Completion

The dichotomy of completion in knitting for me is feeling the emptiness of no longer having a project around, but also the satisfaction of coming to an ending point.

Multiple Projects
With all my bouncing around over this past weekend, I got a lot accomplished.

I finished the third novelty yarn scarf. I still have a couple of skeins of Pep left, so eventually I'll do two more scarfs. I figure even if I don't go back to the crafts sale, my friend who sells jewelry could easily sell these at one of her booth sales. I was going to post a picture of the latest scarf, but realized it looked exactly like the last one. I figured I'd help the dial-up crowd by slimming down the bandwidth a little.

I also finished the second sock with the Opal-like pattern sock yarn from Lana Grossa. They came out well, and I'd gladly knit these socks anytime. Next time I use a self patterning sock yarn, I'll do the striping pattern, but I honestly wish I could determine the stripe colors myself. One of these days when I'm spinning and dyeing my own wool, I might consider it.



I figured you might want to see me modeling these lovely socks as well. It's so easy to fit socks using the toe-up method.



Mini Chock-a-Block
Finally, I got a lot of work done on the new sweater. I'm about halfway done with the back now, and I'm liking the color composition more and more. It's difficult to get a decent picture that shows both the color and the patterning, especially when I haven't blocked it yet, but this will give you an idea of the colors at least.



I will have to say that some of the pattern stitch designs (which you can't see very well), aren't knitting up as well as I had hoped. But it does make the sweater interesting to knit with doing a different pattern stitch in each block. I also think the patterns will emerge a little more clearly after blocking.

Bouncing Around

Doing mindless knitting can make it hard to get back to a more complex project.

Multiple Projects
With my mindless scarf knitting this past week, I was bouncing all over between multiple projects, but not making much progress on any of them.

I did some work on the kid aplaca bed spread/coffin cover. I worked on the second patterned sock. I did some additional work on the third novelty yarn scarf.

I did not do any work on vacation cone yarn sock, nor the double ruffle crochet scarf, nor the hemp side-to-side pullover.

New Design
I did also start the new Mini-Chock-a-Block pullover. It will be very similar to the original Chock-a-Block cardigan, except the squares will be smaller, there will be more colors and each block will have different pattern designs.

Here's what it's looking like so far:



I'm doing it in intarsia, using butterflies to track new yarns. Here's a picture of the back with butterflies in progress. Unfortunately Gage finds these little dangling yarns irresistable, so I have to be very careful to keep this sweater put away, otherwise he'll chew off each dangling butterfly.



Overall, I like the ribbing color very much, but I haven't decided how I feel about the blocks of color. I'm hopeful it turns out as well as the first Chock-a-Block.

Antonio In Lambertville
If anyone is interested, Antonio is scheduled to come to Lambertville tomorrow (Sunday) at around 3:00. We'll be meeting at Simply Knit.

Browser Issues

It's sad when the technology of writing a blog takes longer than the activity about which the blog is written.

Donegal Revisited
For those of you who are having trouble viewing the quasi-corrected Donegal Gallery, first of all I apologize that I'm such a techno-idiot. Second, here are links to the pictures shown on the gallery so you can look at them individually.

Donegal 1

Donegal 2

Donegal 3

Donegal 4

Thanks everyone for the feedback. One of these days I'll purchase a web page developing tool, or have Thaddeus nick one for me from Kazaa. Fortunately, my day-to-day blogging doesn't require much HTML knowledge.

Mindless Knitting
I finished the first scarf using the Pep pattern yarn. It was fun and easy, and yes, mindless.

Have you ever seen a link to a "Free Scarf Pattern" on someone's post to a knitting list, and clicked on it only to find an advertisement for novelty yarn, and instructions to cast on 20 sts, knit each row until yarn is used up? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for surreptitious advertising on the knitting lists, but that one just galls me. Here's my new and improved Free Scarf Pattern.

Buy one ball of Pep yarn by Lana Grossa. I recommend Pep because it retails for a dollar cheaper than most fur novelty yarns and has about 30 more yards in a ball.

With a US11 needle, cast on 22 stitches. Knit two rows, purl two rows, and continue that way until you have about one yard of yarn remaining. Cast off loosely and weave in ends.

I say to Knit two rows and purl two rows because garter stitch doesn't allow for quite as much length to the scarf as double rows of knit and purl.

Pet Peeve
This is another vent, so if you're already irritated by my first one, don't read any further.

Someone on the big KnitList sent a post that notified listers of a pattern for an intarsia scarf pattern to make a piano keyboard (White and black keys). I went to check it out, and realized that the pattern could be made as instructed, but it would have been very difficult, and would have LOTS of ends woven into the "back" of the scarf (does a scarf have a back?).

With minor modifications, it could have been done a little more neatly (for instance, making the black keys four rows instead of three so the white yarn wouldn't be left stranded in the middle of the scarf when you needed it at the beginning of the next row.

Anyway, it appeared to be another way of surreptitiously advertising a web page under the guise of a "free pattern". The author was not overly pleased when I criticized the pattern either.

Finally

For lack of any other pictures of merit, I leave you with one of Gage. He was on my lap while I knit Donegal for this lovely pose. He was behaving himself and not eating yarn, so I let him sit there (did I already publish this picture?...oh well, I like it even if I did).

Gratitude

When you know how nice it is when someone is grateful to you, doesn't it make sense to express gratitude

as often as you can?

Blog Readers
I kept meaning to publicly thank guttergrrl for providing me with an extensive list of yarn resources in the Albany area. She went out of her way to let me know about all the local fiber store options, where they were located and a brief description of what they had.

That's just one example of how great the folks that read this blog are. I could name dozens, of them, so if you're one of those folks, and I haven't personally thanked you, I have no excuse, and you should yell at me for it. I wish I could publicly thank everyone who contrinbuted in any way to this blog being a useful resource.

Antonio Is Coming...
...to town. He'll possibly be in Lambertville this Sunday with his friend Will. Nothing formal is planned. I just wanted to finally get to meet this poor hapless knitter to whom I've provided sound knitting advice, a shoulder to cry on and countless hours of informal psychological counseling. I'm sure he will be exceedingly grateful for me taking time out of my busy schedule to meet with him.

Donegal
As promised, I took some pictures of me wearing Donegal. As you can see, the sweater is a little small, but I'm sure that I can block it to a more appropriate size for me.

Donegal Gallery

Mindless Knitting
This week, all I want to do is knit and purl on big needles and finish items quickly. So, I wouldn't have considered bringing mini Chock-a-Block this week. I brought along four balls of the Lana Grossa Pep yarn. Soft, warm and furry, and knits up on US11's. I'm doing simple scarfs to sell at any future craft shows I do



I'm planning on selling these for $28, which would allow me to make about $6 and hour after commission and cost of materials. Pathetic, huh?

Youth
A friend asked me to post a picture of me as a child (which I don't have), so I post this picture of me as a 17 year old for your enjoyment and laughter.



The woman is a good friend of mine from High School (she was 18 in this picture). I was (and still am) an incredible geek...but I liked/like that about myself.

Inspiration

When I'm inspired, the best I can do is to inspire others.

Donegal
First of all, I finished Donegal.

This sweater was started around five years ago. I picked it up a number of times, promising myself I would finish it each time, and each time something more interesting came up, and I put down Donegal.

After seeing the magnificent Fair Isles that Wendy knits, I felt compelled and definitely inspired to pick this masterpiece back up and finish it once and for all. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that it's finally done.

I know that many folks have been inspired by Wendy and her blog. I was equally thrilled when Gina wrote me after reading my blog to let me know that she has decided to "go to the next step" in her knitting and take on a Fair Isle pattern. She's doing Norway, by Alice Starmore, and I couldn't be more pleased to have inspired her to try something new.

This is a blanket thank you to all who help to inspire. Folks like Marilyn who provide a good stiff kick in the ass. Folks like Peter who lend their expertise to identifying plants and folks like Velma and Antonio who bring a level of energy, enthusiasm and funkiness to the knitting blog world.

I have to say that knitting this sweater required the most perseverance of any other sweater I have made. I consistently had to push myself to work on it. It is also probably one of the finest sweaters I've ever knit.



I'll put up a few pictures of me wearing it tomorrow.


Blog Entries
I'm sorry for ignoring my blog for the last few days, but I just couldn't face writing a blog entry that didn't start with the announcement of Donegal being completed. It took me up until the last minute before I went to bed last night to finish it, so unfortunately the blog suffered all weekend.

Flea Market Purchase
Thaddeus has been really keen on going to flea markets lately, so we went to two this past weekend. We always have a set group of items we look for, including any kind of ceramic or glass mushroom, buttons, yarn, needles and knitting books. I found the following package of books on crocheting lace doilies yesterday.

Click here for picture of Flea Market Purchase

It had a price of $10 on it. I looked through the booklets, and they had some nice patterns. Most of
them were Coats & Clark booklets from the 1940's, which made it more enticing, but I wasn't going to pay $10 for the package. I was just about to leave when she offered it for $5. I couldn't resist.

New Knitting
I have a number of project ideas that are either in the design stages, or I've actually started to knit. I also have a few "pattern projects" that I've started which are projects where I'm knitting from someone else's pattern. Since I had to pack quickly last night, I just threw the simplest knitting in my bag so I can recuperate from the complexity of Donegal. I brought a few balls of the new novelty yarn. I plan on making a couple of scarves in preparation for the next craft show I decide to do.

Completely mindless knitting this week.