Snowy Days are for Knitting...

In knitting news, I gave up on the beret for now. I just didn't like how it started at the top with eight stitches and increased with markers in between each stitch. I guess my fingers are too big and clumsy, but every stitch I took I would drop a marker and the whole thing just made me mad. And since one of the reasons I knit is to feel calm and happy I just quit it. Sorry, Kirsten, I just couldn't do it! I do appreciate your offer of help, though. I'll probably give it another try someday since I checked out all the links on her blog where people who have made it call it an "easy knit."

I know I should be making Christmas gifts for others, but I decided to make the Shetland Triangle from the Wrap Style book by Pam Allen & Ann Budd. I have made several lace scarves before but nothing like this. I think the grey alpaca I am using is wonderful, and it feels like it is going to move along fine.

The only other thing I am working on right now is the socks that I'm making with Koigu. I needed something I could do in the car and plane when we went to Mexico last month - and you can see I haven't made much progress.

Not Everyone Knows Everything, Especially Me

There are a couple of knitting projects I want to get started with...and I am frustrated with the instructions in Interweave Knits. I guess they think everyone who reads their magazine and wants to knit their patterns is a very advanced knitter. Without having grandma next door or advanced and generous knitting buddies, how the heck do you figure things out?

Paul would remind me at this point that whenever I rant and rave like this I always end up figuring it out in the end. But why does it need to be so frustrating? Would it kill them to say something like "This project is worked starting at the bottom tip of the wrap with increases until it is at its full width. The edging is picked up and knitted on afterwards." And how about a drawing of the finished item? Sometimes it is very hard to tell from the pictures! It would also help if they put a skill level required rating on each project.

My latest frustration is with a tweed beret in the new issue. It starts on double pointed needles with only 8 stitches and you increase around and around which is something I've done before, no problem. But they are saying you need to put a marker after every stitch and use those as your markers for increases and that all seems to be way fussier than it needs to be. I'd go to my local yarn store but I bought the yard on e-bay so they might not be too hip on helping me. (I rarely buy yarn at yarn stores...)

In other crafty news I have felted a couple sweaters purchased at Goodwill and am going to turn them into handbags for a few of the gals for Xmas gifts.

Tattoo Pride

Well, you have to know that I love my tattoo, but sometimes you just want to cover it up and also show off your knitting! I finally figured out how to do a "knit 4 together through the back loop" decrease, and once I did this went really fast. Next I'm going to get started on some of the Perdita wristbands on Knitty this month.

I'm Proud of Myself

I had been wanting to try knitting something new, and decided on this Leaf Scarf that I saw in an old Interweave Knits. I liked the shape of it - easy to throw on, and it looks like it will stay on. The only hitch is that this project is knit from charts. The pattern is a kind of crawling vine pattern with leaves...

I plunged in, trying to follow the instructions and searching online for help with charts. At first it really didn't make sense to me because I kept wanting each box to represent a stitch and it really represents an action. (Otherwise a decrease would occupy more than one box, right?) Anyway, I ripped it out at least four times but finally made sense of it and zoomed along after that.

Books #6 and #7

I'm a multi-media reader...I am usually reading three books at once. One in the car, on CD's that I get from the library, one in my Rio Carbon mp3 player that I download from the library's website, and one on actual paper.

On my way home from errands yesterday I finished The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman. It's an entertaining "historical suspense" book...kind of along the lines of the DaVinci Code. A few huge plot holes, but and entertaining read that flips back and forth from past to present.

Since I am on a deadline to finish knitting a baby blanket I put on the Rio Carbon for several hours today and knit and knit and knit. I STILL am not done with the blanket...but I did finish Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Wow, that is a stunning book. It starts out as an interesting book focused on a young girl's spelling success and its effect on her and her family - and it turns into something so different! Both these books made me think about how people are often not what we expect. And made me think about whether I am who others expect me to be? I know that's part of why I got my tattoo - because it doesn't jive with what people would expect of me.

The Star of the Show

I love both giving gifts and getting gifts, but some years I am so impatient to give gifts that I can hardly stand it. This year the gift that made me the most impatient was the poncho that I knit for Erica. It wasn't hard to make, but as soon as I saw the pattern I knew it would be perfect for her - and as you can see, I was right! Another memorable gift was the Rio Carbon mp3 player Paul gave me that makes me feel like a kid again - impatient to play with it every minute I can! One of the main reasons I had wanted it was because our library has made downloadable audio books available. I sometimes have trouble making sure we always have audio books for our commutes, and the library system allows you to download anything at anytime. No waiting for holds or other hassles. Perfect! I also have a vision of myself knitting while listing to a book. Is that efficient, or what? Wend and Polk gave me a book on writing by Steven King. I have only just started it, but the book may be the push I need to actually get started writing something other than this blog.

New Handbag!

Erica and I knit together a lot this weekend, and I was able to complete my newest felting project, another purse. I love it!

Cozy Feet

I've been knitting every spare minute lately, and have been having such fun! I think I am really improving my skills - or at least I am less intimidated by trying new things. I finished my first pair of socks (above) and have bought yarn to make a couple more pairs. The yarn I am using now has a lot of orange and yellow in it, which is great since I am wearing orange a lot lately. Maybe that has something to do with my tattoo, which has an orange central flower. I'm also working on a felted bag for myself. I had bought some very rough New Zealand wool at Goodwill a while back and thought it would probably felt pretty well. So far I have made the bottom and the strap and am about a quarter of the way through the body. It will be chocolate brown and beige. Felting is an interesting process and I love the way the knitting turns into a solid mass. You have to make the knitting huge so it can shrink to felt, so I think the rest of the body will take a while to complete.

Labor Day at Black Dog Farm

Since I finished the sweater for Martha I have been working on my first pair of socks. Actually, I am working on my first sock. I have made it past the heel and am working on the foot. It was all very perplexing at first, until I found online help. What a difference it made to be able to see each step as I went! The yarn I am using is very fine so an inch of knitting takes forever, but it is cool that it is self-striping, don't you think? Our fig tree is loaded with figs, and yesterday I harvested the first dozen or so. Today I made fig cookies - tons of them....enough for platefuls to go to work with both Paul and me. The edamame are ready, and tomorrow morning I'll pick them for blanching and freezing tomorrow evening. The corn is almost ready. I can hardly wait. We have quite a few watermelons and cantelopes from our Seed Savers melon patch - it is probably getting very close to harvest time for them, too. Yum! Next Saturday I get my tattoo! At long last the design is done - I haven't seen it, but trust that Andrea will have designed something wonderful. Paul will consult with her at the same time about the half sleeve for his other arm. Angus is done with chemotherapy! It's been 19 weeks - and he's been in remission almost from the start. He'll go back in for follow-up once a month, and we just hope he can stay in remission and have a long, happy life at the Black Dog Farm!

The sweater is beautiful, too!

I made the sweater as a gift for Martha's birthday. she seemed to love it, and I was so happy that it fit! I am almost done with another gift project - once I have it completed I plan on starting my first pair of socks and possibly sweaters for my two favorite kids!

My Nana Taught Me

A few weeks ago Paul and I went to Bellingham for a visit with Phil, Jen, Erica & Owen. The visit was wonderful, the weather was great, and our dogs behaved. I just can't get over how intelligent, inquisitive, and happy Erica and Owen are. They are so fun to be around! Erica had been given a kids knitting kit and brought it to me hoping to get started. I was amazed how quickly she caught on, and in just a few minutes was knitting and purling like crazy. She got messed up here and there but we were able to work through the problems and get things sorted out. The kit was for a purse - and it was just partly done when we had to leave. She finished it on her own - and you can see her modeling it in the picture above. When we got home I put together a knitting kit with some extra needles, yarn, and a bag that I thought she'd enjoy, and followed it up with a beginners knitting book. She is having a blast, and is now working on a headband.

We wanted to give Owen a gift that would challenge him sort of like the knitting challenges Erica, and decided on a couple of model cars. Even though his main interest right now is baseball - and he can recite statistics on most Mariners - he has always enjoyed cars. He and his dad put together the model shown below. The next one he is going to do more on his own. I am so happy with and amazed by these wonderful children.