lace" on Google I found The Cherry Leaf Scarf. The chart is extremely simple and the key for interpreting it is right there, and thanks to the arrowhead pattern I already understood S2KP, so I had a go at it. It was a bit slow and awkward at first, but with the help of some strategically placed post-it notes to keep my place in the chart I got on board, and by the time I finished my first sixteen rows I was almost agog at what I'd created. I kept staring and it and nudging my husband, all, "OMG, I can't believe I knitted that! I did it! Me! ME!"

Up thar be photos, and it might not be much to look at (bear in mind I'm practicing on Red Heart Super Saver, and it's pretty scrunched up on the needle there), but I'm pretty giddy right now with the thrill of it all. Also, I plan to save up and buy some of the recommended yarn from the pattern (Dale of Norway Tiur wool/mohair blend) and I also have my eye on some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, the recommended yarn for this beautiful scarf from the Knitty Spring '05 issue.

Well, time for me to do a couple more rows and go to bed. Work sucks, but you have to pay the rent and afford yarn somehow, right?

One Finished Wrist Warmer and a New Obsession

Sweet fancy Moses, it's THE CLAW. Or rather, it's my hand awkwardly modeling Wrist Warmer #1 of #2. I am yet to actually knit #2 (I already cast on to that set of needles with another yarn because I wanted to try something... I'm always wanting to try something), but at least one wrist at a time can be toasty warm. Even if it does happen to be the middle of a sweltering Arkansas summer right now. I'm happy with how it turned out... I went Googling for wrist warmer patterns and happened upon a tip for making the thumbhole: once you get the length you want, knit straight for about six or seven rows, then join again and continue to the top. Huh. What a concept! I mean, it's perfectly obvious once you think about it I'm sure, but to me it was like stumbling across a nugget of gold, only it wasn't gold, it was pure, unadulterated genius.

Another view to the right... again, awkward, but attempting to get enough distance from one's own hand in order to photograph it skillfully is something that escapes me.

So, let's talk fandom knitting, or perhaps the junction where fandom and knitting intersect. (I didn't really know there was such a thing until I found a Livejournal community called, funnily enough, Fandom Knit.) I had a little time to waste before work today and I happened upon an ABC Family showing of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", interspersed with bits about "HP and the Order of the Phoenix". I watched for a bit and found myself growing gradually more excited for OotP. I've always gotten a bit worked up for the books and movies, but I guess I've been a bit disconnected from fandom of any type lately, so I hadn't heard much. Anyway, it was during their little snippet on Luna Lovegood that I had a "you know you're a knitter when..." moment. It was a scene where Luna was wearing this cute cropped cardigan/capelet with sleeves thing and I thought, "I have to know how to knit that, and I wonder if anyone on Fandom Knit has thought about it yet". I managed to scrape some pictures up from the intarwebs to illustrate what I'm talking about:

See, it's not a capelet, not yet a cardigan. It would probably look stupid on me. But I love it anyway! I love the colour, the shape, the lacy bits. I don't know if I want to knit it or hug it and squeeze it and call it George. Probably knit it first, the rest later. Plus I dig the character's whole casual-weird-layering thing... yeah, it's a bit Olsen-Twin-Boho, but it works.

If I'm lucky my doctor's appointment in ye olde Little Rock towne on Wednesday won't take all day and we'll be able to catch a showing! Is it the movie or is it the cardi-cape that moves me? I think it's both. In any case, it's all tangled up in the yarn and pointy sticks... as a dear friend wrote to me, "knitting slowly takes over". She is quite right.

Come For The Knitting, Stay For The Kitties!

Or maybe that should be, "come for the kitties, stay for the knitting". I mean, my knitting isn't that much to look at yet, so I'll have to post cat pics to keep y'all entertained. The little one on the left is Minkey Boodle (it's from "Space Ghost's Musical Barbecue". You know, that old chestnut... "there's a noodle in my strudel and its name is minkey boodle"? Okay, maybe just me and the mister then!). She also goes by the name Dog. She is a rambunctious chatterbox who likes to chase anything that moves (including yarn, natch) and will come running when we call for her... about seven times out of ten.

The grumpy-looking girl on the right is Boodie. I thought it was hilarious and appropriate when I found her lounging around on a copy of one of my favourite magazines. She's loud and not shy about displaying her displeasure at... just about anything, really. If you walk past her, she'll squall. If there's no food, she'll squall. If I'm eating corn, she'll squall, and try to steal it from me.

So those are "the kids". More on actual knitting coming soon!

Two Hands, Five Needles, No Problems!

Currently working on: a pair of wrist warmers. Again. I've made a couple of pairs on straight needles, but seams are for losers. Okay, seams aren't really for losers. It's just that I'm the sort of loser who can't manage to sew something up and have it look normal, and I'm slightly bitter about it. Anyway, since I've had so much practice lately on DPNs I finally cast on and have been steadily knitting this wrist warmer up since last night. (For those keeping score: size 8 needles, Lion Brand "Vanna's Choice" yarn in beige.) It's coming together nicely - it's not laddering or anything! I give the last stitch on every needle and the second stitch on the next a bit of a tug, and it seems to keep everything from falling apart (the knitted item, my sanity...). Since I realised that it's not the best choice to photograph cream/biscuit coloured yarn on a cream coloured couch cover, I also took a shot of it leaning against a black cushion.

And for a bonus, my favourite stitch marker. I bought a set of these from Dragonlady Designs - she has all sorts of neat stitch markers and jewelry items for sale. I highly recommend her store - she answers all questions quickly, shipping is expedited, and it's a bargain for truly nice work. Even people who aren't that interested in my knitting have oohed and aahed over my stitch markers!


Personally, today was quite trying and I came home from work feeling much worse for the experience. The combination of dinner, a crappy movie, and some knitting has made me feel a lot better. Receiving a pair of size 10, 47" Addi Turbos in the mail from a spur-of-the-moment, "what the hell, I have money in my PayPal account" Ebay purchase didn't hurt, either! Can't wait to start making my next blanket with those babies :)

Alright, time for this tired knitter to hit the hay. Hopefully I'll get enough break time at work tomorrow and will have finished this sucker, and have pictures to prove it!