Knitting is Cool

I sat in a coffee shop this morning - no, it wasn't anyplace really cool like Naked Coffee or my favorite, Chocolate Fish - I like the independents - it was Starbuck's, but it was all about location today.

I had about an hour to kill while I was waiting for my son to finish some things nearby and a coffee sounded nice. As I sat there waiting I watched the people in the shop. They were all very busy looking, typing away at their laptops (I'm sure it was something impressive) or talking in a group of two or three people, looking glamorous and vibrant.

There I was sipping coffee while trying to figure out how to open the fruit and yogurt parfait cup Hey, it was hard - they had a separate container for the granola. I was trying to pry that section out and was educated by the nice girl at the counter when she simply lifted the granola section out of the main cup. Embarrassing...

Anyway, here were all these important people doing all sorts of important looking things and there I was just trying to open a plastic cup. I felt I was way out of my league. Then to make things even more frumpy for myself ('cause I'm normally such a glam girl), I pulled out my knitting.

I had people coming up to me. Me! Asking about the yarn and the pattern I was using, comparing which needles we all liked, etc. I met one lady who was really into sewing and had just started sewing knits and I discussed stash habits with another woman who had just gotten back from Filati's big sale. It was so cool! The hour passed by quickly and I felt like I was hanging out with friends. Could have done that all day, I had so much fun.

Knitting just has this magic way about it bringing people together, doesn't it?

Da Belle

The Colonnade shawl is done and the yarn really made a difference. I love this shawl and can't wait to wear it this winter!

I've started a new pair of socks - the pattern is Belle Epoque out of the 2-at-a-time socks book. The yarn is a deep red superwash from Lang yarns called Jawoll. Pretty...

Knitting for Myself

I've been doing some knitting for myself receintly. I normally knit for other people. I like the process of knitting, but honestly, I live in California and so I really don't need much cold weather stuff.

Since I am actively trying to lose weight (24 pounds so far), I don't want to make any sweaters for myself right now. My old ones no longer fit, but I want to shed more weight and feel I should wait until I have met my goal, or have at least steadied out. So, that means I get to work on socks, shawls, etc.

I finished the Tabi socks and let me tell you - they're really fun to wear! I like the pattern so much I think I may make my daughter some. (I know, I get a pattern I like and then do it over and over...) I also finished a simple scarf with a funky yarn - AslanTrends "Tango" with the color "Rust Paradise" (it has nice big slubs at a fairly regular interval - makes for a cute look). I cast on 18 stitches on a size 15 needle and went with a garder stitch until I ran out of yarn. This color is gold, red, and brown - lovely Fall colors - and should add a nice bit of color to a sweater or light jacket this Autumn.

Next on the needles is a shawl pattern from Knitty, the Colonnade Shawl from Fall 2009. I made this before with some cheap acrylic yarn and it turned out looking like a 70's poncho reject. I did like the lace part even with the bad yarn, so I decided to try it again using better stuff. Trying it with Jojoland Rythm, a cute superwash that changes all these really cool colors.

Been thinking about starting another pair of socks, but I need to finish this shawl first. That's OK, it will give me time to think about what kind of socks I'd like. I have some soft, pretty green yarn to work with - maybe some cozy cables? Hmmm... I think the decision process is sometimes just as fun as the knitting process!

Weird and Fancy

I finished one of the Tabi socks last night. Again, great pattern. It looks just like the picture - I used the recommended yarn, a washable wool/silk/polyamid blend called Regina. I like this stuff. It feels nice on the hands. Probably nice on the feet, too.

Yup, the pattern is really good.

It's probably even better if you follow the instructions more carefully than I did. I got a little confused when separating the big toe from the rest of the toe section - there's a spot where you "make 6" and then add the new stitches to the holder for the big toe. I added them to the main toe section by mistake.

So now the big toe part on the right foot is a little snug, but I can live with it. This is now a feature rather than a mistake, 'cause I'm not going to undo the work at this point. Don't the Amish deliberately put a mistake in their work because only God is perfect? Hey, I can do that.

Rather proudly, I showed the finished right sock to my boys and asked what they thought of it. Teenage boys aren't too caring about their Mom's knitting projects (unless it's for them), so I should have know better. But I didn't and asked anyway.

Older boy: "Weird..." He wasn't too sure of the separate big toe and wondered why I would make such a thing. He then turned back to his video game.

Younger boy (after seeing his mother's look of disgust given to his brother): "Fancy, Mom".

Already my younger boy know how to deal with women better than his older brother.

The Good and the Bad

Bad news: my camera is not compatible with Windows 7. Don't know if I'd have gone with W7 if I'd have known that - I really like my camera. Must figure out a way to get it going here...

Good news: While the evil hat is still in timeout (see last post on this) I've almost gotten my really cute Tabi socks done! Just need to do the toes now.

This pattern has been a lot of fun (especially after getting my butt kicked by that stupid hat - I'm sure Jared Flood is off somewhere, laughing himself silly at my problems with his hat design. I mean, it's beautiful, but EVIL.). I love lace. Lace is good. Much better than colorwork.

That hat may never see the light of day again....

The Hat from Bottom-Most Pit of Nastiness

Stupid hat.

I almost got to the end of the 2nd chart on the Beaumont hat and realized that my hat did not look very much like the picture.

Or really anything at all like the picture.

This hat is supposed to have color popping out in graceful swirls of geometric patterns, a beautifully choreographed dance of colors. Mine looked more like a tweed pattern gone bad on an acid trip.

Seems I got off the color pattern a little bit.

This is where I started calling the hat all sorts of bad names. (Creative swearing at it's best - no one can do that like a knitter who's realized that her past week of tedious work was unrepairable and had to be ripped out - again.)

The hat didn't reply to my rantings and threats. It just sat there silently, taunting me with it's obscene tweedidness. I swore at it some more but the hat still said nothing. They don't, usually.

Don't know why that would be any different this time.

How many times can you rip out angora before all the fluffy parts go away? The only things that keep me going on this project is love for my daughter (the proposed recipient of this item) and my own stubbornness.

Updated score: Jen 1, Hat 3.

Knitting Enabler

I had the honor of teaching someone how to knit yesterday. It was a lot of fun watching my student trying to figure out how to hold the needles and keep the yarn from falling off as she took her first tentative stitches. She'll get it in time.

My friend's niece is having a baby soon and so she wants to make a cute little hat and booties for the baby. (I love knitting for babies! They can't argue about what you're making them wear and they just look soooo cute! Almost makes me want one more - NOT!)

I hope my friend enjoys knitting as much as I do. And I'm glad to be a "knitting enabler". Knit on, my friends!