People, something very important to me is lost. I have looked and looked and looked for it, and cannot find it anywhere!!! This is such a special thing, and has been a meaningful part of my everyday life for quite a while now. I feel a little lost myself without it, and need to know where to find it again! So, what is this that I have lost, you ask? Well....It's my knitting mojo!
I don't know what happened. After Christmas, I was on such a knitting high! I started new projects immediately. I got 2 new knitting books for Christmas (Last Minute Knitted Gifts and One Skein by Leigh Radford). I marked about 20 project from these books that I wanted to start right now! Then something happened...and the drive, the desire, the passion was gone!!
So here I am...not really knitting...so nothing to blog about...and really no excitement when I look at my stash, when I look online, and especially when I look at my WIPs! I am so sad!! I think the thing that triggered this all has to do with the marathon Christmas knitting. I knit day in and day out, every chance I got to finish all my Christmas knitting. I was so excited to be done with things and had so many projects on my mind to start after Christmas. Then after Christmas got here, and I took that excitement and cast on immediately for a new pair of socks, for me, finally! I got all the way through the leg and was getting ready to start the heel. I tried them on, and they were WAY TOO SMALL!! I was sad, and pretty disgusted. They were frogged, and the yarn is now in the basement waiting to start again. But I can't....not yet....I am not over the betrayal of the yarn and needles for these socks. But I feel a reconciliation coming in the future. I am still working on Tree Jacket...sadly. I am just over halfway done with one sleeve and need to do the other. In all honesty, that's one Saturday afternoon, and boom, its done and ready to be blocked. What is my problem!?! I have done a couple of small projects, Calorimetry, and some mittens (which I have yet to even photograph and post to Ravelry!)...but that's all. I joined the SAM KAL5, which I am totally excited about, but after the aforementioned sock debacle, I am just past the toe of a pair of 2x2 ribbed toe up socks in Cascade Fixation...and I can't seem to get into.
(*On a side note, I think that I have decided that I don't really LIKE Cascade Fixation. I am a tight knitter, and the elastic in the yarn makes it hard to knit my normal tension, and it just doesn't do what wool does...but who knows...maybe I am just losing it!!)
So, as I sat pondering my loss, I decided to immerse myself in knitting. I looked through some books, some magazines, some patterns, and even returned to my computer to reintroduce myself to my much neglected Ravelry page (I KNOW, how crazy right? How can anyone neglect Ravelry...wierd). It seemed to help a little bit...but we will see. Today is about -5 degrees F, with a wind chill I don't even want to talk about. I had been thinking that I was going to be traveling today with some business related errands, but have scheduled things such that I won't have to now. Its a relief! I was up early for a consulting call, and have been pretty busy setting up appointments for tomorrow and Monday. But, now that it is approaching the afternoon, and my "story" is on (Days of Our Lives, in case you were interested!), I think that I am going to force myself to sit down and work on that Tree Jacket. I am giving up on the socks being done for January, and will look at abandoning them altogether for a new pattern for February. There's a pair of arm-warmers in LMKG that I would like to maybe give a go...but let's not overwhelm myself right now! Baby steps!
I think I can get through this, the first step to recovery is admiting you have a problem! Or something... :) Happy Knitting everyone, and keep that mojo on a short leash!!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Resolutions of a Bad Blogger
*Post is a little long and somewhat picture heavy...just a warning!*
Wow, I am ashamed at how long it has been since I have posted to the blog! Since my last entry was wishing a Happy Thanksgiving, I will take this opportunity to wish a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday season, and Happy New Year to all!
The last 6-8 weeks has been pretty wierd around here. After moving home, I continued my Christmas knitting, and doing a lot of investigative work toward opening a small business. I am still on track with that, and now that the holidays are over, I will be trying to continue the plans in a much speedier way. I am anxious to get things together and get the doors open already!! The goal right now is around March-April 2008, obviously depending on everything going as planned. There is so much more to this than I ever really thought, and I am opening the office in a town 3 hours from my parents, which is where I am staying right now, so that tends to make it a little more difficult, but all in all much better than trying to do this from Chicago (8 hours away).
On to knitting news...I successfully completed all my knitting projects for Christmas. My family had Christmas early, on Sunday, as my sister and parents went out to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. My sister marches in the South Dakota State University Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, and they were invited to the Rose Parade this year. My parents also took the opportunity to travel out there with the band and take in all the sights. I was so excited this morning to watch the parade, and my little sister even made a good 4-6 second shot right on camera! Thankfully she told me where she was in the band, so it made it easier to find her, but it was pretty cool all in all just to know that she was there marching while me and the rest of the country were watching at the same time!
So...back to Christmas knitting! I can tend to get a little side-tracked at times, especially when there is kind of a lot to tell! I made 4 gifts this year, for my immediate family only. First, I made my dad a pair of socks...red and grey like the old heavy hunting socks he used to wear. Surprisingly, they are a little big for him! I was scared that they would be a little small the whole time I knitted them. But, he liked them and thinks they make great house socks on cold winter afternoons. Yarn: Knit Picks Swish in Squirrel Heather and Fire Brick; knit 2 socks on 2 circular needles, size US 5. Plain stockinette with short row toe and heel, knit toe up.
Yarn: elann.com Sock it to Me...unsure of the colorway; Knit toe up on 2 circs size US 2. Pattern is Garter Rib by Charlene Shurch from Sensational Knitted Socks.
Wow, I am ashamed at how long it has been since I have posted to the blog! Since my last entry was wishing a Happy Thanksgiving, I will take this opportunity to wish a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday season, and Happy New Year to all!
The last 6-8 weeks has been pretty wierd around here. After moving home, I continued my Christmas knitting, and doing a lot of investigative work toward opening a small business. I am still on track with that, and now that the holidays are over, I will be trying to continue the plans in a much speedier way. I am anxious to get things together and get the doors open already!! The goal right now is around March-April 2008, obviously depending on everything going as planned. There is so much more to this than I ever really thought, and I am opening the office in a town 3 hours from my parents, which is where I am staying right now, so that tends to make it a little more difficult, but all in all much better than trying to do this from Chicago (8 hours away).
On to knitting news...I successfully completed all my knitting projects for Christmas. My family had Christmas early, on Sunday, as my sister and parents went out to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. My sister marches in the South Dakota State University Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, and they were invited to the Rose Parade this year. My parents also took the opportunity to travel out there with the band and take in all the sights. I was so excited this morning to watch the parade, and my little sister even made a good 4-6 second shot right on camera! Thankfully she told me where she was in the band, so it made it easier to find her, but it was pretty cool all in all just to know that she was there marching while me and the rest of the country were watching at the same time!
So...back to Christmas knitting! I can tend to get a little side-tracked at times, especially when there is kind of a lot to tell! I made 4 gifts this year, for my immediate family only. First, I made my dad a pair of socks...red and grey like the old heavy hunting socks he used to wear. Surprisingly, they are a little big for him! I was scared that they would be a little small the whole time I knitted them. But, he liked them and thinks they make great house socks on cold winter afternoons. Yarn: Knit Picks Swish in Squirrel Heather and Fire Brick; knit 2 socks on 2 circular needles, size US 5. Plain stockinette with short row toe and heel, knit toe up.
Yarn: elann.com Sock it to Me...unsure of the colorway; Knit toe up on 2 circs size US 2. Pattern is Garter Rib by Charlene Shurch from Sensational Knitted Socks.
My sister's present was probably my favorite, once it was all finished. I was a little concerned during the process of embroidery and lining, but once it was all done, I loved it. And so did she! As I said, my sister is a musician, and is majoring in music education. She is in her final year, and will be practice teaching next fall. When I saw this pattern, I knew immediately that I had to make it for her. It went over really well, and I am pleased at how happy she was with it! Yarn: Knit Picks WOA in Amethyst Heather, Coal, Cloud; Needle size US 8; Pattern from elann.com; Lining fabric from JoAnn Fabrics.
Finally, my last minute addition to Christmas knitting was for my sister's fiance. She got engaged at the end of October, and we are all so happy and excited to welcome a new member to our family! So, I figured I probably should knit something for him, and decided that a scarf would be the most appropriate, and fastest knit I could find for a guy. He really likes it, according to my sister...and he better!! Yarn: Knit Picks WOA Carbon Twist (I used every inch, and had roughly 6 inches left after all tails were weaved in!) Needle size US 9; Basic 3x3 ribbing.
So, all in all, Christmas gifts were a success, and none had to be brought back home to finish! On the receiving end of things, I had asked for several book and magazine subscriptions for Christmas, and ended up getting the two books I really really wanted. Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and One Skein. I am super excited about the patterns in the books, and have already picked out several to do immediately! I have yet to queue then on Ravelry, as my queue is already kind of long!
What am I working on right now...? Finally onto the sleeves of the Tree Jacket, a pair of mittens loosely based on a pattern from the Lion Brand website, and a sad excuse for Monkeys, which will be getting frogged in the next couple of days as they are too small! I need to go up a needle size since I tend to knit pretty tight...right now they are in timeout because I was so disgusted I didn't even feel like frogging! I have my fist Clapotis on the needles, and an afghan that I have been crocheting a day here and there for the last year, oh and also my Tiffany Mittens, but I don't know if this is their year to be finished, but we will see. I still really like the pattern and would like to complete them sometime.
So, my title says "Resolutions" of a bad blogger, so I should probably include some resolutions for the New Year. Normally, I don't like to do resolutions, because I feel that they tend to set one up for failure, or disappointment. However, I have some knitting resolutions as well as personal resolutions that I would like to share.
Knitting Resolutions:
- Start and finish 10 pairs of socks - It will help that I joined SAM 5!
- Start and finish 3 sweaters
- Finish Clapotis by spring
- Do one small one skein/one afternoon project per month - possibly Christmas gifts! :)
Personal Resolutions(Including but not limited to):
- "Learning" to run - Let me explain...I HATE to run. I have hated it since gym class in middle school when we had to run the mile and our time determined the grade we got...I did, not so good. I personally think that running for fun is for crazy people. This is why I am NOT going to be running for fun, but rather for fitness. Running is a huge calorie burner, and it really increases one's level of fitness. I would eventually like to participate in some local 5Ks and maybe a half marathon one day. But we will see. I need to start training first to be able to run 1 mile without wanting to die!
- Start my own business...well on my way!
- I have some other, more private and personal resolutions as well...so these will go here!
I hope that you all have your own resolutions, both knitting, and personal...and I wish you all the best with them! Oh yeah, one more resolution from me...to keep up with the blogging! Happy New Year everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
