girlie jones knits

Shh it's a secret

2009-05-17T13:14:00.003+08:00

I'm totally cheating on all my WIPs. Last night a started a brand new patchwork project. The lure of the new project was too strong! It's just a little thing. And I promise I'll still work on the others, and get them finished.

It's just ... the new project is so funky - tumbling blocks in blacks and whites. And every so often I'm going to throw in a diamond in red. Pictures soon.

Possible Lost Cause

2009-02-22T15:02:00.003+08:00

Remember how I mentioned WIPs that get filed away and forgotten?

I was looking for the darning needle to kitchener up this sock I finished and could not find the damn needle. Then I vaguely remember putting crafty things in the second drawer down on the bedside table on the other side of the bed. So I go and have a look and what do I find?! A cross stitch project and two different socks cast on and being knitted - one for me and one for my mum.

I don't even get to choose the next sock project as I already have some in progress!! Grrrrr ... no cast on new projects for me today!

Unfinished business

2009-02-21T17:36:00.002+08:00

What I meant to post was ... in sorting out the projects that I really want to finish this year and those that I don't and I only keep in the pile out of Started Craft Guilt, I've been trying to sort and organise my stash and my work room.

I have noticed with myself that I get overenthusiastic and manic. I get overambitious. I start a lot of new projects at once. And in the beginning of that phase, it helps to keep WIPs in obvious places, in my face, so that I keep working on them. Eventually though, I forget they are WIPs and they become ... art installations, if you will, around my home. That I no longer actually see in my daily goings about my home.

Then it's not long before a general clean up happens, WIPs get eventually admitted they aren't being worked on, sent to the WIP basket and often never thought or seen of again.

Today I finally tackled the scary yarn basket of doom - the one with a ton of works in progress, falling off needles, and wound around other balls of yarn. A big untanglefest of procrastination. Today though I started tackling it and unravelling WIPs - if I really want to do them, I can cast them back on later. And do you know what I found? I'm so ashamed to admit this. I found more than 20 individual baby booties - as in 20 unmatched half pairs!!! Of like funky baby stuff - rollerskates and ugg booties and so on. With the partner just never made.

Time to start a new to do list for 2009, me thinks!

update me

2009-02-21T16:47:00.004+08:00

My poor neglected blog! My last post promised daily photos of progress and possibly that killed the whole thing.

This is my first post for 2009. Shameful!

Especially since, crafting formed a significant part of my resolutions for this year. I didn't blog any of them but I did write them down.

One of the things I felt bad/sad about at Xmas last year was the number of awesome kits I had bought last year and the year before and hadn't finished or even started. And the idea that at this rate, my taste would change before I'd even cut some of the fabrics, made me want to cry. And the size of my stash (fabric and yarn) made me hyperventilate.

So. One of the things that I want to do by the end of this year, is be able to stand in my house and enjoy it decorated with beautiful things that I have made. That's almost the goal verbatim! And also to have spent time knitting socks and other things for me, this year. To get some joy back from the stashing and from the crafting.

I'm trying to complete one project a month. And that goal sorta encourages the completion of WIPs, which is good. I finally picked up the kimono wallhanging I was working on on my last boat holiday with the ex. Memories of that are gone and I have managed to finish piecing it all together. I just have the borders to do.

I've also been working on the hexagon project. That is going faster now than it was before. And I have completed one pair of socks for the year - these are a gift and I shall cast on tonight for a pair for me.

Photos soon!

Holidays Day 1

2008-12-24T18:54:00.003+08:00

I haven't really figured out yet what I am going to do with respect to getting crafting done whilst still having a good time with my hobby and relaxing. I don't really want to make a list cause it's so anal for something that should be fun. On the other hand, it's so easy to just faff about, a bit of this and a bit of that, and turn around at the end of a fortnight and not really get anything done at all. I might end up relaxed but I know that I will be upset or mad at myself for not really achieving anything ... yet more WIPs ...

So, at the bare minimum, I'm going to post photos every day of my holidays. I will probably get a list thing happening over the weekend.

This though is a rough pile of some of the things I really really want to get done. The ball of yarn is Socks that Rock in Downpour or Mudslide, I should check. I balled it up about 6 months ago to make myself a pair of socks. The other skein is Mars Quake from Lisa Souza. I want to make myself a shawl from it. The newest crosstitch I started, last month. It's flappers and 1920s thang. And the hexagons. Still.

A tonne of other things are not in the picture. Steady as she goes.

Craft Plans

2008-12-21T11:07:00.004+08:00

I'm in the process of self auditing and thinking about 2009, not in a resolutions sort of way but more in a "where do I want to be this time next year" thing.

So as I stand here and look at the craft things I achieved this year ... well, I'm kinda bummed to tell the truth. I mostly made items to gift and whilst that is always fun and a pleasure, they were late to most recipients. So I not only feel bad that I have little in my own possession craft-wise to show for this year, the gifts I made missed the occasions entirely too.

AND I missed an opportunity to supply Boeme Bebe merchandise to a real live store in the US just cause I didn't have myself together this year across the board to deal with it.

So, where to in 2009? I brainstormed a very long (general life) list last night of things I would like to not still have to do by this time next year and I think not having these things weighing down on me as STILL Not Finished, will bring me further along the path to happiness. In terms of craft, I feel like I have wasted money on supplies that go unused. And I feel like I miss out on the pleasure of finishing, feeling the sense of accomplishment and enjoying projects I have made.

I still have presents I want to make and gift. So I need to sometimes be unselfishly crafting! I also have new projects I want to be able to start, cause that's always fun. But I also want to not have these WIPs that have been hanging around, sometimes for YEARS, hanging around taunting me anymore.

So it seems like I need a balance of old and new, for me and for presents, and across my crafts. I feel like it needs RULES or a LIST and I hate to feel that craft, something that is fun and for recreation time, needs to be regimented.

Not sure yet what to do.

Updating

2008-12-17T20:24:00.000+08:00

Way back in the past of August, I began the mammoth task of tacking these hexagons. Here's how I'm going with that. I have about 100 of the 600 left to go. After I took this photo I spread them out like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and I'm figuring out how to sew em together.

And a Finished Object!!!
I'm not sure how long I've been working on this. Let's just call it "awhile". Anyway. My very first lace project. It's made using Lisa Souza's Sock Yarn in the colour Delft. And a shawl patten I got from Knitty (how's that for vague on the details?).

The whole time I was knitting this (and it was a looong time and it turns out I can't knit lace tired as it is hard to unpick) I was really worried I was doing it wrong. I'd heard that lace looks like a dog's breakfast and the reward is the magic at the end when you block it. So I hung in there.

And lo and behold! Magic!!

And up close for the shell-lace pattern:

Craft Goals

2008-12-17T19:04:00.004+08:00

I've been cleaning out and organising my craft corner in my study. The thinking was that if I could see all the lovely different craft supply stashes, I wouldn't feel bad being on a craft diet and I'd also get onto finishing some of my projects. It's coming together nicely. A good side effect has been organising and turfing some of my books in order to keep one whole bookcase for craft. But I've also realised how little crafting I have done for myself this year. I have a lot of skeins of sock yarn for socks for me that remain unmade. And also a few skeins for shawls that likewise remain unmade. And a looooot of fabrix stash for cute funky out there projects I'm going to make one day.

The trouble is ... when is this "one day"? When will there be time for projects for myself? And when that time comes, will I still love all those fabrics and yarns? I do kind of go through taste phases.

So I decided to finish just one project by the end of the year ... tick tick tick tick ... I think it's going to be a silk cushion cover I bought at one of the craft shows earlier in the year. Needs like three seams and some overlocking or something. The thing though that is the hardest hurdle for me is cutting up the fabric. I have a fear of cutting it and ruining it - any piece of gorgeous fabric. I think in part that's why I like yarn so much. If you don't like what you knit, you can unpick it and start again! Not so with funky fat quarters.

The other thing though that I've been thinking about is setting some kind of project goals list for 2009 so I don't end up complaining about how I gifted everything I made this year again next year. Not sure what or how yet. Just mulling over the idea at this stage.

Fabric Stash!

2008-12-07T21:25:00.004+08:00

Thought I'd post the new additions to the stash:

The two pink ones are the ones part of the whole Pink Kitty set that I've been collecting. I want to do some kind of 1950s but retro thing ... I just don't know what yet.

And this one ... I have another piece in the same design - the cups and saucers with steam rising out. I'm thinking of just doing something really simple, like cutting out the squares from this panel and doing something fancy interspersed with the other fabric piece in alternate squares. Or something. This might very well be the small project I try and finish up before the end of the year. And I want to hang it in my kitchen.

A craft post at long last!

2008-12-06T09:15:00.003+08:00

Wow was it really the first of June since last I posted here? That's 5 months ago! I guess I really did lose my craft mojo around the time that I met the new boy. For a while I wondered if I had lost the need to craft or no longer needed what craft brings to me, having met someone who seemed to so perfectly fit with me - I no longer needed craft to fill a gap or to inspire me or to be my creative outlet. Then we brokeup and I didn't feel like crafting. Then we ... well it's complicated.

But. I am crafting again. Have been for a little while now. And I think the pressure of keeping a craft blog for me is about the photos - craftblogs NEED photos and photos are hard for me. I'm going to try and balance that a bit. Let's see how I go.

But the reason for the post today is ... today I went craft shop crawling with my friend C. And ... I have a serious fabric addiction. I was totally going to just look and browse and support C and then have coffee. But in the first frigging shop I found a couple of fabrics I didn't have that are in the same set as some I am collecting. Well! I had to have them of course. And this was the first time ever I actually got fabrics cut - I totally have only ever bought fat quarters.

On the way out I decided that in exchange for positive fabric stash accumulation, I HAVE to finish SOMETHING by the end of this year. A project. And I think socks don't count. Course as C pointed out, that's only 3 weeks away. Sheesh!

Etsy thoughts

2008-06-01T20:58:00.010+08:00

My current projects still cannot be photo'ed and displayed so here, instead, is a sample of something else I have been working on. Here are some of my photos I've been taking whilst playing round with my light box and uploading to my Etsy store

A long time ago, in a lifetime far far away from now, I had a lot more time on my hands as I waited for someone to come home and spend time with me. I hate being unproductive so I started knitting. And I knit and I knit and I knit. All sorts of little baby booties and hats. With the idea of maybe selling them at the odd fair. Or to give as presents. Anyway, that was a lifetime ago and I have moved house and on with my life and am left with a very large stash of baby bits and pieces.

So I have on my to do list, to put as much as possible up on my Etsy store and hopefully sell them - both to make room, to use up much of the yarn I bought specifically for this idea and also in part to recoup some of the money I have spent on craft in the last couple of years.

Either way, it's been a good reason to learn to take better close up photos of objects!

Thursday

2008-05-29T22:53:00.003+08:00

Phew! Just made it in. And to be honest, I only got some knitting done because I had said I would post everyday! It was a long day today and I only got home at about 8.45 pm. So all things considered, not bad on the knitting front! Lucky I had some online reading to do!!

So ... what do we have here? The Rhodonite socks are coming out in a lovely striped pattern. And as usual are knitting up quickly. Blue Moon Fiber Arts are one of my favourite sock yarns to knit with. I always forget how lovely the yarn is till I come back to a STR project.

My sock is sitting on the vintage kimono materials for my silk cushion cover which is also on my to do task list this week. Not quite sure when this is going to get sewn up ... hmmm

I have several craft tasks on my overall weekly (and master) to do task list(s) just because I really want to start making inroads on WIPs, projects and presents. I'm interested to see how well I do and whether this helps.

Still knitting socks!

2008-05-28T22:22:00.004+08:00

Well. I am back. It's been a loooong journey in between posts. And sadly, I lost some of my crafting mojo for a while. But ... never to be defeated, hopefully I am back bigger and better than ever! I am back to crafting every day and I just set up my very first soft light box for taking photos. I've been uploading images to my etsy store but I am going to try and commit to posting crafting photos here every day, if I can, of projects in progress.

So ... here goes!

I am working on a couple of top secret projects so those will have to wait. In the meantime, I cast on the socks I am knitting socks for my Mum's birthday (belated) ... Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Rhodonite.

I am *loving* the colourway. Might have to find a way to get me a pair too.

What? More Yarn?

2007-10-23T22:56:00.000+08:00

I could show you a picture of the finished sock but it looks much like the previous shot but in complete sockiness. I am nearly up to the heel on its pair but .... well tonight was the dinner for my uncle's birthday and I had to just gift him the hot water bottle and cover and an IOU.

Here instead is some yummy yarn I could not resist. I've been meaning to check out the Yarn Wench for a while and last week or so she had a sale. The discount on these two beauties basically covered my postage and with the dollar so strong ... who could resist. I *know* I'm about to see yarn stores of the world but these balls look unbelievably delicious in real life. I almost want to eat them up or something. Strawberry Mocha Creme sitting on Devine Melon! Yum!! Those socks are gonna be mine!

The Next Project is Not a Pair of Socks

2007-10-18T22:48:00.000+08:00

But at the moment, I am still knitting socks.

I cast them on last night:

And here is where I leave the first sock tonight:

Ink, by Claudia Handpainted Yarns. Delicious yarn to knit up.

More socks in October

2007-10-17T23:44:00.000+08:00

My sister's socks done! They are wrapped now and all piled up with her other birthday presents.

Another gift bites the dust! I did say they'd be a quick knit!

Here's my Daffodils socks. I'm still only knitting a row for each item I tick off my final countdown to do list before I go off on my month trip overseas. I'm not sure if this is a lot or a little - we were out Monday and Tuesday nights this week.

I cast on the next pair of socks to be knit tonight. Pictures of that tomorrow - my uncle's socks in Ink by Claudia Handpainted Yarns.

More Sock Knitting

2007-10-14T21:40:00.001+08:00

I can't show you the pair of socks I finished today because they're a present for a bloggy person. Consider this a bookmark and I'll get a photo of them on said person's feet later.

Instead, here's my Daffodils sock - am knitting a row for every task I cross off my pre-WFC to do list. Kind of.

Sock knitting

2007-10-13T22:25:00.000+08:00

Casting on for the second sock for my sister's birthday socks. I cast on last night.

Here's about where it was about an hour ago. Soooooooooo close to turning the heel and then I got distracted by this:

Daffodils by Dani at Sunshine Yarns. Yummy!

More FOs

2007-10-12T23:13:00.000+08:00

My uncle is going to be 60 at the end of the month. He really enjoyed the cashmere socks I knitted for him last year so I thought I'd go the knits again.

Here is the first part of the gift.

This is a good representation of the colour. It's Cloud colourway from The Knittery.

This is a better representation of the object. (I'm still figuring out how to take photos at home when you are only ever there at night!)

I'm also going to make a pair of socks. I have till Thurs 25th! Argh! I have 2 other pairs of socks to finish first!

The Christening Jacket

2007-10-12T22:00:00.000+08:00

I think commission work *sounds* good in theory but I'm not a huge fan of it in practice. So I'm making this Christening Jacket for my hairdresser's baby. Last appointment she was all "whenever" and then the appointment last weekend she said, "yeah its next weekend" (aka this Sunday). So ... I tried my very best but it was not to be.

Firstly, I didn't read the pattern properly - and I tried to make a 4 x 50g ball jacket with 2. It, um, didn't work. So I made the back and thought maybe I should source more yarn. Noone anywhere online in Australia was stocking it. So I decided to try and order it from my LYS but online. I have no fricking idea if they ordered the yarn because they never got back to me and they never took payment details. But none of that really is important, is it? I mean ... this is how far along the front left side is:

SO tomorrow I have to call her and tell her the sorry news. She told me she wanted it anyway, even if not for the christening. And in truth, its supposed to be 31 here this weekend so she may not have wanted a jacket anyway. Trouble is, if I don't get it done before I go, I get back very late Nov and surely she will not want such a thing then.

Presents

2007-10-12T21:33:00.001+08:00

I feel so bad with this blog - a knitting blog should have colourful, enticing photos that lure readers in and inspire knitters to start new projects. My photos are all so hideously bad that I can't even keep my own attention on this blog!

I'm knitting up a storm on projects I need to wrap up before I leave on my month's holiday. My sister deserves a really cool birthday present this year. One part will be these socks.

Here's the skein unravelled and is close to the colours as they appear in real life. The yarn is Socks that Rock in Spring Fling which is a colourway they recently retired. I was checking out all the colours that they were retiring and thought that my sister might like socks in this colourway.

Another, closer shot. I love the potential of a skein of yarn.

The first sock cast on. My sister has itty bitty feet (yay - quick knit!)

And the first sock all knit up! Am just doing the ribbing after casting on the second sock. No time for second sock syndrome here.

Yarn purchases

2007-10-08T12:35:00.000+08:00

In terms of stashing, it makes sense, right, to buy a lot of next year's yarn this year when I am in the USA. I mean the dollar is stronger, making the yarn cheaper AND no postage.

I'm just sayin' ...

Rocking Sock Club

2007-10-08T12:30:00.000+08:00

I got my internationals invitation today to resubscribe for the Socks that Rock Rocking Sock Club. The price for the club has gone up again - it went up last year. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I personally think they might be absorbing some of the postage costs in the club price but ... I dunno, I guess at some point, if it increases every year (but the regular skeins stay the same price) I might eventually get priced out of the market.

Not this year though! Last year, when the club cost $20 less, I bought mine when the Aussie dollar was 75US cents. This year, the new cost price gets bought hopefully when the dollar is still strong - we don't pay till January, today the Aussie dollar was 90US cents. I'm still wayyyyyyyyyy ahead.

Kimono Patchworking

2007-10-04T13:48:00.000+08:00

This is a photo of the kimono kit I've been working on this last week. I've done all the squares with the light background. The material for the dark background is a lot lighter and it turns out, less accurately drawn templates on. Lots of fiddling and easing going on.

So this might be one of the projects I take with me when I got overseas at the end of the month - especially since I've made it transportable now. And I can't see myself finishing it before then. I have at least 3 pairs of socks to make in the meantime - 2 of which I have not even balled the skeins of yet. Any ideas about crafting on board a plane? I'm thinking a needle and thread can get on - so cross-stitching could be an option. If I didn't need pins I could take patchwork? I'm vaguely toying with making fans to be appliqued onto blocks later. I could do that with card templates, tack the material on and then overstitch edges together.

I dunno. But the flight from Sydney to JFK is gonna be looooooooooong.

Craft weekend!!!!

2007-10-01T20:13:00.000+08:00

Had a heavy schedue of crafting this weekend. No photos today but will post some this week.

I made a nice indent into the second sock I am making for a gift.

I also pieced half of the kimonos for my kimono wall hanging. There are 12 in the whole piece - 6 dark on calico background and then 6 lighter ones on darker background. I did all the dark on the calicos this weekend. And I'm especially impressed with myself because I fixed one of them that had been sitting in limbo for months. Does that ever happen to you? You're rocking along happily on a project nd then wham! something kind of annoying or fiddly happens and you put it down to fix later and the 'fixing it later becomes so big in your mind that the whole project comes to a grinding halt? That's what happened to me on this one. I bled on a piece of the background ... or something red got stained on it .. and it needed to be fixed somehow. And even though I could have left it for later and done all the other squares and come back, I didn't. Nothing happened and sewing ground to a screeching halt and I worked on knitting instead And you know what? It required undoing 3 seams, replaced the piece, redoing two more seams and voila! Done. I did it. And now the project is full steam ahead. I hope.

The other cool thing I discovered was that I think I was slow on this project because I was working one square at a time. On Friday night I stood and traced out all the pieces for all 12 of the kimonos. I cut them all out and put each kimono set in a ziploc bag. Then when I sat to sew, I could pick up one, and work on that without all the others getting in the way. Organisation! And portability! I loved it! I will definitely use this method in future. The cutting out really stalls the work and puts me off working on it.

Sore wrists!!!

2007-09-27T21:55:00.000+08:00

I woke up this morning with a very sore left wrist. So sore in fact that I couldn't do my bra strap up! Just my left wrist and I coudn't bend it backwards nor forwards. Typing at work was painful. I didn't even do any knitting last night so surely it's not RSI. Although I did notice the same hand was cramping a bit the night before when I was knitting.

Still... it wasn't until half an hour into this evening's knitting that I realised I'd been knitting a sock - so at least knitting is still on!! And I spose then that it's not knitting-related RSI.

Here is the back of the Christening jacket done. I ended up scanning the internet widely for more of this yarn to absolutely no avail. It's Panda Baby Lustre, 4 ply in white. Noone in Australia with an online store seems to currently have it nor ebay. I think I can order some more from my LYS (via online) but will have to wait 2 weeks for it to come in and I'm not sure they have processed my order yet. So no pressure....

I have one more 50 g ball and I think that should do the two front panels. I hope. Cross your fingers for me.

And here is the stack of 9 patch squares for my 9 Patch Afghan. I made the stunning discovery last night that I still do not have enough squares. I never seem to with this project. It's made from the scraps of all the hot water bottle covers I've made. I have some blue yarn to knit up into squares that I think will mean I have 2 more large squares to add to this pile. There are 12 in this pile. So then I will have 14 - what the hell do you do with that? I need 2 more squares .... again...

Projects in Progress

2007-09-25T18:16:00.000+08:00

My sister really liked the gift which made me very happy. She said "ooh this will get used!" which is totally what a knitter longs to hear.

Here is the back of the christening jacket I am making for my hairdresser's baby. It's a commissioned piece and I'm a bit nervous that it won't fit. I'm also running low on the yarn and having a little bit of trouble getting some extra balls.

So yeah, it occurs to me, this is a knitting blog and would be the appropriate and useful place to list all the projects I have a pressing need to get done.

So:
- hot water bottle cover for uncle's bday
- socks for uncle's bday
- socks for the bf's mum
- 9 patch afghan
- log cabin afghan
- pair of socks for me
- chemo cap
- sushi
- thing for C
- thing for other C
- socks for my sister's bday (awaiting STR package)
- shawls!
- christening jacket and bonnet (and booties?)

I'm sure there's more but that's a good start

Finished Object!

2007-09-20T21:50:00.000+08:00

Done! A hot water bottle cover for my sister as a thankyou for hosting the breaking of the fast on Saturday night. My mother suggested I buy a hot water bottle as well, which I did. The yarn is Holiday from The Knittery.

Stash Part 2

2007-09-18T21:13:00.000+08:00

Of course, that said, I've been lurking in my favourite online yarn stores lately and made sure to order some of the colourways soon to be retired from the Socks that Rock range. And I am travelling to New York and London next month (!!) and intend to visit stores over there.

So it's not *likely* I will run out of stash.

Plus ... there's my cross stitch kit stash AND my fabric stash to *also* contend with.

Stash

2007-09-18T21:08:00.000+08:00

I go through varying emotions towards my stash. Most of the time I just love it. It's filled with yarns I have fallen in love with and still look forward to knitting with. It represents potential. And possibility.

Sometimes I feel anxious towards my stash. That there are so many projects already assigned to it and I am not knitting fast enough. Or I have cast on for too many projects and can't seem to finish any of them in decent times. (this was the weekend feeling)

And other times I feel like either I am working through it too fast, or what will happen if I *do* work through it too fast or that there is not enough in there! That was just now. I went to pull out a skein of sock yarn to make myself a pair of socks whilst knitting a variety of gifts - so that I won't feel like it's all too much of a chore. And I could swear I had more skeins in there to choose from! Or less skeins already assigned a project.

Seriously though - what happens if you work through your stash? I mean, somehow I am aware of all the money invested in it and the thought of having to replace it kinda scares me.

Do you knit anything other than socks?

2007-05-25T22:11:00.000+08:00

These socks were one of "those" projects. I cast them on in about the week after my Grandmother passed away - November last year. My Aunt was just such a great support I thought she deserved a nice pair of cashmere socks. So I cast these on. The yarn is from The Knittery. I cast them on on bamboo needles to see what they were like to knit with. Hideous as it turns out - my hands hurt so much that this became the least appealling project on the go and trust me I have a lot of projects on the go. And so .. I am sad to say that I only finished these last week. Now I got my camera up and going again, I can wrap these up and get them off to her in time for the cold weather.

They are quite tightly knit so I must admit to being a bit nervous about the sizing. Cross your fingers for me!

Socks!!!!!

2007-05-25T21:55:00.001+08:00

Finally I can post the socks I sent to my dear friend in Tasmania for her birthday.

I wanted her to have a pair of socks just for her feet and I'm assured they fit. The story with this yarn - Claudia's handpainted - is that I made her pick out the skein she liked from Sweet Georgia's last stash available, which she did. Then I ordered it and then .. it took 4.5 months to get here from Canada. So T got her socks from my very special, post-clapotis (proper post to come on that) disaster stash. I liked how these came out and in the end, were more what I wanted to make than the Sweet Georgia colourway.

A different view, flash versus nonflash.

And note, I was testing out how well my Tin Duck Award would work as a sock display prop. Not well, as it turns out.

Socks!

2007-05-17T20:04:00.000+08:00

After the Clapotis disaster, I was very sad and my mother suggested I go straight out and buy myself some yarn I love and make myself a new one. I couldn't bring myself to knit another Clapotis cause it was theeeeeeeee most boring knit (part of why I was sad - knowing I'd never reknit it). But she had a point and so I decided to splurge and buy yarn I'd never been able to bring myself to buy before. I decided to splurge on some Claudia's Handpainted and to only knit myself socks!

Well the knit them all for me bit kinda backfired but here in progress is the first pair. They kinda survived the laundry disaster that followed the Clapotis one.

A Hat!

2007-05-15T19:54:00.000+08:00

My first adult hat. It's a chemo cap and I was kinda sad to make it - it went to my Mum's best friend who is currently fighting her second bout of Ovarian Cancer. I was making it in summer so I did take my time but then luckily had a stint of online reading, I think, one weekend towards the end of February (?) and finished it just in time for a cold spell in March. It's made from cashmere sock yarn from The Knittery and I doubled over the yarn. She wears it at night when her head is cold and it makes me glad to know there is a part of me giving her warmth and comfort when she is not feeling the best.

The pattern is available online from Knitty

Finally! A new post

2007-05-12T16:58:00.000+08:00

I lost my knitting mojo about at Swancon and it's taken me a while to get it back. Worse, I've knitted 6 pairs of socks this year and I'm not sure I photographed all of them.

I'll try and so better. Here's a pair I made for my Mum - she bought 2 skeins last time I did a Socks that Rock order. This is one of those pairs, I think I owe her a second. Just a basic plain pair and I fiddled with width this time for comfort.

Not sure if I showed my Lisa Souza haul from a while back but I love it so I will show again.

Pair of socks I made from the Violet Pink Ribbon in the stash above for the bf's mother's bday. Again, a plain pair. I ended up only using half the skein.

No new photos today

2007-02-08T11:37:00.001+08:00

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled,

"PULL OVER!"

"NO!" the blonde yelled back. "IT'S A SCARF!"

Other projects

2007-01-31T09:27:00.000+08:00

I'm so bad at documenting all my finished pieces. I think it's so great when people have a gallery and can say, "yeah that's what I knit in 2007". I always forget to take photos, am usually working on 345 things at once and usually rush to finish things to gift or whatever.

I've been making these scarves as presents. This is one I kept for myself. There was one lurking on my bedside in a photo a while ago that I recently gifted for a belated bday present (in a dusty pink) and I'm making one now in purples and blues for another owed gift. It's a pattern from the Yarn Harlot. And the yarn I am using is sock yarn from Natural Dyes Studio. I had an addiction to them in 2006 and bought *a lot* of it. I'm glad to be able to use it in gifts for people I care about ... it was going to be a heck of a lot of socks, otherwise.

And of course, the promised photo of the Lisa Souza haul. I'd been eying her site for ages. I should take a photo of my display of sockyarn so you can see why I should not be just buying whatever I like. Of course now that I have decided to gift socks this year, maybe it will be okay? Why is it that there is still satisfaction in knitting with a stunning yarn even if you have to give it away? I always think "Oh this is perfect for so and so ... I can get myself another skein if I love it" and then am totally over it and cool by the time I am done. I must be a process knitter. For me, it's the act of getting to play with the yarn that's fun. Hopefully people appreciate the worth of the gift.

Where was I? Yes, so I have been eying off several skeins on Lisa's site. When I bought the yarn for the Clapotis, I told her she'd hear from me when I hit my next thesis milestone. And then Violet's colourway came up and I kinda felt like maybe I could buy a skein. But then of course, to save on postage (and to show Lisa some support) I had to buy more than just that colourway. So I thought what the hell and I bought pretty much all the skeins I had my eye on. Lisa thought I'd done well with the thesis! But no ... temptation got the better of me.

So.... Mars Quake is down the bottom, I thought it would be more glittery and golden but how can you resist the name when you publish science fiction? I ask you. Lying on top is Mombassa (a colour that is very similar to Milk and Honey but you can't see the dark blue grey at the other end of the skein. My mother was born in Mombassa. I shall do something special with this skein) and next to that is the Violet Pink Ribbon colourway. I think I will make the socks for the bf's mother's 60th birthday in March. Behind and under is Milk and Honey (a colour that is very reminiscent of several other newly acquired skeins). Right at the back is the colourway Delft which my best friend has picked for a shawl for her birthday, also in March.

Clapotis

2007-01-31T09:00:00.000+08:00

I suppose the Clapotis deserves a post all of her own! Here she is. I made it out of Lisa Souza's sock yarn, colour way Can't Elope. Orange is not really actually a colour I like or wear but the name was so hard to resist and it was such fun to knit up with the little bits of green popping up here and there. Honestly, the Clapotis is boring boring boring to knit once you get the hang of the pattern. But then .... once you have one ... you kinda think you might need more.

Here is a more artistic shot of the Clapotis, in its more scarf-like pose.I wore it out to Shakespeare in the Park as a scarf and it was very warm.

Similarly though, it can also pose as a shawl, and is quite warm on a brisk summer evening.

Kinky Yarn Porn

2007-01-30T18:38:00.000+08:00

I always thought that Lime and Violet were exaggerating with the rubbing of the sock yarn on their naughty bits. I just got a huge shipment of Lisa Souza yarn and I am literally sitting here with my yarn - I'm like in the yarn pile. Her yarn is so totally delicious. It always looks better than the pictures on her site which are too hard to resist as it is.

I took a photo and will upload tomorrow, I promise.

Of course now, its a toss up between working on all those projects for other people, and whipping them off my needles to make ME some socks!

I love knitting

2007-01-11T15:30:00.000+08:00

For a while there, I was getting all caught up in the lace knitting. I cast on a second one. Yes, I know. And yet I still did it. You see I am one behind (for my sister's birthday, back in Nov) and I want to have the MIL's done in time for her 60th bday in March (New Year's resolution to be on time with gifts this year). And there I was, getting some joy out of executing the lace, albeit with grumpiness to the bf, the dog, and my emailing conversations, and wondering why anyone would knit boring things like plain socks or scarves. And then? And then I got an attack of insomnia and my brain went to mush. And all I could knit was scarves and socks!

Knitting is for all occasions.

Headbands!

2007-01-11T15:07:00.000+08:00

Was just answering a comment by Knitting and Chocolate on another blog in another blogland far far away, and it just occurred to me!!! I need several, several I tell you, knitted headbands for my baths. I grabbed one the other day that I had made in desperation two New Years holidays ago when we were on board the boat for 10 windy days at the island. I really really hate my hair blowing in my face and in the end, I no longer cared what I looked like, I just wanted my hair out of my face. Same thing happened the other day when I took my first bath in this house. I just wanted something to keep my hair out of my eyes. And the headband worked a treat and I didn't care if it got wet or whatever.

I think I shall hunt out some sockyarn leftovers and make myself a few. And then I have found a use for that leftover box I had from a The Body Shop gift - you know the ones? Too nice to throw away so they hang around waiting for a use? I think I shall pop that on the bath with a nice bunch of headbands awaiting bathing time!

Pictures to follow!

Yarn!

2007-01-05T17:28:00.000+08:00

I bought yarn today. I haven't yet put myself on a monthly budget for yarn so technically I haven't broken it. I was flitting round Lisa Souza's site. See I needed to buy some yarn for a friend's birthday. I'm thinking and preparing ahead. And surely you get points for that? And then of course, to justify the postage .... well all hell broke loose and I ordered 5 skeins of sock yarn!

oops.

Sock Club

2007-01-03T12:56:00.000+08:00

Just paid for registration for the Socks that Rock Rockin' Sock Club for this year. I umm'ed and ahh'ed about it for a while. I have so far ony knit one pair of socks out of last year's seven skeins and didn't used the accompanying pattern. I'm not sure how many of the skeins from last year were in my personal taste. However, their yarn is really beautiful to knit with and um ... I have this completionism issue where I'll keep going in order to maintain the set. It's awful, I'll resubsribe to magazines I no longer read just to keep the full set.

This year though, I have been very strict on my magazine resubscriptions which should save some money. I have also cut down purchases from a couple of the other online yarn stores that I got addicted to last year. I'm yet to do the maths but I'm hoping I somehow will come out ahead. Maybe?

Sock Appreciation

2007-01-03T08:28:00.000+08:00

I haven't been knitting socks for a while. A shame since I have more than a few in progress. But I've been busy finishing other more urgent projects and reading.

And then in the last couple of days, I've picked up a cashmere sock I had cast on (the second of the pair) and have been happily knitting on it without drama whilst finishing my short story marathon from hell.

And it's been quite pleasant, I forgot the joy of knitting a simple sock. I love the rediscovery!

Stashing again

2006-12-29T13:44:00.000+08:00

So yesterday I pop past to check my PO Box. Things have slowed down now that the nomination period for the fiction awards I've been judging is over and it's a bit sad to not have any mail.

I like the small post office where my box is. It's that old skool Australian vibe thing, small business and family run and they know who you are and stuff.

So the conversation yesterday:
Me: Two (red cards) today!
He walks off to get them from the back room and comes back with two decent sized packages. One looks like a book (and it is).
Me: Ooh! They look exciting!
Him: And ones from overseas, darling!

For some reason when a really ocker man over 50 calls me darling, it's not offensive at all.

So I wander off wondering why I have an overseas package. I see it's from Sophie's Toes and thus that it must be yarn. But for the life of me I could not remember ordering any. I have a feeling I paid for it whilst we were sitting in mourning for my grandmother who past away (late October).

It was indeed yarn that I did indeed purchase. I am very happy with two of the colourways (latte and walnut) although I think one might have been for socks for the bf, which is a bit sad. Debated whether I could make a pair for him that I could still fit into. The third skein is like, hello? the same as two others I have bought this year. It's called City Lights but looks pretty much like Chocolate Covered Cherries which looks like another one I also bought. I do that. My wardrobe often has shirts that all look kinda the same. I like something and then I just continue to like it. A lot.

I mean it's okay cause it means one of them could be a sock gift for next year without too much pain. But still.

I'm thinking of putting my favourite skeins on display. The bf's sister suggested it - that it could be an installation in constant transition. It's not a bad idea - I like the skeins for themselves alone, regardless of whether I knit with them. Why not get to appreciate them whenever I walk past them in a room?

Relief!

2006-12-29T08:41:00.000+08:00

I can't express how great a feeling it was to rip out Sarcelle, put away the ridiculously small needles for such thin yarn and pull out a new pattern and start over. I really love the Print o Wave Stole by Eunny even though I left it tinking back the first row on the second repeat! It is a much simpler pattern to learn on and I have raced through (my measure being when I surpassed the length of the yarn I had ripped out from Sarcalle) and even though it's only an inch long, I can see that I could finish this.

Sarcelle looked like maybe I never would even pick it back up again.

Although I should not knit lace at 7 in the morning. And I should remember this and work on the many socks in progress instead.

I feel like I should have a knitting new year's resolution.

And we're back

2006-12-28T09:47:00.000+08:00

I must say this blog feels quite funny - like I'm talking into a big empty hall. But that's okay cause it does work well to chart and log progress of projects. That's something I'm hoping to be more diligent about next year. Especially since I've already gone through the year's knitted gifts and allotted items to birthdays and so on. So I should really be able to plan all that a bit better in 2007.

I'm having difficulty taking photos too - I think it's an issue of light and the time of day I am home to catch up on things like this.

But the most important things to say is 1) I finished the Clapotis. I hated knitting the second half of it. It was sooooo boring and as soon as I was finished, I loved the look so much I am honestly contemplating another one. But see I do that. Enjoy a project and then flog it to death (see photos to come of the scarves I am working on). 2) I am giving up on Sarcelle. For now. I think when you don't work on a project that says something to you about what you think of it. And knitting should be fun and the gift is wayyyy late. I'm going to try Eunny's stole tonight and see how I go with that.

And that brings me to the saddest part of the post. I am in the midst of doing my yearly wrap up and self examination of performance (I gave myself a 7) and setting of goals and aspirations for 2007. One of the things I want to reach for next year is balance in all things. And it's made me realise that in order to do that, I have to work less knitting in my week. I think that's sad and I will likely miss it (although have had very little time these last 3 weeks for knitting and I've been okay) but I need to admit I've been a tad over-obsessed with it to the detriment of other things (like cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, going out to do things with friends). I think this summer we will do lots of gadding about with talk of the outdoor cinema and such. I don't really think I'll be taking knitting along with me. So I think there will be less of knitting, which maybe there should be. I was getting into about 6 to 7 hours a day, sometimes 2 hours before work and 6 or more afterwards.

I'll need to rethink the bootie thing too. But that's for another post, another day.

Knitty Gritty

2006-12-12T15:44:00.000+08:00

I just saw my very first episode of Knitty Gritty which only just premiered on Australian cable this month.

I dunno. The very first thing that struck me is that um, it's al upside down. I had no idea what she was doing from the angle it's filmed from. But, you know, it's cool that there's a whole show on knitting.

And I enjoyed the Simply Quilts which was also on. Again, the instructions were hard to follow - maybe it's the medium, I just can't follow it.

The Clapotis

2006-12-08T09:58:00.000+08:00

Very little knitting got done last night. I was a very lucky girl in that I got picked straight up from work and whisked off to the casino with the bf and another couple to have dinner and see Kylie Minogue. Twas a fantastic concert but a late night.

When I got home, and after the friends had had supper and left, I had to finished detangling my ball of yarn. And it got a knot in it that could not be undone. So ... yes. I had to start over with the Clapotis. By the time I left for work this morning, I was right back where I had originally got up to! Sigh.

gj got her groove back

2006-12-07T09:49:00.000+08:00

All day yesterday I dreamed about my Lisa Souza Can't Elope colourway. What would I make out of it? What pattern? When could I start? Could I justify knocking something of the needles for it. And then it came to me! They don't have to be socks!!!! And from there, it was easy. I thought about it and I thought it was time for the Clapotis to be trialled again.

I had a terrible time with the Clapotis a fair few months ago. I bought yarn specifically for the project but could never get the pattern to work - either it was too light, or the needles were too big or not sharp enough or maybe wrestling with Sarcelle has given me some lace knitting practice. In any case, Can't Elope is making itself into a Clapotis and I'm enjoying it - I'm still untangling my ball which is pretty much par of the course with me (never enough patience to ball the skein up first, and usually start knitting whilst balling and/or don't take the time to ball it up properly and tangle the last 20 m or so. I never learn).

Can't Elope is probably a lot more rockmelon-ey in colour than I was expecting. My version has just the slightest hint of green in it. I shall have to give the pattern a little bit longer to knit up before I decide on it. Photos to come when I get my camera back.

In addition, I had extra time yesterday afternoon so I knit a miniature sweater - like it's maybe 2 inches long? I got the pattern from What's that Gonna Be's post the other day. I used some leftover sockyarn that is supposed to be knit into baby socks for sale on my new website ... but, um, yeah, gotta a new miniature knitting addiction.

It Knits

2006-12-06T11:44:00.001+08:00

Progress has been slow of late. I have almost finished my sushi kits which of course means I have turned to other projects. I am working on a bday present and I am staring at all my socks in progress. You see, yesterday, I got some gorgeous Lisa Souza sock yarn in the mail and have not a spare set of dpns anywhere to cast on with. That'll be a December project me thinks - free the dpns!

Sushi!!!

2006-12-01T16:43:00.000+08:00

I'm kinda up to my neck in sushi right now. Oddly it's all I'm knitting and I have so many other projects to do. But I keep finding more people who need a set.

More socks!

2006-11-28T16:33:00.000+08:00

My 17th pair of socks! Watermelon Patch from Sunshine Knitting. Standard plain pattern. My very first skein of handdyed yarn so this pair has taken almost a year to knit.

Photos at last

2006-11-23T10:38:00.000+08:00

I feel like I can't post without photos. It's weird.

This pair of socks was the second pair I made this year (and at all) - I've made 17 pairs this year and am trying to relocate them all to put together a gallery. Made with Sundara yarn in Fruit Punch. I must admit that I was initially disappointed because the yarn looked prettier in the skein (but that way lies madness). However these are truly comfy socks and they wash really well. After conversion and with postage, these socks cost nearly AUD$50.

A recent FO from Soctoberfest. The pair of socks using the Rainforest Jasper from Socks that Rock, Rocking Sock Club. Cuff, heel and toe done in Jasper. This was what the bf did with them after being presented with the pair. Do you need a better shot than this? Admittedly, it is starting to get hot here and socks are far from people's minds. He will love them in winter, I know.

Um, yes. This looks how it feels. There are actually two pairs of finished socks there waiting to be photographed. And an array of works in progress. It's all a mess. Plain socks and a scarf are good to work on whilst reading online in bed. The Sarcelle is suffering because of that.

Hee

2006-11-16T14:39:00.000+08:00

I love this photo! The chick looks either like she's the woman from The Collector and any minute she's gonna make a run for it out the window or she's a heroine addict in withdrawal and wants the photographer to leave her alone.

Either way, I'm not likely to check out these knits.

Don't ask!

2006-11-16T14:15:00.000+08:00

My sister's birthday was November 2. I was making her the Sarcelle. It was late. Obviously.

I made a mistake about a week or more ago and put it down - that's when I know I am too tired for lacework.

Then I was always too tired to unpick and work out what went wrong. (And that's why always have socks on the go)

Last night I decided I'd *fix* it. I wish I hadn't. Cause fix it i did... all the way to getting the scissors out, cutting the line and putting it down to frigging start over. Grr... I was so near to the transition bit too and looking at it, I almost want to cry at having to cast on again.

And for the bf's mum's 60th birthday, I want to make her a lace shawl. Am guessing it's not going to be Sarcelle.

Boeme Bebe

2006-11-15T12:10:00.000+08:00

Ah, now that Blogger is back to publishing my posts ... I've been spending my time making newborn socks out of the sock yarn scraps again. I find Socks that Rock so interesting - the fabric comes out totally different on a sock with 32 stitches compared to one with 72. I have had to opt for a three stitch rib for the Rainforest Jasper in order to get some kind of striping instead of vertical pooling.

Photos to come, I really promise this time.

FO

2006-11-14T15:02:00.000+08:00

I must admit to having left this blog flail a bit. I feel like I can't post to it if I don't have any photos and then .. the camera was in the bf's car and I didn't have anything to photograph.

I finished the bf's socks two days ago - the Rainforest Jasper from Socks that Rock, Rocking Sock Club. I must say, that with all the socks I have cast on in various stages of progress - and there are a few - I like the Socks that Rock yarn the best. It really is a beautiful yarn to work with.

I took the needles from the finished pair (my 16th for the year) and put them to good use working on baby socks with leftover sock yarn. Not sure what I'm gonna do with them all. I have this growing stash of baby's booties and whatnot. I dunno if I'll ever sell them all but oh well, I hate the ever-growing pile of tiny leftover balls of yarns. And I can't throw em out. So newborn socks they become.

Anyway. Have managed to not cast on another pair of socks as yet, but the week is young and my list of socks as gifts grows.

not more socks!!!

2006-11-10T15:00:00.000+08:00

I do need to at least itemise my sock knitting list. I need to figure out how to do the bars along the side but it looked too fiddly when researching it yesterday. In any case, I decided to cast on a new pair of socks - the pair for my aunt - last night. And I actually took the needles from Seashells. bad. And also, I'm trying not to think about it too much but to get gauge, I had to go up a size in needles and then cast on more stitches - seems wrong but I'm gonna be zen with it. I'm using the cashmere/merino from The Knittery in Exotic. Its a delicious red and black with graduations between the two in greys and the lightest reddish pinks. The fabric is coming out just stunningly.

Will attempt to photograph random things on the weekend. Have a good one!

A Projects List?

2006-11-07T11:15:00.000+08:00

I don't want to make my knitting a to do list. Knitting is the only place really where I can just let loose and do whatever. I try not to be too anal about whether or not I have 18 projects cast on. Things tend to go in ebb and flow for me. Sometimes I'm rotating and knitting on 7 things at once. Sometimes I have 18 projects cast on and I only work on one. Sometimes I go past and finish off a whole heap of almost finished items and sew up things that have been done and cast aside.

But the sock knitting is getting out of control. I have a ton of sock yarn waiting in the wings. And a heap of projects I want to do. I might lose track.

You see, my grandmother passed away last week. And things have been sad and so on. My aunt has been really great - hosting meals all times of the day at her house and being really supportive. I'd like to make her a pair of socks to say thank you and to show my appreciation. In addition, because of Socktober, I had the pair of socks made for my Nana's birthday. It was really great to be able to grab them from the cupboard and run, when needed - her birthday was also this week. So it made me think how good it would be to have a list of presents for the next year that I plan to knit for and then gradually work on them in advance in the year so that they are ready. It'd be great to get things to the person on the day instead of the "it's coming" which I'm doing for two birthdays that have gone already. And in case something comes up, it's nice to have things ready and not have to rely on being able to (and remembering to) go to the shops the week before and hope you find something appropriate.

Of course, that would involve admitting how many socks I currently have on the needles.

Not much Doing

2006-11-06T12:32:00.001+08:00

Just a very quick note to say that I haven't been knitting much. But I'm still here.

What? An update?

2006-10-30T16:56:00.000+08:00

Still no photos. Photos of my bedside table are too depressing. You see, I have ended October in the same state I started it in - all dpns have socks cast on them again. At least I finished some I spose. I cast on a pair of Chocolate Cashmere Merino from The Knittery for my uncle's birthday (which was yesterday). I am still working on the Seashells and am on the gusset for the second sock in the Watermelon. And I cast on the second sock for the bf in the Rainforest Jasper. And I am working on Sarcelle. And I decided to knit up all the little balls of end of sock yarns so that I can see what is leftover for the sock yarn blanket.

I got knitting needles in all directions again!

On my other blog (girliejones.livejournal.com) I had a meme a while back where you put your name down and I make you a craft thing and you make me one back. I think I got like 8 people on that list so I've started looking at what I'm going to be making. Out comes the sushi pattern from Magknits and a couple of the fun things from Knitty I've been wanting to try.

And I have at least 3 pairs of socks in the waiting queue for other people.

Quickie

2006-10-25T11:03:00.000+08:00

So the Sarcelle is no longer kicking my ass. I ummed and ahhed about it for a couple of days until I accepted that I wouldn't be happy with the finished item as it stood - like with an extra yarn over or a missed one somewhere near the very end corner. So, I cut it off, called it a swatch and started over. And oddly enough, calling it a swatch worked because it didn't take me long to replace the work to where I was up to and to steam ahead.

You have to be wide awake for lace knitting. This meant that the row I just recently stuffed up due to not reading the instructions properly meant it was time to put it down, at 11.45pm. Trouble was, I was wide awake from lace knitting!

Distracting you with a nonknitting picture

2006-10-23T14:34:00.000+08:00

Here is the view from my kitchen, the bf on his phone there down the front. We look straight out over the park and in the distance you can see the baseball rooms where the police got called to on Saturday night but from what I could tell, nothing much doing.

I have been doing a lot of knitting these past few days but didn't take any photos. To be honest, I'm avoiding the truth about Sarcelle - which is that I am going to have to start over. I think I will do so tonight.

Let's see... I pieced another nine patch together, leaving me two to go. I finished a watermelon sock and turned the heel on the Seashell sock. I also cast on the second Rainforest Jasper sock for the bf. And resisted urges to cast on anything else.

I also finally decided to knit all the tiny weenie balls of sock yarn into a free form long cabin. I knit socks top down. I then knit a pair of newborn socks if possible from the remainder. Then a third if there is yarn or just the one if not enough for the pair. These I souvenir in that box in the previous post as sock yarns I have knit. There is usually a tiny ball left over that I can't throw out. So I have now knit them into a logcabin, the sizes of each rectangle determined only by the amount of sock yarn in the ball. It will either be a work of art or the dog's new blanket. Too early to tell which.

Lace knitting

2006-10-19T15:24:00.000+08:00

I never actually knew what other people meant by knitting kicking their ass. Just goes to show that I hadn't tried anything really beyond my skill level, or more than just a little bit higher than my skill level.

Lace knitting is totally kicking my ass. I frogged the Sarcelle again last night and then it took me another 4 goes to get past the initial lace pattern repeat (by past, I mean to the final 6th line in the repeat without having stitches left on my needle). I think I was doing the cast on using the backward loop method wrong - this is the first time I've ever used this method. I have to knit so slowly and count every stitch and double check and so on and in the end I decided to thread in some life lines. The bf wanted to know if I was going to phone a friend! If only I had a lace knitter I could go to in real life. I'd only cry though.Lace seems so much harder to go back and correct mistakes with - I haven't managed to do it yet, I have to frog.

Maybe I'll show you a photo later when I have like more than half an inch knitted to snapshot. I can see why lace knitting takes so long - it's very hard to do in large spurts. My eyes got sore and I got frustrated. I guess that's good news on the other projects front!

Not more fat quarter stashing?

2006-10-19T14:40:00.000+08:00

I might be on a new thematic kick. Shame the oriental one passed through so quickly, although I suspect it will rear its dragon head again soon. Recently I was diverted to an online fabric store whilst browsing through some Aussie knitting blogs. And I found some fabric that I *had* to have - you know the feeling? Anyway, the above photo gives a hint to this theme. In fact, I originally only took this photo to show the bust in the front as a recent acquisition. It was only on closer inspection when I loaded this photo that I realised all four objects here are thematically linked. Okay, fine, represent the beginning of this new obsession.

Yesterday's mail brought this lovely packet of fat quarters, all beautifully tied in a ribbon. I must say how much I love buying materials from one woman operations. Everything is so personal. It always comes with something slightly extra (here it's a packet of needles and her card, which is good cause I forgot to bookmark it) and I love having contact with the person who actually made it or packaged it up. It makes handicraft so much more personal and warm and fuzzy.

The newly aquired stash.

And here are some close ups.

When socks get too much

2006-10-18T15:32:00.000+08:00

Well I think I OD'ed on the sock knitting. Personally, I'm impressed I lasted this long. It's very unlike me to be so monogamous in my knitting. Last night though, I just couldn't face another sock. So ... I cast on some more projects instead!!!

I thought I might try the scarf that the Yarn Harlot just finished - the one repeat pattern. It's quite delightful to knit, simple enough to not have to concentrate but not too boring either. The yarn is from Natural Dye Studio in Primrose, and yes, it was destined for a hot water bottle cover. Am cannibalising that stash ASAP to prevent too many covers hanging about the place. I was looking for this yarn, actually, on Monday night and got quite agitated because I couldn't find it. The bf was most amused to see me pacing between rooms so upset because I'd lost yarn. And it was neatly in the reorganised stash, just where I'd left it. *pout*

This might be what the bedside table looks like at the moment after all the casting on. I'm also sewing up the nine patch garter squares.

The purple ball poking out from behind is the beginnings of a Sarcelle shawl for my sister. This is the first lace I've ever knit. The pattern is not for beginners. Much cursing occurred last night along with frogging, ripping and cutting. I ended up knitting through the initial increase (28 rows) and the first repeat before having to start over because I was doing something wrong but it was just as well cause I'd been ignoring the instruction of how the chart alternates between a right and wrong side. No wonder I wasn't getting that nice border. So. Lace work is hard. You can't watch Australian Idol, talk on the phone to your mum and do it at the same time. But it's very satisfying when you do pull off the repeat and I'm loving my new Addi Turbos.

I'll admit to getting addicted to these shots. I should probably take them in better light so you'd like them as well. But I quite like marking progress or regress by them. As you can see, all the garter squares have been removed from the middle shelf (*cough* most of them are on the bedside *cough*) and you can see the top of the pile of the finished nine patch squares on the bottom shelf. I think I might knit plain squares the size of these to intersperse instead of the border idea. This also helps with the nine patch square shortage. Finally, note the emptiness of the basket on the middle shelf. I discovered only one cast on sock in there - the watermelon ones in the shots above. There was a ball of yarn for my log cabin squares in there and random ones of bootie pairs. These will all be dealt with in due course. Of Course.

Mail!

2006-10-17T12:05:00.000+08:00

Here is a photo of yeserday's mail.

I got very excited as I neared the front door only to discover that the very biggest package was for the bf. Not to worry, lots of littler parcels is better anyway.

My first package from The Knittery came. That's the yarn on the left - sock yarn in Chocolate and lace weight in ... I forget!! but it's a fine purple rather than the blue that the photo has come out. And then on the right I got me some of the issues of Yarn magazine. Thanks to No No Kitty for that heads up! The other half I ordered of the magazine website and are yet to come but these came from Ozeyarn and what I loved was the inclusion of yarn colour samples! *That's* good business!

On Friday I got my skeins from Emily's Sophie's Toes Sock yarn - Fall Mums and Pony.

The Fall Mums colourway (in purples) I think is exactly like the colourway Chocolate Covered Cherries that I bought from Sunshine Knitting.

It might be hard to compare due to the lighting in this photo. I haven't actually yet put the two together cause .. well, I don't *actually* want to know!

And that leads me to: sock pair number 15!
Sherbet by Socks that Rock. Plain stockingette, 60 stitches, I think. For my Nana's 91st birthday next month.

Darn it

2006-10-16T11:22:00.000+08:00

Now that I've gotten used to posting photos with my entries, I don't know what to do having left my camera at home! Well, its probably a good thing cause whilst I want to show you my new yarn that came in the mail on Friday, I want to do a close up of one skein with another recently acquired skein. It might be that they are in the exact same colourway.

I finished the Sherbet socks last night. That's my 3rd pair for Socktoberfest. I immediately put the Watermelon ones from Knitting Sunshine back on the needles and managed to turn the heel this morning. I should have been working on the Seashells but I guess since it's all socks .. what does it matter?

I'm getting a wee bit antsy. I was all into the socks until about last night. Admittedly they are all in plain stitch and mostly are the second sock so how the variegation is going to go is all in the open. I guess I'm just wanting to work on Not!Socks for a while. I picked up all those garter squares and matched them into 9 patch piles and sewed almost one nine patch last night alternating with socks. I'm only going to get 3 more squares to add to the 3 I've already sewn and that's not quite big enough for a blanket. That might then have to go back in the yarn closet and await more scraps. I do though like the fact that areas are getting tidied up, organised and projects completed. I suspect completing half made booties might be next.

I also have a new idea for some of the Boeme Bebe stock - or maybe just more of it than I originally thought.

Photos to come.

On clearing out the knitting clutter

2006-10-13T12:11:00.000+08:00

What I *should* have done this morning was take a photo of the sock I finished last night. But I was lazy and didn't. Also, the pair will be finished pretty soon, stockinette and a quick knit cause it's in such a small size. I seem to be racing through the socks this month and am wondering why they take so much longer normally. I mean, yeah I do usally work on 8 things at once so that could explain it. Also, with all this plain knitting going on, I am tempted to do something far more complicated next, once all the October sock commitments are done - and the seashell socks aren't actually plain. I'm going to try the pomatomous in Socks that Rock Lemongrass at some point.

So instead, here are some more photos of my knitting area. The top one is the before shot when I just set up the shelves. It's probably where I'd like to believe I can get back to, one day. I honestly believe that I am finishing up all these random projects and not progressively creating more works in progress and I'm thinking that may not actually be true. Here is the area after cleaning it up and rationalising projects this week. That's the book I was reading and the coffee I was currently drinking so imagine them not there all the time! I guess note the book creep which has spread from the bedside to the knitting storage area.

A close up shows some of my more long term works in progress. The top shelf has random booties in random states of completion - some just requiring two more wheels to be sewn onto rollerskate booties for example.
Time to complete project, 10 minutes.
Time spent procrastinating on completing project, so far about 1 and a half months.

The second shelf has the bf's first sock in the pair to be finished for Socktoberfest (front right). Next to the sock are a variety of garter squares (15 stitches, 14 garter rows) made from the lefover yarn from the hot water bottle covers. I wasn't actually convinced they all actually "went together". I have even contemplated buying more yarn to make more covers (only sold 2 so far) to have more leftovers to finish this blanket. I am sewing them into nine patche squares. Then I wasn't sure how to join the nine patch squares together. I've been thinking about buying a black or very dark navy to knit borders and so on but I think I will just random sew them together in true crazy square style and be done with it. In fact I'm thinking of making this blanket for the boat so the care put in so far for how it should be pieced is probably already far too much. Plus we are going to holiday on the boat not this weekend but next so I should probably get a move on.

Behind the sock and the pile o squares is potentially the rest of the Socktoberfest commitment. I don't know cause I've been too scared to venture in that far. I may or may not have randomly cast on socks and then tossed them in that basket. Time will tell as I complete the three pairs currently in sight with about half the month left to go and a good strong will not to cast on more socks till all those already cast on are finished. Hope I make it .......

I like to stash

2006-10-12T11:04:00.000+08:00

I like to stash so much here is a photo of fat quarters I've bought in the year even though I haven't patchworked in more than 7 years.

I've got some kind of Japanese theme going on but the fabrics are so beautiful that I'm scared to cut them up. Also an African safari thing going on. I dunno. I find multi crafting a bit tough at the moment. Earlier in the year I got into cros stitching as well as the knitting but I haven't stitched in a couple of months and I am actually contemplating packing them away for now too. Not good since I did some good stashing on cross stitch kits this year too.

Typically, instead of making up the second sock for the bf, I'm working on the first sock for each of these skeins. All three are to be done by the end of the month so I think that's still all on the up and up. I have almost finished the first sock of the Sherbet colourway - will do so tonight, no doubt. I was quite tired last night and got more reading done than knitting.

However, I'm going through an interesting period in my life right now - for some reason I seem to be tidying things up without noticing - like across the board: my house, my study, my handbags, my to do list with reading, editing, reviewing, studying etc etc. It's weird, especially since I don't *feel* overly more motivated than normal. I don't seem to be all fired up to tidy and organise but it's happening anyway. I do have a theory that once I get on top of one area of my life, be that my email account or a corner of my living room, I look over and over at the totally perfect space and then roam my eyes to other areas that can be similarly pleasing. This is good when I am in this place, the trouble is figuring out how to get here when I am not.

So obviously this is extending over to my knitting and stashing. I am quite content at the moment to work through and finish started projects and put empty needles back in their jar rather than cast on something new. I am enjoying seeing piles of stuff about the place get reduced. I have a large basket in my bedroom where I have been tossing my more favourite skeins of yarn - I get to perve on them as I come and go from my room. Trouble was, I love a lot of skeins of yarn and the basket got more and more full and I actually could only perve at the top of the pile and was forgetting what the hell was in the basket at all. So I decided to rearrange my stash closet - I have 5 hanging shoe tree or jumper shelf things stuffed with yarn - mostly acrylic and a little bit of wool all for the Boeme Bebe stuff, and one shelf of sock yarn. I've sorta been a bit tough with rearranging these - black and white in the same shelf for example - to get more room to put more of my hand dyed sock yarns in. And so now, I can see a lot more of my yarn. The basket in my bedroom was then emptied enough to fill with ongoing projects or things I'm doing next (end of year presents etc) - all previously stacked on my bedside and the set of shelves I have next to that.

Here is the area for refernce. This photo was taken months ago so imagine it all kinda piled higher and deeper. However, now I have actually got a free bedside except for the two skeins of yarn above and the books I'm currently reading. I cleared out the top shelf next to the bedside and stacked it with booties that need sewing up and all my bedside queue books (and some more huge short story collections I bought at the con a couple of weeks ago).

Amazingly, I was able to shut the drawers in my bedside for the first time in what must be months. The top drawer has current projects and some leftover balls of yarn which I make up socks for Boeme Bebe from. The middle drawer has all knitting books and current patterns and the bottom drawer has once-current balls of yarn but now lay forgotten. I guess my next aim would be to empty these out and use them like normal people use them - whatever that is.

I can't express how much of a load has been lifted in seeing so much free space and areas cleared of projects-in-progress and other random things. There's a lot of release in saying, yes I will read this book but not in the next two months so stick it in the library and come back for it later. And similarly for yarn projects. It's kind of freeing to just draw a line in the sand and reset your life pace. It's horrifying to realise the pressure that project and reading queues were weighing on my subconscious.

Knitting for Charity

2006-10-11T12:45:00.000+08:00

The whole Boeme Bebe concept came out of the World Vision Guardian Angel Drive - where you can knit garments for babies and drop them off at Guardian Pharmacies for eventual delivery in the developing world somewhere.

I've always meant to go back and actually do that, or something similar. This week I am gloriously catching up on my podcasts (I fell behind last week having a house guest) and I was listening to Guido's Its a Purl Man podcast. He had someone from Save the Children in the US describing their Caps to the Capital project. She mentioned that 4 million newborn babies in the world die within the first month of life from a variety of reasons including being wet and lacking warmth. She was very determined that it was for Americans only - basically knit or crochet a newborn hat and send it with a note to President Bush telling him that American Knitters and Crocheters care about newborn health.

Well, I would say that Knitters and Crocheters across the world care about newborn health. I especially do. I especially do when thinking about all that stash hanging out in my stash closet and not draping itself around a sweet, tiny baby. I have a lot of stash that I bought for Boeme Bebe. And I am thinking of knitting/crocheting some portion of that stash and donating it, I guess, to World Vision. If you want to join me, drop me a line - either here in the comments or at girlie dot jones at gmail dot com and let me know the caps you have made and donated or if you want to send them to me to include in my donation. You can download an action kit here with some patterns for very simple newborn hats. I think I'll use these patterns, they look simple and they have newborn sizings. It's an ongoing project, so I'll add a tally on the sidebar.

New FOs

2006-10-11T10:54:00.000+08:00

My 14th pair of socks! And my 5th pair for myself. Thank goodness for Socktoberfest because I started these socks ... maybe in April? Finished the first, cast on the second, got to the heel and abandonded ship. I actually made a pair in the same colourway right before this one and I think I overdosed in red. These are Red Slippers in Socks that Rock. I used a slipped rib pattern. I didn't love the pattern (3 knit, 3 purl and then next row, knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, purl 1, slip 1, purl 1) - it wasn't mindless enough that you didn't have to concentrate but it wasn't interesting enough to be fun to knit. Also ... they are a pretty tight fit. I struggled to put these on this morning - maybe my feet were still wet from the shower. They are warm to wear though and pretty snazzy. I'm wearing them at work today with a three quarter length skirt (and pink top!).

And of course, I picked up the next set and began working - the Sherbet, also from Socks that Rock (see photo down below somewhere). These are for my Nana and she is tiny (maybe a size 4? need to check) so I zoomed through the leg and heel last night and did the gusset and half the foot this morning.

Here's something my Mum has been making lately that I love but she hasn't had any luck selling. I think maybe she hasn't found the market yet. These are hat pins but for holding scarves, shawls and stoles in place. I have on in amtheyst. Here are two in blues and she also has some in amber. She's selling them for Aus$20 (including postage). And I need to make myself a shawl or two to be able to use mine.

From the Fair

2006-10-10T11:24:00.000+08:00

My random sock shot of a bit of the fair. I had trouble with the lighting but the sock will feature later. In the background you can see the church and in front of that my hatstand with various knitted and crocheted hats. I spent the day chasing these round in the gusts of wind. I ended up with windburn too. I sold one hat - my favourite one actually - the wasabi green and dark green stripes beret, which you can see on the left.

Hot water bottle covers. I got a bit crazy with them. The pattern is courtesy of Yarn A Go Go and its a really lovely pattern to work. I can do a cover in just over a night now. And so I um, got carried away and knit a few too many in rather nice yarn from Natural Dye Studio. I think I made 7 for sale - I sold a further 2 to a livejournal friend and I made one for myself, cause they are lovely. I got some interest at the fair but didn't remotely sell a one. And I fear coming into summer now, this is something that will sit in stock for six months or more. And yet I have 6 more skeins looking at me wanting to be hot water bottle covers, which is just crazy. I may have to knit them into scarves just to stop the madness.

I'm not sure if you can see in this photo but I wrapped them up in cellophane, added a sticker for my name (Boeme Bebe) and labelled the yarn colours and then tied some silver ribbon round the top. They looked lovely when I wrapped them in the morning. I'm so heartbroken though cause they got so thrown about in the damn wind that I think the cellophane may be all creased and stuff and detract from the product. I haven't had the nerve to look - I just packed them up and put them straight back in the cupboard.

And then of course .... the socks! I finished my first pair for Socktoberfest at the fair, which does mean it wasn't entirely a waste of my time. I'm happy with them. They look good and the yarn was fun to work with. And they are bright and cheery, I worked extremely hard at matching the second one to the first but if you look closely:
you'll see, not so much!

Some FOs

2006-10-10T11:06:00.000+08:00

Finally got my butt into gear and uploaded a whole heap of photos. This morning I finished my 14th pair of socks. I thought I might show some of the earlier ones first.

These are the very first pair of socks that I knit. I desperately wanted to try self striping yarn and this Opal was the only yarn I could find in Australia. I bought 3 balls and the other two are sitting in the stash, long forgotten with the love for other yarns. I love these socks because they fit perfectly and they wash in the machine in a regular load and come out like they went in. However, this was also the pair of socks that I learned that there is such a thing as too much (the yiddish (?) word would be "murra duddi"). I did a basketweave or similar stitch which is mostly lost in the stripes and just comes out as extra texture.

These are the first pair of socks I made for the bf. Just plain stocking stitch in Socks that Rock, Carbon Dating. I had to buy a second skein cause ... yeah, mens feet are bigger, and so I ended up with an extra half or two thirds of a skein. I made my Dad a pair with the leftovers exactly the same. On this pair I learned that even though socks might be machine washable, you should use wool detergent and not throw them in with the rest of the wash. A lot of the colour washed out and they don't look much like this anymore - very faded now.

Knitted Sushi! Pattern from Magknits. I fiddled with it once I'd done a few and did the slice of sushi (as opposed to the nori rolls) myself. I was going to do a second slice of sushi with like carrot or whatever but I got .... distracted. This leads me to the question of copyright. I've never come across this before - like if you buy a cookbook and you make the recipe and sell the cake ... whatever. But that's a real no-no in the knitting online world. I'm really not used to ownership of patterns, mostly because I change everything I knit anyway. I never gauge, I usually take something I like from a pattern and do something else with it. I was really shocked to read that something like 80% of knitters knit a pattern in the same colour as that shown in the picture! That kind of knitting is totally not the knitting world I come from - probably due to lack of patterns and lack of yarn brands available. So I guess my question is, when is a pattern changed such that it's no longer bound by copyright? Is the slice of sushi mine even though I only adapted the pattern for the nori roll?

in brief

2006-10-09T11:35:00.000+08:00

I have a ton of photos so will post later on tonight. But I'm a bit down - we did the fair yesterday and it was horrible. We sat there all day and it was a very windy day and I sold two items. My Mum did slightly better with her jewellery but basically it was just unpleasant. I'm sore all over and very down about it all. My Mum is friends with the lady who ran the fair and that's why we ended up there this year and she was already asking us to come back next year. The thing is that it's a church fair. There were four stalls including us and pretty much only the parishoners came to the fair and none of them had money. I don't mind if you don't sell because people don't like what you have but to sit all day and not have anybody show up with the intention of buying anything just seems like a waste of my time.

snippet

2006-10-05T15:10:00.000+08:00

Will try for some photo action tonight. But I was thinking last night how I actually see a benefit in the photo-centric kind of post for knitting blogs. I ripped out all but the cuff on my Seashells sock last night and reknit a couple of rows in a garter rib. Of course the fabric changes when you change size of the needles, the numbr of stitches or the type of stitch and now I have something to compare the new version of against the old. I'll do that in the next couple of days when enough sock is knit but I am now much happier with it looking more like sea shells.

The lure of new yarn

2006-10-04T12:17:00.000+08:00

I know it's October and I'm supposed to be hooning through my second socks. I have a friend staying over and so not much knitting is really get done. I finished a scarf, though, this morning which is good stash restocking justification (SRJ). This is useful information since I see that Sophie's Toes is to be restocked today some time and Wendy's Mentionables kits are starting to appear at Yarn Botanika. Yarn Botankia have such lovely names and alluring colourways - peach spice and the pumpkin spice in particular. But it's also the draping their skeins sexily over Japanese pebbles. Sigh. I just *want* them. Good work girls!!

I also have some stunning sock yarn that I'm ogling in my kitchen - Sunshine Knitting's Chocolate covered cherries. I figure say i get all my socks done this month (ha!), and likely I'll cast on Avocado Salad, I can then cast those on. And yet? Day 5 and very little sock knitting currently achieved.

Soctoberfest begins!

2006-10-03T14:55:00.000+08:00

I owe photos. They are forthcoming. I have made good progress on my Sweetwater Vesper socks. I took that to Fandomedia instead of the Seashell socks. I cast on before leaving on Saturday morning and by Sunday afternoon I had turned the heel, done the gusset and was steaming down the foot. I'll finish that at the fair this weekend.

The seashell socks did not fair as well. I made it down to the heel on Friday night and as i did the reinforced heel realised the fabric would be better in some kind of pattern, perhapsa rib. So they have been abandoned to be frogged and hopefully returned to somewhere at the end of October.

I also managed to knit the sushi from Magknits. Will take photos and add links and whatnot tonight.

Some of the socks

2006-09-29T09:51:00.000+08:00

The complete half pairs. From left to right, the Vesper Self Striping Sock in Sweetwater, knit plain; Socks that Rock in Ruby Slippers, pattern is slip rib, I think; Socks that rock - the first sock club yarn Rainforest Jasper which I teamed up with Jasper and for the cuff, heel and toe). These are for the bf. These are the first three pairs to be tackled in Socktoberfest.

These are other socks that I have on random needles which will also be included in Socktoberfest. The Sherbet Is a Socks that Rock that I bought for myself but have since realised my Nana will love more so these are for her birthday in November. The other is my much loved Seashells by Sophie's Toes. Both are plain knits. The colourways are too beautiful to mess with more than that. The Seashells will come with me to Fandomedia.

This was as far as I dug the other night in tallying up socks in progress. I do fear there are more to be discovered when I clear the path by knitting up all these skeins of yarn!

Holiday knitting

2006-09-28T15:57:00.000+08:00

I'm always ahead of myself. The future possibilites are always more enticing than struggling with the current actualities.

I have my eye on the end of the year and holidays. Being Jewish I don't have to worry about knitting for the holidays but rather I get to dream about what I am going to knit on my holidays. At the moment we are planning to head off to the island for a week or so. And I'm dreaming about what knitting I think I shall take. Initally I thought Socks! But really, in theory after October I should be going well, sockwise. I want to knit my sister a shawl for her wedding - as a present not to wear. And that may take up November. But now I'm kinda thinking I should bite the bullet and knit a large garment for myself - something like a jumper or a tank top or I really like the dressing gown in Mason Dixon.

I've never knit something this serious before. I am a competant knitter. I have no trouble following a pattern and am quite happy to change or adapt others and am adequate with maths. I just have never undertaken something that requires that much yarn. I think it would be nice to be working on something that large when you have nothing ahead of you but days lazing on the boat deck and using your progress as a way of measuring time.

I'm thinking about it cause if I do decide to, I'll need to organise tools and yarn ahead of time.

Date night is Wednesday night so only had a couple of hours to knit and um, I crocheted those hats - one completed, two only need the brim to go and I started a new one as well.

Yarn Incentive II

2006-09-27T16:34:00.000+08:00

And does it work? Straight after posting the last post, the first thing I did was see what was left to do with the results section of paper 3 and actioned a few things, tagged some others to be done at home and I'm already further ahead.

I think it works.

Yarn as incentive

2006-09-27T16:18:00.000+08:00

Sometimes you have to have a reason to buy yarn - to legitimise accumulating yet more sockyarn, to be exact. Recently I bought several skeins of Sophie's Toes yarn. It's gorgeous and interesting and a delight to knit up. And then she updated her store. And there were two more beautiful skeins that I had my eye on. The thing is, at some point you have to feel guilty about making pairs of socks for AUS $35. Well I do. But then I haven't told you how much sock yarn stash I have. So I thought and thought and then I thought, "Well I need a kick in the bum to finish my ezine and launch it and to make the edits to a nonfiction article I wrote AND got paid for agggggges ago. These might do the trick." The ezine got launched and I had earned the Fall Mums colourway. But I kept forgetting to work on the article. I didn't though keep forgetting to wander past her etsy store and ogle Pony. And then last Friday I thought, "Bugger it. I want the yarn, I want it now, finish the damn article." And I did. I sat there until it was done. And then I ordered the yarn.

Having the first skein contigent on the second really worked for getting two hideous tasks out of the way. And now that I lust after yet more sockyarn that I probably don't *need*, yet am weighed down by many odious tasks that I don't want to do *cough* phd thesis *cough*, I'm wondering if I may have found a cure.

So in that frame of mind, and considering that I will do Socktoberfest next month and hopefully finish many of my started sock pairs, and may sell some of my knitted baby items at the upcoming fair ... I thought I might state here what I have my eye on and what they are traded for, so it's on record if I cheat :-)

I'd like to try The Knittery. I've got four skeins picked out (Passionfruit, Chocolate, Summer and Coral Reef). I'm going to trade 3 skeins for completing the current 4 books I have to read and 1 skein for cleaning and sorting out my garage (how did it get this bad in so short a time?)

And completing Paper 3 for my thesis will be traded for 4 Lisa Souza yarns. I have my eye on Mars Quake, Milk and Honey, Mombassa (my mother was born there) and Lime and Violet. Completing the results section of the paper gets me Mars Quake. I'll have to work out the rest.

Yarn stashing

2006-09-26T15:27:00.000+08:00

I think I actually live in fear of yarn vendors closing shop before I have managed to buy their yarn. There is a level of panic when I see yarn I like of it not being there when I come back. Probably this is partly from the quest to own Vesper Sock Yarn or Brooklyn Yarns or Sundara - all of which I have actually managed to buy but not necessarily in the colourways I most wanted.

We really don't have very many yarn stores here in my city. We have Spotlight. If you are prepared to drive, there's a Lincraft left somewhere here. And there's possibly 3 dedicated small yarn stores I can think of - I've only actually been to 2. These are still very much aimed at the grandma type knitter; I have not seen much in the way of "young" colourways and yarns.

So I don't get to see and touch and enjoy the types of yarns I can see on the internet in person. And so, sometimes it's hit and miss when I order things. And that's okay because *someone* will like the skein as socks! And half the time I'm finding people bag'sing them anyway. And that's okay too - maybe because I'm a process knitter - I don't mind because I get to knit with the colourway and see how it turns out and then I gift it and it's like a two for one deal.

Some yarns are nontradable. Some I have bought specifically for me and no matter what, you can't have them. I buy Socks that Rock for me but seem more happy to gift those socks away than a lot of the yarns from smaller outlets I buy from (except for Ruby Slippers and Lemongrass - mine mine mine) . Maybe I just have more favourite colours than others.

But even with larger sellers, I still have this urgency of what if they close down and I never got that skein? Like Lisa Souza for example. And I ogle the certain colourways that I have my eye on and I hope the site will still be there when I come back later. Somehow, I guess, I'd rather buy all my future yarn purchases now and have them at home in the cupboard than never have them at all!

Socktoberfest!

2006-09-26T10:48:00.000+08:00

I didn't do any knitting last night at all. I spent the whole knit crocheting instead :-) I broke my own rule - to finish all the projects on my bedside before bringing any new balls or skeins of yarn into the room (and thus starting new projects). I was doing well after the weekend and there was space and room to pile things, you see. And it's far easier to repeat a project when you do them all up together. And that's how I came to start 3 new sunhats last night and am now working on 4 at the same time. These are all for the fair on the 9th and are variegated acrylics. I'm testing the theory that you need to have the stock to sell it :-) We'll see.

But the fair is on the 9th of October, as I said, and after that I might lay back a bit on the baby wear. I'm thinking of taking a pair of socks with me to the convention I'm going to this weekend. I'm knitting my Seashells socks on bamboo needles and I'm thinking of taking them. I don't want to be distracting to the people on the panels but to sit all day long for the whole weekend is a lot of time sitting still.

I was listening to Lime and Violet on the way home last night and again into work this morning. I think they convinced me to sign up for Socktoberfest. I have that many pairs of socks in various stages of completion I thought I might aim to get them all done in the month. I have 3 finished half pairs. And at least 3 more half pairs started on needles (none the second to any). I asked the bf how many socks he thought I could get done in a month and he thought for a while and said, "hmmm... I think 8 halves" and that was without telling him I was contemplating completing started socks first! So that will be my goal - to finish all started pairs of socks.

Of course that's sooooo hard to do when you keep getting beautiful new skeins in the mail. Yesterday brought Sunshine Yarn's Chocolate Covered Cherries, or similar. I took photos and they are to come.

Mystery Solved - Sock Candy

2006-09-25T14:19:00.000+08:00

Ahh.. new from Blue Moon Fibre Arts ... or just new to those of us not with access to distributors of this fine product - the Tube Sock Kit! Wonder what colours they comein! And other, nonwool fibres.

http://knitty.com/blog/2006/09/knitty-yarn-peek-thursdays-start-now.html

The last order I made with them was very large (about 20 skeins) and there was mixup with postage so I'm too shy to email and find out what colours they come in.

Monday

2006-09-25T14:02:00.000+08:00

I started another post but it sounded a bit apologetic. When I have photos I'll post them and if they suck, they suck.

I've been thinking a lot about why I knit and what kind of knitter am I? Am I a process or product knitter? And does it matter if I am one, or the other or both or neither? I suppose I could be trying to understand my uncontrollable urge to stash. Except reading other knitters' blogs and books, this isn't really that weird. And lots of people stash tools for their hobby ... like my Mum with her beading and quilting and most people who love to read keep libraries, often with large book queues. There's nothing worse than sitting down at 9pm at night with a good DVD or movie on TV and thinking ... "hmm yes I'd like to make this in pink and white" and not having any pick or white whatever on hand. It stifles creativity.

So then, I am trying to understand my compulsion to cast on and start projects and then ... cast on and start other projects. I guess I'm not project driven to the point that I think "I want a scarf/socks/sweater" and then sit down and make it to have it. I tend to think of wanting to make things so I've made them. Sure I like to have things I've made, although I don't tend to keep a lot of what I make. But often I enjoy the experience of following a pattern and seeing how it turns out. And that means that since I'm not driven by a need for whatever the object is NOW, I can enjoy trying out a variety of patterns at once and pick up whatever I feel like knitting at that point in time.

The trouble with that is that every so often I suffer anxiety - too much to knit, too little time, what should I be knitting now? And whatever I am knitting now is preventing me from knitting that, over there, now. I deal with this in two ways. The first is to pick one object, the thing closest to being finished, and work on that to completion. This satisfies the panic that I finish nothing. The second is to pick say 5 objects and work on them in rotation, either by repeat or number of rows or next step in the pattern, or sewing up. This satisifes the urge to be knitting everything at once.

Finally, why do I knit? Especially if I gift most of what I make, or like I am doing now, making to sell generic items. If I knit things and don't care about them when they are finished (often they go straight to the intended person or put away in the cupboard to be wrapped and labelled and priced for sale) then I can't be knitting for the finished object. This got me thinking last night about artists. Painters paint and when they are done, they try and sell it. The majority of their work goes away to be viewed by other people. They put their heart and soul into a piece and then out it goes into the unknown. Gone forever. On the other hand, how many paintings can one person keep? Even if the answer is 30, prolific artists will paint far more than this in a lifetime, and they won't love every single one of them. Thus, its the act of painting where the pleasure is derived - the act of creating, and once done, the enjoyment is found in doing it again and the first object, whilst loved, may not hold the same allure as the blank canvas of potential.

So then. Does that make me an artist? Am I practicing my craft more as an art than as .... a craft?

First genuine post

2006-09-22T11:12:00.000+08:00

Knitting blogs are all about the pretty - I'm well aware of that. I shall dig out my camera and get into the habit of diligently photgraphing the pieces I talk about.

I didn't do that last night though due to ... well... general procrastination. I did, however, do heaps of knitting. I frogged back the heel of my Vesper sock and reknit it and got an inch or two into the foot. I worked on another hat for the fair I'm doing on Oct 9 - it's an orangey-yellow and lemon yellow stripe. I have about 12 rows left of decreasing to do and another bites the dust. I also finished one baby sock out of the left over Beachcomber colourway of Sophie's Toes. I'm hoping to get a pair out of them and sell them for ~ $6 or 8. A nice subsidy to my own pair of socks.

I feel really bad though. Not only do I have about 16 UFOs on the needles, I have at least 7 socks on the go. Not pairs either - the Vesper stripe in ... I can't remember the colourway but its blue, orange and lime; Sophie's Toes in Seashell (and I'm gazing longingly at the other colourway I have of hers on the bedside in Avocado Salad); Socks that Rock in Ruby Slippers (its the second); Sunshine Yarn in Watermelon; Socks that Rock in the first sock club colourway, Cedar Creek (it's for the bf so I added some Jasper for the cuff, toe and heel); Socks that Rock in Sherbet. And I have a feeling I started another Socks that Rock for my mother but I need to check.

This is disastrous. It's not even all the projects I'm working on. And the worst of it is that I have this many sets of dpns so when I finish a sock, I just cast on another one since I don't really need the needles for anything else. *sigh*

begin

2006-09-21T12:24:00.000+08:00

this is my test post