My year of selfish knitting

Inspired by Michelle and the marvel that is my February Lady Sweater*, I'm resolving to knit a whole bunch of sweaters for myself in 2009. I am loving the current crop of swingy cardigans and pullovers with waist shaping.

On the needles now: The Shalom Cardigan in Malabrigo Chunky and Ingenue [Ravelry link] in Steadfast Merino.

I'm waiting for my order of Dream in Color Classy in Cloud Jungle to arrive at the store so I can start Amelia like the rest of the whole world.

Also bumped up in the queue are the Garter Stitch Cardigan [Ravelry link] from the latest Knit.1 magazine (yes, Carla, I am going to knit a Vogue pattern!), Loppem [Ravelry link] from Norah Gaughan 3, and the Somewhat Cowl. The Cowl is going to use one of my Preciouseses, my Tess Silk and Ivory, but the other two are waiting for the right yarn to call to me, hopefully from my stash.

And on my wish list: The Gathered Pullover [Ravelry link], possibly in another Precious, my Alpaca with a Twist Baby Twist; and Vivian, perhaps in my Beaverslide aran. And just about every other pullover and cardigan in my Ravelry queue. Not that I'm unrealistically ambitious or anything.

*It fits! It's flattering! I liked the yarn! I know some asked about modifications, and I'm working on an article for the store newsletter (for February, of course) on the different versions that the shop employees made. And on a related note, I've taken over the store blog, so look for me there as well as Go Get Your Jacket.

Reality check

I've been working pretty much every day over the holidays, and it's become our family tradition to all go for coffee and then my husband drops me off and he and The Toddler go off and run errands or do something fun. The other morning, The Toddler piped up from the backseat, "We taking Mama to work!"

Me: That's right! What does Mama do at work? [for some unfortunate reason, we are all still using the third person in conversation in the manner of Elmo.]

Toddler: Mama pick out yarn!

Me: Right! And then what?

Toddler: Mama buy it!

Whoops. I really do come home from work without yarn most of the time. Really.

Overheard

Grandpa: Henry, that's a really nice sweater you have on.
Henry (preoccupied with toy tractors): Yeah.
Grandpa: Did your mother make that for you?
Henry: Yeah
Grandpa: How did she make that?
Henry: She YARNED it, Grandpa!

Year in Review

Pay no attention to the sidebar I haven't updated in months! In 2008, I completed

• 31 hats. (31!?!?!)
• 9 children's garments
• 6 pairs of socks (uh, this is not proportional to my sock yarn stash, that's for sure)
• 5 pairs of mittens or fingerless mitts
• 2 sweaters for myself

So what's wrong with that last number? Only two things for myself? Like Michelle, I'm tempted to declare 2009 The Year of Selfish Knitting.

While 2008 was a productive year for knitting, it was a time of challenges and transitions for our little family. We are looking forward to a happier, healthier 2009!

Happy New Year!

Finally! My February Lady Sweater!

So how's that Christmas knitting coming along: The Sequel

I'm pleased and amazed to say that it's coming along just fine. The key is to reduce, reduce, reduce expectations, both in terms of what I can do as a knitter who also wants to have a life, a job, etc. and what the family anticipates receiving. (In other words, I am not knitting a Clapotis and no one is expecting to receive a Clapotis.) I have knitted gifts (can't say what yet, just in case) completed for my brother, his girlfriend, my sister, some friends, and the children of some of my pals over at Go Get Your Jacket. I am not knitting for my husband and son because I knit for them throughout the year. My husband is in charge of taking care of his own family. All I have left to do are quick gifts for my parents, and that shouldn't take long. And that's a good thing, because we just got a Wii, and I expect that will cut down on the knitting time for now.

Woohoo! Go me!

Thanksgiving Plan of Action

Today:

1. Clean up yarn
2. Make Pioneer Woman Butternut Squash
3. Make cranberry sauce
4. Clean up yarn
5. Go to work at yarn store where there is always the danger of buying more yarn

Tomorrow:

1. Clean up the rest of the yarn
2. Make Barefoot Contessa sausage stuffing
3. Clean up for cleaning ladies (wtf, I know)
4. Panic

What's your plan of action? If you don't have a craft room, what do you do with your yarn if you're having a lot of company?

Vote!

obamasweater 010,
originally uploaded by Marisa Lynn.

I have pretty strong convictions that one should not put political stuff on children's clothing, but I was perusing the projects on Ravelry tagged with "Obama" and this toddler sweater of awesomeness came up. Can you believe the amount of work and craftsmanship that must have gone into this? Amazing.

Go vote, if you haven't already!

Toddler knitting conversation

In between Trick-or-Treaters, I knitted a hat and supervised The Toddler's dinner. He noticed the hat and asked "Henry knit?"

Me: Yes, when you are a bigger boy, you can knit.

H: Henry knit!

Me: What will you knit?

H: Red yarn

Me: But what will you knit with the red yarn?

H: Red. Red Choo-Choos! Henry's yarn.

I leave you with The Reluctant Yoda. Happy Halloween!

Autumnal

I think I’ve been frogging more than knitting, so I don’t have much to share these days. I had a moment with myself and got real about my knitting basket and the number of WIPs in it. I ripped a few things that I had to admit weren’t going to be finished any time soon, including the lace ribbon scarf I agonized over the yarn choice at the beginning of the summer. Then I re-took my own measurements since my weight has been yo-yoing up and down this year and ripped out all, yes ALL, of my sweaters in progress to be reknit at my current size.

I do have one completed project to share, Jared Flood’s Turn-a-Square hat:

I have matching Turn-A-Square Elizabeth Zimmermann mitered mittens in progress, or at least I did until I realized this morning that I mixed up the order of the decreases.

It’s finally turned crisp and autumnal and I feel like knitting beautiful fall items. On a whim, I whipped out this Halloween-y Mitered Hanging Towel from the new Mason-Dixon book. It’s, uh, supposed to look like candy corn

.

I also have to start a baby gift for a dear friend who is having a girl next month. When I asked her if I could use non-superwash wool, she replied “I’m Polish. We launder well.” That’s music to a knitter’s ears.

This morning, The Toddler looked over at me as I ripped the mittens and said “Mama yarning!” Yarning indeed!

Meeting Jared Flood

On Friday, I took a Top-Down class with Jared Flood at Yarns Unlimited. Honestly, I didn't want to go and be all swoon-y and stalker fan-like, but I came home a bigger fan than ever. The beauty and simplicity of his photography shines through in his personality. He's actually kind of shy and nonassuming in a very charming way. I knew he was about 25 years old but I didn't know he'd been knitting seriously for only 4 or 5 years.

He was a patient and kind teacher. We learned two new cast-ons and he came around the class and helped people individually (HE TOUCHED MY HAND, OMG). His taste is impeccable. He passed around a sweater he'd done, a simple V-neck, rolled hem raglan, and it was gorgeous. The class was officially "knitting from the top down," but toward the end, people asked such good questions that it turned into a lovely lecture on seamless knitting as a whole. Everything was firmly grounded in Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman, but he knew contemporary designers and offered a lot of information on how to adapt patterns.

Overall, it was lovely. I knew the Walker and Zimmerman stuff in theory but it was incredibly inspirational to see someone who clearly had a passion for that kind of knitting explain and demonstrate it.

Knitters for Obama

Join here!

The "books" part

It’s with a mixture of sadness and exhilaration that I write that the formal “books” part of my books, cats, yarn life has come to an end. At the risk of sounding trite, after a lot of soul-searching, I came to the decision to withdraw from my Ph.D. program. I am grateful for every single class I took, the exceptional lifelong friends I made, the amazing professors who taught me, and the joy of discovering my dissertation project (a subject that I will always love), but in the end, I do not think I am suited to follow an academic path. It’s exciting and scary at the same time to be at this point in my life, but I look forward to seeing what’s next.

Books will always be a great love, particularly now that I can read for pleasure without guilt! As for the yarn part, I’m increasing my hours at the store. I’ll be there most Tuesday afternoons, Friday during the day, and Saturday, with some other days sprinkled in there as needed. It’s a time of transition, and I have to admit, as much as I know that this is the right decision for me and my family, it is closing the door on something that used to be very important to me.

Dare I try this again?

Since, you know, last year went so well.

Say Cheese!

I have three somewhat substantial blog subjects floating around in my head, but for now, I'll condense them into three brief talking points. (Have I been watching too much cable news this election season? I just used talking points in a sentence.)

1. I finished the Big Boy version of the Super Natural Stripes sweater for The Toddler. He learned from Elmo's World that the thing to do when you see a camera is to say "CHEESE," so that's the only pose I can get him in these days. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic and Dyed Cotton.


2. Here we go again with the MDK Crack. I am still very, very, very bitter that the moths got, of all things, my huge stash of dishcloth cotton, but I managed to salvage some of it. I'm feeling my loss in a big way, though, now that the new Mason-Dixon Knitting book is out, but I was able to come up with this. Miters and dishcloth cotton all in the same project! Woohoo!


3. I Tim Gunned my knitting basket. Did a lot of ripping and frogging. Looks like I'll be reknitting a lot of my sweater projects in a smaller size.

I love my cats, but.....

....not when an unnamed cat throws up all over my Rockin' Sock Club binder! After getting up with The Toddler who woke up early due to a leaky diaper, I came downstairs to find the puke mess. Lesson #1: Don't leave your RSC binder where a cat can get to it. Lesson #2: Be thankful that the binder wipes off easily.

It's 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning. Can I get a do-over?

Can you O.D. on Socks that Rock?

Warning: Rockin' Sock Club SPOILER AHEAD!


I've been running around like Cornholio all morning because I received not one but two packages from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.



No, this isn't all mine! After sorting out what Lisa and Michelle ordered, I was left with this.


The Lightweight: Gingerbread Dude, Flower Power, KawKaw, Downpour, Jubilation, and Oma Desala


The Mediumweight: Treehugger, Oregon Clover Honey (which I don't even remember ordering, so my subconscious must have clicked the button), Rook-y, and Rauen.


The September Rockin' Sock Club: Tide Pooling!

It's all I can do not to cast on for anything new, but I'm making myself finish up at least three WIPs first!

More Go Get Your Jacket

Me again, this time on the beloved February Lady Sweater. I guess I should, uh, finish mine already.

I loves the green

I was kitchnering up (is that a word) my Spring Forwards in Smooshy in the Happy Forest colorway and realized I have an awful lot of green sock yarn.





And yet somehow, when I shop, I seem to forget that I have all this green sock yarn at home and immediately pick up the green again. Really, who has this many green socks? Anyone else have a strange fascination with a colorway that you'd never wear in a store-bought sock?

I forgot to say

I have a drive-by posting on Go Get Your Jacket on "political crochet."