Moving Day!

Actually, moving day was yesterday, or the day beforethat . . . I can't remember.

I've relocated to a new blog site, if anyone happens upon this little site. You can find me at www.flowercityknits.wordpress.com.

Hope you can make it!

Shhh . . . . he's almost asleep . . .

Drive-by post to show you my Ollie, falling asleep after enjoying a happy day in the bright fall sunlight.

Knitting Update and a Meme

It's a very inventive title, I know. Whatever, it's Friday and I'm fresh out of creative writing mojo.

In the spirit of stash-busting and non-commercialism, I'm endeavoring to make Christmas gifts this year from my stash as much as possible. Now, I haven't told anyone whether or not they're getting a hand-made gift, just in case I fail miserably to finish these projects, small as they may be. I'm already making good progress though. I'm almost finished with a pair of hats for my sister and brother in law, a basic hat in Noro Silk Garden #88 and a London Beanie in Paton's Classic Merino Wool in Black with stripes in Dark Grey Mix and Leaf. I've cast on and finished the first 30 rows of the my mother's potential Christmas gift, the Flower Basket Shawl, which I'm doing in Frog Tree Alpaca Sport in a Wine color. My plan is to make a cabled hat in, you guessed it, Paton's Classic Merino Wool in Natural Mix for my other sister, a baby hat and sweater for my sweet niece from Joann Sensations Dolcetto in cream (very soft, superwash, perfect for a babe) and an Irish Hiking Scarf for my dad in Karabella Aurora 8 (which I will have to buy--but I don't have any soft dark green yarn in my stash, ohdamnIhavetogotovillageyarnshoppe).

I haven't taken any pictures, which makes for a boring post, but no one's reading this but me right now, so everything's o.k. Right? Right!

I still haven't blocked the Flower Petal Shawl or the Ropes and Cables Scarf, and I still haven't seamed and felted the Noro clutch. It would appear that finishing is not my thing. Shocking, I know.

Place Meme

As I mentioned before, I don't think anyone's reading this (note the silent but hopeful yet). So I've decided to tag myself with a meme from A Strikke's blog. I love reading other people's meme's and I love doing them myself. See, I'm both voyeuristic and narcissistic. A tasty and interesting combination. Here goes:

All the places I've lived before:
Upstate New York (Batavia and Rochester, respectively), Velbert, Germany, Washington, D.C.,Arlington, Va.

All the pleaces I'd like to live (all practical constraints being ignored):
Chicago, Ill., Portland, Ore., Portland, Me. or anywhere in New England, Charleston, S.C., New Zealand, anywhere in Italy, London, Holland,

Places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there:
France, Hawaii, Romania, Czech Republic, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Peru, Caribbean Islands, Cape Verde, Kenya, Israel, Switzerland/Austria/Germany, Alaska, San Francisco, New York, N.Y., Wyoming, New Mexico

My next vacation will be to:
Chicago in November

My best fantasy vacation is to:
New Zealand or France

The strangest place I've ever been:
One of those weird little towns in West Virginia - family vacation, the conversion van broke down, searing heat, all kinds of strange things going on around us.

The strangest place I'd ever like to be:
I'm copping out on this one - depends on your definition of strange.

A place I'd like to avoid:
Northern Virginia during rush hour.

That's it---hopefully I'll get some finishing done and take some pictures this weekend in between cleaning and bringing my sweaters down from the attic. Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

New Inspirations

I keep a fairly extensive list of the next projects I'm interested in knitting. It's in an Excel spreadsheet, it notes whether I already have the appropriate yarn in my stash or not. If I don't have the yarn, it states the yarn sub, the number of skeins needed, and the total price. So, in other words, I really plan out a project before I dive in, and I'm pretty obsessive about the details. With all this obsessing, I usually stick to my plans.

However, I noticed today that several Magknits have come out that I somehow missed! I keep forgetting that they come out monthly, since most other knitting publications (e.g., Knitty, Interweave) are quarterly.

The Minimalist Funnel Neck looks fantastic. I'd love to make it in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran it calls for, in this beautiful plum color . It is expensive though, even at the closeout price it's more than $10 a skein. Beyond my budget, unfortunately. Maybe in the new Knitpicks Shamrock?

I'm also into the Inner Truth Cashmere and Seaside fingerless gloves.

The latest Knitty had some great patterns to tempt me away from my list also, namely Ivy and Serrano. Ivy is knit in Elann Quechua, which I'm sure I'd like as I loved the Pure Alpaca, but I'd rather wait until they refresh their color selection. Cosmicpluto, who designed Serrano, has suggested Knitpicks Gloss a substitution for the Schaefer Anne, which while lovely, is completely beyond my budget, and difficult to find in multiple skeins. Cosmicpluto also has plenty other lovely patterns, including the Lucy in the Sky Cardigan, which is on deck in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

Why am I looking out for all these new patterns? Because I wrapped up the Flower Petal Shawl and Ropes and Ladders Scarf earlier this week, and I'm almost done with my sister and brother-in-law's Christmas hats. I'm actually finishing things - I almost feel like a real knitter!

I'll post about these exciting FOs as soon as I get around to blocking them!

On Finishing and Making Progress

I haven't been knitting very long, only about 10 months. So I don't have a very long list of finished items. Like any beginner, I've finished mostly scarves sprinkled with a few hats and headbands. I've juststarted delving into shawls, and my first experience has been intoxicating, even if those last few rows seem endless. And finally, I'm hoping to cast on my first few sweaters this fall, starting with something very simple.

Now when I say that I don't have too many finished items, that doesn't mean I haven't cast on a lot of projects. My tendency toward perfectionism combined with a low tolerance for frustration has meant that I end up frogging a lot of projects or putting them away and pretending they're not there.

I usually maintain about three or four projects in regular rotation - a lace, a cable, a mindless stockinette and something small I'll finish quickly. I've recently moved some projects out of regular rotation because they're summer shirts and I have zero motivation to finish cotton tank tops during a chilly Upstate New York autumn. Alpaca shawl? Yes! Honeymoon Cami? No!

So here are my current works-in-progress. I'll show you the summer ones taunting me from my craft room in a later post.

Flower Petal Shawl from Elann
Elann Peruvian Collection Pure Alpaca in Oxblood (7 skeins)
Clover Bamboo 24" Circulars, Size 9
Started: September 14
Progress: 90% complete

This is one of my first larger projects and I'm just cruising through it, which is also a first for me. The yarn is really soft with a nice, fall color, and the pattern is easy and not too boring, at least until those last few 300-stitch purl rows. I'm just about done now, I just have to add the 12 border points along the bottom. So hopefully I"ll be able to do one of thos fun "finished object" posts soon!



Ropes and Ladders Scarf from Pie Knits
Nashua Handkits Creative Focus in Soft Sage (2 balls)
Crystal Palace Bamboo Single Points, Size 10
Started: September 9
Progress: 90% Complete

This is a birthday present for my older sister that's due on December 11. It's a really great pattern, easy to memorize and it looks much more difficult than it is. This yarn is yummy too - very squishy and soft, although a little splitty due to its singly ply. The color is so pretty though, and the yarn store from which it came is so nice, so I'm sure I'll get more. I only have about three more repeats on this, so I'll probably finish it once the Flower Petal Shawl is done.



Odessa by Grumperina at Magknits
Paton's Classic Merino Wool in Black (1 skein)
Inox 16" Circulars, Size 7
Started September 16
Progress: 30%

While I'm usually a huge fan of Paton's wool, (cheap, readily available, feltable, nice colors, soft), I don't like it in this pattern. This really needs a DK weight, I think, or at least something softer. Since this is a Christmas gift for my other sister, I'm probably going to rip it out and restart with some random black superwash DK I have in the stash.

Other than that, I'm about to begin my adventures in felting with skein of Noro Kureyon that I've knit up into a big rectangle. Hopefully it will look like a clutch and not a coin purse. This will also be my first time seaming - yikes!!

Meet Oliver

In the interest of telling any potential future readers of this blog a bit about myself, I thought I'd introduce the first of the cast of characters that make up the most important people in my life. You will certainly be seeing many more pictures of this particular character in future posts.

Allow me to introduce Oliver. Oliver enjoys long walks in the park, running on the beach, belly tickles and head rubs, playing with other dogs (especially puppies), chewing bones and shoes, stealing my yarn whenever possible, and sniffing, sniffing, sniffing.

Oliver, or Ollie, came into our lives at the tail end (no pun intended) of last year from a rescue group I discovered on Petfinder. Supposedly he is a pure-bred yellow lab, but the breeder never got around to getting papers for him. Not that his breeding or lack thereof matters to us.

While many dogs that end up in the rescue system have endured a range of hardships, Oliver fortunately has never been harmed. He was just four months old when we got him; his previous owners had just had a baby and were most likely overwhelmed by this very, very cute, and very, very energetic puppy (The picture at right shows him at six-months-old).

Oliver just had his first birthday at the beginning of this month--over the course of the nine months we've had him he has grown into a 90-poundbehemothh. My family likes to refer to him as "90 pounds of love." He's just now starting to calm down a bit, but only if he gets his required two to three walks a daya chore that has morphed into a healthy and fun part of my evenings and my husband's mornings. More training is required to break him of his yarn-stealing habit (he has so far destroyed a circular needle containing half of Lelah and munched on a birchwood DPN), but he's getting there. As you may be able to tell by his pictures, he is very snuggly and I will certainly continue to benefit from his zest for fresh air, new friends, and exercise.

Coming soon: Some actual knitting content!!

And I'm Off . . .

Welcome.

First, please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a relatively new knitter, having started in January of this year after about a year of playing around here and there. As I've really gotten into the knitting, I've really enjoyed the online crafting community that I discovered while seeking out advice and inspiration. And so, I decided to join the fold of obsessive, friendly, and, most of all, fun knitting blogs.

As I've been lurking around, I've discovered that the blogs I enjoy the most are those that keep an organized catalog of finished objects, works-in-progress, and future knits—so my aim is to provide the same. For a new knitter, that kind of information, i.e., what needles work best with what yarn, what yarn works best with what pattern, is priceless. Doing this will also help me to keep a record of my progress. I am, like many other knitters, quite the list maker.

So, please make yourself at home and don't hesitate to comment freely. It will take me a bit to get this organized and get pictures up of projects and such, but I should be in fine blogging form soon.

Thanks for reading.