Burnout

I've had major knitting burnout lately (and obviously blogger burnout, but more on that another time). I recently re-organized all my in-progress knitting projects, made a list, went and got a stiff drink when I needed to start a second page of paper for that list, and then did....nothing.  For weeks.  So after this little hiatus, what did I do to get my crafting juices going again?  Buckle down and finish a project, you say?  Knit away and taste the sweet joy of accomplishment?  Well, no.  Not. Even. Close.

Instead I wound yarn and started a new scarf.

Okay, so it's not finishing a project, but that's fine, right? I've wanted to start this pattern (Chadwick) forever. Years, in fact.  No joke.  Literally years.  I queued the pattern on Raverly in 2010.  I think the yarn was purchased in 2011 (at least the gray yarn).  Two years ago, I even blogged that I thought I would be starting Chadwick soon.  So if I wasn't going to finish a current project, what better way to get knitting mojo going?  New project!  Whee!! With my favorite merino cashmere yarn! This can't go wrong.  I'm going to happily knit my new scarf, and it's going to be awesome, and Knitter I will be again!

Three days later I put it aside and instead started to knit....

Wait for it...a facecloth.

Who am I?  And you know what?  I freaking love this facecloth.  I've already started a second one. Drawers of luxury yarn and precious handspun? No thanks, dishcloth cotton is calling my name.

Seriously guys, WTF?

PS.  Of course, facecloth knitting is fine and dandy if it's your thing.  If you love knitting dishcloths, go forth and knit and enjoy.  It's just never been my thing.

PPS.  Yes, I've been away from blogging forever.  Lots to catch up on, of course, but I needed to start back slowly.  Despite my recent knitter apathy, I was fairly productive this fall, so lots of socks soon!

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.

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

It's going to be EPIC

Eagleman 70.3 is behind me.

To make a long story short, I felt great on the swim, fine on the bike, and the run was a brutal slog through the sixth level of hell.  Even with temperatures relatively mild in the low 80s, the sun beating down on me for 13 miles was a killer.  And although helpful, it ain’t much fun trying to run with cups of ice bouncing around in your sports bra.  In the end, I crossed the finish line after 6 hrs, 10 min, and 50 sec of swim, bike, run, which was 41 minutes faster than 2012, so no complaints.  I think Mike and I are pretty much done with Eagleman though.  There are only so many times you can fork over money to race in misery before you start to come to your senses.

And now looming ahead is only the big bad of Ironman Mont Tremblant. Nine very short weeks away.  I am both super excited and scared out of my mind.  I've come a really long way in the last five months but there's still pretty far to go before I'll be ready to try to cover 140.6 miles.  Distance starting building this week, and 73 miles on the bike and 16.5 of running will take a pretty big chunk out of the weekend.  Vacuuming, laundry, walking dogs, and spending an hour tonight making stuffed cabbage (yeah, weird impulse for June cooking, no explanation) and there is little time left to relax with knitting.

So, in honor of big epic undertakings (and the fact that I've barely worked on any knitting in the past week), I decided it was finally time to update my progress on the handspun afghan. To give some background, I started this project in 2011. Over the years, I bought 15 4oz braids of blue faced leicester fiber, spun a worsted 2-ply yarn, and knit each skein into a log cabin square.  Sometime last year I finished knitting the last square.

I was so excited about finishing the squares that I shoved them in a drawer and didn't think about them for months.  In March, I finally dug them out, bought black yarn, and started knitting.  A couple months and a whole lotta garter stitch later:

All the squares are assembled.  Only the outer borders are left.  I'm so close and yet there is still a good bit of knitting to go.  Knitting that I have no intention of touching for months.  The blanket weighs a metric crapton and there is no way I'm going to sit with the whole thing on my lap to knit the borders until there is frost outside.  Since it's not even summer yet, that's going to be awhile.  Thank goodness I have hours of bike training to keep me busy.  To be continued...maybe in October...  

Buttons to the Rescue

Two years ago, I finished my first (and only) half-iron triathlon, and tomorrow I will head back to Cambridge, MD to race Eagleman again on Sunday.  I’m sure I was a basket of nerves last time, but unlike 2012, this year I am not undertrained.  Weather conditions are not predicted to be the sweltering inferno of years past, and I have absolutely zero doubts that I can cover the distances and finish the race. You’d think I'd be a tad more relaxed, right?  Yeah, you’d be wrong.  My stomach is tied up in knots because I’m nervous about whether I’ll meet expectations.  Yup, that's really what's on my idiot mind today. And it's not even others' expectations, just my own. Talk about creating unnecessary drama.  

Anyway, all that was basically a long way of saying, I'm finally writing a blog post to get my mind off ridiculous race anxiety.  Because we all know that yarn solves all problems.  Or at least most.  

Despite how hectic life has become these days, I have managed to squeeze in a decent amount of knitting, spinning, and even some (gasp!) weaving.  I have tons to share, not to mention, extremely overdue posts about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but since I do need to actually pack and get ready to leave town, today is just about one wee baby sweater.  It's not often that I have occasion to knit baby items, but some friends recently announced they are expecting a little girl, and damn, if didn't want to leap all over the knitting opportunity.  Only problem is that I'm extremely picky when I knit for non-knitters.  I feel like the item has to be “OMG, amazing!” for it to be appreciated, and despite the thousands of baby sweater patterns on Raverly, nothing was grabbing me.  Me, indecisive?  Nah….

Sheep and Wool and Jennie the Potter to the rescue...because buttons! 

The couple are cycling friends, so come on, how perfect are these?  (I'm fairly certain I saw them on the Yarn Harlot's blog awhile ago, so yes, I'll own up that I'm really just a copycat)  The buttons made life a lot easier because immediately I knew I was knitting a red cardigan.  Of course, it is me after all, so don't think for a second that just because I settled on red, I'd have no problem deciding on yarn.  I, uh, ordered two different skeins because I couldn't make up my mind.  I will maintain, however, that the two skeins were due to concern about color misrepresentation on computer monitors and not indecision.  Yes.  Really.  

The caked skein sort of gives away which one I chose which is Madelinetosh Pashmina in Robin Red Breast (the other is Tosh Sport in Tart).   With light workouts this week to rest up for the race, I've gotten a nice start to a Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan.  

So so cute.  And tiny.  And damn, if baby sweaters don't go super fast.  But now I'm going to put away the happy distraction and actually go start packing the fourteen bags of crap I need for a triathlon.  Who came up with this stupid sport anyway?  Hmm...maybe one more row....

And I really really do have tons to share so I hope I’ll be back soon.  Sneak peak and proof crafting is happening!

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!

I'm Baaaack

Knitting projects are languishing, spinning is not happening, and this blog has obviously fallen by the wayside for months. So yeah, 2013 crafting could definitely be going somewhat better. Along with several other corners of my life. Clutter is slowly taking over my house, home improvement projects keep getting put off, and it seems every spare minute is spent in the kitchen or grocery store as my already ridiculously restrictive diet recently crossed into a whole new dimension of crazy.

Some people spring clean, but fall has always been the season to jump-start me into action. All it took was a walk with my dogs a few mornings ago when the temps were blissfully in the 50s instead of the 80s, and I started to get inspired to get stuff DONE. But where to begin the blog catch up? With the piles of handspun from Tour de Fleece in July? The top I finished months ago? The handspun laceweight sweater I started last month? Nope. I'm going to start slowly and keep things simple. That roughly translates to: I’m going to post the project that is currently within arm’s reach of the computer.

Pattern:  Brainless by Yarnissima

Just some humble socks I started earlier this month, but with sportweight yarn, these babies are flying.  It helps that the socks accompanied me on 2 long plane flights and almost 2 straight days in a van driving around mountains in Colorado.  People do a lot of weird things for fun.  Mike and I decided it would be a good idea to fly to Denver so that we could then get up at 5am and drive up to Breckenridge with 1 friend and 9 strangers in order to spend the next 30 hours doing a relay run for 200 miles to Aspen (aka Ragnar Colorado).

So you can probably guess what the next blog post will be about.  Hint:  lots of pictures but no yarn.

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....

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

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.

Visit Tami's for more WIP Wednesday!

December Catch Up

As usual, I have weeks to catch up on so let’s skip the whole 2012 year-in-review thing and the inevitable 2013 resolution post (at least for now) and go straight to the yarny stuff.

No, I have not been gone for weeks because I died under a pile of smittens, but I did keep going with them for at least a few more days.

After smitten #10, I was able to conquer the obsession  (okay, fine, I started running out of appropriate handspun leftovers).  A day or so after I cleared my head from the smitten haze, I started back on my WIPs and the rest of December actually ended up being rather productive.  First up, I almost finished a sweater.

Yes, it's an odd picture, but the sleeve cuffs (can you call 8 inches a cuff?) are the coolest thing about the sweater so there ya go.  I totally could have been wearing this one for Christmas had I planned a little better when I bought this yarn for a completely different project over two years ago and psychically realized I was going to change patterns and probably needed one more skein.  For a couple of nights, I played the "maybe if I knit fast enough, I can finish before the yarn runs out" game.  Then I came back to reality, weighed my yarn, and admitted there was no way that what I had left would get me through the second sleeve.  I hunted up and ordered an extra skein, but was forced to put the sweater aside to save my remaining yarn so that I could alternate it with the new skein.  MadTosh is not exactly known for consistent skeins even when you buy them together, and two years apart?  Yeah, I was just hoping it was still some shade of grey.

Forced to abandon the sweater, a funny thing happened.  I was hit with strange motivation to knit my heart out and finish a pair of socks that were intended to be a Christmas gift--an idea I had long ago given up on since the first sock wasn't even completely finished.  This motivation hit on Dec. 22nd.  Nice timing, right?  Here is what the next three days looked like:

Yup, I said it, BAM!  I knit the entire second sock in two and a half days.  Yes, I know there are awesome knitters out there that can bust out a pair in the same amount of time, and yes, I realize these aren't exactly tall socks, but whatever, a sock in three days is about as good as it's ever going to get for this fickle knitter.

With the socks finished, I had the drive back from Connecticut to Maryland free to turn back to the handspun projects.  Relaxing on the couch after we got home, I finished up the Lacy Baktus scarf.

 

A few days and three different bind-offs later, Mike's socks made their way to the finished pile.

Then I threw some handspun on the loom and busted out a scarf for no particular reason.

  

And yet, I still wasn't quite finished.  I managed to squeeze one more skein of handspun and most of a hat in before the calendar hit 2013.

I tried to spin bulky yarn.  I mostly failed.  And while I love, Love, LOVE the hat pattern (Squall by Glenna C.),  I do not love how it looks with the color variation so the yarn is destined for another project.  Still, I enjoyed the hell out of myself knitting it, so it's all good.

And there's the December crafting.  Phew!  I'll try to get January in before we hit February!

Squee!

I'm a pretty reserved person and not usually prone to excited outbursts or squeals of excitement, but just this once.....

That, my friends, is a finished Laika.  Buttons sewn, ends woven in, blocked.  In other words, finished.  Completely finished.  Worn to work yesterday and everything.  So once again.....SQUEEEE!

Modeled pictures and loads of details coming on Friday.  I have a ton to say because if you couldn't already tell, I LOVE THIS SWEATER!

I'll be heading back to sweater #2 and the cables that never end now.

Simple cables, but lots of them.  Every other row.  Progress ain't speedy.

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. 

Visit Tami’s for more WIPW!

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.

Visit Tami's for more WIPW!

Takeover

The knitting on Jordan has been finished for weeks now, yet finished-object Friday is still a fail for me this week. 

So close!

All I have to do is re-block the sleeves (uh, see how the one on the right looks a little longer?  yeah, it looks that way when I tried it on too) and seam, but I have not been able to think about anything other than the race I have coming up on Sunday.

So instead of finished knitting, today I present "10 signs the running/tri thing is taking over my life":

1. Until last month, the only new shoes I purchased in the last year and a half were 2 pairs of running shoes and flip-flops for the pool.

2. The last time I used my hair dryer it was to dry the sports tape on my feet and not my hair.

3. Although almost every pair of shorts I own are falling apart with holes, I cannot seem to find time to go shopping for new clothes, but I did manage to get to the store to buy new bike tires and running socks.

4. The refrigerator always seems to be empty, but the basket of protein bars and sports nutrition is always full.

5. I have been known to set my alarm on the weekends to get out for a long workout earlier than I do to get up for work during the week (this is a big one for me--I am NOT a morning person).

6. I sometimes look forward to Mondays more than the weekends.  Monday is a “rest day”.  Last Saturday my bike/run workout was over 4 hours.  Followed by 2 more hours of running on Sunday.

7. I was just as excited about the package that arrived this week that contained compression socks as I was about the one with fiber (at least I said "just" as excited, not "more".  I haven't gone completely crazy yet).

8.  The only knitting I did this week was when I was icing my feet.

9.  I spend as much time reading running blogs as knitting ones.

10. I've spent more $$ on race fees this year than on yarn. 

All of this due to my recent marathon and because on Sunday morning, I will attempt my first half iron-distance triathlon.  If the forecast holds, I will be trying to cover 70.3 miles (1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run) in 90+ degrees on a course with no shade. These conditions are exactly the same as last year when I watched Mike cross the finish line with muscle spasms and almost collapsing from heat exhaustion. Yet I still thought it was a good idea to give it a go this year myself. Clearly a brilliant decision. With those conditions and foot injuries that have thrown a big wrench in my training, I don't have high expectations.  I think the day will be successful if I avoid being carted off the course in an ambulance. 

Setting the bar high there, Heather. 

A Fresh Start

I have much to share about the final outcome of my WIP challenge and what I have planned for 2012.  I'm not ready to write that up yet though because I started a sock.

 

This sock is not on any of my to-do lists, and it's a mystery sock pattern, so I don't even know what the finished sock is going to look like.  It's exactly what I need right now.  I'll be back soon with finished projects, skeins of handspun, and details on the new craft I'm delving into.  But for now, I'm going to go knit a sock and enjoy a fresh knitting project.

P.S.  For anyone wondering, the sock is Blathnat, the mystery sock for the Sock Knitters Anonymous January knit-along.  Yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Lubber Grasshopper.

Cabled Mitts and the Magic of Charts

And another WIP goes down.

Pattern:  Glorious Cabled Mitts (Ravelry pattern)
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Cherry Mist

I may have inched along initially on the second mitt, but once I hit the chart it was all over.  Something about being able to cross row after row off makes me a more productive knitter.  And well, once I finished the chart, I was just SO close that it didn't take too much effort to push through the last few inches of ribbing.

Pattern mods:  cast on 64 stitches instead of 72 and took out cables that are supposed to run alongside the lattice pattern.  As written, these would have been rather roomy and I like my mittens snug.  I lengthened the top ribbing so that it would cover my entire palm and knuckles.  This has never been a project I've had much enthusiasm for, but the end result is a nice pair of soft squishy mitts that I will wear as soon as mother nature realizes it's autumn and shouldn't be 60 degrees.

Yarn:  With 20 percent cashmere this yarn is soft and smooth and feels wonderful.  It doesn't have a super tight twist but isn't too splity and I liked the light feel compared to some of my denser sock yarns.  The one thing I really don't care for is the color.  The yarn can't decide whether it wants to be red or pink.  The end result is a sort of washed out red with lots of white splotches.  I've been told yarn is sometimes dyed like this on purpose to create a certain effect knitted up, but honestly it just looks like the skein wasn't fully dyed to me. I think one of these days, the mitts are going to take a swim in the crock pot with some red food coloring.

This brings me to ten projects finished with stash yarn this year and down to five WIPs.  Of the five projects left there are two that I've thought it might be a longshot to finish by the end of the year.  The first of those is an elaborately cabled sweater; the second is a pair of fair-isle socks.  The socks were started last summer as a mystery KAL.  I put them aside after finishing the leg and heel flap for both socks.  At the time, I wasn't in love with the pattern or my yarn choice.  For whatever reason, on Friday evening I settled onto the couch and pulled out these socks.  It only took about two rows before I was completely enthralled.  I knit for hours and finished more than half the foot.  By Sunday evening I was grafting the toe.

I credit the chart.  Every time I pick up a fair-isle project, I'm reminded how much I love stranded knitting.  Cable and lace charts will keep me motivated, but there is something magical about color charts that make me unable to put down the project.  After finishing the first sock, I figured I would try to finish off a couple of other projects before moving onto the second sock, but last night when I couldn't fall asleep, I reached for the sock and knit ten rows before putting it back down and going to sleep.

When I got home this evening, tired and with a headache, I went straight to the sock.  The gusset decreases are now finished and I'm itching to get back to it.  I don't think I'm going to have any problem finishing this project by the end of December.  The same cannot be said for the cabled sweater.

Anticipation

I feel like I've knit a good bit this week.  The evidence, however, does not support that statement.

I was so completely bored with with this project, I considered giving up and relegating these mitts to the frog pond.  As soon as I bound off the first mitt, I cast on the second, and my enthusiasm has finally started to pick back up.  I'm still clearly inching along, but at least I'm enjoying the knitting now instead of cursing every stitch.

I've taken a bit of a break from knitting this evening, as I'm too preoccupied with pre-race excitement to think about much else. I'm bouncing around the house eagerly anticipating a bright and early morning when I'll be running 13.1 miles at the Annapolis Half Marathon.  I've been gearing up for this race ever since my somewhat disappointing end to triathlon season about six weeks ago (two flats and cramping calves did not quite translate to the finish I was hoping for).  Unlike my first half marathon last year, I know I can run the distance.  Last year I was nervous; tonight I'm just feeling psyched and ready to go.  This evening I brought home some new running gear and have spent the evening trying on possible race outfits and gathering my supplies. 

Bring it on Annapolis!

Back on Track

I spent very little time with my knitting needles this past weekend.  Instead, I have a much cleaner house and sore legs from an almost 12 mile run.  As I contemplate starting marathon training, I shudder that soon 12 miles will be a recovery run, but that’s a subject for another day.  Despite very little knitting time, 20 hours in the car the weekend prior equated to most of a second sock.  I finished the foot by Friday evening, and despite spending hours scrubbing cabinets and floors or pounding the pavement this weekend, I was able to squeeze in finishing the toe Sunday night to cross off one more WIP from list. 

Have I mentioned I hate taking pictures of socks?

Pattern:  Cauchy from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Tea Party

These socks have a long history.  A very long time ago, Mike asked for dark brown socks.  I was excited at the idea at first, especially as I began yarn shopping.  I settled on the raved-about Dream in Color Smooshy, which I had never used, and cast on for Simple Skyp socks.  This was October 2009 (I had to look back to an old Ravelry post to find that info).  I didn’t like the yarn/pattern combo, and a few inches into the first leg, I ripped it completely.  According to my Ravelry project page, I started Cauchy in April 2010.  Progress was slow.   In July, with less than one leg finished, Cauchy made a brief blog appearance with the goal of finishing the pair in December.  It's obvious that I meant December 2011, not 2010, right?

I honestly can’t remember much about that first sock until I picked it back up a couple of months ago with the heel flap halfway done. Sock one was finished by the time I finalized my Operation Conquer the WIPs mission.  I was less than an inch into the second sock when I left for Atlanta.  By the time we reached my parents’ house, the leg was finished.  On the return trip, I turned the heel and knit until my fingers ached.  I bitched and whined these last few days as I slogged through the rest of the sock, but now, over two years after Mike made that simple request, I can finally deliver him some damn brown socks. I wonder how long it will take me to finally hand over the brown sweater I've started for him three times? 

Details:  I skipped the picot cuff and instead cast on 64 stitches and knit eight rows of 2x2 ribbing.  I then increased to 66 before beginning the chart.  The pattern is written for 60 stitches with a 10-stitch repeat.  I threw in one extra stitch in between the purl zig-zags to make it an 11 stitch repeat to size it up.

Verdict:  Easy pattern, nice texture, good guy sock without being mind-numbingly boring, although certainly not the most exciting knit either.  Even though this was the first skein of Smooshy I purchased, this is my second finished pair of Smooshy socks.  I know there are loads of knitters that adore this yarn, but I am not one of them.  To me it feels rough and is hard on my hands.  The sock feels like it will be extremely durable and the fabric has a nice feel now that the socks have gone for a swim, but it's not worth an unhappy knitting experience.  I breathed a heavy sigh of relief last night when I moved onto the next WIP and felt the soft merino cashmere yarn sliding through my fingers.  Next up: cabled fingerless mittens.

Cleaning House

Somewhat unsurprisingly, a couple of weeks of relatively focused knitting did indeed result in a finished shawl.  Go figure, right?  I mean who could have predicted that outcome?  I’m sure that logically I have always understood this concept, but it took some new-found determination for me to start putting it into practice.

Around mid-November last year I embarked on my great WIP knit-down of 2010.  I started with 14 knitting projects.  After six weeks, seven were finished, three were ripped, and I was left with a significantly smaller WIP pile and some serious knitting burnout.  Nevertheless, slaving away on the Scarecrow socks was the first step toward my even more ambitious goal for this year—clear out ALL the WIPs.  I shudder a little bit even just writing that.   It’s a lofty goal to be sure, but hey, aim high?  And I started a month earlier than last year. That's totally going to make the difference, right?

I have seven active WIPs (conveniently all pictured to the right) that I hope to finish up by the end of the year:  two sweaters, two pairs of socks, fingerless mitts, a vest, and a skirt.  I’m trying to forget that three of these projects were on the original 2010 list—the Vivian sweater, Cauchy socks, and the cabled mitts.  I’m apparently still not quite ready to go back to these three yet since  next on my chopping block is the Angostura vest from Ysolda Teague’s Little Red in the City.  I was dying to start this vest all summer and finally cast on in early September.  I flew through the back until I hit the armhole shaping.  I tried to follow the pattern, but it didn’t look right and after ripping and reknitting a couple of times without success, I put the back aside and started the front.  I didn’t make it too far before it was cast aside.

Angostura in its current state of neglect

Even though I moved onto the front, the issue with the back still frustrated me, and there were a few other issues that probably contributed to my abandonment.  The yarn is Malabrigo Rios, which is heavenly, but since I didn’t buy the skeins together, I’m alternating skeins every two rows.  I’m not a fan of juggling two skeins (that whole tangling problem I have), and one of the skeins has some light spots which is driving me crazy.  It’s funny how small details like these will make me chuck a project right to the bottom of the closet.  I’m still not looking forward to going back to the vest, but maybe a few nights of steady knitting and tangible progress will bring back that initial enthusiasm.  Hopefully I'll have something to show soon!

Oh, and to clarify “all the WIPs” does not include my epic afghan projects (I’m not that crazy) or the few projects currently classified as “hibernating” on Ravelry,  like the sweater that I’ve only knit a few inches of one sleeve or the socks that I still need to spin yarn to finish.   There’s aiming high and then there’s just plain delusional.  

Instant Gratification

I crossed two more WIPs off the list last night--the two pairs of slippers (aka Fiber Trends felted clogs).  I swear these things are like magic.  It's insane how fast over 1000 yards of yarn will turn into big floppy shoe-like things, and even more magical that a little hot water and agitation turns them into warm cozy slippers perfect for knocking around the house all winter. 

I made a pair of these for myself a couple of years ago and they were so perfect for my cold floors that I made Mike a pair soon after.  Both of us have lived in them the past few winters, and we've worn holes through the soles. We've been overdue for new pairs for awhile; now I can check that project off the list.

The WIP tally is officially at eleven.  On the chopping block for this week is yet another pair of socks and one of my bigger projects--the Leyfi pullover.

Looks done, right?  Close, but not quite.  I finished the body and first sleeve this weekend, but there is the whole second sleeve to go.  I think I can do it in a few days.  If I knock out the socks and sweater, the tally could be down to single digits by the end of the week.  I think once I get down to five I'll be allowed to start a new project. But, really, I'm not getting ahead of myself or anything...