Lolly posted about past knits and how they’re holding up now, so I decided to talk about a couple of my bigger knits. All of my handknit socks are great, but I really only break them out during the winter time and usually wear them with my Uggs so they don’t show any sign of wear yet, which is why I won’t talk about them here.
Remember this?
Rusted Root with modifications, knit using Debbie Bliss Cathay. I would probably knit this pattern again – but this doesn’t really fit me around the arms anymore because I put on a little bit of weight and it seems to have dulled color-wise. Maybe it’s my poor memory, but I remember it being a bit more vivid. It has been washed and now just doesn’t seem to pop. There is also a bit along the top where it looks like the dye has come out. And I only really wore it a couple of times.
And then there’s Mr. Greenjeans.
I’ve just pulled this cardigan out again since the weather has turned cool here. And I love it! The only thing I need to do is make the buttonhole smaller, other than that, it’s great! It’s warm and I still love the color, and so far the yarn has held up well. I used Araucania (I have to look up how to spell it every time!) nature wool, a yarn I still love. It’s not as soft as Malabrigo (my fave!) but it’s a decent price and a bit of wool wash helps it soften up a little bit. Plus, I don’t wear it alone – I wear it with a longsleeve shirt normally. I actually wore it to work the other day and it received several compliments.
Apparently even though it’s 2009, the idea of people of different races being in relationships bothers some people. And what’s worse – this person says he’s not racist, just that he’s worried about the children and doesn’t think interracial marriages can last! Diven the fact that nearly half of all marriages end in divorce these days and many same-race couples aren’t raising their children well, I can’t say how this man doesn’t have some sort of problem. A racist, according to the dictionary, is one who believes that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Is this man saying that he believes whites are superior to blacks…not in so many words. But why does he worry about the children? Is it because they will not be 100% white? Or perhaps because they will not be 100% black? Maybe he’s just anti-miscegenistic (doesn’t agree with the mixing of races, on either side) rather than just racist??? I don’t know! All I know is that he is wrong.
Now, I don’t advertise the fact, but my DH and I are an interracial couple and, drumroll please….we’ve been married for almost 12 years! We’ve had our ups and downs, but don’t all marriages…and none of our issues have anything to do with race. Before we got married we talked about everything, our values, our religion (or lack thereof) and how we wanted to raise any children we had. And guess what? We share almost identical ideals.
The link to this story includes some readers comments…and one points out not to generalize all of Louisiana. I would never do this because that would be falling into the same mindset of this justice of the peace (JP). And many of the posts make the point that the action taken by the JP means that racism is still alive and well in American – no doubt about that, I have to agree. But what I don’t agree with is labeling everyone a racist at the drop of the hat, like for exampe, if someone doesn’t agree with the policies of our new president. Or just if someone doesn’t like someone else…by assuming that the dislike stems from a hatred of the persons race.
Anyway, enough of my ranting. Have a good weekend!
Pattern:Argosy
Yarn Used: STR Lightweight in Bleeding Hearts colorway, 1 skein.
Date Started: January 21, 2009
Date Finished: September 19, 2009
Notes: This project went into hibernation for a little while, if you couldn’t tell. I decided to pull it out a couple of weekends ago and once I got started back on it, it seemed to fly by. I’m not sure why I put it down in the first place. This yarn was much finer than that called for in the pattern, but with blocking it turned into a nice sized scarf.
A quick start to Socktoberfest!
Pattern: Sarrtje’s Bootees
Date Started: October 11, 2009
Date Finished: October 12, 2009
Yarn Used: Left-over STR in Mustang Sally (I think.)
Mods/Changes: I followed the pattern to the letter until the straps. Instead of casting on the 12 stitches called for in the pattern, I cast on 17. I also knit 3 rows before binding off the straps instead of the 2 called for in the pattern.
At this beginning of the year I wrote a post about reading the books I all ready have. The thought behind this idea was to read what I had rather than buy new books, which are forever being added to the “to be read” pile (which is never-ending!) I planned to use BookMooch to get the books I wanted and get rid of books I had read and didn’t want to keep. BookMooch has been partly successful…I have gotten rid of a lot of my books. Unfortunately, not a lot of the books I’ve wanted have been available. That’s not to say I haven’t received any books through BookMooch. I have. Just not as many as I’d hoped for.
Anyway, here is a list of the books I’ve read this year. My goal for total books read is 35. I wished more of the list were RYOB (Read Your Own Books), but alas, it didn’t seem to work out that way (although 12 out of 22 books are RYOB!)
1. The Night is for Hunting by John Marsden (counts towards RYOB challenge)
2. Burning for Revenge by John Marsden (counts towards RYOB challenge)
3. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks (counts towards RYOB challenge)
4. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers (counts towards RYOB challenge)
5. New Moon by Stephanie Meyers
6. Whisper No Lies by Cindy Gerard
7. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyers
8. Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult (counts towards RYOB challenge)
9. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers
10. The Prime Objective by Ginna Gray
11. Ella in Europe by Michael Konik (started way back, finally finished! and counts towards the RYOB challenge)
12. Betrayals by Carla Neggers
13. Broken Wings by John Douglas (counts towards RYOB challenge)
14. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare*
15. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare*
16. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare*
17. Man Down by John Douglas (counts towards RYOB challenge)
18. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (counts towards RYOB challenge)
19. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (counts towards RYOB challenge)
20. Plane Insanity by Elliott… (counts towards RYOB challenge)
21. A Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray (counts towards RYOB challenge)
22. Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni
* On a side note, this series of young adult books was excellent! The consistency of the writing continued through the entire three books (unlike another series I won’t name!)
For the fifth year in a row, it’s time for Socktoberfest! started by the amazing Lolly. I’ve participate for the past couple of years and while I don’t usually need a reason to knit socks – I’m pretty sure I can say socks are my favorite item to knit – it is a good excuse to see what others are up to and get lots of inspiration.
The weather is turning quite nicely here, signalling that it’s time to pull out my knit socks. I was never one who really liked the fall…mostly because it told me that winter was coming and I hate winter! I love that the leaves turn lovely shades of red and orange, but wish they could stay on the trees like that through winter. Where I live it looks down-right miserable when the trees are completely bare, especially when the skies take on that grey hue and you rarely see a blue sky! This year we’ve had a nice start to fall. The nights and early mornings are a bit chilly and then the sun comes out and the sky is blue (with just enough clouds). The temps have been reasonable and a nice change from the hot and humid summer days! So “hello” fall, I am now a convert and think you’re just great.
My plan for Socktoberfest is just to knit socks, not necessarily to have them finished by the end of the month. I have a pair on the needles, which are my “bus socks”. I knit on them a little bit every day on the way home from work. I’m also thinking of casting on for Through the Loops Mystery Socks!
If you need inspiration or ideas, head on over the the Socktoberfest group on Ravelry.
You may have noticed that I dropped off the blogging planet for a while. Since I know knitters are a great bunch of people, and just in case some of you have been worried – nothing bad has happened in my life to make me stop blogging. BUT there has been a change.
In June I started training for a new full-time job. The training lasted 5 weeks and it was in-house, so I had to stay at the training facility during the week. I did have my evenings free, but I was so brain dead that most of the time I didn’t bother picking up my needles. And when I was home on the weekends I barely did any knitting either. The problem for me is that when I stop something for such a long period of time, it’s often hard for me to get back into it. As much as I love knitting, I was having a hard time getting excited about it. I started my job full-time at the end of July. It was definitely tiresome – and the 3 hr roundtrip commute in D.C. traffice didn’t help!! I was so tired and cranky that I pretty much came home and crashed. I even considered deleting the blog. I’m glad I didn’t rush to do that because I know I would have regretted it. That doesn’t mean I may give up blogging in the future. For now though I’m hoping I can reinvigorate my blogging as well as my knitting.
Things have eased up a bit with work, I guess because my body is finally getting used to it. I’m at the same job, but have been relocated to a different office so I can now take a commuter bus, which means a little bit of knitting time on the way home (on the way to work, I nap.) I have to be realistic and admit that I am no longer going to be able to churn out projects like I did in the past. I was taking part in a couple of knitting challenges this year – “The Great Sock Off” where participants knit a pair of socks a month, and “Ravelry Queue Challenge” where participants knit items from their Ravelry queues. I’ve fallen off the wagon with both. I haven’t completed a pair of socks since March of this year. And my queue knits have been non-existent.
I’m hoping to blog on a regular basis, even if that means lining up a few posts in advance. I wanted to participate in the 2009 Blog Improvement Project this year, but didn’t sign up – it completely slipped my mind since it was around the holiday season.I was hoping to still skim some ideas from the project, but the posts are locked to participants only. Oh well! I will scour the internet for other ideas. You might have noticed I’ve changed my banner, but still want to make some more changes. I’m finding wordpress a little restrictive for customization because I’m not sure I want to pay for it. And for some reason, as I’m trying to type my blog post it keeps moving up and down the window randomly. Very annoying! How much is it to have your own blog domain? Anyone have any ideas?
My knitting goals…well, I just want to knit. I have resurrected a few projects (and I do have two FOs ready for debut!) and I need to clean out my yarn closet because for a while there my idea of housecleaning meant throwing things in that closet to get them out of my sight.
So welcome back!
A little late posting these, but yes, I did finish a pair of socks for March.
Pattern: None. Simple stockinette stitch.
Yarn: Elann Espirit (mostly cotton with a little bit of elasticity.) This yarn has been in my stash for a very long time.
Date Started: March 14, 2009
Date Finished: March 31, 2009
Made For: Cheyenne, my niece.
I had other patterns in mind for this month, but they didn’t seem quite right. Since Chey had a birthday coming up in April I decided to knit her a pair of socks.
As mentioned in my previous post, this sweater is finally done. I was waiting on some really beautiful buttons from an Etsy seller before posting pics (thanks Dad for taking the pics!)
The buttons came from Etsy seller Beadfreaky
Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Frost, 4 skeins.
Date Started: September 24, 2008
Date Finished: February 28, 2009 (just made my goal of finishing the February Lady Sweater in February! There was also a long time in between where I didn’t work on it at all.)
Mods: I didn’t include the eyelet round and I made the sleeves longer.
Notes: If I were to make this again, I think I would use a lighter yarn. The Malabrigo is gorgeous but may weigh down a little over time. I also made it a little big, blocking it like crazy to fit over my top half. The sleeves are a bit wide and I have a bit of bunching, but I like it.
I guess it’s time for a blog update. I have considered getting rid of this blog entirely or just using it for posting finished objects (which is kind of what I’ve been doing for the last few months), but for now it’s staying. A big remodel might be in order though. Most of my problem with posting doesn’t come from having nothing to say – I have lots to say. I’m just not sure it’s stuff I should put out there in the blog world.
Knitting
I have finished objects to post about. I finally finished my February Lady Sweater in February, which was my goal. I started it last September, but there was a big chunk of time in there that I didn’t work on it at all. I got a little bored with the sleeves, which held me up. Now I’ve picked up another sweater I let languish – my Hourglass Sweater. Funnily enough, it is the sleeves on this one that made me put it down. My gauge was correct, but using the needles called for in the pattern produced a really WIDE sleeve. I’m a little person, having sleeves like that would’ve looked ridiculous. So I went down a couple of needle sizes – like four! Plus I’m not going with the bell sleeves because I don’t really like the look of them either. The first sleeve is going okay so far.
Personal Sock Club
I’ve been doing well so far with this. I did knit a pair of socks for January and February. March’s socks have given me some problems. The original plan was to do a pair of socks on two circs, but my friend thought I was taking about Magic Loop so when I asked to borrow size two circs she only gave me one. So Magic Loop it is! Unfortunately this concept is difficult for me. The plan is to knit these socks…but I anticipate it to be a long-term project…so I’m going to cast on for a different pair of socks to finish in March.
RYOB 2009
I signed up for the Read Your Own Books challenge. My goal is to read a total of 35 books this year since last year I read about 27. Well I’ve all ready read 10 books this year so I will probably have to adjust my goal for the year since I seem to be making more of an effort to read and have a bit more time to read.
But the RYOB challenge means reading books I all ready own. I decided I didn’t want to buy any new books this year. Not included in this is any book I get from BookMooch.com since I don’t pay for them or books I buy using Borders Bucks and Gift Cards. And I’ve done well with this. I I bought one or two of the Twilight Series books (hey, I got a brand new copy of the first book from BookMooch!) I just have SO many books though it’s ridiculous. I need to get reading.
I hope you’ve enjoyed that wrap up. I’ll be back soon to post a finished object.
