A Little Yarn On The Side

So with my birthday & Soup Night this week, we hosted 2 parties in 2 days. I may have an abnormal energy level, but even I am wiped out at this point. BUT... I did find buttons and the sweater is now washed and blocking. I'm pleased with how the buttons look. I found some I liked better, but one could only be dry cleaned and no dry cleaner is getting so much as a fingernail on one of my sweaters, and one could not be washed OR dry cleaned, which is sort of baffling. Even upholstery needs to be cleaned sometimes. Do you think there are people who would actually remove the buttons before washing something????? Some days I feel lucky just to GET things washed. I was really hoping to dazzle you with a finished WIP #2, but sleeves always take longer than I think they will. I know they're really about half of an entire front or back, so making both at the same time is actually the biggest chunk of knitting in the whole sweater as they tend to be a bit longer and also tend...

And I actually finished something. YAY!!!!!!! I need to find some buttons for it, and it needs to be washed and blocked, but the January Aran is done, steeks and all!!! And to be honest, I don't think the steeks were any big time saver--not even counting the hours of whining and whimpering. When you cut knitting, you're left with fuzzies like this which drive me crazy. So, I'm going over all the edges with a needle and thread and making the edges less "messy" which is really the same as sewing all the darn pieces together in the first place but without the psychological trauma. Still, it's a new technique and I'm glad I learned it, but I might reserve it only for fair aisle, or if I pick up a taste for self-torture. I have my FIRST WIP DONE for the Double Dog Dare Challenge, which leaves me at with 17 WIPS. The challenge, as you may remember, is to get down into the single digits on WIPS. Some would, of course, ask why not try to get down to NO WIPS,...

OK. There has been knitting. In fact, the second sleeve is almost done, and there was no way around it. The steeks were coming. I have been putting this off and putting this off. Seriously, what is more frightening to a knitter than CUTTING a sweater??? Maybe a colony of moths, but it would be a close thing. The sleeves are almost done and I could feel myself getting really nervous, and I was afraid I was going to shove this lovely sweater into the bottom of the project bin to get out of cutting steeks--which would be really unfortunate as I truly love this sweater. So, it was time. This is a cardigan, so there will be steeks for the front as well as the armholes, so first I set my sewing machine's presser foot to the lowest possible pressure, said a prayer to the knitting gods, then basted right down the center of the guide stitch I'd added I thought my hands might be shaking so badly when I did the steeks that I would need a very obvious cutting target. And alcohol. Lot...

I have passed the 10,000 yards knitted mark!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The January aran almost has one full-length sleeve. Well, okay it almost has 2 full length sleeves, but only one is on the needles right now. I'll fix the other one later. The steeks are sort of freaking me out, so last night I did a little hand-sewing reinforcement of where I'm going to cut for the front. I'll still sew it on the machine, but this is "just in case." I may not be cut out for steeks....

One perk to having an entire tub of WIPs is the great variety. Yesterday I was helping a beginner knitter to do a knitted edging on a blanket, so it seemed like a good time to dig out the baby blanket which is STILL on the first side, but at least I'm more than halfway along the side by now. Today I have been taking a break from canning--which thrills Theo almost as much as it does me --and have been knitting. Remember the January Aran? Probably not, since it's September by now, but I had only one sleeve to go before the steeking which totally freaked me out and sent the project to the Project Time Out Bin. Apparently it's for projects that frighten me as well. Deciding finally that I AM an adult (sort of), I dug it out and have a second sleeve well underway. I had the sense to keep the first sleeve in the bag with it as reference, but when I dug it out I discovered it's about 2 inches too short. No idea what I was thinking, though as this was during the kitty re...

....wanted to cast on something new and been unable to decide what to cast on? Today I have that New Project urge, and yet none of the yarn is really calling to me, and I'm not lusting after any particular pattern. I can't even narrow it down to sweater, scarf, lace, stockinette, simple, challenging--nothing. Just NEW. I suspect it's because the January Aran--which I have been loving ever since I figured out the twisted stitch pattern--is creeping closer and closer to THE DECIDING MOMENT. When I brace myself and cut those darn steeks....or decide that I am too much of a coward to go anywhere near my knitting with sharp scissors and doom it forever to the Bin of Shame. I finished the first sleeve today, so that only leaves the second sleeve between me and The Steeks! Are there support groups for this????

The Kauni cardigan and me....well, and Theo.......we're trying it AGAIN. My last attempt looked okay color-wise, but the ribbing was rolling, so this time I'm striping only on every-other row of the ribbing. No idea yet if that will still look striped or if it will stop the ribbing, but I did learn a couple things yesterday: 1. Unless you rip back both yarns simultaneously, the alternate stripes function as double knitting and it can be really hard to figure out what row either one of the colors is on. 2. This might increase frustration, and when one is frogging and realizes that one will have to rip everything out and start over, one might get annoyed enough to pull a little too hard, thus breaking the yarn. Thank heavens I have other, better behaved knitting projects. The scarf is zipping along And the first sleeve for the January Aran is almost done! Theo was obviously enjoying playing "Vanna" this morning. You can see the fur on his leg still hasn't compl...

While I haven't actually cast on the fabulous sock yarn I haven't actually put it away, either. And there was some browsing of sock patterns on Ravelry.... BUT, today the January Aran (from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac , though if she actually knit the whole thing in one month I would be shocked/impressed/jealous because she was obviously able to knit in her sleep). Sometimes our simplest decisions turn out to be real doozies, and mine was to decide that I didn't like the neckline of EZ's patterns, so I decided to give mine more of a scooped neck. A smarter person might have rethought that decision when she realized that, the center not being at the beginning of a round but a full stitch pattern in, one of the "fishtrap" pattern rows would henceforth need to be knitted from the PURL side once the center stitches were cast off and the knitting switched to back & forth from circular knitting. Of course NOW I also realize what EZ was t...

....sock yarn in hand and was just about to cast on for a new pair of socks, when my small, rational self--who never usually speaks up in regards to knitting--said, "Hold on a minute....isn't this sort of behavior how we became the WIP Legend in the online knitting community???" She's not a talkative part of my personality, but she has a really annoying habit of usually having a point & being right and all of that, so..... To show I really have grown as a knitter, I dug out the Kimono Shawl which had been busily tangling itself up with all the other projects in the WIP bin (cobweb yarn always being a bit of a troublemaker). So far it's only gotten about 6 rows, but those are 6 rows I didn't have, so that was something. Then, because I still really wanted to make those socks but was desperately trying to prove that I have SOME willpower, I finished another block for the Warm Up America afghan which actually brings me to 4, but one has already been turned ...

My trusty sidekick and I have made up and we neither confirm nor deny the rumors that there was catnip involved. There will, however, be no more outdoor adventures without a leash. And a little word of advice: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE HOW FAST A CAT IN A CAST CAN MOVE WHEN PROPERLY MOTIVATED We did have a good crafting day, though. We sorted Christmas fabrics wove in the ends for the lace scarf so it is completely finished: worked on the new sweater and swatched, measured, calculated, figured and cast on for the January Aran for the EZ Fans Yahoo Group I'm in: As I'm supposed to be leading this project, I thought it would be a good idea to get a few steps ahead. In true Elizabeth Zimmermann spirit, I have changed the pattern slightly. I believe she used a garter stitch border, and I created a K1, P2 ribbing. It isn't the stretchiest of ribbings, but I like the way it looks. Only one day left in the year, and my stash-busting totals are currently: Yards of fabric used: 72....