Eleven Stitches

Thankful

There are so many things in my life to be thankful for this year, and oh, I really am.  But I want to talk here about why I'm thankful for knitting.

Knitting has been such a wonderful hobby for me.  It's interesting, tactile, challenging, and I get to use so many beautiful colors.

Knitting is calming.  It's a reward for getting through a stressful day.  It's the perfect thing for a lazy, rainy weekend.  It could be the reason I no longer suffer from anxiety attacks.

I can wear and enjoy the results of my knitting.  I feel cozier when I wear hand-knit things, and when I wear five different things on a cold day (socks, sweater, hat, scarf, gloves), I feel especially glad that this is my hobby.

I can knit things for people I love, and those I love know me well enough to really appreciate the thought and effort that goes into a hand-knit gift.

Knitting helps me relate to other people.  I can teach the children at my school how to knit (and they love it), and I can also talk about knitting with my mother-in-law (who knit the blanket square above with bulky handspun).

And finally, because of knitting, I have joined this huge online knitting community.  I've been inspired and encouraged by what I have found here.  I've made several real-life friends who I never would have met otherwise.  And because of knitting I have you, dear readers, and I am very thankful for you.

To those of you in the US, and anyone who has things to be thankful for, Happy Thanksgiving!

A Mismatched Pair

When I set up a photo shoot, of course the cats have to investigate.

Oh, were you looking for knitting?  OK, here's another mismatched pair.

On the left, a finished Oak Leaf Sock.  On the right, Marilinda.  The purple is Tess Super Sock & Baby, and the yellow is Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra.  Both were knit on US 1.

Two more socks to add to the single sock pile! They were both fun to knit.  The Oak Leaf pattern was a little different-- the leaves were offset by only a few rows instead of say, halfway.  The Marilinda pattern was a really great knit.  I really like a cable thrown in with a lace pattern, and all of the pattern seemed to really flow.

The Oak Leaf Sock is a little hard to photograph in this color.  The details pop a little more in person, and the color has a little more red in it.  Also, the sock would be easier to photograph if there wasn't a Philana tail in the way.

But don't tell her that.  I think she was a little excited that she had a chance to "help".

Long Overdue: Beet Sweater

So remember last February when I dyed yarn with beets?  And then I started knitting a sweater with it right away?  The sweater knitted up fairly quickly, but when the clocks sprang forward in March, I suddenly lost all interest.  It was too hot outside for a sweater like this!  Now that there's a definite chill in the air, this sweater has suddenly become interesting again. 

Pattern: My own, based on an EZ seamless set in sleeve (I think, it's been awhile!)
Yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery's Green Mountain Green, 9 skeins, dyed with beets
Needles: US 9

I was feeling a little unsure about the collar of this sweater when I knit it, but I really like it folded up like this.

The sleeves are extra long for extra snuggliness, and I like the twisted rib on the cuff.

I'm definitely happy to have this sweater for the cold weather!

New Projects and Stitches East

Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened to last week, but I'm happy to have a fresh start for this one! Last Saturday I went to Stitches East in Baltimore, and since I've already cast on with two of the yarns I got, I think I had a successful trip!

Jody and I took the train down to Baltimore.  I have to admit that I was looking forward to the trip partly because I was excited to take Amtrak again-- it's my favorite way to travel!  We met another knitter on the train, and the three of us shared a cab to the convention center.

I don't have any pictures from Stitches, because cameras are not allowed on the show floor. I was a little surprised at the atmosphere there.  There wasn't that almost frenzied excitement like I'm used to at Maryland or Rhinebeck.  People were happy and interested in the yarn, of course, but it all seemed a lot more subdued.  There was so much interesting yarn there, and I'm really happy with the things I picked up.

I've already cast on with the Tess Silk & Ivory yarn.  It was my first purchase at the festival, too!  I had regretted not getting yarn at Rhinebeck to make Baby Cables and Big Ones Too, so that was first on my list.

I have to admit that the yarn is a little too thin for the pattern.  It's really a fingering/sport instead of DK.  But I've knit enough of it now (and a size larger than I need given gauge issues) that I like the fabric and I think it will work out really nicely. Although I just started this on Friday, I think I might be able to get this done for NaKniSweMo!

I also picked up a few yarns at Miss Babs.  I hadn't heard of her before, but I really liked her things.  She had both sock and sport weight yarn in tiny amounts-- 1.3 oz -- which really opens up some neat possibilities.  You could buy a few skeins for a striped pair of socks, or you could just get one if you only needed a small amount of yarn.

Here is a mini-skein in sport weight Peony, and a regular skein in Obsidian, which I'm planning to use for two Christmas gifts this year.  This first project is Selbu Modern (Rav link).

I got enough yarn to make Violette-le-duc at the Webs booth.  They had a sample knit up, so I was able to try it on and make sure I liked the look.  I opted not to get any of the glittery yarn the pattern calls for.  None of them were very me, and they didn't look that great with the red.

And finally, I have a few skeins of sock yarn. 

The orange (Miss Babs again) was my only impulse purchase. I have several pairs of orange socks already, but this color was too glorious to pass up.  And I got what I'm calling the "snack size".  I also picked up some Malabrigo Sock Yarn, and some Tess Supersock & Baby.

All in all, I had a great time at Stitches.  It doesn't evoke the same loyalty in me that Rhinebeck does, but I had a pleasnt trip there, found some great yarn, and we even had dinner overlooking the Baltimore Harbor.  Besides, I think it's important to seize any opportunity to congregrate with a bunch of people who love to knit!

On Stash and Running

My self-imposed yarn diet ended the day before Rhinebeck.  It was an unusual one-- I could buy as much yarn as I liked, but I had to run laps on the track (4x the amount of yardage I bought) to pay for it.  This method worked very well for me.  I don't like to run, but I was able to buy yarn if I *really* wanted it.

In the end, I've run 10.5 miles for yarn, and I owe David 3.5 more miles.  You see, I had a bit of a falling down a few weeks before Rhinebeck.

I was thinking about the Wollmeise yarn.  I love it; it's my favorite sock yarn, but it's now so hard to get.  I went to Yarnissima's web site, and she happened to have all of her kits available, and well, I had to get some more Wollmeise.  Even with paying for the Yarnissima patterns, the price was very reasonable.  I totally recommend this option for the Wollmeise crazy-- the patterns are beautiful, and the kits are in stock quite often.

That falling-down aside, I can really feel how this diet has changed my way of thinking about yarn.  At Rhinebeck, I could see the frenzied looks in other knitters' eyes, and I felt a little bit like the designated driver at a New Year's party. But I did make purchases that were what I really wanted, and things that I knew I could use well. Almost everything I got, I though about the yarn, the yardage, the color, and did I really want this yarn.  I walked away from several options because of this. I did have a couple of "Squee! I must get this!" purchases, though, which is very fun.

I'm going to suspend the running-for-yarn diet for awhile.  There are some things I would like to buy that I don't want to run for.  But I think I'm ready.

That said, I'm going to Stitches East tomorrow :)  I'll probably be bringing home some more yarn.  But  probably not an unreasonable amount?  We'll see!  If you're going, look for me in my favorite sweater!

Ayda's Gloves

Last week I finished up a wee tiny pair of gloves, and mailed them to a special little girl.

Pattern: My own, based on a tracing of Ayda's hands
Yarn: Dale Baby Ull, 1 skein pink and 1 skein white
Needles: US 0 (my first project with needles this tiny!)

I first talked about this project a couple of months ago. Ayda's mother found my blog and I decided to knit her a special pair of gloves. Ayda has Symbrachydactyly, and she was born with tiny little fingertips in place of the last three fingers on her left hand. Her mother wanted her to have a pair of winter gloves that fit her and looked nice.

I heard back from Ayda's mother over the weekend, and the gloves fit!  They're a little bit big, actually, which is perfect because we would like for them to last for the rest of this year and maybe next year. Ayda's mother said that she played on the playground with no problem of having gloves that were fit badly, and that they stayed on her hands the whole time. Ayda's message to me was: "I like stripes! I like pink!"

Me too, Ayda!