For the past two weeks I’ve been decidedly under the weather. So much so that I was (and still am) forced to give up many responsibilities and sit around, resting as best I can. Sometimes it’s more irking then others, but for the most part I’m content. The sitting around has led to some amazing progress on the knitting front. Think about it, what else can you do when you’re supposed to be resting? Besides read, and I did that already. Four new books worth.
The sweater body is finished, and I’m a few inches down the first sleeve. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready in time for my original goal, which was today, but that’s okay because the event I wanted to wear it to doesn’t fall under the category of resting.
After a mad dash to the bottom hem and the subsequent beginning on the sleeve, my knitting self just snapped. I had had enough of purple worsted weight. I would start a new project or die trying!
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That favorite sock pattern of mine has finally been translated into English! Hooray!
And, get this, I found the translation only a few hours after using a part of one of the reserved sock yarn balls for the slipper project. Argh. I was sure I had a third ball of it laying around somewhere, but now I’m not so sure.
Yes, I said the slipper project. They still weren’t quite big enough and had to come home for some alterations.
So I’m nuts. I want to finish my sweater project before the nineteenth. I see many late night efforts in my future.
As you can see, it’s grown quite a bit, and I’m now into my third ball of yarn out of nine. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to knit tighter once I got to the easy part, because the garment was expanding when it wasn’t supposed to. By now I’ve gotten down to the waist decreases, so it feels like I’m making more progress faster. I have a feeling knitting sweaters with heavier weight yarn could become addicting. They’re so quick when you actually take the time to knock out four or five rounds at a time.
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I really hope the rest of the year won’t decide to follow January’s pacing. At that rate I won’t get much done!
I mean, we’re already almost through a twelfth of the year. Yikes! It would be so much easier if I had only one, or even two hobbies. Then I could focus on them solely and really get stuff cranked out.
But would it be as fun? Part of the fun of hobbies is to be able to do different things and keep them fresh. If it’s not interesting, why do it? Now, granted, I’ve taken hobby-gathering and turned it into an extreme sport, but I only keep the ones I enjoy. The trouble is that I enjoy a few too many to maintain with sanity.
The solution? Rotate them out as the mood strikes, and try not to leave any unfinished projects. The first part is easy. I’m still working on the second part. Although I am proud to report that I still only have one knitting project going, despite a red sock yarn’s constant pleading and a shawl pattern’s lingering glances.
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I’m a knitter now. Let me be the first to admit it. The dye. . . I mean die-hard crocheter has fallen. I have succumbed to the knitting realm and now have way too many knitted projects planned.
And to prove how nuts I am, go take a look at my queue and favorites on Ravelry. (I’m LoveFiber on there.) 
Not only am I knitting my first big knitting project now — and here’s a picture of my lovely sweater so far — but I have plans for another sweater, two or three giant shawls . . . no, four or five shawls, and a myriad of socks, wraps, and various things that will only overrun my closet. Which is already overrun. Although hopefully I will be able to use things from the closet to make things which go back into the closet and therefore pioneer self-sustaining closet environments.
My goal is to not. Buy. Any. More. Yarn. Until I’ve used up at least some of what I already have. Not too much. Just enough. *cough cough* Will someone please take the KnitPicks and Webs catalogs off my desk?
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I finished yet another hat! This is a gray alpaca version of the first tam I made. It’s knit from KnitPicks Andean Treasure. Baby alpaca, sport weight, great stuff!
Technically this is the second time I’ve finished it, as I had to knit the ribbing twice. The yarn just wasn’t elastic in 2 x 2 ribbing form! That, and it draped so much it would have fit Barney the Dinosaur. Enlarging the rest of the pattern has definite drawbacks. I solved the problem (with help from the knitting sister!) by raveling back — which was painful, but not too scary — and then going to size 1 needles, as well as decreasing a little more. It worked very well, and I had hoped to deliver it to the recipient at church today, but she wasn’t there.
And, lest you think the lack of recent posts means I haven’t been doing anything fiber-related, let me inform you that I have enough material for two posts now. Part B will go up tomorrow.
The spinning front had been deceptively quiet for the last week or so, and I was getting to feel like it was just lurking around the corner waiting for me to come by so it could jump out and trip me into paying it attention.
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I bound off my navy cowl! And promptly discovered that it was bigger around than I thought it was, which means I probably should have gone ahead and used the second ball of yarn in it. 
It’s hard to tell how big something will be when it’s scrunched up on circulars. And, of course, doing a stitch count and the necessary math would have just been overkill.
So, now it’s big enough to go up over my head like most enormous cowls (instead of the neckwarmer I thought it would be) but it’s not wide enough to do more than make a feint at keeping the top of my head warm. Perhaps I can knit the second ball into a similar size, then graft them together down the middle. I’m also hoping that the minor stretch job I gave it while blocking will help it expand.
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This is a post of “finally”s. I finally got around to taking a picture of the progress I’ve made on my cowl. 
It’s a good five inches long, and I’m coming up on the end of yarn ball number one. The question is whether to continue on and make it really big, or just have a second ball of navy mohair laying around for who knows what.
I thought about making a matching hat out of it. One of those things that are sort of like tams, only a bit more floppy and mushroom shaped. Possibly with the same lace pattern so it will match!
What with the cold weather lately I’ve been wearing my merino/oppossum tam a lot, and I’ve gotten quite a few compliments on it. Enough to make me wear it every time I stick my head out of the door. And it’s nice and warm, too. I don’t notice it when it’s on my head, but when I take it off I get colder.
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Hello, everyone. I’m having a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you are too. And, while I didn’t receive any fiber-related gifts, I do have a couple of odds and ends to blog about.
First off, Nessie is done. Eyes and all. The pattern called for brown eyes, but I happened to be working with some navy yarn at the time so I just snitched a bit of it from the too-long tail of the work in progress. The recipient’s eyes are blue, so it works.
Second, I give a public thank-you to God for His blessings to me through yarn and fiber sales on Etsy. A month or so ago I was seriously thinking about pulling the plug on the whole thing, but He has sent me enough sales to make continuing worthwhile. I’m very excited about next year. I’ve got all sorts of ideas for new products, and a couple of marketing ideas as well. Look out, you may be seeing my shop on Ravelry sometime soon!
Third, I’m starting my New Year’s Dash tomorrow. Or at least, I’ll be preparing for my New Year’s Dash tomorrow. I’ll probably spend the better part of the day working on something completely non-fiber related, but I will take time to rummage through my fiber stash and see what will make the cut. I was given my favorite recording of The Wind in the Willows today, and I plan to listen to it once I get spinning.
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I guess I’m officially in the doghouse. No, scratch that, I know I’m in the doghouse. I haven’t blogged a line for longer than I care to think about, and (are you ready for this?) I haven’t spun an inch since before that. Excuse me while I go collapse in a sobbing heap. This thing called life keeps interfering with my hobbies!
Not that I’m bitter, no. Life has been quite enjoyable this December. Everything from seeing the Charlie Brown Christmas to having a small live Christmas tree (both for the first time ever) has kept things lively. I hosted my first Christmas play, made my first gingerbread house, and volunteered for the first time to serve desserts at a Christmas party. (Do you sense a theme of firsts here? Well, go with that, because this is also the first time I’ve gotten so much behind on spinning and blogging!)
I haven’t gotten behind on knitting, though. Christmas knitting has skyrocketed. I made three different pairs of sock slippers for various people. (Two of those will be over dyed into different colors.)
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