2.21.2003

OH, LORD

Well, okay. Let’s start on a positive note. I finished the Lotus Pink Bobbles. It’s really nice. It’s drying in my bathroom, even as we speak. (It is to be hoped that the cat is not sitting on it. He did that once with another drying knitted item and dyed himself blue for a week. A Lotus Pink cat could be a little disturbing.) The sizing up of the hat worked pretty well. I may have become just a touch carried away, but I am happy with the fit. (Perhaps the old head is not quite as large as I had led myself to believe. A tape measure would settle all this, but why be conventional?) It is pleasantly oversized, without being so big that it slides down over my eyes.

And so, you ask, all agog at my finishing prowess, what of the mittens? Did I, like a good little person, start the second? Well… no. You see, I tried on the first again, and I was no longer sure that I liked the size. I made the child’s large size, as my hands are on the slender side. (First the big head, now the slender hands. The mental image you all must have of me is like something out of an alien movie. And not a good one. Not like, oh, I resemble Sigourney Weaver. More like, oh, I resemble a circus freak. Oh, dear. I swear I am a normal-looking human being. Okay, back to the accursed mitten.) So I made the child’s large size, rather than the women’s size. The mitten fits… but the proportion, narrow and long, seems off. Maybe the extra width would have just been nice wiggle room for the fingers. Dang. Now I have to figure out my motivations here: do I want to rip out the mitten so that I can make it again and have it be perfect, or do I want to rip out the mitten and think of an excuse to make something non-paired with the yarn? This is not good. I am definitely banned from making socks.

KNITTING PROPS

And now, a little crowing. Just a little. I promise. I wore the first sweater to work today. The seed stitch pullover. I decided last night that it was work-appropriate when paired with a nice pair of black wool trousers. And today, someone complimented me on it. Here’s how it all went. I had just been to check out the sweater in the mirror in the bathroom, as I was at that stage in the day at which I thought that wearing the sweater was a big mistake and that I looked like some sort of hayseed in my homemade knitwear. Moseying back to the work station, a co-worker said that she really liked the sweater. Just out of the blue. Not like I was rabbiting on about how I was a knitter and this was one of my creations and wasn’t it just too fabulous, leading to a dutiful, positive reply. Nope. I was just walking on by. At this point, I was so startled that I must confess that my response was, “Really?!?” Co-worker seemed perplexed by my perplexity. Poor woman; she had no idea what she was getting herself into with her off-hand comment. In any case, I recovered sufficiently to thank her in what I tell myself was a graceful fashion. I also confided that I had knit the sweater, and co-worker seemed duly impressed.

And there it is. The crowing is done.

IN WHICH WE PEER INTO OUR CRYSTAL BALL

So, what does the future hold? I don’t have to work this weekend (as far as I know) so some knitting should be done. Will I sort out the mitten crisis? I don’t really know, but it’s not looking good. I think I might need to throw the mitten into the depths of my knitting basket, to be pondered at a later date. So what will I work on? Fate, she is a cruel mistress, and she may be leading me to swatch the Cash Iroha. Life is so hard.

2.20.2003

WELL, NOW

To begin, I must apologize for the sporadic updates this week. Somehow, I’ve been feeling a trifle less posty. (I know, “posty” isn’t a word. But maybe it should be. Dig?) It’s been a pretty standard week, and, to be honest, “four more inches on the Koigu scarf!” just didn’t seem like an earth-shattering announcement. But that’s just me. Don’t want to share unless I can astonish. (Like you all are traditionally astonished by the knitting feats I post about… Get back to reality, sister!) But, never mind. I shall post. I am sure something will occur to me as I type away.

The Koigu scarf and the Lotus Pink Bobbles are both progressing nicely. I’m almost through the first skein of Koigu, which makes me nearly a third of the way through the scarf. Lotus Pink Bobbles is a lot of fun to knit. I am making it a bit larger than the pattern directs, however, because (true soul confession time, here) I have a really big head. I mean, I’m not talking circus freak big, or anything, but pretty big. Most of the hats in stores that claim to be “one size fits all” do not fit on my oversized dome. It is my cross to bear. Luckily, now that I am a hat-knitting fool, I can make my own damn hats to fit my larger-than-average head. So, Lotus Pink Bobbles has eight extra stitches in the ribbing and twelve extra stiches in the bobble section. This makes for two extra bobbles per round. I will also do an extra tier of bobbles, to balance the additional width. The hat will now weigh in at 75 bobbles. That’s a lot of bobble. I finished them all last night. Now, we are a-decreasing. As early as tomorrow, I may be wearing a big, pink, bobble-covered hat. Exciting, no? Koigu will take longer, as I tend to knit one or two of the eight-row pattern repeats and then get bored and put it down. Dang. Have to get better about that.

Although these small projects are a lot of fun, I miss having a sweater project going. I would like to swatch the Cash Iroha, but I know that I still have the basic mittens glaring reproachfully at me from the knitting basket. I have finished one mitten. But I have not started the second, because, my friends,

I HAVE A PROBLEM MAKING PAIRS

Yes, it’s true. Making the first mitten was a blast. I carried it around, doing a few rows whenever I had a moment. It was my first outing with double pointed needles, and once I got used to the crazy, needles-in-all-directions sensation, I liked working with them. But… mitten two has yet to be started. Even though it will take, maybe, two days to make. If that. Oh, the humanity. To make it all worse, I would like to try making some socks, but I can just see myself wandering around, wearing two mismatched socks because I could never bring myself to complete a set. I have to bring this under control. Maybe tonight’s knitting goal while trying once again to watch The Shipping News (Remember that? The video store gave me another copy, gratis.) will be to finish the hat and start the other mitten. Koigu will have to wait. As will Cash Iroha. Yes. Good. I will also launder. (I know, mi vida loca. Can you stand it?)

AND, FINALLY, ANOTHER WEBS UPDATE

I forgot to tell you all the conclusion of my lost yarn fiasco. When we left off, I was singing the praises of Webs for helpfully mailing out the skein that I left behind at the store. And now, the dramatic finale: they sent it Priority Mail. I got the yarn the very next day. These people are amazing, I tell you. They rock my world.

2.18.2003

A NOTE ON FELTED CLOGS

Mattie Lou had asked in the comments about the felted clogs I am knitting. Mattie Lou, if you are reading, I am using the Fiber Trends felted clog pattern. I got it at a local yarn shop, but many online sources carry Fiber Trends patterns as well, including Patternworks. I am not finished yet, so I can’t really comment on whether or not I am happy with the clogs. You might try asking indigirl, who I believe has made several pairs. She may even have made some Fuzzy Feet… so maybe she could do a little compare and contrast. Hope this helps.

SETBACKS AND REVERSALS OF FORTUNE

Well, my friends, check out the little sidebar. See anything different in the Works in Progress? Yes, it’s true. The sleeveless turtleneck is done, and the Koigu scarf is begun. And now, I will tell you a little story about how this came to pass. Excited? I know. Try to calm yourselves as I reveal the hidden secrets of this past weekend.

Saturday started out filled with promise. I finished knitting the back of the turtleneck and pinned it out for a little quality time with the steam iron. I also cast on and did a few pattern repeats of the Koigu scarf. I’m pretty happy with this scarf. It’s a very simple pattern, just stockinette with rows of dropped stitches here and there to add a little interest. A good project for tv watching. I then put the needles down to go with the dear boy to pick up my old futon from my parents’ house.

Why were we getting this futon? Well, back in the day, this futon was my couch. Later, having built up the personal savings a little, I replaced the futon with some significantly classier loveseats. (You know you have arrived when you can buy some upholstered furniture.) The futon has, since this time, been living in the parental garage. Now, however, the dear boy and I have moved into a larger apartment, and we find ourselves with enough rooms for many a piece of furniture. My loveseats are in the living room; his slightly dilapidated sectional is in the den, and now this futon is in the guest room / knitting room / office. Pretty sweet, eh?

In any case, personal furniture tales aside, Saturday was good. There was knitting. There were knitting related errands. (After all, the futon will be one more place to lounge and knit…) Things were accomplished. And then, the Phone Call. A dark cloud fell over my Sunday. I had to go to work.

I work for an architecture firm as PR person and general graphics and layout kid. (And yet, I cannot code this site. Why?) This means that I get called a lot when deadlines are tight and the architects need to lateral some less technical presentation work to someone else. Sunday was one of those days.

Oh, the frustration. How could I be so close and then have to slink back to the blog on Monday, reporting my utter failure to finish the turtleneck? It was with a heavy heart that I awakened on Monday…

…to six inches of snow, with more falling rapidly. A call to work confirmed: no one was coming in. Oh, my lost Sunday! Regained on Monday! It was a good knitting day. I stitched up the turtleneck, did some more Koigu and wound my reclaimed yarn (from two weeks ago) into balls. Very productive.

And for this evening? Well, my friends, I am feeling a touch of startitis in my fingers, so I just may cast on for the “Olive Bobbles” hat. (Pattern care of Staceyjoy. Thank you again, Staceyjoy! Another lovely hat design.) I will be making it in a shade of Lambs Pride called “Lotus Pink,” so perhaps I shall refer to the hat more accurately as “Lotus Pink Bobbles.” Stay tuned…

2.14.2003

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE?

And I’m not talking about Valentine’s Day. No, I’m talking about Theresa, of Bagatell fame, who has made grannysquare her aortal link of the moment. The little blog has arrived. I am overwhelmed. Theresa: first the translation for the ‘bed coziness,’ then the instructions for stash recycling, and now this. It’s too much! I will have to start sending you a yearly tribute of wool as repayment.

AND NOW A NOTE ABOUT V-DAY

I have to say, I don’t like Valentine’s Day. I know, everyone has already weighed in on this, but I’m going to as well. In any case, I don’t like it. I have the dear boy, so it’s not that I feel lonely, it’s just that I think it’s a stupid holiday. It was fun when I was little, but now that foil doilies and rainbow glitter are no longer the alpha and omega of craftiness, the whole thing seems a little stale. I mean, why do I need some calendar day to remind me to do something nice, maybe a little romantic, for the person I love? I made the dear boy a hat recently, which I have saved to give to him today so I wouldn’t feel like some sort of V-Day slacker. (Where does that guilt even come from? I don’t feel guilty about not drinking green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. Why does this arbitrary holiday inspire such devotion?) Anyway, chocolates be damned. Nothing says love like a warm cranium.

FINALLY, SOME KNITTING

Yesterday evening, I began knitting my Fiber Trends felted (Or fulled? I think it’s actually fulled.) clogs. I have one clog done, except for the second layer of sole. Those of you who have made the clogs know what I mean. For the rest of you, I’m sorry. I know, the word-pictures suck.

I love making things to be fulled. First, there’s the cartoon-ish size. These slippers look like they are for Sasquatch. And they are fuchsia. So apparently, Sasquatch is getting in touch with his feminine side. Then, there is the fact that I do not need to worry so much about how the knitting looks. For example, I messed up the first dozen or so M1 increases, by pulling up the loop from front to back and not knitting through the back of the loop to twist the stitch. This, of course, leaves a small hole in the fabric. Now, normally, because I am anal, I would have to rip back and fix all this. In this instance, however, I was able to laugh breezily and say, “Ah, well, it will never show after the fulling!” And this is a beautiful thing.

Well, my friends, have a pleasant weekend. May you knit many rows.

2.13.2003

BRUSHES WITH CELEBRITY

Okay, I swear this is the last time I am going to talk about the comments. Promise. All right? But here’s one last thing. I honestly cannot decide which gives me a bigger thrill: finding a comment from someone whose blog I read (knitting celebrity!) or finding one from someone with a blog that is new to me. It’s all just fabulous. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, everyone. It’s really great to know you’re there.

KNITTING AND SCREENING

Last night’s cinematic agenda? Cool Hand Luke, with Paul Newman. How have I gotten this far in life without seeing Cool Hand Luke? I honestly don’t know, my friends. But I haven’t seen The Sixth Sense, either, so don’t go revealing the plot twist in the comments section. (Oh, damn, I brought the comments up again. Sorry, sorry.) It was a great movie, though, and, thinking about it, I have now realized that a number of scenes from other movies (The Hudsucker Proxy, for instance) directly reference Cool Hand Luke. My cinematic horizons have expanded.

While watching, I was able to cruise across a good portion of the back of the sleeveless turtleneck. As I have mentioned, the sweater is worked vertically, rather than horizontally. Got that in your mind? So, basically, I am about to bind off the side of the turtleneck and shape the second shoulder/armhole. (I really have to get some photos going here. These word-pictures of my knitting progress are just not cutting it. What we have here is a failure to communicate. Sorry, I know, that’s the biggest Cool Hand Luke cliché ever.)

I think one more knitting session will be enough to finish the back, attach the shoulder seams and pick up and knit the edging around the arm openings. It’s exciting to be this close to completion on my second knitted sweater. And so soon! Okay, it’s knit on size 11 needles and has no sleeves, so I’m definitely not going to set any speed records here, but hey, the excitement remains. Unfortunately, that knitting session will not be tonight, as I am going over to my parents’ house to work on the felted clogs with my mother. So the turtleneck will have to languish until Saturday.

The plan, after the sleeveless turtleneck, is to do a few small projects. I have some Koigu to make a scarf and some Lamb’s Pride to make a hat, and it would be nice to get those projects done while it’s still cold enough to use them. Of course, with my lack of self-restraint, I will probably just forge ahead with the Cash Iroha sweater instead.

I LOVE WEBS

And speaking of Cash Iroha, I need to tell you a little story now. You may recall that I mentioned going to Webs and purchasing fourteen skeins of Cash Iroha. I know it was fourteen. I counted. The woman at the register counted. And then, during Tuesday’s stash organization extravaganza: tragedy. The skein count is now thirteen. Wha? I checked all possible yarn locations. I called my mother, who went with me, and made her go out into the cold to check that the rogue skein is not lying on the floor of the car (my mother is a saint, a true saint). The skein is nowhere. At last, I must conclude that I left the skein at the store. After the counting, we just sort of bundled them up and shoved them in a bag, and one little skein must not have made it. I was bummed. Finally, I decided to call Webs, just to check to see if they found my poor skein and put it to the side, in case I came back. So I called. No one who worked the day I came in was there. Bummer. But, the woman I spoke with offered to go check the stock. A few minutes passed, and she returned, saying she has another skein of the same dye lot, and she will put it in the mail for me. No hassle; no problem.

This, my friends, is a wonderful thing. The people at Webs are wonderful people. Support their business. Go buy something from them soon.

2.12.2003

IN WHICH I RAIL AGAINST MY LOCAL VIDEO STORE

Well, my friends, if you were waiting for my insightful review of The Shipping News, I fear I must disappoint you. That is because the DVD I rented from my local branch of a national video rental chain did not play. A half hour in, just as I was becoming accustomed to Judi Dench’s Newfoundland accent, I got that odd, pixilated screen, and everything ground to a halt. Don’t these people understand that I needed that movie to keep me motivated through the endless garter stitch of my sleeveless turtleneck? Apparently not. So now I have to go convince whatever twelve-year-old they just hired down there that I deserve a complimentary rental. Oh, the fun never stops.

In any case, this distressing occurrence did prevent any truly outstanding progress on the back of the sweater. I cast on and did all the increasing for the arm, shoulder and neck, but the majority of the knitting, working straight across to the decreasing at the other side, is untouched. A setback.

I did, however, do a little stash diving. My recent trip to Webs had left me with a number of unpacked bags of yarn, which I sorted through and tucked away into an alarmingly full tub of yarn. And yet, I still consider purchasing more. KnitPicks’ weekly sale (so often my downfall) has Debbie Bliss merino chunky on sale. I am tempted. I am also tempted by Rebecca Edition kits from the Knitting Garden and the Oriental Flower Bag from Virtual Yarns. (Have to learn stranded knitting some time, right?) Someone please take my credit card and hide it from me, before I do something terrible.

2.11.2003

WELL, SHOOT.

I submitted myself to the ring. There it is. Little pat on the back. Nice work, self. And then, this morning, I checked the little blog to see if I could surf the ring from my site. (I can’t. Guess this takes a little while. Or perhaps my html code is wrong. This is always a distinct possibility. Dang.) There I discovered (someone cue the eerie music, please) that I had a comment. Yes, my very first comment. I nearly fell out of my chair. And since I was covertly checking the site from work, that would not have been a good thing. Note to self: learn to be a touch more blasé about site comments.

The most exciting thing about this comment? It introduced me to a site I had not yet happened across, Have a Cup of Tea. Welcome, Kim. Thanks for reading. Your blog is a lovely place.

And so now I am filled with this tremendous sense of well-being. I am blogging. Others are finding the site. (But how? How? I seem to be in no ring. Do you have second sight? Is there something I don’t know about locating knitting blogs?) I actually may be becoming a part of an online community. Crazy.

In a bizarre aside, I actually had a dream last night in which I checked out the site and had about 14 comments, all correcting grammatical errors from my posts. Hm. Curious. And probably not healthy.

THE OBLIGATORY PROGRESS UPDATE

Another excellent side effect of blogging is that I seem to knit more, knowing I will be reporting on my progress. Therefore, I finished the front of the sleeveless turtleneck last night while watching The Wings of the Dove. The Wings of the Dove is a beautiful movie, my friends. It made me want to go to Venice. And, though I say it myself, the sleeveless turtleneck should be a beautiful sweater. The yarn is very soft, with a really nice loft. Knitting with it is a pleasure. I will cast on for the back this evening. On the screening agenda is The Shipping News. I loved the book, and I hope the movie will not disappoint.

2.10.2003

PERSONAL RAMBLINGS

And now we come to the part of the blog in which I come right out and tell you how much of a nut I really am. Welcome.

As I have mentioned previously, I am a compulsive blog reader. I have about 40 blogs bookmarked that I read daily. I will occasionally surf around the knitting bloggers webring to look for new ones, as well. However, I never comment. It’s odd, but I am pretty shy, actually, and I just never feel able to break out and throw in a comment or two. I decided not too long ago that I might like to make the ‘bed coziness’ shrug that Theresa, of Bagatell, translated for Kate, of Mama Kate. (I just learned how to embed links. Nice, eh?) I am ashamed to confess that it took me several days to work up the courage to send a message to Kate asking for the pattern. This, when she seems like a very nice, and completely non-threatening person. What the hell is wrong with me?

Anyway, I am bringing this up now because this same shyness is proving to be hurdle to my blogging. Right now, I have the comfort of knowing that I am, essentially, blogging in a vacuum. With over a million blogs hosted by Blogger alone, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will happen upon this one. Therefore, I can ramble along on odd tangents, adding in facetious asides and plenty of self-deprecation, without worrying that others will read and be irritated by my long-winded and overly sarcastic style. I don’t have to worry about whether my knitting is good enough or interesting enough to warrant writing about. However, being my own isolated piece of the web means that I do not interact with other knitters, which was a large part of the reason for me to start this damn thing in the first place.

I told myself that, once I got the comments to work, I would submit the site to the knitting bloggers webring. Well, comments are working. They have since Thursday evening, and still I have not submitted. Arg.

But, my friends, I will screw my courage to the sticking post. I will do it today. I promise. And so, if you happen along through the ring to this little site, please be kind. This is all very new to me. And it feels like a big step.

And now, back to the knitting.


PROGRESS…

Well, it was a finishing-heavy weekend. I finished the neck on the seed stitch pullover (hooray, hooray) and wore it Saturday evening. Very exciting. The fit is all that I hoped for, which is quite a breakthrough for me, especially after the crocheted disaster I blogged about a few days ago. I also finished the watch cap, thankfully, as it is a gift for the love of my life and my partner in crime, J, who shall henceforth be referred to as “the dear boy.” I started it simply for the sake of making him something, but in the process, I realized that it would be finished near the 14th, so it is becoming a Valentine’s Day gift. While the finishing vibe was upon me, I also wove in ends and steam blocked a couple of scarves that have been sitting around for some time, shamefully, requiring only this basic step to render them wearable.

After the finishing madness, I tried a little starting. I made the first of a set of knit washcloths for a little gift set. (First knit washcloth experience. Not bad. Not amazing. You know?) I also ripped back a portion of the sleeveless pullover and started again. (I am making “Button” from the last Rowan magazine, knit from shoulder to hem in Rowan Polar. Halfway across the front, I became concerned that I was going to run a hair short of yarn, so I decided to rip back and make the turtleneck a little shorter to conserve. Also, I will now have a neck that will stand up smoothly, without needing to be folded over. A good thing, I hope.) I also started a pair of Fiber Trends felted clogs, which I am doing as a knit-along with my mother. Ah, mother-daughter slipper knitting. Is there anything more heart-warming? I think not.


STASH RECLAMATION

Of course, finishing some things always causes a girl to turn an eye to her stash. In an organizing frenzy, I decided to rip out another old project and salvage the yarn. Now there are damp hanks of yarn hanging all over my bathroom, waiting to be rewound. Thank you to Theresa, for the directions on washing unraveled yarn, and to Bonne Marie, for the helpful photos showing how to use a ball winder to frog at lightning speed!


…AND STASH ENHANCEMENT

But now I must confess, I am not always a thrifty stash-recycler. I do, far too frequently, succumb to the desire to purchase new yarn. This is getting worse these days, as I have become more adept at finding good yarn prices online, and I cannot resist a bargain. Hence, the 10 skeins of Noro Silk Garden that were so inexpensive at WNW Discounter. Hence the Manos that I just ordered from the KnitPicks weekly sale. Oh, the horror. I will need a new stash storage location. Particularly since I just made my first pilgrimage to Webs.

I live in Connecticut, so Northampton, Mass is an easy drive up I-91. I went to college in Northampton, but somehow, the entire time I was there, I never discovered Webs. This is good, since I was a broke student at the time, not the working woman that I am now. Anyway, what a place. If you are ever in New England at all, I highly recommend going as far out of your way as necessary to check it out. First, they just have a ton of yarn. And lots of books. And all kinds of back issues of knitting magazines. Then, there are the sales and closeouts. My friends, as I have admitted already, I cannot resist a bargain, and that is why I am now the proud owner of 14 skeins of Noro Cash Iroha in a lovely, dark grey-blue color, purchased at 35 percent off. Score. I nearly passed out when I found it. That is the freakish kind of excitement we are talking about here. I think that the majority of this will turn into the cabled raglan from the first Debbie Bliss Noro book. The rest? Who knows... but I trust I will think of something.

2.06.2003

FINISHING UPDATE

I have a will of iron! Backstitching is complete on the seed stitch pullover. Tonight, I have to pick up the stitches for the neck and knit 5.5 inches (in seed stitch again, will it never stop?) for the turtleneck, and the sweater will officially be complete. I also got in a little time on the Marsan watch cap (very bad, should have been picking up stitches…) so I am onto the crown decreases there. Very exciting.



BLOG TRIALS

Why will the comments not work? Why? Why?



GRANNYSQUARE EXPLAINED

Because I cannot let a day go by without rambling on at length about something, I do believe that I will take this opportunity to tell you all about “grannysquare.”

Side note: I always want to write “y’all,” instead of “you all.” It must be my inner Texan. I hold myself back, however, because one cannot do that sort of thing when one was born and raised in Connecticut. It just doesn’t work. People laugh.

So back to grannysquare. You may be wondering why, since most of this is about my knitting endeavors, I have chosen to name this blog after a well-known crochet motif. Here’s how it goes.

I now seem to have reached the stage in my knitting at which I am actually unable to go for long periods of time without picking up the needles. I cannot bear to have a spare five minutes and not knit a row or two. It’s sick, I know. I’m not proud. I’m not saying this is how it should be, or that I am the most amazing, dedicated knitter. That’s just how it’s going for me at the moment. In any case, this compulsion to knit during my spare moments has led me to bring small projects in to work with me. I like to knit during my lunch hour. Often, I will go to my local Starbucks and knit there; but other times, when I do not feel like exchanging 3.95 for a cup of coffee and the right to sit down, I will simply knit at my desk.

So I am sitting at my desk, knitting calmly on a fuzzy scarf (one of my earlier projects, in the pre-shaping days), when a co-worker comes up and says excitedly, “Wow! You know how to knit!”

Apparently this woman’s daughter, who is around ten, had just taken a little summer workshop class on knitting and was completely hooked. Obviously, this child does not have the same trouble committing to the craft that I did when I was ten. Hm. Very admirable. The co-worker’s next question was, “Can you crochet, too?”

Well, my friends, yes, I can crochet. Much better than I can knit, actually. It’s sad, since there are so few items that I would want to crochet. I admitted to the co-worker that I could crochet. To keep this story’s length down, I will not write out a blow-by-blow account of the remainder of our fairly banal exchange. I will merely tell you the conclusion: this woman and her daughter now had a teach-yourself-to-crochet kit and were having some difficulty making sense of it all. Could I help them out?

Always delighted to help another fiber-obsessed individual, I agreed, and the next day, said co-worker brought in the hook, yarn, and instructions. Glancing quickly at the directions, I saw that they were attempting to teach the novice crocheter the how to make a granny square. Unfortunately, they were, without question, some of the most poorly written instructions I have ever seen. They made me momentarily forget how to make a granny square, and I have crocheted dozens. I could walk the co-worker through the steps to make a square, but how could she ever refer back to this pattern without becoming completely bewildered once more? Almost immediately, it occurred to me that I could probably find instructions on the web. I mean, hey, you can find patterns up the yin yang for dishcloths of every description, why not a simple granny square? I googled. I found a pattern and printed it out. Problem solved. The co-worker, much less confused, went off to share this new information with her daughter, the budding crocheter.

After she left, another co-worker turned to me and asked, “What did you do? Log on to grannysquare.com?”

I chuckled, as one does at such comments. But, it stuck in my head. It was catchy. It reminded me of “dangerouschunky.com” or “squibnocket.org.” (Now squibnocket.worstjewever.com. Not quite as catchy, but still very good.) Was it a site already? Another internet check showed that it wasn’t. Should it be my site? Well, we shall see. I have registered the domain, and should I ever discover that I have a talent for html coding, I may start something up. In the meantime, thanks to the nice folks at Blogger, I give you the grannysquare blog, to tide you all over.

2.05.2003

FINISHING WOE

My friends, this blogging thing is not so easy. The other day, it took me about two and a half hours just to get some links over there in the little sidebar. (Check it out. Pretty cute, no? I know, it’s a blogger template, and you’ve seen it 6,000 times before. Note to self: learn to code own template.) Link mayhem aside, comments are not working. I removed the code, because it was just embarrassing. Yes, blogging is hard work. But not as hard as finishing.

I have done some finishing before. I have made several baby sweaters for expecting friends and slip stitched those little pieces together into a complete garment. I also put together my very first sweater, though that was crocheted, and not knitted. As I have mentioned, quite exhaustively, in my last post, I have been a crochet maven for some time. That sweater was, however, an unqualified disaster. First, it took me forever to make the dang thing. Patience was not a virtue of mine back then, nor was concentration. Nor, sadly, was accurate measuring. I made the entire sweater, sewed it up, and only then considered the size of the finished piece. I was a fifteen year old girl, on the scrawny side. My sweater was sized accurately for a middle aged man with a gut. It was sized for Rob Reiner.* I am ashamed to admit that I was so frustrated by the whole endeavor at that point that I gave the sweater to Good Will. God knows how many balls of a perfectly nice, super wash wool, and I didn’t even frog the sweater to save the yarn.

I have learned since then. My first knitted sweater, for example, is made from a tweedy brown yarn rescued from yet another crochet project which had been languishing for about four years. This first sweater is just now complete. It is an oversized pullover done completely in seed stitch. You can see a reference to it down there in the Works in Progress sidebar. (I won’t even tell you how long the extremely basic code for that took. You don’t want to know. Trust me.) For you Interweave Knits readers, it is the green sweater in the Rebecca free patterns insert from the Fall 2002 issue. Now, beginning knitters everywhere, let me give you a tip. When you are selecting a pattern for a first sweater, DO NOT choose something oversized and done completely in seed stitch. That is a lot of seed stitch. I measured the thing, and I think it’s about 10 square feet of knit one, purl one. Maybe not quite that much. But it seems like that much. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good, simple project, and, after compulsively measuring the sweater and myself every five minutes, I think it will fit. But I was forced to start and complete several other projects over the course of this sweater, just to keep from going into a seed stitch coma. (If I ever work out how to get pictures in here, you may one day see some of these items, including the Market Squares Felted Tote, from some issue of Knitters, I forget which, and the striped baby set, from a really old pattern, dating back to the days when pattern leaflets cost only 25 cents apiece. However, we’re a long way from pictures. I would settle for a comment section, really. Or figuring out how to change the color of that stripe at the top. Well, one day at a time.)

But back to finishing. To sum up: I have finished things before, but it has not been fun. It was tedious. The items were either gifts (fun, but not as much fun as selfish things) or have not fit. Total finishing experience to date: not that good.

This sweater is big. Big in a nice way, rather than in a Rob Reiner* way, but still big. There is a lot of backstitching to be done. I am dreading this. I want to work on my little Marsan watch cap. (Pattern courtesy of Staceyjoy. Thank you Staceyjoy!) I want to start my second mitten. Dammit! Take this burden of finishing from me!

No, I must be strong. I will wear the seed stitch pullover this weekend. I will go for brunch. People in the café will notice my lovely sweater. They will say. “How comfy that sweater looks. It is big, but in a good way. It is flattering and nicely put together.” All the while I will smile serenely and eat an omelette. Or maybe some toast. No more procrastinating with the blog entry. I have to go thread my yarn needle, folks.


* I love Rob Reiner. Nothing would make me happier than to knit, or crochet, him a sweater. This is not a put down in any way, merely a reference point for size. Thank you.

2.03.2003

MY LIFE (AS A KNITTER) SO FAR

My mother taught me to knit when I was eight years old. She worked in a yarn shop at the time, teaching classes, knitting samples and doing finishing work. Endlessly impressed by the speed and ease of her knitting, I picked up the needles with anticipation, knowing my first completed sweater was only a few short hours away.

Tragically, it was not so. I dropped needles and stitches with equal regularity and soon became frustrated by my unbelievably slow progress. I was a better crocheter. I liked holding on to only one needle. I liked the little, individual stitches that could be unravelled one by one, with perfect control, without laddering or painstaking picking back up through row upon row. I crocheted constantly. My every stuffed animal had its own little blanket. I was extremely good at squares. I stopped knitting entirely.

I had a knitting breakthrough in high school. It occurred to me that, if only I could hold the yarn steady in my left hand and grab it by moving my right needle, rather than throwing the yarn across with my right hand, that knitting would be exactly like crochet, and I would be a natural. After a few tries, it worked! I had developed a whole new way of knitting! My vision of myself as a knitting pioneer was short lived, however, meeting a quick death when my mother (knitting goddess, still; yarn shop employee, no more) broke it to me that I had merely happened upon continental knitting. Curses! I stopped knitting again.

And this brings us to more recent history: the summer of 2002. I was on a crafty kick, and I was looking for instructions for how to make lip balm. Surfing around, I happened upon a website called ‘Not Martha.’ I was impressed by her thorough notes on lip balm. I was also intrigued by her fuzzy, knit scarves. Then, destiny took a hand.

(Actually, it wasn’t quite that exciting, but this narrative is getting a touch long, and I was hoping to liven things up a little. Back to the summer of 2002.)

On a jaunt to my local Barnes & Noble, browsing around the crafts section, I noticed a copy of Vogue Knitting On the Go: Chunky Knits. My mother (always the knitter, that one!) has quite a collection of those little books, so I took a look, thinking she might want a copy. Instead, I found myself fascinated by the sweaters, lured by the simple, yet chic, designs and the promising instructions. (Book: Cast on 36 sts. Me: Only 36? Sweet!) I got the book. I returned to Not Martha, to read with greater care the ultimate fuzzy scarf pattern. I raided my mom’s stash for some needles and yarn. I made the scarf. It was great. I knit in the car. I knit on the bus. I knit while watching movies. I knit while hanging out at friends’ apartments. I couldn’t get enough. I cast on for another scarf. I cast on for a sweater. I was a knitter.

So that’s it. I’d like to thank lip balm and those lovely sweaters in Vogue Knitting On the Go: Chunky Knits for bringing me back to knitting. Curiously, although I’ve done a lot of crafting and a lot of knitting since 2002, I have yet to make either.