Knitting through my stash

Through the years, by means of over-ambitious buying and the thoughtful generosity of other over-ambitious buyers, I have accumulated a very large amount of yarn. My yarn collection (for that is what it is) has slowly taken over the empty storage spaces dedicated to other things, it has crept into areas it does not belong, it is now like sand after going to the beach - found in strange and uncomfortable places in my house. This is not good. Yarn is meant to be used and made into something, not simply protected in cedar chests or plastic bins.

Because of this over-abundance I put a moratorium on yarn buying. This has not been extremely successful.

I have continued to receive yarn gifts and have (occasionally) purchased sweater amounts of yarn (which I turned into a State Fair blue ribbon so it's ok right?) If someone offers me beautiful yarn I can't say no. That would be silly...Perhaps I need a 12 step program. Anyway, my point here is not how to accumulate yarn but how to use it.

I am using it. Slowly. The problem with having a large stash of random yarns is that you need a lot of little projects, or big projects that use a lot of different yarn. Sometimes matching yarn and patterns is not so easy. Sometimes your amounts are off, leading you to buy more yarn to finish projects thereby defeating the purpose of using stash yarn to make things.

Once in a while though, life and the yarn collection meet and make beautiful music. Recently my dishwasher broke. Major bummer. I thought I would go insane or end up divorcing my husband. Neither of those things has come to pass (and my kitchen is actually a little bit cleaner due to the conscious diligence of washing dishes immediately after use because there is no handy machine to do it for me). Initially, when the dishwasher broke, amongst the gut wrenching fear of an avalanche of breakables was the sinking feeling that I did not have any decent wash cloths. My old wash cloths had been used and abused enough to have all been tossed out or otherwise re-purposed. I had a crusty old dish brush but that was only really good for frying pans that I didn't really care about the actual cleanliness of(is that gross?) Then I remembered (EUREKA!) that years ago, in one of my over-ambitious purchases, I had gotten something like six balls of cotton yarn - plain cotton, generally used for dishcloths. So the past couple of weeks I have made it my project to knit it all. Turn it all into dishcloths. I'm knitting it until it's gone, come hell or high water. My dishcloth pile is satisfyingly large and while the work is not extraordinarily challenging it is definitely making life better....yes, I kind of feel like a grandma, but whatever. It's also inspiring! What can I make next from just the yarn I already have? Great things, I'm sure!

A Travelin'

Everybody needs a traveling project. This is mine. It's a scarf. A Florida scarf, mostly because I made it in Florida, and because it kind of looks like south Florida: flat, even, green and a little yellow

Traveling requires a different kind of knitting project. It calls for one you can do while you're worried whether your flight is going to take off or not, one you can do while severely confined on a plane, and one you can easily do at the beach or poolside. A tall order. This one fit the bill. It's 260 stitches in garter stitch, made of variegated Norwegian wool that I cannot pronounce the name of and Kidsilk Mohair.Turned out all right I think.

I

Hibernation

It's cold.

It's dark.

I am in hibernation mode.

It seems like everything is a little bit harder and more demanding than normal, driving is terrible, taking out the garbage requires a full suit up - parka and boots, even walking is treacherous. Mostly that just means I'm even less motivated than normal to do anything but sit on the couch. Bad for my waistline, but good for my knitting projects.

My current project is the Puffin Sweater by Kate Davies. I'm not making any modifications and I'm staying pretty true to the original color scheme. I even knitted and blocked the swatches as directed. I think experience has made me more humble when it comes to making changes. Although sometimes they work out well I don't think I actually have all of the experience I need to make them turn out great every time. It's cliche but the older you get the more you understand how little you know. Sometimes I wonder what my arrogant 20 year old self would think of me.

At least the sweater is going faster than I expected, especially since it's knitted on size 3.0mm needles, and I am pleased with the result so far. Hopefully this time the finished product will fit and I won't lose my mind sewing in all of those ends! And maybe I'll be done with it before next winter...

Bad Gauge

I've never paid much attention to the gauge called for in patterns. I've always figured that if I used the right needles and the right size yarn it would be close enough.

I was wrong.

I have learned that yarn doesn't always play nice, like, it grows when you wash it. I believe the technical term for this is "bloom" and I don't like it.

I made a beautiful sweater that I swatched before I started so I knew the gauge was pretty close. However to get a really accurate picture of your own gauge on any given project you have to knit a gauge swatch, and take the time to block it. Blocking it, apparently, is critical. My lovely Silky Wool sweater fit perfectly straight off the needles, then I decided to wash and block it. Big mistake. It stretched out and now would be more appropriate for someone else. Sad.

I looked it up, only after I washed it of course, and found that this particular yarn tends to stretch and the recommended mode of blocking is the pin and spritz method. Boo. If I would have blocked the swatch I would have known that. Dang.

Ah well, live and learn. I will from here on out be blocking all of my swatches.

Hopefully the days of ill fitting items are gone. I will have to exercise my fortitude muscles to do this, but it seems it is not worth it to skip the swatch step.

2014

It's 2014 already! What happened?

I guess the earth kept spinning and flying around the sun. These things are to be expected but they seem to have caught me by surprise.

2014!
I'm 34! (Seriously? Is it possible? Not very glamorous.)
My child is turning 3!
I will be married for 10(!) years in June!

Time keeps chugging along.

I'm not really making resolutions this year but I have goals. My goal is to do more stuff - write more, read more, make stuff (Sweaters! Soap! Beer!), exercise. And to be more consistent about doing that stuff. Doing stuff is what makes life fun. And if there is one thing I like in life it's fun.

Pie

I been blessed with one amazing gift in life...and it is pie.

I make killer pie.

Fruit pie, custard pie, savory pie, if I make it, it is good. I know it is very un-midwesternly of me to say it but, even I think it is delicious-really good, and in fact, I want to eat a whole one myself. I think the secret is my crust - which is light and flaky and deliciously flavorful.

I'm not telling you the secret ingredient in my crust, because, obviously, it's a secret. I will however tell you my pie crust tricks.

1. DO NOT OVERMIX. Do not overmix the crust. This is paramount. The best pie crusts have striations of fat that are visible like the marbling on grade A beef. Have faith. It may not look pretty but it will probably be good. If you saw most of my crusts coming out of the mixer you would probably be shocked. Plus if you mix it too much you start to develop the gluten in the flour and your crust becomes tough and not tasty. Yuck.

2. Keep it COLD. Make sure you have chilled your pie crust before you roll it out. It will be three times as difficult to roll out and turn out twice as bad if it is warm. It is far more likely to fall apart and will be very difficult to handle if you skip the chilling step. I like to chill my crust in the freezer for months...or at least 2 hours before I roll it out.

3. FLOUR. Use a lot as you roll it out. Don't believe what they say about lightly coating the surface with flour, heavily coat it - in fact load it up with flour. You are probably not going to get too much unless you're balling it up and re-rolling it more than three times and if you're doing that you probably haven't done either of the above. Stop. Stick the dough in the fridge and then try again.

4. As you roll out your crust FLIP IT. Especially at the beginning. Flip it a lot. I flip it every couple of swipes with a rolling pin, or if you see it start to catch as you roll it. Do this by rolling the far edge over the rolling pin and back towards you - use the rolling pin as sort of a frame to brace the dough on.And make sure you keep your surface well floured. If you do this you coat the surface with a good layer of flour making it very easy to handle and unlikely to pull apart or stick to your work surface.

There you have it. My pie wisdom. Minus my secret ingredient of course. :)
Happy making!!

North Coaster

It says a lot about my spring that I have graduated to knitting coasters. Drink coasters to protect my new end tables. They're quite fashionable, in a lovely hue, made out of terribly itchy yarn that I won't wear. They also require absolutely no thought, in fact I can mostly make them without looking which is nice. It's taking my love for small simple projects to a new level, maybe not a great level but a new level.

What's causing this obsession with simplicity and mindless ease? Fatigue, stress, cabin fever. Not the worst things that could happen to a person, but enough to make me not want to try to figure out which pattern row I'm on and which decrease to do in the lacy sweater-vest I'm making for myself.

I pretty much just feel like I need a vacation...for like, six months. Or maybe only a part time job. Since I can't have either of those things right now I must resort to knitting coasters. And drinking wine. It works.

Sometimes...

...I think I might be a boy. Not in a sexual identity sort of way but in a stuff I do and like sort of way. Here's why:

1. I work with all dudes so I am immersed in testosterone and guy culture all day long. And I like it. Guys are straightforward, if they have a conflict they address it without playing games. They don't mince words and if they don't like someone they just don't talk to them. (As always there are plenty of exceptions but I'm just speaking about the dudes I work with.)

2. Every time I go out to lunch the restaurant is 95% guys. I don't understand this one. Is it because, I'm generally eating cheeseburgers or bbq? Is it because guys, statistically, eat out more? Women aren't hungry? Not sure, but if lunch is an indicator I am a boy.

3. I like beer. Now, I know a lot of girls who like beer but judging by the way beer dudes react we are the exception to the rule. I went to the beer supply store the other day to buy kit to brew and when the guy helping me found out that I was the brewer he lost his mind. It was an all caps reaction, "WHOA! THAT'S SO COOL! WE NEED MORE FEMALE BREWERS!" I was amused and a little flattered by the extent of the positive reaction, but I have heard stories of more offensive beer dudes, like when my friend was asked if her husband told her which beer to buy. Like number 2 above, I don't really understand this one, beer is tasty, much like cheeseburgers and bbq, so why don't the ladies like it as much as the gents? I guess I won't ever know the answers to these questions. I'm just going to be thankful that I get to enjoy good things and use the same philosophy my grandma used when I didn't want to eat my dinner as a kid - all the more for me.

Over and done...for 2012

Wow. This Christmas season seemed crazier than usual -sick baby, work stress, changing plans, trying to fit it all in, sick me - it was not the relaxing respite I remember it being before I had all of this grown up responsibility. And now I'm more tired than I was before.

But I still made another pair of mittens. They're great! I got the yarn for Christmas from my mom and they knitted up so quickly. Super soft bulky yarn is my new favorite thing. From start to the last palm decrease was one movie (that's how I measure the time it takes for me to knit things, movie lengths). The thumbs of both and the sewing in ends was another movie. Super fast. Super sweet. For comparison my other mittens took me many many movies, I think I'd put it in the range of six, maybe more.

I can't believe 2012 is over. It feels like just yesterday it began. All of those plans and undone things are now done and history...well maybe not so done, just history. All I want for this year is to hold steady on the same course and keep all of the people I care about with me on the journey.

...And maybe lose a few pounds. ;)

Christmas!

How did it get to be Christmas again? Where does the time go?
 
Once again I've been caught unprepared for the Holiday season. I'm not really a procrastinator (no, I'm serious) it's just that I always think I have more time than I actually do. So I make a mental schedule of the things that I need to do and then accomplish them at that pace except for that pace would put Christmas in...about...April. I need to work less and have more time at home, I think that would solve a lot of my problems, but unfortunately that solution creates problems of it's own, like no money. Bummer.

At least I've been a relatively productive knitter. Small easy projects are the ticket.The mittens I made are excellent warm weather mittens and my fake-isle tam is soooo soft and warm. I love it. I also made my little man a warm hat, which of course he refuses to wear. Except for the time when I took this picture.

Merry Christmas!

Lessons Learned

I think I should keep a log of the main things I learn on each project, then I'll get better, right?

I think I put too much faith in my ability to remember things, meaning, I do things and then think that I'll remember that I did them and why, but then I don't. So I then end up repeating the same silly mistakes over and over again. Writing things down is the solution.

So here are the things I learned on the last couple of projects (you haven't seen them yet but pictures will follow soon):

Mittens - Hmmm...the pattern was really well written and they turned out beautifully. I guess the only thing I would do differently would be to make the palm slightly shorter. I added another pattern repeat because it would have been too short without it but a full repeat made the mitten too long. I'm nitpicking. These mittens were very fun and fast and satisfying. Maybe the real lesson I learned is that making small projects with large yarn is GREAT!
-Pattern: Bella's Mittens from Subliminalrabbit.com

Hat - I have not mastered tension. Stranded colorwork is my nemesis it's either too tight or too loose. I think I need to do a better job of monitoring it while I work. Like, check it on the next row. Yep. Plus practice. I think maybe I just need to do more colorwork period.
-Pattern: Three Tams from Knitty.com

I will now not make the above mistakes again. Suuuure.

New Magazines!

I just got two new knitting magazines in the mail! Yay!

I love getting magazines. They're like literary cookies, small, sugary, and not all that good for you. Knitting magazines are slightly different because they provide patterns, fiber and technique knowledge that you wouldn't easily be able to figure out on your own. But sometimes they're junky too.

I love the two magazines I got for different reasons. One is super artistic and usually contains at least one or two patterns I actually am interested in knitting. The other is not super artistic but has a ton of really good technique and fiber information. The problem is both have annoying features as well. And just because I'm kind of an angry woman I'm going to tell you about them.

The problem with the artistic magazine is that they are often so concerned about being artistic that the pictures don't actually show the knitting. I'm a person who really has to look at the picture to see what I'm trying to do. It's like the cover on the puzzle box, you need to see what the end result is supposed to be. They also have pattern problems, like mistakes, poorly written directions (hence the need for the good pictures), and unclear abbreviations. I also hate it when I have to flip through the magazine to find a special technique that's called for, or, (again with the pictures) to find the larger picture of the item I'm making.

I can't tell you about the problems with the patterns in the non-artistic magazine because I haven't made any of the items in it. That's the problem. The patterns are for ugly things that I don't want to make. They're getting better though, there was one sweater in this issue that I thought was cute, maybe there's hope.

An Unfortunate Situation

Here's my story: Last spring, during that time when the sun is warm but there's still snow on the ground, I decided to go running. Not knowing how warm I would get, I started the run with my mittens. About a mile and a half in I got hot and took them off. Then at mile 2 and a half I checked my pockets and one of them was gone! Tragedy! I tried to backtrack a little to see if I could see it but I couldn't and I gave up, hoping some homeless person would find it and have one warm hand. My next thought was about how I would have to make some more, but generally having a Scarlett O'Hara approach to life I put it out of my head and finished my run.

Since then I have made no mittens and now it is snowing. This is unfortunate indeed.

By the time I actually make some mittens the snow will probably be melting again, and I will have gone the whole winter with cold hands.

My Brain Doesn't Work

I realized tonight that my energy and brain power can only do so much. My limits are reached by simple daily life: driving and working, chasing a brilliant and very handsome ball of energy who is nearly two years old, and making sure I have clean underwear. I simply have very little head room for anything else, and unfortunately that anything else extends to my knitting. I have lately attempted to learn new skills and work on adventurous projects, and while this philosophy has been very fruitful in the past, at the moment it falls flat. Like, I don't even want to look at those projects, much less work on them.

The only projects I'm interested in doing right now are small ones that require absolutely no thought. Sigh...

I like them, small thoughtless projects. They're very relaxing to me at the moment.

I started a lovely little hat for my boy. Very simple and cute. He has an adorable hat that his grandma made for him, which he wears all of the time, like even in the bath all of the time, but it's going to get very cold and he needs choices. That's the beauty of being able to knit. Choices.

Easy fun

My new scarfywrappythingy. It's not blocked yet but it still looks ok for pictures. I am definitely planning on blocking it especially since I have new lace blocking wires to do it with.

Oh dear...

...It's been sooo long since I posted. I was doing so well for a little while and now my poor blog is languishing in the vast unattended portion of cyberspace. Sad.

I've been knitting. Just not writing.

Here's where I'm at with my knitting projects:
For my Meringue Yoke Cardigan I finally found beautiful metal buttons at Yarnover in, get this, the Ingebretsen's booth. I always thought Ingebretsen's was a bakery but I am wrong they are wonderful Scandinavian button suppliers and my cardigan now has viking dragon buttons. Excellent!

The twisted yoke cardigan is done except for the plackets, which I am afraid to start. Because every time I pick up stitches to knit the plackets I pick up either too few or too many, or pick them up unevenly, and the sweater puckers and stretches in weird ways. I'll get there eventually.

In the meantime though I knit a beautiful shawl/scarf/wrap thingy that was easy and fun.

I am also in love with garter stitch and need to find some new projects.

Oh, and I'm still procrastinating on my Master Knitter program. It's such an undertaking, who am I really to be attempting to get certified as a master knitter. I kind of suck. Well, not really, but I definitely lack some skills. I guess the idea is that it will help you get to be a master knitter, but I'm not so sure. I just want everything to be perfect the first time. That's not unreasonable is it?

Over the Hump!

In every project, it seems, there is a point where I just cannot proceed right away. The pattern changes, the sleeves have to get attached, etcetera, etcetera, and somehow I need to grow some courage to continue. Well I grew my courage on my cardigan and started the cable pattern. I, of course, already messed up the second row of the cable chart and had to take it out, but it has been started and the roadblock is gone.

 Sometimes, I think, life is like knitting in this way. We need a little rest time to grow some courage to make changes. It's hard to find the energy to change when we are keeping up the hectic pace that so many of us are accustomed to. It's difficult to even know what we want our change to be when there is hardly time to think about the mundane everyday questions and certainly not the grand how-do-you-want-your-life-to-be kinds of questions.

 People ask me what I want and, unless it's in reference to lunch or dinner (bbq sandwiches, pizza) my answer is invariably "I don't know." I kind of know what I don't want but I'm not entirely sure of what I want. And what if what I want turns out to be crap and I don't really want it? I guess these are eternal questions. Maybe you solve them before you die and that's when you know your time is up. Luckily I think I've got a long time before I get anywhere so the world is stuck with me for a while.

Absent but coming back

I've been absent lately from my creative endeavors but I'm on my way back.

First I was in a slump, uninspired and unmotivated then I caught some very infectious daycare germs and was flattened by illness, then I couldn't find my knitting tools and was forced to do nothing.

But now those problems seemed to have resolved themselves. I found my tools, row counter being the most important and easiest to lose, so I can continue on the yoke of my cardigan (btw the sleeves are very much the same size), plus the needles and yarn I was missing to work on a new little toy I'm making for...me probably. The toy has got me working and thinking again about fun things to make and I'm recovering nicely from my illness.

I've still got some problems: a lingering cough, some extra snot in my nose, no buttons for my other cardigan, behind on my master knitter swatches, not much time to knit (or write, or think, or shower). Despite those though, I think I'm on the mend; coming back from my late-winter blahs and starting to feel like the world is turning right side up again. As Martha S. says, it's a good thing.

Creative Slump

I'm in a creative slump right now. Totally uninspired. I have no writing ideas, no knitting ideas and am totally blank. This sucks. I don't even want to do fun stuff around the house like baking.

Maybe I just need more rest, or more time, or both...Blah. This will pass and I will get my mojo back. It just might take a while.

Buttons

The buttons are killing me! Well, not really but they are a problem.

I finished my Meringue Yoke Cardigan and now I need to put on the buttons. My problem is, what buttons? Buttons are an important choice. I want them to be noticeably gorgeous but not take away from the beauty of the sweater. I want them to stand out, but not too much. Plus they have to fit through the buttonholes.

I went to the store and bought some bone colored interesting rectangularish-ovalish ones that I thought would be pretty on it but two things happened and I decided not to use them. The first being that I lost one, which is not a total tragedy since the sweater doesn't have specific buttonholes (the placket is made of garter stitch with one row of yarn-overs, yes, it's a very wonderfully forgiving sweater to make) and I could probably make do with one less button. But, the second thing that happened was that I looked at the buttons laid out on the sweater and decided I didn't like them. They seemed too big for the sweater and the white did not accentuate the teal like I imagined it would, it simply looked clowny and kind of garish. Sad.

So, I'm back to square one. What buttons? At least I know white-bone colored ones are out, but that leaves me to decide between, wood, metal, horn, plastic, polymer clay (not likely) and the myriad of other materials that people make buttons from. Crap.