Where's the handbook when you need it?

Am I a bad mom because I'm contemplating buying my eight year old a winter hat and scarf set instead of making one? I feel so guilty because it would take me no time at all to whip him up a simple hat from my stash yarn......but I don't know if I want to.

Are moms even allowed to be selfish?

I wish there was a Knitting Moms Handbook I could reference for situations like these.

I guess I could buy him a cheap hat for now to tide him over until I can make him something. Then I can take my time to make him something fit for a knitters kid, yeah that sounds about right.

What the heck happened to the hat I made him last year? I think knitting goblins took it.

He wants an Amtrak hat. When I asked him what that is he drew me a picture. Its a red hat with the Amtrak logo in blue & green. I'm really not feeling it because the design is too simple for my taste but I can't deny my child. I'll probably duplicate stitch the logo since I have yet to try that technique, yeah that sounds about right.

Being the selfish knitter that I am I worked on a swatch today during my commute which is for a vest I'm designing. I love the simplicity of a simple vest over a crisp collard shirt. The yarn I'm using is super elastic so the vest will be pretty fitted. I'll keep you posted.

Wow, three days in a row. I think that's a new record.

Its magic

I had no idea that all I have to do is mention something on the blog and *poof* I'll get it done. I don't know if it works all the time but I'm glad it did.

After I turned off my computer I sat on my comfy couch and glanced over at my craft corner. I thought to myself "just grab the friggin darning needle and get the darn thing done" and I did.

I closed up the top of my hat and wove in the ends.


Basic formula is that I made a swatch, multiplied the stitch count by like 19 inches, casted on magic loop, two by two ribbing for an inch or so then mistake rib stitch until the length looked right, decrease 8 times evenly spaced every other round. The yarn was spun from Spunky Club by the way.

I was so motivated after that that I grabbed my socks and finished them off using EZ's sewn bind off while watching my housewives (don't judge me).


Basic formula is that I magic casted on 8 stitches for the toe (two at a time) and increased until it fit my foot. I was at a barbeque at the time and Bean helped me work out the cable pattern. I used the heel from that Two at at a Time socks book but the toe up one. I knit until I started to run out of yarn and ribbed until I got bored. The yarn is Socks that Rock in the Beryl colorway (I think)

I'm going to go out on a limb and try to challenge myself to blog this whole week (gasp). Lets see if the magic from this blog hasn't faded just yet.

Something New

I'm going to try something new and actually post to my blog...what a novel idea right?

Now that I'm officially an old married lady, I have time to get back into the swing of things. I went through such a crafting drought while working on the wedding but I think my mojos back now.

The last thing I knit was a pair of socks and I only started them because I needed something to keep my hands busy during my commute. They're practically done and have been done for a while but I've just been taking my time binding them off. I'm hoping that blogging about them will get me to just suck it up and get it done. I don't know why I have such an aversion to finishing but I feel drained just thinking about pulling out my darning needle. Its so bad that I started another project rather than finish those socks.

{sigh}

And the bad part of it is that I just finished my current project, a mistake rib hat made out of handspun, this evening on the train. I should bind it off and weave in the ends as soon as I finish this post.....but I won't.

I guess I'm done complaining about myself. I'm not a fan of pictureless posts so here's a pic from the honeymoon. Cross your fingers for yarny posts this week.

glutton for punishment

So I decided to unofficially join Le Tour de Fleece. I know, I know I hate joining stuff but what the hay. You can find more information on Le Tour here but its basically like spinning wool all the days that Le Tour de France cyclist spin. I say unofficially because I haven't joined a group yet. I'm spinning just to use up the stash and get back on track.

I got a head start by spinning on my spindle this past week. It felt good to be back in my element. I hadn't spun for a couple of months and it was nice to get back in the groove of things.

I wanted too spin something glitzy so I went stash diving to find something to fit the bill. I think i bought this fiber at last years Webs tent sale but it is an 8 ounce super batt from Applegate Country Fibers. The contents are wool, mohair, angora and glitz.


My process is to grab a chunk, fan it out a bit, roll it into a rolag, spin it kinda semiwoolen and immediately andean ply the singles. So far I have three mini skeins and i'm working on the fourth.

I have no particular plans for what to spin next. I'll be dusting off my wheel (literally) and putting it to work for the next couple of weeks. Hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day. I'm about to stuff my face with some burgers and dogs....and maybe hop in the sprinklers with my son :-)

This is why I don't join things

It must be the pressure of a deadline that causes my mojo to crap out and my mind to shift into full denial mode. I call myself trying to participate in Ravelympics (Go Team Sit N Knit) but I can no longer stand to knit on my hideous project.

The plan was to spin and knit a pair of mittens. I just recently procured the Magnificent Mittens & Socks book which I absolutely love so I couldn't wait to get started. My project was doomed from the start due to my lack of preparation. I picked the wool to spin from my stash on day one which is something that I should have done prior to starting.The wool is roving that I dyed alongside Erin in Boogey's dyeing workshop that I took at SOAR last year. I didn't write down the type of fiber we dyed but I know its wool. I doubted that I'd have enough for both mittens but I didn't feel like starting over. I spun the yarn worsted and navajo plied it because I wanted the yarn to be pretty smooth. Only problem is that I spun the singles way too tight and plied it even tighter. So I basically made rope. I ended up with 1 and a half ounces each of worsted weight ROPE! I thought it might bloom a bit in the wash but it didn't. I knew the project was doomed but I casted on anyway.

Mittnes are usually knit at a tight gauge so you can imagine the cramps I had in my fingers while trying to cast on and increase with worsted weight, twine-like yarn on a size 4 needle...go ahead and picture it...yup, and I kept on knitting, can you believe it? I knitted all the way until I got to the thumb. I could not find another pair of size 4 needles in my stash and I couldn't wait until I bought some the next day so I knit the thumb in my size 5's. I finished knitting the thumb and joined it to the rest of the mittens. I knit a couple of rows and then I couldn't take it anymore. This mitten is fugly and I life is too short to knit fugly stuff. I'll rip it soon but for now, I am officially throwing in the towel. This is why I don't join stuff!

Dirty Little Secrets

My mojo seems to be in hibernation mode and I'm in one of the rare moods where I actually feel like blogging. Can you believe it? I haven't finished anything crafty in a while so I don't have anything cool to show. I'm spinning some stuff but I'd rather wait until its finished so I can give the full story about the project. So I'm willing to put my business out there for the sake of this blogs.

The start of a new year usually prompts reflection on the past. I'm choosing to start this year off by posting my throwbacks, also known as UFO's. These are the items that I've put in that deep dark corner with the slightest hope of ever finishing them. I'm hoping that by outing myself maybe it might kick start my mojo. In no particular order:

Circle Shrug
I started this this past summer after seeing a fellow Sit n Knitter working on a black one at a meetup. Like most projects it started out great. The yarn is some old Woolworth type lionbrand yarn that someone gave me from their stash. I thought the color would be great as a shrug so I casted on and worked on it exclusively for a good month. I lost steam when I came to the part where I had to increase twenty billion stitches evenly in two by two ribbing. Its been sitting in the corner ever since and I have no idea if I'll ever finish it.

Handspun Socks
I have no idea when I started this sock, 2008 maybe. I know the fiber I spun was from Crown Mountain Farm but other than that, I know nuh-ting. I have no idea how many stitches I casted on, what pattern I'm using or why I decided to change the pattern to a regular rib on the front leg portion while keeping with the instep pattern on the back leg. Then I switched it back. What I was thinking.



I did it not only once, but twice! This yarn was also spun from Crown Mountain Farms fiber but I'm stumped as far as any other info. All I know is that I casted these socks on a while ago, saw that they were coming out way too big and thew them in a corner. I'll probably end up frogging this project and make something completely different.




Handspun Scarf
I had orginaly started a shawl with this handspun yarn made from Spunky roving. I designed the shawl pattern for this contest knitty had a couple of seasons ago. I was about halfway through the shawl when I got distracted and dropped a stitch and that's all she wrote. I got so frustrated that I ripped the whole thing that same day. I felt a little bad afterwards because its not the yarns fault I dropped a stitch. I casted on for a scarf thinking it would help me feel better but it didn't really. I'll probably end up frogging again.


Two-Tone Saddle Shoulder Sweater for The Boy
According to Rav I started this in March of 09. It started out great but I got stumped when it came to the edging. I can't decide if I want to do a hemmed border or a rib, and if I do choose rib then what kind, 2X2, 4X2, argh! I probably need to add a couple of inches anyway because this boy grows like a weed.




Chocolate Hat
I think I started this hat last winter knowing full well that I didn't have enough yarn to finish it. What was I thinking and why haven't I frogged this yet?



Kettle Dyed Scarf
I scored this beautiful wool yarn about 3 (maybe 4) years. Only problem is that I was only able to get one skein of it so I didn't have many options as to what to knit with it. I decided to cast on a sideways scarf and I promptly put it down somewhere and forgot all about it for no reason in particular.


Japanese Jumper
I started this jumper for my fiance's godson who was born in July of last year. This was quite an undertaking being that I am using a pattern from a Japanese knitting book. I know what the character for stitch, row and gauge are and I can follow along most of the schematics so it wasn't too bad. I missed finishing this in time for the shower so I figured I would have plenty of time to finish it. I'm afraid it may be too small for him once I'm finished.


Big Green
Last but not least, I started this sweater in May of 2008. I finished knitting the pieces by July 08. Its been sitting there all this time just waiting for me to seam it. Yeah, I know, I'm lame. I should just go ahead and finish it already.




So those are my dirty little secrets. Maybe I'll finish them, maybe I'll rip them, who knows. I hope you've been thoroughly entertained. Now go forth and knit!