stash, knit, repeat

It feels a little anti-climactic, but here are the details on the HoJo Pullover I knit for Jessica.

Pattern: HoJo Pullover by Fiona Ellis, from the fall 2002 issue of Interweave Knits.

Yarn: Berroco Pure Merino, 12 balls of blue, 1 each of cream, lime, rust.

Time Elapsed: Definitely under a month

Modifications/Notes: I made two modifications–switching the pure merino for the (discontinued) Classic Elite Follies called for in the pattern, and knitting the back in a solid color instead of adding another fair isle band.

I thought, since the color work is so high on the front, that it would look strange to continue the fair isle in the back without also adding it to the sleeves. Jessica proclaimed the sweater perfect, so I’m glad I did this. Note to others considering the same thing: You’ll need more blue.

It was an interesting challenge to knit such a fitted sweater for someone else, especially as a gift. I enlisted the help of her boyfriend (hubby’s brother) to get the measurements of one of her favorite existing sweaters, and knit to that. It worked out quite well, but I wouldn’t have wanted to try without “cheat” measurements to rely upon.

This project included something unusual–fair isle done flat with patterning on both sides. I didn’t find doing wrong-side fair isle work to be difficult at all, and as the wry punster mentions in her little series on color work, it definitely cuts down on the bulk. I can more viscerally understand the advantages of an adult garment done this way, now.

I’m not sure there’s much else to say–but this sweater sure was a pleasant way to end my knitting year!

(Of the hand-knitted gifts kind. No New Year’s resolutions for me, this time around. I’m just happy 2007 is over.)

It was a fantastic trip, there was much knitting, and now I’m crashing back to reality here in CA. It is my sincere hope not to spend too many more holiday seasons frantically trying to see everyone, do everything, while living out of a suitcase. We’ll see.

I wound up finishing everything I really wanted to get done. Koolhaas for Adam:

(This shot is cuter than the FO. Just imagine it without the yarn strand, there.)

Shedir for my grandmother Grace:

Log cabin slippers for Nancy:

Silk Rhapsody scarf for Beth:

Bev’s hat and mitt set:

And last but certainly not least, the HoJo sweater for Jessica. As you all predicted, she loved it.

(And the fit is just great, if I do say so myself.)

It feels like I have a lot of catching up to do, with all of you. And there’s some blog housekeeping–FO post on HoJo, updates to my 2007 FO album, sharing pictures of a tiny bit of new yarn, the scoop on my current WIPs…

…but all of that can come some other day. May you all have a wonderful 2008, full of shining laughter and scrumptious hand knits.

To, uh, bake and knit, apparently.

(Clockwise from bottom: Finished lace hat and wine and roses mitts, finished HoJo, Almond-apricot cookie sandwiches, chocolate checkerboard cookies, mint brownies, ginger cookies, chocolate rugelach. We’ve had a busy day.)

The log cabin socks are started, but there’s very little chance I’ll finish them before hitting the road on Monday. I’m told there’s a lot of snow back east, and I just can’t wait to spend some time stomping around in it. Snowmen! Sledding! Snowshoeing! Knitting! Hot cocoa!

The possibilities are endless.

I do hope to blog while I’m back there, although I probably won’t be able to keep up on others’ blogs as obsessive-compulsivelyclosely as I do now. I have such big knitting plans! We’ll see if any come to fruition.

I’m going to save FO posts for all of the holiday knitting until I have proper modeled shots, but HoJo is done and I just have to say I’m in love with this sweater. My teeny-tiny friend Catherine offered to model the sweater for you all, since it won’t fit on my mannequin:

I hope Jessica likes it!

It’s so interesting to read what everyone else has to say about their stash! I admire people who are happy without a stash at all. I know it’s never going to be me–I’m not a collector by nature, but I do like to have some amount of inspiration around the house. So I display my stash–in a basket here, a hand-carved wooden bowl there. I love seeing my current favorite yarn while I work, play with Jacob, or cook. I like touching it as I go by, changing my mind about what the yarn will turn into dozens of times. It keeps my knitting juices flowing when I’m embarking on yet another small-gauge stockinette project.

I think the folks who commented that organization helps them feel less overwhelmed are really on to something–right now, the stash is in huge ziploc bags on the floor of my crafting closet, where I dumped it the day we moved in. Sadly organization will have to wait, since in a little under two weeks we’re headed back east for a month (hey, Boston and Providence and Maine knitters-give a shout and we’ll get together!) and things are a little hectic before we leave. While I have probably half a dozen small projects I want to complete by Christmas, I’m not worried about those. I do want to complete log cabin slippers and a hat/fingerless gloves combo by the time we leave, so they’ll be wrapped up when we arrive at the intended recipients’ house. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, although the hat that looked like this on Wednesday:

…is already finished, soaking in Soak as I type. I also cast on for Jacob’s alligator scarf, got through the head, realized what a pita the body is going to be, and promptly decided it can wait until after the mitts and slippers.

It sure is cute, though, isn’t it?

Whew!

I expect I’ll only have a few yards left over of the blue yarn after I’m done with the collar, but all main pieces of the HoJo are blocking away. Thank goodness! Also, hubby’s side of the family decided to do a secret santa-type thing this year, so I’ve only got the HoJo to do instead of two sweaters.

Which, of course, has led me to the obvious choice of knitting a bunch of small things for the holidays instead of another big sweater. So once HoJo was blocking, there was nothing else to do but cast on for a couple of new projects. A lace-edged woman’s hat out of some Boise from the stash, which I’ve already had to rip because I didn’t like the fabric on US 6 needles, and Jacob’s baby alligator scarf. I like the idea of these small projects–they’re going to be stashbusters, all. Which is nice, given the way I’ve been feeling lately about my stash…

Now, you’ll never find me advocating a small stash across the board. I love my stash, and I’ll never apologize to anyone about its size, nor do I think anyone else should feel badly about the size of their stash, as long as they’re enjoying it. But lately, the sheer amount of yarn I have that I want to knit RIGHT NOW has been getting me down, a little. How am I ever going to find the time to knit all of it? I get kind of sad when I scroll through my Ravelry stash page. And that’s not a good relationship to have with my yarn.

On top of that, certain life goals will be much easier if we can take the next six months and really buckle down, financially. So, aside from a trade that I hope will score me some Cork for gift log cabin slippers, I think I’m going to try avoiding any new yarn for at least a few months, maybe more. We’ll see how it goes. Have any of you felt overwhelmed by your yarn before? What did you do, if so? Do you love your stash?

Thanksgiving is over, thank goodness. This year, I’m just thankful I made it through.

In other news, I’m beginning to feel the first faint stirrings of worry about yarn quantity for the HoJo sweater. So I borrowed a page from Marlena’s book:

I almost got through the branching rib chart last night, and still have a decent amount of yarn left in the first ball. Hopefully I’ll be okay! Meanwhile, my mind is consumed by small projects. I don’t want to cast on for any until the main knitting for HoJo is done, but in the running: An alligator scarf for Jacob, a silk rhapsody scarf for a friend, a malabrigo hat/mitten set for my father’s girlfriend, a shedir for my sister-in-law’s mother (who is going through chemo again), endpaper mitts for this cold, cold house, an indoor cap for hubby, socks…

Yeah. I’m having a little trouble focusing. What of it? :)

He brought me two especially nice things today.

Did you know Kim Hargreaves just came out with a book?! That jumped into my shopping cart before I even had time to take a breath. And I got the yarn book on the lovely Claudia’s recommendation. Kim’s patterns are gorgeous, as usual, and I can’t wait to dive into the yarn book.

The yarn pictured is nothing much, really–a couple of balls of 4ply soft for endpaper mitts after seeing Julia’s gorgeous version, and some cashmerino for another indoor cap for hubby. Both projects will wait until after the remaining holiday knitting–which may not be so long, since HoJo is just zipping off the needles.

The fair isle looks good, when I stretch the ribbing out a bit, but I’m also anxious to see what a good soak does for it. I find that color work almost always improves dramatically with some water. The back should be easy-peasy, I think. But let me get your opinion, just for good measure:

The pattern calls for an identical fair isle stripe across the back, and no color work on the sleeves. This strikes me as something that will look totally bizarre (there’s no back view in the magazine), so I was planning on just continuing the ribbing up since I have extra yarn. What do you think?

One of the many, many reasons I love this community is that sometimes others will have realizations I’d never think of, and then share. Today, it was Ms. Monster Yarn. You know, folks? She’s totally, totally right. Holiday knitting is just craziness. There is just no need to drive myself insane knitting 6 different fantastically complicated things for a deadline, when the same people would love the gifts just as much on their birthdays. And those birthdays are spread so nicely throughout the year. Same number of knitted gifts per year (or more), zero stress.

So I hereby declare: I will not try to knit 3 adult sweaters, 2 kid sweaters, 1 shawl, and an assortment of hats and socks this year. My holiday knitting this year, in fact, will not exceed 2 adult sweaters.

So there.

One of them has already come quite far, despite a major frog-fest on Friday. You want to see the back? Oh, all right.

I still love the Pure Merino, although the sweater itself looks like total crap unblocked. It might even look crappy blocked and seamed, if not on a person. It’s all of that ribbing. The other sweater I’d like to get done this year is the Chinese Sweater from a back issue of Interweave, for my other SIL on hubby’s side. I meant to do both of these last year but didn’t have time, and I just don’t want to miss another holiday for these two special ladies.

But after those are done, damnit, I’m knitting what I want to knit, for me and for Jacob. Because that second sock isn’t going anywhere, lately.

And I may have ordered the yarn for Thermal, and I keep eyeing the Mermaid kit and the baby alligator scarf kit. And the fantastical new sock book I bought. And… well… you know how it is.

Thank you all so much for your comments about the sweater. I feel like I’m floating today. I don’t think I missed anyone but if I did, thank you! Thank you thank you thank you. You guys ROCK.

Sadly, there’s no rest for the wicked. My impulse knit of tangled yoke put me pretty far behind on my crazy-as-usual holiday schedule. So I’ve started work on a sweater for Jessica, the wonderful woman I hope someday to call my sister-in-law, if hubby’s brother Adam ever gets off his butt and asks her to marry him. She’s getting the HoJo pullover from the Fall 2002 Interweave Knits.

It just screams Jessica to me. Retro but very, very hip. I may change the neck to a regular crew–I don’t remember ever seeing her in a turtleneck before, and people tend to feel pretty strongly about them–but so far, it’s going very quickly.

I’m knitting it out of Berroco’s Pure Merino, since the specified yarn is discontinued, and keeping the same Howard Johnson’s color scheme. I’m in love with this yarn. Seriously. It’s as soft as bamboo, as springy as any wool you’ll ever meet, and MACHINE WASHABLE. It doesn’t get better than this.

Of course, I’m a selfish one, so I’m also knitting a sock on the side. The mate to Stacey’s lovely Victorian Lace sock, to be exact. This house is the chilliest I’ve ever lived in, and I’m finding a serious need for hand-knit socks.

So I’m knitting a few rows on it here, a few there. You know, whenever Jacob stops trying to stab the carpet with the dpns.

And just because I’ve been accused of being stingy with the Jacob photos (*smiles*), here’s one of him trying to teach the sock how to play the recorder.

Think the sock will tell him to blow on the other end?