Knotes from a Knitwit

Not too long ago I heard Lucy Neatby on a podcast, chatting about her knitting DVDs, specifically the value of the Knitting Essentials DVDs.  She mentioned that even someone who was pretty confident in their knitting would benefit and learn from at least a third of the content, with the added bonus of being able to pull up a lesson whenever you needed a refresher.  Having never officially been taught to knit, instead just picking it up a bit at a time along the way, I wanted to see if there was anything crucial I'd missed.

I (finally, Knit Picks is a bit slow...) got the first DVD yesterday and popped it in this morning.  I'm very happy to say that it appears I'm doing this whole "string into loops" thing pretty well.  There were some great tips I'd never seen before, and am excited to try, and a lot of things that reinforced the way I've been doing things.

I also relearned an important lesson about people - the image you form in your head, based on their voice, is rarely accurate.  Lucy is British (living now in Canada) with a smooth, beautiful accent, and I'd formed a picture in my head based on her voice.  In reality, she's got gorgeous hot pink and purple hair!  It's such a fun look, and she carries it so well.

Lucy is a very good teacher.  I watched the entire DVD end to end, to get a feel for all the content, and never once felt talked down to or criticized if I did something a little differently, and when the DVD ended, I was a little sad that my new live-in knitting "pal" was gone.  I definitely want to get DVD 2.

I'm off to work on the second Bellatrix "Not my daughter, you bitch!" sock. 

I'm so in love with this pattern and the Socks that Rock yarn.  (Now if only I'd get that confirmation email that my first Rockin' Sock Club kit had sent...  /sigh.)  This pattern in awesome for hand-dyed yarn.

PS: I broke one of my Loopy Ewe sock blockers yesterday morning.  :'(  Snapped it right in two.  Thanks heavens Loopy lets you order just one at a time.

PPS: Fuzzy bits is a reference to something Lucy says in the DVD.  I was giggling right out loud for that part. 

another blog opens.

I was really sad today when I got the email that I had not gotten in to the 2009 Loopy Ewe sock club.  I was a little cheered up by the promise of a "losers only" (that's my phrase, lol) kit that will be available in late spring, but sad none the less. 

It had only been a couple hours when I got another email.  My sign in information for the Rockin' Sock Club blog.  I was so excited I almost danced.  YEAH!!!!

So I'm fine.

Now I'm off to stalk the mailbox for the first RSC shipment.

I came home from my Knitters' Guild meeting with 2 new skeins of sock yarn.

I know.

It had barely been more than an hour since I wrote that I had too many quite a few skeins of sock yarn waiting to be knit into wonderful socks, and here I am with two more skeins.  At least one has a destiny set in place already.

This



will become Paraphernalia (Ravelry link) socks.

So, any ideas on how to sprout that extra pair of arms?

... so little time.

I finished my Flamingoes (Opal 6-ply in Flamingo, from a previous Rainforest series.  Did a basic toe-up sock with US3 needles)



yesterday, which I am so totally psyched about.  (Like, omg, no way...  Apparently I'm trying to give "psyched" a chance at a comeback.)  They're warm, they're pink, they have adorable little cables up the in- and outside of the legs.  (Cables!)  And the best part (or what I thought was the best part) is the whole half a skein left over.  I woke up my husband  did a happy dance was very excited to discover that there was enough for a second pair.  That was until I remembered all the sock yarns I hadn't even touched yet, let alone leftovers from a skein I'd already used.

See, I did a stash sorting on Thursday and organized everything and made plans for many of the skeins and realized that I am so excited to start every single one of the skeins of sock yarn.  Shibui for Monkey socks, 2 different Jitterbug skeins for Froot Loops and Hedgerows, some Austermann for Jaywalkers.  And about a hundred several others.

I need a few more arms or a few more hours.  Or both...

When I first decided to blog about my experiences with knitting, I mentioned how terrified I was with cables.  They have always been terrifying to me; scary enough that I didn't even care to learn about then.

But then something miraculous happened.  I turned my first sock heel, and lived to tell the tale.  It seemed so completely impossible before I tried it; I kept looking at finished socks and thinking, "There's no possible way I can do that."  But I did.  And it worked.  It actually functioned as a heel.  I was feeling really good about my ability to become a better knitter, maybe even working towards being a Knitter.

Since I didn't ever want to be one of those people who said, "No, I don't knit ____ cause they're too scary/hard/complicated," I mentioned to someone that I was afraid of cables, and she said how easy it was and that it was just working stitches around each other, and I knew what I had to do.  There could be no more excuses.  If I ever wanted to be a Knitter, then I couldn't be afraid of anything.  I needed to bite the bullet (or the needle) and just try it.

So, I give you



my first cables!!

( An Unoriginal Hat - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's design.  Two yarns knit together; Schoeller + Stahl's Wonderwool Glanzeffekt and Misti Alpaca Sport, knit with size US11 needles.)

This hat is a super quick knit, great for a first cables project, because the results are instant.  You do your first cabling on the second round.  I started it at 9pm last night and by 11pm I had 14 rounds completed.

Today, cables.  Tomorrow, the World...

WOOHOO!!!!

I'm so excited.  I've never been part of a sock club before, (heck, I just knit my first sock in October) but when I saw that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi, CookieA, Melissa Morgan-Oakes and others were designing socks for the 2009 Rockin' Sock Club by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, I almost peed my pants could not wait to sign up.

So I did.

Sign up, not pee my pants...

I'm obsessed.

I used to just like knitting.  It was a fabulous hobby I would go to once in a while when I needed something to do.  I really liked it but it was just a hobby.

Now.  Now's a bit different.  I've discovered Ravelry.  I've discovered the joy of socks.  I've discovered the wonderful haven that is The Loopy Ewe.  I've discovered Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, CookieA, and Kate Gilbert.  I've discovered Malabrigo, Opal, Misti, Noro, Manos del Uruguay...

I discovered that there is a LOT more to knitting than Grandma's old needles and Red Heart from Walmart.  (Not that there's anything wrong with Grandma's old needles, they made it posibble to discover knitting at all, but there's something to be said for a shiny new set of DPNs.)

So now I'm obsessed.  Knitting is all I think about.  I want to be knitting all the time, and when I can't be knitting, I want to be learning about something knitting related.  (I've been wanting to knit at any time when I could have been blogging, which is why the blog's gotten a little lonely.) 

And I'm very glad about it, because I really do LOVE knitting.

Knit knit knitknitknit.  Knit.

So I'm on the phone with my mom the other night, talking about the things I'm making people for Christmas, carefully avoiding talking abot the scarf I was already working on for her, and I mentioned I was using this wonderfully soft alpaca yarn (Misti Alpaca Hand Dyed worsted) in the socks for my dad. 

 

My mom's really sensitive to most wool, so this scarf I'm making her is synthetic yarns, but she says, "Oh, I'd love to have something out of alpaca sometime.  I'd find a way to wear it, even if it itched."

So...





I ran out the next day and got the Misti Alpaca Chunky.  It was really hard not to buy every skein in the store and bring it home and snuggle with it.  It is sooooo soft.  The pattern is the Ribs & Ruffles Scarf from the Misti Website.  I don't think this is the last time I'll be making this scarf.

Home from Baraboo, had a blast.  I love my parents and miss being close to them so it was fun to see them tonight.

Ms. Vicky's was good.  (It's moved since I was last there.  It's in a house now, and it's now Ms. Vicky's Yarn Cottage, but it still has lots of yarn.)  The girl working there was a bit of a hoverer, but she backed off eventually.  The first thing I noticed (and grabbed instantly to add to the pile) was Franklin Habit's It Itches.  I immediately starting flipping through, and giggling hysterically, and Joe looked at me like I was absolutely insane.  I feel a little bad for people that don't get them, because Franklin is truly a comic genius with a pen and he draws the funniest little things.  I also grabbed the Interweave Knits Holiday Issue that Franklin did all the little sheep in. 

And then of course there was yarn.  Lovely, beautiful yarn.  I first grabbed this Cascade Pastaza Prints that's gorgeous.



That doesn't even begin to do it justice.  It's teal, and evergreen, and purple, and blue, and steely grey.  So pretty.


And this fibranatura Oak is Sea Captain.



I wanted to buy all the balls they had, but I had NO idea what I'll do with it, so I just got the one ball.  (The colors are silver, purple and teal; again, the pic does no justice.


This fibranatura Yummy is just that.  So totally yummy.  It's displayed in the store hung up; just a big loop of gorgeous fiber just begging to go home with you.  (It's obviously not in a big loop anymore.  That's the one downside of having the store wind it for you.)




But the coolest thing I got, oh I'm so excited about it, is Plymouth Yarns Happy Choices.

 

You throw it around your neck like a scarf, and just knit from it as you unravel it, and it looks kinda nubby until you block it, and then you have a beautiful pair of socks.  I can't wait to knit it and see how it works out. 

I'm off to play!!

My birthday is next Wednesday, and I got my present from my in-laws last night.  I love it.

I got these awesome Swatch earrings that I love.  They came in the coolest packaging.  (It's a silver plastic frame with a stretchy rubber film that holds the earrings in the center.  It's so cool.)

 

I also got Gorgeously Green and Stitch 'n Bitch, and I can't wait to read them.  (Gorgeously Green is a great book, with brilliant ideas on how to live green is a fun and gorgeous way.  It's really wonderful; you should check it out.)



And my favorite (gotta love enablers), a gift card for Lakeside Fibers!  Yeah for more yarn!!



And speaking of more yarn, Joe's taking me today to get my birthday present - a shopping spree at Ms. Vicky's Corner yarn and coffee shop in Baraboo.  I'm excited because I haven't been there in a while (it's about an hour from our house, in the town my grandparents live in, so if I'm there, I'm visiting them, not shopping for yarn, but today I get to do both) and there are so many gorgeous things there.  My parents are also in Baraboo this weekend, so I get to see them too.  It'll be an awesome Saturday.  If I cant get Joe to wake up.  :)