I’ve only just recently really realized what an amazing thing Ravelry is. While it answers my every question and gives me billions of ideas, it’s also probably bad for me - like I really need more encouragement to start more projects. FINISH first, then start all these lovely things.
The best part about it is when you think, hey, that’s a great pattern, I wonder what would happen if I tried x? And then you look, and someone did, and there’s your answer. Just now I came across a beaded fingerless glove pattern and thought, gosh, that looks pretty, but I’m not going to knit it unless I can actually see it in action, as it were. And look! Six people have already knitted it and helpfully provided pictures of said gloves containing hands. (Socks and gloves always look stupid without the appropriate body parts; I don’t know why anyone uses pictures without ‘em.) Half of those people even provided helpful comments. I’d finish knitting the fingers too; it’s way too thick a yarn for those half-finger things. There’s a reason it’s called FINGERing yarn, y’know. (Ok, so that’s not it, but it ought to be.)
I even posted my very first UGH.
Nothing against the pattern, it makes a great ski mask, but the converted-to-a-hat part looked like poo. And since I only want a ski mask maybe two days a year, it wasn’t worth it. I frogged it and started Topi instead.
Another example - the other day I saw this on the newsstand, and completely ignored it, because that sweater on the cover, YUCK. And then I saw a hat on Ravelry that I HAD TO HAVE. Turned out it was in that very magazine. But when I finally found a copy, I couldn’t find the hat. It took three flip-throughs before I realized that the beautiful hat I saw on Ravelry was the ugly striped hat at the back of the book, just with more sensible yarn and a better ribbon.
Wow. WOW. Crap. I just discovered a way to search folks’ favorites that would keep me knitting well into the next century. Damn.
Not much of a post, but hey, someone else might find it useful.
Knitpicks - nice needles for good prices; always get a color card before ordering yarn, though!
Ravelry - knitting community
Knitting Pattern Central - nicely sorted links to hundreds of free patterns
Enjoy!
I always like to have a project going that I only work on outside the house. And it’s nice if they’re always socks, because a) socks are portable and b) I know that it takes me about 40 hours to make a pair of socks, and it’s always interesting to see how many days that takes in random, row-at-a-time knitting. Of course, it helps if I make a note when I actually start and finish them. I think I’ve been working on these for two weeks, although it may actually be three.
For these, I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On for the toes, Sockulator V for the length/heel calculations, and a lacy cables rib for interest. (Except I made a “design decicion” with the pattern and worked the twisted rib sort of backwards. Which is fine. It breaks up the yarn colors, which is all I wanted out of it, really. It’s not like the cables would be particularly well-defined in this yarn either way.)
I’m really happy that I’m at a place where I can make socks from a quarter-sheet of notes. I’ve found the toe, heel, and construction method (2-on-2, toe-up) that make me happy. I can’t really forsee a time where I won’t have a pair of socks OTN, even if I mostly put down knitting. I have taken the Sock, and made it my own.
No time for much knitting today; I’ve been consumed with the search for a book from my childhood. It was the story of the Cat on the Dovrefells, but not the Jan Brett version. And of course, not having read it in 25+ years, I don’t remember the title or the author; just that it must have been published before 1980. (Probably in the early 70s.)
This is going to drive me nuts. Until I forget. And then I’ll go back to the library, and it will drive me nuts again.
At any rate… my current “home mindless knitting” project is Haiku, from Knitty (Fall, 2002).
I was going to do another baby sweater that I’d found in a book, but then the yarn shop woman suggested this, and I remembered liking it. She warned me that it was mind-numbingly boring. I ignored her. She was right.
But at least I can knit it while I’m watching terrible movies. (Hot Fuzz FTW!) And it will be cute. It’s for a baby of currently unknown sex, and I think it’ll work well for either. (Although it is huge; the idea behind it is that next Fall when the mother realizes that her child has grown out of all its warm clothes, hey! It’ll at least have a cardigan that fits.)
I need to find cute buttons. But not too cute; we don’t need another obsession starting up. (The beaded stole is bad enough.)
Hooray! They’re done. This is Coupling by Deb Barnhill (From Knitty, Summer 2007). It’s done in BMFA STR Mediumweight, color Red Rock Canyon. The pattern was fun, although it wound up a wee bit tight at the ankle. This may have more to do with my ankles than the pattern, though.
I do wish I’d made them taller; I had plenty of yarn left over. But even changing the gauge to make it fit my foot, it still came out pretty narrow, and I was worried about not being able to pull them up. So I’ve got lots of yarn for the sockyarn blankie, and these will be really nice for the fall.
Currently working on: the mystery stole, which I lost all momentum on after I found out about the ‘wing’, the Haiku baby sweater (nearly done), a homebrew pair of socks, the mohair shawl, and the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. (I got a horrible case of startitis not too long ago. Normally I don’t do that. It’ll be all fixed soon.)
