I have very little of a queue left on Ravelry, go on, I dare you to look…

Less than a page of long-wanted FO’s for me, is far less a burden than 22 pages x 30 queued items to knit. I suddenly feel light.

There wasn’t an easy way to diminish this list, I checked for help in the forums, and as far as I’m aware there isn’t that functionality. Removing 650+ projects took 2 keystrokes per queued pattern. I was determined. I was also watching TV.

The idea of letting go of this list, my must-have-in-my-lifetime list, was a little easier to bear by ‘favouriting’ projects I didn’t want to forget about. Surprisingly, I was able to let go completely of much more than I expected. I also re-found some wonderful things I had forgotten about, those were the the things I favourited or kept in the queue.

Ironically, I fear the same could be said of my yarn stash if I thought of  it as a burden, which I can tell you, I do not!

Romi Hill has released the first official pattern in her 7 small shawls year 4 today, I had a feeling it was coming, I’m currently finishing up the ‘free’ cowl which was the first pattern released. I’m knitting it in my hand-spun and I must say I’m loving it. I’m not sure that i’ll cast on this shawl straight away, it has beads so I kind of want to watch my ‘Knitting with Beads’ Craftsy class before I begin (a gift from Santa, so I can’t start yet).

I’ve also received the final instalment of the Cookie A sock club last week. I’m really pleased with the final package, and I hope to knit with at least one of the patterns some time in the future.

Another year on, and this should be the post about my Christmas tree and all of the amazing decorations I’ve knit and crocheted for it, supposedly. Oh how I wish I could surprise you all with the amazing things I’ve made for said tree. Sadly it’s not to be.

More important things happened this year, I got a cat. 

Tree: Cat: Cat: Tree

I toyed with the idea of getting a decal of a tree to put against a wall, but instead I settled for a new tree, smaller, all-in-one, sit on the kitchen counter where the cat has yet to have leaped, and even she, knows her limits.

This year has taught me one thing, and here’s where I link it to knitting. Don’t plan anything, not a thing, because if you really wanted to do it / knit it / have it, you’d already be doing it. 

I knit a lot of things for one of my nieces this year, not because I had planned it, but because I really, really wanted to do it. Here’s Whirligig Shrug by Stefanie Japel, my latest FO. I’ve yet to hand it over so there will be more gratuitous photos later.

How does one delete a queue of 650+ projects on Ravelry in one go? I’m turning over a new leaf.

 

I’ve discovered the secret to turning around projects and finishing things quickly.

Four day weekends and making little or no plans to see anyone.

My sister’s baby blanket is done. I am so excited and amazed at how quickly I was able to achieve the result. I’m thinking of becoming a hermit.

Pattern: Crochet Motif Baby Blanket from Patons book 8014 ‘Cute Crochet’

Yarn: Patons Dreamtime 4 ply

Ends to sew in: 280 approx. This took a stupid amount of time to take care of.

 

I’m really pleased with the end result and I can’t wait to present it to the new parents.

Recently on my new favourite podcast (The Knitmore Girls, like I had to say), Jasmin has been talking about ‘sock drawers’. Now for the avid sock knitter (or sock yarn stasher), photographs of hand knit sock drawers are terribly inspiring. You can go take a look at the pics on this thread on Ravelry, where people have been posting.

My hand knit socks are housed in an ikea tub, so not exactly beautifully presented. After a bit of rearranging (what else are long-weekends for), I’ve neatened up the tub and taken a snap. Now the challenge is to get more of my delicious sock yarn turned into socks. That’s if I ever get my tub back from Purl.

‘I have your socks, you go now’

One of my favourite guilty pleasures is knitting (and sometimes spinning), whilst listening to knitting podcasts. I have had a few of my favourite podcasts suddenly stop recording or taper off over the years, so I haven’t indulged in this as often as I’d like up until recently. For the record, I am totally grateful for the podcast shows which have brought me entertainment and have enhanced my knitting experience all of which has been provided to me for FREE. I understand that not all good things can last forever, but I’m rather sad when it’s over.

Happiness is… discovering a new knitting podcast that is one of the best I’ve listened to, then finding I had 240 -odd episodes to catch up on. Even better, is starting at episode 1 and finding that they were always awesome, so I have MANY hours of quality listening ahead of me. I’m referring to ‘The Knitmore Girls’. Thanks Deb for sending me their way.

So I knit a pair of socks for my mum for Christmas. I can safely post them here as she rarely pokes around on the net, if at all. I normally don’t knit socks for anyone else apart for myself or Damian (even Damian hasn’t had a new pair in a while). Socks are risky though. When they are a gift, a surprise one at that, you have to make a lot of calculated guesses when it comes to fit. I guess I’ll find out how well I did on Christmas day.

Pattern: Cookie A’s sock club August pattern ‘Artemis’.

Yarn: Sweetgeorgia cashluxe fine 70% superwash merino wool, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon. 400 yards per 115 grams Colour way: Blood Orange (from Cookie A’s June Club)

Thoughts: The pattern was an easy knit, the rib on the arch of the foot should make for a comfy fit. If I was only working on these they would have taken me a 3 weeks to a month to knit. 

 

 

Pattern: Plain and Simple by Veera Valimaki

Yarn: Wollmeise 4ply Twin, 2.75 skeins.

Needle size: 2.25mm (yes, that small)

Project time: 10 months approx. a real mojo killer

Buttons: Buttonmania

Alterations: I did some custom side shaping, as the pattern is written with none. Side shaping rocks.

Near disasters: Running out of yarn. I was very lucky to track down the 3rd skein on Ravelry and for it to be a perfect match nonetheless. A very close call.

Learnings: It’s going to be a long time before I knit another sweater in sock gauge. I do enjoy wearing 4 ply garments, but next time I’ll pay closer attention to the gauge needed.

Finally: I love it. It was worth the time and effort and the fit is great.

The cat garden is growing with some interest from Purl. We have lots of ‘cat grass’ or spew grass as I like to call it growing now. The cat nip is finally also making a start. I’m keeping it protected from Purl until it really gets going. There have not been any more instances of hairballs, but I feel a little more prepared just having some cat grass growing.

Purl is also growing. Some days she’s sweet and most others, she’s naughty! Now that footy is over for the year, we’ve switched over our Foxtel package to include the channel ‘Animal Planet’, so ‘I’ can watch my favourite show, ‘My cat from Hell’. It makes Purl look like an absolute angel in comparison. Mind you if I did something ‘silly’ like bring home another kitty or puppy, I’m sure we’d have ‘issues’ on our hands. The host ‘Jackson Galaxy’ does a wonderful job of turning stressed out upset kitty’s into agreeable members of the family.

I guess this is a knitting blog and not a cat blog, so I’ll talk about my project progress. The never-ending ‘Plain and Simple’ top is finished and is currently blocking. The reports of it being worn in public pre-blocking are true. It was only once I left the house that perhaps I realised my mistake. The ribbing and bands really needed a good wash and dry to settle down the curling and to make it sit right. FO photos to come.

I’m now focussing my attentions on my mum’s socks for Christmas. I’ve never knit my mum a pair of socks, I can’t wait for them to go on her (larger than mine) feet. I’m using my orange Sweet Georgia yarn from the Cookie A sock club shipment of June, and I’m making ‘Artemis’ socks from the August patterns. I am once again behind in my sock club knitting and I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. It’s kind of killing the fun of the club knit-along for me. I have pretty yarn and pretty patterns, I’m just not knitting them at the exact same time as everyone else. It feels like I’m running a race and I’m coming last (which physically is what happens if I ran a race). It’s that draining.

Next in my sights is my sisters baby crochet granny square blanket, but I want to get a fair way through my second sock before picking up this project. Even though they are both due around the same time, I find I’m more successful when I concentrate my attentions on one project at a time. But this is no fun. I want to knit all the things. I want to start cardigans, shawls, stripey socks…