Yes, there has been Olympic knitting chez knitonepurltoo, but my Olympic sweater was completed in the wee hours of March 1, long after the closing ceremonies were over. I am not as broken up about this as I thought I might be; I made a valiant effort, I tried some new things (first yoked sweater!), but I ended up with a garment that didn’t work out (which made staying up until 1:30 a.m. a bitter pill to swallow, let me tell you).

I knitted the Modern Garden Cardigan in DROPS Eskimo, colorway 29 (a spring green, which longtime readers could use to safely win bets on “What is Donna’s favorite color?“). That cardigan is super-cute and very knitworthy, but it ended up being a high-stakes project for a few reasons, chief among them the fact that I did not get row gauge, and even though I was just one row off, I ended up with a cardigan 3″ longer than I expected as a result.

I didn’t have a lot of maneuvering room in terms of needle size; the pattern calls for size 15 needles to give you a stitch gauge of 2 stitches to the inch, and I needed to go to size 17 needles to get that. I tried the knitter’s math trick of using the numbers from a different size to get the fit I wanted, but the Modern Garden sizing is fairly spread out because there are only so many number combinations that will allow for those beautiful, large leaf motifs. So the knitonepurltoo support crew (aka my husband) made a trip to Joann’s with me to get a big pink set of Susan Bates circulars, size 17.

And I knit the thing. Like any knitting story, there were setbacks (the large was too large, so I reknit in medium), and triumphs (the leaf motifs were easy to work and very pretty). But the spider sense that was tingling pre-Olympics, leading me to question my project choice and even write to Nordic Mart and ask if I could return the yarn, was accurate. Other knitters had gauge issues and several found the sleeve sizing small - me too. But I enjoyed knitting it, and was glad that I followed through to the end, even if I did feel like the guy who crosses the finish line last. My one regret? I turned off the Olympics after the (awesome) hockey game because I didn’t want to see the torch go out without having finished, and I missed William Shatner and the dancing maple leaves.

I also have no idea what to make with the yarn, once I’ve ripped it back - a baby sweater? A felted bag? Something crocheted? I’m mulling my options, because not being able to get the DROPS Eskimo out of my stash seemed roundly unfair after so much hard work.

My Modern Garden mishap taught me nothing about knitting to a deadline, though - I picked my needles right back up and polished off a pair of birthday socks for my husband’s godson, finished the day of the birthday party during a spinning workshop offered by my local guild. These are the Yarrow Ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush; I subbed in a garter stitch short-row heel for the flap and gusset style. He tried on my mom’s cashmere socks when they were close to the finish line, and asked for a pair with stripes - who am I to say no to that? So I didn’t medal in the Knitting Olympics, but to one seven-year old who may still be wearing his socks, I’m pretty cool. I can live with that.

Next up: I get serious about spinning, and progress is made on Fionn.

Do you remember the first yarn you stashed? I do; I found a single skein of Paton’s Ballybrae in navy Black Forest Tweed at my (very) local LYS not too long after I first picked up the needles. It was already discontinued in 2003, so with my usual retail obsessiveness I set off on a hunt across the interwebs. After several well-timed requests to knitting swap lists, I have a total of 10 skeins. I always thought I would make Kathy Zimmerman’s The Very Thought of Him or Bonne Marie Burns’ Ribby Cardi with it, because I do like a monochrome tweedy cardigan as much as the next person, but fate intervened.

Just a few days ago, knitonepurltoo’s Pattern Review Staff (aka my husband) saw Jennifer Hagan’s Fionn pullover over my shoulder, liked it and it took about 13 seconds for me to realize I could use my oldest yarn to make my newest sweater. As if that weren’t cool enough already, I’m doing that knitterly thing of using the numbers from the next-smallest size to get the (bigger) size I want. For those who are all “didn’t you just promise to knit from your queue?” I did, but I also thought I’d give myself an exception, just in case, and this looks like it. We are still proceeding with the “buy as little as possible, because you already have four bins of yarn” plan, but unlocking a sweet spot in the stash with the perfect pattern feels like a gift. Don’t you love that?

That alchemy is my favorite thing about knitting - older, less-loved yarn marinating in the stash becomes new, fresh and fascinating when it meets the right pattern. I knit slowly enough that I have plenty of time to change my mind about what I should make with a given skein of yarn, and sometimes waiting pays off, because a combination comes to light that I can’t help but love.

And get ready for “Waiting pays off, part two,” my first skein of handspun yarn (more pictures here). This is approximately 125 yards of 2 ply Corriedale from gwen erin/granolasuit; it took a shockingly long time to finish because I developed a throughly unreasonable fear that I would somehow wreck the yarn in the plying. So the bobbins sat, and I spun a little bit of other things, and then I sat down once more with the Start Spinning video and did it. Yay! The knitonepurltoo spinning wheel pit crew (aka my husband) has already called dibs on this for a hat; it’s going to be hard to wait to cast on until after I can show off the finished skein at spinning guild tomorrow, but I’ll try.

It’s only January, but I may have already made my favorite FO of the year:

Love! These are the Newfoundland Mitts from Creative Whimsy, with some languishing Brown Sheep Shepherd’s Shades and Noro Kureyon 170 - I highly recommend them. They were worth the wait I’ve wanted to make them for years.

Next up? A new sweater from my oldest stash…

I can say this to you because we’re friends: I love Thanksgiving with the fire of a thousand suns, and Christmas floats my boat, because who doesn’t love a thoughtful gift? But this time? After Christmas and before I return to work, when it’s okay for me to sit in my pajamas and a handknitted sweater looking at knitting on the internet and thinking about spending the day knitting? That might be my favorite time of all.

I have rallied from baby knitting disasters and am prepared to finish 2009 in a big way, so I have a few things to show you. First up, perhaps my favorite FO of 2009, my Noro Striped Scarf. Tubular cast on, sewn bind off, about 3/4 of two different balls (S245 and S87; details here) of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn gave me a scarf that was 74 inches long. Honestly, I love Noro yarns (so all you haters of Noro can stuff it), but I think making socks out of Noro Silk Garden Sock is a fool’s errand; they would last about 5 minutes, because it’s not exactly a hard-wearing yarn, you know? So a scarf is perfect.

Next up in the “parade of FOs in delicate yarn” is a pair of plain vanilla socks in Handmaiden Casbah, colorway Ruby. I was not completely swayed by the lure of a merino/cashmere blend, because it’s kind of splitty and slightly tempermental, like it will pill or fuzz if you look at it funny. But these were for my mom, because you do not turn 70 every day, and even though she’s a knitter, she is not a sock knitter. I originally started these as a pair of Wendy Johnson’s Trilobites in Arucania Ranco Multi (or Multy). I was not a happy knitter; this was the last skein of yarn I bought before embarking on 9 months of Cold Sheeping, and it was knitting up suspiciously like kitchen cotton: not soft, not mom-worthy. So I gave it away, and broke my Cold Sheep streak after 290 days (I checked) with Handmaiden Casbah, the yarn equivalent of dating a supermodel. They fit beautifully, and Mom is happy - this is a craft project that’s way better than a macaroni necklace. As an aside, this was the first pair of socks I did two-at-a-time on one needle, and after completing my Nancy Bush mystery socks two-at-a-time on separate needles, I am completely in love with knitting two socks at once - that is perhaps 2009’s biggest discovery: the banishment of second sock syndrome (except for one tiny exception - I’ll definitely take care of that).

My final project for 2009 might give you a clue as to what 2010 holds: this is the Newfoundland mittens, queued in Ravelry October 7, 2007; one skein of Brown Sheep Shepherd’s Shades and one skein of Noro Kureyon (color 170, still a favorite). I have 280 things in my Ravelry queue, and it’s time to knit some of them up. I mentioned here that I’d like to try 10 new techniques in 2010, including installing a zipper in a knitted garment (#32 in my queue) and thrumming (#4 in my queue, and I have a pile of thrums waiting). I might even finish a pair of baby booties before my littlest cousin’s arrival. So happy new year to you and your needles - here’s to knitting on with confidence in 2010, just like Elizabeth recommends.

What kind of knitter am I? I love challenges, use deadlines as motivators and think knitting for other people is noble and worthy, as long as I also get to knit for myself. Still with me? I also know my eyes are bigger than my stomach, knitting-wise, since it takes me four years to finish a sweater and my Ravelry queue is ten pages and holding - no matter how hard I try to restrain myself, there’s always something new and lovely to knit, there’s always a reason to knit faster, and if I’m not careful, I could get myself into a lot of trouble.

Take, for instance, three weeks ago Saturday.

The scene is my cousin’s wife’s baby shower, to be held three hours from my house in Ohio - I had dutifully started a Baby Surprise Jacket as soon as I had talked myself into baby knitting (”Can I finish a knitted gift? Probably not; I shouldn’t even try…But it would be so cute - and I love Elizabeth Zimmermann, even if I always forget to add the extra N - let’s knit this thing!”) which took a week or so, time I could have spent knitting, but didn’t because I was finishing these Nancy Bush Fox Faces socks (which I love, and are great - Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select highly recommended). Long story short, the BSJ hit a snag (an inexplicable section of stockinette - how hard is it to knit garter stitch?) and I knew it would not be done in time for the baby shower, thanks to obligations like a job, which seemed to be getting more than full-time by the minute.

As an alternative “gift garnish,” for this kickass diaper bag, I started a pair of Saartje’s booties the Bockstark way two days before the shower. Shower Saturday dawns bright and clear, and my plan is working, but I’m running out of time. Booties are done, except for buttons and button loops. My sainted husband offers to drive me to Michigan for the shower so I can finish the booties. How long could finishing take? I pictured a quick bit of knitting followed by a chatty car ride.

Answer? We may never know, because when it comes to button loops? I suck under pressure. Despite this great video, I made ugly button loops the size of basketball hoops, and in a fit of frustration, with just 20 miles or so to go before arriving at the shower…I cut them off the end of the bootie straps, snipping one of the straps in the process, and causing it to unravel. It was at about this point that I unraveled as well, out of frustration.

New Knitting Rule: If you have to count the car ride to the event as part of the time needed to finish your knitted gift, you’re probably screwed, knitting-wise you should definitely have a backup plan.

I returned home, full of shower cake, and not a little sad that once again I had gotten myself in a knitting pickle. I make my knitting deadlines just often enough that I talk myself into setting them, again and again. But knitting is supposed to be fun, and these two failed projects were the opposite of fun

You know what’s fun? Deciding on a whim to start a Noro striped scarf, and knitting away, stripe after stripe. I have been monogamous to this thing since October 25 as “failed baby gift” therapy, and you know what? It’s as tall as I am now, more than 5 feet and growing. Apparently, I can knit, I just have trouble knitting to a deadline.

Which, of course, is why I signed up with some knitting friends to participate in the Ravelympics in February. I probably will have forgotten all about this debacle by then. Also, I’m seriously considering stacking the knitting olympics deck by knitting a (quite lovely) sweater on size 15 needles.

What’s holding up the show around here is this: I don’t have the beauty shot. You know, you finish a big project and you want to take the perfect picture of you, carefree, (and with great hair) wearing the perfect sweater? In advertising, they call that the beauty shot. Well, I finished Lizzy when it was 90 degrees out, so there was no sweater-wearing any longer than it took to say “yes, it fits.” so this is what I have, for now.

For the first time, I got the sweater I expected based on the measurements I picked - it fits, and the waist shaping I added looks lovely. Plus, I am now a master of the set-in sleeve. I don’t want to tell you how long I spent getting it right, but I did, and it was worth it. As excited as I am about Lizzy’s greatness, it’s taken me a good three weeks to admit it will be awhile before the final FO shot gets taken. You’ll be the first to know when it does.

In the meantime, I have a consolation prize for you: socks. These are Deb Barnhill’s Pot Pourri Socks from the terrific Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn (you’ll recognize the yarn as the Seacoast Handpainted merino tencel reincarnated from my failed Punctuated Rib socks - which I am totally going to make, Ann Budd, I promise!), knitted on size 1 needles. I’ve read elsewhere that the double-figure 8 row is a pain in the neck, and I can’t lie - it was time consuming, but it works to break up the pooling very nicely.

In the knitting confessions department, this is just my second third pair of lace socks (I always forget about these), and I think I’m finally starting to get lace in a way I had not before. Which is a good thing, because I start the Nancy Bush lacy Mystery Sock for Sock Knitters Anonymous tomorrow…and I’ve wound the yarn for my Flower Basket Shawl, after four long years. Lace and me, we’re BFFs for sure.

It’s been an eventful month around these parts - work is exceptionally busy which explains why you get last week’s photo of the current sock instead of one taken yesterday, as I approached the toe. As you might have guessed, the sock is Paraphernalia, out of stashed Opal. This is my last ball of Opal in the sock yarn bin, and given that I still have a fair amount of knitting up to do before I reach 20,000 yards in stash, Opal and I will be separated for a good long while.

Can I just say again how much I love it? Opal is the James Brown of sock yarns - the hardest-working yarn in show business. Color, durability, yardage, and value; Opal has it all. Love! If there’s anything reading forums at Ravelry has taught me, it’s that there are a million kinds of sock yarn and an equal number of people who love each one. You can have your Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend - I’ll take Opal any day.

The only downside? This sock may turn out to fit my mother’s size 7 foot instead of my wee size 6. So I might lose out, and mom will get two pairs, since her Bells and Whistles Socks are next up in the “Finish Me!” parade, sock division.
First to be finished will be Lizzy, seen here as last week’s pile of pieces, now a seam and a ruffle away from being a cardigan. I’m as shocked as you are to find that…I like seaming. For a results-oriented person like myself, it’s easy to see the relationship between the time spent learning how to do it well, and the lovely seams that are the product. It also makes me feel like the 14 months I spent with this sweater in progress were worth it because I’ll happily wear it out of the house…when it’s not 90 degrees here.

Tune in next time: will I start the Chicknits Ribby Cardi or Slinky Ribs from Custom Knits? Can I keep from casting on two pairs of socks for the July Socknitters Anonymous challenge? Will my budding crochet skills allow me to start Evelyn Clark’s Flowerbasket Shawl as it was meant to be started? You and I are both dying to find out.

Some of you may have figured out that spinning has snuck into my life on little cat feet. I was seriously worried my brain would get rusty without the chance to learn something new, so for my 39th birthday last May, I gave myself spinning lessons at my LYS. I got it, I practiced, yet I never really got into it - so I figured I would wait to post about spinning until I had a real story to tell, beyond “It’s okay, and I really like A Fine Fleece.”

Then I got a wheel. The story of my Matchless is equal parts “It was a great deal”, “I think the Matchless is the most beautiful wheel ever”, and “I can do anything if I put my mind to it.” I was pretty certain it was crazy to try and spin a sweater’s-worth of yarn for a Fine Fleece pattern any other way than with a wheel, but learning to use the wheel has been hard, in part because I assumed it would be easier.

Wheelspinning feels exactly like when I learned to drive; before I learned the finer points of using hand controls, my driving instructor said he wanted me to try using the brake and accelerator pedals with my feet. Hand controls are simple: pull the lever down to accelerate, push the lever forward to brake. Adding my feet into the mix felt like there was way too much going on at once - and trying to treadle, keep the twist from traveling into the drafting triangle, draft, and allow the single to wind onto the bobbin…well, let’s just say I’ve been getting friendly with my orifice hook (and swearing a lot). I’m ridiculously happy to have the wheel, but the learning curve has been steep.

I realized I needed a plan B - if I wanted to actually learn how to spin (and continue improving), I would have to set a goal. So in March, I wrote down “Finish knitting a pair of handspun socks” on my to-do list with a date of December 31. And when I said “My beginner spindle isn’t really working out for me” Knit One Purl Too’s spindle-crafting expert (aka my husband, the woodworker) made me one. For the curious, the finished spindle is just under an ounce, and this is a Corriedale/alpaca blend courtesy of Etsy - I ordered a whopping 8 ounces, so I’ve had plenty to practice with. I’ve also spun with a nice merino/silk blend from Ashland Bay - but that’s not for socks.

This is. It’s the May spinalong fiber from Kristin at AllSpunUp; I told myself I was going to wait to spin it until I had more practice, but that lasted about 48 hours. Shockingly, this is just a tenth of an ounce (on a 40th birthday present .45 oz Golding Tsunami), so I suspect I’m spinning fine enough to get 2- or 3-ply sock yarn. They won’t be perfect, but I am going to end up loving these socks with the fire of a thousand suns - my brain and my feet will be happy, and if I spend the rest of my life learning to be a better spinner…well, wouldn’t that be fun?

Things were going so well. And yet, after a bang-up period in March that included two FOs and more than 1,000 yards knitted, I entered some kind of fugue state; just like Groundhog Day, I started the same socks over and over. I was willing the Punctuated Rib socks to work out with every fiber of my being, but yarn choices and stitch counts conspired against me. In the Large size, my chosen yarn behaved beautifully, but the sock was too big. In the Small, I fretted over pooling and flashing, but a sock I feared would be too ugly to look at fit just fine. So I changed yarns, and the dance started all over again. I started these socks a dozen times if I started them once, and in the end, I felt it’s not right to hold a grudge against your knitting. So I moved on - sort of.

Instead of finishing the Oak Ribbed Socks I bragged about almost having finished in my last post, I started another sock two times over, the Crossing Cables sock by Danny Ouelette, which I love, and which is also not working out to my satisfaction. My problem is that the photo here is probably the worst photo I could take of the blue sock on the right, and the best possible photo of the green sock on the left - in reality, they’re both “meh” for different reasons, and in danger of becoming one of those projects I myself might look at and say “How could she have chosen that yarn? it doesn’t go with that pattern at all.” [People who knit lace socks with self-striping yarn, I am looking at you - ed.]. I think it’s back to the drawing board for these…

On the bright side, I started another long-stashed project recently, Lucy Neatby’s Sea Lettuce Scarf - it’s charming, there’s no pooling or flashing, and though it’s going slowly, I’m enjoying watching it develop rather than dreading what surprise the next turn of the needles might bring. If you’re going to cast on, you might as well have something to show for it.

I am still not buying yarn, but it’s not very blog-worthy to say “once again, nothing new!” I have finished the SuperSecretKnittingProject (which I swear you’ll see the second I get the OK), and my lovely Jaywalkers. Specs: DROPS Fabel 901, a Christmas gift from my cousin. I liked the yarn, and the fit is pretty good - I didn’t run into any “I can’t get this over my ankle” issues. The stitch pattern is the opposite of ribbing (little negative ease, little give), but they’re super-cute and I’m happy. The Fabel also softened up in the wash, so I’m liking it a lot, yarn-choice-wise. First Eye of Partridge heel, and yet another picot hem - I am wondering if I’ll ever get tired of how cute they are.

And just when you thought I had exhausted my fascination with self-striping yarn, I present you with Nancy Bush’s Oak Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, started at the end of March, due to be finished within hours of this writing. This may be the best story of my knitting career: I admit here that this pink and brown yarn almost made me fall off the yarn diet wagon after two and a half months, because as much as I loved the SuperSecretProject, I was ready to be knitting something else. Blogless Melanie sees my post and offers to swap with me - a week later, I have yarn and candy, courtesy of Melanie and Canada Post. Thank you, Melanie!

Two FOs complete means that I have knitted up 1100 yards and have about 4300 yards to go before I reach the magic “20,000 yards remaining in stash” threshold. I already have 3100 yards actively WIPping right now. How did that happen? Doesn’t that seem like a lot? Honestly, it’s probably Lizzy, the Noro sweater with just 3/4 of a front left to knit. It might also be that I had a tiny bout of startits - why finish something old when you can start something new and fresh? I can trace the source of the startitis to Sock Knitters Anonymous. The April challenge to knit an underappreciated pattern (15 or fewer projects in Ravelry on April 1) was irresistible to me: I have not one but two prime sock patterns ready for love in my queue. Look for an appearance shortly from Ann Budd’s Punctuated Rib Socks, found in the splendid Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn. I’d be far enough along to show you something, but I foolishly started the large instead of the small, so there’s been a little ripping and the re-knitting is still in progress. The other sock pattern? So underappreciated, I’ll be the first project…I feel I have to, since I’ve wanted to make them for years (See? I asked Melinda about them in 2004). I’d take a break from self-striping for that.

Haven’t you always wanted to be one of those cool knitters who ends up as “and friend” in a picture next to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival? Or with book publishers plying you with free swag? Or as someone with a super-secret knitting project for a shop, or even better, a book?

I am gobsmacked to find myself doing some super-secret knitting See? that’s some RYC Wool Silk DK, right there my friends: 700 yards of Rowan-y goodness, due to be completed mid-March. First project with Rowan yarns, but it won’t be the last - I am believing the hype about how great Rowan yarns are. I can’t wait to tell you more about this - it will be worth the wait, I promise.

Other things are on hold right now: my Jaywalkers, last seen here, await a second heel and foot; the Lizzy cardigan’s last piece awaits waist shaping - but I do have two FOs completed before SecretMania 09 began, both chips off what feels like a huge stash of Classic Elite Lush.

This is Roxanne Wood’s Primordial Hat - the pattern is a fun mix of garter and ribbing which I thoroughly enjoyed, though I unexpectedly ended up with a huge hat. Huge! I’m guessing that I’ll need to go down 2 maybe 3 needle sizes to make this the proper size for version two, but it will be worth it, because I think it’s a totally fun pattern.

Because my cousin still needed a hat to match her Basketweave Scarf, I cast on right away for Thea Coleman’s Stashy Hat - ahh. Regular readers will know how I am a fan of the broken rib, and the shot of added texture did not disappoint me. I received word yesterday that the hat fits, and we have a little cold weather for my cousin to get some use out of it, so yay.

Let’s be honest here: as soon as I got the hang of the super-secret project and realized I had a lot (a lot!) of knitting to go before I was finished, I wanted to cast on for something new badly enough that it took my breath away. (Noro stripey socks, anyone?). I am resisting, because it’s hard to call RYC Silk Wool a second choice, but I have an ulterior motive.

How am I doing on the “20,000 yards project”? Right now I have (you guessed it) 25,354 yards of yarn stashed away. Last year I knitted about 4100 yards’ worth, but don’t forget, I lost a fair amount of true knitting time to the seaming of the Greensburg afghan. I have swapped, Koigu for Fearless Fibers [see?], and a completed Banff for a sweater’s worth of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool - but I have not purchased. [For the judgey who think I have thrown my first sweater under the bus, consider that the recipient loves it, and while I couldn't bring myself to frog and reknit it, I can think of three things I could start today with the Silky Wool. Er, after I finish the super-secret knitting. - ed]

The size of my stash concerns me enough that I am seriously considering having someone else make the plain socks I would make for myself. Hey, that’s 400 yards on my feet instead of in a box - I think it’s a win-win. *wink*

I did promise to give you still more eye candy after dumping my OMG!!HugeFinishedSweater photos here - so here we go. First, my next-to-last FO of the year, the Basketweave Scarf from Knitting Daily, completed with 2.5 skeins of yarn repurposed from my failed Lush turtleneck, seen so long ago. Was this a good idea, or what? So soft! So fun to knit! Such a shame I have only this one photo to show you - there are a few crappy cellphone pictures lurking here and there, but none can capture the lovely, soft reversible nature of this scarf, given to my cousin who had been asking for a scarf (and hat and mittens) as a NotChristmasGift because I didn’t have her name in the family draw but I cannot resist the genuine appreciation for handknits.

It also helped that my cousin had my name in the family draw, and she gifted me with not one but two colors of Garnstudio DROPS Fabel sock yarn - yay! As soon as I opened my gift I thought to myself: “I guess I’m making a pair of Jaywalkers.” And so it came to pass that I knitted one of the Interweb’s most venerable patterns with my very newest sock yarn, Fun, easy, and certainly the loudest socks I’ve made in a good while - which is just the way I like them, apparently.

Sadly, I’ve gotten in the habit of ravel-ing projects before blogging about them, because I’m fastidious about creating a Ravelry entry as close to the actual start date as possible (rule-follower much?). Anyhoo, I wanted to let you know that in the on-deck circle is a pair of Bells and Whistles socks from IK Holiday 2006 for my mom - lovely, but I’m still in the “shut up, I’m counting” lace knitting phase, so photos will have to wait until later this week when a full repeat is finished.

As for plans and resolutions, you might as well know that when I tallied up my stash after the Christmas frenzy was over, I was alarmed to discover that, instead of the 20,000 yard cap I was aiming for, I ended up with more than 25,000 yards of yarn stuffed in plastic bins (some of this is charming Lizzy, an FO that remains U). So, until I hit that 20,000 yard mark, no more yarn - even though it might take all year. What to knit? A lot more socks: I’d like to make six pairs in 2009, which means (say it with me) a sock a month - totally do-able! Punctuated Rib, Old Navy, Pot Pourri and Rivendell socks are in the queue, plus the Ribby Cardi, and the terrific Primordial Hat [rav link], which strikes me as a delicious companion to the Basketweave Scarf. That should get me close to 5000 yards down - and after all, my cousin did ask for a hat.

1576 days ago, I thought it might be a good idea to knit my husband a sweater; tomorrow, I knit something for myself.

For the final time: This is the Cabled Rib Cardigan from Men in Knits by Tara Jon Manning. I used just over 8 skeins of Blackwater Abbey’s wooly Bluestack on size 4, 3 and 2 needles. Best thing about this project: It’s done, and it doesn’t suck - it fits pretty well for a sweater (only my second!) that took four years to knit. Biggest learning experience: Knit both sleeves at the same time, or you’ll need to employ creative seaming techniques to compensate for the fact that one is an inch and a half wider than the other. [Surprisingly, no tears were shed when I discovered this; I just looked it over and said "I think I can fix this without reknitting it" and then I did. - ed.]

I set a goal of knitting 14 things in 2008, and didn’t meet it (total FO count: 10), but I think I may have knit more stitches than in 2007. Best of all, this sweater, my white whale, is done - and the recipient and I are happy with it. Happy knitty new year to you and yours - stay tuned for news about another FO (accidental Christmas knitting), and my first project of 2009. Surprisingly enough for the new year, it’s a bigtime blast from the past. Knit on!

I was recently tagged for the perennial “7 random things about you” meme by the lovely Kat; I soon realized that if I didn’t get off my butt and post, my 7 things would be FOs, such is the knitting production in these parts. So, off we go. [For those who can't get enough lists, I give you ten knitterly things you don't know about me - ed].

1. My 60 GB iPod is almost full. I love music, all kinds - even bluegrass (which took some getting used to), and my dream job might be “producer who picks incidental music for Marketplace. They have excellent taste, and I consider it a point of pride that I have found and liked songs that have later appeared on Marketplace. Looking for good stuff? Try KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune. This item brought to you by Nancy Bush’s Gentleman’s Fancy socks in Trekking 108, completed in October for me and perhaps my favorite pair of socks yet.

2. My favorite word is “intransigent,” because I am, occasionally. Particularly with people who say making their own pie crust is too hard. Just try it! It’s better. I also have a favorite punctuation mark, the semicolon, because I’m nerdy like that.

3. In my stashbusting quest, I am completely taken with the idea of finished knitted objects giving you the opportunity to shop for yarn guilt-free, and have decided that henceforth two FOs will earn me the equivalent yarn for a future project. This Gloria Cowl was made out of the last 2/3 of a skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot which had been hanging out forever, and is now the newest knitted item for my loyal husband, willing to walk the dog on cold mornings because I provide a steady stream of handknits. [Yarn purchased as a result of these two FOs? Lamb's Pride Shepherd's Shades for the Bird in Hand Mittens. - ed.]

4. I always say that my favorite holiday is the start of Daylight Savings Time because we get an extra hour of sleep, but my real favorite holiday is Thanksgiving; all of the food and festivity and none of the stress of holiday shopping.

5. A few years ago, my husband and I were bored with cooking the same ten things over and over, so we decided to see how long we could go making something different for dinner every night. Turns out, the answer is “more than a year, even when you’re remodeling your kitchen.” We like Recipezaar because you can plug in ingredients (if you don’t feel like Googlecooking. The biggest thing we learned? If you plan and shop for a week’s worth of meals at a time, you save money and you’re a lot less likely to bail at the last minute and eat out because you have tasty choices at home.

6. I have at various times considered graduate school in social work, hospitality management, law, business, and library science. The itch for hospitality management lasted about 29 minutes; library school still seems cool to me.

7. I’d love to live outside the United States for an extended period of time, even six months. Paris, anyone?

In the non-random department, I am steaming ahead on the last sleeve of Cable and Rib, thanks to the company of Friday Night Lights on Netflix. I estimate that I’m about 86 percent done - when I reach buttonband territory, you’ll be the first to know.

Much to my surprise, my return home from the road trip to end all road trips marked the beginning of what could only be called a finishing frenzy. At the frenzy’s center? An afghan for the Rebuilding Greensburg Block by Block project that I had hoped to have seamed up months ago.

I had high hopes that after I completed this sweater, I’d whip through the afghan like butter and finish by the end of January. After all - how hard could it be? Harder than I thought (as so many things in life are), but after poking along and worrying that I wasn’t quite good enough to do the fine work of all these knitters and crocheters justice, I rallied. And I fell in love with my afghan. I have a favorite square, but really, I liked them all - and now I am salivating to start a Lizard Ridge afghan, a Manos Four Seasons Throw - bring on the squares! I think I may have discovered the other portable thing (besides socks) that I’m interested in knitting one after the other.

As if that weren’t enough, I give you the first sleeve of Cable and Rib, officially taking forever to finish, and the only project on Flickr tagged “ithoughtiwouldbedonebynow” Get it? Beautiful, beautiful, ready for another sleeve and a button band…and slightly too big for Knit One Purl Too’s rail-thin sweater model (aka my husband). Ah, the irony; she knitted too much! I might need to downsize it, so stay tuned for updates (as if I could stop myself from telling you). If I finish by December 30, the sweater will have been a UFO for 1575 days - wow.

Which brings me to a status report of sorts. I’ve been telling myself that my knitting goal this year is 14 finished objects from patterns I already had or knew about. Seaming the afghan brings me to 5 FOs for the year, and it seems more important to clear off my needles than to knit a herd of dishcloths just so I can reach some arbitrary number. So I’d like to finish Cable and Rib, and Lizzy (the Noro cardigan - one front to go), and the Step Above Socks (pretty far along), and the Sunset Fancy Socks I’ve been carrying around as my mindless knitting (I haven’t told you about those, but I will soon enough). That would leave me with just these beautiful lace socks (better view of the pattern here - not my socks). Seems like a good way to start the year, no? And if I finish early, there’s always dishcloth knitting along with Dick Clark!

Where have I been? The answer is really good - everywhere. I’ve had my nose to the grindstone, knitting away this summer, and I got to do some of my knitting on a 10-state 12-day road trip from Ohio to Montana and back again. What else are you supposed to do when one of your knitbuds says “I’m moving to Montana?” You go with them, and you take your knitting with you, of course. The socks you see here managed to make it from cast-on to cast-off without being blogged; they’re a toe-up pair of Timberline Toes from Lucy Neatby (a sock so nice, I’ve knit it twice), in Regia that was a lovely gift from Lisa and the dogs, unused for far too long. With two pairs complete, I’m now fairly certain that I’ve gotten toe-up socks out of my system, at least for the moment. I wove in the (many) ends of my Smoking Hot Socks, and so they are also officially done. I loved this pattern from beginning to end. They were fun, engaging and quick - completed in a month (if you don’t count the ends). I’m ready to knit another pair.

But right now, my attention is focused on unfinished objects rather than new projects - after a long hiatus I’ve picked up my entrelac socks again. The sorry tale boil down to this - after doing half of the heel prep on sock #1 Easter weekend, 2007, I lost track of what I was doing, and had a devil of a time trying to figure it out. No matter what I did, the second triangle I was making to form the base of the heel didn’t look like the first. I e-mailed Janice (maker of three pairs of Step Above Socks), she was helpful, I was still sort of stuck. Then I came up withe the brilliant idea of faking myself out: why not start the second sock, work up to the heel and just keep going as though nothing were wrong - maybe that would jog my brain into remembering how everything was supposed to fit together? It worked(!).

I was not really planning on participating in the Ravelympics, but I’ve made so much progress on these socks I might not be able to help finishing them this month. Unless I run out of yarn. Now that I’m close to the toe on sock #2, I can see that I might not have enough yarn for the heels and toes. This is the second pair of Koigu socks in a row where I’ve run short - I think I have to start buying three skeins for a pair - or buy stock in Tums for the stress running short causes me. More travel knitting here, with photos to come as I upload them inbetween bouts of knitting. There’s been more, of course - I couldn’t go an entire summer without posting unless I got into multiple kinds of trouble…including spinning. Yes, you read that right. Stay tuned for more details - I promise it won’t be another three months before you hear from me again.

I’m not a quitter, but those sideways socks annoyed me. I wanted to finish them, yet I knew it would only end in heartbreak. So I did what I usually do when faced with knitting disappointment: rip, then distract myself with new techniques. First there was the Magic Cast On, which is pretty impressive, then there was the cable cast on, which is nice enough, then there were the mitered squares - absolutely scintillating in self-patterning yarn. And before I knew it, I had a whole freaking sock finished. Seriously, two weeks is some kind of record for me - these went so fast, May was almost NaKniSockMo - I am thisclose to a complete pair (and who knows what could happen in the next 10 hours?).

As proof, here are Sock #1 and Sock #2 together - there’s no sleight-of-hand or Photoshop trickery going on. These are Monika Steinbauer’s genius Smoking Hot Socks (e-mail her for the pattern, or it’s also available as a Ravelry download) in Trekking XXL 140. I found the garter stitch strip to be sort of understated, colorwise; this incarnation of the Trekking is kind of obnoxiously loud, and I love it. I also have to say that this is an ideal sock pattern for the adventurous or easily bored knitter, because each section of the sock knits up differently - just when you’re tired of the toe, it’s time to slip stitch, then you turn the heel, then you work a pile of mitered squares, then you’re done! Monika recommends a Jojo short row heel, but I went with my favorite tried and true Sherman heel - other than that, I’m knitting the pattern as written.

All I want to do now is knit lots of toe up socks, which seems in direct conflict with my other goal of finishing 14 things this year. Sad but true, waiting for ten more pairs of socks from a slow knitter like me might put us into May 2009, so I’ll need to balance my new obsession with my, er, production schedule. I think I’m going to be one of those knitters with a project scheduled for every day of the week. Then again, I might become one of those knitters who goes out and buys more sock needles.

Without my really paying attention, I managed to complete two sleeves and almost the entire back for Lizzy, the Noro Silk Garden cardigan that I was noodling around with when we last saw each other. I had fantasies that I would be able to finish knitting the pieces for Lizzy in the month of April, and it looked likely except for one thing: the siren song of garter stitch.

Here is what I’ve learned about myself (the “knitting as a growth experience” part of the entry): the easiest project on the needles will invariably rise to the top of the working rotation. I can talk a big game about cables as easy to knit as stockinette or a lacy sock I am dying to make, but apparently there were days this month when purling was too hard, and Lizzy was cast ruthlessly aside in favor of the Better Mousetrap Socks by Debbie New from Interweave Knits Fall 2001; I would show you an FO picture, but the Internet seems to think that I’m the only person who wants to make them. It doesn’t look like much more than a strip of knitting, but simple decreases give you half a heel and toe on each side, then you graft the whole thing together, and voila - a garter stitch sock magically appears, thanks in large part to the inspiring gift of Trekking sock yarn from Theresa as a blog contest prize.

Except not. In late-breaking news of the “knitting as a growth experience” variety, I started the second set of heel decreases and got the sneaking suspicion that while the adjustments I made to ensure the foot was the right shortness (it seems wrong to say “length” here, since that’s not my problem) appear to have worked, the sock itself will turn out to be too wide side to side, with potential bagginess looming all over the place. Damn.

Part of me wants to treat this as a learning experience and figure out how to customize the second sock to fit me so I can reknit the first one in all its garter-y goodness before the Michigan/Ohio State football game in November (yes, these are my secret “M - Go Blue!” socks to be worn in Buckeye country). Another part wants to finish the sock and give the sock and yarn to someone with size 6 or 7 EEE feet - let them knit the second one! And a third part of me wants to admit that the only way God meant for us to knit socks is top down or toe up, and rededicate the yarn to that purpose. What should I do?

So I told myself that a March finishing frenzy was inspiring me to actually finish things, and indeed I have finished something: the Tidepool Socks. Except for the harrowing hunt for coordinating yarn when I thought I would run out, these were a totally relaxing, fun knit. Details: Koigu KPPM p211 on size 1 bamboo needles, 72 stitch picot hemmed cuff, 68 stitch leg, 60 stitch foot. Koigu KPPM p213 for the heels and toes purchased from the charming Merilyn at Foxyknits. The heel is Dawn Brocco’s 6-point afterthought heel, which I continue to recommend wholeheartedly. Best of all, Mom loves them, so the hunt for more Koigu was worth it.

Whether it’s an abiding wish for spring, having my iPod serve up Eydie Gorme singing Blame it on the Bossa Nova, or a deep desire to just do something else, I have succumbed to cast on fever. More specifically, lace cast-on fever. It’s time. With just one pair of socks, one aborted shawl, and hundreds of patterns bookmarked, I have surprisingly little to show product-wise for my fascination with lace. Until now. Meet the (latest) project I love unreservedly, Nancy Bush’s Wishbone Socks. Much like the Little Tent Dishcloth, this is a project I was inspired to make from the moment I first saw Cassie’s version on Ravelry.
Piecework Magazine to the rescue - the pattern was published in their March/April 2008 issue. This is Apple Laine Apple Butter in Dark Chocolate - a little somber for spring, but I am so tickled to actually be using yarn I stashed in 2004, I don’t care.
To counteract any gloominess, I’ve also swatched for Lizzy, the Noro ruffled cardigan I’ve been yammering on about for the better part of a year. Not only have I swatched, I’ve washed and blocked my swatch to check my true gauge. Properly informed, I also whipped out the better part of a sleeve in the car going back and forth to my parents’ house for Easter (total number of knots found in two skeins of Silk Garden: 2 Level of annoyance: low, because I am using Anja’s terrific “weave your ends in as you go” method). It occurs to me that I could have titled this entry “Let’s Get Ready to Ruffle!” How great would that have been?

Attached Media: audio/mpeg (2 331 ko)

This is the reversible cabled hat from Dove Knits; she’s knocked out a number of shockingly beautiful FOs since this pattern was posted just three weeks ago - this little number is the tip of the iceberg. Plus, it has the added bonus of looking just like Marge Simpson’s beehive while under construction.

I made just one change to the pattern - I added a cable repeat to provide a better fit for my husband’s taller/larger head. I also used a provisional cast to begin so that I could start the second hat using live stitches, rather than stitches picked up from the cast on edge. Take note: this is an excellent first cable project, and a terrific item to practice cabling without a needle, which is the way I roll. I was so tickled that the cables actually twisted both ways that it almost reignited my Cable and Rib fire - almost.

In other knitting news, I’ve been knitting a pair of Tidepool socks for my mom for what feels like forever. About a month ago, I discovered to my horror that I was going to run out of yarn, and spent hours scouring the Internet for a suitable heel and toe substitute - I looked that thousands of skeins of yarn. Apparently, I am the only person in the Western world who thinks that “hot pink” means this color - everyone else thinks that’s “shocking pink.” This is why I now have four newly-acquired skeins of Koigu in my stash - say hot pink, get some other pink. I love these socks, but I’m honestly a little bit sick of looking at pink Koigu. I know, cry me a river.