I have cast on my traveling socks for my trip to Israel. I'm making them as plain as possible (2X2 ribbed cuff, stockinette and slip stitched heel flap) to show off Felici's fun stripes. I love the stripes. And the yarn is so soft, I'm definitely getting more. They should be fun photographing at various points on my trip. They'll definitely be great as bus knitting. I'm not sure if I'm going to get them on the plane - I think security flying into Israel may be a bit more stringent than regular flights, so I'll ask before checking my luggage. I hope I can bring them, but I'm going to try to sleep on the flight anyway, so it won't be a huge deal.

I've made progress on my Adamas shawl for my aunt. I'm really loving it. The subtly tonal color of the yarn is really playing well with the simple pattern. Plus the yarn is super fun to knit with. I've finished my fifth of 14 repeats, but each one is going to take longer and longer since each repeat adds stitches. Even so, I shouldn't have any trouble finishing the shawl for my Aunt's birthday in early August. Even with the afghan I should be working on for Ali's wedding.

I stopped in at the doctor today to ask about the wierd shooting feeling (no pain, but it feels like a shock) that I occasionally get in my right ring finger. Apparently I have some early symptoms of carpal tunnel. So she gave me a brace for the night, which should definitely help, because I sleep with my hands in the weirdest most contorted positions immaginable. And what did I do with my diagnosis of carpal tunnel? I bought yarn, of course!

I bought yarn for Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I got eight skeins of Elspeth Lavold's Silky Tweed (my just in case skein is on order) in a really nice burgandy, tweedy red. Plus it was on sale! What could be better? I'm clearly making an attempt at fulfilling resolutions 1 and 8. I'm going to swatch (and wash the swatch) and hopefully start a sleeve today. I am super excited.

New Year's Knitting Resolutions

1. Make a sweater! Really, I just need to throw myself in headfirst and make a darn sweater. And finish it!

2. Learn colorwork - specifically Fair Isle.

3. Play with dyeing yarn - you don't have to be good, you should just have fun.

4. Learn to spin...better. Maybe borrow a wheel to play with. My last attempt failed miserably - my yarn broke over and over and I lost it about halfway through trying to ply but I don't want to give up because roving makes me yearn.

5. Buy necessary accessories - specifically a swift and ball winder and some KnitPicks Options.

6. Organize stash and accessories. It's no fun to be always looking for a darning needle.

7. Keep the couch absolutely clear, and try to limit the number of projects that are in the living room to a reasonable number.

8. Buy good yarn and don't feel guilty about it! Although looking for bargain prices is encouraged.

I have put the drop in drop spindle!

I learned to spin (badly) a month or two ago, but I had to be holding on to the spindle the whole time. I haven't touched my spinning since I made a huge mess out of an attempt to Andean Ply it (and I hadn't been spinning for a while previous to that attempt) so I figured I should give it another go. Ok, mostly I'm giving it another go because I really, really want to buy some pretty roving in pretty colors nad make pretty yarn. And this time I actually let go of the spindle and let it drop down while spinning. The spinning goes way faster that way. I'm still having trouble drafting evenly, so the yarn is thick/thin (actually it's thin/thinner) but I may be getting better. I may not be. It's hard to tell.

I just hit myself in the head several times in an attempt to remove the desire to cast on for Icarus just this minute. Some background. I have six projects on the needles. Three for me, three are gifts. Two are holiday knitting and need to get done soon (though that shouldn't be much of a problem). One (for me) is a lace shawl (mystery stole). I do not need to cast on another project. I've promised myself that I won't cast on another lace project until after I finish my stole. But I just had a brief exchange with Miriam Felton - designer of Icarus - and now I really, really, really want to cast on. I must be strong.

Let me describe the items on my needles. In cast on order.

1) I have the previously mentioned mystery stole which hasn't been touched since I frogged the start of the wing. Luckily the lifeline prevented too much damage. I love this project, and I really need to start working on it again.

2) Something Red (well, green, since I'm making it in green), my first sweater. I stopped working on this a while ago. I think it's my fear of making a sweater combined with the worsted cotten which is a bit hard on my hands. I really just need to push through and get this done. I really want to be able to knit sweaters, but this requires me to actually knit sweaters.

3) Ali's wedding afghan. Bought the yarn (Lorna's Laces Shephards Worsted in Cranberry - love) last Saturday on my way back from Thanksgiving. Cast on the next day. Haven't touched it in a week. It's going to be super pretty though, and I can't wait until I have time enough to work on it. I'm planning a little break at Loop (my LYS) on Tuesday so I can finish the central motif, and then it's feather and fan til I drop.

4) Mom's scarf. I was not planning on knitting my mother anything for Hannukah. I really, really wasn't. But I saw this yarn (Tilli Thomas's Salt + Pepper - 100% silk with beads) and I couldn't resist. My mom loves silk, my mom wants beaded knitting. This is both, plus it's worsted and easy and in a really pretty blue (though I had wanted to burgandy, but the blue with green beads was lovely and in stock) so I bought it and cast on for the easiest scarf ever. Which is moving along quickly and creating the biggest callus known to man on my left middle finger. It's really hard to keep any sort of tension on stiches that keep getting caught on beads. But it's pretty. And has to be done in a week.

5) Maze hat. I am doing my first (fake) colorwork on a hat for a swap (it's mosaic, so only one color per row, but slip stiches give it the colorwork look) and I'm really liking it. I cast on yesterday and I'm already almost through one repeat. I think my row gauge is seriously off, so I'm going to do more of the motif that you're supposed to and hope it fits a human sized person. I have been inspired to do colorwork and will be buying some Louet Gems Pearl to make Eunny Jan's Endpaper Mitts next week.

6) Monkey socks. I'm in SKA I have to have a sock on the needles at all times, and I finished my last pair on Tuesday. I've practically been in a panic! I cast on (and knit one row and one row only) Monkey socks in my Thank Ewe Macintosh colorway. My gauge was slightly off, but I like a snug fit and a thicker fabric so I hope this isn't a huge folly. Well, if it is I can always gift them I guess.

So you see, I really can't cast on Icarus tonight. I have many good reasons. And that's without mentioning the seminar paper I have due on Monday.

I have chosen my yarn and pattern for Ali's wedding afghan. I'm going to make brooklyntweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket in Lorna's Laces Shephard Worsted in Cranberry. I bought 900 yards (4 skeins) which should be plenty. Now I just need some size 10 DPNs so I can get started.

I have also finished my October Sockdown socks (Spring Cable) and I love them. I wore them on Thanksgiving and they were super cozy and comfortable. Love.

I feel like a hero when I manage to fix mistakes. Of course, the fix doesn't always work (last time I messed up on my Mystery Stole I had to rip back to my last lifeline and I haven't picked it up since) but last night it did. I realized that the line on my Jaywalker was wonky, and realized my mistake. About five repeats back I had done my decrease one stitch early. So I dropped back those stiches and fixed it. Now, that doesn't sound too hard, but each repeat I ripped back gave me two more stiches due to the nature of the stich pattern. It took about twenty minutes to pull everything back up right, but it worked, and now you can't even tell where the mistake was. I feel like a superhero.

All in all I'm really loving this pattern in combination with this yarn. It just looks amazing.

I have finished my mom's lacy hug-me-tight. I don't like it. It doesn't look perfect, it doesn't look close to perfect. And I'm not sure where I went wrong. I followed all the directions. The skewed edging is definitely my fault - I didn't distribute the edging correctly, but I'm not sure why the rest of it doesn't lay right. It's kinda floppy. Well, it's soft and the yarn is beautiful. I know mom will say she loves it, but I sure don't. Oh well.

You can really see the skewing in this picture.

I am knitting socks. These are my jury duty socks, although they are really too pink and lacy to called jury duty socks. I abandoned the first sock right before the cuff last week because it wasn't going to be enough knitting to get me through a round-trip train ride to NYC. So I started the second one (lucky I'd just gotten my knitpicks sock needle set). I didn't actually get very far on the train (I wasn't feeling well - stupid vitamin) but I did a ton of knitting yesterday and went from an inch from the toe to turning the heel. I actually spent about an hour in the park near my apartment knitting in the open air. It was really lovely and refreshing. I didn't even take my MP3 player - I just sang to myself a bit. I'm going to try to go again today. Sooner rather than later because the weather report is suggesting rain.

I think I may be able to finish both of them today - though I may take some time off from the socks to work on the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight I'm making for my mom. The Yankees game should be an ideal time to work on the 21 inches of 2X2 ribbing. I'm about 9 inches in right now. Not too bad for a week's work.

I really want to buy more sock yarn. I'm also freaking out a bit over my budget and I've been going out to eat a lot lately. Intellectually I know I'm not overspending (I barely went out at all in September) but I can't bring myself to spend money on yarn when I have yarn at home. After these socks are done I'm going to use my  KnitPicks Gloss to make Maia's Mystery Socks, I think  they're called Scherezade, because they look awesome. After those I have two socks worth of yarn left (well, 
technically three, but I hate the Clown yarn) before I have to go out and buy more. And if I like the Gloss and Risata I may just make a big KnitPicks order and get cheap yarn with free shipping. I wish I could be less of a miser, but money (and the fear of running out) makes me crazy.

I'm on a bit of a yarn high right now. I just got back from Loop, a LYS in Philadelphia, where I bought five skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk in peacock to make the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from Knit 2 Together. The yarn is gorgeous and soft and the color is incredibly vibrant. Most of the knitting is just a big rectangle of K2, P2 rib, but I figure that won't get too boring given the monumental amount of baseball I will be watching during the post-season. I have a bit more than a month to finish this, if I want to give it to my Mom for her birthday, and I do. But I'm not going to pressure myself too much, if it's not done by her birthday it'd be a fine Hannukah present, and if it's not done by then it'd be a great Monther's Day gift.

Speaking of LYS, I find that I like Loop a lot better than the store right around the corner. I'm more comfortable there, and I feel like people are happy to talk to me. I think I may go there for most of my knitting needs in Philly.

Oh, and in other news. I finally sent of the Linus baby blanket to its intended recipient. Go me! It's only a year and a month late.

I have jury duty tomorrow. It will likely be quite boring. So I bought some new sock yarn (Louet Gems Pearl) in a lovely, pale pink and cast on for Cookie A's Baudelaire socks. They are lacy and pretty. The figure eight cast on nearly gave me a coniption, but I finally figured it out, and now I have the definite start to a sock. I'm a bit unsure about the size of the sock though. The largest size has a 8.5" foot circumferance, and when I measured around my instep I got 9". So we'll see how this goes. I mean, I only have a size 8.5 foot, I shouldn't have to make the largest size.

I have also finally conqured my fear of sweaters and cast on for my Something Green. I'm about halfway through with the initial raglan shaping, and I'm loving it. It's such a neat way to increase. I'm knitting on size 8's (7's are recommended, but I'm a super tight knitter) and the yarn is just so lofty and squishy that it's almost hard to work with. Especially since I'm working with sock and laceweight yarn for my other projects.

I have successfully avoided SSS and I'm about halfway through my second sock. I had some problems picking up stiches, for some reason I was knitting from the wrong side of the sock (ie I would have had to purl every stich on every row for the rest of the sock). I fixed that, although I don't know if I did it right. Eh, it still looks like a sock.

I finished the second clue of the Mystery Stole and it's looking good. It's so satisfying, especially the purl rows, because I can just watch my hands. I'm using Addi Lace needles and I like them, but they're a bit too grippy for tinking. Sometimes I find that getting the stiches back onto the needle can be difficult.

I finished the Branching Out for Millie and I think she loved it. I've taken a bunch of pictures of different projects to post on Ravelry, and I really like having them up. Since I give so many of them away it's nice to have some of them preserved.

Oops. I think I turned my heel inside out. It looked like a triangle and it just didn't seem like the right thing to be doing. So I took a look online. The decreases were running towards the center of the work, instead of slanting towards the edges. So I ripped it out and put the stiches back on my needles, I didn't even drop any. I'll try again tomorrow.

I realize that if I was a proper blogger I would have taken a picture, to explain my mistake, but I was too annoyed to think properly when I realized my mistake. I'm just not a Knitter yet, not with a capital K, for further proof, see this afternoon. I went into a yarn store and didn't buy anything!

I have started my heel flap! I'm using the Yarn Harlot's sturdy heel, which has right-side rows as Slip 1, k1 all the way across. And I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. Or rather, I'm pretty sure I'm slipping correctly I just don't understand why that would make the heel sturdier. Eh, we'll see. I bought some more sock yarn yesterday because I wanted to buy some yarn and I couldn't find it in me to spend much money. Sock yarn to the rescue.

Also I bought an Addi Turbo Lace #4 circular, so my mystery stole should start to grow. I'm hoping to get some quality time to work on the stole when I'm at home. It's just so cool to see it developing. Of course, I need to print out the rest of the charts (I forgot to do that at work) but I've barely started Chart 2 from the first clue, so I don't need to worry about that just yet.

I just uttered the phrase "It's not like I need more yarn." I do believe I'm about to be struck my lightning. The thing is...I'm not a fully fledged, Knitting with a capital K type knitter. I like to knit, I've been knitting for years, but I don't always have a project with me, or even on the needles. I realize, since joining Ravelry and reading through the entire back archives of several KnitBlogs, I'm being a bit of a poser. I want to get more into knitting. It's wierd. The thing is, I'm honestly too cheap to stash. The prospect of all sheep going bald is not frightening to me, as my favorite fibers are cotton and silk. I am very, very cheap. And I don't knit very fast. So I buy yarn as I decide on projects to make. And knowing that I'm currently working on four (with another one to rip out and restart) and I've got another two projects worth of yarn coming to me, I can't imagine the need to buy more yarn. And if I go to a yarn store, I probably will. Because I feel guilty for going and not buying. But then I regret it, because I didn't need it, and I likely did not have a pattern for it and it will therefore not be used. So I think I'm going to skip the yarn sale at Yarn Connection. Unless they're having a 50% off sale, in which case I'm buying some Handmaiden SeaSilk, because I'm becoming obsessed with that stuff.

In other news, I'm two-and-a-half inches into my socks. I worked on them last night, and during my morning knitting time, and while talking to friends after work and during the Wii tournament we had at work. I'm loving the yarn (both the colors and the fact that it's not bothering my hands) but the double points are rather tricky. I've avoided laddering by working the first two stiches on the current needle with the previous needle before moving on to the working needle. That way the stiches at the edge keep changing. Between my awkwardness with the double pointeds and my insane inability to hold onto the free needle, I really think I need to learn magic loop. Maybe on the next pair.

I really want to be working on my socks right now. And I have my stuff with me, but I can't because I have a clear glass door which will totally not hide my yarn involvement from those passing by. I want to work on my socks!

I did it! I started my first sock! I'm using Tofutsies yarn from South West Trading Company in a sort of tweedy, variegated, grey/blue/brown. It's 50% Superwash Wool, 25% Soysilk, 22.5% cotton and 2.5% Chitin. I'm using Yarn Harlot's "Good, Plain Sock" non-pattern pattern. I'm using size 3 needles (American sizing) and I think I'm getting around 8 stiches to the inch. Using the four DPNs is getting easier as I get farther in, though it's kinda hard to see progress given the tiny stiches. But I'm super excited. Probably way more excited than is merited, but I'll take my happies where I can get them.

Also, I'm not finding any discomfort with using this half-wool yarn, and I'm hoping that this means my historic wool allergy will not interfere with my knitting and stash aquisition.

Stash Enhancement

I have been listening to the Yarn Harlot's audio books, and I have been struck (as I've mentioned before) by my serious lack of stash. I am one of those knitters who buys yarn specifically for a project. The project may be put off into the future, and I may have several going at once, but I really don't have much, if any, un-project promised yarn about. So I thought to myself, I haven't really bought any yarn this summer, and I deserve yarn. I'm finishing up work next week and I'd like to buy something for myself to celebrate (ignore all the BPAL I splurged on, it doesn't count).

I'm still not comfortable with aquiring yarn without a planned pattern (unless it's a 2,000+ cone of laceweight) for fear that I won't have enough when I finally decide to use it. So today I compromised on my stash aquisition. I bought two projects worth of yarn and I already have the patterns. I bought three skeins of SWTC bamboo in white to make a Lotus Blossom Tank and seven skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca dyed cotton in green to make Something Red. I'm really, really excited. I can't wait to get my yarn. Sure, I have three projects currently on the needles and a fourth that needs to be partly ripped and redone, but I want to play with new patterns and new yarn. Plus, they'll both be for me. Rather unusual.

I'm going to have to play around with both patterns though, adding a bit of length but knitting a different size beneath the bustline then above. We'll see how this works out.

Frogging

I did a lot of knitting last night. I knit on my mystery stole from 6-7, and then I went downstairs to work on my baby blanket (which is coming along so fast and even though it's very basic, I love it) and watch the Yankees (who won, yay!) and after the game I took up my stole again. And a couple of rows into it I had the wrong number of stiches. I couldn't figure out where I had gained one, so I started tinking back. And then something happened. I took out the closest life-line in an attempt to pick the stiches back up (I know, stupid) and that didn't work. So I had to rip back to the previous life-line (I put them in pretty often, at every new border bead row) and then pick the stiches back up. It wasn't easy. Or pretty. I think I may be back on row 71 or so, and I'm not sure if I'm going to try it again tonight. Even with the ripping I did make some progress last night, which was good. But I think I've learned my lesson, no lace right before bed, I'm too tired not to fuck it up.

In other frogging news, I tried to add the crochet border on my Soleil tank last weekend. And I realized that little holes I made while decreasing along the right strap become much more obvious when I crochet into them. It actually is a cute effect and I'd keep it, if the left side matched. It doesn't. I think I know what I did wrong though - before I started Branching Out I assumed that SSK was the same thing as Sl1K1PSSO. It's not. So I think I'm going to rip out the right strap and reknit it using the correst SSK. Maybe that will prevent the holes. Of course, I'm not entirely sure when I'm going to do this...maybe before next summer?

I finally did it. I caved. This morning I was playing around on etsy...and I bought a spindle and some roving.

I am so excited! I've been wanting to learn to spin for a couple of months (feels longer though) and now I can actually experiment! I'm hoping that I'm not too awful and that my wool sensitivity won't act up too much. Apparently it's easier to learn on wool, and everyone loves it so much that I feel like I should love it too. But I can't love it if it makes me all itchy and blotchy. My fingers are crossed.

I think the package is going to be sent priority tomorrow, which means I may have it by Friday. My only dissapointment is that I'll probably be in Fairfield this weekend, so I won't be able to play with the spindle.

Dude. This is so exciting.

Knittin' in the Mornin'

Since coming to London I've been knitting a lot in the morning. Well, not that much, but I'm giving myself about an hour to get ready and get to work, and since the commute is about 5 minutes (including picking up a blueberry muffin from Starbucks) I have a lot of extra time. Which means I average around 2-3 rows on my Linus blanket every morning. And I really like having such a simple, soothing knit for the mornings. The pattern is meditative in its simplicity, the yarn feels good (it's Caron Simply Soft and it makes a really squishy, lovely fabric in this pattern) and I can really see my progress. This blanket is something I'd like to wrap my baby in, if I had a baby to wrap. I'm really liking the way the sky blue, navy blue and lemon yellow work together (though the navy blue is oddly more matte than the other two - could be a dye issue). I'm not looking forward to weaving in the ends, so I'll be weaving them in as I go, once I get back to the same continent as my yarn needles.

In future I think I'm going to try to have some easy, happy project to work on in the mornings, it's a good way to start my day. (We'll see if this lasts after I get back to NY.)

I need to learn to knit and read at the same time. My Grama used to do it, so I know it's not impossible. I'm not entirely sure what kind of thing I'd have to rig up to make it possible but it would totally improve my quality of life. I've gone the audio book route, and while I do love that, I really like the visual act of reading. Besides audiobooks are a bit pricey.

Post the First

I have no stash. Ok, that's not entirely true. I have two (or possibly three) skeins of Manos de Uruguay cotton in a pretty purple and two cones of ColourMart silk in cobweb weight. Apparently this is nothing. Having read through the entirety of Yarn Harlot's archives, as well as Wendy's, I realize that something is missing in my life. And that's stash yarn. I have no stash yarn.

Oh, wait, I just remembered. I have 10 or 11 balls of Rowan Calmer that I had intended to make my first sweater with. But I then abandoned that project because I was too scared to make a full on sweater and made a Soleil shell instead. Which is almost done. So maybe I shall actually start that Rowan sweater this time.

But still. My stash is pitifully small. And perhaps some would consider this to be a triumph of actually finishing projects and an economical use of my yarn budget (although honestly I don't really have a yarn budget, I just buy yarn when I start a new project and whince when I see the price tag). But now I want to have a stash. I want sock yarn of many colors. Which means I should probably learn to knit socks.