From A to Z

Ironman Mont Tremblant is a mere 11 days away, which would be much more exciting if I wasn't still hobbling around on an injured foot.  Doc thought my injury would be a 2-3 week recovery, but I'm at 3 weeks now and still can't walk.  I'm still holding out hope it will improve dramatically in the next week and I'll be able to tough it out, but the realist (pessimist?) in me is convinced it's not looking good.  Knitting might be the only thing keeping me sane during this wait-and-see game.

I'm seriously in love with my new sock project.

Pattern: Zigzagular Socks
Yarn:  Gothsocks Asphodel, "Goblin King"

I love the pattern.  I love the yarn.  I love the colors. I love the subtle cables.

 
So far, I love just about everything about this sock.  I even didn't mind the gusset decrease rounds and I always hate that part of socks.  Mainly I love that I have something to keep me occupied during boring PT appointments.

I'm sort of continuing with my alphabet game of sock patterns, I just skipped from A all the way to Z. Maybe next I'll go back to B and jump back and forth.  Or jump around completely.  Or abandon the whole idea.  Right now I'm just going to go back to this sock.  And the ice packs.

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WIP Wednesday: Trellis and Vine Sweater

I thought that after eagerly finishing socks and mittens I would be on a roll to clear out more works-in-progress projects.  I was determined to finish stuff, and when I came down from my knitter's high of finished socks, I diligently turned to a sweater-in-progress.  My interest in that lasted only about a day.

Then I cast on a new Honey Cowl.

I cast on 240 stitches, very very carefully joined in the round, and started knitting. About six rows in I finally admitted that I had twisted my join.  I had tried to be so careful, but the cowl will have to be ripped out. 1500 wasted stitches. Obviously not tragic, but I'm taking it as a subtle nudge from the knitting gods: "go back to your WIPs".

Okay, done.  Back to my sweater project. 

This is the Trellis and Vine sweater by Carol Feller from an old Interweave Knits issue (Fall 2009, to be exact).  This sweater and I have already been through a lot of ripping and re-knitting. In August I ripped and re-knit about 5-6 inches of the body, and that finished sleeve you see?  Well, that's the second time I knit it. I think I've finally got all the issues fixed now, and with only half a sleeve left, this one is almost wrapped up.

Maybe a finished sweater will earn me new project blessings?  

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesdays!  And see you on Friday with mittens!

Cured

It turns out that the cure for my personal problems with startitis is posting a pile of half-knit projects to this blog.  One minute all I wanted was to find new projects to start, but the second my last post went public, a light switch flipped somewhere in my head. Now I want to finish stuff.  Finish all the knitting!

With my new found determination, I forced myself to confront what I believed to be impending doom for my sock project.  I was sure I was running short of yarn, knew I didn't want half the foot in a different color, and was starting to warm up to the idea of just ripping the first sock and putting this project out of its misery.

I really should have weighed the sock and remaining yarn before freaking out.  The scale changed everything.

The first sock (about 2 inches away from starting the toe): 33 grams.

The yarn still left on the this first skein: 13 grams.
The second skein of yarn: 34 grams.

Well, hell, that's not so bad. I still expect to need different yarn for the toes, but I can live with that.  I decided to put the first sock aside and start the second so I can get both socks to the same place before dividing up that remaining 13 grams of yarn.  I expected slow knitting and slogging through little by little. In fact, the whole idea of my finish-by-the-end-of-the-month goal seemed ridiculously optimistic.

I was wrong.  Really wrong. I cast on the second sock Monday afternoon.  It's, uh, going pretty well.

Two days = three-quarters of a sock.  I can't explain that at all.  All I know is that I can't put the sock down. Must. Finish. Socks.

The important lesson for the day--blogging keeps my knitting on track.  It would be good for me to remember this lesson.  But right now I'm going back to my sock.  I've been getting twitchy if I'm away from it for too long.

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

February Project-of-the-Month: Hootenanny!

Hootenanny has to be one of my favorite words.  And really who ever gets a chance to use it?  Unless of course you're quoting an old Buffy the Vampire episode ("chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny").  Sorry, inner nerd showing again.  Moving on quickly to my February project-of-the-month: Hootenanny!

I changed my mind 12 different times (okay, maybe more like 3) about what should be this month's project.  In the end, Hootenanny won out because it's been sitting in my queue for over 2 years with yarn at the ready, and I'm finally determined to get moving on a few of these poor projects that I've always passed over or put off because I'm too busy trying to finish other WIPs. Hootenanny was first mainly because the yarn was already wound, and I was in the mood for a sock and some stranded knitting.  Not to mention, the owls are just plain cute (matching owl project bag a nice bonus).

Who can resist cute owls?  Or the word "hootenanny"?  Not me. Another favorite word: "shenanigans". Definitely going to try to figure out ways to work "hootenanny" and "shenanigans" into more blog posts.

Now go check out Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday: Skid

I'm still inching along on Vivian, but somehow I doubt anyone wants to see a picture of the almost-finished second sleeve that looks pretty much just like the first one or read my whining about endless seed stitch.

Instead, I have a new half-knit hat for today.

I planned this hat for Mike back when I thought I would have plenty of yarn for Low-Tide Ripples.  I chucked the idea when I saw there wouldn't be much leftover, but once I had to order an extra skein, well, why not two? So Composition Book Gray arrived on my door with a bright yellow companion--Butter.  The color combo idea came from Mike admiring the Chadwick sample (I covet this too and am still a bit obsessed with duplicating it).  MadTosh Butter is really bright though.  Even brighter than expected.  Almost highlighter yellow bright.  Mike seemed okay with it though so once I finished Low-Tide, I threw more money at Stephen West and started Skid.

I might be developing a Stephen West problem.  This is the third hat pattern of his I've knit, and while I was about to say I've been able to withstand the lure of his shawls, I just remembered Clockwork and Flamboyan were his too.  Plus the plans for Chadwick that have been in the works for awhile.  And when I went to his Rav patterns page to grab the Skid link, I discovered Gullfoss.  A vest?  A poncho?  A scarf?  All in one?  I'm intrigued.  Throws Skid aside to start pondering stash....

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January Project-of-the-Month: Vivian

I have loads of 2013 resolutions. Loads, people, loads.  Way too many to list, but there is a main knitting goal that is sort of relevant to WIP Wednesday--my project-of-the-month resolution. Basically I'm planning to prioritize one project each month.  Doesn't mean I can't knit anything else (yeah, I'm not delusional with my goals) or even that I can't start anything new (good thing, since I started a hat last night), but I'm hoping having a "priority project" will translate into some more consistent progress.  Especially on those projects that tend to get buried away and forgotten.  Like, say, my blasted Vivian sweater.

I started Vivian in 2010.  I finished the main body sometime in 2011, stumbled when I started the sleeves, and managed to not knit one stitch on this sweater in 2012.  It's time I got rid of the dark Vivian cloud that has been hanging over my head.  On January 1, 2013, Vivian became my first project-of-the-month, and I've knit at least a little bit almost every day since. One sleeve is finished, the other almost halfway.

Still nowhere close to finished but definitely a step in the right direction.  The goal was never to finish the sweater this month (again, realistic expectations) but forcing myself to keep Vivian front and center all month means it's a whole lot closer.  It also means that instead of knitting my new hat project, I will dutifully go back to the second sleeve and what feels like never-ending seed stitch now.

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Clockwork

The road of self-discovery was rather humbling this week.

Lesson 1:  I am not in the kick-ass shape I imaged.  Not exactly a news flash since I’ve been slacking since June, but even though I can boast completing a marathon and a half-Iron distance triathlon in the last six months, when confronted with the Insanity workout DVDs, I still collapsed on the floor in heap of sweat while gasping for air.  My quads feel like lead, and stairs are not my friend.  Oh yeah, and I’m only on day 2 of 60.  It’s going to be a long 2 months.

But you guys don’t really care about that right?  You’re here for the knitting.  That brings me to:

Lesson 2:  I AM AN IDIOT

Ages ago I planned to knit Clockwork, bought the pattern, and then whined when I realized I didn’t have as much yarn as the pattern called for.  Anyone remember that pity-party?  Apparently I needed 16 months of continuing to daydream about a red and cream Clockwork to come to the ridiculously obvious conclusion that it’s just a scarf knit lengthwise, and I could knit a narrower version.  Seriously, it took 16 months for that to occur to me.  Within hours of my monumental epiphany, the pattern was printed, yarn was wound, and Clockwork was in progress.

With the easy Citron project wrapped up and Laika currently acting like a black-hole of knitting, Clockwork is my new go-to project.  Is it all I hoped and dreamed?  No idea yet, but I'm enjoying it so I'm not stressing about the end result. After weeks of laceweight yarn and size 2 needles for Laika, I'm absolutely loving sportweight and size 6.  I thought I’d be further along after spending 10 hours at a dog agility event on Saturday, but the day was hectic and I was exhausted. Juno too.

Despite the blue ribbon, it was not one of our better days--only 2 clean runs of 5.  I think we were both hot, tired, and out of sorts.  Hiking and swimming with Rugby on Sunday was more her speed.  Wet dirty dogs are happy dogs!

Happy dogs will still refuse to look at the camera though. 

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Laika

You know those vacations that you feel like you need a second vacation to recover from?  That would be my week in Lake Placid in mid-July.  We’ve been back for weeks, and I’m just starting to feel like I’ve got a handle on things again.  It was a fantastic week in a house filled with friends, good swim, bike, run training for me, and I got to watch Mike cross the finish line of his very first Ironman triathlon.  Amazing. But exhausting.  Especially when you top off a very active week with 2 long car trips.  I had some lofty crafting expectations for my “vacation” week, almost none of which amounted to anything.  My spindle never made it out of the bag, and my already lackluster Tour de Fleece fizzled to non-existence.

Despite a bag packed with 3 or 4 projects, the only knitting of the week, and pretty much the only knitting since, has been on Laika.

Sadly, not much to show for over 3 weeks of knitting.  I’m not sure what I expected from a sweater knit with size 2.5 needles and laceweight yarn, but in theory, I started this project with hopes of having a lightweight sweater to wear in the fall.  Even though I’ve been knitting Laika almost exclusively for weeks now, that goal is starting to appear rather delusional.  At this rate, the body alone will take a couple of months, and then when I think about sleeves and the hood…Oh. My.  I’m going to be knitting this sweater forever.  Perhaps I’ll shoot for a spring sweater. For 2014.  

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Starling Citron

This post should also be titled "duh", because really, there was pretty much no chance I would be working on any other project.

Citron is moving along quite nicely.

I'm completely enamored with this project.  I haven't knit a stitch on anything else since I started it.  It requires almost no thought, and I'm getting huge kick out of knitting with the handspun. This might be the closest to knitting monogamy I've been since....well....ever. If I were sticking to the pattern size, I would only be about 10 rows away from the ruffled edge--not bad for only casting on Friday night. 

Since I want to make the shawl larger, I'm still far from the finish line though.  I've never been a fan of projects with super long rows (pretty much the only reason I've been able to withstand the Color Affection craze), and I realized pretty quickly that the rows for this are going to get insanely long.  For the runched sections, you basically  double the amount of stitches, knit 5-6 rows, and then decrease back down.  My current row has 444 stitches, which is tolerable but approaching my patience limit.  As written, the ruffled edge has 540 stitches, but since I'm going to add a few extra sections, I'm thinking that by the time I get the ruffle, my rows will have 700-800 stitches. 

I really wish I hadn't just worked that out.

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Square #9

And WIPW returns!  It's amazing what I can keep up with when you take endurance training out of the mix.

I haven't posted anything about the epic handspun afghan in awhile and since I actually have been chipping away on it, I thought it was time for the squares to make a reappearance.

Progress to date:  8 squares

And today's WIP:  square #9

Only a few more rows to go thanks to an hour wait at the podiatrist this morning. I think this is my favorite square yet, although I also think I've said that about every square I've knit.  But I really really mean it this time.  No, really.

The fiber is superwash BFL dyed by Woolen Mill St. Yarns.  I admit the major factor that pushed me to buy this braid was the colorway name: "The Shire" (yep, total Lord of the Rings nerd here--and you guys thought all I watch/read is vampire crap).  Cute name aside, I was thrilled when it arrived.  I love the color variation, and the fiber was fluffy and soft, and I adored spinning it.  I actually had a bit of a hard time convincing myself to wind up the squishy skein.  

But I'm glad I did since now I have a soft squishy blanket square.  I think I've settled on a 15 square afghan, so in theory, I only have 6 squares to go.  I'm having serious doubts about the colors though (Who me? Stressing over color?  But that never happens).  Since I am buying fiber as I go for this project, I never devised a clear color plan except to use relatively monochromatic fiber for each square and to have some variation.  I really didn't think through what I meant by "variation", and I'm not sure I like the mix that I have right now.

The earthy-tone squares seem to stick out to me.  I'm not stressing over it yet, but I can definitely see getting to 15 squares and feeling like I need to replace a few because of the color issue.  I've already put aside some  of the finished skeins that I originally intended to use for the afghan.

Like this one.  Just seemed too bright.  Although with the current green one in there, maybe not?

And this one.  I adore how this skein came out, but I'm thinking too earthy.

Sigh.  Color, you remain my nemesis.

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Jordan

Last month I did what I considered to have been a very sensible knitting decision:  I put aside a wool sweater and cast on a lacey linen top.  Part of me felt a little guilty about this since I'm trying to avoid accumulating another pile of 14 half-finished projects, but with all of the unseasonably warm days this spring, I was reminded that summer is quickly approaching.  My summer wardrobe frankly sucks, and I seem to keep forgetting that finding time to go shopping is much more efficient than attempting to expand my wardrobe through knitting. 

Knitting becomes even more inefficient when you get halfway through the top and put it aside, which is what I did as soon as I finished the body of Jordan.

So for this week's WIPW, I decided I needed to resurrect Jordan from the knitting bag.  With a little focused knitting time, I should be able to finish the first sleeve today.

The trick will be not waiting until July to start the second one.


Visit Tami's Amis for more WIPW!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday: Diagonal Top

Earlier today I stumbled across Tami's Amis and her work-in-progress Wednesday (WIPW) posts.  Not only does she post her own WIPs, but she links to others who participate along with their own WIPW.  Convenient that I discovered this on a Wednesday, so as of today, I'm in!  It was fun browsing through everyone's WIPs, and since my own WIP pile is starting to grow again, I'm thinking that if I post the projects and acknowledge their existence, I might be able to get my startitis under control?  Maybe?  Probably not.  At the very least, I will devote each Wednesday to working on only the one WIP that is posted.  And maybe, just maybe, one day I'll consider attempting Tami's "finished object Fridays", but that seems a little too daunting right now.

My inaugural WIPW project is the Diagonal Pattern Top I started last week.  This is what I consider a "risky" project--meaning there's probably only a 50/50 shot that I'm going to like the finished top.

Problem #1:  I didn't swatch, and I'm using a fingering weight handspun merino single instead of the worsted weight rayon/milk yarn specified in the pattern.  You'd think the big difference might have pushed me to suck it up and knit a gauge swatch, but no, the desire to cast on a project with this yarn RIGHT NOW means I'm winging it. 

Problem #2:  I'm still not sure that I'm going to like the stripes.  This is the problem with fiber dyed as a slowly transitioning color gradient--tons of fun to spin, but then what?  Shawls are good options, but I wasn't in a shawl mood so I decided to experiment with what I hope will be a lightweight summery top.  A wool short-sleeve summer top?  And not nearly as lacy as I imagined.  See, already some serious red flags.

Problem #3:  The pattern has no shaping.  At all.  I'm switching needles sizes to try to give it a little waist/bust shaping, but since I did no swatching, I really have no idea how this is going to work.

Oh, and there is a good chance I'll run out of yarn.  Or I'll have way too much and never get to the pretty purple.  And yet despite all these issues and doubts, I'm happily knitting away.  Something about ending the  suspense is making me work away furiously.  Well that and because it is just so addicting to get to the next color.

 Visit Tami's Amis for more WIPs!