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

Out With the Old . . .

It's New Year's Eve. The year 2008 is almost over. For me it had some highs and some lows. One of the highs was so high it mitigated the lows.

I flew to Rome, spent a couple of days there then I went on to Venice by train for a Mediterranean cruise that stopped at Croatia,

Turkey

and Greece.

After returning to Venice it was another train ride to start a week-long stay in Italy's Umbria region for food and wine and knitting and fun. The whole trip was enveloped in shopping, shopping, shopping. Divine! My travel buddy is my friend and doll-collecting knitting guru and traveler extraordinaire, the one who proclaimed me to be a bona fide knitter. I couldn't have made the trip without her.

My knitting year started off slowly. I had to miss the Pottstown Knit In and Maryland Sheep and Wool because tendonitis in my ankle made walking impossible for the first five months. I sat and knitted, but can't think of a thing to show for it except socks. However the year ended on a knitting high. After knitting all over the Mediterranean and Italy in September and on Cape Cod for a month in October, I went to Stitches East in November. I allowed fiscal responsibility to finally take hold and was conservative in my shopping. However, accustomed to pampering after the cruise, I think I spent more money on the luxury hotel and room service than yarn. Well, maybe not . . . quite.

Recently I've been on a roll and have something to show other than socks for all my knitting time. Without the ubiquitous sock my needles, I have been able to finished three projects in record time. And I can remember what they are! I went back to my knitting guild meeting in November and December. Next year I'm going to take advantage of all the features of Ravelry and keep track of my projects, yarn, needles and books. Yes, it's that time again. Time to "start anew and do better" (in lieu of "making resolutions").

More on the fruits of my labors tomorrow.

Bona Fide Knitter

UFOs to FOs

I think I've hit upon something big. It will be a boon to my UFO reduction. I went back to my first UFO from this current reincarnation of knitting (2001) and finished it in a few days. Then I started and completed in another few days the second project I bought back then and had never started. They were so easy to do now that I'm a "Bona Fide Knitter!" I will not dwell on the fact that I messed it up ON THE BIND OFF ROW and frogged the whole thing! That touch of OCD I have kicked in.

In case you're wondering, it is . . . er . . . was a triangle scarf made of two Trendsetter novelty yarns held together. It was quite hairy upon completion. The yarn was bought at Stitches 2001 when scarves of novelty yarn were in vogue. When I was near the end I wondered if I would ever wear it. Maybe messing up the bind off was a Freudian slip. Are there Freudian slips in knitting? For the moment the point is moot because the scarf is no more.

I frogged it and I started a new item, the ribbon shawl from the fall foliage colored ribbon I bought at Stitches East this year.

That's my strategy--one old project and one new project, one at a time. Once the shawl is done I will make the hairy scarf again. Then on to a new project--one old, one new, that is the plan. The plan contains a moratorium on sock knitting, but I don't know if I can stick to that.

In fact, right now I am contemplating making toe up socks to use the remainder of that extra ball of yarn I had to buy to finish the Italy Socks. I'm thinking "2 on 1, toe up." Translation for non sock knitters. Two socks done at the same time on one circular needle, from the toe up. With Cat Bordhi's help I will master Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On.

So, right now on the needles--the working needles, not those which are hibernating--is the colorful ribbon shawl. I need to go put some inches on it.

TTFN,

Bona Fide Knitter

Needle in a Haystack

How do you find a needle lost in a haystack, or more accurately, big honkin' Addi Turbo size 19 circulars with plastic tubing as the cable? One would think a needle that big would be very easy to find. Not here. Not in this den of chaos and clutter. I can't start the shawl of the ribbon in fall foliage colors until I find that needle.

So far in the search I've found:

1. at least 15 circular needles


2. at least half a dozen cables missing from my various needle sets


3. two red Kotcha-Kotchas (row counters)


4. more UFOs than I care to mention


5. multitudes of patterns printed from the Internet


6. many purchased patterns in their plastic sleeves


7. innumerable hanks, skeins, balls and cones of yarn forgot I had


8. a bevy of little pattern books


9. more knitting bags/totes/carriers than I could count


10. a few dust bunnies bigger than my Bichons

What I didn't find was the Addi 19s. Oh, and I didn't find my Swiss Card.

Drats! I've finished a project and can't start the next one until I find those needles! I refuse to pay $30 to buy them over again.

The good news is I found the project that began my new love affair with knitting.



Picture this: it was 2001. I went to my first Stitches. It was Stitches East held in King of Prussia/Valley Forge, PA. I was enthralled. I was smitten. I bought yarn to create the latest rage--a scarf! Not just any old scarf, but one made with novelty yarn, pretty novelty yarn in a colorway that called to my love of purple. I had not been what I would call a knitter in over 40 years (if I don't count the little bit of doll-size knitting I was attempting to do).

That scarf, begun on size US11 aluminum needles from my 40+ years-old needle collection, became my first UFO in the present reincarnation of my knitting. I knitted on it today. I knitted it off the old aluminum straight needles onto some shiny, slick KnitPicks nickel-plated circulars, then after learning the hard way that they were too slick, onto some smooth, fast KnitPicks Harmony wooden circulars. Aaaaah, much better.

I don't have any socks on the needles at the moment. What to do . . . what to do . . . ?

Bona Fide Knitter