The purpose of blogging

I think I need to give up on this blog as a project tracker. That's what I started it for, but that was in 2004 (!!!), i.e. the pre-Ravelry days. Since Ravelry came along and I started recording all my project details there, it's been harder and harder to keep up with the blog, because I don't really have the time (or inclination) to record everything twice.

So instead, I think I'm going to start using this blog to talk about knitting techniques, pattern releases, and maybe some silly stories of my knitting life that won't fit in 140 characters. Plus maybe finished photos of projects that I really want to share.

Speaking of which, here's a parade of FOs since my last blog post...

100th birthday present for my grandmother
Pattern: Anatolia by Barbara Gregory
Yarn: Circulo Anne

A series of kippahs for DD1's beau, who was bar mitzvahed in January:

 

 

In order, we have the Tardis kippah, the kippah with the young man's Hebrew name on it, and a Dalek kippah. (As I'm sure you can tell, he's a Doctor Who fan.) All of them were adapted from the Basic Knit Kippah pattern by Jennifer Tocker.

Welcome-to-the-world baby gift for a family friend
Pattern: Summer Pelisse by Rene Dickey
Yarn: Schachemayr SMC Catania

Sweater for MEEEEEE!
Pattern: Sotherton by Kathleen Dames
Yarn: Katia Merino Mix

Birthday gift for DD2
Pattern: Reaverse Star Edition by Rea Jarvenpaa
Yarn: Various acrylic worsted, including Caron Simply Soft Brites

Christmas gift for my brother
Pattern: Seanair by Judith Brodnicki
Yarn: Patons Canadiana

Baby gift for first-cousin-once-removed's first child
Pattern: Dr. Quackers by Lizzy-Knits
Yarn: Various

Vest for me
Pattern: Rose Trellis Shawl Vest by Vera Sanon
Yarn: Nova Sock Print

Father's Day gift for DH
Pattern: Hat-heel sock by me
Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-Ply

Farewell present for co-worker
Pattern: Jayne Cobb Firefly Hat by SmarieK
Yarn: Cascade 220 and 220 Superwash

I also came up with a new sweater design in celebration of DD1's birthday, and will probably be submitting it somewhere in the early fall. I kind of really really love this one, and have high hopes for an acceptance. Fingers crossed!

How Christmas went

I dropped a lot of people off my knit-for list this year in order to have half a shot at getting it all done...and still didn't make it. But there were many successes!

Alas, my brother's cardigan was not one of them. The plan for him was to rip out the hoodie I'd made for him four Christmases ago (it was an extra-large, and he's since lost a lot of weight, so it was no longer wearable) and use the yarn to make Seanair. He's really into "grandpa" style sweaters, so this was guaranteed to be a big hit. Unfortunately, although I started in March and made excellent progress, other things kind of caught up with me and by Christmas day I had only the bottom fronts and the back completed. In addition, I had a sneaking suspicion that something had gone terribly wrong somewhere, because once I divided for the armholes and was able to lay the whole thing out, it looked big. Like, really, really big. Like, no WAY was this thing only 46" around big.

After he unwrapped it, I held it up to him and my fears were confirmed. Huge. Fortunately, he was really excited about it, even though he knows I have to rip it all out and start again.

I measured it yesterday. I am getting sixteen stitches to four inches in the gauge pattern...I'm supposed to be getting TWENTY-FOUR. I also measured the circumference: SIXTY-TWO INCHES.

Clearly, I will need to do some serious swatching to bring this thing down to size. I plan to do this in February after I've finished the knitting for my grandmother's 100th birthday and DD1's boyfriend's bar mitzvah.

My older BIL received only one sock on Christmas morning:

But I cast on for the second sock on Boxing Day afternoon and had a completed pair for him before I went to bed:

My niece got a Sugar Stick cowl, modelled here by DD1:

DD1 also got shafted on the morning of Santa Day, as I had only one Converse-style slipper done for her:

However, her reaction to just the one slipper was EPIC, and she happily wore the singleton around the house for two days until I could finish the second one:

She's ecstatic about them. :)

DD2 really loved her Citron cape:

DD3 adored her owl:

(Although the glue has come off around part of one eye; I'll have to fix that.)

DD1's friend got Florenz socks:

And then all the teachers got holiday presents. DD1's teacher got a hat I can't show you, because I designed it and submitted the pattern to a yarn company shortly after Christmas. But DD2's teacher got a Tartessos shawl:

DD3's teacher got a scarf to match the mittens I made him when he was DD2's teacher:

And DD3's ECE got a beret:

Finally, I managed to get gifts knitted for my cousin's children in time to pass along to my aunt for delivery before she left to spend Christmas with them. Their older girl got a poncho-y sweater:

And the baby got a little tunic top:

So there you have it - thirteen holiday gifts, twelve of them completed by December 27. Could have been worse.

As for myself, I got some lovely goodies. DH and the girls got me eight balls of Merino Mix DK weight yarn from Katia:

So many of the big items in my queue call for DK weight, and I never seem to have very much of that in my stash, so this was a very welcome present. I treated myself immediately after Christmas by casting on for Sotherton:

So much fun! Of course, as previously mentioned, I've got some hard knitting deadlines coming up in the next two weeks, so I'm going to be putting this away after today. It lives in my new project bag by JessaLu (thank you, Mom, Dad, and bro!):

I feel this is extremely appropriate, given that the pattern comes from Jane Austen Knits!

So it's been a good holiday season Chez Insanity this year. If you celebrate, I hope it's been wonderful for you, too. And all the best in the New Year for happiness and good health. As for me, I'm planning to get a head start by resuming the panic January knitting tonight while watching my new Battle of the Five Armies DVDs!

Changing course mid-stream

So my cousin has a new baby on the way, for which I want to design a blanket; I still haven't finished the dragon woobie for my co-worker's imminent arrival; I've got a lacy sweater in progress for DD1 that she'll grow out of if I don't finish it soon; and DD2 asked for slippers a while ago.

Naturally, this means that inspiration hits me for new designs and completely different projects, so that I end up working on absolutely nothing I'm supposed to.

The worst of these was the design inspiration for socks that I mentioned in my last post. There's a new web series which will be starting in the next month or two that I'm very excited for, and I was inspired by some of the promo shots that have been coming out for it. Unfortunately, the execution ended up being more tricky than I originally thought, and I probably knitted about ten socks' worth of stitches before ending up with an actual pair of sample socks to photograph for the pattern write-up. But I got there in the end, and the pattern is all ready to go! I'll release it once the first real episode of the web series drops.

In another procrastination move, I got all the knitting (but not any finishing) done on my mom's Christmas present.

The pattern is "Song of the Sea", by Louise Zass-Bangham, and I used almost the entire skein of amethyst Diadem that I picked up in December for a song at a ridiculous Knit Picks sale. It's 50% alpaca and 50% silk and I luuurved knitting with it. I've got a turquoise skein, too, and will be doing the same cowl (although appropriately smaller) for DD1. The third and final skein which I picked up at the sale is a glorious mix of reds, and in March I cast it on for gloves for myself - the "Kingdom" pattern from Knitty by Becky Herrick, which has been in my queue for a very long time.

More knitting from the queue happened when I cast on for the "Shalom" cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. I'm using some bulky grey yarn from the stash and unfortunately, although I love how it's turning out, there is no way I'm going to have enough yardage to finish. I've put it aside for the moment while I debate whether I want just a bolero sort of garment, or whether I should just frog the darn thing and try to find a different destiny for the yarn.

The thing about knitting procrastination, I've found, is that you can pretty much always find a good excuse to cast on for something else. For instance, who can say that getting a headstart on Christmas knitting is a bad choice? Flush with success at having almost finished my mom's gift, I turned around and cast on "Seanair" from Knitty by Judith Brodnicki for my brother:

That may not look like a whole lot of procrastination, but trust me - it's waaay bigger now. Like, almost-at-the-armholes way bigger.

Then Michaels had a good sale on some Patons Kroy sock yarn in a rainbow colourway, and suddenly I was knitting entrelac "Basketcase" socks by Kate H for DD1:

I started the second sock this morning.

So what can I say in my own defence? Well...at least I started knitting the purple slippers that DD2 wanted. Haven't gotten around to taking a picture, though...