A Little Yarn On The Side

To the Land of FINISH-ITIS!!!!! This is a remote land--often not found by knitters--where hours & hours of knitting actually result in a FINISHED OBJECT. Knitters in this land tend to be well dressed, and have MATCHING socks--which is not always seen in other areas of Knit Land. The Land of Finish-Itis can be difficult to reach, as there are always brand new patterns hoping to snare the knitters, but the brave knitters have banded together to swim straight and avoid the whirlpool on the left called "Knit-A-Longs" and the monster on the right called the "new knitting magazine." It is a treacherous route, but we are determined!!!! When Toni has NOT been gone for most of the weekend and just arrived home, we will be introducing our team members. For now... WE SET SAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you see that????? I have passed the 10,000 yards of yarn mark for the year! There are now 66 (there were those 3 balls of mohair to finish the Lady's Circular Cape, after all) fewer balls of yarn in my stash than when I started the year. YIPPEE!!!!!! But on to other things... The Stealth Project is now in the hands of its new owner, and to directly quote from the text messages received: "OH. MY. GOSH. I LOVE IT!" "It fits perfect, I love the color, and I love the style!!" "It's my favorite piece of clothing." "Ha ha! It's so beautiful, I already had someone comment on it!" Now THAT is what makes knitted gifts worth doing! The "finishitis" contest--The rules: 1. Post a list of your WIPs in the comments. Remember, they must already be started. 2. Keep us posted on your progress 3. Any and all projects will count, but size and complexity of the project will be considered. 4. The winner will be the one who finishes...

I am still holding strong and have not cast on anything new. It's possible....just possible...that I could finally get through all this before I cast on something new: Not very likely, I'll grant you, but possible. Wouldn't that be fabulous! The odds are better than normal as my case of "finishitis" is still going strong. Let's hope it's both contagious and incurable! To help spread this new condition, I have decided to sponsor a contest for number of WIPs finished in a row WITHOUT casting on anything new. Some consideration will be given for the size and complexity of the project, but they must already be in progress as of this moment. The winner (or winners--I reserve the right to award multiple prizes if it is called for) will receive a knitting bag with his or her name embroidered on it. I'd post a picture, but I haven't made it yet as I just thought of this yesterday. Keep me posted through the comments and let me know how many project...

I have finished 3 projects in the last two weeks--including tonight's blocking of the plum scarf-- and instead of diving head-long into the stash to start 3 new things, which would generally be my next move, I have apparently contracted a little known disease called "finishitis." This is possibly the first ever documented case in the knitting community. Unlike "starteritis," with "finishitis" the victim is irrationally compelled to finish projects--a very desirable state, of course, but the long-term effects of this condition are as yet unknown. High on the thought of finishing four or even five projects in a single month, I pulled this out of the WIP pile: and have knit 3 rows already. This is the start to Fir Cone Square Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book, which was abandoned about 7 months ago when the intended recipient said she didn't actually want a shawl for her birthday (which later led to the music quilt--which she will ...

The plum scarf is really just a simple moss-stitch border with a lace pattern from one of Barbara Walker's treasuries, which you could actually see if I could ever keep Theo off of them. The one I'm using is the one directly under him. which could explain why this scarf took more than a year to complete. By best guess left me with just a tiny bit of yarn left over and a scarf on its way to being blocked. And now that my cold is all gone, a toast to three finished projects in a row! And I have not cast on a new project. This is a personal record indeed! Could I perhaps be growing into a responsible knitter????? Heaven help me, bring on the laceweight!

It's finished, blocked, furred, the ends are woven in, and it's wrapped and ready to go. Theo is in mourning. This is the second sweater I've made from Elann's Shawl Back Shrug pattern, which can be found for free here . It's definitely one of my favorite patterns, and I used 6 skeins of Elann Peruvian Quechua DK-weight alpaca. I'm distinctly proud of myself this month. I have finished two projects, and have not yet cast on a new one. I am choosing to view this as personal growth rather than a reflection of having run out of room in knitting bags for any more projects. I cling to what I can. Instead, I have chosen to continue working on the plum scarf (and Daniele is right--I do seem to be having a purple lace obsession lately), which is this far from being done: It will be a decent-sized scarf, I think, but it will definitely be done when this yarn is gone because I don't have any more and don't remember what it actually was. I have narrowed it d...

Bright and early this morning, I added the ribbing to the shrug, and with Theo's "help," washed and rinsed it-- which is very thirsty work-- blocked it and finally got Theo away from it. which I'm sure is only a temporary situation. Nothing excites him so much as blocking knitting or something without a layer of cat hair covering it. There are still about 3 loose ends that need to be woven in, but I like to do that after blocking--I always think that there's less chance of causing any tension problems that way. Tomorrow I'll wrap it up and ship it off to the birthday girl. As hard as it is to believe after the Marathon Mohair Monster that is the Lady's Circular Cape, I found myself missing working on lace, so this long suffering scarf has gotten some attention this weekend. I started it sometime last year, but have never been very excited about working on it as the lace pattern is a bit too fussy for me to have memorized, so I have to sit with the Barb...