Sunday, February 05, 2006

Unseasonable

Cupcake has goaded me into making a knittilicious post - I feel I must oblige her. That and the fact that I spent over an hour in line today at Stitch DC for their 20% off everything sale prompted this post. I never thought I would participate in their sale, but I've been in such a knitting slump for the past few weeks that I thought a yarn store might cheer me up. It sort of did. And I used the discount to get Noro Kureyon - a yarn I've always loved, but didn't think I could afford.That logic was also used on my purchase of 40" addi turbos. I have heard wonderful things about them, but I love my Denise set so much I didn't want to cheat on her with Addis. I think I have avoided any needle jealousy though, because the Addis I needed were size 1 or 2 and the Denise set doesn't have those. My plan is to finally try out socks or mittens using the infamous Magic Loop method. Wheee!

In another attempt to get excited about knitting again, I broke out Erich's aran sweater for the first time in months to get blocking and eventually seaming. Once upon a time (over 8 mos. ago) I said I was all done knitting that sucker, but I re-read the pattern a bit later and realized that after partially seaming it together, I get to knit up the neck a bit. Doh! I've been stuck in this rut on the sweater because all I want to do is seam it up, but I read that I should first block the pieces because it will make seaming much easier (also the arms are different sizes so I have to fix that). Then the task of blocking this monster paralyzed me for quite a while. I finally made this huge blocking board last weekend, but as it turns out, I don't really need it. The kitchen table works just fine. Did I mention that this period of procrastination has been going on since Christmas 2004? Yeah, it was supposed to be gifted way back then. My SnB'ers can attest to that. If I didn't have their support (and dare I say, nagging?) I think I would have just let this project die a slow death in a bag somewhere. I don't want to give the impression that I'm sick of it. I really can't wait to see it finished. But I finished the fun knitting part so long ago that it kind of feels like a homework assignment now. Sorry for the slight blurriness on this last photo. I hope you can still see the stitch detail.

I still am on the fence about participating in the knitting olympics. But the next two projects I have lined up are socks (possibly Falling Leaves from knitty) and mittens out of the Kuryeon. I think I succeeded in picking a colorway that's totally the opposite of what I usually go for. That was my point. I'm sick of having all black things - coat, shoes, gloves, pants, etc. My goal is to make loud mittens. And I also prohibited myself from getting blue today. It's too much of a cop-out for me since everything I buy (both clothing and things for the apt.) are in shades of blue.
While I like this überwarm winter we're having, it makes projects like wool mittens seem a little absurd. I will not let unseasonable weather change my knitting habits though.

6 comments:

MikaJ said...

man,
i can never show ethan your blog...
because he will be like "where is my aran sweater?"
i cant wait to see it finished!
i hope you are getting more inspired to knit.
(the baby hat was super cute, even if you didnt like it!!)

Cupcake said...

I didn't know you could cable knit. Why can't I cable knit? Am I the stupidest person ever?

I have been doing socks on dpns for a while now, but I think I am going to try a pair on magic loop. Maybe we can learn it together.

Beta said...

cupcake, cables are sneaky! they're so easy, but they look so impressive that people assume they're complicated. Check out the video on cables (under decorative stitches) on this page to behold the magic and simplicity.
I'm sure the discovery of knitting cables will change your life.

bugheart said...

go betarunner go! nothing is quite so satisfying as finishing a knit project that has been a dog-on-your-back forever (aka my mom's shawl or the dreaded slippers)... you can do it and you will be so so happy you did... i also add my voice to mika- don't ever let our partners know about the aran sweater... damn slippers are bad enough!
:)

Passionknitly said...

haha!

He'd better wear that damn sweater after all the blood sweat and murphy's law that's gone into it!

Oh, and getting sock sized addis is totally acceptable. I'm having a problem now because I love them so much but can't afford to update all of my needles with them. I do use the Denises a lot - though I did end up getting Addis for your afghan as well...the stitches just slide so perfectly........

Cupcake said...

Okay, so I started a sock using "Magic Loop" last night and it turns out it's not that bad, although I haven't gotten to the heel yet. Do all Magic Loop socks use the "Afterthought Heel"? Doing two socks at once on Magic Loop, like my pattern is written, seems like a potential tangled nightmare.