Outfoxed Knitting

Sick of knitting

2006-03-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

At this particular point in time, I am sick of knitting.

Sick, tired and sore.

I have spent the day finishing working on the Olympic sweater for PsychoHubby. Yes, the Olympics are over. No, I'm not done. He's got a big head. I've redone the neck three times now. And the sleeves took longer than expected.

Would someone please tell me why I knit? Right now I'm not sure. It's expensive and time consuming and getting it right the first time just doesn't happen (to me).

Here's my litany of ugh's for the day:
For all its simplicity, this sweater REQUIRES the use of 2.5 st/in gauge. If you'll remember, I used 3.5 st/in gauge. Theoretically, this would work just fine, but the change has affected multiple things. It has caused a greater than necessary stockinette roll and the arm decreases that work on a bulkier fabric are too few for for a thinner fabric.

As a result, while I have two complete sleeves, I'll have to redo the last four inches on one of them to add extra decreases. The result will be a normal sleeve instead of the bellbottom like one it has now.

Also, while the sweater has no real edging on the sleeves and bottom with the bulkier fabric, something is needed with the lighter fabric. So, I added a hem to the sleeves. I'll also add a hem to the bottom.

I'll add that hem soon. Here's what I have to do first: Take out the cast-on edge, add 2-3 inches too the bottom (his torso length is also bigger than expected) and add hem length then hem the damn thing.

I've spent 3 hours today figuring out how to undo the caston edge, then uncasting the edge. It's now ready to be added onto. Say four more inches max on the bottom and then fixing the one sleeve.

I couldn't care less. Not one little whit. I have other things to work on. Three birthday parties and a bridal shower in the next three weeks and the idea of needles makes my head ache.

I'm sure I'll be OK tomorrow and I'll love it again. But for tonight....die sweater die!

Envisioning the Gold

2006-02-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

That's right. I can see it. I can almost touch it. I just can't wear it. Yet.

The sweater I'm knitting for the Knitting Olympics (and PsychoHubby) is close to entering the final "sleeve" phase. Due to some judicious pattern choosing, this sweater only needs light blocking so I should be able to knit right up until deadline. Of course, I may decide later to do something about the unattractively rolling bottom edge.

(Thanks, Mr. Knitting Photographer. Due to judicious tweaking and posing, your
photograph made it seem like this stockinette edge would defy all laws of knitting physics and not roll. Your bit of illusion -- and my urge to get it done -- sure fooled me.)

Regardless, I should be able to finish the Berkshire Pullover in time.

But I gotta tell you, the lineup awaiting me after the KO is pretty daunting. Even more so since I discovered I have a baby shower and triple birthday party awaiting me March 18 and March 25. Yikes!!!!!!!!!

I can do this, I can do this. I'll just pretend it's the Christmas crawl and bang it all out. I will also do my best to not remember what happened to the Christmas crawl. That would be depressing. It will also be difficult as some of the Christmas crawl is actually apart of the March crawl. Lordy, that's a lot of knitting.

Just what I need, I challenge. Here's the post Knitting Olympics lineup in no particular order:

1. Hoover blanket, baby shower -- not in progress yet. May possibly become a sweater.

2. Birthday triumverate -- What possessed this mom and dad, both born in late March to have a baby born in late March? And to top it off, what posessed them to become best friends with a knitter!!! And if you think I'm putting what the gifts are going to be in here, think again Ingrid.

Well, OK, I'll show you what I'm making for Benny-boy. He might be able to wear it for at least one pic by the time I'm done.

3. Just cuz baby coat -- For my niece, provided she's still small enought by the time it's complete. If she's not, there's at least two female babies younger than her in my gift receiving circle.

4. Mark's socks -- see that little string. That's it. That's all I've got to do. Weave that string in and it's been done. Don't ask why it's been sitting in the basket for a month.

5. Frivoli hat -- 2/3 done and I'm looking forward to grafting the seam. I really am...
6. Lorna's Laces Slipped Stitch Socks -- color is Tuscany. I'm so in love with it
7. Mitts from Weekend Knitting -- I actually used up KO time for this....we had a cold spell. Of course I didn't finish. PsychoHubby was having a hissy fit over his math homework and needed me to both doublecheck the work and listen to him vent. He's loud. Very loud. But I'm not bitter. It wasn't like I was trying to get them knit so his hands would freeze off while waiting for the bus. No. I'm not a cradle robber. He's 30 years old and going back to school. We live in Portland, OR, with a great mass transit system. So he takes the bus to school. And it's not a short yellow one.
8. 2nd Bobbi bear. Almost done. I don't know who it's going to yet. There's about half a dozen babies/kids who would love this that I'm related to. I'll have to figure it out.

And no, there's not pictures of the last projects. Why? Because I have an evil head cold. (See Mac&Cheese entry below and "I've Got a Cold entry" on the KO blog. Also, this head cold cause me to swoon as I watch the "Image Loading" icon swirl around. So no, you're not getting anymore stinking pictures.

Anyway, I'm hungry now and I have a lot of knitting to do. So y'all have fun, now. Y'hear?

Why I love mac&cheese

2006-02-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here's the thing. I'm sick. It doesn't happen too often (regardless of how I whine), but when it does, I get this urge for comfort food and/or Ben and Jerry's. Despite being sick, this urge generally calls for me to cook and it can be a measure of how sick I am what I cook. To give you an idea, I'm sick enough that I seriously considered making my mom's homeade chicken and dumplings, even though it wasn't a weekend and just getting the chicken ready would take about an hour and a half. (Not hard, just boiling it that long, then letting it cool and then tearing it all apart.)

I wasn't that sick. But I was sick enough to go carb-crazy and give PsychoHubby and I some seriously delicious food. And even though this much-neglected blog is about knitting I wanted to share these recipes -- one a real find -- with my sis. So, here's the menu:

Entree: Foxy Sloppy Joes (remember, Rai Rai?)
Sidedish: Kafkat's Mac&Cheese -- Created by Emeril, Kicked up by moi
Sidedish: I thought about broccoli, but then wasted time by blowing my schnoz.
Dessert: Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting

Order of cooking: Make the mac and cheese, during the last 10 minutes of cooking start the Joes, take pasta out of oven while it "sets" toss in Joes for broiling. Do cake as you can fit it in (i.e. prepare the dry stuff, prepare the wet stuff-- stirring is pretty quick)

Kafkat's Mac&Cheese
1/2lb (8 oz) macaroni
5 T butter
6 T flour
2 cans of evaporated milk
2-1/2 c grated cheddard (6 oz)
2 slices provolone (optional)
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 t Emeril's Essence or cajun type seasoning
***SEASONINGS -- ADJUST AS NEEDED***
6-12 dashes Tabasco or other hot sauce
1 t salt
1-2 t pepper
1/5 t garlic powder
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t Dijon mustard
(Start with half the tabasaco add other seasonings and then more tabasco as needed)

Preheat over to 350F. Grease 2-quart baking dish.

Bring big pot of water to boil, add macaroni and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain in colander and rinse under cold water. DRAIN WELL

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes. (follow the time directions. important). Don't let the flour brown. While whisking, add milk in a steady stream. Keep whisking until thick and smooth, 4 minutes (Mine took 5.5 minutes). Remove from heat. Add seasonings and 2 cups of cheddar+provolone tasting as you go. Add the noodles, mix well. Pour into dish.

In small dish mix remaining 1/2 cup cheddar, bread crumbs and essence. Sprinkle evenly or pasta. Bake 25 minutes. Let set at least 5 minutes before serving.

Foxy Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 package hamburger rolls (potato is best)
1 package provolone slices
4-6 T pasta sauce
softented butter

Brown ground beef. While browning, butter both sides of buns and put them under broiler until golden brown. Remove buns from oven, put tops aside for now. On bottom buns, spread enough sauce on each to satisfy, carefully top with ground beef followed by slice of provolone. Broil in the oven until melty. Remove, add top buns, enjoy.

Best Ever Chocolate cake
Yes, I know the Aunt Martha Cake. This is something different. In my opinion, the two fall into distinctly different classes. Aunt Martha cake is a stand-alone chocolate encounter. This is a great basic chocolate cake, adaptable for many uses. So stuff it, Mom and Rai Rai.

2 c flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c cocoa
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1 c cold coffee
1 c milk
1/2 c oil
2 t vinegar.

Mix all dry ingredients well in large bowl. In another receptacle of your choice, mix all wet ingredients well. Speaking of wells, create a well in middle of dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients. Mix very well. Batter will be thin. Pour in to well-greased pan of your choice. Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes. (I used a 9x13 pan and it took 45 minutes)

Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting
Find your own. The one I used was mediocre, but serviceable. If you've got one you really like, let me know.

Enjoy with ice-cold milk.

What's wrong with these socks?

2006-01-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

Other than they're very tiny. Take a good look. There's one cable going down the side. There is NO cable on the other side. So if there's only one cable and both socks turn to the right, what does that mean?

It means there are two right socks. Two Right Socks.

Damn, damn, damn.

So, I frog it back to the start of the heel and try again. Now I'm closing back in on the end and it will be hallelujah time.

Re: The almanac-along. I've cast on. That's it. We'll see if it gets any further.
Stay tuned...

Elizabeth Zimmer-who?

2006-01-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

If you can't finish the rest of that name, stop now and check this out. This, too.

Franklin over at The Panopticon along with Tricky Tricot are putting together a Knit-Along to Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.

I am so there. I'd already planned to work on her baby blanket (February), but this -- this is inspiration. I'm definitely looking forward to this year and being a better knitter (Knitter, even) at the end of it.

So I grabbed my Almanac (strangely already in my knitting bag) and turned to January. Gulp. Gulp. January: An Aran Sweater. Mrs. Z has this to say about knitting an Aran; "Let's start with a challenge -- an Aran sweater. Simpler projects will follow." This lady definitely does not believe in a dumbed-down education.

I gotta admit, I'm a bit intimidated, just because I've never made a sweater before. I'm considering doing just the hat -- I mean, swatch -- and picking up the sweater throughout the year.

After all, according to Mrs Z., gauge is crucial and the need to make a swatch, imperative.

Double knitting -- from genious to ignoramus in 60 seconds

2005-12-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my knitting life, a yarn spoke to me. Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Worsted in SandRidge told me it was a baby blanket. So I sat and thought what blanket would most show off the beauty and texture of this yarn.

Friday at work, it came to me. I was leafing through Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac and there was her double-knit baby blanket. That was it -- with a few modifications. Most especially different colored sides and garter stitch in double yarn. I barely got any work done for working it all out in my head.

So I sit down at Powell's while PsychoHubby browses and get to work. Except I couldn't figure out how to carry the damn yarn. I'm a relatively new knitter and for some reason I just couldn't get it.

Got home and was flipping around the Web looking afghans (another potential project), and there it was. The Hoover blanket, immortalized on Knitty.com.

Dagnabbit, there was the same thing I was thinking of already written out in clear concise instructions and a "more elegant way" of handling the double-knitting.

What can I say, except it was one of those Great Moments in Knitting. One minute, I'm on top of the world. The next its humble pie.

Regardless, I'm still knitting.

Hot Diggity DAMN!

2005-12-30T21:16:00.000-08:00

OK, this has been a good week.

In non-knitting news, I accomplished something. Small potatoes to many of you, but sweet potatoes for me.

Background: 13 years ago (I was 16 -- HOLY COW!), my parents commissioned a wooden trunk for me in a slightly Southwest style (remember the Alamo?). I have lugged that thing from Texas, to Maine, to Texas, to Washington state (via Maine and Rhode Island) and now to Oregon. A notable feature of this trunk is that there was nothing for the lid to catch on. If you opened it, you needed to rest it against something or it would fall closed.

Well, three years ago, I was digging around in it and decided to rest the lid against my head. Anyway, a cat fight ensued (literally) in the vicinity of my backside, causing me to jump. I hit my head on the lid, causing it to fly up and (remember, no catch) back. Well, that lid kept falling back until a combination of gravity and momentum pulled the lid from its hinge. In the three ensuing years, I have lugged that trunk, now in multiple pieces, to three dwelling spaces. With no lid, the ability of that trunk to contain junk grew in Jenga-like proportions. I finally got sick of it when the contents were so high I couldn't see over it.

After I cleaned the crap junk out of it, there was enough stuff to cover a queen-sized bed. Anyway, with my trusty powerdrill and the help of the self-same cats, I managed reattach the lid last night. As an added bonus, there is now a chain to keep that damn lid from ever falling off again.

Yay, me. I am such a power-drilling bad-ass chica! I can now conquer the world -- or at least small household projects. (I'd show a photo of the newly repaired trunk but my crappy camera died. Who'da thunk batteries were so vital?)

And now the knitting...

With the holidays mostly over, my knitting tasks are feeling a bit dull and overused. All of my projects are/were small things that are either completed or ones of which I'd already made similar versions.

I needed something new. I was broke. Two contradictory states of being. But....(I just love a good "but") the Yarn Fairy had good things in store for me. First, I received an anonymous gift certificate for my favorite LYS. I have showed remarkable restraint in not spending it all in one go. I'm actually saving it for the store's big yarn sale in February where I hope to stock up enough for my first sweater.

That wasn't all the Yarn Fairy had in store for me.

Earlier this year at work, they had this idea thinger. You submit an idea that was more efficient or saved money or enabled the CEO to talk to God, and if it was implemented, you received cash.

Well, I received cash. $250 to be exact. As PsychoHubby and I are in the broke stage of married life, some of this money must go to the mundane things like electricity and food. But some of it I get to keep. (Some of it I've already spent.) As a teaser, I'll tell you it involves Lorna's Laces and an idea for a nifty baby blanket. And with an end-of-year sale at another Portland yarn store tomorrow, I'll be adding to my small stash. Details and pics to come.

Mwah to all.
K

TO REBELKNITTER

2005-12-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

Yo, woman, please fix your comments. You have it set to team members only. Therefore, no one can contact you. And no on has your phone or e-mail etc. And there are people who want to contact you. So, please contact someone. Ciao, bella!

And the socks go on ...

2005-12-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

Before the socks....

What the heck is it about me and dpns? Does some weird knitterly part of my brain figure that if I have five needles of the same size, that's three too many? Does that part of my brain further think its OK if the needles disappear one by one into the ether?

Of course, five minutes later, I find at least one of the extra three stuck somewhere in my hair.

Now the socks. Here's the pic I just took. Again, Santa, please. It's time I got a new camera. (I know, we'll talk again after I pay the rent.) Anyway, what you may actually be able to see is that it's gray and there's a cable on it. Both are true. What is also true is that the SSK Maxima is plied so that it looks a rope. I forget what the plying type is, but the result is that in combination, the stockinette looks like tiny single cables. It sets off pretty nice against the bigger cable.

But what do you care about that? Perhaps you'd rather hear about trials and tribulations? How's this: The dang yarn label is in German, and according to the LYS owner, German yarns especially have lots of wiggle room in their gauge. An attempt at translation put the gauge at 4-4.5 stitches per inch. So I did a circular gauge (hoping it would actually work out for the sock) of 40 stitches (full ribbing, 9-inch circumference...yes, I'm new to this). Except, to do a sock gauge, I ended up knitting about half the leg to get the amount I needed to measure against. (BTW the gauge is more like 7 stitches per inch. With this gauge, I ended up casting on 66 stitches -- size 6 dpns.) And I have to do two of these things by Sunday. Mmhmmm. Sunday. Y'all know what I'm talking about. The end result: Four-inches of leg on a child's sock that will never be and three inches of sock leg on ONE of psychohubby's Christmas socks.

But on the plus side, the fooder at Lint was uber yummy and mucho plentiful. Homemade trifle, wraps, freshly roast peppers, cheese crisps, rum cake, wine...and of course great people and yarn. Always a fun way to spend a Tuesday. And yes, I forgot my camera.

Merry knitting to all and FO's for all

HTML and Christmas gifts

2005-12-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

First, let me just say that yes, I know i have to ramp up my coding skills. Just using blogspot blindly does not work. I realize that. But for the brief moment that is now, I'd rather post than code. As PsychoHubby recently added a part-time job to his school schedule, he'll actually be out of the house for periods of time in which I hope to work on the site. Please bear with me.

Now, here's what has me so excited: I did what I shouldn't and picked up some yarn and new needles. Three skeins of SSH Maxima in a dark gray...grey...gray...grey (Quick, what do I do with the extra u's?) Yes, I know I said I picked some other grey sock yarn for PsychoHubby's first pair of homemade socks, but I got to thinking. Painful, I know, but the truth is he's got the narrow feet I wish I had and prefers thicker, snugger socks. So I went up in yarn size. I'll turn the grey/gray sock yarn into some dress socks for me or someone else I love.

In the meantime, I have to put these socks together in one week. I can do it. Really. I'll do my best to provide an ongoing sock update. I'm really excited about this because I'm doing this sans pattern. OK, I have a basic pattern that'll remind me how to do the heel, but that's it. Actually, I might try and find a different heel. I know what I want to do for the design, and if it works out, I'll clue you in.

Take care and merry X-Mas.

ps. All you knitting cat lovers and anyone else, please check this out. It's horrifyingly hilarious.

Even when I write, there's no post!

2005-12-17T12:47:00.000-08:00

OK...I decided to use that time at work where I am theoretically ... working to put together some posts. And I did. I wrote two or three posts since Wednesday. In case you haven't noticed, you haven't seen two or three posts since Wednesday. I forgot a crucial step -- the posting.

So here ya go: Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2005

Dear Santa, What I really want for Christmas (but isn’t as important in the grand scheme of things like rent or groceries) is a new digital camera. With a new camera I’ll be able to take pictures only once -- Instead of one picture to figure out which way the finder is off (generally about six inches to the left) and two to five pictures to adjust for the difference. A new camera would allow me to wow all my friends and unknown multitude with the simplicity and foresight of my knit designs.

We’re talking Grimace, the pale purple baby blanket from hell. We’re talking the garter-stitch scarf done — gasp! — lengthwise. We’re talking the sock that is ribbed ALL THE WAY. This is high-tech, high-brow stuff here and everyone should be able to see it.

However, I don't think a new camera will improve the brevity of my writing.

Speaking of Santa, I need to share one of the coolest things that’s happened to me this holiday season. I stopped by my LYS (Lint) last night. It was open-knit and although I couldn’t stay, I wanted to say hi to some people, show off the hubby, check and see if next week’s bad-for-you potluck was still on. Anyway, as I made my way carefully around the room, stepping over people, projects and wine (ouch!), Lint’s owner waylaid me with an early gift from Santa — a gift certificate.

I have no idea who did this; it could be any number of people I hang out with on Tuesdays. That’s probably the point. Regardless, this is one of the most appreciated things that anyone’s done for me — especially because good yarn/supplies are far, far away from any realistic budget right now. Now comes the fun part: What do I do with the gift? I’ve got ideas, but I’ll get into that later. I figure this is a gift for me, and I intend to use it as such. After the holidays.

Before the holidays I’ve got other things on which to work. For some reason, I have *mostly* finished projects lying all over the apartment. My new niece’s crib blanket is about 4 edging inches from completion (I had some extra ends to weave in that I never got around two). There’s one Baby Bobbie Bear that needs only eyes and a nose. Another bear needs it’s arse, legs, stuffing, arms, ears, neckline, eyes and nose. I’ve also got a pair of socks, two random scarves and a hat I started two nights ago just for fun. And last, but not least, I’ve got some KnitPicks coming in that includes sock yarn for a Christmas pair for my husband and green wool for a felted cloche. My eyes are too big for my needles. It's time to get knittin’.

Friday -- Dec. 15, 2005
Update: The second bear now has an arse and one leg. Poor thing looks like it’s been through the ringer. I’ll stop by and pick up some stuffing after work today. For others making this project: I’m using polyfil just because it’s the easiest cheapest thing to get my hands on. I know someone else who use wool batting and that resulted in a firm, but cushy bear. I also found some cotton upholstery batting that seemed like it would be good stuff but it was $5 per pound which is out of my league for right now. Ya want to know the crazy thing about this bear is: I’m wondering if I can fit one more in by Christmas. Aye, aye aye.

Time flies when you're knitting

2005-11-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

I should have known there was a problem when I hopped on to blogspot and I couldn't remember my password. Or was it the username I couldn't remember. After checking every e-mail account I remember I have (because I can't remember which I used to sign up with), I finally was able to get the site to recall my name and pwd.

Then the real shock came. My last post was in early September!

What have I been doing? Knitting, of course. Lots of it. Lots of little stuff, acutally. Scarves, teddy bears, socks (I mean sock) and the great and amazing knitted pillowcase (soon to be felted tote).

I look around my living room and see the aforementioned sock sitting in front of me, cookie jarns filled with leftover and stash yarn and a few yarn store bags holding projects in various stages of completion. Actually, not too "various". Most of these stages are end stgages. I have no problem finishing the knit work, but finishing the finished work is a true pain in the arse. Why, I don't know. I'll try an psychoanalyze myself later.

I'll also try and get some photos of my projects posted. I'd do it now, but the hubby and I are going to go catch the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland. In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys their post-Thanksgiving shopping/knitting/whatever.

Laboring away

2005-09-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

This day that we celebrate with friends and family began in the late nineteenth century. It's origins come from Peter McGuire, a piano shop apprentice in New York. At nights, he educated himself and hung out with a bunch of progressive types who were starting to think that this all day, all night, low/no pay, whoever-heard-of-health-insurance way of life was pretty dumb. In 1872, he joined about 100,000 other like-minded souls and marched. (A time-honored way of saying "to show you how pissed we are we're going to walk around in a big group and intimidate the heck out of you til you give us what we deserve.)

Anyway, over the course of the next 10 years, he was labeled a "disturber of the public peace" and eventually wore out his welcome in NYC and headed west, settling in St Louis, Mo. There he fell in with some hammer-weilding, nail-spitting types and organized a carpenters union. He was even set up as General Secretary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. On Sept. 5, 1882, the first Labor Day was held and the organized labor movement took off like a shot from there.

Today, I honor this marvel of the power of the masses by asserting my right to do Jack Shit. Except for one thing, does Jack Shit mean really doing nothing? or taking advantage of this time to focus on something I feel compelled to do? Like knitting.

Well, regardless, the latter is what I did this weekend. Lots of it. Unfortunately, I really didn't work on new projects, I worked to shut my hubby up. I've got these dang blankets that know matter how much I wish, just won't finish themselves. He wants them out of the house and knows that left to my own devices, I'll just keep starting new projects never finishing the old ones.

Well, I did finish one project, but it wasn't a blanket. It was Kitty Pi. Based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi shawl (math, yay! starting with a few stitches on dpn, knit 3.141579 rows (rounded off), inc 1 everystitch, knit 2*3.141579 rows rounded off, inc again, next its 3*pi, etc.). Kitty Pi is a felted round basket-y thang that theoretically my cats will hang out in. Well, not yet at least. It's my first felted project and I learned something kind of important: Cast off LOOSELY -- very loosely. Hubster and I each had a grip on the edge of it and were pulling it to try and loosen it up. Then I wrestled with trying to stuff a "form" to help shape it. It dried off a bit and is now liberally laced with catnap in hopes of enticing a cat to its orange depths. I'll let you know.

Now, I attempt to complete Grimace (sp?) (pics later). Grimace is this big, pale purple mostrosity of a baby blanket. I tried making the pattern myself. Not bad at all really. Definitely some things I would change, but the biggest issue is the conversion of gauge to size of desired project. This baby blanket is more the size of a large throw. Ah, vell. It's for my sister's baby. It's from me, it'll be there by the time the baby is born (12 days), she'll love it. That's what sisters are for.

More later.
Cia-cia!

I am knitter . . .

2005-09-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

As opposed to a person who knits. What is the distinction?

A knitter begins creating a Christmas list in August. Not because they're an overachiever but because it's an excuse to buy more yarn. A person who knits instead gets grandiose ideas on December second about how marvelous it would be to make homemade gifts for EVERYONE!

Well, let's be honest. A true knitter does both.

Me, I went from working one project, then buying the yarn and completing the next, to yarn, patterns and UFOs coming out the ying-yang. Heck, I've even got a blog going. (Aren't I cool?)

In a desperate bid to get my hands on more yarn, I even agreed to knit some scarves as gifts for my new mother-in-law. (Not quite as fiber desperate as it sounds -- the gifts go to women who helped with my wedding.) So now I have five scarves to make in addition to the baby blanket I have to finish by Sept. 15, the kitty pi otn, the felted bag for my mom and another baby blanket gift.

I think that's it. I'm not sure.

The thing is though, I'm turning into a yarn snob. Good or bad, I've got this thing against eyelash yarn. What's the first scarf the mil wants me to make? Eyelash. One of the good things is that it's going so fast. Almost done. But ugh. A cool thing about this entire scarf marathon is that I got to help pick out the yarn. Yes, it's mostly novelty, but I had fun trying to match yarn types -- something that the yarn snob in me has no patience with.

We'll just see where this experimenting will take me? Will I embrace Red Heart or go running back to alpaca? I'll let you know.

So very Continental

2005-09-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

So sad. I created my first blog post about a week ago. It was rather beautiful Notice you're not reading it? Yeah. That's right. I managed to dump it. It was definitely not an ept moment.

Try, try again.

I learned how to knit about eight years ago from a friend in college. That friend has since passed, but left behind a beautiful gift. Corny as it may seem, there's a bit of her in all I knit. I still have that first scarf -- one of the few things I've knit for myself. It's a stockinette scarf made from a rainbow variegated acrylic purchased at Wal-Mart. Yep, Wal-Mart. I get so many compliments on that dang thing!

But that was European. As I progressed in the ancient art of knitting, I kept hearing about this thing called Continental knitting. It's supposed to be easier for left-handers to learn, smaller movements (great for repetitive injuries) and faster. As a woman dwelling with permanent tendinitis in every part of the body that moves, you'd think the smaller movements would appeal. Nope that not it. I just want to be faster. The idea of finishing a scarf or sweater or blanket in the blink of an eye. What delusions I have.

I was getting quite desperate to learn this miracle method. I sought out classes (always the wrong time), tried the web videos (kind of hard to learn when you keep having to rewind), and read directions (yeah, that worked). Finally, I crashed a knitting circle.

Mwah-ha-ha. My evil plan to infiltrate and abscond with the top secret data worked.

Eventually.

Actually, learning to knit Continental was easy. I watched once or twice and I had it. Woohoo. Purling Continental, that's a different story. A Stephen King, Mary Shelley, down-the-rabbit-hole story filled with pain and punctures and curses (and apologies for the cursing).

First, I sat beside my patient new knitting friend and tried to mimic her actions. Then we each held one needle and tried to purl that way. Next, she held my hands and tried to shape my hands to the stitch. It didn't work. Finally, though, I seemed to catch on. Except for this weird thing.

I'd purl a bit, then my tension would slip and I couldn't complete the stitch. I'd fumble a bit, pick up the rhythm, then my tension would slip. I'd fumble a bit, pick up the rhythym, then my tension would slip. On it went. The yarn tension slipping, mental tension tightening.

And finally insight. A fiber epiphany. When I was actually purling, my hands remembered what to do. They remembered from centuries of men and women doing the same. Some (hokey-sounding) string connecting all knitters through time. But when I thought about the stitch, the process, then I'd flounder. Hence the never ending process.

It seems like there's lots of things out bodies remember how to do without us learning. Sex, for one thing. There were no videos for centuries and still people figured out how to make love. Heck, it's considered one of the "most natural things in the world". (Such a great marketing campaign)

Dancing, too. If I think about the dance, it's mechanical and my partner's in danger of a smooshed toe (or five). But if I just . . . dance, then it's magic. Just two people holding each other up through space and time.

And knitting, I hold out hope that one day I'll be able to create something beautiful and it won't be a trial. It will be the most natural thing I can do.