Spring Sorting

It's been a beautiful warm spring day today. When I got home from a lovely picnic with the husband, I decided it was time for my stash and I to have Words. Now I did not have Words with the entire stash - just the canopy of the stash. This is the more active part of the stash, which lives in the living room; the rest lives in a trunk on the sun porch. The Words I intended to have were words like "organize" and "what the hell happened to my size 6 double points?"

Between Olympic knitting and marathon baby blanket knitting, I've fallen behind on the orders I took for fingerless mitts back in January. Babies, it turns out, are not very accommodating about moving their birthdays around for knitting purposes. Now that it's time to get back at the mitts orders, I couldn't find the size 6 dpns I had been using for these projects. I knew that they were stuck in the beginnings of a mitt, I just didn't know where that was. So I pulled all the "active" stash and project bags out onto the sun porch for a good spring sorting. Here is where I started:

Here is what I found and organized out of all that. First, some fairly self-contained projects.
Some miscellaneous finished projects - including hats to give away and my Olympic totem person.

The cabled cardigan I'm making for myself. This is the second of the two front pieces, and my goal is to have this done by fall.

My Dad's Christmas sweater vest. It's too big. I think I'll try blocking it again, but I think in the end I'm going to just have to do it over. Working on coming to terms with that, and hoping to do it in late spring/early summer.

This little mess is on its way to becoming an amigurumi jackalope. I actually really like this project, but had to abscond with the size 5 and 6 dpns for the fingerless mitts. Due date June.

Then there's my Olympic Knitting project. A Dale of Norway baby sweater for my cousin's first baby. Liam Knight was born on March 20, and as soon as the sleeves are sewn in, the nose and whiskers of the seal are sewn on, and it gets a final, thorough blocking, this will be in the mail.

The Hempathy guitar strap for my brother that has been on the needles seemingly forever, but actually only since July. I promised him this would be the first thing that got my attention after the Christmas knitting was over. It was, too. Just not for very long. There are one or two more feet left to go. On size 1 dpns, cabling every 4th row. Also a summer project.

After I pulled out and re-bagged these projects, I had a bunch of yarn to sort into categories. First, my sock yarn and a few other yarns that were Christmas gifts:

Then the stash of Plymouth Encore that is mostly designated to become amigurumi:

The drawer full of yarn for baby sweaters, toys and blankets:

The dishcloth cotton stash, including a few completed dishcloths:

The small portion of the Christmas Stocking Stash that was at the bottom of the living room stash. This has since gotten packed away into the trunk with its brethren.

Finally, the small stash of alpaca and merino that I'm using to make the fingerless mitts and few other things that people have ordered from me. See the navy blue on the bottom right? Its partner skein is the one that has begun to turn into a mitt and contains the elusive size 6dpns.

So at this point, I'd sorted most everything and gotten quite organized, but still hadn't found the needles that were the reason for this exercise. After racking my brain for awhile about all the bags I've touched since New Year's, I went to a purse that I haven't carried in a month and half, and in which I'd completely forgotten that I put knitting:

And of course that's where they were. Along with the little scissors I've been wondering about, too. So now my Spring Stash Sort is complete, my living room is tidier, and I have a nice basket full of the supplies to finish the orders from January, as well as a few little gifts, and something (someday) for me.

After the Olympics

Well, I did not quite finish my Olympic Project in time, but I still feel quite accomplished. Here is the Dale Seal Sweater as it is right now:

The neck band has been added since the end of the Olympics, but otherwise, this is where it was last weekend, too. *Nearly* to the sewing up. I feel like if I hadn't added the duplicate stitched baby seal I probably would have been able to finish. But the seal is cute enough that I don't mind.

I was able to finish my entry for the creative competition I mentioned in my previous post.

It's a version of the Vancouver logo, based on the stone totem people - I'm afraid I don't know the proper name for them. This was Pat's brilliant idea one evening while we were watching curling. I made the pattern up as I went along. If I were to do it again, I'd change some of the angles and numbers of stitches, but this is a good first little invention. I think I will likely win a medal for this project as well, because as of last Monday's Knit Night, I was the only one who had submitted an entry.

I haven't worked very much on the seal sweater this week, because it has been pre-empted by Niece H's blanket. She turns one next week, so I need to hurry up and finish it.

I think I'm almost done.

Olympic Knitting

I love the Olympics. I always look forward to them and stay up way too late watching as much of the telecast events as I possibly can. This Olympiad, for the first time, I am competing in the Knitting Olympics.

The main event is to pick a project that will be challenging for you to complete in 2 weeks, begin during the opening ceremonies and finish before the flame goes out in the closing ceremonies. But before I get to that, Lambikin's Hideaway had an Opening Ceremonies party. Alisha over at 2BuckeyesInCinci has provided a great recap, so check that out. People brought lots of Olympic-themed food; I particularly liked the sushi hockey pucks, the truffle curling stones, and the chips and dip with five bowls of colored dip corresponding to the Olympic rings, but everything was delicious.

There were additional events during the evening too, and I won medals!
To warm up we had a game involving passing around balls of yarn, and the yarn each person had at the end was hers to use in the Creative event. If we choose to participate, we knit something from this ball before the closing ceremonies and the finished object will be judged on creativity. Here's my ball:

Pat came up with a really good idea for me, and I've got it started.

Next was the blindfolded knitting. We all wore blindfolds and knit a pattern that Christina read to us. The results were then judged based on how much they actually look like they were supposed to look. Here's my silver-winning effort:

It's a cute tiny basketweave swatch, although I had no idea that was what I was making until the blindfold came off. This event was absolutely the most fun. It was great to listen to everybody, and must have been even more fun to watch us all.

Then came the speed knitting. The group at Lambikin's has determined that Leslie and I are unreasonably fast knitters and so we were given handicaps of crazy yarn to work with. Mine was an eyelash yarn and Leslie's was a stringy fuzzy thing that produced a fabric that looked very much like Cookie Monster. The challenge here was to knit a tiny sweater pattern, and whoever finished first won. Hallie and I tied for silver.

Toward the end I think my handicap yarn actually became a bit of a help because I was able to whip stitch the seams in a very hasty somewhat sloppy way without anyone ever being able to tell. This sweater is just the right size for a beer bottle cozy, and Pat has already used it as such.

Finally, the main event. For my Olympic Knitting Project I chose a Dale of Norway baby sweater. Somewhat complex but small seemed like the right balance for me in my first Knitting Olympiad. Also, I have seven baby projects to knit between now and August, so I thought this would be a great way to turn one out quickly. It's a wrap pullover sweater in green and blue. A picture of a baby seal will get duplicate stitched on the front at the end. Here's my progress as of Sunday:

The purl ridge there is the fold line for the hem. This sweater is knit in the round to the armholes, then divided and the front and back are knit flat. I finished the back at my church board meeting last night. This sweater will be for Mac and Kristen's baby, my first cousin once removed, who will arrive next month.

Now, back to knitting and watching the Olympics!

Catching up on Pictures

Here are some of the pictures I promised in my previous post.

Mom's Christmas present Fetching:

A rusty red shade of Misty Alpaca worsted weight, knit on size 6. I adjusted the pattern to be a bit smaller - I worked 8 rib repeats around instead of 9, and the thumb has a few fewer stitches. I skipped the picot bind-off. She'll be wearing them at work to type all the time, and it seemed like that might get in her way.
Toys:
Loch Ness Monster for Nephew S.

This is knit on size 5 needles in Encore worsted colors 1604 (upper body) and 555 (belly) and snippets of brown for the eyes. He loves dinosaurs so this seemed perfect. The pattern is in the book Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh. A great book!

Nursery Balls for Nephew R. and Niece S.

You can't really see in these pictures, but on the blue and white ball the white sections have two pink hearts on them. These were made from my stash of leftover baby yarns. The pattern is in a knitted toys book that seems to have wandered away from me just now. The pattern calls for making each section separately and then seaming them together. I did that for the white & blue one, but I made the green and yellow one in one piece using intarsia. It worked fairly well once I got it started, but I wouldn't try to do that with striped sections or anything.

There will be more pictures of toys to come, and now I'm working away on MANY fingerless mitts, so there will be lots of that in the near future.

Christmas Reprise or the Return of the Camera

My goodness, but I've been having a hard time blogging without my camera. It's been returned now and appears to be working.

Review of Christmas knitting:

The major secret project for this year was a vest for my dad. Diamonds for Him, Plymouth Encore Worsted in 0668, a great heathered green. He loves the vest, was totally surprised, and it is in exactly his style. I took measurements for it from a vest he already has, so there was some estimation, and the yarn stretched more than I expected in the blocking - so it did turn out a bit too big. I'm going to sew the seams again so it is a bit smaller around. Pictures to come when it fits just right.

For my mom (who got her sweater last year), I made Fetching in Misty Alpaca, a rusty red color. (This picture is in her camera and will be added later)

For my two new nieces I made Mary Maxim Candy Cane Christmas stockings - here's one:

I also made toys for the other nieces and nephews, and one for my little brother. Those pictures are also in Mom's camera and will be added soon.

For nearly everyone else I know, I made washcloths:

I believe the final tally was about 27. Pictures of each will be uploaded to my Ravelry account soon.

My first finished object of the New Year was a pair of Fetching for myself, already done except for weaving in the ends. I am now embarking on a sweater for myself - a large cabled coat-type cardigan being done as a class at my LYS. I do love gift knitting, but I'm also greatly loving knitting for myself for awhile.

Fall Frenzy

Fall is definitely great knitting time for me. For a while now I was waiting to blog until I could take some good pictures, but it turns out that my camera is on the fritz. I thought at first that it was the rechargeable batteries being wimpy, but it isn't. Fortunately the camera is still under warranty, and the husband is a techie-guy, so that will sort itself out. Meanwhile, a picture-less update.

The LYS, Lambikin's Hideaway, had a great yarn tasting and fashion show on Hallowe'en. It was a lot of fun to spend several hours with so many knitters, checking out so many great new yarns, snacking, and learning a few new techniques. The whole staff did a great job putting on a pretty intense and seriously fun afternoon. My entries for the fashion show were the Marjorie sweater I made my mom for Christmas last year and my new Clessidra socks. The socks won the prize for difficulty/technique. I'm still very enamored of these socks and have worn them several times.

I came home with one of the $1 old magazines and a whole bunch of one of the featured yarns of day, Portland Tweed from Classic Elite Yarns in a blue jean color (#5047). This yarn is going to become the Wrap Cardigan (Ravelry link) from Contemporary Knitting by Jo Sharp, my first sweater for myself! Lambikin's will be offering a class on this sweater in early 2010, and the book comes with the class. I'm really looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, I'm still knitting on the 2009 Secret Christmas Project, although the second half is going a little more slowly than the first half. I'm also knitting some amigurumi from a book I was given for my birthday. I've almost finished a fish and have started a jackalope. I'll write more about those in a while, because there's something else that has taken most of my knitting energy recently.

More Washcloths!
I've been sick, kinda sick, recuperating, and trying not to get sick again for large portions of the last two months. Washcloths seem to be the greatest project for knitting when I don't have a lot of mental or physical energy and need something comforting to do. Also on Hallowe'en I restocked my stash of Sugar 'n Cream cotton and have been churning out washcloths at the rate of nearly one a day. I've also recently borrowed the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book from the local public library, so perhaps that has influenced me. My total tally of washcloths for the year stands at twenty. Twenty. I hope my family isn't tired of getting washcloths for Christmas yet.

Washcloth Extravaganza

I've been sick some this week, which means that washcloth knitting has been about the right level of mental activity for me. They're short, entertaining, and don't take much exertion. So I've been working my way through my stash of Sugar 'n Cream.
First, here are two Ball Band washcloths I did a while ago.

The "mortar" for both of them is the Sunkissed colorway, and the colors for the "bricks" are Cornflower and Yellow.
The washcloths I've been making this week are ones I've created from stitch patterns in a little book I have from Leisure Arts, "Beginner's Guide: Knit Stitches & Easy Projects." I've just been adding garter or seed stitch borders and selecting a number of pattern repeats that will result in a stitch count between 40 and 50. Here's the first one:

Horseshoe Print in Key Lime Pie. I really like the scalloping that happened on the cast on edge, and I might try blocking this one.

Next is a Trinity Stitch pattern in Cornflower. This is a great bumpy stitch to use for washcloths, but I can't do it for very long at once. The pinching-and-pulling motion I do with my left hand when I "purl 3 together" gets pretty stressful for my thumb. I need to practice knitting this with looser tension.
I've started one more in a Saxon Braid stitch pattern using Yellow. After that I estimate that I'll still have enough Sugar 'n Cream for 4 to 6 more washcloths. I've already done 10, and I think 15 is the minimum I'll need to give them as gifts for Christmas. Here's the current supply:

There's definitely a color scheme here.