2010 knitting resolutions

You know how it is at the first of the year.  Everyone makes resolutions for all sorts of things:  losing weight, getting out of debt/saving money, quitting smoking, etc.  I don't know about you, but I usually make knitting resolutions.  I wrote my list like weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to making the list public ... till now.  So here goes:

• learn brioche stitch – and knit something with that stitch. I’m thinking something simple like a hat although I would LOVE to have this capelet: Shadow Dance
• knit a sweater for myself – specifically: Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan
• knit (or crochet) 1 Christmas gift each month (except January)
• knit a sweater vest for myself – specifically: Veste Everest or Ticuna
• start cataloging yarn/fiber stash on Ravelry – perhaps one per week
• learn to knit 2 socks at a time on 2 circulars. I already know the 2 circ method (Cat Bordhi is my hero!) so the next step is to do 2 socks at once

That's it!  Seems easy enough now, but we'll see how it goes as the year progresses!

Oh, I've also been meaning to show y'all my new Rio bag from Jordana Paige.  What can I say?  I. LOVE. THIS. BAG!!  Here's Rio at work:

I have my regular purse stuff on one side of the center divider (from left to right you see my red Moleskine notebook, a small pack of tissues, keys, cell phone, orange makeup bag and iPod-- in a knitted iPod cozy of course).  Inside the zipped-up center divider are my wallet and a compact of my favorite Chantecaille lipglosses. The other side of the divider has my bag of knitting tools, my Kindle, 2 knitting projects in vinyl bags and a folder of some of the various patterns I'm sorta working on. This is a true carry-it-all bag!!!  There are tons of pockets, and even the pockets have pockets ... seriously.  I am already looking forward to getting another Rio.  My only wish is that the garnet red wasn't discontinued.  But there is hope for maybe being able to purchase one during the upcoming sale ... 100% of the sales are going to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti so it's for a good cause.  I'm gonna buy one, and you should too!

But now, I'm gonna cozy up on the couch, watch the fire burn in the fireplace, and maybe knit on my mitten.

G'night!

~mz

Happy New Year!

I am totally wondering what happened to the past year -- actually I'm wondering what happened to the past TEN years.  Time flies indeed!

I wish I could say that I've spent nearly every spare moment of my vacation knitting (working on the few projects that are currently on my needles.  Part of my vacation was spent sick in bed, unfortunately!  My mom successfully doctored me back to health and after a few days under her care, I felt halfway human.  But I still didn't do much knitting, which means that I still need to finish 3.5 dishcloths for Momma's annual Christmas gift.  Also have to finish Eric's second sock (I was going great guns on it but messed up a cable and couldn't fix it so I had to rip and re-knit), and also need to finish my laceweight Clapotis.  I'm prioritizing those projects in that exact order and would love to finish all of them by the end of January, so that I can start my "Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan Sweater" for my "Ravelympics 2010" project (careful, that's a Ravelry link!). 

So in other news, I will share what "Santa" brought me for Christmas ... gee I must have been very good this year!  My parents bought me some cute stuff, including a "Porn for Women" wall calendar, a neat mug that I can use for sipping my morning tea, and a couple of charms for my Pandora bracelet!  I got some Christmas money from other family members too,  and my honey gave me an Amazon.com gift card.  So what did I buy?  Knitting stuff of course!  I got 4 of Cat Bordhi's books:

• Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series
  
• New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One
  
• A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting
  
• A Treasury of Magical Knitting 

I also bought myself 2 charms for the above-mentioned bracelet. And today I bought a Rio bag from Jordana Paige.  Boy, I can't WAIT for that to arrive.  It seems like it will be the perfect solution to carrying my purse, my knitting bag and often a work bag.  I'm a total bag lady but from all accounts this bag is woooooonnnnderful and is the only bag a knitter needs.  I can't wait to try mine out!  I'm afraid I will get hooked and maybe feel compelled to buy another in a different color :-)  I got black because it goes with everything, but I would love to find a red one.  Apparently Rio used to come in red but not anymore.  How sad!    Anyhoo, I think this bag might make me get rid of some of the others that I've tried and don't like for various reasons.  I'll definitely give y'all an update as soon as it gets here! 

That's all for now, dears.  Methinks it's finally time to cozy up in bed and head off to dreamland.  Hope your New Year is productive, fun and full of knitting.  May your yarn never tangle, and may your dye lots always match!

Until next time,
~mz

i want this

 

 Sometime a while ago (November of 2007, apparently), I was browsing in The Gap and saw this cute cape/poncho thing.  I tried it on and asked my friend to take a picture.  I was thinking, "I could knit that!!"  And then I forgot about it until today, for some reason.  I'm so happy I still had the picture.  I think it's going to go into my queue for stuff to try to knit in 2010.  I wish I could remember more about the construction but I'm thinking maybe doing it top-down would work.  I'm not at all sure how to put the pocket on there but that shouldn't be too hard to figure out ... will it?  I do remember that it was knitted in a bulky/chunky yarn, and I think the Fair Isle section will be easy enough, even for an inexperienced Fair Isle knitter like me!

I'd be happy for any tips and tricks that anyone is willing to share, though :-)

Enjoy what's left of the weekend ...

~mz

scarf progress -- on hold

that's how the XOXO cabled scarf is turning out ... much better than the previous version.  i decided to combine elements of 2 different patterns to get the effect i wanted.  but as much fun as this pattern is, i need to put it on hold for 2 reasons.

1.  there's still quite a bit of holiday-related knitting to work on (dishcloths, socks).  but more importantly:
2.  I NEED THRUMMED MITTENS.

folks,  the temp right now is about 19F with a high of 21F and it is very windy ... yesterday i think we had winds up to 60mph.  a few weeks ago i knitted myself a pair of regular mittens and generally they are fine ... except when it's this cold and this windy.  so this morning i pawed through my stash to find some wool yarn and roving that i can use and decided on noro kureyon and the roving is not merino, maybe it's shetland, i don't remember.  and i don't really care, so long as i end up with some mittens that will keep my fingers warm.  perhaps if i'd knitted my mittens at a tighter gauge, and if they were more than 50% wool they'd be better.  they will do for now since it's all i have but i need something warmer.  PDQ. 

and i also need to go get lunch before my 1:30pm meeting.  ciao for now.  stay warm!!!

~mz

I have an FO!!!

Ok, well sort of.

You know those Treads socks that I've been knitting?  Well I finally finished the first one!!  WHEW!  I finished it over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and guess what else?  I immediately cast on for the second one.  Yup, no Second Sock Syndrome for me!!  The first sock fits great and I'm so excited.  There is a slim chance that the second sock will be finished in time for Christmas ... but I'm not holding my breath for that one.  Good thing my honey isn't totally dependent on me to keep his feet warm :-)

And I bought yarn this week.  LOTS of yarn. But I bought it for a specific reason.  I live in a big ol' farm house and it's been a bit chilly at home, even with the furnace on and the fireplace going.  We tend to keep the heat on the low side because who wants to spend an outrageous amount of money to heat the home when we could just put on an extra layer?  So the other night I asked Eric if he was cold. He says, "Nope, I'm wearing this wool sweater."  I'm like, well DUH.  I have enough wool sock yarn to knit maybe 40-50 pairs of socks but not enough heavier wool to knit a sweater!!  So ... I went to KnitPicks.com and bought 23 balls of their Wool of the Andes yarn (worsted weight) in a color called Black Cherry Heather (http://bit.ly/66uTy7).  I love it and think it will look good on me :-)

I should also say that this will be my first time knitting an adult size sweater.  I'm using the Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan Sweater pattern  and I hope to make it with a V-neck.   I'm pretty excited and a little nervous.  I hope you sweater knitters won't mind my asking a million questions as I go along.  The yarn has shipped and should arrive sometime next week.  Yay!

In other news, one of my best friends asked me to knit her a scarf with an XOXO pattern.  She asked for it to be knitted in red, and it turns out I have "plenty" of red (acrylic) yarn in my stash.  I'd like to knit it with something a little more luxurious than acrylic but I also have to be mindful of spending.  Oh, I'm using the pattern that's on the center of the Staghorn sweater, which is in a book called A Fine Fleece. I have finished nearly a full pattern repeat (just enough for the XOXO pattern to be established and it's turning out quite nicely!  I warned her that the last scarf I knitted in a similar pattern took me about 6 months to knit, so as long as she doesn't mind waiting, I don't mind knitting it for her. 

I would like to get back on the ball with my charity knitting as well.  I am thinking of knitting helmet liners for our troops  I know that lots of people are contributing to the effort and I want to join in!  It's my understanding that hats/helmet liners etc should be made with 100% wool, and that black, charcoal, brown, tan, olive drab are the only military-approved colors.  I found TONS of patterns on Ravelry for helmet liners (or balaclavas) ... so if you're interested in participating you can find lots of inspiration there.  Completed items can be mailed (year round!) to:

Citizen SAM
PO Box 10565
Peoria, IL 61612

I hope that you all will consider knitting even one hat for a soldier! I would like to find a local charity to knit for as well.  More details on that later. 

For now though ... Good night!

~mz