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I spent the holidays in California, and while it didn’t exactly afford me a white wonderland Christmas morning, I got plenty of “tangelos” (or whatever those things were). It was fun and sunny. I also got to meet my mom’s new dogs: a standard poodle and a poodle/golden retriever mix. “Cute” is a poor word to describe these girls.

Like a little lamb, she is.

And this one has the most ginormous paws I’ve ever seen in real life on an animal.

Oh, and did you want to know about knitting? Really, now. Well, what with moving, and being out of town I obviously have not been what you might call “productive.” But I *did* receive in the mail this lovely yarn I will be using to make the 30’s coat.

I don’t feel too bad about not starting this sucker yet, because apparently it is supposed to be 70 degrees F. in New York tomorrow?! So no rush. Maybe I’ll just go to the beach, instead, or something.

I still don’t have internet access (blah), so thanks to David Fineburg for letting me use his interweb computer. Oh yeah, and my new year’s resolution is to get internet set up in my house. But not really. I’ll tell you what it is later, maybe…

Ah, yes. I’ve been taking a little breather from the knitting (and blogging) life for a while. But it’s been rejuvinating, and lately I’ve caught myself eyeing the yarn again. I’m sure it won’t be too long before I’ll actually have some finished projects to show off. Or at least some new ones started, ha ha ha ha ha! Sorry, got a little hysterical there. Anyway, I also got a new computer. Since I haven’t owned a desktop for years, I forgot how nice it is to use a big screen and regular keyboard. It sure beats the bad posture and neck strain I had sitting with a computer literally on my lap for hours on end.

So here’s a mini addition to my stash. As always, I don’t really buy yarn without at least an idea of what I want to do with it. My plans for this lovely yarn are a *little* nebulous, granted, but I think the finished product will be fabulous. I think. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to show you my favorite kind of yarn, and this is it. Tweed. I love all kinds of tweed. That’s not exactly revolutionary, I realize, but anyway there it is. One day soon I will be buying some tweed yarn for the 1930’s coat I pictured here once upon a time.

But clearly I’m getting ahead of myself. First I gotta, you know, finish something I’ve already started.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not crazy about the idea of knitting socks. This is mainly because socks in general don’t excite me. They do the opposite of excite me. (I guess that would be “bore.”) The idea of socks drives me to apathy. I was raised in a warm climate so I have no fond associations of nice warm socks by the fire, that kind of thing.

Now, I’ve made a pair of socks. I got this yarn as a prize, and my dad told me he wanted some, so I made them. And it was exciting, finishing that first sock - mostly because I wasn’t sure if I would ever get the thing to fit or look right. And then it did, so I was happy. My first sock! Yay.

However, I have found, since then, that my general apathy toward the sock continues. I no longer have actively *negative* feelings about knitting socks (as I did while attempting the ill-advised “blue-sock project” on Size Negative Three needles or whatever - that’s never going to happen, by the way). But I’m still not converted. I probably have similar feelings about the subject as Eunny - in other words, I say I don’t like to make socks but will ocassionally do so, anyway.

Case in point:

Um, yeah. I’m making another pair of socks.

So here are the two great things about hand-knitted socks: they are super comfortable, and they make wonderful knitted gifts (for people that like socks, that is). After trying on my dad’s socks, I decided I wanted something super-comfy, too, man! And I know a few people who would appreciate having some soft hand-knit socks for their vewy ownz.

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But here’s my next complaint: what is up with this self-patterning, self-striping, multi-color whatever yarn?! This sh*t is crazy! I mean, about 95% of the time, the colors look amazing, gorgeous, or even just really pretty, when they are in a ball or skein. Observe:

Isn’t this nice? I received this in the mail, and thought: oh, so pretty! I want to make something with it! Those colors *are* just like a spring garden!

But then *this* is the result:

!!! That’s just wacko. To the point that it’s approaching circus-clown-style. Maybe I’m weird, because I’ve never seen anyone else complaining about this. But I do not like how multi-color yarn looks all knit up in rows together. The self-striping yarn is okay, I guess, but I still think that stripes you make yourself look way better.

End of rant-thing. I don’t even know if that qualifies as a rant. So. I’ll let you know when I finish the other sock.

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No one has of yet correctly answered the prize-winning question I posed in my last post. That really doesn’t surprise me, because it is fairly tricky. But I wanted to see if anyone could get it, regardless. The prize is still up for grabs, and I’m going to put another clue in my next post, so stay tuned!

One of the most clear-cut “lessons” (for lack of a better word - anyone have a better word?) I’ve learned from knitting has been persistence. A lack of patience, fear of failure, and simple boredom can all lead to me giving up on a project at the first sign of trouble. Frankly, I can usually get by pretty easily without having to work too hard at things. I may not always excel, but I can get by. Because of this, I never HAD to be persistent at anything.

So unlike projects I procrastinate doing because I’m afraid of being bad at them, there are things that I’m happy to start, because at least at the beginning, I don’t have major expectations for myself. I go along my merry way, glueing that model spaceship together (or whatever), until, um, I mess up. I glued the wing to the bottom of the fuselage or something. I’ve messed up bad enough that I’ll have to start over, or trash the whole thing, or at the very least spend hours fixing it while swearing to myself.

You can guess what happens next. Yeah, nothing. I give up, and tell myself “Oh, it’s totally not worth it, What am I going to do with a model spaceship, anyway?” or “This is BO-RING!,” or, “I just don’t want to deal with all these fiddle-y little details like ‘wings.’”

However, after a couple of false starts when I tossed a project into the corner in disgust after making a mistake, knitting has been different for me. I actually *fix* mistakes! I will undo rows and rows of knitting just to make something right, even when no one else will even notice! I occasionally make swatches, (one of the most boring and frustrating aspects of knitting)! I am persistent, I finish projects, I keep working even when something is hard and it may never turn out right! I have learned the beauty of persistence and patience, ladies! (And gentleman, if you’re out there). Yay!

Of course, translating that to other aspects of my life is yet another step, it doesn’t necessarily automatically happen. But I do see my attitude changing in small ways. So that’s a good thing.

I’d love to hear if you’ve had similar experiences, or feel like you’ve learned something else from your knitting adventures…

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Thanks so much to those who left nice comments about my pink sweater. It’s definitely one of my favorite FO’s so far.

In other news, The Kitchener Bitch was having a little contest over at the Vintage Knit-Along she hosts. She was offering prizes in different categories, and she picked my picture to win for the “Best Pic from a Vintage Pattern”! So I won three skeins of some lovely yarn:

Thanks, Kitchener Bitch! Now, this yarn I would have never bought myself, because I am not a “sock knitter,” and really don’t have anything else I could use it for. However, it was so soft and lovely, I wanted to make something with it, d*mnit! And I remembered my dad saying something about wanting me to knit him some socks. So… drumroll, please:

My first (finished) sock, ever!! The pic is in B&W because I’m adding a couple of details to it - it’s not actually finished, yet. Man, I never thought I would be this excited about a sock.

For those of you who’ve made it to the end of this post, congratulations! I’m having a little contest of my own. There is a yarn prize in store for the first person who emails me with the name of the sketch comedy TV show from which I got the title of this post (Placate, Posture, Pomp and Circumstance). I’m prepared to give hints if no one gets the answer right away. You can use the contact form on this website to send me an email. Good luck!

Contrary to appearances, my life does not, in fact, revolve around knitting. Really. Having said that, however, I am compelled to report that yesterday was spent wandering around yarn stores in Manhattan. I’ve said before that I’m not an impluse buyer of yarn (anymore), so I only bought one ball. Really I just wanted to get some ideas and look at the pretty stuff. My favoritist place of all that I went to yesterday was Habu Textiles. I’ve been wanting to check this place out for a while, and it didn’t disappoint. They have yarn made out of lots of unique materials, including linen paper, fine steel, and fiber from something called a “kenaf” plant. They even have awesome yarn made from actual fishing nets (it’s silk!). Lots of great materials for weaving, although I’m sure anyone interested in weaving probably already knows about the place.

I just got a little ball of yarn to start out with - I wanted to see what it was like knitted up before I went too crazy. This is a cotton yarn, but it feels and looks like paper. They said it will soften up after a little use, but the knitted fabric is actually softer than you would think it would be. I love it! I have a hankering to use this stuff for one of the vintage patterns I’ve picked out - would be an interesting combination of old-fashioned design and modern material. Okay, I just made that up. They might have had paper yarn back then, who knows? In case you’re interested, I used size US0 needles here.

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Here’s the progress on the front. I have never, not even for one second, not loved knitting this blouse. Not even when I realized that my row gauge is totally off from the pattern, and therefore I would have to completely revamp the short row directions. The pattern was written up nicely, and would have been pretty easy to follow if my gauge had been on. But after some serious recalculating, and figuring out how to start the lace pattern at a different point each row, I gotter done. I ended up knitting 8 more short rows than the pattern called for so that the ribbed section would be high enough in the front. I just have to say thanks to Teva for making the instructions clear enough that I could figure out how to make alterations (short rows and lace both being things with which I have little experience).

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Here’s a little preview of Season of Darkness etc. Seriously, this yarn is next to impossible to photograph. I color-corrected the pic (a lot), so that it reads more like the actual yarn, but this picture still does not do it justice. I am so happy and excited to be using this yarn - it’s really wonderful. Still working on my swatches, trying to get gauge. Hopefully I’ll be able to start on the actual jacket sometime this week…

I don’t know how most people deal with their ongoing knitting projects - probably put them in some sort of project bag, or in a drawer or box or something organized and semi-tidy. Me, I just throw them on what has become the “knitting chair,” all in a big pile. Obviously calling me organized would be a mischaracterization. My poor little Ongoing Knitting Projects, they were getting all tangled and mashed up. Certainly, no way to treat them. Good old 99 Cent Store to the rescue with a hanging basket-thing. Now I can pretend the UFOs are little birdies, perched up high, singing out the window as they long for open blue sky.

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What the….?

O.m.g.! It’s a bodiless head! (Cue Godfather music)

I promise, this will be done soon so I can get on to more interesting pictures.

Just got a yarn order from Knit Picks - mostly Merino Style and Palette. There’s so much I can’t fit it all in the picture, and suddenly I feel like I’ve been very extravagant. But it’s Knit Picks! Inexpensive, beautiful yarn, how can you go wrong? I am building up quite a stash, but actually every bit of yarn I buy is intended for something specific. Really!

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Not much knitting going on besides the little suprise gift I’m making. Soon, it will all come together into a recognizable shape, but until then…

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It’s yucky weather right now, but it does make pretty things grow. Here are some pics from April and May at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Hope everyone is enjoying spring wherever you are!