Boxing day sales, knitting & you..

So I DID get to Make One for the boxing day sale, and I went crazy.

As did several other people! I've never seen the place that busy, but everyone was polite as we scootched our way between the furniture and people eyeing skeins as we all stuffed our bags that had been handed out to us as we stood in line. (Who'd have thunk? A line up outside a yarn store on boxing day!)

I spent over three hundred dollars, but from what I've figured I saved well over a hundred from if I'd gone shopping on a non-sale day and I got all that I wanted needed plus a little extra.

What did I get?

I got enough yarn to make myself A Cardigan for Arwen from Interweave Winter 2006, plus needles since I have been buying as a project needs (unless I already have them of course). I also bought a pattern to make a hooded sweater for my son, along with the appropriate yarn and needles and more row counters since the ones I have are already on projects. The only thing I need are buttons for that.

I have also promised myself two things.

1. No more yarn shopping until I finish the majority of the projects I have everything for (which, all together includes seasilk scarf, Harry Potter scarf, mouse mittens, 3 hats, fingerless gloves and now two sweaters, one adult and one child). That is more than enough to keep me busy for the next long while, I don't need to buy any more. Oh, and two of those hats need to be done in the next four days. The fingerless gloves have just a few more rows and a thumb and finishing.

2. No casting on for Arwen until I've finished the hats.

Guess I'd better get knitting hmm? Because my hands are VERY itchy to start Arwen.

ETA: I guess I should add my socks in that list too shouldn't I? Oy, too much!

Christmas knitting..

I'm extremely lucky that I won't be seeing some people until the end of the month.

That gives me an extra week to finish off:
fingerless gloves
2 hats

Thankfully!

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas!

Heels turned!

It took two times of ripping it out, and watching the video on Knitting Help several times in a row just to be sure I was seeing it right..

but I finally turned a heel!

Now I'm working on the foot, and that's coming along steadily. I also impressed the guys on the bus with my mad skillz as one guy reminisced about his mother knitting him and his brother sweaters and another expressed awe that I could not only keep straight 5 needles, but that the pattern flowed so easily.

I of course pled modesty and told them about the interesting tidbits that Stephanie, the beloved Yarn Harlot, posted about. Such as how stockings much longer than what I was knitting, with smaller yarn (thread at that point?) and needles.. and managed to do one a day.

But of course it gave me warm fuzzies.

The socks won't be done for Christmas though.

Heel, heel, toe, toe

What the heck? Completely lost my post!

Well, as I was saying I am attempting to turn the heel on Conwy.

It's not going so well. You see it looks somewhat like a heel, but at the same time it doesn't.. I don't 
see how it is going to attach itself and go together so I can work on the foot and up to the toe. I shall soldier on though, and hopefully I will see it work (or I will see what I am doing wrong). If I don't though, I shall be attempting the short row heel tutorial that has come to my attention.

If that doesn't work, I shall try other things. Like other books and references, and hopefully finding someone who knits who will show me how to turn a heel. Heck, I'll even take a class! Maybe I should do that, I've been pondering the toe up class..

Ah well, back to knitting!

Iiiinteresting..

So Google now owns Blogger hmm?

Okay. Well as long as I have no problems, I'll be happy.

But on to my post!

The other day, while I was on the bus, I was pondering what other people saw when they saw 
me knitting. Especially since it was (and still is) well below 0 celcius out. While I was pondering
this with half my mind, I was on the bus with mostly men (I work in an industrial park), and looking rather sexless myself considering I wear jeans to work and I had on my huge down jacket, and a ball cap from a trucking company pulled low over my eyes. I of course had my knitting in my turquoise GoKnit pouch and working away on my tiny needles..

Considering that I've been called sir at times, it makes me wonder what the guys thought of me.

The sock is coming along well. I'm almost ready to start turning my first heel. From the pattern,  think this is a heel flap. I don't know. I'm just following the pattern. The sock looks good so far though.

Someone, I forget who at the moment, recently made mention of the difference between process and FO knitters. I am definitely a process knitter. I don't knit for the FO, I knit because it soothes me. It lets my mind drift in interesting ways or not at all as I let the yarn slip through my fingers and on to my needles in all manner of ways. 

This is why I have so many projects on the go. They all use a variety of stitches, something new 
that caught my eye or some new pattern or colourway. It's very much something to calm me 
and just reset at the end of a long day at work.

That's why I do it. I enjoy the act of knitting, the final result is just a bonus.

Busy as a.. flibbertigibbet?

So what have I been up to?

Knitting-wise, not much. I finished one half of the fetching pattern for my Step-mom's Christmas present (I have a month and a half yet to knit the other one.. plenty of time!) and have figured out how to read the chart for Conwy from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road (when I try something for the first time I don't go by half measures! Not overly complicated, but complicated enough for a first pair of socks..).

I must admit to only learning to read it today. I realized I was reading it right to left, not left to right. It kept confusing me as to why a round ended with a knit when the written instructions (thank goodness for those!) ended with a purl..

But I understand now, and I have started the decreases. A little late in the pattern, but still early enough since when you finish the decreases you just keep going for awhile so it won't look weird. My muck up of the twined cables might though, but I just knitted a couple of rounds and then started the cabling over, and realized I was mostly right in the first place.

Who cares anyway? These socks are for me! If I manage to get them done and do decently, I'll try to make a pair for my friend who is a sock fiend. Hopefully I get these ones done before Christmas, with enough time to try another pair!

On the crocheting front, I have decided I want to make myself the Too Good For Your Boyfriend sweater in Not Your Mama's Crochet (I need a good sweater, it's hard to find decent ones that will cover my wrists AND my kidneys unless it's a guy's one. The bane of being a 6'1 female, I've practically given up on finding something not totally shapeless on me so why not make one?). This will wait though, but I do think I should hit up Make1 again because the yarn they mentioned getting in last time looks so nice and perfect for the sweater... hopefully they still have some when I can next get there!

I also had better get cracking on those mittens I wanted to make for my son, my little velociraptor. It's cold here, he needs something to keep those little hands warm! I bet he'll get a kick out of the mouse mittens

I have decided I want this mug. I was rambling around, and it's just too cute. I need more knitting things.

Speaking of which, I have several books on my Christmas wishlist and I shuffled stuff around to empty one of those smallish rubbermaid tubs to put my stash in. It will fit in there with room to spare right now. That will no doubt eventually change.. but it's enough for now.

But for now the plan is to go drink tea and knit while I watch some tv. Haven't gotten enough of the knitting time in, and I have a schedule to keep!

Sewing for a change..

So I put down the latest sock attempt so I can turn my hand at sewing.

I should have, of course, done this last weekend. Or the weekend before.

Instead I did my son's costume at the last minute, night before Halloween.

I didn't complete the whole pattern, I gave up when my mind couldn't comprehend how to put the hat pieces together, but the rest of it looks great!



See?

Now I'm going to crawl into bed since I have to be up pretty damn early to be at work.

Socks socks socks..

They're going a lot more slowly than I thought they would.

First I hit a snag by ending up with broken needles via preschool age Velociraptor(new ones are safely kept in my room).

Then I was merrily knitting away and had gotten a few inches done when I took a good long look at it.

It looked more like a sleeve than a sock.

Seriously, I slipped it over my wrist just out of curiousity and it was about the size of one of my sweaters floating around my wrist. If it was that big unstretched, how big do you think it would've been on my feet?

So I frogged it, and now I have two books coming from the library on how to knit socks. Just basic patterns.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have experienced this (I know it, reading from other people's blogs) but still. It's embarassing.

Well, hopefully third time's the charm.. I really do want to give my best friend a pair of hand knitted socks for Christmas. She loves socks of all kinds, and what could be better for a sock lover?

Wine and Yarn..

They make such a lovely combination don't you think?

So I did go to the book launch party. It was great, met quite a few nice people to chat about whatever, drank 3 glasses of wine (be glad I wasn't driving, I began losing words halfway through the second glass though I was still able to make myself understood) and ate a fair bit of sushi, cheese and crackers, and cupcakes from Cravings.

Amusingly enough we discussed knitting more than crochet, which is amusing since the book was about crochet. This also meant I spent more money today (on top of what I spent yesterday) so I think I shall be staying away from the store for a little while. At least until I get some more knitting done. But I now have yet another ball of sock yarn and some new circulars, along with some beaded stitch markers and a signed copy of Not Your Mama's Crochet. I think I'm going to make myself that lovely sweater out of it. Sometime.

Later.

Once I've finished Christmas knitting.

*smacks the fingers that have twitched and begun to reach for the crochet hook*

I did mention that I half-assed blog about knitting and the name of it to some people. So if you did decide to look me up (and when I googled the name of the blog I was amazed it worked.. wow!) welcome to my little corner of the knitter interweb.

But now I shall go to sipping more wine (I'm not a lush! Honest!) watching some Supernatural and knitting away at my socks. Tomorrow I have to drop the knitting needles for pins though and cut out everything for my son's halloween costume. I want to get it done, not have to rush out at the last minute and buy some crappy costume while I curse myself for not staying focused.

Of course I have to do all this in between my usual weekend catch up on household chores and entertaining a VERY busy almost 3 y/o boy.

Wish me luck!

Saturday..

So what am I doing?

Sitting around doing nothing. Well, I did cast on the socks again as I stopped in at Make1 last night after work. I have more needles, yarn and a new knitting bag (which I didn't have one before so I decided to splurge since it'll be forever before I.. y'know.. make one for myself).

I really should get moving and iron out the material, pin and cut so I have all the pieces of the costume ready to sew over the following week.

Especially while the recipient is having sweet dreams.

Plans for tonight?

I'm thinking of taking my knitting and going to the book party of Not Your Mama's Crochet. Or maybe I'll pack my crochet to take along. Naw, that project is a little big to be carrying.

I'm thinking I should pick up a few knitting and crochet books since I've been constantly borrowing them from the library..

Well, enough of that for now. I'm going to get my cup of coffee, which I have yet to have today, and get to work on this costume.

I've gone bonkers..

round the bend..

call the men in white coats, stick me in a padded room. It's the only explanation I have.

You see, I've decided to sew my son's halloween costume this year. I got the supplies together, but I have yet to do anything but that.

14 days till Halloween and I've just NOW decided what I'm going to dress him as.

It actually won't take me long, it's a simple enough pattern. I just need to get my butt in gear.

What will take me longer is my costume, if I do it this year. I may just do my usual 'dress gothy, put in fangs' thing and save the sewing my costume for next year.

Maybe.

I also have all my Christmas knitting to do since my sock needles got broken and everything got frogged. Plus the fingerless gloves I'm going to give as gifts.

What am I doing typing here? It's too late to be doing any crafty work. I'm going to bed shortly. Save my energy for the projects.

Retreat..

Oh how I wish I had the time to spare, and the money, to go on this.

Being a single Mom means I don't have much of either though, so I'll have to pass. Maybe someday!

The first day of fall.

So I did make it down to Make 1, and I bought some stuff for my slowly growing stash.

Not that I want it to grow too big, instead I try to only go when I have definite plans in mind. This way, I get stuff that I know I will use (at some point) and don't have too much excess floating around.

Ended up spending $80, so I am glad for the sale! I should've grabbed one of those little bags they had to hang off your purse or beltloop and stash your yarn in. Would've been perfect to tuck into my backpack for work. Ah well. Maybe I can do something with my sewing stash. (Another reason to go with definite ideas in mind, no multiple stashes.. I have one for sewing, one for knitting/crochet and one for cross-stitch. Only knitting gets pulled out regularly because I know what I want to do with it. Well, so do I with the others so I suppose that's not an excuse.)

So now I have one ball of Trekking XXL in deep berry (I want to try making socks, and if they turn out well I can make a pair for my sock fanatic pal), 3 balls of Cashsoft DK in sweet, black and kingfisher and Rowan kid classic in glacier. I also bought 3 new sets of bamboo DPNs in sizes I don't already have.

So all in all it was a gorgeous first day of fall, spent checking out some nifty little stores and creating a small stash for myself.

Just lovely.

Plans, plans, plans

Today the plan is:

- Call the bus operator because the website sucks and refuses to give me directions to Make One Yarn Studio.
- If it's a reasonable distance/time to get there, call up my friend and we will meet somewhere and go check it out.

Otherwise we both are going to Gina's.

I need some supplies so I can get started on stuff for presents and hopefully finish before Christmas. That's why I also picked small projects, so they go faster and will keep my attention better. Big projects always take me a long time to finish (Says as she recalls her stack of cross-stitch projects from a few years back that are put away until little fingers know better than to get into pointy needles and embroidery thread).

In other news, NEXT weekend is a knitting/sewing/cross-stitch etc fair down at the Roundup Centre. With lots of demos and hands on things to do, try and buy.

There's even a coupon for $2 off admission on the very last page of the brochure!

I now know what next weekend's plans are.

But, right now, I'd better go call and drink my coffee.

ETA: Good thing I checked my blogs today! Make 1 has 20% off if you mention that you saw the post on their blog for TODAY ONLY.

WHEE! More incentive to go!

Fall is definately here.

The fall issue of Knitty is out (and I am tempted by Viveka and Lucie) and the weather has turned for the worse with lots of cold rain and wind and gloom as the leaves fall off the trees.

I also have a cold.

As the weather turned I finally finished my fingerless gloves (no pics yet, sorry) as I decided I needed something for my hands in the office. I'm also doing my usual pondering of maybe, just maybe, digging out the sewing machine and making a costume for my son. I just don't know what of.

I'm also pondering some fingerless gloves as presents for a couple of people, as well as a pair of mouse mittens for my son.

Yup, it's fall.

Now I just need to figure out how the hell to get to Make1Yarns.

Sari silk yarn..

I was at the farmer's market again, and once more the yarn was back. There's also a lady who sells many various felted products (purses, bags, slippers) and I was nosing around her cart when I discovered sari silk scarves.

I was thisclose to buying one, but I didn't. She was also selling the yarn for $6 a ball, but I didn't buy that either.

At the moment I'm half wishing I had, but I've got projects right now on the go, I have two scarves I'm making for myself so I don't need to buy one and I don't know what I'd do with the yarn.

One of these weeks I'm going to hit one of the other stores around here just to compare prices and atmosphere. I just need to find the time.

Ah well.

I am almost done the fingerless gloves I was working on for myself as a test knit. Next step is to get some other yarn and maybe some smaller needles and make a set or three for Christmas presents. They are definitely the easiest thing I can knit up on the bus and at work. I may even try my hands at socks soon too, just a simple pattern, as that would travel well also.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of this gorgeous weekend though.

No time!

Man oh man oh man...

I never seem to have enough time for anything. Not even knitting! Maybe I need to get myself a decent KIP bag. I stopped carrying my knitting in my backpack because the needles jammed through the bag they were in, and then right on theough the bag itself. Thankfully not into my back, or into someone else (the hazards of packed bus travel) but just as annoying.

So that means they move oh so slowly as I hardly have time to knit. Maybe once the fall shows start up and I stop running around outside (it gets COLD here y'know) I'll make more progress. I'll be sitting around 'doing nothing' (ie watching tv) so I can knit more.

Yeah, that's it.

Fancy knitting supplies and fingerless gloves.

Okay, they aren't related. That's just what I'm posting about today.

The fancy knitting supplies I see whenever I go to the store. I always see something I lust after and then regretfully put aside since I know that little toddler fingers will probably get into it and wreck it in some manner.

Like those lovely ebony knitting needles I saw.

But these.. these I really lust after. Some are also ebony, but these ones have carvings! They aren't just knitting needles and crochet hooks, they are works of art. I saw them in my crochet newsletter which I happened to glance through (since I don't always read them before I mark as read, though I have back issues all saved up in my email). I try to take a glance though, and see if anything catches my eye.

This time it was a link to Dodo's Designs of crochet hooks and knitting needles (and other things) that are carved. So pretty and tempting!

Just like the jeweled/beaded/what-have-you stitch markers, which I know I'd lose. So I just use the plastic red and blue ones, or if I forget them at home a paperclip from my pocket. Yup, that's how flibbertigibbety I am. I use paperclips as stitch markers. Thankfully I haven't tried anything too complex yet.

As for fingerless gloves, I have one. The other is on the needles. Yup, using the Fetching pattern from Knitty. I love these! Such an easy pattern and though they don't look like much off your hand, they look feminine and cute on the hand.

Definitely going to make another pair for myself using some different yarn as I don't quite like how the yarn from my stash stripped up. I'm also thinking of a pair for my step-mom. She could use a pair in the winter delivering papers. She usually just wears those thin cheapo gloves, she could wear a pair of these over them and keep her hands extra toasty!

Ravenclaw is stalled. It's too hot to work on it. River Scarf is coming along a couple rows at a time, usually done in a lull or lunch break at work.

Maybe I'll actually have a project done soon. Hey, I got ONE glove finished after all!

I'm melting!!!

Yes, it is far far too hot in Western Canada at the moment. Records have been broken all over the province, 30+ celcius is a regular occurence at the moment and I feel like I'm melting.

The only plus side is that I have a/c at work so for most of the day I at least get to beat the heat.

But on to knitting things!

The scarf is coming along nicely now that I've decided not to worry so much about the mistakes I keep making. I've frogged this thing completely three times because I kept messing up and trying to go back just enough to fix it.. and then being utterly inept and unable to return it to the needles. So now I just fix what I can, how I can.

For example: I've dropped stitches twice so far while knitting on the bus, so I just did an increase to get back to the right number of stitches. that's the worst that has happened so far this go around, hopefully nothing worse will happen *knocks on wood* and things will keep moving smoothly.

I also had to adjust the pattern, because as written it doesn't work. I tried it a couple of times, it just doesn't. You see, there is a little note that I noticed saying that the pattern is a multiple of 16 + 1 stitch. If I worked it as written.. well, it was a multiple of 20 + 1 stitch. But that was easily fixed. Instead of 4 (ssk, yo) I do 3 and only 7 knits and later it's just 3 (yo, k2tog) instead of 4 and still just 7 knits.

Easy fix once I realized what was wrong. I think they just mis-typed because it's the same pattern for the storm water shawl only smaller.

In other news, it is far too hot to be thinking of fingerless gloves but I've decided to go for a different style that I saw and liked better than the ones I had started.

The Fetching from Knitty's latest issue look nicer IMO, and I think will come in handy this winter. I'll probably make up a pair for my step-mom as well, once I've tried it for me, because she delivers papers and she only has those thin gloves... a pair of these would keep the rest of her hand warm and could easily be layered over the thin cotton gloves.

Maybe next time I post I'll get up pictures for the scarf.

Farmer's Market..

So I went to the farmer's market today to check it out. It only moved closer to me about, oh, a year or so ago.

And among the fruits, vegetables, varieties of food and craftmanship I found.. yarn!

Wool, alpaca and mohair mixes, hand died by the owner of the stall and either spun or unspun so you can spin them yourself (roving I believe it's called? I have no clue about spinning, I'll just keep my finished yarn and knitting for now. Maybe when I'm more insane I'll try that ;) )

But it was gorgeous, so I think at some time I will be picking up yarn from her.

I did start my scarf with the silk/seacell stuff. It's coming along fairly well now that I have the hang of it. Looks nice too, I can't wait to finish it and wear it. Which might be awhile since I knit maybe a couple times a week when I can find a spare minute. I'm going to have to find a bag to take it with me to work on the bus in. Then maybe I'll get more of it done.

Getting started...

So now, thanks in part to being sick and having way too much time on my hands and full of antihistamines from allergic reactions, I now have a ball of yarn.

I tried to start the pattern but it's obviously not as easy as I thought, I keep losing the stitches. *sighs* I suppose this is the mix of yarn and the type of needles I have, as well as my never having worked with this before.

I'll try again when I have a longer attention span.

There's got to be a trick to it..

so I decided to try and wind that skein of lovely yarn I bought.

It's not working so well. In fact, I'm stuck. I won't post a pic, but suffice it to say it's quite snarled and I'm slowly picking away at the knots and hoping I'll have it untangeled before the summer ends.

So, anyone out there.. any tips on winding a skein into a ball? For next time that is.

I know I'll just have to be patient and work on the yarn to untangle it.

Sick sick sick..

so I'd planned to do some things this weekend. Among them being laze about and work on some projects, instead I've been fighting a fever, an ear & sinus infection and a sinus cold. So I'm right drained and NOTHING is getting done.

But that's not what I came to talk about. I came to mention that I did pick up some of that lovely, gorgeous Seasilk yarn in a scarf sized skein. It's gorgeous stuff, in a beautiful blue/purple colourway (click on colours and then the top section for the subtle series, I have ocean). I've not started the scarf with it yet, but when I've finished something else then I'll start it.

My crochet shawl is coming along nicely though, as is my Hogwart's scarf, when I manage to turn my hand to them.

Now if I could only stop coughing and shivering.

TGIF

What a week, it feels like its gone on forever.

I did make my way to Gina Brown's and nosed around for the 10 minutes I had before it closed, but they never made me feel rushed or like I had to hurry up and leave.

I saw the gorgeous sea silk yarn, and was very tempted to buy the last kit for this shawl there.

I might even just go back again on Tuesday, and if it is still there give in to my lust. Maybe.

I've also started a new project, this one crochet. It's the prayer shawl that was in the Lion Brand newsletter a couple weeks back. It's a LOT easier to crochet on the bus than it is to knit, especially since I'm not quite such a beginner crocheter thanks to Grandma shoving a hook and yarn in my hand to work while watching tv. I just need to learn how to read a pattern is all, considering I had to rip it out three times before I finally got it to work. Now it is moving smoothly though.

I also remember why I like crochet. It's much faster, or so it seems. Knitting is much smaller stitches, in comparison, to get the same length. Of course this means that crochet isn't as 'tight' or warm as knitting.

So now I have crochet for the bus (when I find a seat) and knitting for in front of the tv.

Now if I could only find the time to watch tv.

ETA: I almost forgot, tomorrow is World Wide Knit In Public Day. I'll do my best to get out there, but if it's nice I plan to be mowing my lawn and spending time with the little guy.

No time to knit..

I feel bad, I've been so busy the last couple of weeks between school and a new job that I don't have time to knit. Maybe I should make room in my bag and work at it while on the bus. Like the lovely Subway Knitter I don't mind being caught out with knitting in public, but since I travel during rush hour the bus and trains are usually packed and it's rare for me to get a seat.

Today I saw an article to send away for a free pattern and nearby on the same page a 10% off coupon for one of the knitting stores I know I can get to. I think I know what I want to do this weekend.

If it's not nice enough for the Lilac Festival that is.

Another day, another pattern

Too bad I missed this pattern from The Anti Craft when I was looking around. Otherwise I might've been tempted to jump right into that.

Maybe later, once I'm done with what current projects and feel comfortable with what I'm doing now.

Cthulhu and knitting

While I was surfing around some knitting sites the other day, I came across this interesting pattern which reminded me vaguely of Cthulhu (yes, I'm as much a flibbertigibbet in my thoughts as I am in my knitting) and that I wanted a Cthulhu doll. Specifically Summer Fun Cthulhu but that's just because I like that one.

So it occured to me to go looking for a knitted Cthulhu doll pattern to keep as a future project idea. I did find one (scroll down) but it startled me just how much Cthulhu and knitting pop up in a google search.

Who knew?

Podcasts

So, following the links from other blogs (as I am wont to do) I have found myself at a blog with knitting podcasts courtesy of It's a purl, man.

Cool!

The first fingerless glove is coming along nicely, had a bit of a snafu yesterday though when I lost a stitch and my friend Marian was kind enough to babble in my ear and ignore my muttering curses at my knitting. After a bit of fiddling, I was able to pick up the stitch again with only frogging 1/3 of a row. Okay, there's gonna be a small hole there, but I have all my stitches still!

One of these days I'm going to hit up a proper knitting store. I just need to figure out how to get there. Why do they have to be across the city from me?

Contest

This is interesting. The Knitting Curmudgeon is holding a contest.

I'm tempted to enter. Will have to think on this.

Projects

I have two projects currently on the go, enough for me considering how little time I really have, usually found while watching TV shows or listening to audiobooks.

Grandma always hated idle hands, and though she didn't teach me knitting she always made sure I had crochet or cross-stitch going so I wasn't completely idle. I like the habit though, it means I get to do two things I enjoy at the same time. One is watch Lost and Amazing Race, the other is to knit or do other crafty things.

So my current projects are a lovely Harry Potter scarf, using the Ravenclaw colours from the movies (I always thought I'd be a Ravenclaw) and the Azkaban Pattern at Atypically Knit.



I still have 8 more captured stripes to go, but the scarf is coming along nicely, especially as this is my first knitting project in years, all of which were previously done on straight needles and in one colour to make little scarves.

The other project is the fingerless gloves pattern from The Yarnpath. This is an interesting undertaking in itself as I've never worked dpn before, nor have I worked cabling. Probably more complex than some would suggest for a beginner but the first glove is coming along nicely so far. I've also had great help in the form of the free videos at Knitting Help to get me started.


Angle 1


Angle 2

I figure I'll get them long enough to be almost at my elbows. Maybe.

Craziness

I've decided I've gone completely round the bend. That could be the only reason I'm starting a knitting blog.

This is also perhaps the only thing to explain my sudden obsession with yarn and needles.

Or my rekindling obsession with yarn and needles.

You know how many types of yarn and knitting/yarn projects I had as a girl? I had plastic knitting needles, I crocheted all the time (and damn that pillow with the cover I crocheted should be around here somewhere), I had those round knitting thingies where all you did was loop the yarn over and ended up with long tubes of knitted yarn. I had ones that were Barbie kits to make Barbie clothes (I still remember that tube dress I'd made, pink on top with black on the skirt that had silver tinsel shot through it..).

Yeah, gone round the bend. I've been reading knitting blogs galore, looking at patterns that I couldn't finish anytime soon (especially since I'm, well, such a flibbertigibbet). So right now I'm going to keep it at two projects going, that's plenty for me and as I know myself if I did more I'd just put one or two away in my closet and forget about them for ages.

That's what happened to some (okay, all) of my cross-stitch, but I have good reason for that. Little toddler hands do not go well with needles and lots of threads. Knitting can easily and quickly be tucked aside and if little hands get into it the worst I have to worry about is it being accidentally frogged and annoyance, not tears from being poked.

So here's the start of my insanity.