alisonknits

Holidays survived.

I'm happy to say that all of my knitted gifts were very well received, even the unfinished Hank8. My sister looks great in her sweater - it looked a little small to me when I knit it (to her specs from a sweater she already owned), but she's been slowing losing weight for the last 1-2 years, and she looks wonderful. I'm so proud of my little sister. She's all grown up, living in her own apartment (bigger than mine, and less rent - why do I live in NYC again?), working toward a college degree. Every time we hang out I like her more.

My friend Cheryl the seminarian who was the recipient of my secret santa present was thrilled with her hat. She was the envy of the staff Christmas party. They all want me to draw their name next year. (Little do they know I wouldn't knit a hat for just anyone... Cheryl is fabulous. Yesterday she preached here at All Souls, and managed to get this upper east side congregation of mostly white folks excited about celebrating Kwanzaa. She deftly tied the principles of Kwanzaa to the principles of Unitarian Universalism, and to our day to day lives. It was a brilliant sermon.)

I was very restrained on my trip to Massachusetts and only brought one knitting project. This wasn't entirely by choice; the baby blanket I'm working on was really the only thing that could easily travel. On Christmas eve, I realized that the circular needle I was using was now too short. I called up Wild & Wooly in Lexington, MA, and they were both open and had a longer needle, so I popped in there to buy the needle. I also found some wonderful buttons for my sister's sweater - I had been dissatisfied with the ones I had. So I'm at the register paying for my stuff, and they ask for my name and ZIP code. I mentioned that I was visiting from NYC, where I work at School Products, and a nearby employee told me she had just gotten my hat pattern! It was so nice to meet a blog reader in person. I felt kinda famous. Hi Dina!

I didn't do much knitting in Boston, as it turned out, but since I got home on Saturday I've been trying to focus on finishing Hank8. But it occured to me today that since I'm teaching a class on steeks at Urban Knitter on January 31, perhaps I shouldn't finish it, and use it as an example in the class. I'll at least finish one sleeve, and maybe start the second, just showing the unfinished steek, or maybe I'll cut the second steek in class. We'll see. I would like my dad to be able to wear it this winter.

Last night I needed a break from Hank8 and didn't feel like working on the baby blanket, so I decided to pull out a couple of UFOs that I uncovered in my recent stash organization. I have two Debbie Bliss sweaters that I started summer of '02 that I never finished. One is a cotton/wool cardigan from her book Cotton Knits for All Seasons, which is really close to completion. I knit all the pieces ages ago, then earlier this year knit a picot trim on all the edges, and later set in one sleeve. Last night I sewed a side and sleeve seam. Maybe tomorrow I'll set in the other sleeve and sew the other seam. It's a beautiful sweater, I should be wearing it by now!

The other sweater is DB's entrelac jacket from her first Noro book. I had done the back and started one of the fronts. I put in a couple hours on this last night while watching DVDs of CSI, season 2 and Pirates of the Carribean. (I did some serious bonding with my couch yesterday!) This project is pretty mindless, as it's all just garter stitch entrelac squares. I learned how to knit and purl backwards so I wouldn't have to turn the work every 9 stitches. Fun!

Several projects are waiting in the wings, but I've decided I must finish these things first. I really really want to start the Swan Sweater from Norsk Strikkedesign, the kit for which I've had for a year now. Maybe I should start it now so that I have a Norweigan steek to show at my class... well, who knows if I could get the body done in time... I don't need to impose that kind of pressure on myself. But also I've promised my sister's boyfriend a sweater from Starmore's Aran Knitting (can't remember the name, it's the red one), and I really want to make my husband a Schweitzer Fair Isle. And who knows what else might come down the pike...

Plus one more...

I forgot to post this photo of a swatch I did for my recently completed design. It's from The New Knitting Stitch Library.

I'm off to Massachusetts tomorrow - I may or may not blog from there.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Some pictures...

Or maybe not. I was going to post pictures of my sister's cardigan, but they came out so damn dark (it's a dark-colored wool) and I'm pretty much Photoshop illiterate. So tough noogies, no pictures of the sweater. Well, here's one detail of a cable on the bottom of the sleeve - maybe you'll be able to see it.

And you may remember, if you've been reading this blog for a while, a few weeks ago me mentioning making Christmas cards. Here are a few of those:

As my friend Eevin once ridiculed me for saying, I wish I had more time to do rubber stamping.

Yarn purge

I took a few hours yesterday to tackle my yarn stash, armed with clear blanket bags and a ruthless attitude towards yarn that's been languishing for years. A little background: I live in a 2-room apartment, rather spacious for NYC, but quite small by any other standards. My yarn lives in and around a wooden toy chest in a corner of the living room, tucked away by the entranceway to the room. It had begun to spread out, starting to block the way in. Not attractive, in various and sundry plastic bags and overflowing baskets.

I bought a large amount of blanket bags several months ago at a good price (I'll try to find the website, for anyone who wants the link - they had a variety of sizes, very cheap). So I pulled everything out, placing each lot of yarn (except odd balls) and WIPs in separate bags. Anything that I didn't really like or probably won't knit in my lifetime went in a big garbage bag, to be donated to charity or to other knitters. Then I put everything back, putting the stuff I won't use anytime soon on the bottom, and WIPs on top. I wish I had taken photos of before, during and after! What a difference! And the during shot would have been pretty funny - bags and bags of yarn covering the entire living room.

Oh - and I catalogued everything as I was putting it back. Obsessive? Probably. But I feel better seeing everything listed. I made three lists: Yarn without a specific project; yarn for a specific project; and WIPs. The lists are pretty equal in length.

But then later in the evening, I remembered that there are 4 under-bed storage type bins filled with yarn that I didn't catalogue. Oh well - maybe in the new year. Or maybe not.

And just so you don't think I was doing all that to avoid knitting Hank8, I'll have you know that I did finally (!) cut one of the armhole steeks and started a sleeve. I did about 2 inches last night. Scott assured me that it's so beautiful, my dad can't possibly mind that it's not finished. I also wove in ends on my sister's sweater, washed the cashmere hat for my Secret Santa recipient, and ripped out and restarted the too-small hat. All in all, a good day's work.

5 Days 'til Christmas

Last night I finished all my shopping. This is very early for me; usually I'm still shopping on the 23rd or even the 24th. Of course I'm still knitting gifts, but who's counting?

I realized this week that I'm actually now avoiding working on Hank8. It's like since I know that it's not going to be finished, I'm too demoralized to actually pick it up. Plus I've had plenty of other things to work on. My sister's sweater is finished except for sewing in ends, buttons (which I have yet to buy - does that count as Christmas shopping?), and washing it. I finished my design in Majestic - let's hope that it ends up published somewhere good. And I started another hat, this one for my friend Amy, who won't mind at all if she gets it after Christmas. I would be able to finish it today, but I'm at the point of starting the decreases and tried it on - it's too small. Should have known - I based it on another hat I did, but realized after I'd started that I was using a larger needle on the first one. So I'll be ripping out today. I like the hat, though - I'll definitely post a pic when I'm done with it.

Oh, and speaking of posting pics, Karabella updated their website, and included some of my designs. You can find them by clicking on "Patterns," and going to Aurora 8, numbers 18, 19, and 20. Also under Margritte, number 3, and Soft Tweed, number 6. It's a very cool site (flash plugin required), and I like the photography. Woo hoo!

I'm also anxiously awaiting the next Vogue, where the ad with my hats will appear. Anyone know when that comes out?

9 Days 'til Christmas...

and I refuse to freak out. One nice thing that happens as the holidays get closer is that various commitments actually end, producing more time. For example, my Monday night knitting class is finished, and I don't teach again until the 2nd week in January! As I've said in previous blog entries, this was a fabulous group, even though it was a huge class. Sunday school is also over until the new year, so I can sleep in this weekend - yahoo!

My other blessing is that somehow almost all of the holiday parties I was invited to were this past weekend, leaving the coming weekend pretty open for finishing shopping and knitting. Excellent.

I finished the cashmere hat last night, a whole week ahead of schedule! I love making hats for that reason - they're so quick! I do hope to be known for designing sweaters as well, but man, hats are so fun and easy.

Last night I started the lacy baby blanket for Alec & Stacie. It seems wierd to me to be starting a non-Christmas present at this point, but the baby's due in February and blankets take a long time. Plus, I can't work on either my dad's or my sister's sweater anywhere other than my couch, so I might as well have something new to take around with me. The pattern is written line-by-line, which I hate, so I may chart the whole thing out. I think I'm just much more visually-oriented than verbally.

Fa la la la la

Thank you all for such an outpouring of support for my design! If you requested the pattern and haven't received it yet, it probably means I don't have your e-mail address. So if you want it, e-mail me. I've decided that this is a limited time offer - I'll stop distributing the pattern some time in January.

I've managed to adopt a more Zen attitude toward the holiday season. There's just no way that Hank8 will be finished by Christmas day, and I'm fine with that. Really I am. (Okay, I'm only pretending, but if I pretend hard enough I'll start to believe it.) I'll just wrap it up Christmas eve in whatever state it's in, with a picture of the sweater on top, and let my dad know that he'll get it a few weeks after Christmas. It may be tacky, but my pop's not the type to care.

I still need to finish my sister's cardigan, wash it, and find some buttons for it. And I'm making a cashmere hat for my (church) office secret santa - I drew a good friend who has been hinting (not too subtly) for as long as I've known her that she'd like me to knit her a hat. So I'm using the leftover cashmere from my gloves, which she also coveted, and will probably finish tonight.

My husband's best friend will be a father in February, and I'm going to make a baby blanket, also out of cashmere. Some may find that a bit excessive, but I think this couple would like a cashmere baby blanket, and you can actually wash it in the machine on gentle cycle in cold water, so it's fine if it gets mucky. I'm using a pattern that's been a big hit with other babies before, a lacy pattern with leaves, and the yarn is a pretty spring green. The pattern is written as 4 triangles that you make separately and then sew together, but I'm going to convert it to knit in the round all in one piece. It's also written with an edging that you knit separately and sew on, but I'll either knit it right on to the blanket somehow, or more likely crochet the edging instead. I've been wanting to hone my crochet skills anyway and can get help from my boss at the store, who is an expert.

I've decided to cook Christmas dinner for my dad and Scott, since we ended up with nothing to do on Christmas day. (My dad's family, who we usually celebrate with, has decided we're all too many now for anyone to cook for, so the extended family will get together at a restaurant a few days after Christmas.) I discovered last year when I cooked my first turkey for Scott's family that I really enjoy preparing a holiday meal. Which is sort of funny since I'm pretty averse to cooking the rest of the year. But when it's a big event, it's more fun. And my dad seemed really happy that someone would be willing to cook him a Christmas meal, so that makes me feel good. Now to scour the 'net for some good recipes...

More holiday blues

It seems like every other day I get freaked out and/or sad about this crazy season. I'm currently both freaked out and sad. Not a good combination. But I'll soldier on. Come Christmas eve, I'll be hanging with my wonderful family, and will have resigned myself to whatever state of completeness (or incompleteness, as the case may be) my knitted gifts will be in.

The winter issue of Knitty is up, and there are some wonderful things in there. I especially like the sweaters in this issue. I immediately went to the accesories, though, since Amy told me that they had received so many submissions of accesories, that was why my Charleston hat & scarf were not accepted. There's one hat in there that is constructed the same way mine is: a strip with a cable that is joined into a ring, then stitches picked up to make the top of the hat and shape the crown. I think mine is cuter (not that I'm biased or anything), but the one that was published is an easier cable pattern.

Anyway, here's my hat and scarf, you can be the judge:

Cashmere version

And the alpaca version

PS - For those of you who have asked about me publishing the pattern on the blog, since I'm still hoping to sell the pattern I don't think I'm going to "officially" offer it on here. But if you'd like a copy of the pattern, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you when I finish formatting it. (And if you've already left a comment asking me to publish it, I'll send it to you - you don't have to ask again.)

The Usual Madness

So I had a bit of a snafu on the mystery project. Sitting at Starbucks on Wednesday night, I was blithely knitting away on the final sleeve, which has a couple of rows of cables near the bottom, creating a smocked effect. It's really cool. Well, I got quite a bit done there, and by Thursday night I was nearly up to the cap. Then I noticed that on one of the smocked rows, one cable was crossed the wrong way. I nearly wept. It was so obvious, and I must have been working so furiously at finishing the damn thing I just didn't look at what I had done.

But the story has a happy ending. While I was much too far along to drop down to the bad cable (I would have to go through another section of smocking, plus some increases), the designer suggested I duplicate stitch over the errant cable and make a sort of mock cross the right way. And it worked! If I didn't know the mistake was there, I definitely wouldn't see it. That cross just looks a little bit flatter than the others. The designer hasn't seen it yet, but I think (hope!) she'll approve. Because lord knows I don't have time to re-do the thing.

I have to finish my sweater in the next week, which will be tight. And then I have just a week and a half to do the sleeves of Hank8 and sew my sister's sweater together!

So what am I doing writing on this blog? I have to get back to knitting!

Oh, but the coolest thing this weekend was that I got to hang out with a bunch of knitters from all over the place (Wisconsin, Virginia, San Francisco, Canada) who all know each other from a knitting forum. It was wonderful to see them (some I met for the first time), even though I don't get into the forum much anymore. Hi Lynnette, Lisa, Dympna, Daphne, Paula, Thora, Michele and Karola!

Joy!

Things are looking up. The "mystery designer" liked the work I did for her, and while I still have half a sleeve left to do, she said that once I finish that, she'll sew the pieces together herself. Which is fabulous, since I really want to get back to my own design and that will save me a lot of time. She stopped by the knitting group at Starbucks tonight, and I had a nice time talking with her. I like learning about knit designer's backgrounds - it seems like most didn't start out in fashion, which makes me feel good, since I'm rather fashion-phobic.

She also saw my Charleston hat & scarf, and was shocked that Knitty didn't accept the design. That was a nice ego boost!

I made myself a schedule for all the knitting I need to do by Christmas. I'm not sure if it's going to work. But I'm trying to have faith. There may be some late nights in my near future!