Balance

As the Spring Equinox approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about balance. Balance between the Selfish Knitting and knitting for others. Balance between finishing what I started and casting on bright! new! shiny! projects. Balance between working on the two wooly sweaters I have in progress for myself and starting something fresh for spring. Balance between my usual beloved gray yarn and bright spring pastels.

Here's a shot of spring: these lovely cakes of Smooshy are going to become a Baby Moderne Blanket for a dear friend's baby arriving in April.

This selfish knitting thing

...doesn't seem to be working out very well for me. At the store, we incorporated community service into Franklin's visit and collected items for the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. I made

Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater from some Schulana SuperCotton I'd had in my stash forever (so, so much fun to knit with, very sproingy)


and

My variation of yet another Super-Natural Stripes, using up the last of my Berroco Comfort.

Franklin and Me

Not my best picture by a long shot, but I had such an amazing time with Franklin this past weekend.

Knitting Festival Wrap-Up

....a week late, I know. Lisa and I went to the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival last Sunday. I'm thrilled to do something that shows support for independent yarn vendors, although it seems weird to pay basically to shop, particularly since Maryland Sheep and Wool is free. However, I am thrilled with what I did buy.

First row, left to right: Brooks Farm Solo (1600 yds total), Knitting Notions Classic Merino Sock in Ruby, Knitting Notions Classic Merino Lace in Ironstone (for the Whisper Cardigan from the current issue of Interweave Knits).

Second row: Brooks Farm Solana (again, a sweater quantity), two Creatively Dyed Tradewinds.

Third Row, Creatively Dyed Tradewinds, Creatively Dyed Calypso, Autumn House Farm Twist Strideaway Sock.

It was lovely to be able to shop for Brooks Farm without having to fight the crowds at Maryland. It was also lovely to see the folks from Knitting Notions, where I got my beloved swift last year. Can you believe she can't get a booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool? She says she's applied year after year, but booths are scarce. Isn't there a petition we knitters can sign?

How awesome is this?

In honor of last night's season premiere of Lost.



I've been thinking a lot about stripe sequences, and how awesome would a Dharma number sequence -- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 -- be in a baby blanket?

Day One

RIP[ped] Tilted Duster

I had such good intentions. I loved this sweater from the minute I saw it on the cover of Interweave Knits in Fall 2007. But let's get real here (with apologies to Dr Phil). I messed up one of the shoulder decreases. This project requires not only seaming but seaming set-in sleeves. It's been sitting in three pieces in my stash, otherwise untouched, for over a year. I still love the look of this sweater. But it was never going to be finished.

We've been trying to follow some of the principles of FlyLady in our house, so with my timer in hand, I've been sorting through my stash little by little. When I came across this bag, I realized I'd just tossed aside into my "Oh, really, I will finish it, really I will" pile for the past year, which meant, no, I wasn't going to finish it.

So I took a deep breath and put it on the ballwinder. Um, Peruvia doesn't frog easily. But it does frog and the yarn is still in great shape. What does it want to be? An Amused (too fuzzy?) The Garter Stitch Cardigan from Knit.1 magazine?

Whatever it is, it has to be knit seamlessly.

Simon Cowell wants you to knit selfishly in 2009

On the American Idol boards on Ravelry, folks are suggesting a sweater KAL. So for the past few nights, I've knit on my Ingenue and only my Ingenue. No socks, no Man Sweater Slog, no Red Sweaters, Please. Let's just hope that I finish it well before the finale; I think it will be too hot to wear a wool and mohair sweater in May.

Inauguration Hats

Anyone who knows me in real life knows I frown on putting your kid in clothing with any kind of political message. However, with the inaugural coming up, I figured these hats would be worn in celebration of this happy and important day. The Toddler seems to love his "Brack Omama!" hat.



For all my local peeps who commented on the hats on Ravelry, these are ridiculously easy. Just knit a hat! All the hats are Cascade 220 knit on size 8 circulars (and when you work at a yarn shop that carries all the Cascade colors, it's really easy to match the blues). My husband's is 96 stitches worked in a 2x2 rib for an inch, increased to 110 stitches, knit following the Yarn Harlot's hat rule for length*, and then decrease by 10%. Mine and The Toddler's are 88 and 80 stitches knit the same way with a roll brim and no increases. Then use the chart here to duplicate stitch the Obama logo on. I bet you could knock one out during American Idol, easily.

Here, Percy models my hat:



*Do you know about this? The length of your hat is basically the length of your hand. So knit to the base of your hand (or whoever's hat this will be) and then begin your decreases. Nifty.

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.