beginning

My goal for 2008 is to clear out all of the yarn I have hibernating in my home. Old houses may have their charms, but closet space is definitely not one of them. My two small closets are already full of clothes and linens - yarn just doesn't have a place in them.

This means that I finally had the incentive to start another cardigan from Poetry in Stitches. I had bought the laceweight yarn from Morehouse Farms just before they closed their store, Sheep's Clothing. That happened a few months ago - that probably doesn't seem long to most of you, but when you have a line of bags full of yarn marching out of your bedroom closet, it seems like forever.

I worked for three days on this cardigan and only barely have six inches to show for it. I've just completed the decreasing for the waist shaping that I decided to do, and after working a few inches straight I'll start to increase back up. There are just under 400 stitches to do for every round - not quite a quick knit. Once I reach the underarms I'll start the sleeves, and then work a seamless set-in sleeve a la Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Another shot of those poor socks that are doomed to be photographed in bad lighting until the end of time, it seems. At least they keep my feet warm...

little child's socks

"Little Child's Socks" from Knitting Vintage Socks. Sorry for the hasty picture - I only had one chance before the 40 mph winds nearly blew me away. You may remember one of these socks from last August (there's a much better picture behind this link). The yarn is Froelich Blauband in red, which has since been discontinued. I was lucky enough to find a very nice person on Ravelry who was willing to sell me what may be the last skein of this stuff on the planet.

little cat feet

It rains, and it fogs, and it mists, and it threatens to snow but hasn't quite yet.

So I knit.

Some of these are holiday presents, and some are just for me. I'm not saying which is which, just in case a recipient happens to read my blog.

These are the "English Dales Mittens" from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I'm still on a quest to get rid of my wool remnants in order to make more room, and these helped quite nicely. The pink is from Snow Sky, and the white and purple that peeks out at the bottom are actually from Crichton, if you can believe that. The cuffs have a double layer of knitting, which makes them stiff enough to stand up by themselves. When worn, they flare just enough for coat sleeves to fit underneath comfortably. I cannibalized the fair isle mitten from my last post because it turned out so small, and these were a nice solution.

I've been in love with the railway socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush for years now. I finally knitted a pair, using Scheepjes sock yarn and using up some scraps from my New England socks for the stripes. I'm already thinking of other color combinations for heels and toes, since I have so many tiny leftover balls of sock yarn, and I like those hidden stripes.

I also finally finished the Alpine Lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today. The Crystal Palace lace yarn washed and blocked beautifully. The minute it hit the water it opened up all by itself, and blocking only consisted of a few careful pins to keep the edges straight. I discovered that the way the pattern is written, the scarf will not be symmetrical on its ends, so I knitted one extra pattern repeat of the leaves before beginning the garter stitch. If you knit this you might want to do the same - I think it would look rather funny to only have 2.5 diamonds at one end, and 3 at the other.

Next week - more mittens, a sweater, socks...maybe sunshine, too?

finishing

After packing, moving, and then unpacking all my worldly possessions, only one question remains:

Where did I put the darning needle?

I did manage to finish the Railroad socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. One sock still needs its ends woven in, and until that happens they are both waiting for their turn in the wash. I also slogged through all 37 repeats on the Alpine lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today and then discovered that I had so much yarn left I might as well do a few more. That one is also waiting for a few ends to be woven in, and then a good blocking.The gray knitting and the gray weather started to get to me, so I found some scrap wool and started one of the mittens from Folk Mittens. I've just gotten past the thumb. Moving into an old farmhouse (read: there are only 2 closets) made me realize just how much space my yarn takes up. I'm going to try and knit up as much as possible and then tackle the quilting fabric I bought recently. The space situation is bad enough that I won't be buying any more supplies until everything I currently have is gone. Luckily, I have enough brightly colored mitten wool and skeins of lace to not make this too much of a chore.

And the bread is an Irish American soda bread from The Joy of Cooking. Most heartily recommended, particularly as toast.

true confessions of a knitter gone mad

Forgive me, Knitters, for I have sinned.

It has been...far too long since my last confession post. And somehow, between then and now, I tripped and fell into a fabric store.

For penance I made myself learn how to piece, and have so far hand-quilted six of the nine squares in this pillowcase.

And then, just to be very sure that I had learned my lesson, I pieced the other side of the pillowcase and may or may not have bought 13 other fabrics. Just so I could really think about what I had done.

I am nothing if not very strict.

What about the knitting? Well, it's still around. In fact, I found a sock-in-progress in the gravel next to my car yesterday morning, leading me to believe that my projects are taking matters into their own hands and indeed stalking me in an attempt to get some attention. It's working, more or less.

These past few weeks I have been busily trying to find an apartment, and then busily packing all my goods for said apartment. It's a lovely place - it will save me more than 12 hours a week on my commute, is very close to a yarn store, and no sign of moths anywhere. I'm leaving this Friday, and don't expect the Internet to be ready until perhaps November 1st, so please forgive my absence once again. I promise I will be putting those 12 extra hours to very good use.

If you are so inclined, I've also joined Ravelry. You can find me under "Becki". So far I've only uploaded a few finished projects, but it's always nice to make friends.

one is the loneliest number

Meet my sock.

It's the "Little Child's Sock" from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. There's only one problem:

I can't find another skein of the yarn to make its mate.

The sock and I are just going to hope that winter will bring back more colors of Froelich Blauband to the local yarn store. We can wait.