Quiet? Not so much...

I know that things were quiet on the blogging front last week, but things were very busy at work and then I took a couple of days off to spend some time with the kid before he went back to school today as a big eighth grader. Does not seem possible!!

I enjoyed my time off and it was much needed. I needed a break from work and I also felt like I had spent very little time with the kid this summer. Over the last two years, I went from four weeks vacation to two and I have to say that right now I am feeling it! My time off included some productive knitting of course!

I finished the Lace Ribbon Scarf and it will come off the blocking board tonight. I also made some good progress on the Dayflower cardigan. The fronts are finished and attached to the back. I picked up one side of the button band yesterday and I will do the second side tonight. I also picked up the Spring Forward sock again and I managed to make the heel flap, turn the heel and I am more than half way through my gusset decreases. Once again, I am loving this sock! Will I make my August goals? I think I will be pretty darn close. The only thing that may not be finished is the second sock, but the Dayflower will definitely be finished by the end of the weekend.

My time off also included a little fiber therapy. Over the last week or so I experienced some personal loss and I was feeling blue so I decided to take a little day trip as a way to take care of me and what better way than with fiber! So I planned a trip to Charlotte to check out some of the yarn stores there. I started at Baskets of Yarn as they were having a 24% off sale. I was a little disappointed. Their website referenced Malabrigo so I was psyched to find some worsted weight, but alas there was none to be found. Also, there sales area was really cramped. I decided to buy the Norah Gaughan Volume 2 Book and was going to make Currer, but they did not have enough yarn to make my size. I have to say that is one of my biggest complaints with local yarn stores these days – they don’t stock enough yarn for the average sweater knitter. That’s what makes on-line stores my “go to” choice usually for sweater yarn. As I mentioned, I got the NG Book and I bought the new Nashua Knits Magazine and I bought a skein of Berroco Sox.

My second stop was such a pleasant surprise. While on Ravelry checking out shops in the Charlotte area, I found a listing for Charlotte Yarn. Since it was fairly close to my first stop, I figured why not. I have to say that I loved it. They had a wonderful selection of yarns, plenty of inventory, wonderful customers and great help. They will be moving at the beginning of October and they will now be my LYS away from home. They even had a interesting list of classes many of which are on weekends so that may be a possibility in the future. I bought some Blue Sky Cotton for a baby sweater from The Book of Yarn and I bought some Cascade and Silk Garden for Brooklyn Tweed’s “Turn a Square” hat pattern and I could have bought more, but I had one more stop and I was trying to pace myself. Ironically, at the third stop I didn’t find anything to buy. They had Koigu but not enough of the color I wanted, so I showed restraint and didn’t buy anything just for the sake of buying something. All in all, I had a really enjoyable day and I will embark on more fiber road trips in the future. There are still a few more shops that I want to check out. Yes, I know…this doesn’t really fit into my commitment to work only from stash for the year.

Speaking of which… September marks my month of completing UFO’s. I am really looking forward to it. That may sound crazy, but I know it will feel good to complete some things that have been on the needles way too long and there are small little glimmers that fall will make an appearance in North Carolina sooner or later. And what do we need in the fall? Sweaters of course!

Confessions

After making my pledge of no yarn purchases for an entire year, I gave in to temptation. First, in my defense, I will say that I gave in because the yarn is something unique to anything in my stash and it is a type of yarn that I had in the back of my mind for some projects. I purchased yarn from Beaverslide. Once I saw Terra in Knotions, I knew I wanted some of that yarn and I have ordered enough to make Terra and then enough to make a sweater from a Fine Fleece. Once I gave in, well…why not go ahead and buy some Dream in Color! So, I am the proud owner of 5 skeins of Dream in Color in the Flamingo Pie colorway. I am planning on making the February Lady sweater with it. I have swatched and even cast on, but that’s another confession.

OK, so on Monday I proclaimed that I didn’t want to start any new projects. I wanted to get what I had planned for August completed before anything new went on my needles. Then I got home Monday night only to realize that I had forgotten my knitting bag at work. So, what was a girl to do? I decided that I would go ahead and swatch for both the February Lady Sweater and for Tribeca. I got to swatching and got gauge for both projects on the first try. So, then I figured I could start the first few rows of the “lady”. I love the Dream in Color. I chose Flamigo Pie because I wanted something different. Lately, I have looked at my projects and I have so much in purples and reds which are two of my favorite colors as well as the two colors I ordered from Beaverslide, but I felt like I needed to branch out a little. Looking on Ravelry, it appeared that Flamingo Pie was pinkish yet peachy with a bit of sunshine in it so I thought I would give it a try. It is definitely outside my usual comfort zone, but I think it will be a great color for this sweater. I am not planning on doing anymore for now on it, but I did go ahead and cast on for Tribeca because it is a good project for me to work on while at Knit Night and I bought the yarn and the pattern at Knit Picky so that feels right. Tribeca is made in moss stitch and it is not my favorite stitch, but in the Cascade 220, it is a perfect combination. I know I am going to love this sweater. I just hope that I don’t hit a wall with the moss stitch, but if I do it as planned while at Knit Night once a week and little more here and there, it should be doable.

Another weekend is upon me and I am psyched. I am planning on doing a good bit of knitting. I finished the left front of the Dayflower last night so I will cast on tonight for the right front. I would love to get that piece done this weekend. It is definitely possible if life doesn’t get in the way. Happy weekend knitting to everyone!

We Have Hats!

My weekend was spent making my second preemie hat for Knaked Knits. I started it Saturday morning and I knew I just wanted to get these hats out of my way – I don’t mean that in an ugly way, I just wanted to clear the decks so I can concentrate on my other goals for August. So I got to working and I just kept on going. I finished mid-morning yesterday. The second hat was of my own design – nothing special, but I think it will be nice for a wee one. What did I learn from these hats? Well, first and foremost small doesn’t mean quick. Sometimes the best things come in small packages and sometimes the smallest projects have some of the biggest challenges. I used the same crown design on the second hat as the Vine Lace hat and I had a few issues, but nothing like the first time. Also, this is the first time that I have participated in something for charity and I have debated with myself whether it is the best thing to send something to another community when I am sure that there is probably a real need in my very own community. That being said, it was nice to do this as part of a group and I have been debating about participating in the 7 Long Project at Stash and Burn, but I haven’t decided yet.

So, you might be wondering what’s the latest with my August projects? I did make progress on the Dayflower just not as much as I hoped due to my concerted efforts on the hats. I shaped the armhole and I have done the calculations where I need to start shaping for the neckline so tonight I should be able to make good progress on completing the first piece of the front. With that said, it is possible that I could get this baby done within the next week. Wouldn’t that make me HAPPY! I also did another repeat and a half on the Lace Ribbon Scarf. The neat thing about this scarf is that the knitting is easy on the hands which has been wonderful with all of the other projects that I have been working on that have not. I am going to keep going until I run out of yarn. I don’t know if that will get me to 80 inches or not, but wherever it ends up will be just fine. I still haven’t touched the Spring Forward Socks, but I am really looking forward to getting back to those.

And last, but not least, Great Knitspectations got a little bit of a facelift this weekend. I have added a new banner which will probably change periodically. I still have some more design work to do, but progress - slow and steady - that's what it is all about - the journey!

Did the Vine Lace Hat Thrive or Wither?

Last night presented challenges yet again. I stuck with it and the hat is finished. I just have to block it this weekend and then there will be photos. I am glad that it is finished, but I have mixed emotions about it. I keep debating in my mind what I could do in the future to avoid the problems I encountered. It really is a lovely little hat and I wouldn’t mind making some more in the future if I could just figure out what to do to avoid making mistakes. I think the next time, being conscious of the issues I had this time, I would probably be more vigilant.

I am now faced with deciding what to do for my second hat for Sydney’s charity drive/contest. I am thinking of taking the shaping of this hat and creating another design within its framework using Patons Grace again. I have enough of the green to make another hat plus I have a full skein of light blue and one in purple. I will play around with it this weekend. At this point, I want to go ahead and get through this so I can get back to my other projects.

I am almost at the arm bind-off for the front I have been working on for the Dayflower cardigan and I know I will have that part of the front completed by the end of the weekend. We are supposed to have a beautiful weekend here in the mid 80’s with lower humidity. So I will have some wonderful knitting time ahead of me. Enjoy yours!

The Wisdom of the Yarn Harlot

As I do more and more reading and research in preparation for writing this blog, I have been re-reading a lot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s work. Stephanie, known as the Yarn Harlot, has been interviewed on several podcasts lately and I have developed a new appreciation for Stephanie. I have read her blog and books for years, but now that I have heard her talk about her knitting and her day to day life, I feel a new kinship with her and her philosophies. She has such a wonderful way of looking at it all.

I have started a notebook where I write down topic ideas for the blog and in reviewing my notes thus far, I found one to be very fitting for today. In a recent interview, Stephanie was talking about the fact that the more advanced a knitter you become, the more complicated the mistakes you make. Well, I can attest to that lately. I have already chronicled some of my frustrations and last night was totally, drive yourself crazy, frustrating.

I had a wonderful time at Knit Picky Knit Night and I made excellent progress on my Vine Lace baby hat. I even started shaping the crown of the hat while still there so when I got home I should have let well enough alone, but I was giddy at the prospect of finishing the little devil. I was really tired and I should have just spent time with my son and my ex who was at our house watching the Red Sox game. I was greedy after my progress and success at Knit Night. So, I got to working again and something went wrong. It looked like I had messed up a stitch and my stitch count was off and I couldn’t really tell what I had done wrong, but I figured I would rip back and figure it out. Well, somehow that created an even bigger mess. This pattern has a lot of yo’s, ssk’s and these slip 2 tog’s, k1 and pass the two slipped stitches over. Anyways, as you can see, it wasn’t exactly simple. My frustration grew as the mess grew, but I knew that I could figure it out if I just stayed with it. I have always been pretty good at reading stitches and dealing with these kinds of things, but with all those decreases and lace, I was starting to feel like maybe I couldn’t pull this off.

After pulling out the two circs I had been working with and letting all the stitches go free (talk about scary), I got out my dpn’s and started picking up stitches randomly and using the needles in tandem on the ssk’s and s2tog,K1, psso’s and I reset the stitches on the dpn’s one by one and with a little perseverance I was able to get it all back together. I had to rip back about four rows in the end, but everything is back on track and ready for me to start again later today with a renewed energy that only a little distance can provide when working on a project gone wrong. Such a small little project with such challenging mistake repairs! The hat is really quite lovely and I can’t wait to get it off the needles! Hopefully, pictures of a finished project will be forthcoming tomorrow.

August Knitspectations

Well my first month of blogging has come and gone and I have no idea if anyone has found me yet, but I am enjoying myself nonetheless and the plan is to just get better and better.

I have been thinking about my goals for the next couple of months and here is what I have decided. For August, I am planning on finishing the Dayflower which continues to progress right along. I am also going to get back to my Spring Forward socks and finish those. Even though it has become a filler project, I would like to get through with the Lace Ribbon scarf just to get it off the books and last, but definitely not least, I need to finish my preemie hats for Sydney’s charity drive. If I can do all of this, I will feel as though I have met my Great Knitspectations for the month!

Then I got to thinking about September. I did a little research about what the months mean in certain cultures.In Old English, September was known as Hoerfest Month or Month of the Harvest which I found to be very fitting since my goal for September is to bring in the “harvest”, and finish as many of my incomplete projects as possible. That will clear the decks to move on to some new projects and I don’t know about you, but with Twist Collective, Knotions, Fall Vogue and the much anticipated Fall Interweave Knits, I see lots of new projects on the horizon – not to mention everything else that I had in my queue.

As much as I hate seeing the summer pass so quickly, I have to say that I am excited to move into prime knitting season. Let me know what you hope to accomplish the next couple of months.

The Weekend in Review

Weekends are such a balancing act. They represent prime knitting time, but they are also the time when I have to do all the responsible stuff – like clean the house, go to the grocery store, do the laundry, etc. Despite all the real life stuff I had to deal with this weekend, I did manage to get a fair amount of knitting done.

I finished the back of the Dayflower Cardigan and have started the front. I have completed three repeats of the lace pattern and the flower detail is quite nice. I also did a repeat and a half of the pattern for the Lace Ribbon Scarf (most of which was done between 3 and 5 am Sunday morning.) And last, I went in the stash and looked for what I could find for the preemie hats for Knaked Knit’s charity drive. I found 3 balls of Patons Grace. After looking on line, I settled on making the Lace Vine Baby hat for my first hat. I am using a shade of pale apple green. It should knit up fairly fast. The one thing I will say is that as much as I love the look of mercerized cotton, I hate knitting with the stuff. I am a fairly tight knitter and that makes this type of cotton hard on my hands. I am using Knit Picks dpn’s and I am not loving them so much. I have to say that right now my INOX needles are my favorite. Regardless, this is not that big a project for it to matter too much. I am thinking of designing something of my own for the second hat.

How much time do you knit on the weekends? I hope that your weekend provided you with the perfect amount of knitting time!