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...
Comments