What I can make with what I have

The other day, my boyfriend looked at me and said "How many sweaters do you suppose you could make with all this yarn?"

He suggested I assign a project to every quantity of yarn I have and package them up into little kits. For someone who's never knit in his life, he really does understand it pretty well.

I want to knit down a significant section of my stash this year. I've almost never bought yarn without a specific project plan, but in my first year knitting, I got into a frenzy of yarn-buying and casting on, and I've found myself with an alarming amount of intended projects.

At a quick count, I have the yarn to make 11 short sleeve or sleeveless tops, 11 long-sleeve sweaters, and 5 or 6 shrugs. This is not even getting into sock yarn, lace weight, or accessories stuff.

I looked at the projects I was intending to make, and I realized I was actually dreading some of them. Huh?! Dreading knitting??? I finally had the moment of clarity I needed, and I was able to start thinking about what I really wanted to knit.

I started a little game of swap-a-roo. Anything I wasn't positively thrilled about knitting, I scrapped from my plans, and I reassigned the yarn to new projects.

• For some lovely Simply Soft in light country peach, I had been planning a Valpuri top.
  
  
  
  Beautiful, but ugh, those cables didn't really look fun.
  
  
  
  So now I'm using the yarn for Bella Paquita, also conveniently the object of the current Sexy Knitters Club challenge.


• Dark sage Simply Soft, intended for a Bristow Cardigan (eventually).
  
  
  
  Again, the cables, and piecing, and I don't know that it would be flattering.
  
  
  
  Gathered Pullover? Much more my speed.


• Cream One Pound, meant for a Cable Down Raglan.
  
  
  
  It produced fabric like chainmail, and I just couldn't picture the sweater looking good. I still want to knit this pattern in a different yarn, but in the meantime I have this cream.
  
  
  
  So now how about a Holly Jacket? Wheee!


• Lastly, I have a bunch of white Simply Soft, that I was intending for a solid-colored Bad Penny.
  
  
  
  Meh. In a solid color, it's way too much like something I could buy in a store. What I really wanted was a cute white sweater to wear over dresses and springy tops.
  
  
  
  Hello, Hexacomb Cardigan! Where have you been all my life?

These are just a few of the ideas I had. I'm totally psyched for new projects, and I'm looking forward to this plan.

If you are so inclined, you can check out my Ravelry queue, which is now somewhat updated with the actual projects I'm planning to knit. (This is more than I can say for my sidebar).

FO - Butterfly Hat

The crazy cold weather lately persuaded me that I needed a new hat. I decided it should be as green as I could make it.



I absolutely love this hat!




Pattern: Butterfly Hat by Sofiya Cremin, free pattern posted at Alice in Dilbertland.
Size: adult 20-22" circumference
Yarn: Debbie Mumm Traditions by JoAnn, 75% acrylic 23% wool 2% other, worsted weight, color 08 Pine Needle
Needles: Knit Picks 8" nickel-plated DPNs, size 5 (3.75mm) and size 7 (4.50mm)
Modifications: none

Started: February 14, 2008
Finished: February 20, 2008



As written, this pattern came out perfectly. The fit is cozy and snug to my ears, without being tight at all, so it won't leave marks in my forehead or mess up my hair like a lot of my other hats do.

It actually stretches large enough to fit my boyfriend's head, but I think if I were to knit him one I would add a sequence of butterflies to get a better length. He said how much he wanted one until I referred to them that way, then he recoiled in horror and asked if he could have beetles or scarabs instead. I suggested we call them Mothra, and he was happy. Such a boy.

I did the ribbing for it on Valentine's Day (immediately after casting off my Hedera socks), but I actually knit it all in a few hours yesterday, as I started feeling progressively sicker. I should note, by way of excuse for my appearance, that I am home sick today after staying up most of the night with something gross (you don't want to know). That I could still genuinely love knitting this hat while sick is a testament to what a fun, easy, and charming little project it is.



What really makes this hat for me is the butterflies. As I showed yesterday, this little butterfly stitch is made by a series of floats, which are then picked up and transformed into a charming detail.



As an added bonus, they kind of pull the fabric around them a little snugger like smocking, which makes cute puffs. When strategically placed at the edges of the DPNs where I usually get ladders, they remedy it beautifully.



The math in this pattern is intuitive and elegant, which of course I love. It has perfect symmetry all around, and it's addictive knitting at its best. I got really lucky with the way the colors blended to the crown, and I love the star shape of the bright green decreases.



I would be remiss if I didn't talk a little bit about the yarn. The initial reviews I read about it were that it has gorgeous blending colors, but that knitters hated working with it. It got panned on Ravelry, and I noticed very few people were making projects with it. (I actually found this hat pattern because I saw the designer had made a hat in this yarn, and I loved it so much I just needed one of my own.)



It completely surpassed my expectations in terms of color. It is so rich, saturated, and vibrant that I am instantly happy just looking at it. The color transitions are nice and gradual, forming subtle bands.

Where I think people have a problem with this yarn is in its structure. It is essentially a tube of loosely spun wool (hence its crazy softness), wrapped around a black acrylic core (which gives it strength and integrity). The reviews I read complained of its tendency to spin and bunch up on itself, revealing the black core. I checked it out and resorted to my primary reaction to most things in life: "It is what it is."



Recognizing that this was just its unique structure, I had to adjust my tension, hold it very gently, and work at a slightly looser gauge than I usually knit. This actually ended up being very good for my hands, as well as preserving the design elements of this hat.

I found that if I worked from the center of the ball and gently pulled about an arm's length or two of yarn out at a time, very loosely, I could knit without straining the yarn. As soon as an obstacle got in the way or I started holding it too tightly, I saw the effect others got, but it was easy enough to redistribute the wool and keep happily knitting. Once knit, the stitches were firm and well-defined, yet wonderfully soft against the skin. I had no trouble with splitting or snagging.



I would definitely encourage others to try this yarn and enjoy its beauty without stressing about its handling properties. In the end, I think that its structure is what makes it such a pleasure to wear. I definitely would not wind it on a ball-winder or over-handle it, and sharply-pointed metal needles are definitely the way to go. The way it is packaged will tell you everything you need to know about how it wants to be handled.

It is possible that the care and gentleness I exhibited toward the yarn is part of why I feel such endearing tenderness toward this hat. I am almost certain I will knit this pattern again - I really can't recommend it highly enough. I also like the yarn so much I'm going to make matching mitts with my second ball of it.

Previous Entries on this Project:
- You're my butterfly, sugar, baby...

You're my butterfly, sugar, baby...

Do you know that Crazy Town song, Butterfly? Every time I pick up this project, I sing that to myself.



I decided I absolutely needed a Butterfly Hat. I love this pattern!

I am so exquisitely charmed by the butterfly stitch. It turns a series of floats that look like this:



... into adorable little butterfly stitches that look like this:



Just fantastic!

Knitting at School, heee

First I must say, thank you so much for your nice compliments on my Hederas. Knitters are so supportive and wonderful, and I really appreciate it!

So, I've never knit at school before, since I am a compulsive note-taker, and I worry it would be a sign of disrespect to the professor.

This semester, however, I'm working as a grading assistant in three undergraduate art history survey classes. After a few classes, the professor said she felt bad that I was sitting through the same lecture twice on Tuesdays then essentially the same lecture again on Thursdays. She suggested I take a seat in the very last row and catch up on reading, sketch, or do whatever I wanted to do.

"No problem," I thought, "you don't have to ask me twice."

Last week I brought a book I have to read for class, and for my life I couldn't concentrate. I tried to write an essay, and I found similar problems. I just can't tune out a lecture on art! So this week, I brought my February sock, and for the first time in my life, I knit through an entire lecture. Wow, what a feeling!

It was illicit and so delightfully wrong. I was enjoying knitting, looking up occasionally at the images on screen, and just plain loving it. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy my assistantships a lot more.

Also, hearing my professor repeatedly pronounce Michelangelo's name "Michael-angelo," I was reminded of something that kind of blew my mind recently.

Do you know this man? Kaffe Fassett?



For all I've read about him in books and online, I've never heard his name pronounced. In my head it rhymed with "Taffy Cassette." Turns out I was totally wrong, and via Ravelry I learned it actually rhymes with "safe asset." For my life, I can't make that change.

I keep looking at my beautiful blue yarn and thinking "Kaffy. Kaaaaaaafffe. Kaffy, darn it."



And also, Patons? I've been pronouncing like General Patton, and here it turns out they're actually pey-ton, like Peyton Manning or uhh, peyote. Pay-ton. Whew. Impossible for my silly brain.

The good news is I made huge progress on my sock, and I expect to have the pair completed soon. Woohoo!

FO - Hedera Socks

I finished my Hedera socks today.



They're pretty cozy.



Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A, from spring 2006 Knitty
Size: L, to fit a women's size 9
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential 75% superwash Merino wool / 25% nylon, fingering weight, color 23695, Grass
Needles: Susan Bates size 1 DPNs
Modifications: I added three extra lace repeats in the cuff, for 17 total.

Started: January 7, 2008
Finished: February 14, 2008



As I said, I added 3 lace repeats to the cuff, but on hindsight I could have added much more. I had about 24 grams of yarn out of 100 leftover, nearly a quarter of my yarn (twice the amount pictured below).



I don't know why, but that really bothered me. This is something that I definitely don't like about cuff-down socks, as well as picking up stitches for the gusset and Kitchener stitch on the toes. I think it's safe to say I will be knitting socks toe-up whenever possible from here forward.



The pattern itself is brilliantly written and elegant. That Cookie A, she really knows how to design socks.



Once I memorized the lace pattern and got used to doing things like a yarn over just before an SSK decrease, they moved a lot faster. I made considerably fewer mistakes on the second sock than on the first, probably because the cuff of the first was knit almost entirely in the dim cabin lighting of an airplane, while bleary eyed with travel exhaustion.



There is not a huge payoff for the amount of work the lace took, but they look pretty nice. I was planning for these to be fairly simple socks, in an almost neutral color, so that I could wear them with dress pants and such. In that respect, I think they'll work very well.



The yarn was thinner and a little coarser than I've worked with before, but I have a feeling it will wear like iron. The fabric on the feet is nicely tight and snug, but with enough flexibility to be very comfortable on.



All in all, I'm pretty pleased. The fit is fabulous, especially in the toes. My only wish is that they were a little longer, but that's what Sodera socks are for, right?

I'm wearing them already, and I suspect they will get a lot of use.



Onward to more green knits! (I'm not kidding).

Previous Entries on this Project:
- Knitting in the Present Tense
- About those resolutions...
- Sockdown: January

Knitting in the present tense

So much of knitting, for me, is about the anticipation of future knits. Stashing, swatching, imagining yarn and pattern combinations and finished objects... so much of the pleasure is theoretical.

The rest of knitting tends to focus on the past: things I've completed, small accomplishments within projects, milestones, percentages toward completion... I'm always wishing I could knit faster, in a sense to dispense with the present and rapidly move from future to past tenses, in the form of an FO.



Perhaps it is because Smokey plopped himself on top of my in-progress Hederas, or perhaps I'm just in a peculiar mindset, but I started asking myself how actually present I am with my knitting.

How much do I think about each stitch, contemplate each row? What kind of consideration do I give to the physical act of knitting, the small movements and thoughts which add up into the project at hand?

I started knitting as a way to focus my mind, to meditate and relax, to calm down when I would get distracted and frenzied in my life. So as I sat in the sun the other day, I quieted everything around me and just focused on my sock.



I am turning a heel. I am knitting a gusset. I am making stitches and working through a lace pattern. A yarn over makes a hole.

And so on. It was beautiful, in a way, because I felt so deeply connected with myself in that moment in space and time. I was really doing what I was doing and paying attention to it. I wasn't thinking about the socks I want to cast on next or what I should have been doing instead of knitting (because yeah, there's a huge pile of that). I was just enjoying knitting, in the present tense.

Finally, I felt present. I can't begin to explain what a relief it was.

About those resolutions...

As soon as I got home from Hawaii, I was slammed with work and responsibilities, and I think I've just about gotten my life under control again.

So, how have I been doing with my knitting resolutions, you may wonder?

First off, I bought new yarn. It's allowed, because it is for a gift for the aunt with whom I stayed in Hawaii... but still, I felt a little guilty. I very nearly averted disaster, as I was about to fill up my Knit Picks shopping cart with lace-weight and sock yarn and other goodies to get free shipping, but I cleared it all out and bought just the gift yarn by itself. The shipping cost? $2.99.



The gift I'm making is a Cropped Raglan Shrug, like the one I made for myself (which my aunt adored), in Shine Worsted, in the color Sea Spray. So far it's coming along nicely, though I wish it would move faster so I can send it out soon.



While I'm confessing to new yarn, I should say that my package from discountyarnsale.com finally got here. I ordered this yarn in October, then when they realized I'd ordered a discontinued color, I had to reorder it in early November. Now I know that it was special order and I should have expected a delay, but I was still pretty antsy. The price, however, was fairly fabulous, so I think it was worth waiting, especially since it will take me a while to build up ample skills and courage to knit with it. It is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in color 48, intended for a Tangled Yoke Cardigan, which I know is well beyond my current skill level.



My boyfriend teased me, as I'd asked him to be there to sign for my package. When he gave it to me, I opened the bag, stroked the yarn lovingly, checked all the skeins, then put it immediately onto a shelf with the rest of my stash. He said "So that's it? You wait four months for yarn, then just throw it on the pile?" I didn't really know how to explain that yeah, pretty much, that was the plan all along.

Another significantly challenging resolution has been the limitation of WIPs to a set of three (one simple brainless project, one fiddly complex one, and one portable one).

I brought my Coachella on vacation with me and got a few more inches along (knitting in the car and such). For the first plane ride, I knit obsessively on a Hedera sock, and I got all the way through the heel flap. As we were getting our stuff from the overhead bin, a mother and daughter across the aisle said they'd been watching me the whole flight and had bet each other on whether it was a sock or the sleeve to a baby sweater. The mother had guessed sock.



I finished the first Hedera and cast on the second on the last day of January, prompted by a new month's Sockdown challenge on Ravelry. I am becoming consumed with sock-knitting as a consequence of this brilliant group (Sock Knitters Anonymous), and I of course broke my 3 projects rule by casting on two more socks while I'm still slowly working along on the second Hedera.



First, a Pomatomus, which I also cast on for on the last day of January, just in case I gained the ability to warp the space-time continuum and sneak in a really complex and fiddly pair of socks. I doubt these will ever get finished by the end of February, but it's good to at least have them going. I have been thinking about them in this yarn for so long it's almost bizarre, so I'm stoked to know that with some knitting, I could actualize the dream.



I also cast on a pair of toe-up socks, which I intend to give an Eye of Partridge heel. February's challenge is a new-to-you heel technique, and though I've knit heel flaps before, I've never done them toe-up, nor have I done an Eye of Partridge heel. I'm using this pattern (PDF) as a guide.



This was my first figure 8 cast-on, and I found it rather pleasant and easy. It was so soothing to be able to immediately start knitting without having to pick out a provisional cast-on or do the wrap-and-turns of a short row toe. I think because this is a 72-stitch sock, it may have been wiser to cast on 12 or 16 or so stitches for the toe, but it doesn't look too terribly pointy when stretched over my toes. I will just have to make sure to get the length spot-on.



This yarn knits up in very interesting ways. It's Regia Color 4-ply, and from the skein I am not sure what I expected, but I think it was longer stretches of color with fewer quick changes. As I keep on knitting with it, I am really enjoying the sudden, gorgeous bursts of new colors. I think from a distance, they will look kind of muddy and indistinctly magenta, but I love looking at them up close.

Lastly, I am extremely tempted to cast on a fourth pair of socks, though these are prompted by the sad passing of Gigi Silva, better known as Momma Monkey. A lot of Ravelers are knitting socks from her patterns in memory, and I wanted to make a pair of toe-up Brigits (PDF pattern).



I think the only thing that kept me from casting on immediately is that I couldn't decide between these two greens:





The jury is still out, though I think I mostly prefer the second.

So I guess this is going to be not just a green-knitting blog, but a green sock-knitting blog. Just kidding, I have lots of other stuff planned. In green.