Ravelympics completed!

The Olympic officially ended last Sunday, and I finished my Ravelympics project on Saturday. My Kable needle case is complete, and currently housing my 14 inch needles. I am not as pleased as I had hoped. The cables came out lovely, and I like the colors, but the felting did not go as well as I had hoped. I followed the directions carefully too. Maybe I just need more experience with felting. In the directions it told me to weave a length of yarn down both long sides of the piece, and pull them up so they were sort of accordianed. And it worked - on one side. On the other, the yarn broke and the accordian unfolded, and the edge got all rippled.

I have to remind myself that I am still a beginner, and that these things will improve with practice. Which is difficult to do when another part of my brain is screaming, "No! Perfection! Now! NOW!!!"

Sigh. Sometimes being a Virgo isn't so great.

Here is some lovely yarn I purchased:

It is Crystal Palace Merino 5 superwash in the color Violets. (Apparently I am on a purple and green kick as of late.) It is pretty much sock yarn, but I am working on making a shawl out of it. I am using the pattern for the Cinema Shawl from the blog Superknitter. I am using size 9 needles instead of 10.5. I started it last Friday, and I am almost through three skeins of yarn. And what am I going to do? I am going to frog it.

Uch. Such a Virgo.

Why would I do such a thing? It isn't because I don't like the pattern. I do. And it isn't because I don't like the yarn. I certainly do. It is because of all of the stupid mistakes I have made so far. For Lord's sake, this is a garter stitch shawl, and I am dropping stitches all over the place. So now I am going to frog it, start over, and every time I find I have dropped a stitch, I am going to fix it. I need to learn how to do this skill. Si tonight, you will find me ripping up my flawed work to try again.

Wool Piggie

wool pig (n.) 1.a person who hogs handknits; 2. a person who buys too much yarn. 3. a pig in a sweater

That would be me. (The second definition, anyway.)

I first heard the term, "wool pig'" from The Yarn Harlot's blog, where one of her daughters called the other this term because they were arguing over who got a fabulous scarf their mother had just made.

This morning my husband (on his day off, mind you) got up at 5:30 a.m. He was checking the bank account online, and he saw a few of my yarn purchases. On a whim (read: let's just see how much she is spending) he added up what I have spent this month so far. He then (gleefully) sprang the total on me at breakfast: $138.

I was a little taken aback at the total. After all, it is only the 19th today. But then when he told me that he could buy a Viking frying pan for that price, I thought, "Aha! So this is what he wants. He wants justification to be able to spend a ridiculous amount of money on cookware." So when I told him to go ahead and do it, he said he wouldn't because we are trying to save for a trip to Greece.

Aha. He's trying to make me feel guilty. Well, it worked. I am properly shamed.

But it is hard! I keep finding things I want to make. For instance, I bought 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca laceweight in Cilantro Melange. I am going to make myself a nice little shawl out of it. I don't know why I am so desperate for a shawl. I found one in my Grandmother's things, and I have been wearing it around the house. I love the warmth it gives, even though it is full of holes. My grandmother must have made it in the 70's. It is white, and a crappy acrylic yarn (which is what most of the available yarn was in those days) and is crocheted. But I love it, and I want more.

I also bought 4 skeins of Crystal Palace Merino 5 in Violets. This is another shawl I am going to make. It will probably be the first one since it is a simpler pattern. And shut up. I do too need lots of shawls. It's been chilly around the house. It was 62 degrees inside when we woke up this morning. Getting out of the shower was a little brutal.

Anyway, the pattern I am going to use with the Crystal Palace Merino 5 is the cinema shawl. I was browsing through free patterns online when I ran into this one. It is pretty, and pretty simple. I am really excited to get started on it.

And I didn't just spend all that money on wool either. I bought 2 books as well.

The first is this one: The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting, by Nancy Queen and Mary Ellen O'Connell. It is a beginning knitter's book that has patterns for working on building different skills. (And yes, there are shawls in it.) I had checked the book out of the library and loved so many of the patterns I figured I might as well own it.

I don't know what I shall make first out of it. There is a really easy little felted clutch in it, and there is also a cute little stripey ribbed hat in it too. I suppose I will have to wait to make anything out of it since I would need to buy more yarn to do it. I don't think I should go down that path just now. Maybe next month.

The second book is another I had checked out of the library and I am completely smitten with it. It is called, Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Mandy Moore (no, not the singer) and Leanne Prain. I am totally enchanted by the idea of yarn bombing. That is where you "tag" public places in your hometown (or on vacation, or where ever) with little bits of handknit color. And you do it surreptitiously so people will be surprised when they come upon it. It really isn't vandalism, since you aren't defacing anything, just adding a bright, happy spot of color to the world. I just might try it, so look out!

Finally, I am working hard on my project for the Ravelympics. I finished knitting the body of my felted needle case last night. I am just working on weaving in the ends, and I'll probably felt it Sunday. In the meantime I can start working on the cables strips that hold the needles in place inside. Oooh, and I have to find buttons! Crap. How can I? Well, I can always scrabble through my button box. That was another thing I inherited from my Grandmother. I don't know if there are any appropriate for this project, but we'll see. I have been enjoying watching the Olympics on TV as I knit. I used to just catch the figure skating, but this year I've been watching all sorts of fun stuff: downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, curling (!), and speed skating. I loved the snowboarding, I can't believe the height those men and women get on the half pipe.

I have to work tomorrow. (Craptastic!) So I won't be knitting all day. But next week I will have a three-day weekend. (Must. Not. Spend. Money.)

Craftically speaking....

Is craftically a word? It is now! Craftically speaking, I am all over the map. I love to create things, and I have tried my hand at lots of them. I even have an entire room in my house dedicated to crafts. It is full of things I dabble at: scrapbooks, cards, mosaics, stamps, paints, papers, scissors, pens, glitter (oh yes, there must be glitter), ink, silk flowers, ribbons, beads, yarn, needles, thread, fabric. You name it, I probably have it. And it is fun to have a project to do and make something beautiful (or cute) that makes one proud of their crafty prowess.

And yet, there are problems with this too. I find that since I don't delve deeply into anything, I just skim the surface. And all the supplies and effort I begin with leaves a room full of unfinished craft projects. For instance, 2 Christmases ago I was making everyone a mosaic gift. I finished 3, I believe, and the other 15 hundred sit in a pile in one corner. Then there was the wild hair I had that I was going to start an Etsy store and sell cards and paper goods. I did indeed sell a few things, but I was never thrilled with the paper products I was producing. And there were too many other things that were catching my attention and drawing me away. I am like a magpie in my craft room, really. I flit from shiny object to shiny object and never stick with anything seriously for more than a month or so.

That is why this blog exists. I have decided that it is time to stop being a crazy butterfly and settle down to one craft and do it in-depth and obsessively for a year. I want to see how my skills and talents develop when I really apply myself to something. And I chose knitting as my lucky craft. And there are several reasons for this which I will set forth to you:

1. Knitting is portable. I can take my needles and yarn anywhere and work. This is going to be highly useful because I haven't been home a lot lately. I just know one day my husband and I will come home and the cat will have sold our belongings at auction and moved to the south of France. We are both working on a writing project with another wonderful writer and we are trying to get it going. Therefore portability is key. I can work in the car when we go on trips (for instance, we are going to the Florida Keys next weekend). And I can work on knitting while I am sitting in front of the TV. I don't do that much anymore, but when I do, I find my hands itch to be busy with something.
2. Knitting is not messy. I love making mosaics. I love working with paper. I love stamping. But each time you want to engage in one of these crafts, you have to drag out your supplies, make a huge (mostly glorious) mess, and then clean up. And usually you have too much stuff to take it anywhere else but your home. That's why knitting is also excellent - it gives me the freedom to work without making a mess that needs to be cleaned up. With knitting, you just wrap up your work, stick it in canvas bag, and it's all done!
3. Knitting is utilitarian. I can't wear a mosaic. But I can wear a scarf, hat, mittens, sweater, or bag. Generally, the first four I can wear for about 15 minutes here in Southwest Florida, but other people I know and love can wear them.
   
4. I already know how to knit. Well, sort of. I learned how to knit your basic knit and purl stitches about 5 years ago, just before I moved to Florida. I was in a knitting frenzy back then, and I really liked it. But when I moved to Florida I found that knitting isn't the most practical of crafts. So why go back to it? Well, I figured the weather can go hang itself. I like knitting and I can make more than just hats and scarves for crying out loud. I still do need to increase my skill set. I can knit in the round and do decreases, and in theory I can do increases, though I have never tried. I would love to learn how to make cables and different types of stitches. And I will! That is what this year is for. To focus my creativity. But you already knew that.
5. Yarn is amazing. I don't have much of a yarn stash, I must admit. I've read of other knitters. Crazy Aunt Purl and The Yarn Harlot both talk about insanely huge and crazy stashes. I have been to yarn stores before and felt the pull of gorgeous wools, silks, and cashmere. It could become a problem. But hey, at least I'm not shooting heroin, right?

I think you see why I have chosen. It wasn't because I love knitting over anything else I have tried. I have known for a long time that I had to pick something and stick with it, I just couldn't choose. Well, it is January and I feel like knitting. So there, now I am stuck with it for the next 12 months. If I find I am sick of it by next January, I'll try something else. I just really wanted to do this as an experiment to see if I could. I am not going to put any sort of pressure on myself. ("Gee, this is awesome! I should sell these and make some money!") I am going to do it for my own pleasure and see what comes of it.

Now that I've said, "no pressure" (snort) I am going to set some goals for myself, just so 12 months from now I don't end up with a million scarves and cell phone cozies.

1. I will learn new skills. This means I will keep trying new things that I haven't done before, no matter how scary they may seem.
2. I will seek a knitting community. (Whether or not we want each other remains to be seen.)
3. I will chronicle my projects, review books, and yarn stores here. (As a librarian, I can't help reviewing books. It is an occupational hazard.)
4. I will drive my husband crazy. (That will probably be just a lucky bonus.)