Vacation Knitting

Each year, Kevin and I save up for the whole year, pooling all our Christmas and birthday money, and we go to visit The Mouse for a week or two.


This year was extra fun because one of my brothers came along for the first part of our trip, and then we were with Kevin's family for the second part.

Every vacation has some memorable incident. My favorite moment of this year was at a dinner in Cinderella's castle. Cinderella taught us all to do the "princess pose." To do this, you are supposed to "clasp your hands together, then bring them up to your heart."

If you want to feel like one of Cinderella's ugly stepsisters, my suggestion is to wear your worst amusement-park clothes, go on Splash Mountain and get drenched, and then immediately have dinner where you pose directly next to a princess.

Trust me that no amount of princess posing on your part will help you look good in this situation:


But I love Disney.

I love the rides and the food. I love getting to walk for hours on end, with endless amusements around me (such as watching stressed-out families interact with each other).

Most of all, I love the knitting. Disney is knitting Nirvana. There is a lot of wait time for rides and shows, and I spend every bit of that time knitting. (Sixty minutes for Toy-Story Mania? Bring it on.) I have to be sure to pack just the right projects so as to be able to put them away quickly when it's our turn in line. And they have to be easy so I can still talk to people.

I probably get more knitting done at Disney than anywhere else. It truly is vacation for me.

In my last post, I had a few goals, which I was planning to meet while away. Let's see how those went, shall we?

Number 1 was to get Kevin's sweater joined at the sleeves and start knitting up to the shoulders. I did that. I will spare you the boring picture. My secret goal was to finish the entire sweater. I was thinking I would work on it on the car ride home, but that didn't happen. I had other priorities.

I also wanted to get my wimple to the point where I was just knitting around in stockinette. I did that. I think the wimple is cute. I'll keep working on it over the summer. It's at the point of grab and go to knit during movies, dinners with friends, etc.


I have to say that I never thought I'd want a wimple, but when I put it over my head the other day to test it, I took a strong liking to it. Apparently I have peasant blood running deep in my veins.

I wanted to finish the Noro Taiyo sweater. I'm just about there. I have half of one short sleeve left to knit, and half the hood to finish. It should be done soon--and the weather is perfect for it now, so I'm going to make this one a big push over the next week or so. In the meantime, here is one of those arty, angled shots of the fabric, so common in knitting blogs when projects are either secret or unfinished:



Unexpectedly, I did finish a sweater that wasn't on my list. This one is made from Araucania Pehuen, and it's comfortable and pretty. I like this yarn a lot. The colors are gorgeous. It was hard to choose, but I settled on blue.

That wonderful spring sweater weather I discovered last year--it's here!

Closing Ceremony

The Olympics are over: the torch has been extinguished. For several weeks, I have been working on my Olympic Knitting Goals. Like the last Olympics, my project gave me focus. Unlike the last one, I worked on more than one thing. So let's see what happened, shall we?

Project 1: Bulky Scarf

I am thrilled to report that I finished the scarf. I had already made a matching hat, so I am now officially warm and cozy in the cold. I finished this project first on account of the weather (and to get the garter stitch over with), and so far it has come in handy a couple of times.



Project 2: Pink Sweater

This project was done mainly while I was waiting in long lines at Disney two years ago. So while I was knitting, I wasn't at my most conscious. When I started to put the pieces together, that much was obvious.

But with a little help from the sewing machine and scissors....

.... I got everything fitting together. And in the end, I love this sweater. I can visualize wearing it a lot. It's warm and comfortable and cute:

When she took that picture, Kim asked me if that was my real smile.

Project 3: Wimple
See photo from last blog entry, then imagine 4 more rounds. Class got postponed. Motivation also got postponed, even though this project was on my list for the Olympics.

I have never claimed that anything about my personality had actual championship qualities.

Project 4: Kevin's Sweater
Although it was actually a day after the Closing Ceremonies, I am a flexible, motivated athlete and worked on this sweater last night. I therefore met my goal: I have the sleeves and the body long enough to join. When I have a few spare hours, I plan to put it all together. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about getting this far. In the back of my mind, I have wanted to finish this sweater in 2010. I think I can do that now.

Here is a boring picture of the sleeves.


The sweater body is around here somewhere. (I "organized my projects" over the weekend.) Anyway, showing you a picture of the body along with the sleeves would not change the enthrallmentlessness of this picture.

Project 5: Taiyo Sweater

This was kind of a cheater project. I put it in so I could have something new and fresh to start, and have the excuse that I had to do it because it was part of the Knitting Olympics.

My goal was simply to start the sweater. I did that--and actually finished the back.

*****

This goal-setting stuff apparently works. So let's have another few goals for the next blog entry. Three projects is a great number to create that athletic focus:

(1) Join Kevin's blue sweater and begin knitting up the shoulders (but added, secret goal is to finish entire sweater).
(2) Get the wimple done past the lace.
(3) Finish Taiyo sweater.

Let the goals begin!

Knitting Olympics, Here I Come After All

Four years ago, the Yarn Harlot came up with the idea that knitters could form their own Knitting Olympics. What could be more perfect? You would get to watch great athletes every night on TV while you knit on your own challenging project. Her Knitting Olympics were to happen only every 4 years (winter games only), which would make the challenge more special. This is the year. Besides the Harlot's Olympics, Ravelry has unleased its own Ravelympics.

I did the Knitting Olympics 4 years ago, and it was a good thing for me. The lesson I learned: If I work on only one thing for 17 days, it makes incredible progress.

So I've been mulling over whether to participate this year. A few days ago, the ADD Knitter asked me what I was going to do. I told her that I couldn't muster up the enthusiasm. I have a number of things going, and I just didn't want to work on any one of them.

But at the same time, not so deep down, I kind of wanted to do it. It kept nagging at me.

Tonight, when I was teaching, we talked in class about the Knitting Olympics. During the course of that conversation, I wanted to join the Olympics more and more. Hey--I'm a knitter; I'm as much a sheep as anyone.

To make the whole thing work for me, I came up with an idea: I'm going to take all the projects that I have goals or subgoals for, and after stating specific goals (or subgoals), work on the projects. I won't feel obligated necessarily to finish everything, but I will feel obligated to work on my subgoals as stated. I can get behind that.

Here's what I've got going:

Project 1: Bulky Scarf

It is cold out right now. I don't have a scarf that I, myself, made. (Cobbler's children and all that.) I decided to make myself a scarf a few days ago. It's just garter stitch. That's all I wanted. I would like this scarf before it's not cold out. I'm about 1/3 of the way done. I think I could finish the scarf in 2 days. Beginning time: 17 days. Time remaining: 15 days.


Project 2: Pink Sweater

I knitted on this sweater all the way through Disney last year. Or was it 2 years ago? I don't remember. Anyway, it's a pink sweater. I like pink. The sleeves and back are done. The side fronts are done up to here:


I want to finish the two side fronts and then finish the sweater. It's on small needles. Estimated time: 3 days per side, 1 day for finishing. Time remaining: 8 days.

Project 3: Wimple
I started this project for a class I'm teaching. We had our first meeting tonight to start the lace part at the base. (A wimple is a knitted tube that serves as both a hat and scarf: you put around your neck and can pull up over your head.) I want to have the lace done and the Fair Isle part that comes next either done or at least started in time for the next class. Estimated knitting time: 4 days. Time remaining: 4 days.

Project 4: Kevin's Sweater

I bought the yarn for this project about 10 year ago. Kevin picked it out, so I know he likes the color. I kept trying over and over to design the sweater with fancy cables, but nothing was working.

I finally wised up and decided about a year (or two?) ago to make Kevin a very, very plain sweater. (He is a guy. That's all he wants anyway. What is the matter with women that we never figure this out?)

I want to finish Kevin's sweater in the year 2010. For my Olympics project, however, I want to knit up the body one more inch...

and the sleeves 1 1/2 more inches each....


...so I can join them and begin to work my way up toward the shoulders. It would be nice, but not necessary in my mind, to get the sweater done during the Olympics. It's on size 4 needles, so it does take a while to knit. Time estimate: 2 days to get body and sleeves done. Time remaining: 2 days.

Project 5: New Spring Sweater
I know it's snowing out and stuff, but in my mind, spring has arrived. So I am in the mood for a new spring sweater. I need to work on it to have any hope of wearing it this spring instead of next spring. I will therefore spend 2 days knitting on this sweater. OR, if I am motivated, I will instead spend those 2 days finishing Kevin's sweater . As I write this, I have a nagging, feeling that in the spirit of this Olympic thing, I should work on Kevin's sweater and try to finish it, but this feeling may not last. I reserve the right to remain flexible.


We'll see what happens.

Let the Games begin.

Knitting Again

I've gone from lots of sewing to lots of knitting over the past month. (First I was behind in my sewing projects, then I was behind on my knitting projects. It's just a matter of leveling out the panicking.)

I have a couple of new designs I've made that I'm excited about. The first I call the Juliette Scarf. I named this scarf after my piano teacher's 10-year-old daughter just because I loved her beautiful name. And about 2 days after I named my scarf, with no knowledge of such, the real Juliette decided that she wanted to learn how to knit.

Coincidence?

Anyway, here's the scarf:



It's easy to wear. I, personally, love the feel of Noro Iro against my skin. I should make a pillow out of it someday.

Then, because I never get enough Noro yarn, I decided to design a hat out of Kureyon. It's one I've had tossing around in my mind for a good 6 months as a way to teach a mitered-squares class. Abbey, one of our knitting teachers, is my model:


Both these patterns are available on Ravelry and will soon be printed and at Stitch Your Art Out.

And then I finished a red sweater. I did this as one of the projects for my year-long Zimmermania class; we'll all be making it either in the adult or baby form--take your choice. The adult version is the February Lady sweater by Flint Knits. I made mine in Tahki Torino. I didn't make sleeves on it--just a k1p1 cuff where the sleeve was supposed to start--and I cropped it on account of how short I am. I'm thrilled. I've been enjoying vest-like things lately; they don't have sleeves to get in my way. And of course red is a great color for this time of the year. It warms you up--and if you stand near some snow and trees, you can pretend to be a cardinal.

Here's a serious-model-like picture of the sweater:



I have no memory of what he said here, but my photographer doesn't ever let me stay too serious for too long:

One More Quilt

There was another quilt I finished recently other than the block of the month. It was one of our mystery quilts that had been sitting around for a few years. I decided to push this fall and finish it. But I couldn't tell you about it before my brother saw it, since it was his. Here it is, on display in my parents' house.





If you like what you see, you might want to sign up for our next mystery quilt when you get the newsletter. They are always this good.

One of the Most Satisfying Things....

Is to turn an idea you had....



Into reality....

A Mitten Series

The final project for our Zimmermania class this year was mittens. I ended with this because I thought that during the holidays, it would be good to end with a simple little project. I knew I would have to work on finishing up the quilting block of the month and wouldn't have much time, and I figured that with the holidays, everyone else would be in the same boat. What could go wrong with a mitten?

So I started making mittens. These are Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mitered Mittens from Knitter's Almanac, and I thought they'd be fun in a nice orange yarn. I used one of my new favorites, Shepherd's Shades. I used Elizabeth's thumb trick, where you knit using waste yarn to make the thumb hole.

But I was disappointed with them: The center seam pulled funny at the thumb.


I decided to try them in Kureyon, thinking that the stripes would be fun, and I figured I could try out Elizabeth's other thumb trick: clipping a little bit and unraveling to create a thumbhole. As I was knitting them, the mittens seemed small, but I kept thinking they'd be okay. They weren't. They were too small.

No need to hyperventilate. Clipping for the thumb was really no big deal. I never bothered picking up the live stitches, so it started fraying--especially since every time I tried on the mittens, they were so tight that they pulled on those stitches.

I did like the waste-yarn method better, so I decided to try again using that method.

Oh--and also, in the meantime, I discovered that I had been knitting the pattern wrong all along, neglecting to put in a straight round after each mitered round. That made the mittens too small. I decided to try the mittens in the orange yarn again. I did my rounds the correct way.

They were huge.

I took a break for a few days.

*****

Now, the truth of the matter is, if we hadn't started this mitten in class, and I hadn't promised 20 people that I would have a good thumb for them in December, there is a very good chance I would have abandoned the project at this point.

But 20 people were halfway through their mittens and were depending on me to give thumb advice. The thought of having to face all those people with their half-done mittens in a few weeks was motivating.

I searched through my stash and found a yarn that I had once bought specifically with mittens in mind. By this time, I had concluded that the thumb needed to be closer to the edge of the mitten than the pattern specified. (I could have made the decision to put in a gusset, but I didn't feel like changing the pattern that much.)

I started another mitten. It was way too big. So I reduced the number of stitches and started again. This mitten seemed a bit small, but Kevin said it was fine. So I kept knitting.

Dear Kevin: I love you very much, but I do not need any help with my Knitter's Denial. I have plenty of denial on my own.

So I unraveled it and started again, adding 4 more stitches.

This time, finally.

I ended up with a nice pair of mittens that fit the way I wanted them, and the seams are relatively straight near the thumbs. Okay, Zimmermaniacs, I am ready for you. In December, we'll do thumbs--and you'll see just how easy it really is.

I am both relieved and happy.