I have officially gone over to the dark side

I woke up this morning just before 5 AM, and because I couldn't shut my mind off and go back to sleep right away, I got up and bound off the waistband ribbing on Ms Marigold:



I LOVE my sleep. I stay in bed until the last possible moment and rush about every morning because I had to spend just another 9 more minutes curled up in the comfy warmth of my down quilt. And yet somehow I have turned into a person who will get up an hour earlier than the alarm just to finish a few more rows on a project. Insanity.

Anyway, now I've hit a slight problem. I own two sets of Denise interchangeable needles, a bunch of bamboo straights and variously sized sock circulars and DPNs. I haven't actually lacked lacked for a needle size in ages, but the pattern calls for size 3 circulars to knit the neckband, and it turns out that's the only size I don't own!

Damn. I put in an Elann order as a birthday present for myself YESTERDAY, and if I'd bothered to check my needle sizes before this, I could have easily dropped a 36" circular into my order. What to do, what to do...I could catch a bus up to Three Bags Full on my lunch hour and pick one up...I could drop in at Michael's this evening and see if they've got the right size...I could hit Knitopia tomorrow and run the risk of falling into another pile of yarn...

FO: Daffodil Socks

The Daffodil socks are done!



Project: Basic toe-up sock.

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi, Daffodil colourway, probably 2/3 of a skein.

Needle: Knitpicks 32" fixed circular, size 0 (2 mm).

My basic toe-up sock goes like this: 24 stitch magic cast on, increase 4 stitches every other row to 64 stitches. 44 rows of stockinette, then 8 wraps on each side. 15 rows of stockinette on the ankle, then 10 rows of 2x2 ribbing, sewn bind off.

I have dorky duck feet: 8.5 inches in length, but a wacky 4 inches across at the widest part. These measurements give me a nice sock that are perfect for wearing at home.

Gah

I should have gone one step further when thinking about waist increases on Ms Marigold. I had 142 stitches on the needle after doing one increase row, realized that I had enough body length, and started the 2x2 ribbing. Except I forgot that for 2x2 ribbing to work, I needed a multiple of 4 on the needles, not a multiple of 2. Oops.

It took less than 5 minutes to knit that 2x2 rib, and I know that I'm going to tink it back, add another increase row, and restart the rib. Still.

Just a couple more minutes...

You get to this point, and even though you need to get dressed and put the laundry on and get more coffee and really, really THIS TIME put the knitting down and review that last bit about calculating the cost of capital...

The sock inventory development plan

After last month's sock yarn extravaganza, I have enough in the stash for at least 15 pairs of matching socks, and probably enough in leftovers to make an additional 2 pairs. I'm itching to knit it all up, but you know what they say: if you fail to plan, then plan to fail.

I've been pondering a sock inventory development plan, which admittedly is not much of a plan. Its initial, sole point was that I should knit plain patterns on the train and lacy patterns at home. I reasoned that my brain is way too small to memorize a stitch pattern, as evidenced by my Monkey sock experience. However, as I was happily knitting away on my Daffodil sock this evening, I noticed something useful about my work bag. There's a slim pocket on the outside of the bag, into which can slip very nicely an index card, onto which I could very easily write out the relevant stitch pattern. Genius!

A few weeks ago, in the early stages of plan development, I realized that I needed more than one size 0 circular needle if I was going to have more than one fingering weight sock project in progress. Yay for mail packages which arrive with fortuitous timing!



That's a second size 0 circular, and a size 1 just for kicks!

I really love the KnitPicks fixed circulars. They have a nice feel to them, and the cables are super flexible for magic looping.

Um, and in the interest of full disclosure, I suppose I must admit to this:



Knit Picks Essential in Meteor Twist. How can you say no to $6 socks??

It's likely that the Daffodil sock will be complete as early as this Friday, depending on how the work week goes. My exam is next Monday, so I'll probably be casting on for Kaylee on Tuesday night. And my next course doesn't ramp up until the end of the month, so I'll have a few weeks of prime knitting time to get some projects onto the needles. Yay!

Rethinking the yarn purchase ban

I didn't set out to rationalize my way out of the ban, but I've been thinking lately about optimal ways to use up my stash, and I've concluded that a complete ban on purchases just isn't a good idea. (Also, obviously, totally unrealistic, as evidenced by the recent whirlwind spree at Three Bags Full.) I want to reduce the stash, yes, but I also have some specific goals that I want to achieve in my crafting life:

1. Explore my fashion forward sensibilities (i.e. make cute clothes for myself).

A girl can only have so many scarves, beanies and fingerless mitts. Sooner or later, one must venture into the wide, exhilarating world of pullovers and cardigans, but when a girl seems to have accumulated a stash that is mostly comprised of felting yarn and one to two-skein project quantities, said girl is just going to have to buckle under and start purchasing sweater quantities of yarn, regardless of the damage it may do to the overall size of the stash.

2. Expand my skill set.

Hm. This may not be as strong an argument as I originally thought. I had been thinking that skill set expansion meant things like lace knitting, which generally calls for fine gauge yarns, of which I have precious few. However, there seems to be a trend lately to knit lace in aran and worsted weights for a sturdier garment, and I do have plenty of stash choices for this type of activity.

3. Build an inventory of giftable items.

Mostly I'm thinking baby clothes, and really I'm thinking about myself again. Remember when young women had hope chests? I'd like to start one for baby items for myself and my friends, as we are just hitting the point in our lives where there is likely to be a mini-explosion of kidlets in the next few years. I don't have that many yarns that would be suitable for infant and toddler wear, although the felting yarns would be awesome for toys.

By no means is the above meant to justify future free roaming of my credit card. I'm thinking of it in terms of a more enlightened, holistic approach to stash reduction: I'll buy yarn when I have specific projects in mind, and not let the stash overtake the queue.

March goals

March goals are:

1. Finish Ms. Marigold.
2. Finish the Daffodil socks.
3. Cast on for Elfine's Socks using Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra.
4. Cast on for Kaylee using Opal.
5. Cast on for a felted log cabin blanket for the cats.
6. Determine the Christmas knitting list and allocate a project for each month - stashed yarn only.
7. Stick to the yarn purchase ban!

Fun fact: of the 27 kilometres of yarn currently in my stash, I purchased nearly 6 kilometres specifically for felting projects. What kind of insanity was I experiencing?

February roundup

What a month.

First, of course, I knit and then frogged the Foliage hat. That hurt. I've got some Rio de la Plata that will probably work a lot better, but I'm still stinging from the initial defeat.

In the midst of the crazy, I rediscovered my knitting mojo, in large part thanks to Ravelry and two swaps that I completed with fellow Rav members. Hurrah for worldwide knitting power! I received two skeins of Lorna's Laces, a yarn I've never used before, and started on a pair of simple stockinette ankle socks for train knitting. The first is complete!



This week, I received this awesome, gigantic skein of Zen Yarn Garden:



It's seriously huge. And in addition, my swapper sent me an adorable ball of Rowan Kidsilk Night in a pale pink called Ballerina:



Crazy, right? People are too kind.

The Secret Project was in fact a French Market bag, and has been gifted to M for her birthday. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the finished object. It felted super quickly in my front-load washer, and is a bit bigger than I had intended for it to be. I hope she likes it!

I swatched and cast on for Ms Marigold this week, and finished Part A in my first session. This is seriously addictive knitting. I even got up early one morning and knit for an hour so that I could make some progress before exam prep hits, um, now. I love this tweedy yarn; it feels wonderful, and it makes my stitches look nice and neat. I got to row 16 on the back section before I had to put it down:



I sort of fell down on my last two goals. I didn't cast on for Elfine because I'm waiting for another sock circular to show up in the mail. And I must admit that I got sucked in by Elann's Sneak Peek page for their 4-ply sock yarn, and ordered a couple of balls for myself along with the samplers that I got for M's birthday package. Does it mitigate my crime if I say I only spent $6 on myself? :)

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February stash knitdown totals: 200 metres on the French Market Bag, 100 metres on the Daffodil socks, 100 metres on the Foliage hat, 60 metres on Ms Marigold, 30 metres on a plain garter stitch dishcloth. 490 metres!

I have conveniently decided to ignore stash enhancements for the purposes of the knitdown. Heh.

Taking a moment from exam prep

A few months ago, I picked up a bunch of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed at a closeout sale. I have enough skeins in a lovely rust colour to make this deep V-neck sleeveless tank, but swatched in the dark brown because I'm always wary of yardage. Here's the washed and dried swatch:



I got gauge exactly: 20 stitches and 28 rows on 3.75 mm needles. I'm a little concerned, though, after reading reviews of the yarn that indicate that it will stretch with wear, and that it doesn't have much memory. The plan is to knit for the 34" bust and adjust for a shorter torso.

Casting on for this will be my reward tonight after studying for the next 5 hours and then going for my scheduled 7-mile run. Yay!

Stash busting part deux: the damage

Mmmm. Sock yarn.

I now fully understand the allure of socks. It's the ultimate one skein project! I picked up some of this lovely green Dream in Color Smooshy. I love it when the name of the yarn totally fits the feel. It's onomatopoeia for touch! This yarn really is the epitome of smooshy:



I've been fascinated by the variegated colourways offered by Cherry Tree Hill, so I tossed some of the Jewels into my basket as well:



And of course, one must support local artists. Here's some Indigo Moon in the enchanting Northern Steppe:



The store had Lorna's Laces on sale, so I got some sportweight yarn in Manzanite for a pair of socks:



You'd think I'd be done at this point. After all, I now have enough sock yarn to last me until the end of the year. Uh, no. I took a deep breath and picked up 8 skeins of the Shepherd Sport in Cranberry so that I would have more than enough for Henley Perfected:



So, yeah. I also bought the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I may have to step up my output rate...

Stash busting busted

Schoolwork tends to take over in November and February, just before exam time, so my regular paperwork backs up for weeks until I can't stand the teetering pile anymore. I spent yesterday evening cleaning out my in-tray at home, putting receipts away, paying bills, filing correspondence, etc. 2 hours! Sheesh. I had planned to set up my exam study schedule as well, but that didn't happen.

Today I have a rare "working from home" day, which will involve me and M hitting the yarn shops this afternoon. I've been listening to the Stash and Burn podcast and the girls suggest that allowing yourself treats, like successful dieting, is an essential part of stash reduction. If you deny yourself chocolate cake, you're going to want the cake to the exclusion of the broccoli! Heh.

There's a surprising amount of random knitting time even in my day

Last week I rediscovered the therapeutic value of knitting. In the midst of an insane week that involved a midterm assignment, a quiz and some work wackiness, I still managed to stick to my running schedule, keep up with my readings, and eat some halfway decent meals. I'm finding that as long as I stick to a defined daily task list, I don't feel too overwhelmed and I can justify some knitting relaxation time dispersed throughout the day.

I have pretty small feet, so it only took about an hour and a half of train time to get through the majority of the foot of my Daffodil sock:



I took the majority of the weekend off to give my eyes a rest from the computer, so quite a bit of work was done on the Secret Project:



There are about ten metres left in the third skein, and a tiny bit of the fourth will probably be needed to get this project off the needles.

And my little helper demanded an action shot for his portfolio:



That's an unfelted Kitty Pi bed that was intended for Molly, but it was claimed by Fox and I haven't had the heart to take it away from him.

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February's stash reduction progress: 200 metres. The frogging of the Foliage hat technically hits me with a net addition to the stash, since the 100 metres I had knitted on the project in January is thrown back into the stash. I find that idea way too depressing, however, so I'm counting frogged projects as a net zero--no credit for additional knitting, no penalty for frogging.

So pretty

I love getting packages in the mail. Looky!



I swapped some Kureyon for two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in this bright, happy-making variegated colourway. CM has helpfully commented that it looks like a mashup of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. He has also agreed that "Daffodil" is probably a more marketable name than "Sesame Street Vomit."

This is a basic 24-stitch magic cast on, 4 stitch increase every second row to 64 stitches. I think I'm just going to knit a straight stockinette with a short-row heel and maybe a picot edging. With the Monkey socks I learned that I prefer anklets to longer socks, so I can probably eke a pair of socks out of a single skein.

Ouch

Yeah, I got to the bind off, and couldn't lie to myself any longer. This is a great project, but this yarn is the complete opposite of right for it. I have a gigantic flat doily.

Back to the frog pond it goes. Ugh. On the plus side, it was a super stressful week, and I really needed the process knitting to keep my blood pressure down.

January knitting roundup and February knitting goals

It's funny how much more laconic I've become, blog-wise, since I started school. Something about the overwhelming focus on numbers and logic, as opposed to Twinkies and free association, I guess. Let's rectify that, shall we?

So, January! We hardly knew ya. I managed to get one project done: my lovely toe-up Monkeying Around socks. I did also cast on and get some significant progress going on two more items:

The Secret Project is, well, a secret, but here's a progress peek:



That's some Patons Soy Wool Stripes in Natural Geranium. See how pretty and even my stockinette stitches have become? And the shine on this yarn, man, it's just gorgeous.

I also started a Foliage hat in the same Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran from which I made my wrist warmers:

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I'm going to make more of an effort this year to coordinate my knitwear. Even my fashion-challenged self balks at wearing my Sesame Street-themed beanie with plum-coloured wrist warmers.

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As far as knitting down the stash goes, the socks took up less than 300 metres of fingering weight yarn, the secret project is at about 100 metres, and the Foliage hat is at 100 metres. At this rate I'm on track to finish knitting up my existing stash in....January 2012. Hrm.

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February's goals are:

1. Finish the Foliage hat.
2. Finish the Secret Project.
3. Swatch and cast on for Ms Marigold.
4. Cast on for Elfine's Socks.
5. Continue to resist the lure of Elann's Sneak Peek page!

FO: Monkeying Around Socks

Put these through the washer and dryer today, and took a picture:



Project: The Crazy Monkeys, based on Cookie A's pattern.

Yarn: Jojoland Melody Superwash, significantly less than 2 skeins.

Needle: Knitpicks 32" fixed circular, size 0 (2 mm).

Notes: I really like the look of this yarn, but found it too splitty for my taste. I kept catching extra strands of the stitch in front of the one that I was knitting, which is not a usual thing for me. Superwash, though, is definitely the way to go as far as socks are concerned; I have enough to do handwashing various items for work wear, let alone having to add socks to the mix. Per the picture, one of them really is slightly longer than the other: an unfortunate side effect of not having sock blockers, I think. Whatever. This so does not bother me.

It was fun to see the simple lace pattern appear, although I am apparently not yet smart enough to memorize the 8-row pattern repeat. It's always good to try out a new technique, and this time around I learned how to do a gusset and heel flap from the bottom up. Interesting, but the result was not quite as snug a fit as the short row heel I did on my previous pair of socks. I think I may need to pick up a sock pattern book soon to learn a little more about sock construction and fit.

This project has gotten me firmly hooked on knitting socks, so yay for that! I usually wear cheap cotton ankle socks, the ones you get at the drugstore for $2 a pair, but I rather like the idea of having a pair of handknit socks for every day of the week. Maybe someday I'll even sign up for the 52 Pair Plunge. :)

Oh hai, bitch, u no studeez

Obviously there is no room to open textbooks. Look at that gigantic foot!

So, I turned the heel on my sock. (Note strategic placement of sock pattern.)

January knitting goals (better late than never, right?)

I like the idea of accountability, but frankly, knitting is near the bottom of my list of daily priorities. I'm going to frame these monthly goals more as personal challenges than anything else. I'm not racing against real deadlines, after all. So here are the January goals:

1. Complete my toe-up Crazy Monkey socks. I cast on for these on January 4, and I've just started the heel flap increases on the second sock.

2. Start and complete a Foliage hat.

3. For the Secret Project, cast on and get to the mindless knitting part so I can take it on the commute.

Another year, another set of resolutions

I've been posting my projects on Ravelry and woefully neglecting my little blog here. To sum up December, I did manage to clear everything off the needles before the end of the year, adding to my finished items list a little hat for my nephew:



And a pair of socks for me:



And a couple of garter stitch dishcloths for the kitchen:



It is very clear to me that I have no actual need to purchase yarn in the foreseeable future, so my knitting resolutions this year all center around stash management and reduction. I'm going to try to stick to a few rules:

1. Put a moratorium on yarn purchases for the first three months of the year. I can best accomplish by avoiding yarn browsing both online and in-store.

2. Publish monthly knitting goals, and document my progress on achieving them. Ravelry is an awesome tool for managing your stash and project ideas, and the blog is a great way to track actual movement.

3. Set aside some daylight time on the weekends to get some decent FO photos in natural light.

FO: Nomad Man

This is my brother's Christmas scarf. He shaves his head, and he lives in one of those Christmas-y towns where they have actual snowdrifts, so I'm thinking he'll get some good use out of it.

I have to say, I wasn't caught by the pattern when I first saw it, but it was fun and super easy to finish.



Project: Nomad Hat and Scarf, Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky, forest green, 7 balls
Needle: size 9, 10.5 and 11 circulars

Notes: Didn't bother with the Emily Ocker cast on, and accidentally knit the first 50 rows of the second scarf end with a size 9 needle instead of moving up to the 10.5. Surprisingly, it makes almost no difference, and will certainly make no difference when it's blocked. Hurrah for crazy loose gauge!