Shawl-itis

Unfinished projects tend to wait on the edge of my consciousness, poking at my awareness. I enthusiastically jump into starting something and then just as enthusiastically move onto something else. It's annoying, and guilt-inducing.

Today I'm feeling guilty about the shawls that I have started. To list a few:

The faroese shawl for my friend's birthday for June, 2007 - about half-done.

Mystic Lights - about half done.

Spiral Shawl - I love spirals, have 'redesigned' this shawl to make it bigger and rectangle, and am only on the second spiral.

Icelandic Shawl - this was very popular, and Knitting Daily actually reprinted the pattern for the KAL group. I like the shawl, but it is 2/3's done.










Large Rectangular Shawl from "Victorian Lace Today" - another favorite, not a difficult knit, but I've only done a couple on inches.










To justify myself, somewhat, knitting for others, especially for gifts and for display items for Fabric Place, jumped to the front of my queue and displaced these projects. But I am also ADD when it comes to knitting. I start thinking about a project or a technique and I MUST start it.

That means there are similar posts to come on other UFOs.

In Quest of "Finished!"

I am a serial knitter. I bounce from one project to the next. They all need to be finished, but they're not...yet.

There's the baby blanket for a niece, who's due in August - knit on the diagonal in five colors using Berroco Touche - a soft cotton/modal mix;

the kimono jacket from "Knit Kimonos" that I'm knitting in Sugar 'n Cream white cotton because I could get 1400 yds for $10;

the second sock of a pattern I test knit (Deaton Sock - check it out on Ravelry);

the second mitten of a mitten pattern I also test knit (Bubbles, also on Ravelry);

the pinwheel sweater in Lara cotton for my niece in New Mexico;

and the purse that I started as a Christmas present for her mother...

just to name a few.

Knitting Again (sung to the tune of "Drinking again...)

Well, you can't keep an addict away from her drug of choice, so I've started knitting again, but trying for a little less intensity...

So what was my first finished project? The third sock in the Sock Knitters Pentathlon 2008 on Ravelry - Rattlesnake Creek Socks:

There's nothing like a few cables to make you pay attention to what you're doing. Unfortunately, while I was paying attention to the knitting, I didn't read the instructions thoroughly, until I started the second sock. It was then that I discovered that there were supposed to be 1-1/2 pattern repeats on the cuff, not one - like I had done. I only thought about frogging the first sock for a nano-second, then I knew I had to come up with something else: Cut off the ribbing, pick back the stitches and knit the required repeat and ribbing.

So after the second sock was done, that's just what I did, and it worked beautifully, only took about 2 hours, and then I was done. I'd read about using this technique for adding length or making changes, but this was the first time I'd actually used it. It was a bit fiddly picking out the stitches back to the start of the cabling, and picking up the stitches was also a trial (partly because my eyesight isn't what it used to be, these were very small stitches, and I was tired.

Nothing like success to jump start your enthusiasm.

I Can't Knit

I'm dying, here. Not with pretty colors and wool, but of absolute frustration. I can't knit. I overdid it big time with the heavy duty knitting, and now the carpal tunnel in my left arm has kicked in. Bummer.

On the brighter, not physically knitting side, I taped two really interesting podcasts for Knit-A-Yarn. Saturday, the crew drove out to WEBS to tape Cat Brodhi. We sat down to talk after she had been teaching all day. People, her energy is boundless. she was funny, concise, and extremely interesting. I was so inspired that I went home and worked up an idea for a sock, using her techniques (I had read New Pathways for Sock Knitters and knit up two of her try-it socks).

Then, today I met Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer (Woolly Thoughts, No Pattern Knitting, and Toilet Roll Covers). These tapings are so interesting that the non-knitting film crew at Knit-A-Yarn is being insidiously recruited into the knitting camp. Pat and Steve tell a great story, and bring a sense of humor and whimsy to knitting, but also their ability to take mathematical concepts and clarify them with knitting is just amazing.

Got to go take more Ibuprofen for the carpal tunnel.

Okay, so I've been busy...

I just finished these socks. I knit them for the Knitted Sock Pentathlon 2008. It took me a little over 24-almost-sleepless-hours (I grabbed about 4-hrs of sleep when the pattern started to get blurry). I am not normally a competitive person, but there is something about a time-trial that brings my competitive instincts to the fore. The plus is that I really like the way the lacy pattern looks (sock pattern is called Berlin). This was my first attempt at 'cotton' socks. Actually, they're made out of Panda Cotton, a bamboo, cotton, elastic blend. I don't yet know how they feel on, but I do know that they're drying more slowly than my wool socks.

Then there was the road trip to WEBS with my SnB buddies for the appearance of the Yarn Harlot. Road trip is definitely the way to go. We had a great time going and returning, yakking at 65 mph. Had two great meals in Northampton, and to top it all, got to listen to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, along with about 1000 other knitters at the Calvin Theatre. Stephanie is always funny, philosophical, and real. I am amazed at her composure. She signed hundreds of books at WEBS, before and after her talk, and she never appeared cranky or bored. Of course, I got a signed book! She even 'remembered' me as a 'repeat offender' at book signings. As you can see, I got to hold the Sock.

Lest you think I'm having too much fun, I also knit this toilet roll cover with gauge issues for the Fun Fur Smackdown on Ravelry. It looked even funnier when I put it over a jar full of tiny Christmas lights...

A Few Finished Objects

I haven't been posting much, but I have been knitting:

Rover had this lovely walking jacket kit for him for the "Teeny Runway Project" hosted by Mason Dixon Knitting. Although he was not a finalist, both he and I enjoyed our participation immensely. It just goes to show that if you offer knitters and interesting challenge, they rise magnificently to the occasion!

I also accepted the challenge of the 2008 Sock Knitter Pentathlon on Raverly. The first sock (Jacobean Sock) was knit in under 5 hours, and it sure wasn't by me. I pushed myself and finished the pair in 2-1/2 days. Finishing a pair of socks this quickly gave me a whole new perspective on sock knitting - they don't have to drag on forever, and the sooner you finish, the sooner you have a new pair of socks to wear.

I'm only showing one sock because this picture was closest to the color of the yarn (Aussie Wool in Faded Valentine). I've also worn them inside-out to see if the knit side felt more comfortable against the bottom of my foot - it did.

Then there was the Melon Stitch Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I used Malabrigo Lace in Orchid. The yarn was great to work with, and the shawl is very soft. I will get it back eventually, but now it is at Fabric Place in Woburn, MA, for their display.

I wore it for their Knitters Breakfast and I know that several people decided to make one after seeing it. The nice thing about this shawl is that although there is a lot of knitting, it is not difficult to do. This broke the "I can't knit a shawl because it's too complicated" mindset that I had.

I off-loaded lingering guilt and finally finished the Brioche Socks for my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 (they were due in August). Fortunately, my pal hasn't finished mine yet, either, and we have been in communication. This sock pattern is in brioche stitch, which allowed me to knit in two colors and make each color the dominant rib on each side - which means that the socks are reversible! The short-row heel was a challenge, I think I knit and frogged on heel at least three times. But I love the socks and they are very cushy - they're an indoor, house sock, and I know I'm going to knit myself a pair because my feet have been freezing in my old, New England house this winter.

They are Gryffindor socks, and this is the yellow side...

and this is the red side. I hope my swap pal likes them!

Big and Little

I just finshed this pair of socks in three days. This is the fastest I have ever knit socks, and it changed my perception about the amount of effort needed to knit socks. These are the Jacobean socks that are sock #1 for the 2008 Sock Knitters Pentathlon on Ravelry.

On the other hand, I am just about to finish the Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I've been working on it steadily since January.













The body of the shawl is a 6-row pattern, repeated 62 times. The border is an 8-row pattern knit all around the body of the shawl, with extra repeats at the corners.

I thought knitting this shawl was going to be difficult. It wasn't. And, despite all the repetition, it wasn't tedious either. It was very relaxing. I just kept going, keeping track of which row I was on, enjoying the process of knitting with nice needles (KnitPicks Harmony) and nice yarn (Malabrigo Lace).

It was the contrast of the pace that these two projects had that struck me. The socks were done in a concerted, focused rush. The shawl proceeded at an even, relaxing pace. They complemented each other, and highlighted, for me, the very different moods of knitting.