still knitting, just without evidence

I wanted to assure any of you who might have been worried that I am still knitting. I'm finding that with working a new job, I'm quite pooped by the time I get home and the last thing I want to do is turn on my computer. I have been knitting though.

1) back in December I joined a Yahoo! group for a Dishcloth KAL. I figured I could manage that... ten lines of a pattern come out every day for about five days. This happens at the beginning of the month and again at mid-month. I figured I've been getting these notices, I might as well start knitting the darn dishcloth. I need more, I have plenty of yarn for it, and it seems like an easy brain-free way to go.

What I'm finding interesting is just how many brand new knitters are joining this group, knit a few dishcloths, and then think they can start selling them. It's shocking, really. There are several thousand people in this group, and LOTS of them post their photos to the group when they are done. I guess we all knit for different reasons.

2) I turned the heel today on sock #2 for Dan. I started this sock, O, in October? and am finally getting around to finishing. I cast on this second sock last Friday, so I figure at this rate I'll definitely have it done by Valentine's day.

3) I have done a bit more work on the Candy Poncho as well. I'm almost done the last ball of pink, will knit my way through a one more ball of red, then cast off. I want to wear it on Valentine's Day!

4) working on a test piece for a new designer. Cannot comment any further.

5) Have not been working on anything else. Feel pretty good about plowing through my current WIPs and looking forward to having all three of these projects off the needles in the next week or so. Then I can focus on my other WIPs:

- BMW socks (just above heel of first sock on a toe-up construction)
- pink & white stranded mitten (first one completed)
- a cotton tank top I started two summers ago
- Brother Amos Hellfire Lace socks in Malabrigo. Gotta get them done.

And THEN I will let myself work on my Cookie A socks.

I came to a decision about my yarn habit the other day. I'm not calling it a Yarn Diet, but I will not let myself buy any more yarn until the yarn I have has a specific project earmarked for it and they are knit. I'm going to give a lot of my stash away - including the mountain of recently acquired free yarn. There are tons of knitters around here that would be happy to pick over my free yarn, and as soon as I get that organized, I'll put up signs around town (after my immediate circle of friends has a look, of course). I just don't want to have to manage my stash. I feel guilty for the amount of yarn I have. How did this happen? I had such a tiny stash a year ago...

See, then we moved to this area and met someone who was just opening up a yarn shop, see and she had so many good things! I was powerless... Then the other day I opened up a rubbermaid bin and found yarn I had bought from her early on and forgotten about. That's when I knew I had a problem.

Therefore I am resolved. 2011 is my Serious Destashing Year. Now that I'm working almost full time, I will have less time to knit, but perhaps I'll get more streamlined with my crafting.

This week: on/off the needles/hook

The Candy poncho is coming along swimmingly. I put my slippered foot next to it for scale - the slipper is felted and I can't locate the photos of those, but there you are. Two in one. I am about halfway through the last ball of pink yarn (I have more of this yarn, but that's all I'm devoting to this project) and I'll finish with a red. Then I will be done. 

These are coming along rather well too. But you work for two days on something like this and only come out with two more inches, it seems a little defeating. O well, it's lovely yarn to knit with and I am enjoying this. 

O no. I really shouldn't have started another project. And yet... This is going to be another Sideways Single Crochet scarf. I think I have enough pink yarns now that I can do this, to wear with my Brattleboro hat and my pink/white stranded mittens (when I finish them). 

 
Now these little things were out of the premiere issue of a magazine called Knitting today!. It's not a great magazine, in my opinion, but I was absolutely intrigued by these ornaments. The gingerbread man was knit first. He came together pretty quickly, but the finishing is what took a long time. The candy cane is knit flat, if you can believe it, seamed (not very tidily), and then a string pulled through to make it bend. Given how much time each of these took, I'm unlikely to ever knit them again.

This was knit last fall - a test piece for the felting process. I really should have before pictures so you can see the difference felting makes. It was fun and annoying all at the same time. 

Gratuitous Cute Kitty shot. Actually, I knit this hat a few years ago. It's unwearable (I didn't use a pattern, completely botched the shaping) so now it goes on things like kitties and fish. If you got a Christmas card from me, you might have seen a photo of fish with this hat on...

Oh! I know why I feel like I've done a lot of knitting but have nothing to show for it! I'm test knitting a Thing for a designer and I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. I can't wait though, as soon as she says Go, I will have two or more of the things to show you - I like the pattern that much.

This week: on/off the needles/hook

The BMW and Dan's birthday sock combo. Turned the heel, and am just about ready to start the intarsia for the BMW logo. This ain't gonna be easy...

 For some reason I can't get text into the Sideways Single Crochet Scarf. I finished it last night, added tassels this morning. I have a sensitivity to wool against the skin around my neck, so I'm not sure I'll actually be able to wear it.

The next photo is the Candy Poncho, on which I have not made much progress in the last week. 

Two photos above is the Brother Amos Hellfire Lace sock pattern using Malabrigo sock yarn. A pattern from Brenda of Cast On, I started these in, Oh, I don't remember now, August? And I really need to get back to them. At the very least, because I need the needles for other projects.

And last, is a pair of stranded mittens using pink silk/merino and white aran wool. The first one fits my right hand perfectly, I did the top decrease to exactly fit the shape of my pinky finger and then the rest of the fingers. The second one... well you know how it is when you are making up a pattern as you go, finish one thing of the pair, and then weeks pass before you get to the second one. Then you wish you had made notes at least for how many stitches to cast on... So the mitt on the right will be frogged this week and then restarted. I hope it happens this week. I want to get most of these projects finished inside this month so I can spend February and March knitting Cookie A socks in preparation for the Cookie A Sock Retreat in Tofino in April. Haven't yet decided what patterns to knit but I have a lovely selection of sock yarn to choose from.

This week: on/off the needles/hook

Bulky Purple hat with pompom

 I am going to attempt to keep up with my knitting/crocheting (yes! crocheting! me!) and post regular updates about my progress. This is inspired by Ursa over at Dyer in the Rough  who has (until the Christmas/cold season took over) been faithfully updating her blog with her progress.

  So this here purple hat came together in an evening, twice. I received this yarn as a gift for Christmas, and as soon as the gift-opening bonanza was over, I set to work on knitting up a hat. I got out my 7mm dpns, cast on 60 stitches, and went in a 1x1 rib until I ran out of yarn.

  It was fun to wear as  a beanie, but it didn't cover my ears. A few days later, I frogged it and re-knit it with the same needles, but with only 48 stitches. This time it is a much better fit, and I had enough yarn left over for a pompom, which I didn't know I even liked until now.

   This Sideways Single Crochet scarf is inspired by Amanda from Nerdy Together.  I met her on a Twitter chat last week hosted by Natalie from the Cloudy with a Chance of Fiber podcast. Amanda has an ambitious project: to create 365 scarves in 2011, and photograph/blog about them every day. January 2nd's entry inspired me to bust some of my stash, as I am in desperate need of more scarves that match my growing hat collection. This is as it sounds, Chain something like 200 stitches or so, and keep going in single crochet until you have either run out of yarn or the scarf is as wide as you want it! I'm hoping to get done this today.

  I'm calling this my candy poncho. I got this yarn from Rosemarie, who is the aunt of Ursa (above Dyer in the Rough). Rosemarie invited me to come help her destash her attic last month, I came home with several bags of yarn. As in "it's a good thing we have a pick up truck" amounts. This yarn is called Fluff, and is 80% acrylic and 20% mohair. Normally I would scoff at such a high acrylic content (if at all), but as this is my first foray into knitting with mohair (I was very afraid), and the yarn came free, I have been knitting with reckless abandon. (Actually, the other night I had some friends over who came without their knitting. Lucky I had several projects on the go I could dole out my knitting! But that's another story).  

  I have miles of this blue hemp/wool yarn. It was almost a blanket. I had three strips of 6 feet by 16 inches - the third panel was almost finished when I decided I didn't like the way this blanket was turning out, that I'm a much better knitter than when I started five years previous, and frogged the whole darn thing. This yarn's fate is to become a million dishcloths. I must confess here that I only cast on and knit a few rows of this, as on the above mentioned evening of Stacey's Knitting Sweatshop, my friend T worked the majority of this. 

  The Socks that Took Forever. Are taking forever. The black one will one day be a pair of socks with a BMW logo on it. The self-patterning will be socks for Dan. I lost my sock knitting mojo a while back and it is only now returning. 

  I am at the point where I need to turn the heel. When I have a few hours of uninterrupted time, I'll do that. 

  Then I can get going on the BMW logo. I haven't charted it out yet, but I do have the blue and white yarn for it. I'll embroider the letters on afterward; it's too complicated otherwise.

  I forgot to get a photo of the slippers, but they are in the process of being felted at the moment. They were a hard grind to get done, which almost involved tears, and may therefore warrant a separate post of their own. Stay tuned.

some photos from the last Tofino Stitch Night

Juliet is the shop dog at Knits by the Sea. It was her birthday yesterday and Ellie announced this on the shop's blog.

Juliet is so excited when you walk in the store. She knows that you are coming to see her. So please do give her a scratch, she will reward you with the wagging of her tail and perhaps some puppy kisses.

Juliet wore a dress for the Grand Opening Party in July, wore a Christmas suit for Jingle Into Christmas, and is so used to wearing sweaters now that, the other night when she was on my lap and I was knitting my poncho, she walked right into it.

Photos taken with my iPhone...