Ranting Knitter

A project I have been working on: a knitted poncho.  This one is for my mom.  I had wanted it to be finished by Christmas.  No go on that.  Therefore, I’ve resorted to finishing it pre-spring so she may use it during the upcoming transitional weather that New England is so fond of.  Case in point: I’m sitting outside typing this, while it is 55 degrees and sunny.  Oh and it is February.  Oh so sunny.  The windows are all open, a light breeze is going into the house to clear out the winter funk that seems to occur this time of year.  So yes, I should be hoping to finish that poncho might quick.

This poncho is great for a multitude of reasons.  It is simple - which translates into there being nothing obscene that I have to wrap my tired brain around, therefore, I am able to knit while not paying attention, or watching a movie, to put it fairly.

The stitch is one of the reasons it is so simple: it’s a garter stitch (knit every row).  There’s no insane pattern to follow.

The increases and decreases are easy enough: Make1 (m1) or Knit 2 Together  (k2tog).  This is done every 6th stitch, thus creating a unique ‘border’ all around the poncho’s edge.  Very unique.

The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun in Quartz (#362).  This yarn is smooth and flowing through my fingers.  Obviously these are all subjective thoughts on the poncho.  Though I like knitting with that fun yarn, it can be a pain in the ass when you are making an attempt to do something serious, as in a poncho for one’s mom.  Not that my mom would go for the fun yarn, she probably would, but I just cannot take it all too serious with fun yarn.  Fun yarn has its own definition with moi and that would be to experiment.  For me, fun means experimenting, in most situations, particularly yarn.  With fun yarn I like to invent new patterns or methods for doing things.  I do tend to follow a pattern, of course the excuse is to knit with that yarn.  An example of fun yarn?  This scarf I am knitting for my sister.  I’ll have to discuss that in another blog, this one would be painfully long if I added it in here.

Tonight, the movie is ‘JAWS.’  No, I have never seen the movie.  I know I will not be scared for I will be knitting, which of course keeps me sane and grounded.  I am hoping to finish this bad boy soon, though.  Spring is fast approaching with weather like today.

After Christmas, I had a new outlook on my knitting, which largely centered on going on a Yarn Diet.

For those of you not aware of what a Yarn Diet is, allow me to explain. A Yarn Diet entails not bothering to purchase any more yarn but rather utilize the existing yarn in one’s stash.  The yarn in my stash has accumulated over a series of years (not decades). A few times I made attempts to go on a Yarn Diet; they were unsuccessful. Given that my circumstances have changed, I have now concluded that a Yarn Diet is inherently necessary. I will not purchase any more yarn.

I have been thinking on the length of this Diet.  How long can one go without purchasing yarn?  Has it ever worked for anyone?  After reassessing the stash, going deep into thought, and knitting over all of it, I have decided not to purchase ANY yarn for one year.  This is a scary thought.  Especially to my knitting comrades.

In general, I realize the severity of my Yarn Diet.  More so, since most of my knitted creations are given as gifts.  But, I am a gal that loves a challenge and therefore, I am determined to find something in my stash to knit for everyone.

The bag shown here looks cute and innocent enough.  Sadly, it’s not.  This is what I lovingly refer to as my knitting bag.  A knitting bag holds different meanings for every knitter.  For me, this holds a number of my UFOs.

For those un-knitters, a UFO is Un-Finished Object; mainly geared towards the number of unfinished knitting projects laying throughout the home.  A personal, unspoken secret to many knitters is to one day finish her/his UFOs.

I have decided that enough is enough with the unfinished objects and projects laying about my home.  I either become so ingrained in one project, while overlooking a few others, or I will start another project and then forget about the zillion others gathering dust in the corner of my room.  Not good.  I know that yarn was once (and still very well could be) a living thing and therefore has feelings.  Neglect is not something we ever want to experience.  I feel for the yarn sitting in the corner; it knows it could be paraded about once a finished object for all to admire and praise.  There need to be more finished objects out there.

And so, I am making serious strides to finish the unfinished.  This is hard.

Looking at my Ravelry site, one may notice there are a few UFOs dubbed ‘UGH!’.  This is one too many for me.  No desire there to finish them.  Well, guess what, RK?  They are there, finished but unfinished.  Small, yet important touches are required to make these projects not only complete, but fully-functional.  I will feel a weight lifted off my shoulders should I finish these projects.  Not to mention extra room in my closet.  I’m mainly talking about a few pairs of socks, a sweater for my some random child, a sweater for my sister, and a sweater for me (that has to be frogged and reknitted into washcloths, talk more later on that one).  I didn’t even touch the potential Christmas presents there are.  No less, there are quite a bit of knitting UFOs to tackle.  I’m not sure when or how it will be done, but it will be done.  As well, I am sure the yarn will feel confident and secure to now be dubbed an FO, as opposed to a UFO.  Yarn has feelings, someone needs to stand up to for the yarn.

From time to time, I will be mentioning these finished objects of mine.  They are but works of joy and struggle.  As knitters, we need to praise ourselves for the tremendous sweat/blood/sacrifices/missed dates/family avoided/movies watched/cleaning ignored/work/effort we put towards knitting an object.  We should be thrilled when the object is completed and eager to share.  We should, so why are we not?  Let us unite as knitters and change this mentality.  Let’s finish some objects!

And besides, who doesn’t want more excuses to just sit and stare at her/his amazing stash?  The gaping of one’s stash stirs up all sorts of butterflies of new projects to start and yarn to hold and caress.  Though, just to gaze at one’s stash is a wonderful thing in and of itself; a stash allows one to think in colors.  Beautiful.

Woah.  Okay.  No posts for a solid few months.  Do I ignore my web absence and go about the blogs as though nothing has happened?  Or do I explain the absence however long and unintended it was?

I would have such a guilty conscience to ignore my lengthy absence.  Where to begin?

I’m getting my life in an awesome order.  I’m feeling the good vibes all the way.  Working The Secret into my every day life and it’s working!  Who would have thought?

I’ve been reading a variety of books.  I don’t critique them too much.  I read everything: the goods and bads.  I need to exercise all parts of my mind and imagination.  And what better way to do so than with a story spurred by someone else’s imagination?  I love it.  Beats watching soaps all day.

More importantly to me, I’ve been traveling.  I am having an absolute blast.  I have been to a few places and done a few things.  My traveling companions deserve a great deal of credit for the amount of fun that I have where ever I go.  And I get so excited waiting for my next big excursion!

And photography.  I have been snapping quite often.  Though, I haven’t been good about uploading all my pics to flickr, I’ll get there.

I have had a nice break away from a hectic world.  I re-energized my spirit.  And now, it’s time to get down to what matters.  I’ll get back to you on that last bit…

Now that I am out of Sock Wars 3, I think I’ll still knit socks. Of course not for me, but as gifts.

Currently, I’m working on a toe-up pair for my mom. These socks were meant to be her birthday present, but that has since come and gone. I’m hopeful that I will finish and get them to her within the month. : )

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill. This is my first time working with this yarn and I’m loving every minute of it. This yarn knits up great. Not to mention that the colorway is great: so bright and cheery - making the work all the more worthwhile.

I finally finished the Detonation Socks for Sock Wars 3. Unfortunately, not in time for me to be ‘killed.’ I’m officially out of the War. Bummer, I was hoping to last at least two rounds, but I’m happy to have finished the socks anyway.

My reaction: I’m not too impressed. This is more centered on the pattern, as well as the yarn. The pattern was a bit confusing. I spoke with a few other knitters in the War that gave me some pointers and suggestions. I also made contact with my Assassin who furthered these suggestions. At this point, I had already completed one sock. This sock was a complete mess; I was very disappointed with the results. Before attempting the second sock, I gathered the suggestions together and set about altering the pattern to make more sense and thus work for my socks. This helped immensely. I frogged the first sock.

I was not thrilled with knitting the Tofutsies yarn. For some reason, I had the hardest time working with this yarn. Others seem to have done well, which is good. I have no idea what my problem was. However, I mailed the completed socks to my Target, who praised them. She loved them; I’m very happy that she does. Well, enjoy them!!

As for my socks…..I received my socks without my knowing. [A long story that is too warped to tell]. My socks are FABULOUS! I really enjoy them! My Assassin did a truly amazing job - THANK YOU!! I am so impressed and so thrilled. The picture does them no justice. I will enjoy wearing them; you can tell she had fun knitting them, which makes all the difference.

As for Sock Wars, I love it. I think Sock Wars is a great idea that spreads across the globe. I am looking forward to next year. I’ll bring my A-Game.

But there is also Hat Attack…..

Sock Wars. I am also quite confused at this whole procedure.

The pattern was given to us a few days prior to our actual start date. The suggestion was made to be careful about knitting before receiving your Target. So, I waited. I read the pattern, saw that I could technically begin without knowing my Target’s sock size. But I waited.

Now, I stand four days into the War and about three-quarters of the way done with my FIRST sock. Yikes! As I’m knitting the pattern, I’m finding that I’m not seeing the actual pattern. AND, my gauge is off. Double yikes!!

I have read the discussions in the Boards. A few people tend to feel the same way, which is cool. I also heard that the pattern was off. Well, not one to frog, I’m leaving my sock three-quarters of the way done and just going to finish it.

My gauge is off. I can just tell my looking at it. My Target is a size smaller than me. And yet, these socks are looking a bit big. I knitted gauge in the beginning, only to discover that I was knitting too small. I’m now making the sock with the larger needles to no avail. Oh boy….

I am sharing the sock with you. It is knitted with Tofutsies, which is recommended.

I’m also sharing pics of my new Lexie Barnes bag. So cute! I didn’t have time to sew one of my own and then I found this one. Almost the right size!

I am debating on what to do: clean house, put stuff on ebay, knit the socks while watching a movie, or workout. The choices are making me insane!!

Thank God knitting is tonight!

I cannot believe that I have not written ONE THING for the month of April. Something Freudian going on? Doubtful. I utilized the past month to concentrate more on me. Yes, I should have been writing all along, but honestly, I wasn’t feeling anything. I came up with a few ideas here and there, but nothing really stuck.

I will tell you what I did find: photography. In particular, black and white photography. I enrolled in a class where I am able to develop my own prints. I am quite intrigued and would thoroughly enjoy doing this for the rest of my life, provided that I gain more of a clue as to what I am doing.

Photography may very well be the next best thing for me. Not proclaiming myself as the next Ansel Adams, I do enjoy art and if I am able to create art (other than knitting) well, hell, then why not?

I am not putting my knitting aside. Actually, I signed up for Sock Wars 3 - I am so nervous!! But, I am thoroughly looking forward to it. I can just hear myself now: turning down a date because I have to knit a pair of socks before I am assassinated! What a great excuse!!

My knitting has picked up some (no pun intended). Within reason. I am sure there are many knitters out there that always wish they could knit more. I am one of them. I’ll be more than happy just to finish at least one project a month. My secret? Netflix and Podcasts. I have a pathetic number of movies in my Queue, as well as a number of subscriptions to podcasts. Of course there are a few on photography. ; )

Speaking of…I need to figure out my gauge for Sock Wars 3….

Knitty is so great and wonderful. *SIGH* I could go on forever about the awesomeness of Knitty.

Here’s a start: pedicure socks. Now, please keep in mind, this was my second attempt at knitting socks (or quasi-socks). I had A LOT of fun with these. The first one was a bit to get used to, but with most socks (or any other knitting project), once you have the pattern down, you’re golden. There was no stopping me.

These were another Christmas gift that I did not finish on time. I started the first one and had it done prior to Christmas Day. For some reason, I lost steam and went on to other things (the Coffee Cozies, stay-tuned for those). These were for my sister. I did finish them (a month or so after Christmas). She loves them, saying they keep her feet nice and warm.

As for these cute pedicure socks, I used a different yarn than what the pattern recommended. Believe it or not, I did attempt to get gauge, but was not able to. I did my best with size 6, double-pointed needles. They actually came out really well. The next pair will be knit with size 5, though, I think I will love ‘em even more with the smaller needle.

This pattern originally called for two different colors, knit in stripes. I am not that gifted of a knitter to tackle that (or at least when I wanted to make them quick for Christmas, I didn’t want to try to figure out how to knit stripes).

What I REALLY loved about knitting these was making the heel! So awesome to do! I cannot rave about these enough. I will definitely be making myself a pair in the future.

The project du jour has lasted me some time. I have been lacking motivation to actually finish the damn thing. I think the issue here is my mind; it wanders. I think of all the other cool projects I could be working on. Socks are one of them. Alas, I remain diligent and almost force myself to finish this sweater. And it’s not like it’s a big deal: it’s a children’s sweater. And knit in a chunky weight with size 10 needles. Why am I complaining?

The pressure has since subsided. This sweater was to be a Christmas present for a good friend’s child. I never ended up seeing her around the holidays and therefore never ended up finishing the sweater (or even starting it for that matter). As luck would have it, I happen to see this friend on a daily basis now. The motivation has finally kicked in; I should finish it ASAP. Despite that winter is over - it’s the thought that counts.

Not to mention that I should get my shit together. I have always enjoyed being crafty. In particular, making gifts for those friends and family that will greatly appreciate them.

This sweater has become more of a reminder to finish project gifts on said time; preferably ahead of time. I promise myself that this year will be different. I have a huge stash and enough family and friends that will deplete it. I just need to remain diligent. One exception is making a baby blanket for another friend, I do have a few months. That will be the going project once this sweater is finished, hopefully, soon.