Knitting: Sometimes organization is bad

Mostly it is good though.

Case in point... I had the brill idea to make a pattern/project binder for 2010. Sort of like the ravelry queue. And while ravelry is still a genius and I am its slave... I need tangible. I need something that I can carry around with me and touch and feel. I know this is weird because with the Iphone I can actually carry ravelry around with me. But anyway... binder it is.

So I started planning. I had 2 projects in the binder. The lovely Welig Gloves and The every way wrap. Both started around beginning of January/end of December? Anyway, I was a good girl and soley worked on these 2 projects. I finished the gloves. And decided to start a simple sock project to go along with the wrap. I cast on Spring Forward. It took it's place in the magic binder.





Then I did a dumb thing and went to knitters mercantile. I bought this fantastic self striping/patterning yarn by Regia. I went to a friends to watch movies, needed something even more simple, so I cast on for another sock! That has no pattern though, so no insert into the binder. I will write it up though for prosperity, and to OH yeah, make the 2nd sock match the first. har,har, har.

The pic is of the in progress, but the 1st sock is actully complete.

Then, I went on Ravelry forums and started reading the January challenge for SKA and I cast on another sock! It's a made up pattern from BW stitch dictionary... and I haven't gotten far on it. The sock yarn is alpaca and is super slippery and fine to knit, so these may get frogged or take forever, not sure.



THEN... if all of this wasn't bad enough... my first shipment for the Rockin' Sock club came on Friday. Holy crap, do I love this yarn. It''s this gorgeous red/pink with a bit of bluey/silver, some orange and pinks and it is way too fabulous! I was actually leaving the house on Friday, pulled my car over in front of the mailbox because I saw a package. I sat there on the wrong side of the street facing the wrong way and opened the amazing. I was in love right there. It was like this was the most perfect yarn in the prettiest of colors and I felt like it was made just for me. I checked the patterns quick too and they were stunning as well.



Instead of running back into the house to immediately wind and cast on (which was truly a thought), I went about my errands. I didn't even cast on for a whole day! But then I just had too. It was staring me in the face and I knew I couldn't knit on anything else.

So, I cast on Flabella. I read through the pattern multiple times and on I went. Until the 1st freaking row. Yes, this pattern has bobbles, which normally I don't like, but they look so pretty in the pattern, I knew I had to knit them and would be pleased at the end. Well, I had problems, after about the 4th bobble, I decided to give up. I plan to potentially still knit this pattern someday, but in the mean time, I decided to cast on the other pattern that came with it, Cascadia.



It's a toe-up so not my fave method, but I did it. And for all of you that know me and know my relationshp with Judy's Magic Cast on... I actually did it. First time ever it actually came out fairly well. I just have one little hole to fix up instead of the usually craziness that happens when I do it. So, I felt better about that... then onto the pattern. It's just awesome. It's pretty and easy to memorize, the directions are written very well and the charts are awesome. So I'm half way through the foot (I think). And the yarn as knitted is still amazing and lovely.

Oh yeah, back to the binder... so on my lazy Sunday morning, I notieced I had patterns skattered about and thought I really needed to wrangle them in. So I put some random patterns in another binder. And I started putting the "I REALLY WANT TO MAKE THAT!" in the 2010 binder and lo and behold it has grown!

I think it is mostly due to ravelympics. If I get on a crazy knitting roll during this time, I want to be sure to have enough projects in my "queue". So I've picked a couple to knit, since Vivian is going to be knit another time. I have the twilight mitts to knit with Jackie and Karen. I thought maybe another sock pattern to go with the SKA Feb. challenge. And then I forgot about this cowl I want to make AND there's a blue moon team too and the criteria there is just to use Blue moon yarn, so enter in another project! Of course I could merge the Blue moon and ska into one thing and have my blue moon entry and the ska challenge be the same pattern.

Anyway... at this point in time... the binder has gotten out of control. I'm pretty confident I can finish the twilight mitts during ravelympics. I MIGHT be able to squeeze the cowl in, too... but much more than that is probably hopeless. I need to slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time, not sure if that will ever be possible, though.

Oh well, at least I enjoy what I do!

Bloggity-blog-blog...

So it's been awhile. I have no excuse other than the LAZY factor!

Not totally lazy, but I suppose uncreative with words mostly. I have in fact been doing a bit of knitting. Usually daily. Making small steps on several things.

Of first note, the MARKET BAG. This little treasure had a small error somewhere on the first round I noticed it part way through the 2nd round and put the project away for a LONG time. In July, I 'found' it and ripped it all the way out. I started over and lo and behold somewhere in the 2nd round I noticed another TWIST! I thought maybe if I kept going, somewhere in the 3rd round it might flip back? Nope twas not to be. SO... I ripped back again, only this time more slowly. PS, I did this one Saturday at the Irish Fest. I was sitting listening to some music and thought, why not, it's fairly mindless and needs to be done.

Back to the first row, where I found the twist, it was the 2nd to last triangle of the 1st row. I slipped the stitches off, twisted back and put the stitches back on the needle. I finished row 2 and 3 and started tier 4, but have now put the project aside for the Ravelympics. I did not make this a project for the Ravelympics and in hindsight maybe I should have, but oh well.

Now let's discuss the 2nd project which IS for Ravelympics. My 'Greenjeans for Joy' sweater. Which I think I am going to name REDJEANS for Joy because it's RED. Of course the original sweater was named Greenjeans because that was the name of the yarn. Anyway, my progress report is that this sweater is finally coming along. In all honesty, it is a QUICK knit. I just set it aside for months and months and months, like 5 to be exact! Anyway, I have about 3 inches left of the body, then I can bind off and start the sleeves. I am quite excited as it is looking more like SOMETHING every day. I've also gotten a fair amount of nice compliments as well... makes me feel so proud. I'm hoping to be on the sleeves by knit night this Thursday. Since it is MONDAY, that should be do-able. I also need to get the rav pics updated.

For the 3rd and 4th projects, also part of Ravelympics, one is done, Peekaboo mittens for the Mitten Medley where I medaled! And the other is the Ocean Currents scarf for the Scarf Stroke event. I started the scarf on Saturday at Rory's BBQ, on the side of a mountain (literally). I ran into a little snag which was HOW to do an p2tog tbl. I could not remember to save my life. Back when I did the swatch I actually looked it up... but being on the side of the mountain with no internet available... what's a gal to do???

Send a text to another gal that is addicted to Ravelry and the internet, too! And she has the oh so cool Iphone and she was MOST wonderful enough to help me out! She sent back the message of slipping the 2 stitches knit wise, throwing them back to the left and then purling them. So with that info I was able to move on with the scarf and finished about 3 inches. Again, I need to get some pics updated and such, but after downloading 700 pictures from the Irish Fest and this past weekend... I'm kind of tired of Iphoto.

And in INEWS... hopefully will be getting IPHONES for Bri and me this week! Am very excited. Heading over to the apple store after work to get some info. If I can't get there, I'll go to the At&t folks near the house that Brian chatted up yesterday.

Ok, off to work I suppose.