Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

As the sugar high leaves me ready to crash, I have to say that this Christmas was indeed a Merry Christmas. My family is all home safe and almost all in good health.

Dad is tuckered out from
the feverish excitement of the day and has elected to nap with a teddy. Mom says to heck with you all as she whips out the new Wii fit plus.














Shreds of wrapping paper litter the ground. We stare at them, as if some Jedi powers will be bestowed on us to aid in clean up.






And between the candy and the presents I have one thought.




What shall I knit next?


My siblings know me too well. I received beautiful yarn (alpaca!!!), wool roving to continue spinning, and wonderful harmony wood interchangeable knitting needles (#11 and #13). I'm spoiled! These needles are the ones I chose to make the dreaded sweater with. Of course from Knitpicks, these needles are going to solve all my issues with having tangled circulars and also having 3 different pairs of #10 in 16, 24 and 32 inch circulars. I love them! Only one cable and then all the tips you could possibly want.


And they couldn't have come at a better time.


My current project(s) are for my former roommates in Bellingham. Needing a #13 needle, I'm creating elf caps! Here my lovely sister models the final product. No I'm not that good, this cap was finished two nights ago. Simple seed stitch and a cable, a few tassels and you're done! The perfect cap for a chilly afternoon. So I have three more to make before the New Year!


















I also have a special creation that must be completed before the New Year for the last of the roommates. If you are aware of Doctor Who, then you will know who the Daleks are. I'm crocheting Dalek Sec. I have about a third done and must say whoever took the time to figure out a pattern for a Dalek is absolutely fantastic.

I feel sleep coming on. I must rest before I begin again to knit and crochet wonderful things.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The sweater lives!

Who knew that sitting down for 4-5 hours at a time would result in half a sweater? The absolutely ridiculous pattern and chart are no match for brains. I read through the pattern at least a dozen times, trying to conceptually understand the meaning behind every word. I do have to say that this pattern designer needs a ghost writer to fill in all the blanks where the lowly moderate skilled knitters, like myself, tend to get lost. I'm so excited that maybe in a week this project could be done forever! I must say that I do love the design though. If, IF, I ever try this pattern again, I'll listen to my fellow Ravelry members and use a smaller needle and not worry so much about the size yarn.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Oh the weather outside is delightful! Drat.

For being in the middle of December, Orcas Island is rather dry and chilly. And I must have a chat with Mother Nature because her definition of snow doesn't jive with mine. The meager dusting we got over night will not fill my snow quota for the year. Hopefully more will come.

I've risen to a new high. My schedule at the pharmacy allows for strange weekend hours of Sunday and Monday. And can you believe it, those happen to be the days the local yarn store is closed. It's truly ridiculous and has inspired me. After discussion with "Poppie" (nickname for yarn store owner, not my father) I'm the new Monday girl for the Holidays, and perhaps with some persuasion for the rest of the winter. My motives are of course to have access to the yarn, but also to have four to five hours to sit and knit! I never get to do that. And it will also force me to work on all my various projects.

Last Monday was the first. There were festive cookies on the table and pandora was playing a light and airy selection of classic Christmas music. I sat and finished knitting a pair of gloves that I began back in October for a coworker. I was down to finishing the fingers (I hate fingers!) and weaving in all the lose ends (I hate lose ends!). But finally they are finished! One project down. So today, I've brought the awful sweater that my Sister and I are trying to knit. As she has said, the author is a lying liar!! That should convey the frustration that I feel. It's been sitting in a bag in my living room for almost two months. I have no desire to go on and I've stopped at the beginning of the charts. I've already ripped the sweater out once, and I have no desire to do that again. I think that I've figured out how I have to knit with the chart, what direction to come from and all. The only problem is that I am going nuts with the whole knit from the neck down. It's all upside down and back wards and my mind may explode. If anyone finds me dead in the yarn store it's because of this sweater and not the absolute overload of all the beautiful yarn around me. P.S. I'm in love with alpaca yarn.

So I think I'll pull the darn thing out to try again. That is all I can do right about now. Good thing Poppie has Advil here, I'm gonna need it.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Spinning Madness!

I have once again become very distracted. But it completely stems from my frustration with a current project. I'm working on a sweater that demands #5 chunky yarn with a gauge of 2sts per inch. Sort of spending $80+ I'm reduced to buying yarn that is turning out not chunky enough!?!? Come on. So what other option is there? Anyone? Of course, if you can't buy it then spin it!

Laugh if you will, but a few days after I was inspired a spinning wheel became available. I've purchased wool roving, watched all the helpful you tube videos and have completed a very crude hank of yarn. Brilliant yellow and orange twists are currently hanging to dry and set the twist. But as youtube is the best available source for my learning, I need to find someone local that can help me learn how to make more even strands and eventually the chunky and soft yarn that I need for my sweater.

So my current distraction is extremely amusing and will take much practice. But I cannot abandon all my little ideas. My Brothers fingers are still freezing (one glove is done) and Christmas ornaments still need to hang off of tree branches. One more day of work and a beautiful weekend of kniting and creating! What fun.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Scrap that... Embrace it!

I can't do it. I can't ignore who I am, and what comes naturally for me. Sticking to one knitting project is impossible, so two at a time should have worked well. But then my brother calls with a sad story of chilled fingers at a football game while playing his trombone. How can I refuse my brother. So on top of gloves for a friend and slippers for a friend I have gloves for my brother. Plus, now I'm starting a sweater knit-along! Crazy, so I'm giving up the whole idea of one at a time and beginning by committing to the action planning of projects. And now I'm going to pass out. Another really long day at the pharmacy ahead.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The affects of Island Time

There is a concept of time that most people know about, and what we on Orcas Island have coined 'Island Time'. A local artist has even released an album that captures the true essence of this concept. 'Island Time' is about 10-15 minutes behind any clock in Mainland USA. In my house, we have 8 clocks, none of which say the same time. We did at one time change all our clocks to tell the same time, yet they have all gone their own way. Really 'Island Time' really means that people have an excuse to be late or take more time to complete projects. I say this to rationalize why it took me two days to pull out all my yarn and photograph it. Think of how long it will take me to put it all back!


Once I began finding all my yarn, I was reminded of all the things that I wanted to do with it. 70% of my yarn is meant for a certain project. I also began thinking "this really isn't that much". I might even go so far as to say that the 30% without a destiny will most likely remain that way. Poor yarn! So all that I have fits into this unit, crammed in a bit, but not too bad. It has room for my books, random patterns, a tub for all my needles, and all the other random bits and pieces that are absolutely necessary for knitting.




In an effort to begin following my projects, I've begun a project book. It's actually called and Action Book! And it's so full of action. Each page documents a project: all the changes that I may have made to a pattern, small pieces of the yarn that I used, and hopefully a finally photograph of the project to finish it off. Lately I've been making gloves with half fingers. The pattern that base them off of has several errors, but in the end most of the pairs of gloves are different. I have a hard time remembering the subtle changes I make in the pattern, so writing them down as I go just give my brain a break.


So instead of photographing yarn and holding to the long rant I had about changing my ways and becoming more organized and finish things, I do what I do best: I got distracted. So in my lovely action book, there is a page for slippers, felted slippers. One of my friends gave me several large pieces of leather in exchange for slippers that would have leather soles. How could I pass that up? So the entire summer has gone by, I finally bought the yarn and of course I had to begin two nights ago. But here they are, almost done and ready to be felted. I really want to finish these though, since my next project is really exciting. I'm doing a knit-along with my sister. We're tackling a sweater, my greatest adventure yet. I've got the yarn, pattern, needles and I'm itching to start. But I must at least hold to my decision to finish projects and actually finish these slippers. So close and yet so far!