Feb continued...

So, here is how the rest of my February went. 

Let's start with my STR project.  A while back I mentioned a beautiful skein of orange-red-purple STR that I had set for my next Feb. project.  Well, I finally found the perfect pattern for this yarn--Ann Budd's Diagonal Rib socks.  Simple enough to show off the yarn, but enough of a pattern to keep things interesting.  So I started and I loved the striping, but as I got to the heel, something just did not look right.  You see, I started these as I got onto an airplane so I took a quick glance at the stitch pattern and took off.  But in my haste, I only read the first two lines of the pattern stitch and figured I got the hang of it.  You should know, I am a lazy knitter when it comes to socks. 

On a long train ride from NYC to Boston, I realized my diagonal ribs were not so much...diagonal.  And the pattern was taking me a really long time to knit.  Sure enough, the lights came on and I realized ('duh!) the twisted stitch should alternate every other row.  I tried a few rows to see how noticable it was, and the answer is very.  Did I mention I had a good 9 inches of cuff plus a heel finished?  So, I put them on hold while I worked up the strength to rip them back.



Hamburg harbor, March 2011.

 I found my motivation a few weeks later on another train.  This time, it was a short ride from Bremen to Hamburg in northern Germany.  I ripped and ripped, and started anew.  Took much less time the second time around and by the end of March, they were finally finished.  Not coincidentally, I finished then up during yet another train ride, this time from Bremen to Frankfurt. 

Frankfurt am Main

Here they are.

I must admit, I love how this yarn looks in the pattern.  I made the usual modifications--top-down, alternating slip-stitch heel (my fave for STR) and gusset, with a few extra stitches picked up in the gusset increase to make up for the fact that this is a dense fabric with not as much stretch as, say, a 2x2 rib.  I also intentionally went down a couple of needle sizes to make it a more dense fabric.

At the end of the month, due to my laziness-induced error, I essentially made these twice: once in Feb and once in March.  I will count them as a March project, which of course means I am not one, but two projects short in Feb.  So yeah, I gotta give away some yarn...

April already

I have been a bad, bad blogger.

2 months since my last post, and though I have started to post many times, something always seems to get in the way of finishing.  Of course, then, like with work, the farther behind I get the more insurmountable catching up seems to be.  So time goes on and on, and my poor little blog sits here, neglected in cyberspace.

More importantly, I am starting to lose track of what project happened when, and where I am with this whole thing.  One of these days I am going to figure out how to keep a running list in the sidebar of the blog.  In the meantime, I have to refer to the old list, so here goes.

I think I posted in January the toddler sweater with lace panel.  Frankly, I am still trying to decide if this "works."  The original concept was a raglan sweater with a large stripe on the body region for interest, with smaller motifs mirrored on the edging and sleeves.  Rather than use a block of color for the stripe, I went with a block of lace in a fairly open pattern.  I worry that there is not enough contrast to make the lace really pop--though it is much better after blocking. I think it is growing on me.

Now, as for February, I started out really strong.  I quickly whipped out a pair of socks in STR that was a true stash buster.  Yes, I worked up one of the skeins I purchased at MDSW 2 years ago.  This was notable because MDSW of 2009 was my introduction to The Fold and STR.  I am ashamed to admit my first purchase was actually based on peer pressure.  You see, the line was so long I figured everyone else must know what they were talking about and it must be great stuff.  Then it was so tight in the booth I was afraid to put anything down for fear it would disappear if I took my hand off it.  So I ended up with six skeins, and I have added to it every time I see The Fold at a festival.

Unfortuantely, after my strong start, Feb. slowed way down for me.  Actually it sped way up, and between travel, a bad cold, and some great indecision regarding a certain skein of purple and red STR, I am afraid I lagged on the project front.

Now, this called for some decisive knitting, and as the last week of Feb began, I did manage to pull out a "hail Mary" project, if you will.  Using my other festival fav, Tess' Super Sock and Baby in a lovely pale pink, I finsihed the Maile sweater in just a day and a half.  It is helpful that this particular day and a half included a flight from Boston to California, so much knitting time ensued.  On the flight back, I added a pair of matching socks, using the floral motif from the sweater.  I started with a crochet picot cast on, then did three repeats of the motif around the cuff below an inch of ribbing, then carried one repeat of the Maile floral motif down the center top of the foot.  I am quite happy with how they came out.  Now the best part of the story is that I found out later my friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on the very same day that the mood struck me to make this sweater.  So I assumed it was meant for her--I love it when that happens--and it was blocked and gifted in under a week.  That is a record for me.  No, not the knitting--the gifting.  I am a notoriously slow gifter.  I have a lot of procrastination issues with going to the post office.

This is getting long, and for fear of procrastinating yet another post, I will end here.  Stay tuned for the rest of my Feb. adventures and the update on March.

Three scary numbers

I spent last weekend going over my finances from the previous year in preparation of tax season, and I found three numbers that shook me to the core.  Here they are:

26.10
2500.00
7x

The first number is the amount of interest I earned on my savings account in the past year.  The second number is the amount of credit card interest I paid over the course of the year.  The third number indicates my savings to debt ratio.  That's right, folks.  For every $1000 I owe to my credit card, I have $7,000 in the bank, yet I paid 100 times more in interest than I earned from having money in savings.  Does anyone else find this completely outrageous?

Now before you pass judgement wondering what kind of feeble-minded individual carries a balance when they have a savings account that exceeds the card balance, let me explain.  I travel a lot for work.  I incur the charges on my card, then get reimbursed.  This means at any given time I have a balance, but it is paid off fully as soon as a reimbursement comes in (every two weeks if I do my expense reports regularly).  The problem is overlapping trips, and, I just learned thanks to those jaw-dropping numbers, my interest rate had erroneously been set outrageously high!  So shame on me for not catching it, and double shame for not finding a way to stop the oozing money.  I think I am a little ill...

TGIF

That stands for Thank Goodness It's February!

I don't know about you, but for me January is the longest month, followed closely by March.  In New England, where winters truly are "wicked" and we are currently buried in snow that I am guessing won't melt until sometime this July, I need to mark time to help see me through.  And trips to warm places don't hurt.

So hurrah February!  Here are my upcoming Feb. highlights:

--2 business trips to CA.  This is a double hurrah as it means warm weather plus lots of airplane knitting time.

--1 business trip to the midwest, where I will get to visit my best friend for a weekend since I will only be an hour away from her.

--1 business trip to NYC, right smack in the middle of Times Square.

I guess I should also summarize my January:

3.5 1-gse consumed (that is my shorthand, for 100-gram skein equivalents, the units in which I measure my stash :)

Completed 1 baby sweater, size 18mos (2 skeins)

Completed my Dumbledore socks (1 skein)

Halfway finished with my Carla cashmere scarf, (1 50-g skein completed, 1 to go)

I also completed four weeks of yeast-free eating, which is no small feat.  Let's hope I can keep up the healthy eating through all the February travel.

I heart Canada

I have been visiting Canada all week for work.  I travel quite a bit in my line of work, and as I passed through US customs, the officer noted the many Canadian stamps in my passport. Travel always affords me extra time for my knitting.  There are many opportune times--waiting to board, sitting in your seat while boarding finishes, taxing on the runway, the time between take-off and when approved electronic devices are allowed--for getting in a few extra rows, and these tend to be my most productive knitting times.  If not for work trips, I would not complete nearly so many socks.

I always enjoy my visits north of the US, so in honor of my finally getting my act together and completing some January projects, largely due to a cancelled flight and , here is a list of the top 10 reasons I {heart} Canada:

10.  The people are super-nice
9.  If you don't have a chance to change money, they accept US dollars without charging a commission
8.  The Canadian Rockies
7.  The airplane is never delayed for weather.  Canadian pilots can fly safely through any storm under any conditions with just a little de-icing. Seriously.
6.  Canadians love their knitware. Gorgeous sweaters, scarves, and hats are everywhere, even in the summer.
5.  I always leave with upon unique finds when scouting local yarn stores.  Quiviuk anyone? 
4.  Tim Horton's on every corner. 
3.  Poutine and Steak Frites (Go Montreal!)
2.  Everything is "super".  My fave?  Air Canada's "super-elite" class

And the top reason I love Canada?

1.  The cold weather and beautiful scenery inspire me to knit!

On the road again

So here we are, starting the fourth week in January, and I have yet to complete a project.  If I am to have any chance of completing my goal this month, I am going to have to get a little bit creative.  So here is my first solution: a project on larger needles using 2 skeins at once.

I started this top-down raglan baby pullover during Sunday's playoff game on size 6 needles, holding together 2 strands of Trekking XXL that have been sitting in my stash for a while.  The color is a mauve-y purple with slight variegation that looks like subtle white and gray stripes.  Fewer stitches plus two skeins consumed at once--I think this is my best idea in a while.

Part two of my catch-up plan will be a pair of toe-up socks in one of my two skeins of Opal Harry Potter series yarn.  This is the "Dumbledore" colorway.

Part three of my catch-up plan will involve the mango-and purple colored STR.  This will be a close one...

January Blahs

Here we are in the third full week of January, and I have yet to complete a 2011 project.  Life has been very difficult as of late.  I suffered a huge setback in my career a few months back, and I am afraid I am still not handling it well.  I keep thinking the cloud over my head will lift, but it has not yet and now I am afraid that my anger and grief are causing me to sabotage my career even further.

Add to this that all of New England is frozen and I have been on a totally yeast-free diet for the past two weeks, and I seem to have lost the will to knit!

In truth, I did finish the back and one sleeve of a sweater I started in Oct 2008 (I am SO embarrassed to admit that it has been sitting that long).  The second sleeve will probably only take an evening or two, but I have not picked that up for a week either. Even if I did, it would not count towards my sock yarn goal.

What is a knitter with a horribly huge stash to do?  I need a serious infusion of inspiration and motivation.  So how do you reignite your passion for work and for craft?

I have been sitting and staring at the same skein of yarn--already wound--for three weeks now.  It is a lovely skein of STR with colors that variegate from mango to purple.  You can see a pic (recycled from an old post) below.



It is the pretty one on the bottom right.  The other two have actually been knit up and gifted already.

  I fell in love with this at first sight, but I am at a loss for what to do with it.  Let me explain; while I love the brilliant colorways of STR, I have issues with how they knit up.  While the fabric is fabulous beyond compare, the brilliant colors seem to compete with all but the most simple stitch patterns.  Thus, despite many, many swatches, nearly all my multi-colored STR gets knit into basic 2x2 rib or straight stockinette socks. 

But this skein just does not want to be a 2x2 basic rib sock.  This skein needs to be something special.  I need to create something beautiful with it, if for no other reason than to get me through 2 more weeks of yeast-free eating, and the fact that I feel like a failure in my career and my personal life right now.  Did I mention that yeast-free eating involves giving up not only all breads and carbs, but also dairy, vinegar, mayonaise, and (gasp!) diet coke?  I did cheat slightly tonight when my room service salad came with a creamy dressing rather than the oil and lemon juice I ordered.  I am overcome with guilt, and this does not help the feelings of failure.  So I really need to make a fabulous sock this week!

Next post: how to rekindle inspiration.  This gives me something to research over the next few days.  Happy knitting in 2011, everyone!