stash, knit, repeat

So what have I been up to?

A pretty good (long) weekend, I’d say. And even if it took me until tonight to finish that silly cardigan, I forgive it everything. It is the bestest thing ever. Wait ’till you see it, I’m so excited.

(insert clever segue here)

Ashley and Ms. Octopus are the bestest people ever, because (sweeties that they are), they both paid me the nicest compliment!

I’m extremely flattered, especially since I’ve been feeling so lackluster about these projects dragging on forever. But things like this award always make me a little nervous, too, because how do I choose just five (or ten, or twenty…) other knitbloggers? When I read and enjoy dozens and dozens? The thought makes me run around in little neurotic circles.

But! One of the things they teach you as a manager is to make decisions even under impossible conditions with imperfect information, so I’ll pass the award on to

• Marlena, my oldest real-life friend, with whom I’m thrilled to share this obsession,
• Becky, the very first knitblogger I read,
• Wendy, who taught me to love the socks and the lace,
• Diana, because she is the best kind of knitblogger to hang out with in real life,
• and Ellen, because nobody rocks as hard as the woman who keeps me in great yarn.

You ladies rock!

Really, though, there’s no such thing as a complete list of all of the knitbloggers I think deserve this award. I’ve learned so much from everyone I read. And especially over this last year, having moved to a new place in relative isolation, feeling connected to so many people has been tremendously important to me. Thanks a ton, y’all.

Okay, enough of the mushy stuff. I’m off to attach a border to a shawl! Wish me luck and a few good margaritas.

I suppose that most knitters, when they get as bored of their projects as I’ve been, just cast on something new. I’m not sure why I don’t–it’s just not me, I guess. Part guilt, part obsessive-compulsive behavior, who knows. I just can’t make myself do it. Which winds up being okay, because no matter how much a project slogs in the middle, I get more and more excited about it the closer it is to completion.

The main body of the shawl is done, and the top edge is all picot-ed and sweet. Now I need to figure out how to knit and attach the border, which should be lots of fun since I’ve never done it before.

But it’s taking a back seat at the moment–because as much as I love learning new things, I love seaming more.

I realize that some would hold this up as proof of my insanity, and here’s a little more fuel for that fire: Seaming set-in sleeves is my favorite kind of seaming. It’s always the step that brings separate pieces of knitting into a sweater, for me. I love laying all of the pieces out, getting my little pile of safety-pin stitch markers, and easing it all together. I love seeing my yarn bring two pieces of knitting together harmoniously, but not identically. I absolutely adore the mix of straight lines and sloped edges.

And the structure of a finished sleeve totally makes me giggle. Look, ma! I made a sweater!

This sweater pattern instructs the knitter to seam most of the pieces before knitting the wide ribbed collar, to match the length most accurately. It’s a nice detail that I’m a little nervous about, here. I’m not using the recommended yarn and the Zara is stretching a fair amount. I’m going to try to stretch my ribbing slightly when comparing it to the (already blocked) main body of the sweater and pray that it works out. I’m pretty sure it will.

See you this weekend with at least one, and maybe two, FOs!

I’m finally getting there.

The cardigan just requires seaming and a large ribbed collar. The shawl requires just 24 more rows and a border:

It will be so very, very good to have these projects finished and out the door. I hadn’t realized how much I take my typical speedy progress for granted. I’m sure it’s just because I’m usually monogamous to a project–it’ll be somewhere around 2 months to finish 2 projects, which isn’t that much slower than usual for me. But usually, I have a nice little feeling of accomplishment halfway through. And this time, halfway through I was doing lace surgery.

Oh, well. The cardigan is making me fidget in my seat, I’m so excited to wear it, and the shawl is going to be knockout. It’ll be worth the work. Just the same, though, the next project is a tiny little lace sweater for a 2-year-old friend of mine. :)

Jacob would like you to know:

My current knitting is the opposite of good blog-fodder. The lace? Pretty much still the definition of ‘blob’. And eye-searingly red, to boot. The cardigan?

I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the most frequently-worn thing I’ve ever knit, but let’s face it: Miles of charcoal stockinette aren’t that much fun to look at. And they definitely require some kind of distraction for the knitter, too.

Maybe it’s because of my project ennui, maybe it’s because I got a very special gift myself recently…

(My grandmother’s sewing machine. My prom dress and many of my favorite childhood toys, clothes, and quilts were created with this machine.)

…but I find myself spending way too much time thinking about the knits I want to make for others. The ones I want to cast on for right now.

Generally speaking, I don’t knit for charity. I’m lucky enough to be able to donate money to my favorite causes, and I’m also pretty selfish with my knits—I want to see them being loved. But I’m also a huge process knitter, and my own taste for knitwear often runs in the tiny-gauge-charcoal-gray-stockinette direction. So I knit a lot of gifts. I’ve tried to knit more for myself this year, and I am beginning to become very impatient with it. Jacob needs another sweater, I have some crimson Hempathy for a lace tank for a toddler friend, I have at least 3 sweaters planned for the holiday season, I’m waiting for some Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran to make its way across the pond for a birthday gift… The gift knits list includes cables, lace, color work, fabulous yarn, patterns by my very favorite designers.

You see the dilemma? So please, please, distract me! What project are you most looking forward to knitting right now?

We had a lovely time in New England. Of course, I didn’t get as much knitting done as I wanted (does one ever?). But I did meet up with many many fabulous knit bloggers! I enjoyed every second I spent with everyone very much, but the look on the toddlers’ faces when the lovely Diana and I were finished shopping takes the cake:

(”Dude. Do you think they’re going to make us go to any more yarn stores?” “Dude, I hope not.”)

Obviously, there was some stash enhancement going on.

There was some knitting too, although I have nary a single FO to show you. This is mostly due to a major lace screw-up, the resulting 5-day knitting hiatus, and the two-day “open heart surgery” on my lace shawl to fix the problems. On the bright side, I now feel like an absolute queen. Seriously, I dropped down stitches and re-knit true knitted lace in five separate parts of the shawl, and the errors are totally gone.

(That’ll teach me not to knit lace at a stitch & bitch again…)

So, what have you all been up to?