Peaceful Knitter

At 7:17pm last night, I sat down with the blue socks, committed to sit and knit until they got finished.

A note about lotion and hot cups of tea:

I put lotion on my hands while I was waiting for the water to boil. When the kettle started whistling, I went and poured my cup of tea. Then I grabbed the handle of the mug with my still slick hands, causing it to slide and almost spill. In short, slippery hands can lead to tea burns if you’re not careful!

Back to my Finished Object story:
I sat and knit like a crazy person, through House Hunters and some entertainment “news” and before long I was sewing in the yarn ends. I finished just in time to put away the needles and tune in for another hilarious episode of 30 Rock (“who ordered the veal?”).

I think they turned out pretty good. And the recipient, my sweetie, is very happy with them too.

I found a sweet little package on my front porch this morning. This is what was inside:

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Wine

It’s beautiful and smells like fresh-cut grass and there are 12 skeins of it. Why did I order so much yarn, you ask?

In an unprecedented move of knitting bravado, I have cast caution aside and will be attempting to knit My First Sweater.

After having contemplated sweater knitting for some time now, I told myself that when the right pattern came along I would go for it. And by “right” I mean a pattern that isn’t too fussy and requires little or no seaming-I have very small amounts of patience for sewing my knitted items together.

The first sweater I saw that met these requirements is contained in the Winter 07 issue of Interweave Knits. It is the Citrus Yoke Pullover on page 53; if you don’t happen to have this issue, you can see photos of it here. The sweater is knit in the round, so there will be absolutely no seaming, sewing, or other fussing required! Over the past couple of weeks, I have been searching for an appropriate yarn substitution as the suggested yarn, GGH Apsen, is a little pricey for me. Thanks to my fellow Ravelers for suggesting the Knit Picks Wool of the Andes; I was able to get all 12 skeins for $47, and free shipping to boot!

So I’m all set to get started. Here’s the yarn again

And the needles I bought to knit it with

And one handsome cat named Spike.

Wish me luck!

I was deep into the holiday cheer yesterday (for the past 3 days, for that matter) and could not get to the computer to post for FO Friday. Which is just as well, since I don’t have any finished objects to show off. I’m still languishing in the land of uninspired knitting…

Before leaving town for Thanksgiving I did order some yarn from Knit Picks with the thought that it would arrive just in time to cure me from my sickness. It will serve as motivation for me to finish up some projects so that I can start knitting with it; reward yarn, if you will. So until that lovely little package arrives, I can be seen turning the heel on the blue sock, staring at the lacey scarf, and picking up stitches for the earflaps on my hat.

Wish me luck!

So I have been working on the previously mentioned socks and lacey scarf, but they’re not exciting me. So over the weekend I decided to cast on something quick and chunky and simple-to-knit.

I had a hat pattern from the book Knitting in No Time from Reader’s Digest that seemed like it would fit the bill. I had some chunky yarn, big needles, and a couple of hours to whip it out. I had so much confidence in its simplicity that I cast on while reading my favorite knitting blogs.

Quick-to-knit Earflap Hat: Take 1

Things started out pretty well, despite the fact that I’ve never knit a hat flat and from the top down. I sat and read, knitting away with my ridiculously long and flambouant pink plastic needles.

Sure enough, about an hour and a half later, the knitting was finished. I proudly cast off, thinking “This is just what I needed to refresh my knitting self and get back on track.” Smugness gets us nowhere, it turns out. The hat was way too small–I couldn’t even stretch the sides close enough around my head to even pretend that I could seam it together.

So, I frogged it and decided I would start over, only this time I would do it in the round and decrease as I went.

Take 2

This time I was so excited to get going, that I forgot about the edges curling. I even convinced myself over the course of about 10 rows that I would be able to block the brim into shape later. Not so much.

I just frogged it for a third time while waiting for my chocolate pecan Thanksgiving pie to bake.

Take 3?

I think I’m at a knitting roadblock: I definatly need to pause and maybe take a detour or a pit-stop before I keep going.

Last weekend’s trip to New Hampshire led us to a mecca of shopping in North Conway. Before you hit the village with its unique, artsy little shops, you must pass through a gauntlet of strip malls and outlet stores. It was here that the LL Bean Outlet shone like a beacon to us from the side of the highway. I couldn’t resist; who knew what deals on flannel and fleece hid inside? And it was inside, among the other crazed shoppers that I overheard someone say “This would work really well for a knitting bag.” I spun around to see 4 racks bulging with the infamous Bean tote bag in all colors and sizes. Discounted. Should I chose a smaller, single project bag, or a larger weekend knitting bag? Decisions, decisions…after some debate and much pacing between the racks, I found the perfect bag.

Behold!

Don’t you love those colors?!

It didn’t take long at all for me to cram in all my WIPs, just to see. They fit, and it stands open on its very own, which is wonderful.

The bag is officially mine, even if those initials aren’t. That’s the drawback to shopping at the outlet, I suppose!

And what’s that UFO peeking out of the new knitting bag? We’ll talk about that nightmare next time.

Well, I don’t really have much to report in terms of FOs, which kind of makes my first Finished Object Friday anticlimactic. The knitting has been slow going between the second sock and my lace scarf…so when my hands got tired of wielding tiny wooden needles last night, I decided to pick up a cast aside UFO.

Knucks in Rowan Felted Tweed

I started these in August, when it seemed like there would be a lot of time to finish them before it got cold. And they went pretty quickly. There is a slight awkwardness in the beginning as the pattern asks you to make all 10 fingers individually, keep track of them, then put them on your dpns in the correct order! Then came the challenge of joining them all in the round when they are arrange on 2 dpns parallel to each other. Once my hands got used to the idea, they went pretty quickly.

Until I got to the embellishment stage.

If you look at the pattern on Knitty, there are so many different designs and motifs. This is why I chose to make them, after all. And yet I had a serious mental block when it came to personalizing these for my sweetie. They have been sitting in my knitting box for something like 2 months, patiently waiting to be finished.

So as I said, last night the knitting was starting to feel a little tedious. I decided to pull out some embroidery floss and finish the suckers once and for all!

Here they are:

Cuteness.

With a secret heart on the underside of the left thumb

Aw, so cute!

It feels good to get these off my back and out of my knitting box. Now I have to get back to actually knitting. Maybe I’ll check on my Ravelry queue for some ideas…

This is a classic question among knitters: are you a process knitter or a project knitter?

A process knitter is someone who chooses to knit something based on what they might pick up along the way. A new stitch pattern or technique, let’s say. It’s like a puzzle to be solved, and as you work your way through the challenge, it gets easier, you gain confidence, and when you finish you feel quite satisfied with your accomplishment.

A project knitter is a person that sees a finished object and knows that they want to knit it so they can wear it or give it away. They will figure it out if they don’t know how to do something, but the joy is in reaching the finish line and admiring the finished piece.

I’d like to note that both knitters probably equally enjoy the process of selecting patterns, choosing the yarn, and casting on.

I am currently struggling to identify which type of knitter I am. I started out knitting scarves, then moved quickly onto hats. That was definatly a process knitter moment, as I was obsessed with cracking “the code” of knitting in the round and making the decreases in the right place. But I also chose patterns based on their visual appeal and wearability.

Since conquering hats, I have since chosen to knit things for a variety of reasons. Often times, I choose something just to see if I can do it. Socks, for example. There was a certain mysticism surrounding socks for me. They seemed magical in their formation and in the many ways they are constructed. I wanted to be a part of the not so Secret Society of Sock Knitters, know and understand their secret language of gussets, short rows, and provisional cast ons.

I didn’t see a particular pattern and say “Hey, those look like something I’d want on my feet!” It was more of a yearning to step up the technical difficulty of my knitting. I completed my first training sock while waiting in the ER last winter while my sweetie had an ingrown toenail taken care of.

My first sock

After finishing this little guy, I promptly cast on a basic sock in a self patterning yarn to try my hand at full size sock making. One sock went pretty quickly, a couple of weeks or so. Then I learned about SSS, or Second Sock Syndrome. Sock #2 didn’t even get cast on for another 6 months or so!

So, it’s starting to sound like I’m a process knitter, isn’t it?

Trouble is, I’m at a point where I’m not sure what to try next. When I’m looking at new patterns, particularly sweater patterns since that is what I feel is the next logical step in my evolution, I tend to get a little anxious. Shoulder shaping? Steeking? Button holes? Ahh! And yet there are some really beautiful garments out there that I could see myself wearing. When I admitted to my SnB gals one day that I was intimidated to make a sweater or other garment, Nancy pointed out that socks are in fact garments. Touche.

My solution to all of this was to try lace. No new techniques to learn, per se, as I am comfortable with yo’s, ssk, k2tog, etc. But lace work, like sock knitting, has a certain mysticism around it, a devoted following of knitters who swear by certain techniques. So I cast on my first lace project, the Easy Flame Lace scarf with enthusiasm and got started.

The pattern is simple and easy to read, the yarn is beautiful, and the needles are too. And now that I’ve figured it out, it’s getting tedious. I want to move on to the next project before it’s even finished! This is unusual because I’m typically a monogomous knitter: I knit on one project until it is finished. Or, I give myself a little flexibility and knit one sock, start something eles to give myself a break, then knit the other sock. This is the particular loop hole that the Flame Lace scarf slipped through.

So have I come to any conclusions? I am sure that there is no one better method than another. After all, knitting is about pleasure in whatever form you get it. It seems that a knitter can be a project knitter, a process knitter, or like me, a little bit of both.

This weekend found me and my sweetie on a road trip into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It’s late fall, and while somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the leaves would be gone, I never quite understood what we were getting into. You see, it is nearly winter in northern NH. There was frost on the ground, ice in the streams, and snow on those mountaintops! People were even starting to put up Christmas decorations; I saw at least 2 decorated trees up in private homes!

We knew it would be cold, so we packed extra coats and gloves just in case, and I of course packed lots of knitting. Two of my current WIPs were lucky enough to make the trip:

This is the Easy Flame Lace Scarf from Knit and Tonic in Malabrigo.

This is a basic 3 x 1 ribbed sock in Cascade Fixation. Stretchy.

Like most knitters, I had every intention of spending a lot of time knitting in the car, while sitting by a roaring fire in the B&B, maybe even in a coffee shop or two. Well, I tried. I really did. I gave the lace scarf a good couple of rows in the car on the way up before giving in to openly staring at the beautiful scenery outside.

I decided to turn my attention toward sniffing out a LYS in one of the many charming towns we stopped through. There were plenty of indications that such a thing would exist here:

1. It’s cold. Cold people need warm things on their bodies. Knitters like to make such things.
2. Winter is long and dark. What better way to pass the time than knit?
3. There were about 20 little coffee shops and bookstores in which a person could comfortably sit and knit.
4. I kept seeing handknit items for sale in the cutesy boutiques around.

After an entire day of such observations, I still had seen nothing more promising than a Quilting supply store. And then I saw this:

She’s knitting!!!

I entered Flossie’s General Store and Emporium with a cautious hope that maybe here I would find what I had been looking for: boxes of interesting yarn. Sadly, there was none. They did have these, though.

Hand braided rag baskets and trivets and bowls Oh my! I thought they would make wonderful storage baskets for yarn and UFOs.

My mother in law makes rag rugs, and I took this picture hoping I could convince her to make me a basket. Does anyone have a pattern for something like this?

In closing, I didn’t find a LYS in the White Mountains. Like Big Foot, I’m sure they exist, I just haven’t seen any. Until I do, I will continue to have faith that people in New Hampshire are knitting with beautiful yarn.

A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to happen upon a fabulous yarn shop. Madison Wool in Madison, CT is a petite jewel-box of a store with the most gorgeous collection of yarn that I have seen in a while. Perfectly organized and beautifully displayed, the yarn calls out to you like a wooly siren, urging you to pick something, anything, and knit with it immediately.

This is what I bought.

Oceanwind Knits fingering merino. It’s beautiful, and soft, and oh so pretty. And I can’t seem to knit with it!

Obviously, it needs to be a pair of socks. So what socks? I immediately went to my small library of knitting books and started searching through Favorite Socks by Interweave Press. I thought the Waving Lace or maybe even Embossed Leaves would be perfect for this yarn. But just in case, I printed out Cookie A’s Hedera since I’ve had great luck with her patterns in the past.

Monday night I cast on for the Waving Lace socks with my beautiful new wool, and equally beautiful new set of Knitpicks Harmony dps. I diligently started the cuff, casting on the appropriate number of stitches and working the first couple of rows of the lace pattern. It looked like my cat had haphazardly tangled up some yarn, chewed on it, and left it in a dusty corner. Somewhere along the way I miscounted, or misread, and everything was out of line.

Since I am a dreadfully slow knitter, it had taken me the better part of 2 episodes of Little People Big World (I’m a sucker for the Roloff’s!) to get this far. I ripped it out and shoved it into my knitting basket for another day.

Tuesday night, same thing different TV show. I really shouldn’t be watching Beauty and the Geek anyway.

So now my question is: do I power through and settle this grudge I seem to have with these socks, or do I cut my losses and start another pattern?

This is a blog. Three years ago, I didn’t even know what a blog was. When I did find out (finally), I certainly never thought I’d be the type of person to write one. Yet here I am. And why am I here, you ask?

Simple.

I’m tired of talking to myself about knitting. Sure, I have a non-knitting friend or two who will politely show interest for a moment.  And my partner does a great job of looking interested while I blather on about lace repeats.  My only saving grace has been Stitch-n-Bitch, where they let you talk about knitting as much as you want.

I thought this blog would be a great way for me to channel my creative energy when not knitting, and to chart my progress. I’m relatively new at knitting, and would like to see where this adventure takes me. Today I’m making a Monkey sock, tomorrow who knows!

So welcome to my humble little blog. There will be hiccups as I learn to post interesting things and take better pictures of my knitting. But I hope you will check back from time to time to see what I have on the needles.