Take a Chill Pill, Man

Some days (weeks, months) you really just need to chill. Not only have I been struggling with this lately, but so have a striking number of my coworkers. So, I took a break from my Old Town this week to knit myself a Chill Pill.

I love him. He lives on the shelf above my guided reading table, looking all placid and content like I should. He’s also quite mashable, which helps me with the whole “placid and content” thing sometimes. My teammates love him too.

You know what really helped me “chill” this weekend though? It caught me by surprise what a difference it made, but Sunday evening the Husbeast and I spent an hour out in the hammock, watching the eclipse.

I felt like a new woman, after. Total peace.

Late, but Accomplished

Okay okay okay. I know this is a day later than I’ve been posting. I hate to have left you hanging, but I’ve done SO many things in the last 48 hours, and I knew I’d have a better post for you if I waited. First, I finished the secret project I still can’t show you. What a ridiculous sprinting marathon that was. I wasn’t sure it was actually possible, so I’m feeling dang proud of myself at the moment. Luckily the other projects I have lined up for that published aren’t nearly as rushed. Sadly I won’t be able to show you those either.

I can show you that picture above though! That is where we went after I finished the unpublished project yesterday. My baseball-loving friend assures me it was a very big and hyped-up game (even though we lost horribly) and was beside herself with excitement when hubby managed to get some tickets through work. Apparently they’d sold out weeks ago. We had no idea.

I know “stitch and pitch” is a Thing, but last night it was very definitely August. It may have been evening and sub-90 out, but I felt a bit like I was the carrot(top) in a pot of soup, and couldn’t seem to find a rhythm for any serious  knitting. I may also have been a bit burned out from the new design. It was nice and cool on the trains though, and I had looooooots of time on them for knitting. Between it being prime tourist season in DC, the game being during rush hour on a weeknight, and last night being the baseball game that everyone in the world except our household apparently knew was the game to attend, it was an even longer trip than usual. I managed to knit the foot and turn the heel of the second green sock.

Last but not least, look what I finished today!!!!!!!!! Yes, the lace weight mohair beast is DONE!!!! I kind of want to go put it in my suitcase for vacation now, even though it’ll be the only thing in there for a good bit yet. Donedonedonedonedone!!!

Progress of a Sort

I got about 75% of the edging done on the sweater. Another day or two of serious work on it would probably finish it. However, I’ve put it aside for now because this bundle of sunshine arrived Friday:

I’ve put away the green sweater and all other projects for the time being because this one is on such a nerve-wrackingly tight deadline. Knitting is also my full-time job (and then some) for the next couple weeks, although that’s something I normally try to avoid. Sadly, I’m unable to show you what I’m working on. Instead, here is a picture of a particularly spoiled goat.

We found her at the county fair last night. How entitled!

Trudging Along

We had a nice little 3-day weekend here, what with Independence Day falling on a Friday. There was fire and beer and darkness and all sorts of other things that do not go well with knitting, so not much got done.

Not much knitting, anyway.

However, in spite of that I’ve managed to complete (finally) the body and sleeves of the Sweater That Will Not End.

Now all that’s left is the edging. Miles and miles and miles of edging. Since Thursday I have accomplished exactly this much of it:

Originally I had wanted to finish it in time for our summer vacation (we are going somewhere I will most likely want layers) but yarn support should be arriving next week for a pattern that’s on a very tight deadline, so that may not happen. At this point I don’t even care. The thought of something new to work on – even something I’ll never wear – is so ridiculously much more interesting than this slog.

Knitters’ Paradoxes

Ever find you have accomplished the impossible? Do you ever wish you hadn’t? Isn’t it funny how often those “wish I hadn’t” cases apply to knitting (or your fiber craft of choice)? I’m currently struggling with at least two of these…

Knitters’ Paradox #1 – The Stash Paradox

I have plenty of yarn in my stash. No seriously. My stash puts small yarn shops to shame. So how is it that in this massive pile of neatly organized yarn I have absolutely nothing to knit?

Seriously.

Knitters’ Paradox #2 – The Sleeve Paradox

It takes me 1-2 weeks of dedicated focus to knit the body of a mostly-stockinette sweater in medium-weight wool and my own size. It also takes me 1-2 weeks to knit a matching sleeve. For those of you following along at home, a sweater sleeve is not nearly as many stitches as a sweater body. How on earth do they always take so darn long? And no, I haven’t finished the first sleeve of my CustomFit sweater yet, thank you very much.

Knitters’ Paradox #3 – The Easy Paradox

Have you ever searched patterns on Ravelry by their difficulty ratings? Every single pattern on Ravelry is “easy”. Garter stitch scarf? Easy. Stockinette socks? Easy. Heavily cabled sweater? Easy. I know the simple answer there is that everything is easy once you’ve learned how to do it, but I prefer to think that Ravelry magically makes everything easy. More on how to choose projects you’ll personally find easy (or just the right amount of challenging) in a later post.

This sweater? Totally easy.

Knitters’ Paradox #4  – The Gauge Paradox

This is a very important project to me, and it absolutely has to fit. So, I sucked it up and knit (or crocheted) a nice, big gauge swatch. I washed it. I dried it. I treated it exactly like I will treat my final project. Then I measured it very, very carefully. If gauge didn’t match up the first time I repeated the whole process, because this is an important project darn it. Now I’m several days into knitting, and what do I have? A big old pile of frogged yarn. Because gauge swatches lie.

Dirty lying liars.

Knitters’ Paradox #5 – The Deadline Paradox

I am knitting something specific for [Christmas, a yarn company, a baby shower…choose your deadline] and it is due on a specific date. I am responsible and planned for this, so I’ve got plenty of time left when I start. Man, this project is really flying along! It’s practically pouring off the needles; at this rate I might even finish early! Two weeks to go and I’m 80% done? No problemo! Wonder what else I’ll knit with my extra time. One week to go and I’m 90% done? Huh, that sure slowed down some, but there’s hardly anything left to knit. I’ll be fine. Two days left and I’m 92% done? What? But I’ve been working on this 8 hours a day! Where exactly are all these stitches going?! Oh yeah, into the Deadline Paradox.

Have you fallen prey to any of these? What other Knitters’ Paradoxes have you encountered?

New Toys!

I finally managed to replace my camera!

Photo from the Amazon site.

That means no more cruddy cell phone pictures for you guys! The camera’s a bit more fancy than my previous, so I’m not entirely sure how to use all the features yet. I’ve got a pretty good handle on the basics after a quick couple experiments in the garden though.

Did I mention how excited Hubby is that the irises turned out to be more or less Redskins colored? I’m more excited by how happy all the garlic next to the irises looks. The other new toy I got today isn’t directly crafting  related, but it does keep me sane enough to feel like knitting.

New running shoes! They look so fun and shiny and clean in that photo, straight out of the box. Of course, within literally 10 minutes of taking them out of the box I was out the door on a run and they were muddy. So much for pretty! Aside from the fact that they’re a bit hotter than my last pair of running shoes (that counts on days like this where it’s in the 90s out!) I like them a lot. They feel lighter than my old pair, the laces stay tied, and they don’t make my arches hurt (yet). Plus I always feel so virtuous when I wear out a pair of running shoes! All in all a good day.

Newness

I spent all day Thursday in my pajamas and am feeling much better! The Smitten Glittens are coming along nicely thanks to having done a fair amount of “out and about” this week.

I also gave in to a little more startitis while languishing on the couch. I cast on Amy Herzog’s Flutter Pullover that I’ve had my eye on since I tried it on at her workshop.

The biggest news though is that we acquired this little goofball today!

Her name is Athena and she was found abandoned and starving in Georgia a few months ago. Obviously the rescue organization did a great job as she’s a whopping 41 pounds of lap dog now and not quite grown! She’ll make a great running partner in a few more weeks when she’s done with her heart-worm treatment, and the cat already seems to be adjusting to her. So excited!

Stuffed

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! Happy Thursday, everyone else!

We are having a cozy, delicious time in our little house. It’s hard to tell what’s more stuffed – our house or our bellies.

Hope you’re having a good day too!

P.S. I’m having a sale! From Small Business Saturday (11/30) through Cyber Monday (12/2), all patterns in my store will be 20% off. This would be a great way to get in on the Gift-A-Long for cheap, too!

Messy Sins?

Messiness isn’t one of the 7 Deadly Sins, but this post will certainly show some of the darker side of knitting! A few days ago Knit It Up had a post on the 7 Deadly Sins of Knitting & Crochet and it looked like fun, so I’ll join in!

1. Greed: What is the most expensive and least expensive yarn you own?

 For yarns that are still in stash, I think the Maple Creek Farm Alpaca/Bamboo is the most expensive, although it shouldn’t stay in stash too much longer. The random green stuff I picked up at a swap is probably the cheapest.

2. Wrath: What pattern or designer do you have a love hate relationship with?

 I don’t tend to love/hate specific designers or designs, but there are absolutely specific projects I’ve felt that way about. Leonardtown was one of them.

Leonardtown

3. Gluttony: What kind of yarn do you buy over and over again with no shame whatsoever?

 There are way too many new yarns out there for me to try for me to stick to one over and over. I definitely have a few favorites from over the years though (I’m looking at you, MadTosh and Malabrigo).

4. Sloth: What project do you put off working on due to laziness?

 That would be my Project of Doom. It may never get finished. I am okay with that.

5. Pride: What finished item do you talk about to appear more skilled than other knitters/crocheters?

 “I designed that,” usually does a pretty sufficient job. The Aran sweater tends to get a lot of attention too.

6. Lust: What attributes do you find attractive in yarn?

 COLOR! I am such a sucker for rich, saturated colors. If it’s something I’m going to be wearing next to my skin it needs to be fairly soft too.

7. Envy: What kind of yarn would you like to receive as a gift?

 Pretty much anything in sweater quantities is awesome, because that’s what I like to make and when you’re asking for that much yarn you can’t be too picky! Hubs did get me the awesome small-dyer Maisonette DK that went into my Potomac though, which was a major win. I do like supporting local and small-time artists.

 

So what are your 7 Deadly Crafting Sins?

P.S. Happy Veterans Day/Remembrance Day all!

Packing Light

I’m going out of town for the weekend and this sweater WIP is all the knitting I’m taking with me.

 

There’s no way on earth I’m getting 3/4 of a sweater done in 2 days. Still, I’m a little nervous. One WIP? Really?