Rush

There's a strange feeling that comes over me whenever I finish a project. I'm not sure if it's the joy of finally being finished or the fact that I can search through stashes, pattern and yarn, for the next object to satisfy my knitting fancy. If truth be told this sensation washes over me at several points in the knitting process.

The first occurs when I decide on the pattern and which yarn I'm going to use. The second occurs when I can see the project beginning to take shape. The third when I've finished all the pieces and the fourth once I've blocked and put the garment together. Tonight I get to feel the thrill of blocking twice.

My beloved Skyline is complete. After numerous misteps and re-starts, all due to operator error, this sweater is complete and blocking.


I hope to christen this sweater this weekend while the cold front passes through.

Last week I completed all the pieces for the Ribbon-Edged Cardigan from Special Knits. I still haven't found the ribbon, but I have the cutest flower buttons and may just omit it altogether.


About a week and half ago I did an inventory of the number of wip's that are currently on the needles. Including projects that were cast on by me or adopted from my mother, I have a staggering 14 projects in progress. I've identified those that will be frogged and those that I'll see to completion. Over the next few weeks there'll be lots of early spring cleaning on this blog in preparation for the fruits of summer.

Greenville Knit Inn

Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy!!!

Yesterday I could barely stand to keep my eyes open and did manage to sneak a quick nap in late yesterday afternoon. The Knit Inn was great. It was nice to see the knitters that I met last year, especially Lou from Rock Hill. I hung out during the day with Deborah, Gail , Anita, mom and Heather aka Yargineer with her cute baby pooch. I also made some new knitting friends and hope that we will be able to stay in touch and get together during the year.

The hotel was nice and the guest Happy Hour from 5:30-7:00 was even better. It was a hoot to see all these knitters show up with projects in tow and drink cards in hand. We had dinner at PF Chang on Saturday. I missed going to the restaurant that was in the hotel when we were in Vegas. The reservation service is a joke, but the food was delicious.

I was waitlisted for two of the classes I registered for. The Shawl Design class was informative and I came away with some good info which will help me with future designs. The instructor was Lainey Haule who was president of the guild last year. I was surprised how many people remembered me from last year and happy to see them again.

There were only three vendors, but two of them managed to separate me from a good bit of my funds. This year the guild invited a basket maker, Roy Greene. He had some beautiful handmade baskets and I quickly picked up two of them. The larger basket was used to carry my working project during the remainder of the Knit Inn.


The others were knitting vendors, however, my purchases all came from North Woods Farm Fiber and Yarn out of Campobello. I purchased several skeins of sock yarn and several addi Turbo Lace needles.


I've long wanted to try the Schaefer Anne and the Noro Kureyon Sock. All the Noro was the same color, but since this is probably the closest I'll be to it for a while I picked up a skein anyway.


I purchased two skeins of the North Woods Farm Superwash Merino Sock yarn. One because it reminded me of stonewash blue jeans and the other just because.

Twelve skeins of the new Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet sock yarn. At $5.99/skein I just couldn't pass it up.

I also won a very nice door prize. 10 skeins of K1C2 Meringue.


Waiting for me when I got home was the package from Herrschners. The Twilleys Freedom Spirit in Natural and Passion for the Guimauve hat by Woolly Wormhead.


What a great way for a trip to end.

Whoop, Whoop!

Can I get a whoop, whoop! The body of the Skyline sweater is complete. I won't be wearing it this weekend, but the monkey is finally off my back. This sweater was becoming my Albatross and what I really needed to do was take a step back and re-group. I'm on to the seemingly endless rows of garter stitch trim which marks the home stretch.


It's easy to determine which direction to go in on the knitting front. My co-worker's baby was born yesterday morning so I'll need to get moving and finish the baby sweater. I need to knit the shrug for my niece and finish the Belted Wrap Jacket for mom. At some point I need to throw some socks into the mix. It's been months since either of us has donned a new pair.

This weekend I'm attending the knit-in in Greenville and I'm looking forward to hanging out with some knitting buds I met last year. There will definitely be some stash enhancement, imbibing of beverages and lots of knitting all around though not necessarily in that order. Details when I return.

A Different Take On Hats

Sometimes you just can't resist temptation. I fought the urge to knit a Woolly Wormhead hat as long a I could. My recent issues with the Skyline jacket gave me the excuse I needed. On Friday I started the Marrow Joe, finished the knitting on Saturday and grafted and blocked it yesterday. Today I added the pompom and now have another hat for the "hat basket." This hat can easily be knitted in a day, but I took my time and worked on this and the baby sweater this weekend.




Specs:

Pattern: Marrow Joe from "Going Straight - A New Generation of Knitted Hats" by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Idena Juvell in the blue/rose/green colorway and Idena Villmark in Navy
Needles: 5 US Colonial Rosewood
Started: January 24, 2008
Finished: January 28, 2008

I started hat #2, Windward, at work today in Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK. Not sure if this is the right yarn and once again will reserve judgement until I've got a little more done.

This year I'd like to stretch my wings a little more and finally get around to completing and submitting my Master Knitting Level II package. Last year I focused mainly on socks and would like to focus more on garment design. I've got some ideas floating around and only time will tell whether I'll be able to bring them to fruition.

Progress

I'm making good progress on the Skyline jacket. Both sleeves are done and joined and if I hadn't left my contrast stripe yarn at work I would have finished the left front. Not one to be discouraged, I picked up the arm band on the right sleeve. I'm thinking that I'll need to add another half inch or so. This weekend I'll devote my time to knitting the band that surrounds the jacket. Next weekend I'm attending a knit-in in Greenville and would love to have this finished so that I can wear it.


My office knitting is now the baby sweater since the jacket is no longer a portable project. I'm using that time to concentrate on knitting and finishing the baby sweater so that I can deliver it by next Friday.

I finally got a chance to take a picture of one of the red Hannah's I knitted over the holidays. My co-worker who received a red one brought hers to work so that I could photograph it. This color is my favorite of all of them.


The younger boys told me this weekend that they want knitted hats. My youngest nephew is three and his mother says that he has taken possession of the hat I gave her for Christmas. I let him wear one that isn't quite the right size, he has a big head, and he didn't want to take it off. He's only three, but he understands that I make things when I knit and he can wear them.

The other one is eight and he's seen me knitting for so long that he isn't fazed by it anymore. When he was much younger he was amazed by the fact that I was always knitting or reading something knitting related. When someone would ask me what I was doing his immediate replay was "some knitting." If someone asked what was I reading they received the same reply. Most of the time I was, but on a few occassions I wasn't. He was so used to that being the case that he didn't even bother to check anymore.

This past weekend I had both of them over and the knitting was at a minimum. They'll be expecting their hats soon since they've already put in their requests. I don't think they'll be affected by the sweater curse in the future.

Br-r-r-r

I'm normally not one to wait for natural light to take pictures. My photography skills are nothing to brag about, but the hat and scarf begged for just the right condition. I finally got around to blocking them Thursday night and realized that the crown could have been a little less full, but overall I'm pleased with the set and I'm sure Nicole will enjoy it.



I was going for an artsy shot, alas the wind was not cooperating. It's been bitterly cold all day and I'm sure it's even colder in Charlotte so I'm anxious to get this to her.

I also got out my dye pot for some dyeing experiments. Nothing major at this time given the breathing issues. I've purchased a lot of natural colored fingering weight skeins when the lys has been having sales with the sole purpose of dyeing them. This round I'm using Lanett Superwash 100% Merino. It's been a pain in the ass to wind them into hanks and I didn't tie them tight enough prior to putting them in the pot so I'll have a mess on my hands in the morning.


In the good news department, I'm knitting the left front of the Skyline Jacket. Tomorrow is a holiday for the state and I hope to have it finished by then. After that its' miles of garter stitch trim and finally another FO 2008. I'm picking out the next projects and for now I think I'll stick to cardigans with the flakey weather we have around here that may be the best option.

I still have some hats to make for the boys. The first one will be one for me. The Strudel by Woolly Wormhead. Vera has done several styles and the Strudel is my favorite. Even though I haven't made any of the hats, I highly recommend "Going Straight - A New Generation of Knitted Hats". The tutorials alone are worth the purchase price and it comes in three versions.

Re-Starts

A late "Happy New Year". The hat saga is finally over and I'm back to regular knitting. All were well received even though I did have to explain how to use some of them. I made a total of seven Hannah's including two for co-workers and 3 headbands. Somehow I still managed to be short one gift so I'll be working on remedying that situation.


Hannah
The Retro Redux Shrug from LaceStyles was a wonderful project to knit. I finished it in time for gift delivery. That process has been delayed by the fact that I forget to remove it from the machine after spinning it dry and by the time I remembered it had been agitating for a while. The laciness kept it from felting completely but it ended up being way too small so I've passed it on to my sister's friend. I asked my niece what color she wanted the new one to be and she likes the original color so I've already purchased the yarn for a new one.


I've never knitted much for people outside my immediate family. This includes my best friend. During the holidays she asked if I would knit her a hot pink scarf. I decided to knit a scarf and matching hat. I have enough left over to make some matching fingerless mitts but I'm nut sure what hand size to make so I'm going to pass on that for now. I used the Cable and Eyelet Rib Pattern from "The Harmony Guide to Knitting Patterns Volume Two". This is the original guide and not the recently re-issued versions. The pattern was easy to remember and fun to knit. I still have to block both of them before packing and sending them on their way.




The cold weather arrived and the only person left without a hat was me. I knitted another Odessa with gold beads. This hat is perfect. I wore it to work on a bad hair day and didn't get overheated. It is one of the most comfortable hats I've ever made. Big ups to Grumperina.


I've been away from the Skyline Jacket so long that when I picked it up and started again my row count was off. It's hard to tell where the mistake was so I've ripped back to where the first decreases began. I'm using the Ott Lite and plan to work on this until the sleeve is finished. That will take two or three evenings then I can get on with the business of putting it all together. The cold whether has left us once again and we are back to temps in the 60's and 70's. Maybe this time I'll get it finished before the next cold snap passes through.