Progress Update

Posted by Emily |0 comments

Last time I wrote, I had some problematic projects on the needles. As of today, I've completed two of those five projects and finally made some headway on a third. The Harvest Slouch Hat (rav) and my sister's socks (rav) are done! I've also picked up the stitches for the right arm of my sweater jacket and have made significant progress on the sleeve!

I still need to sew the DNA toy together and rip out the I-cord of the Dawn Stole. The DNA toy definitely needs to get done soon, but the stole isn't a rush.

In the meantime, I've finished a scarf (rav) and started on my March socks (rav). I nearly have the first sock done already, so I'm pretty happy with my progress.

And since it's spring, I did a little spring cleaning which included some serious stash organization. I got all my knitting books and patterns organized, as well as all my yarn. I took photographs of just about everything and posted it all to Ravelry, too. It's really nice to have my stash organized! If there's a pattern I see at work, I can just pull up Ravelry and search my stash for appropriate yarn. Very convenient.

I have decided that I need to stop collecting sock yarn though. I have two bins full of sock yarn! No other weight of yarn has a bin to itself except the bulky yarns, but let's face it, it's BULKY yarn. The downside is that I love sock yarn. :(

In conclusion, here's some yarn p0rn for your enjoyment.

The Midnight Knitter

Posted by Emily |1 comments

I want a cool nickname like that. It's very superhero-esque. I'm imagining a hand-knit, skin-hugging wool costume with a big MK emblazoned on the chest. With a cape knit from mohair.

Here's the link to a news story about the real Midnight Knitter.

In other news... the manager at the yarn store I work at is apparently in labor. She's having a boy and they haven't decided on a name yet. When I know more details, I'll post them.

I've started my first fair isle project (Ravelry link). Arnhild Hillesland is dropping by the store tonight for a free clinic on fair isle mittens. Since I'm working anyway, I figured now would be a good time to conquer my fear of color work.

I am also going to be teaching a beginning knitting class at Llama Magic this year. Details have not been established, but plans are being made.

A Bad Place

Posted by Emily |0 comments

All my projects are in a bad place. Well, all save the socks and one can only take so much sock knitting at a time.

Box Jacket (Rav link) - I need to pick up the stitches for the sleeves. I am scared because I've had problems with picking up stitches in the past. I don't want to screw this up, first sweater or not. The body looks so good; I don't want bad sleeve seams to ruin it for me. I also want to wear this before it gets too warm, which gives me about six weeks. I should get over my fear pretty soon if I want to finish this and still wear it.

Dawn Stole (Rav link) - The I-cord edging needs to be ripped out and redone. I finished the whole thing, only to discover that one edge of the I-cord was way too tight. Blocking wouldn't have helped. Thus, the entire thing must be ripped out and knit on larger needles (Emily Gauge strikes again). Bah.

Harvest Slouch Hat (Rav link) - Despite doing a gauge swatch, testing the band, and going down a needle size after meeting gauge and deciding that it was too big, it's still too big. I was doing the decreases when I realized that it was too big and needed to be frogged.

Felted Slippers (Rav link) - I screwed up the bind-off on the first slipper about two months ago and haven't had the heart to redo it, let alone knit the second one. Honestly, this would take me about a day to finish knitting the pair, even after fixing the bind-off. Have I done it? No. Is it now March and too warm to wear felted slippers? Yes.

DNA Model (Rav link) - I need to purchase two bobbins of black nylon thread from a fabric store and sew the thing together. Not hard. Apparently it's really difficult to drive myself to a fabric store though.

In summary, my current projects are all in a bad place because of 1) procrastination, 2) fear, or 3) anger. None of these are good excuses as far as I'm concerned, so I've put a moratorium on starting new projects until I finish at least one of these. Let me be the first to admit that this rule is really irritating me. I actually spent most of last night not knitting instead of working on those projects.

Maybe I will try and tackle the Felted Slippers first. They won't take me long once I get going. Then I will have the strength to frog the hat and re-knit it. Somewhere in there I can get to a fabric store so I can sew the DNA Model together (it's really cute). And after those hurdles are out of the way I can concentrate on the one that's really been weighing on my mind, the Box Jacket.

While I procrastinate some more before picking up the felted slippers, here are some recent fo's:

Kureyon Moebius (Rav link)

Bob's Slotted Scarf (Rav link)

Lynda's Wristwarmers (Rav link)

Painted Shawl (Rav link)

Woodsy Reverie (Rav link)