Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!

It is actually May Day, May 1, which has a different meaning altogether. It's either a labor or pagan holiday depending on where you live or what you feel like doing. However, this is the perfect day for me to take liberties with the international call of distress which is "MAYDAY" said three times in a row. A Mayday call may only be made when life or craft is in imminent danger of death or destruction. My craft is in imminent danger of destruction. Okay, so I'm stretching the meaning of "craft" quite a bit. I'm talking about my knitting. My life is in imminent danger of destruction from overwhelming responsibilities and excessive pity parties. But I digress.

Since this is, for the most part, a knitting blog, let me tell you about my knitting, or lack there of. I have not blogged since April 1. That should tell you something. Anyway, when last I blogged I had cast on 1,800 stitches to start the mind-numbing shawl of shawls. As it turned out, I had cast on only 1,790 stitches, a mistake I discovered by accident and corrected by doing 10 increases on the second knit row in the area where I was 10 stitches short. With all those stitches in such fine yarn (finer sock yarn than the pattern calls for) the fix will never be noticeable. So I am knit along alternating with the plain vanilla socks when out and about and it's all well and good except I have no . . . joie de vivre. That is as close as I can come to describing how I feel. "Joy of living" is what it means literally. I'm getting no thrills, no excitement, from this knitting is what I mean. No, what I really mean is . . . I don't know what I really mean. Evidently it's a feeling I need to express in another language and I don't speak any other language.

Getting back to "crafts" I have a boatload (pun intended) of UFOs I could work on yet none of them are calling to me. I haven't even been tempted to start something new. I got the new Interweave Knits magazine a few days ago and felt a slight twinge when looking through it, especially at the Grotto Wrap, but nothing that lit a real fire under me.

Check out the bonus pictures. The pattern is a free download.

It's a rainy, dreary May Day here. This picture from a window shows the roof of my minivan and the houses across the street.



Maybe a day of solid knitting by the TV is in order. But alas, responsibility beckons and I might have to weather the storms and make an across town trek. I guess if I can brave similar weather tomorrow to drive three hours to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, a 40 minute trip across town today should be doable.

Bona Fide Knitter

1,800 Stitches Cast On

April Fool!

Well, not exactly. The supersock shawl really does call for 1,800 stitches to be cast on and I do have 1,200 of the 1,800 required stitches on the needles. I would have them all cast on by now, but I paced myself waiting for my KnitPicks order to arrive. I'm casting on using Denise needles and cable. I decided that I need turbo speed needles if I plan to complete the shawl within my productive years and I that need a thin, pliable cable of the first order. Enter KnitPicks once again.

Although I have both sets of Options (Harmony and Nickel Plated), the additional sizes and duplicates of some, I decided that along with a 60" cable, I need another pair of size US 5 nickel plated needles to hold this shawl of many stitches. Who knows when the former Queen of Unfinished Projects will be able to free up this set. I might need US 5s many more times before the shawl becomes a FO (Finished Object). If my timing is right, I will have all the stitches cast on just in time to knit them off the Denise and onto the KnitPicks for the first round.

Another thing about this blog entry that makes it suitable for an April Fool prank is the very fact that I'm blogging twice within a week/seven days. Can you believe it? I guess there should be a picture in here someplace, but I'm coming to you from my laptop where my pictures aren't.

And now back to reality.

Bona Fide Knitter

What to Do? What to Do?

My life is in limbo. I am at sixes and sevens. I have finished one knit project and can't decide on what to do next. Actually what should be done next is to sew the last finished project together. However, my dilemma has me immobilized. What to do? What to do?

In the meantime I'm working on the ultimate vanilla socks . . . slowly, very slowly. You might wonder why I would even want to make plain white Regia wool with cotton socks. Sometimes, especially in spring and summer, I need white socks and not of the athletic or terry type.

I've agonized over what to start (or continue) so long that I've considered starting something brand new that will be of marathon proportions and use up a lot of my sock yarn stash. I even took it with me to cast on this morning when I knew I had an hour of waiting time to endure. The monumental project is Rings of Supersock, a shawl made of sock yarn. I bought the pattern a few months ago when I saw someone in my knitting guild working on one. I have a sock yarn stash to die for, enough sock yarn to hand knit forever and knit on sock machines indefinitely. With new fibers, colorways and techniques happening daily, this project would be a good way to use up some of my old inventory, get rid of some of the first purchased and make room for some new. In a way that would be working on old stuff, not UFOs, but at least *FIFO instead of **LIFO. Okay, so I can rationalize anything.

I didn't get the Rings of Supersock cast on this morning. It calls for a monumental number of stitches to be cast on to begin and I had a brain blip and couldn't get the long tail cast on started. Was that a sign? Was that a hint I should really start working on something else? The projects in the running are UFOs. Remember, what I just finished was something new and my new rules call for a UFO next.

Since it is spring now I have considered going back to the lacy flirty skirt. However, the weight I wanted to lose to be able to wear it is not going off as quickly as I had envisioned. My new toy, a Belgian waffle maker, is not helping the weight loss issue. This is what I had for dinner night before last:

But I digress. The next UFO under consideration is a sweater from Knitters Spring 2008, Faded Ribbons, I started last summer hoping to finish in time to take to Italy last September. I didn't. After Italy it went into the UFO pile. If I remember correctly, I have half the front finished.

Another UFO being considered is a sweater from Knitters Spring 2007, Sectional Citrus. I ordered a yarn pack and by the time I got it spring was over and I got only as far as swatching by casting on and working a few rows of the pattern.

There were others under consideration, but spring sprung while I deliberated, vacillated and generally got on my own nerves. So now I think I'd like to go with something not wool. In the meantime maybe I will cast on for the Rings of Supersock. The cast on is a project in and of itself. It calls for 1,800 stitches!

Bona Fide Knitter

*FIFO = First In First Out
**LIFO = Last In First Out

Relinquishing the Crown

Yes, that's me. And I have the boxes and bags full to prove it. However, I have been working on UFOs diligently. You might recall I'm working on reducing my UFOs and my yarn/project stash, working one oldest, one newest. The object is to meet somewhere in the middle and have all my yarn, kits and projects knitted up.

So February is more than half over and I have finished knitting the Tofuties Tee. I have the binding off, sewing together and blocking yet to do. In the meantime I've been trying to decide which of my UFOs to pick up. Dare I go back to that bane of my existence, Sally Melville's Favorite Summer sweater, yet again? I've decided not. I'll wait until I lose 10 pounds. No sense in working on something that no longer fits. My other choices are a side to side jacket or an Absolutely Fabulous (AbFab) Afghan. The jury is still out. Neither one of those is calling to me.

In the meantime I have not had any new socks on needles in over a month. No wonder I'm feeling out of kilter. So Saturday, out of sequence, I cast on a pair of plain vanilla socks. These are truly plain vanilla--a white pair of my basic sock pattern. You can't get any plainer than that. To add some interest I'm doing them two socks at once on one circular, a process that I don't particularly care for because of the yarn tangle that develops every time I try. I have no Second Sock Syndrome issues. I enjoy starting the second sock and watching the miracle happen all over again. However, since the yarn is a 100 gram skein of Regia I thought I'd try the pulling the yarn from the center and the outside method and see how that goes.

Except for the fact that I could only find one very stiff-cabled Addi needle size US1, 40 inches long so I'm working with a 32 inch, so far so good. Have you seen my KnitPicks US1, 40 inch needle? Or how about the other Addis I have in that size? There must be at least two around here somewhere. I bought them when Magic Loop was introduced and they have soft pliable cables . . . wherever they are. I'd order another from KnitPicks except that I've sworn off shopping for the month and I'd have to order enough to earn free shipping.

Oh well.

Bona Fide Knitter

After the Ball Was Over

I went to an inaugural ball. The picture was taken after the ball was over, back at my friend's house, a little the worse for wear.

At this time last week I was in Maryland celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. My best friend from high school invited me down to her house for a brunch in honor of MLK and to attend an inaugural ball in Washington, DC the next night, after history would be made with the swearing in of our 44th President, Barack Obama. I went, I saw, I conquered.

Oddly enough this blog entry will have knitting content. I drove down to MD on Sunday. I knew there would be many hours of down time, watching the before, during and after inaugural festivities on TV. I took the Tofuties Tee along to work on. I still have no socks on needles so the Tee is moving along at a good pace considering I was away for three days.

I knitted though the HBO star-studded special on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. and then again during the 7:00 p.m. replay. I knitted though all the news, weather, traffic reports and updates on Monday afternoon from Oprah to late night. On Tuesday I watched everything from 6:00 a.m. throughout the day. I saw the early morning arrivals at the mall, the traffic trying to get to Metro parking, the Obamas going to church, to swearing in and the beginning of the parade. I just love pomp and circumstance. And then it was time to get myself out into the fray.

Our limos picked us up at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday to take us to the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in DC., 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, located just two blocks from the White House and the National Mall. It was almost impossible to get there. In the District, streets were still closed and detours were the norm. Limos, stretch and otherwise, clogged the streets. I saw many people parking their cars and walking blocks in the frigid weather in their ballgowns and tuxedos trying to get to their venues. Everybody was in a festive mood and didn't seem to mind the cold, even the women with bare legs and feet in sandals. We were lucky enough to get dropped off at a corner of the hotel and have only half a block to walk to the hotel entrance.

No, President Obama did not make an appearance at the ball I attended, but what a night! We partied like it was . . . January 20, 2009!

Bona Fide Knitter

I Hate When That Happens!

The Tofutsies Tofu Tee pattern I have has a mistake. I hate when that happens! At first I thought it was just awkwardly written. What do you think this means?

"Work in St st, knitting 1 st and last 4 sts of every row."

My first take on it was to knit 1 stitch at the beginning of every row and to knit the last 4 stitches of every row. Upon reflection (doing it once) that didn't seem right. Look at it again.

"Work in St st, knitting 1 st and last 4 sts of every row."

Okay, how about knitting the first and last four stitches of every row"? I tried it. I liked it. It puts a garter stitch edge at the seams.

Then, since I'm trying to do better at organization in the new year, I went to Ravelry to list my new project. That led to looking at other renditions of the same tee and the listing of the pattern by the designer, Joan Somerville. She has a note: " . . . should say “Work in St st, knitting 1st stitch of every row” instead of “Work in St st, knitting 1st and last 4 sts of every row.” Switch to the garter stitch edging when you start the front and back parts."

So much for my interpretation. That's why I hate when that happens! The correction seems to be to knit the first and last stitch of every row at the sleeve portion and switch to knit first four and last four stitches on every row of the body. By the time I read that I was into that part some 12 rows or so. I saw pictures of other renditions that showed the garter stitch down the sides and decided it's alright if my underarms have garter stitch at the seam. Who's gonna know? In another life I would have frogged what I had done and started over. The new me has one row with first stitch knitted and last four stitches knitted and all the rest with four knit stitches at each end of the rows. So the underarm as well as the side seams will have the garter stitch. So shoot me.







Bona Fide Knitter

. . . In With the New

Happy New Year!

As I said yesterday, I don't make "resolutions." I plan to start anew and do better. The first thing I plan to do better is knit. My knitting itself is alright. It's my completion of projects which falls short, waaay short. A few weeks or so ago I came up with a plan that is working so far. I can start one new project after I complete one old project. I have this all figured out in my mind, but it's hard to explain unless you could see my project stash. Yes, "project stash." Those are projects I have in kits or bagged pattern and yarn combinations that I haven't started yet. Then there are the UFOs. Those are projects I have in kits or bagged pattern and yarn combinations that I have started.

Here is how it's working so far:

OLD - I finished a scarf from a pattern and yarn combination I bought from Stitches 2001 when I began a knitting comeback after a 30-year hiatus.


NEW - I started and finished a shawl, free pattern, yarn purchased November 2008. Sorry, no picture. I boxed it up and mailed it away before I thought about the camera.

OLD - I started and finished the other scarf from that long ago Stitches. I frogged the whole thing after a mishap.

NEW - I started and finished the shawl from Stitches 2008.


OLD - I reknit the long ago scarf that I frogged and mentioned above.



NEW - I started a sweater last night from Stitches 2008. Picture below.

I intend to continue working my way back through projects I have stashed in 2008 and forward from projects I have stashed since 2001. One day, in some year, I will meet in the middle and declare all UFOs finished!

Not to be too hard on myself, when I come to an unstarted project that no longer lights my fire, I will add it to my queue on Ravelry for some later time. When I come to a UFO I will give myself choices: (1) finish as is, (2) ravel and redo or (3) frog and forget. I will not agonize over getting the chronological order perfect. I have only vague memories of when some of the project stash items were purchased/acquired (a few were prizes or gifts). However, I will stick with OLD and NEW until the twain meet. I will one day put some socks on needles as well. Sometimes I just have to have a small portable project that can go everywhere. Waiting rooms are not always conducive to a big project bag.

And now off to Ravelry to get my first project of 2009 listed, the sweater I started last night. The sweater is a Tofutsies Tee made with five skeins of yarn of different colorways. Check it out.



Happy Knit Year!

Bona Fide Knitter