It's not Monday, or Tuesday,... but that should tell you that it was a rough weekend. And to prove it, here's how I handled it:
I cast on:
That was Saturday, and I (partially) blame Ravelry. I was fooling around, looking at what patterns I have in my library, and suddenly I was clicking and running for needles and yarn, and... and... now I have a shawl started. It was stunning in the pictures, I have LOTS of lace weight yarn in my stash, and isn't this interesting? It starts at one end rather than at the the top or bottom. It's called Charybdis Shawl. I'm in love...
Charybdis or KharybdisGreek: Χάρυβδις) was a sea monster, later rationalised as a whirlpool and considered a shipping hazard in the Strait of Messina.
Then on Sunday,
I guess I was doing the same and feeling like 3 socks on needles wasn't enough, so I cast on, because I could! And partially because it's from Knit. Sock. Love. and I'm a Cookie A fan.
I call it Summer Hysteria Variety!
Fun? Several other words come to mind... as I cast on for the fifth time. First, I want to say I have NO harsh words for the designer. She has been SO helpful, from 6,000 miles away, and I certainly would be casting on many more than 5 times if she hadn't given me some very helpful tips.
The story: Startitis, again, Spring, what can I say! I purchased Knit. Sock. Love. last week and now I'm in love with every sock pattern (again). So I went back to some ideas: Doublefun from Think Outside the Sox. My first assumption turned out WRONG... I thought by "double" I was going to be knitting two-at-a-time socks with one sock inside the other. I've heard of it, and never tried it, and, since I'm obviously BORED need a challenge, I was ready to go! Then I looked at the instructions. Many things were missing: Where does it say connect the stitches in the round, or how do you finish off the socks? At the toe? The needle size seemed big, and there are only 40 stitches cast on. I was having a tough time visualizing any of this, so I cast on, 80 stitches, because surely they mean 40 of each color, and with 2.5mm needles, because surely (I talk a lot to Shirley) 3.5mm would be too big for sock yarn. I got nowhere. Then I went to Ravelry for the second time and really looked at everyone's comments and photos. I discovered everyone was making the "stocking" length, which has completely different instructions, and they looked much clearer than the anklet form I was attempting. Turns out that Ravelry had split the pattern into two separate patterns, which makes perfect sense, since they are so different. I found one reference to a knitter exclaiming that he was knitting socks flat, with standard needles, and that put me on the road to recovery. Flat! Imagine that! I followed the instructions, again, and since there was a comment about how important needle size is, I used 3.0mm (compromising what I thought was right with the instructions) and this time I tried the double-knitting technique I used on a previous scarf. AHhhhh. Now, I can get started. But then I realized that I was knitting both sides of the sock in double knitting which means that my foot has to go between the layers! Yes! ... uh, No... In the above picture are attempts 2 (bottom) and 3 (top). Attempt 2 had lovely stitches in two layers, but the bottom is "sewn" shut. I looked at the pattern. Yes, I did as explained, but it says Side B should be facing, and when I cast on Side A was facing. Can you see what a patient person I am? * At this point I'm back on Ravelry and now sending a pitiful message to the designer, Leena Siikaniemi, AND I cast on attempt 3, which is a mini version, just to see if it's possible to make an opening at the bottom. YES! I finally feel it's going to be alright. I'm so glad that Leena doesn't go to bed early, and has no life on Tuesday evenings, because she was online in a flash, and sent me 3 emails with some important information. And I confidently cast on for the fourth time, to H... with the instructions, I know what it should be, but I'll give in on the needle size and used 3.5mm. There has to be SOMETHING correct in the book...
I knit 3 rows and woefully show my friend, and wonder what it will look like with those big loopy stitches... and I receive a final "good night" email from Leena. She included these words:
The most irritating mistake is how the notes tell to begin the rows. Every row begins: knit 1, purl 1 with the yarns: knit under purl in the beginning of a row. A big thing is that the notes get the needle size to be too big. I knitted them on 2,5 mm needles. ((Oh, how much I sent information to make good instructions)).
I was crushed and relieved, too! There you have it... I started at 8:30 am and by midnight I had three rows.
*A loop cast on... it can be looped holding the yarn in either hand, this I discovered because I'm ambidextrous, and that determines which color will be facing you on row one. I know... TMI
Stephanie who? Otherwise known to the knitting blogger community as Yarn Harlot, Stephanie writes great posts on knitting and life. Her descriptions are wonderful, but nothing prepared me for what I saw yesterday. There's a link under my column "Blogs I Read", and I recommend it highly. First off, her mantra or punishment on August 31 was the prelude. I know that writing a repeated sentence on the chalk board isn't quite the same as Command C/Command V in a blog, but amusing all the same. I saw this:
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it.
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it.
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it.
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it.
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it.
I cannot commit a fancy chart to memory and knit without it....
And two days later my breath was taken away. Gotta have it! Anything with cats is of interest to me, but this pattern hit me in the solar plexus. It's called Catkin, and for pictures you'll have to see Stephanie's blog or Ravelry.
And just half hour ago I made up my mind I would finish 3 projects and in what order... Time to re-vamp.
Designer: Carina Spencer - I couldn't stop looking at her other patterns; gorgeous...
Here I am! After a #@$%^&*%$# trip back a week ago, I'm rested (mostly: it's strange how 100ºF temps exhaust the body), and I have no concerts or guests planned for the next month. Fact: Within hours of my arrival home, we had guests for the 4th weekend, to play concerts and workshop. My fingers still work, but barely. Patriotic songs always include 'forte' and 'octaves', which can be exhausting for my well rested (one month off) fingers. Particularly my knobby little finger got a little tired and sore by Sunday. Knitting? Of course... temps don't bother me with my tiny projects. Give me a chair and a fan! I have nine projects started, each begging for my time, and I'd love to give them my all...(see Ravelry link to the upper right) but instead I flit from one to the next thinking that each one should be the 1st priority.
A little Sage cardigan that I would wear with a summer dress.
My double knitted scarf with that cool pattern, promised for Fall
Cotton pullover, toddler size, that would be perfect anytime in Norway
Socks, just for the heck of it! Portable is the key word.
Those are the projects that are out and about. I'm fighting my urge to start something, or knit a row or two on the other 5 "in progress" projects. Sorry, garden... too hot for you!
Guests, beware! This is what is required for a stay at "Casa Hesse":
Sorry folks, (Eskimimi, will you forgive my creative impulse to NOT use the titles you obviously labored over for a year?) I really enjoy reading your prompts but my mind races on and on... This week is an attempt to “organize/organise” the knitters and crocheters to write about assigned (suggested) topics. This is day three and so far, I have managed to tweak or, as the movers and shakers of this project would say, change the titles and write such loosely related topics that they are connected only somewhere in my little pea-brain! Alas, I digress, again, and again, so on to the topic. Click here to see the original topics.
I like a tidy mind! I wouldn’t mind being organized in my world but I live with a cat or two...
Is that a good excuse?
The truth is, I live many lives, (eew, another cat-like excuse) and just when I get a handle on one of them, something turns my fancy in another direction. I’m one of those who goes from room to room changing direction and thoughts as I pass each object. I could be putting dishes away and midway reach for the phone, and not finding it in its cradle go to another room where I sit down to do a crossword puzzle, return to the kitchen to get a drink and realize (like at this very moment) that I made a list earlier of urgent things to do ASA I got home today, which was 6 hours ago... (Here is my time out from blogging so I REALLY can get those two items crossed off.)
Ah. done. So back to the topic:
I really have only one word to say about tidy knitting, patterns and stashes:
RAVELRY
I HEART you!
BR (Before Ravelry) in 2008 I realized I had to do something drastic if I was to knit several projects at once, and put any of them down for more than an hour or two! I got myself a booklet and wrote down everything I 'thought' I needed to remember.
It was mostly successful but I remember looking up things and finding I hadn't written down the yardage. Sometimes I refer to it now. But, then I found Ravelry! December 2008.
And now I feel confident and anal about putting all my eggs in one basket and trusting the wonderful, ingenious people at Ravelry.com to keep me in line.
I'm sure I use only a portion of their services, but I'd like to share with you how it makes my life and knitting possible:
Number One: Projects are stored. They have the data fields that I didn't know I needed! When I return to a project and find there are no needles in it, I can call up that info in Ravelry and the day is saved!
Number Two: My stash is stored. My marriage is saved! I refer to Ravelry to find the weight yarn I need for that project I want to start tonight, and not in a few days when I can get to the LYS. (I have a lot of yarn stashed...) And I can FIND it. There's even a place to mark WHERE I've stashed it, as if someone would stash yarn in more than one place... I know you're out there!
Here are a few places...
In the closet
Under the shelf
Of course, even in the "entertainment center".
I would look for a pattern, need a sport weight yarn. Look at my stash page and find:
Then I would locate it in the "E drawer". Here it is!
I think they are very clever at Ravelry to help me out like this!
Number Three: The library!! I have books, and magazines and all sorts of booklets... and single patterns. I can search my library and (quite often) find the pattern I'd like to use.
Number Four +++: Messages, friends, groups, news, more patterns,
Let me count the ways, oh, Ravelry!
Sorry, folks, about the previous title... It was late at night...
Yes, an instant friend to the rescue! When I got home this evening, there was an email from Fellow Raveler ChrisCope with my missing page attached. Dang... I love Ravelry!
I couldn't resist--as usual! No resistance #1: I met a fellow knitter (A) through Ravelry, and discovered we live a mere 20 miles apart. By SW standards, we're neighbors. I invited A to join us some "knit night", however, alas, she hosts a knit night on the same night. Finding that we don't always meet, I invited myself to hers along with friend, J, and we had a great experience last week. A is less than 1/4 of J's and my ages combined, yet she was refreshingly full of knowledge. She is very Ravelry minded; I mean I thought I was obsessive, but she really knows her stuff, and takes advantage of it. One of the things that impressed me was her "Owl" top. Little miniature owls, some with pearl button eyes... Too cute! No resistance #2: That owl has to be mine... In the toddler dress in progress, I realized I had missed my chance, so I dropped 6 stitches down 12 rows and proceeded to knit an owl.
What did you expect? Maybe blocking some of the surrounding stitches will straighten it up, after all, I DID create this as an after thought... And the voting can begin: Owl or Alien? Eyes too big? They can easily be reduced, and now as I'm staring at it, they will be reduced.
I haven't been only starting things... (even though I wish that was a worthy goal, sigh) I finished a sock! Maybe that isn't exactly finishing because it's one sock of two, but there's a feeling of completion since it's the same sock I cast on on my return trip from Norway in March.
It's the sort of sock where you I have to watch the chart all the time. And it's the kind of chart I wouldn't be able to use on the Know It All bag. It can only help you with repeated patterns up to 10 stitches. The Vilai sock is a symmetrical pattern on each side or a 32 stitch repeat. This link from Marguerite shows the huge difference yarn/color makes in pattern.
Now for the Old that has become the New!
Remember this, anyone? I knitted this years ago (BR = Before Ravelry). Lucky for me, and my obsessive mind, I started keeping a log of projects in April, 2008. I was frustrated with myself for -- guess what--starting things, and returning to them years months days hours later, the needles missing, and having no idea what I was thinking! Voila! I have info on this Celtic Tote from Interweave Knits, Winter '07 (p. 98). In the summer of '06, somewhere in Eastern Ontario, I bought roving, for the first and only time. I really didn't know why or what I could do with it, but later, in the Spring of '08, I rounded up my knit group to help me un-ravel it. It was in 5 plys, so I rolled it into single ply balls, and knitted it without spinning. It felted beautifully! I'm just dang lucky... I used Cascade in white for the trim.
Knitted in May '08, finished May '10. (All it needed was the lining...)
I love Ravelry... the search feature is the main reason I take time to enter things, like stash, projects, books and magazines. I searched for "animals" and it showed me that I had a Creative Knitting magazine with a pattern. It looked so cute, and then...
The only reason I didn't throw in the towel was that I imagine that a cute face will fix everything. I made the "Chou" figure, and when I got to the ruffle around the face, I discovered that casting on 174 stitches wasn't exactly the "little" thing I expected. But I bravely went on and ended up with a monstrous amount of ruffle.
Unfortunately, there are no instructions about attaching it to the head, except "see the picture"... (what kind of instructions is that?) and then it doesn't even show the back of the head. So I'm going to tack it down and hope that my 11 month old won't mind!
That was Saturday, and I (partially) blame Ravelry. I was fooling around, looking at what patterns I have in my library, and suddenly I was clicking and running for needles and yarn, and... and... now I have a shawl started. It was stunning in the pictures, I have LOTS of lace weight yarn in my stash, and isn't this interesting? It starts at one end rather than at the the top or bottom. It's called Charybdis Shawl. I'm in love...
I guess I was doing the same and feeling like 3 socks on needles wasn't enough, so I cast on, because I could! And partially because it's from Knit. Sock. Love. and I'm a Cookie A fan. 
