Getting off the Couch

Seriously. It is harder than you think.

This cold has kicked my ass. Finally today (that's SIX DAYS after I initially got sick) I am starting to feel better. I only made it through half a day of work yesterday and slept most of the afternoon. No one talks about it, but it is really hard to come back to 8 hours a day at work from being prone for 5 days. I slept all yesterday afternoon. Then I finished the apple turned orange, turned back into apple because I found some appropriate red yarn hat.

I was so pleased with it, that I am going to make a pumpkin hat to go with it, and send them off next week!

I have also discovered Ravelry. (I sound like I am a pioneer who has made a breakthrough here, but no...I am a bit late to the game.) Ravelry is a knitting social networking website. Let's just heap another one on the pile, shall we? I'm already on facebook, twitter, and have an old, decaying page on MySpace. I also have an account on Good Reads, where I keep track of the books I read, and now I have Ravelry. I don't use MySpace anymore, and I have decided just this week that I am decidedly OVER twitter. I don't need to know what you are doing right now, and my life is so boring that I would be completely vain if I thought you wanted to know what song I have running through my head. I used to follow a bunch of people, but my phone was dinging every time a text came  through, and 99 times out of 100 it was something so inane, that I started wondering... do others feel the same about my clever little snippets of life? Surely not! Well... um, maybe... But I digress.

Ravelry is cool because it isn't just a social network, it is an organizational tool too. I am able to keep track of all of my knitting needles, stash yarn (which has almost outgrown it's container, thank you very much), and keep track of projects. I can post pictures, and keep track of details. It is pretty nifty.

I am wondering what I am going to do next. I think I might make something for myself. I desperately need a knitting needle case, and I thought I would make one. There is a neat pattern in Fabulous Felted Hand Knits that I thought I would try. Right now my needles are in an untidy pile in my craft room. A jumble, more like. Also, I need a better way to store my circulars. There is a pattern in Stitch N' Bitch, but I don't know if I like the idea yet.

I still have to felt the hotpad and coaster set. They lie there, limp and languishing. I am waffling over how to do them, by hand or in the machine? Having never felted before, I don't know which one would be more suited. The book recommends the machine, so I'll probably do that.

Book Review: Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


Okay, so I finished it late last week, but I've been siiiiick. (Yes, that was indeed a whine.) Anyway, I chose this book over most other knitting books that we have because Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is none other than the Yarn Harlot. Yes, that Yarn Harlot. I started reading her blog way back from the beginning, She has been doing this online blogging thing for going on six years now, and I think she's a stitch to read. (Horrible pun intended.) I know she has published several books, and this was the first one I could get my hands on, though not the first one she wrote.

I didn't know what to expect with this book, other than I knew it would be funny. And funny it was. Stephanie has a self-deprecating humor that has almost made me snort Diet Coke out of my nose on more than one occasion. If you are a knitter and you haven't read anything by her, go to her blog. Now. You're welcome.

The book is broken down into chapters about categories of knitted things, or knitting knowledge you must have. There is a chapter on hats, socks, scarves, and one chapter just about swatching, and its importance. I have already learned my lesson. The first hat I knit I did without swatching my yarn and checking my gauge. My first hat is lovely, pink, and would fit a watermelon. A jumbo watermelon.

Stephanie also talks about easy in-your-head patterns for things like hats and socks. I will make a pair of socks, but I think I will hold that off for this month. But it is nice to know that there are things you can make without any set pattern. I like that. It's like the brownie recipe I have in my head. I've made it so many times that it is indelibly engraved on my brain.

Thank you, Yarn Harlot, oh wise and wonderful knitting goddess, for bestowing your words of wisdom down upon lowly beginners like me. It is all good to know for the future.

Stay tuned for my forthcoming review of Knitting Lessons by Lela Nargi.