Proof positive

Yesterday I completed the oldest UFO I had active in my pile of projects, Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits' Favorite Socks.


It started out as this in November 2007:



In many ways, this project, which had been ripped out twice before finally getting it right, represents my growing skills as a knitter over the past eighteen months. When I began it, I was new to socks -- look, for example, how the original is knit on double points, which I haven't used for at least a year -- and I was new to lace, as evidenced in my working copy, all covered with my chicken scratches keeping track of where I was in the pattern. The first time I started this, I lost track of where I was and messed up the foot. The second time, I realized my gauge was way too big.

The third time happened just a few weeks ago when I suddenly had some uninterrupted chunks of knitting time when I could concentrate on a chart. I cast on on smaller, 40 inch circulars, and to my surprise, the pattern just flew. I didn't need stitch markers, I didn't need to mark up my pattern, and in time, I didn't even need the chart. I've learned to read my knitting accurately, and more important, trust my own judgment. I don't think there's a more valuable skill in knitting than that.

Posting on the fly

I need to do my MDSW wrap-up, but my husband is Far Away in Foreign Lands, which means 1. free time is scarce, and 2. he has the camera! For now, here are a bunch of projects I am dying to start. I haz the Startitis in a bad way.

• Any sock project at all with my Tess sock yarn, but particularly a Child's French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks or Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks.
• The Minimalist Cardigan with my new Tess superwash worsted
• Anything, anything at all with all my new Tess!

No, I don't have a problem. Why do you ask?

Start 'em young

I've been working my way through Melissa's dvd of Knitting Around with Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen, and The Toddler (who is soon to be The Preschooler, good grief!) likes to watch it with me. See, he loves Elizabeth Zimmermann. Even before he was talking barely at all, he'd grab my copy of The Opinionated Knitter and page through it, pointing out "Sweater! Grandma! Red!" So the other night I wasn't feeling well, and we crawled into my bed and I flipped on the Aran Coat episode. After a few minutes of careful study, The Toddler turned to me and said "Dis is 'bout coats. I'd like to watch de one 'bout mittens."

Well! It's good to know what you like early on in your knitting career, even though you don't have the fine motor skills to knit yet!

Happy Easter!

I've been busy test-knitting this pattern for Amanda, and here's the preliminary result. If you like the pattern, let Amanda know!

And now to really make it complicated...

...I can't find matching ribbon for this bonnet. That's the problem with trying to be all fresh and modern instead of sticking to tried and true color combinations. Lisa and I looked at every single ribbon in Joann's and Pat Catans last night. (And is it just me who enters into this trance-like state when I enter the door of a Pat Catans? I suddenly get urges to make those plastic needlepoint kleenex box covers. Or to tie great big bows on baskets. Or to Bedazzle something. Last time I went to Pat Catans, I walked out with a jumbo-sized bag of jingle bells. I don't know why, but at the time it very much seemed like I needed those jingle bells.)

Anyway, this brown was the best I could do. I really wanted to match the teal, but since I have to take this gift in person in a few days, I can't do mail order. The perfectionist in me is really twitching on this one.

In other news:

• I'm working hard on some test knitting I hope to share with you soon and some way cute store samples.
• I got a hard-to-find copy of The Knitter - the newish UK knitting magazine for "advanced" knitters at Joann's last night.
• I am delusional enough to think I'll have something new knitted up to wear in three weeks at Maryland Sheep and Wool.
• And, to keep myself honest, I hereby declare that I am watching my weight.

Making things harder than they need to be

We're going to visit friends in Philadelphia next week, and I owe this friend a handknit baby gift. I knew I wouldn't be able to knit a February Baby Sweater as planned, so I looked through my books and decided to make the Victorian Baby Bonnet [Ravelry link]. Cute, right? All I needed was two colors of a worsted weight cotton. I have worsted weight cotton in my stash. I have a lot of stash yarn. Did I like any of that stash yarn for this project? No, I did not.

Still, no problem. I work in a yarn store. I'll just run in and grab two colors of Tahki Cotton Classic, like the pattern calls for. This will be really quick, I told myself.

Was it really quick? No, no it was not. We take our yarn color choices very, very seriously at Natural Stitches. When we write in the store blog about the wall of Cascade 220 functioning as a painter's palette, we are not kidding. Melissa gave up casting on for Lent, so she's been planning fair isle sweaters to take the edge off. One of our regular activities has been pulling half of the Cascade wall down and seeing how the different colors look next to each other. Recently, we expanded the Cotton Classic color choices, and so instead of running in during The Toddler's nap and grabbing two colors, Melissa and I ended up pulling down at least ten different colors and listing the pros and cons of each combination.

This is what we ended up with. I am so into the tonal color combinations these days.

Malabrigo March, reloaded

You didn't think I was going to let Malabrigo March pass by? Unlike last year, though, I am not casting on for any old thing (I mean, how many Calorimetries and neckwarmers does one need? Don't answer that.). I've picked three rather substantial projects using three different weights of Malabrigo yarns (so substantial, in fact, that I'm longing for a hat project).


Shalom Cardigan in Malabrigo Chunky in Applewood.



Ingenue, from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits, in Merino Worsted. This was originally supposed to be my American Idol Selfish Knitting Sweater in Steadfast Wonderful Wool, but it just wasn't working out for me.

And finally, Ishbel in Malabrigo Sock, in the. most. perfect. red I've ever seen. Inspired by Franklin, I am going to make a lace shawl, at last.

Color on a rainy day

I am not sure what March showers bring except a bored toddler and trouble for the folks living along the Red River, but in the midst of all this, I think we all desperately need a flash or two of color. And this is big coming from the knitter who loves all things gray.

Baby Moderne Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. This is for a dear friend who is having a baby next month. You know she's dear because I am making this in sock yarn, but honestly, this has been a pleasure to knit so far. I think a blanket made from Dream in Color Smooshy is perfect for a little Kentucky baby girl, don't you?



Basic vanilla Yarn Harlot socks in Regia, Kaffe Fassett's Easter colorway. I actually cast on for these on my birthday, a particularly gray day, because Colleen was making some at work and I wanted pinky stripes tooooo.

Being Selfish

This whole Year of Selfish Knitting plus my American Idol knitting has yielded an entire sweater! Just in time for spring! This is the Garter Yoke Cardigan from Vogue's Knit.1 magazine, knit from Berroco Peruvia (ie, my poor abandoned Tilted Duster).



And this is Wrenna, from French Girl Knits, knit in Brown Sheep Burly Spun. This bulky knit was a particularly good project for my magpie (OOH! SHINY!) brain, as I cast on and finished in under a week. I added length to the sleeves and knit at a tighter gauge than the pattern recommended. However, I had my first ever "Oh, you really do mean that I am to wash the swatch?!" moment as the Burly Spun bloomed when I soaked and blocked the sweater. I'm hoping a good reblocking can at least fix the sagging neckline.

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.