Adventure

Well, I am now in Portsmouth, NH for the summer, staying with a friend.

I realize that it has been a while since I last posted.  I have had some knitting adventures, such as toe-up socks, entrelac, and a lace shawl, but I have also been quiet because I have been trying to put more energy into designing.

Designing, unfortunately, is often a solitary activity.  Sure, you can do it in a team, but you really cannot put any information about what you are working on up on the internet if you want to submit it to anyone for publication.  This is really difficult for me; I am definitely a sharer.

But I do intend to get back to posting on this blog.  I am going to try for a weekly post.  Hopefully the sunshine and sea air will get me inspired.  And I will definitely keep you posted if any of my patterns come out.

Entrelac Cowl in delicious Noro Silk Garden

A Bad Day

*Frown*  There is no new sock yarn yet.  There is no new anything yet and I am beginning to suspect that the postman delivered the box to the antique store downstairs that is only open from 11 AM to 5 PM.  (I work from 8 AM to 5 PM.)

All I wanted to turn this day around was some sock yarn.  I guess I will have to make do with my Big Cosy Cowl project.  After all, I did decide that I want to wear it out on Saturday night and I will need to kick some knitting butt to manage that one.

I promise that my next post will find me in a better mood.  I am just feeling a bit whiny today.

Persistence Pays Off

Ta-da!!

They're finished!  They're really finished!  All I need to do now is wash and block them.

Now I just need to get my package from Knitpicks with my Euclan, new sock yarn, and set of sock sized DPNs.

I also worked up another of the Drop Stitch Cowls this weekend for the SO, but I modified it to have a bit of a hood.  After all, he can't use his ponytail to hold it up like a scarf like I do.  You can take a look at the project here.  It is still a bit of a work in progress.  I think I might tack the two corners on top down to the sides, or I might just rip back and pick up some stitches.  I still have to think this one through a bit.

I promise to update the minute I get my new sock yarn and cast on.  I can't wait to get started on my second pair.

About a week ago, I mentioned that I had an interview with a local yarn shop.  I'm afraid that I didn't get the job.  It turns out that it is odd to brace your knitting needle against your hip or belly when you knit.  They were very kind and explained that they would like someone who could teach one of the standard methods.  *sigh*  Oh well.  I have taken this as a piece of good advice and I have been working on not bracing my left needle when I knit.  I figured out that I do already know how to knit without doing this: I can't do it when I use circular needles.  But this might explain why I prefer DPNs.  However, I noticed that k1p1 rib is far, far easier if I knit without bracing.  It just makes it way easier to move the yarn from front to back and vice versa.  As I said, they were very kind to me and I absolutely recommend checking out and shopping at this shop.

So I would like to give a recommendation: if you are in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, you should check out Steven Be and The Yarn Garage.  They have an amazing selection of yarns and fantastically friendly and helpful staff.

Casting On to New Adventures

I did it!  I made it through the gusset decreases last night and cast on the Big Cosy Cowl!

The hank of Mushishi really is huge.  I mean HUGE.  It is 450 odd yards of worsted weight.  When I untwisted the hank, it was 3 feet across.  So I decided that I did not want to ball it.  I have no patience for balling and it would make a gigantic ball of yarn.  So I improvised.

I give you . . . the yarn holder:

 

Ingenuity at its best.

A bit crude, and you still have to be careful about unwinding the yarn from the skein.  But I think that this is something that I can manage.

Also, today I got the book Sock Knitting Master Class.  I'm very excited to pick up new techniques while working on socks.  The sock pattern for April will likely be from this book. 

The Second Sock Blues

Today I want to cast on a new project so bad it hurts.  But I am being good and working on the second black sock.  I'm just afraid that if I let myself get started on something new, I will never want to finish the second sock and it will sit for several years until I forget which pattern I used and where I was in that pattern.

So for encouragement, I just keep singing to myself, "It's so nice . . . I wanna knit the same sock twice."  (To the tune of Boss D.J. by Sublime.)  But it still is boring me a little.

The second sock or mitten, or anything matched, is both a blessing and a curse.  You know the pattern.  You can do the pattern the same as the other one without too much cursing or problems.  (Well, you can if you remembered to take good notes and count.)  But it is something that you just did, and if you are like me, you will get impatient about moving on and learning new things.

The good news is that I am at the heel flap, and I have given myself permission to start a new project once I pick up the stitches on the sides of the heel and do the decreases going into the foot of the sock.

Part of the reason why I am so excited is that I got the yarn for a new project today!  (This is related to the fact that I had an interview with a local yarn shop this morning.  I will tell you all about that once I know the outcome.)  Granted, I have the yarn for at least 3 other projects, but I have been trying to find this yarn for over a month now.

The yarn is Plymouth Mushishi and I got it in the 09-red color.  And the project is the Big Cosy Cowl pattern by Jennifer Wilder.  This pattern was featured in the Fiber Art Almanac Companion Journal and I have been longing to make it ever since I saw it.  Also, I seem to have a thing going for wool/silk blend yarns lately.

Just as a personality note: normally, I do not make patterns in the same color as the photo.  Often I do not even make them in the same yarn.  However, this cowl just caught my eye, and as much as my rebellious nature tried to convince me to at least pick a different color than the picture, I was in love.

Well, *sigh*, I guess it is back to the sock slog for a while.  The more I work on it, the sooner I can move on.  And I like doing heels, they are interesting and fun.

I will be sure to update if I cast anything on this weekend and I will definitely be here celebrating when the second sock is finished.  I should be done well ahead of my deadline at the end of March.

I haven't quite picked out a pattern for the socks for April yet, but I do have a yarn.  I will be posting more about that before the beginning of April.  I would love some company in the sock of the month project.  So if anyone out there reading is interested in knitting along or even making your own pair of socks of any pattern, I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Thanks for reading,

Angie

Hooray for wool/silk blends!!

Sock yarn for April.  Admit it; you are intrigued.

A Quick Project

Today I had a horrible headache and stayed home from work. After finally getting some sleep, I wanted to work on a project, but I couldn't bear to focus in on the black socks I'm working on. So when I finally left the house, I went and got a #15 circular needle and cast on for the Drop Stitch Cowl.

I am so happy with this project. Not only was it quick to knit up, it was an excellent and easy pattern to follow. You can find it from my ravelry page. I have never done drop stitches before and I love them. I love the way they look and it was fun to work.