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February 26, 2006
Gold, Silver, Bronze... I deserve aluminum
I had the intention of going for the gold, then I couldn't even figure out what I wanted to do for a project. I thought that since my in-laws would be in town and would be amusing my offspring, I would be left with ample time to eat bonbons, bake and knit. It didn't quite happen that way. So here are my olympic projects and my olympic failures:
1) Sweater for me - I had every intention of doing this and finishing it on time. I got most of the way through the raglan increases. It just didn't happen because of dissatisfaction with the fabric and the variegation, not to mention indecision about what to do about it.
2) Fair Isle Sock - I'm part way through the first sock, but I have little holes in the short row heel on the other side of the foot and I made a little mistake a bit before the heel and there's something I'm being really picky about so I'm trying to decide if I don't care because it's only for me or if I go back all the way to the ribbing and start again because it's for me and I deserve something nice dammit. What do you think? I just couldn't decide so I kept abandonning it and then coming back to knit a couple rows before abandonning it again. I couldn't make up my mind to either rip it or work on it.
Don't you hate how when you have to take a photo of your own foot you end up looking like you have tree-trunk legs and stubby feet beacause of the crappy angle? Or do I really have tree trunk legs?
3) Laura sweaters that have been sitting around for a year - They are done! I even worked a bit on the pattern.
4) Lace stole - I've been wanting to knit lace for a really long time. My MIL brought me some silk/mohair yarn from a place not far from my SIL's house. I decided to make a pink puzzle wrap and cast on and started knitting before realizing that knitting lace is not something you can do while mumblemumblemumble entertaining.
5) Helen suggested I finish UFOs -I did, knit for charity -never got past thinking about it and meaning to do it but not feeling like opening up the closet where I had hid all of my yarn from our houseguests, and teach someone to knit. I was supposed to teach a playgroup pal to knit last Friday but she didn't end up coming so that event got scratched for me too. I did however get a few other playgroup gals interested in knitting (some for the first time and some anew) so maybe that can count a little bit for something... what that would be, I don't know.
My main event was really thinking about knitting new projects. I spent way too much time looking at St. Columba and examining every single available color. Then I sat and thought about knitting something from Poetry in Stitches because I'm dying to knit some fair isle. I even had a dream about it today. I didn't even succeed in choosing what my next project will be. I haven't ordered anything and continue to sit and stew in my indecision. Help.
Let me send a big congratulations to those of you who managed to finish your projects. I'm not at all bitter or jealous about your success and my failure (I'm lying).
Posted by kate at 04:13 PM | Comments (28)
February 20, 2006
Judges' scores
All along, it was really between Pebble Beach and Sundew for me. Limpet and Selkie were last minute entries, so it was fun for me to see how Sundew, that started way behind, pulled ahead to tie with Pebble Beach in the end. Here are the final results:
I was awake from 4-6am on Sunday morning considering my options and thinking about knitting in general and finally decided that regardless of the polls, the winner is SUNDEW! And hey! The14 of you who said I shouldn't be ordering it - what's up with that?! I thought you all were supposed to enable my yarn habit. Isn't that what blogging is for? I'll assume that many of you were family members and the rest of you are just concerned about me and my financial and mental well-being. Thanks for your concern. I'm ordering it anyway.
Posted by kate at 10:44 AM | Comments (12)
February 16, 2006
New events
Early on Tadpole knew the red sweater was awful and covered her eyes to hide from the horror I was knitting.
So my new olympic event is finishing the two Laura sweaters that have been haunting me for ages. I started today.
Would it be wrong of me to order this? And if I were to order it, which color should I get? I really like pebble beach because it's kind of neutral and not at the same time. Which is also why I like selkie. And limpet is pretty, but how gorgeous is sundew? Or do you think I would risk being shot by Cheney if I wore a color like that? Would I even wear this sweater? I just want something to knit from someone else's pattern. I want to blindly follow what another designer has written. I've never done that before. It'll be fun. So which do you like? Help me choose - though I may go against what you guys say so don't be mad if I ignore your suggestions.
Please forgive me if you go to the view results page and get yucky ads at the top and bottom of the page. I couldn't find any other blog poll that wanted to work for me. I'm all ears if you know one. And does anyone know why my background turned greenish with this poll in here and how to fix it?
Posted by kate at 10:21 PM | Comments (28)
February 14, 2006
I need a Norwegian
Did you see? In the ladies team sprint cross country skiing final, a Canadian's ski pole broke and this Norwegian trainer (?) guy ran out and gave her a new pole. The Canadians won silver.
I'm doing my best to chug along with my knitting though I didn't even knit one single stitch yesterday. I'm doing everything I can to overcome my obstacles (baby, in-laws in town). But now my pole has broken. Here I am skiing up the hill:
I just tried on my sweater and I don't love it. Besides the snail's pace I'm knitting at, there are all sorts of problems. I don't really like the neck. I knit a couple short rows in the back of the neck that are making an unsightly bump. Since the yarn is so felty and will most likely pill to death, I chose to knit on US6/4mms and it feels too stiff to me. I bought this yarn before I knew what a lot was. Some of it was bought in 1999 and the rest three years later. This is just not going well and I don't see why I should spend time making something I don't love. I may even like this yarn best unknit. Maybe it's just yarn for displaying in a nice basket. Plus, I'm feeling all this guilt about knitting something for fun when I have other stuff that I have been meaning to do for about a billion years. I don't know what to do. Kris, you out there? Any other Norwegians in the house? I need someone to hand me a pole or a needle or a glass of red wine or something. So what do I do? Maybe I should finish knitting that fair isle sock (most of one ankle is done) and finish the two Laura sweaters that have been sitting around for gasp over a year. My MIL brought me some yarn that is eerily like Rowan Kidsilk Haze. Maybe I should make one of the shawls I've been dreaming of for a long time. Maybe I should just chuck it all and take a bath.
Posted by kate at 05:36 PM | Comments (19)
February 11, 2006
Opening ceremonies
I was cooking dinner during the opening ceremonies. I finally cast on before it was over but realized that it would never fit over my head. So I ripped and started again this morning. I'm winging it. I'm making a top down raglan with my morehouse merino. It's going to have a kind of tall turtleneck. I'm hoping it will be a little floppy, but this yarn isn't looking like it wants to flop. Oh well. I'll make it tall and then if I hate it, I'll cut out the cast on and rip and re-bind off. I was thinking of making a little cable down the raglans. I'm still thinking about it. Maybe I should. It's not too late. Hmmm.
Anyone see the knit scarves of the Belarus women last night? I'm not the only one who closely examines the outfits, I assume.
Posted by kate at 11:27 AM | Comments (21)
February 10, 2006
Oh crap! The Olympics.
I'm not ready! I haven't trained properly (my swatch isn't done) and I'm not even sure about what I'm going to knit. Just yesterday I started thinking that I would like to make something for Tadpole. I'm panicking. I guess I'm going to have to go to the yarn store up the street that I hate and see if they have anything I like. Or maybe I should stick to my original idea and make something for myself. Maybe that's part of the challenge since I never end up finishing anything for me. Oh crap. Anyone have any knitting steroids? Or brilliant suggestions?
Posted by kate at 08:49 AM | Comments (14)
February 03, 2006
Conundrums
What do you do with a double batch of "sinker" brownies when nobody shows up for playgroup? I'm in a playgroup on Fridays. The babies are too young for playing, so it should really be called hangoutandchatsoyougetoutofthehouseanddontgoinsanethiswintergroup. Just a few minutes ago, the only person that I was pretty sure would come called and said she wasn't coming. I haven't heard from anyone else. I'm just sitting here wondering if I will be all alone with Michael Smith today. At least it forced me to clean my house. Ooh. Just got a phone call. One person is coming late and her friend might come. So the new question is: How many brownies can two, maybe three, women eat?
I know it just looks like a brownie, but it's more than that. It's a sinker.
What should I knit for the knitting olympics? I won't be able to make the sweater I wanted to make because I won't have the yarn on time. I'm totally in love with my socks that rock yarn and contacted blue moon fiber arts about their thicker yarns because I think it's perfect for this sweater I half-designed over a year ago. There's no way I'll be able to get it in time. So what do I do? I guess I could finish up my lingering patterns, but somehow that doesn't sound appealing. I wanted to make something for fun. For me. Or maybe for Tadpole. Maybe I should find a pattern for the Morehouse Merino I bought a billion years ago.
Yay. Doorbell. I won't be alone.
Post-six-guest-playgroup update to allow me to finish my ramblings thoughts: So. I was thinking about finally using my precious Morehouse merino and it only makes sense to use it for me for about a billion reasons that I won't bore you with. And yeah, I could probably whip up a simple pattern for myself that would fit well... or I could be lazy and knit from someone else's pattern and risk it not fitting as well, but it would be quicker (and I could blame the designer if it looked bad - kidding). Does anybody know any good patterns that would work well with a variegated merino that is about 4, or 4.5 or 5 or even 5.5 sts per inch? I haven't swatched yet. Eh. Maybe I should just design something myself. I just have no idea what to do with this yarn since I've had it for so long. Do I make a turtleneck? Do I do ribs? Will it pool? Should I just keep this yarn forever and enjoy it's beauty instead of knitting it into a possibly mediocre sweater? If I knit a sweater to fit me now - two months after giving birth - will it fit me later? Will I like it later? I just don't know what to do. Your brilliant suggestions would be much appreciated. Or maybe I'll just make my circle jacket. I think I have a yarn that would work for that too.
Posted by kate at 01:01 PM | Comments (31)
February 01, 2006
I'm not ready for my closeup
Pink hat and specially embroidered onesie from Mrs. Pilkington and striped alpaca hat from (blogless) Kim
A second hat from Kim, froggie sweater to grow into from Marnie and stuffed birdie from Julia
Posted by kate at 12:44 PM | Comments (14)
