I Cry Uncle!

Yes, I am crying Uncle!  KAL fail. I watch a few lot of podcasts and belong to a few lot of groups on Ravelry. Almost everyone is hawking a KAL (knit a long).  I tried. I really did. I tried to keep up and join most of the KALs. 

My nonknitting life is a zoo. I use my knitting to relax and decompress. However, trying to do all the KALs has caused my eye to twitch and me to lose sleep. I am a pretty conservative knitter with usually only two projects on the needles at a time. One simple and almost mindless and the other quite complicated and time consuming. 

With the KALs, I had 7 projects on the needles and have been waking up in the middle of the night, obsessing about one or more of them.  This is not going to work. Knitting is no longer fun!

I am, as of today, taking charge of my knitting. I am going to still watch the podcasts and ooh and ah, but will not be Knitting A-Long. Whew! how liberating.

Some of the barely started projects, I have abandoned and sent to the frog pond. I have placed the yarn for other, to be started projects, back in the stash closet. I have bagged up some others that I will work on when they call to me, not because there is a deadline for them to be finished, but because I really want to touch the yarn and knit the mittens or baby blanket or socks.

I am going to review the goals I set for 2012 and see if they are still doable. I am going to lovingly knit my Lucy Cardigan and enjoy the idea of being able to wear this cotton cardigan all summer and into the fall. I am going to pick up the Locke St. Cardigan only when I am relaxed and can work the cabled sleeves two at a time rejoicing in the twisty goodness of the forest green baby alpaca.  

Well, look at that! Two projects. Only two. Two I love. I can feel the knitting mojo returning, the shoulders relaxing, the eye twitch lessening. I can feel the joy returning. 

Ahhhhh! 

Blocking Day

Today, I took the time to soak and block all the projects that I have finished lately,  I use baby shampoo to gently soak the items in lukewarm water.  After rinsing in clean water, I squeeze as much water as I can from them and lay the items on my blocking mats. My pads are yoga mats from Target.  They are 24 inches by 24 inches and four come in a package for $20.  I have two sets since it usually takes four to block a sweater and I tend to save up items and block them all on the same day. 

I lay the mats on our pool table in the sun room with fans blowing on them. It usually still will take several days for large items. Baby clothing might be finished in one day depending on the weather.

Today’s blocking includes: My Alpaca Yoke Colorwork Sweater, the Baby Yoke Sweater with chicken buttons, a blue baby hat, my La Vie de Bois socks, my Seedless Slice Sock shop sample for my LYS, a green cowl, the Aberdeen Ave cabled hat and a gauge swatch for my next sweater.  The Preppy Baby Blanket is in the dryer.

My next sweater is going to be the Locke St. Cardigan by Glenna C. from her Urban Collection, Winter-to-Spring 2012.  It looks to be a great pattern made in pieces with three cable patterns. I will be making it in dark green alpaca from Plymouth Yarn. I am using the Baby Alpaca D. K. in colorway 1440.  This should be a very lightweight sweater that will be great to throw on in air conditioning and to move into the fall.  Who knows, in South Carolina, it may be a great sweater for our mild winters also.

My only concern with the sweater are the sleeves. They appear to be snug. I may modify the pattern and add the next size sleeve to the body of the sweater, making adjustments in the arm hole of the body.  I also like a little extra length to my sleeves, so I may also add an inch or so. This may allow me to add another increase in the top of the sleeve, so I may not need to go up a whole size. I will decide while my swatch is drying. 

Before blocking, the swatch measured 21 stitches and 26 rows to the inch on a size US 6 needle. Since this is a little larger than Glenna’s pattern calls for I will make the medium size. I fall between the medium and large anyway, so it should fit. But, we all know that swatches lie. I’ll remeasure once the swatch has dried.

Tom and I have been traveling all over the state lately.  It is tiring but at least I get to spend time with him and a little knitting time in.  We will be walking in a St. Patrick Day parade on Saturday morning in one part of the state and attending a formal dinner at the other end of the state on Saturday evening. Maybe I will get a sleeve finished on the sweater. We’ll see.  I hear the dryer beeping.

Until next time . . . . 

Short and Sweet

Not much on the blog recently. I am dealing with a kidney infection. (I have found another medicine that I am allergic to.) Not fun at all.  A lot of lying around and/or sleeping. Also drinking lots of water. Which, of course, send me to the bathroom. Then back to the couch. Antibiotics and AZO are my friends!

Knitting

FO

I got a little knitting done. Finished the Preppy Baby Blanket out of dishcloth cotton. I really like the way this turned out. This pattern of alternating stripes of ten ridges in garter stitch will probably be my go-to baby blanket for a while.

WIP

I am still working on my Seedless Slice Sock to put in our LYS as a shop sample for the Knit One Crochet Too Pediwick yarn. This is a nice yarn to use for spring or summer socks. I also like it because it is a soft nonwool made from bamboo and nylon. The new spring colors are yummy!

Enabling

On the advise of Katie, of Knittin on the Fly podcast, I order the Encore 8-Hour Baby Blanket....Revisited booklet by Plymouth Yarn.  The 14 patterns look simple and quick. Might try one soon. Might find a new go-to baby blanket to help fill the gift drawer.

Until next time . . . .