Addendum to an earlier post.

In my second ever post on this blog I commented that I needed to learn to read while knitting. My Grandmother did it, I should be able to as well.

I'm just adding this as a note to say that I have learned to read and knit at the same time. It's much easier on the internet (and it requires a pattern that is simple or already memorized) but I can manage it with a hardcover, given sufficient items to weight down the pages. And knitting while reading slows down both activities. But I do it all the time.

Go me!

I am making progress on my resolutions. I have ordered a set of KnitPicks Options and financed them by selling off some Addi needles I hated. I have bought roving (it's on its way) and will be borrowing a wheel (starting tomorrow) on which to practice my spinning. I'm really excited about dyeing the roving too, I'm going to experiment with koolaid and hope it works out to something crazy and pretty and not crazy and hideous.

And perhaps most importantly, I have returned to my Something Green sweater. I did enough today that it looks almost sweater shaped. I'm a bit worried that the sleeves are huge (I know I made a mistake, but I'm not about to go back and rip it out, it's hard enough to get me to work on this in the first place - stupid sweater fear) but I'm going to consult everyone at tomorrow's Stitch 'n Bitch and see what they think. I think a few decreases more than written into the pattern will get me back to me-sized sleeves.



I am failing miserably at keeping the couch clear (it currently houses two projects, patterns for said projects, a packet from school, my camera, my camera cord, two remotes, a packet of ginger chews and my yarn pirate club yarn).

I am also failing miserably at buying yarn without guilt. I've actually halted my yarn buying for the time being. My finances are freaking me out. I hate being a student. I just keep looking ahead to next year when I have a job and will have money and will be able to spend money on yarn and roving without feelings of guilt and panic. If I like spinning as much as I think I will I may make a wheel a present for myself after my first paycheck (or two, I don't think I'm going to get over my money issues that quickly). Luckily I've built up a nice little stash (practically non-existant in the eyes of many on Ravelry, but enough to keep me in socks for a while) so I won't need to buy yarn.

In which I swear I'm going to be a good blogger and start using photos!

Well, my plan to get a lot of knitting done in Israel was a bust. Not only did I lose my Felici socks, I got sick on New Year's day and ended up having to come home. And then I caught a cold on Wednesday. Not exactly the break I'd been looking for. December's Felici socks are gone. So are my Eleanoras. I realized yesterday that I'd done one of the motifs twice and instead of ripping back and going on I just frogged the whole thing. I'll make them some other time, they're beautiful, but too much for me in my current sneezy, dizzy state.

I am making progress on other fronts though. I picked up the Hemlock afghan last night and made a bit of progress. I think I'm nearing the end of the motif, and I'll be starting the feather and fan soon. At that point it'll make good TV knitting, if I ever start watching TV again.

The Adamas shawl has been progressing nicely, but is currently on hold pending the arrival of my KnitPicks Options. My Addis were driving me nuts because the yarn just would not slide on them. I can't wait to work on it more though, it's just so pretty and I adore the yarn.



I've finished one of my Hedera socks and I love the way it's turning out. I always though Hedera looked boring, but in person it's just lovely. The colors are gorgeous too.



I also just cast-on another pair of Baudelaire in Burgandy Gloss. This is the skein I ordered to make the Red Herring socks with, but I decided that the Cocoa looked better with Woodland Sage. The other skein of Burgandy is one its way (along with another skein of Woodland Sage and Felici and size 1 DPNs to replace the ones I lost in Israel).

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.