A More Prepared Blogger

I decided to grab some pictures of my blooming iris before the thunderstorms and nickel-sized hail hit and mangled them all to hell and back.

(I should note that said thunderstorm and nickel sized hail never materialized. But would it have stormed and would ice the size of a small coin fallen out of the sky had I NOT taken these pictures? You bet your sweet Doppler it would have.)

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Spring is springing all over the place here in Middle Tennessee, and I'm pretty much thrilled. I have daffodils on my table, greening grass outside, a red bud in bloom, and iris.

My iris are starting to bud out, and that makes me happy.

(A prepared blogger would have a pretty picture here of her front flower bed. Pretend I am a prepared blogger and imagine a flower bed full of beautiful green iris leaves. And since this is an imaginary picture and not a real one, go ahead and finish weeding that spot in front of the garage with your mind's eye, won't you?)

Things on the knitting front are moving apace. March is supposed to be for Making Mates, but so far it seems to be mostly for watching NCIS re-runs and test knitting mitts for a friend. (In my defense, I did make two mitts, so mate making happened.)

Meet Pretty Perdita X Mitts (Ravelry link). The cable would have been less, shall we say, "subtle" in a different yarn at a different gauge, but that is no fault of the designer. In any case, they are going in a box labeled "Do not open until Xmess" in a no doubt mis-guided attempt to avoid an onset of what Stephanie Pearl-McPhee refers to as "It."

Unfortunately, I also have less successful knitting tale to tell. My Sock Club socks for Mar-Apr are doomed to the frog pond, I fear. I'm knitting Jaywalkers (another Ravelry link) out of a really pretty striped indie-dyer yarn. They look gorgeous, but they aren't going to work. The fabric has no give (and Jaywalkers are tricky to fit anyway) and they aren't going to fit. So, rather than finish them and have pretty socks that I hate, I'm going to frog them and make a new plan.

My original concept with the whole sock club thing was to challenge myself (and to actually finish some damn socks, but that's beside the point). But... you have to know when to bail, I think. I may try Charlene Schurch's Chevron Socks (still yet more 'nother Ravelry link), and see if I can get them to act right.

Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

Being A Compleat Accounting of February, Including Attendant Finishings

February is for Finishing turned out to be a ridiculously successful venture here in chez woolly. I started with 25 projects -- some that had been languishing on needles for YEARS.

YEARS, she says again for dramatic emphasis.

So here are the current standings:

1. Halloween/Samhain Mystery Shawl
2. Red Heart Afghan, started in the early 00's
3. Ab-Fab Afghan
4. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock)
5. Dr. Who Scarf
6. Arabella
7. Blue Triangle Headscarf
8. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
9. Wee Toe of a Sock
10. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
11. Water Shawl
12. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket
13. Mandala Shawl
14. Mystery Swan Lake Stole
15. Soleil
16. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
17. Clapotis
18. Amelia Cardigan
19. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)
20. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks
21. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
22. Checkerboard Twist Socks
23. Eala
24. Watergarden Cardigan
25. Awkward Red Thing

Six projects left, kids -- out of 25. I pretty much rock, I think.

(I did cast on my Mar-Apr Sock Club Sock yesterday, so I'm back up to seven active projects...but I feel like that's legit. I mean, it's all part of the plan, man.)

Getting There

This is more for my own accounting purposes than anything else (also, it makes me feel better when I see the list getting shorter). Here is what is left:

1. Ab-Fab Afghan
2. Dr. Who Scarf
3. Arabella — ~75% Finished
4. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
5. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
6. Amelia Cardigan
7. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
8. Checkerboard Twist Socks — 50% Finished
9. Watergarden Cardigan

I will also be frogging:

1. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)

So, I'm down to nine projects on needles, one of which is nearly finished (Arabella) and another is a pair of socks (and March is for Making Mates).

This, from 25 on January 31. Go me!

A note on socks: I'm thinking that I am going to embrace "March is for Making Mates" and get my Checkerboard Twist Socks and the "Socks That Would be Mittens" finished up. That will leave me whatever part of March is left (if any) plus all of April to finish up my Self Imposed Sock Club socs for Mar-Apr. As of right now I'm thinking not to cast them on until I'm done with Making Mates...but I'm fickle, so we'll see. The heady rush of "it is no longer February and I am free to cast on!!!" might overcome me. It's hard to say.

Well. I feel better.

February is Finishing Me

I have made a fair bit of progress on the finishing front, but it doesn't feel like I have.

I have completed the Checkerboard Twist sock that I had on needles (the mate is to wait for March), and I have very nearly decided to frog the Raspberry Sorbet socks (I kind of thing that they should die in a fire. This is why I think I might frog them.)


Arabella is coming along very nicely. I'm in the last repeat of the main lace section, and then it is just the edging to do.


See? That's progress.

I'm just... SIGH. Over it. Over all of it. I want to cast on new socks, and a scarf that I'm designing in my head, and two or three hats and...

I am going to be vicious in my project culling before all is said and done. I think it is finally time to face the fact that I just don't actually WANT to knit all this stuff. I have ennui. ENNNNNUUUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.

I should come back with pictures of great piles of yarn from all of the stuff I've frogged.

Here's an updated list:

1. Ab-Fab Afghan
2. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock) —Finished
   
3. Dr. Who Scarf
4. Arabella — ~75% Finished
   
5. Blue Triangle Headscarf —Finished
   
6. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
7. Wee Toe of a Sock — Doomed to Frogdom
   
8. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
9. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket — Doomed to Frogdom
10. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
11. Clapotis —Flung
    
12. Amelia Cardigan
13. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson) — Doomed to Frogdom
14. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks — Doomed to Frogdom
15. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
16. Checkerboard Twist Socks — 50% Finished
    
17. Eala —Finished
    
18. Watergarden Cardigan

An Update on the UFO Situation

1. Ab-Fab Afghan
2. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock) —Finished
   
3. Dr. Who Scarf
4. Arabella
5. Blue Triangle Headscarf —Finished
   
6. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
7. Wee Toe of a Sock
8. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
9. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket
10. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
11. Clapotis —Flung
    
12. Amelia Cardigan
13. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)
14. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks
15. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
16. Checkerboard Twist Socks
17. Eala —Finished
    
18. Watergarden Cardigan

One Down...(And It's Not Even February Yet)

Yesterday I pulled out the "closest to done" of all of my projects, and blocked my Eala shawl (Ravelry link).

Tonight I unpinned the little darling,and made sure the ends were all tidy.


Pattern: Eala by Goddess Knits
Needles: Knitpicks Options, Size 5
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette, Fawn

We are pleased.

Sweet Merciful Bob in Knitpicks

So, I've counted my UFOs, in preparation for February is For Finishing.

People, I need some sort of intervention.

Please excuse the crappy picture, there's no light in my room.

I am starting this process with 25 UFOs to my name. TWENTY. FIVE. Many of these have appeared in previous years' lists, and some of them were on the FIRST list, back in 2005. Which is ridiculous. Something needs to be done.

(I swear I do finish things. Honest.)

So, on to the actual list.

1. Halloween/Samhain Mystery Shawl
2. Red Heart Afghan, started in the early 00's
3. Ab-Fab Afghan
4. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock)
5. Dr. Who Scarf
6. Arabella
7. Blue Triangle Headscarf
8. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
9. Wee Toe of a Sock
10. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
11. Water Shawl
12. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket
13. Mandala Shawl
14. Mystery Swan Lake Stole
15. Soleil
16. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
17. Clapotis
18. Amelia Cardigan
19. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)
20. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks
21. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
22. Checkerboard Twist Socks
23. Eala
24. Watergarden Cardigan
25. Awkward Red Thing

Many of these projects are not long for this world. At least two are very nearly done (Eala just needs blocking, and the Blue Headscarf just needs a tie and binding off). I'm past the heel on my second Sock Club sock (go me!)... so it won't be quite as bad as TWENTY. FIVE. by the time February actually starts. I actually frogged two shawls this morning, because I knew that I didn't want to finish them.

So, once things are Frogged and Flung, the list is a little more manageable.

1. Ab-Fab Afghan
2. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock)
3. Dr. Who Scarf
4. Arabella
5. Blue Triangle Headscarf
6. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
7. Wee Toe of a Sock
8. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
9. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket
10. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
11. Clapotis
12. Amelia Cardigan
13. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)
14. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks
15. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
16. Checkerboard Twist Socks
17. Eala
18. Watergarden Cardigan

The Bloody Stupid Johnson Baby Surprise Jacket may yet get ripped, and so might the "Blue" Kerry Shawl.

Good gravy, that is still a lot of stuff. Now I just need a strategy.

A naye yor, a naye leben*

Sunday is International Clean Your Bedroom Day (if by "International" you mean "my house"...and I do), and yesterday the project du jour, once the laundry was taken out and the toilet swishied, was to clean out from under the bed.

No wait. You don't understand.

We have a custom built bed (if by "custom" you mean "your husband built that himself, didn't he?"...and I do)**, and there is right about 18" of clearance under our bed. My husband and I are both quite tall, and therefore so is our bed. This is made of logic. In any case, 18" deep by Queen Size wide and long = a hell of a lot of space to keep a hell of a lot of junk, and a hell of a lot of dust.

Man, was that an adventure.

So anyway, we threw out or made the decision to donate (as appropriate) a bunch of stuff we'd long since forgotten that we own, and we vacuumed out 3 metric effing-tons of dust (approx. by weight). My Harry Potter legos, I am pleased to report, are now put away upstairs, where I could conceivably play with them; AND I went through my "second string" (hahahah) yarn stash.

As mentioned earlier, I really started knitting ca. 2004-5. And, as many have done before me, I went through an acrylic stage (much like a larval stage, only with more petroleum by-products.) As my taste in yarn, let's say "matured," all the acrylic got shoved under the bed, in three banker's boxes and a big plastic tub, as the "good stuff" (read: natural fibers) took pride of place on my yarn shelf.

People, I was ruthless.

I mean, I found one unfortunate yarn that clearly wanted to be Lion Brand Homespun when it grew up... only it wasn't nearly so classy, if you are picking up what I am putting down. And sweet baby Buddha on a cashmere rug, it looked like a moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwich had been extruded (not spun) into yarn.

It was too terrible to even take a picture of. I care about my readers, and do not want to put them off their collective lunches.

Once the dust settled, and I do mean that quite literally, I am left with just the plastic tub, and that only about two-thirds full. The rest is going to a local thrift store, and may the gods bless whoever ends up with it. Everything I kept I could conceivably imagine myself knitting someday, and really that's all I ask of my stash.

Having gotten rid of so much yarn yesterday (and I don't mind telling you, even though it was all acrylic, and mostly awful, it was a bit wrenching), I received a sort of karmic reward in the mail today.

Aw, yeah.

Okay, I grant you that I actually am the one that ordered that box from Knitpicks, but even so the timing was pretty darned sweet.

What did I buy? I hear you asking. Well, I will tell you. I got a box of joy.

(Or more specifically, the new Chroma, in both weights, and some pretty charcoal grey Andean Treasure to make myself a scarf to match my new red coat. Not all of the Chroma is mine, alas. But I may have squeezed it a bit, you know, just to check and see if it is ripe.)

---

* A Yiddish phrase meaning "New year, new life."
** I actually adore the bed my husband made for me, both despite and because of it's... unique qualities.

One is the Loneliest Number

I finished up the first of my Winter Marigolds (I keep changing what I'm calling them) two nights ago, and then very cleverly cast on the next one last night.

The toe on the second sock went together better and easier than the first one did, so I'll call that progress. Let it be known, however, that it still looks of ass, and I'm hardly convinced. Further forays into the world of the toe-up sock will utilize different toe conception techniques, cuz this shit's for the birds.

I took the sock outside to get some pictures...



Oh, you didn't just want to see the cat? Here's the sock then...

February is For Finishing, 6th Annual Finish-a-pa-looza

I started really knitting back in 2004-2005. That's also when, the observant amongst you will note, that I began blogging. So anyway, by 2006 I had racked up a gracious plenty of UFOs. I decided that drastic piles of yarn required drastic action and cooked up "February is for Finishing." I've been trying to con others into doing it with me ever since.

As a side note, I did learn after some Googling that others have hoisted the February is for Finishing Flag. I suspect, human nature and alliteration being what they are, that the idea for FISF arose, full-formed like Athena, into the minds, blogs and knitting needles of folks all across the country. Which is to say, I thought it was an original idea when I thought of it, and I bet they did to. S'alright, the point is that more UFOs are getting FO-ed this way.

All of which is merely prologue to this:

6th Annual February is For Finishing-Palooza

The Rules:

• List, list, oh list. By February 1st, have an accurate and complete list of ALL of your UFOs. Yes, even that one that you stuffed behind the couch in shame and despair last August.
  
• Take Inventory. Now that you have your list, decide which of these projects actually bless you. Did you not finish this UFO because you were led astray by that fancy new sock yarn? Or have you not finished it because its uglier than a really ugly thing, and will not fit man nor beast?
• Make Decisions. Finish, Frog or Fling. In my little world, UFOs can be sorted into 3 categories. Finish — I totally still want to make this. Frog — in the immortal words of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, "I like yarn better than I like bad hats." And, Fling — Wow. This is so bad that not even the yarn is worth saving. I'll say a passing prayer for the Acryls who gave their lives to make this fugly yarn, and move on with my life.
• Prioritize. At this point, you have to decide what your end goal is. Are you in this to finish as many items as possible? Or is there one specific UFO that you'd like to push through and finish? Some folks like to have a plan "I'll knit the last sleeve of Auntie Mabel's sweater, and then I'll finish up that scarf I've been knitting since the Carter administration." Others prefer a more holistic approach and simply knit what suits their mood and fancy at the time. Do as best pleases you.
• Be Strong. Do not, and this is very important, DO NOT cast on anything new during February. We're finishing here, people, not starting. The object of the game is to clear the slate so we can cast on a whole slew of new UFOs in March and April.
• Take a Button.

As an avid, yet inconstant sock knitter, I also have an optional rule.

• March is For Making Mates. If you have the first of a pair of socks on the needles, finish 'em up in February, and then set them aside. February is for what's already on the needles. Then in March, make the second sock for all of those first socks (or gloves, or mittens, or whatever) that you finished up in February. Clever, eh?

Knit Like You Mean It

I made some wicked progress on my Marigold for January socks. And then I hit the heel. (Cue ominous music here.) My first go at the short row heel ended with me ripping back after I'd done the first half of the wraps. I was sent to do the second half (wherein you pick the wraps back up) and I buggered it. So I pulled back and started again. Finished the heel, and then started doing the calf.

Funky afghan added for contrast.

Here is the part that makes me cry. I knew that it was likely to be a bit small for me (I usually need a 72 stitch sock, and these are 64), but I was planning to make them for Number Two Daughter. I got her to "model them" for me (read "try them on") this afternoon, under the premise of helping me get blog pictures. The (@&&!^% things are too shallow through the instep for her. So back I've ripped again, and this time I'm saying Eff the pattern sideways and through the wall, I'm trying a different heel. Yes, I'm here to learn new techniques, and one of those techniques is how to flee like a rat from a sinking ship when a pattern decides to turn on me.

I'm trying Wendy Johnson's reverse-engineered gusset heel next, as it is meant to add more ease through the instep. Wish me luck. The picture above is pre-ripping. There is considerably less sock now... I didn't have the heart to take another picture.




Oh! I did finish a thing though! Socks that I'd finished all save the last wee bit of kitchener stitch, are now officially done, off the needles, and ends woven in. We will not speak of how long they sat in that sad and abandoned state.










A Word To My Commenters:

First, let me say Hello and Welcome! I was thrilled to see comments from someone that I don't know in what passes for my "real" life, so let me say thank you for reading, and I hope you keep commenting!

One thing that LiveJournal does that beats Blogger hands down is how it manages comments. In LJ it is really easy to respond to a comment and to keep a conversation threaded. Here... not so much. But here's my plan — and I imagine that this is what most bloggers do anyway. If you comment in one of my posts, I'll do my best to respond back in the same post. The only way you'll know, of course, is if you go back and check (or clicky the little box when you comment that will prompt Blogger to email you.) So anyway, if you ask me a question in the comments, that's where to look for an answer.

Come on in, pull up a chair, and have some coffee. It's nice to meet you.

Begin as You Mean to Go On

I got my daughter to help me select my sock kit for January-February yesterday afternoon. This was accomplished by me holding out the box and saying "Just grab one!" while she eyed both it and me suspiciously.

Once I'd dashed her hopes and informed her that no, the socks would most likely not be for her, the deed was done, and my course laid.

I'll be making Marigold (Ravelry link) out of a lovely couple of skeins of Jojoland Melody wool, in the descriptive (and intuitively lovely sounding) colorway of "MS08."

Part of what I'm after with this experiment (other than to justify the purchase of more sock yarn, of course) is to broaden my proverbial horizons and to utilize techniques that I'm usually just too darned lazy to bother with. I have a basic, cuff-down, vanilla sock recipe that lives in my head and that I can knit in my sleep. That way lies boredom and sock-driven ennui. Hence the kits and the patterns.

My very first sock out I'm doing a short-row toe-up sock pattern, and I'm suddenly reminded of why I always knit my socks the other direction. I suck at toe-up short-row socks. They look of un-mitigated ass. And they are a pain in my tuchus. And I'm not good at them (this bothers me to no end. The cure, one hopes, is practice.)

I soldiered on and am now a repeat-and-a-half into the lace pattern. All is well.

Self-Imposed Sock Knitting Club

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has the most clever ideas. Last year she invented a sock club for herself, and at the end of 2010 she had 12 new pairs of socks that were (and this is the best part) all made from yarns and patterns that she herself chose, so she was sure to like them. (Or if she didn't, there was no one to blame but herself, and there is some satisfaction to be garnered even from that.)

So, in the spirit of band-wagon jumping—if you have a bandwagon, odds are good I will jump on it...I'm just that way—I've decided to follow suit in 2011. Not being nearly as prolific as Stephanie, (and my current sock production looking something like "exactly zero socks every month") I've decided, in the words of Eddie Izzard, to scale it back a bit.


I now have six neat little packets that include sock yarns that have languished in my stash since forever, paired with patterns that are all a wee bit more complicated than my standard sock recipe. Good times.

I draw the first kit on Saturday, and will be back with pictures and reports of progress.

P.S. Don't forget that February is for Finishing. I haven't.

P.P.S. March is for Making Mates. So there is still some hope for all of the pairs of socks that I started in 2009 and 2010 that didn't get finished.

February is For What-Now?

February ought to be for finishing. And normally it is (and by "normally" I mean "any year that is not this year, or for that matter last year."

I digress.

Because you see, this year - this very February - there may very well not be any finishing. Because this year it's the Knitting Olympics-slash-Ravelympics-slash-whateverlympics.

Serious contenders this year include making a Weasley sweater for my eldest. She's nearly 16, but believes that since her name begins with the letter "R" that she has some entitlement. I am also seriously considering working to finish my Mystery Stole number... 10? I think? No -- 9. It's this one, anyway (Ravelry link). Or perhaps a shrug? A hat and mittens set? That afghan I started in 2002?

What do you think?

Remember When I Used to Knit?

I miss knitting.

It's starting to get cold here in Tennessee (I know those of you in more Northern climes would mock my concept of what qualifies as "cold" -- but hey, gimme a break, this is the South.) Anyway, the point is, my hands are freezing, and I lost one of my Fetching at a biker joint last year (true story), and I MISS knitting.

Right now I should be sewing Halloween costumes, but I'm surfing Ravelry looking for a good fingerless mitt pattern instead. In this particular instance "good" also means "dead simple" and "would look good variegated."

So far, major contenders are Jacoby and Mitt Envy. (Ravelry links). I saw some other cute patterns that would make for great Yulemas gifts.

And speaking of Halloween, I should be sure to get pictures of the kids this year. Rowan is going to be Luke Skywalker (Return of the Jedi era) and Morgan is going to be Fraulein Maria. It's Morgan costume that I'm supposed to be working on right now.

And in other, other news, Jess, Koren and I hit the Cannonsburg Fiber Festival this morning. We saw some wee sheepies, drank some warm cider, and I came home with some more fiber that I don't really know how to spin.

Good times.

Not Really Knitting

I have been amazingly cranky lately, and I couldn't figure out why. But then it occurred to me -- I haven't been knitting.

Like, at all.

I have a pair of socks that is less than hour from being finished -- and they've been that way for nearly a month. I have three sweaters (two adult, one baby) on tap, and two shawls. And we mustn't forget the ubiquitous clap. There's another pair of socks that I'm a solid 25% into, and a Dr. Who scarf. Surely I don't need to point out that I'm likely forgetting three or four projects.

Anyway, saving the socks and the Dr. Who scarf, none of these projects are at a place where I can just pick them up and start knitting. I need to sit down with pretty much every single one, figure out where I was, and what the frack to do next. And frankly, I just haven't had two brain cells to rub together lately to accomplish this.

I realized that the problem was serious last night when the Knitting Purchase Pushers Association (KPPA)* was placing an order with Knitpicks and I'm all, "Meh. Yarn. I don't need more yarn. I have yarn."

People. This is clearly even more critical than I thought.

I clearly require some sort of intervention, or some cashmere or really fancy hand-dyed sock yarn.


* KPPA, or the Knitting Purchase Pushers Association is also known as "my friends, Gretta, Jess and Koren."

Not Dead Yet

Just a quick check in to let folks know that I'm still here. I am knitting socks at work, and I finally finished a scarf that I started two years ago. It was originally meant for a co-worker (from a job where she and I were both laid off). We've completely lost touch, so I donated it to Bardic Olympics instead.


Jess' wee little Iris chose it as her prize, so I feel that it has found it's best true home.

Starting to Finish

I haven't got the oomph to update properly just now, but I did go through my UFOs on Saturday. I had entirely more than I wish I did (some of which I had intended to frog last February...now that's just embarrassing.)

Anyway, for now I'm finishing up one or two small projects, like some Fingerless Mitts and a scarf or two. My main push is going to be to get my Hippy Chic Cardigan as close to finished as possible.

I'll post a proper list later.

No really.

Hush up, you.