Hello, 2011! I think you and I are going to get along quite well. The year started off just right, waking up with two little kittens snoogled up to my legs. (Sorry for the crappy quality of the cell phone picture.) Now it’s time to light a fire under myself, because I have lots of plans for the year ahead!

First of all, I know of four babies who are going to be born in the first half of the year, and I’m planning to make something for each of them. I’m well on my way to finishing a (secret) gift for the first one; I’ve already bought the yarn for the second and third and I have sweater patterns picked out. But I have no idea what I’m going to knit for the fourth baby, who is due to arrive in May. Something autumn-ish in a six-month size, perhaps, or maybe a toy.

Second, I want to learn a new skill this year: I want to learn to crochet. Not just to put edging on a hat, but to actually make things with a hook and tangly stuff, rather than pointy things and tangly stuff. There’s a bunch of kitchen cotton in my stash waiting to be made into new Swiffer mop covers, and I keep eyeing this Prairie Star afghan as something I’d love to have over one of the guest beds. (Hm! Maybe I will crochet a toy for the fourth baby, and kill two birds with one stone.)

Third, this year I am going to finish all the projects that are currently in progress. It’s time to get them done and move on, no matter how much I might dislike working on them. Maybe even the hibernating projects, like the Ostrich Plumes lace.

Fourth, I am going to design, knit, and publish a new pattern this year. It may be socks, or armwarmers, or a one-skein fingering-weight shawlette.

The fifth one is the real biggie: There are two rooms in my basement. The front room has gym equipment and a guest bed futon in it, as well as a TV for watching while working out. The back room has the washer and dryer, but other than that it’s been sort of a landing spot for unwanted things since we moved into the house three years ago. I want to rebuild that room into a crafting space. Pirate-Husband is totally in; he wants a space in which he can do leatherwork. How awesome would it be to be able to work in the same room on our projects? To be able to leave the carder or the sewing machine out and not worry about a cat shredding anything in the night? To have a dedicated carding station! And one for leather! And one for drawing, too! To have a lightbox setup that will make it easy to take great pictures! I want to make it a cozy and inspirational space, a room that I’d want to hang out in, a room that just calls out “spend time here! do wonderful things!”

In closing, I’m going to share with you the New Year’s wish that Dad sent, because I think it’s just perfect:

I hope that all of you have a new year filled with happiness, and health.
Set your goals, set your sails and head off.
Let honor and goodness be your guides
Let peace and respect be your muses
Enjoy the journey as much as reaching the destination.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Everyone knows that the yarn diet goes out the window when a friend announces a pregnancy, right?

I’m pleased that the solid red matches the red in the variegated colourway so well, and I’m curious to try knitting with this yarn. I generally don’t like cotton yarn, but it’s so good for babies’ sensitive skin. This yarn, Cascade Fixation, has 1.7% elastic in it. Will that help mitigate the harshness of knitting with cotton yarn, or will the elastic only make it even harder to knit up?

There’s really not much to blog about the project yet, since the yarn is still neatly wound up just as it came from the store. It will soon become a little hat and a pair of booties, but first I want to finish the Timey-Wimey socks. The baby isn’t due until late December, so I’m not hurried at all.

In non-knitting news (there’s such a thing?) I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I live on top of a mountain, and I thought it might be nice to share the view from my window. It was just luck that I had my camera on the table with me, since it’s usually nowhere in sight. But I’d just taken the pictures of the yarn and still had the camera out. When I saw the deer drinking from my fishpond, I grabbed the opportunity to shoot this quick video. Hope you like it! :)

Pirate-Husband is starting to complain about my yarn and fiber stuff being everywhere. To that end, this weekend I’m going to begin the renovation of my room. First, everything needs to be taken out of it. Then, I’ll paint the inside of the closet white, so that it’s easier to see stuff in there. I have a half-gallon of white paint left over from when we did the bedroom closets, or I wouldn’t bother. We’re going to replace the bowed particle-board shelves with wooden ones, and build a corner desk that fits underneath the loft. I have to pick a color to paint the room, and we’ll do that too. The high ceiling might be tricky, but I think we can do it ourselves. Once things are done, I can hang out in there instead of in the master bedroom! I think the wheel and carder will still live in the master bedroom, since there’s a perfect little niche for it there (and not enough space in my room), but the rest of everything will have a new home.

The room isn’t very large, as the ceiling slopes down to the floor, so I’ll be looking for the most space-efficient way to arrange things. In addition to the yarn and fiber collection, there’s a half-ton of other art supplies, many books, and two computers (a laptop and a desktop) to manage. I love organizing, although I’m not always very organized, so I’m looking forward to buying little baskets and things to keep all my stuff in.

What does this have to do with knitting and spinning? Not much, really, other than that I’ll be able to better organize my yarn, fiber and patterns. A well-designed, welcoming workspace in nice colors will make me more likely to spend lots of time in it. If you were building a work area that was going to be for computering, other art, and also knitting, what would you include? How would you set it up?

I finished re-knitting the heel on my not-so-quick socks this evening, then put it in my purse for tomorrow’s road trip to New York. We’ll be visiting Pirate-Husband’s family for the weekend. I’m pleased with the way it came out; it’s much more even this time.

Now it’s back to Mom’s glove. I’m cranking through the thumb gusset tonight. My schedule has me finishing the hand by Sunday evening and all the fingers by Wednesday evening. I know I can do this if I don’t let myself get distracted!

One distraction today was the fog which rolled up after the afternoon’s rain. I am continually amazed at the beauty which surrounds us up here, and so grateful to live on top of a mountain! It’s hard to believe that we’ve had the house for almost a year already. Yesterday was Pirate-Husband’s birthday. Coincidentally, yesterday we bought a Mazda Miata. If he’d like to think of it as his birthday present, I’m not going to stop him!

“What have you knit this year?” Pirate-Husband asked me last night.

First there was the Jayne hat that I knit from Knitting Ninja’s pattern for friend Otel. This was a quick project. I had to borrow needles for it, which have since been returned. Although I probably have enough yarn for a second hat, I need to get the right size needles before I can knit it up. Not that I know anyone who wants a Jayne hat… I already have one, and Otel is the brownest browncoat of all my friends.

Then a Baby Surprise Jacket for friend Gwen’s second baby, a little girl. I loved the 100purewool yarn I used for this project; it is so soft and easy to work with! The pattern got tricky a few times, but with help from Ravelers I worked through it. I finished knitting only minutes before my deadline, but Gwen loved the sweater. It should fit on her daughter right about now; I’d love to get an ‘action shot’ from her to post.

Something for myself, a pair of Garter Rib socks! The pattern is from Charlene Schurch’s “Sensational Knitted Socks”. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get the basics of sock knitting. These socks were knit up in Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Socks that Rock lightweight, and I was short by about ten yards. Fortunately a kind Raveler had some extra in the same colorway that she was able to send me.

Something for the house, a quick and easy Swiffer mop cover from Noelle’s pattern. This project took about six hours, which is about my tolerance for knitting with cotton. I plan to make several more of these, with an additional pattern repeat so that when the cover curls, it goes over the edges of the mop instead of under. Pirate-Husband mopped the floors this past weekend and was disappointed to find that the cover I’d made had been used but not yet washed; he used one of the disposables instead and afterwards said that mine worked a lot better!

I’d promised Pirate-Husband a pair of socks last November, and in July of this year I finally delivered. He has very wide feet and I was concerned that I’d run out of yarn, after my experience with the Socks that Rock, so I didn’t make the socks very tall. I had a few yards left over at the end, so I guess it worked out just right! He wears them often, especially now that it’s cold out, and I know he’d love to have another pair.

After I finished Pirate-Husband’s socks, I cast on for the second baby knit of the year. This one was for friend Asa’s second child, but as she hadn’t chosen to find out the sex of the baby, I had to knit a gender-neutral blanket. Feather and Fan seemed fitting, as did these muted colors. Once again, I finished knitting the night before I needed to give the gift. Once of these days I’ll break that habit.

I sure didn’t break the habit with the Bloo Socks, knit in Trekking XXL for friend Michael. I finished these in the afternoon and gave them to him that very evening. I also didn’t learn the lesson of splitting the yarn in half before beginning; I used more than half of the 100g ball on the first sock and had to frantically call yarn stores all over the country to find another ball in the same dye lot. I’ll be writing this pattern up in the near future, as soon as I work out the heel and toe numbers in other sizes. There is a shortage of fine-gauge sock patterns out there. These were knit up at 45 stitches to 4″ on US size 0 DPNs.

Mom’s gloves will probably be the last completed project of the year. Her birthday present is knit up of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks that Rock in Ravenscroft. She’d requested a colorway that would go well with both her black wool dress coat, and her green winter jacket, so what better than a black yarn with subtle greens that glow in the sunlight? I am using Marnie MacLean’s Hooray for Me pattern, just making full fingers instead of partial. I’m sure she’ll love them; I just hope they fit!

Eight projects in 2008, not a bad tally! In other accomplishments, I read 23 books in the past year, and I learned to spin on a wheel. Pirate-Husband commented that I should knit more for myself, and I want to commit more time to spinning as well. Those will be my goals in 2009!

This weekend is the beginning of vacation! Pirate-Husband and I are going to an annual medieval-style camping event. We’re going up to the site this weekend just to get our land and tent set up, and then coming back, working for a few more days, and going back to site Wednesday of next week. We plan to stay for a week and a half.

Last night I started the baby blanket just to see what the yarn looked like knit up (lovely) and I plan for that to be my car knitting. It’s a 4.5 hour drive up to the campground. The expectant mother will be at this event, so I don’t want to work on it where she might see… but since we’re driving to and from site twice, I’ll have a good chunk of time to work on the project.

I’m bringing the Bloo Socks and the yarn I bought for the Swiffer cover commission with me, as well as my drop spindle and some roving. I could only find one TP roll onto which I can wind the singles, but someone on Ravelry suggested sliding the cop onto a straw – what a great idea! Also, there’s a “silk spinning on a drop spindle” class I want to take, and I’d like to have my own spindle for that. The ones they give out tend to be unbalanced.

Posts may be scarce until August 11; I’m not bringing my laptop on vacation with me. There is internet access on site, but it’s slow and costs $6/hour! Be seeing you… :)

No kidding, there I was, picking out another two balls of Sugar and Cream in Michael’s with Pirate-Husband so that I can make a Swiffer cover for an online friend who commissioned one in yellow and blue. Those selected, I commented that I still didn’t know what to knit for my friend Asa, who is expecting her second baby this fall.

“Why don’t you knit a blanket?” suggested Pirate-Husband.

“I suppose I could,” I said, “but… I don’t know. They take a long time, and they’re big and boring, and I’m not so sure about blankets after the last one.”

He held up a ball of Red Heart and said, “This is a good neutral color. I think you’ll probably need three. Here.”

And that’s how I was suckered into left the store with five balls of yarn when I meant to buy none until next year’s Sheep and Wool festival. I’m thinking perhaps a feather and fan blanket, since the pattern’s already in my head from the Ostrich Plumes scarf, and it’s easy but not boring. Besides, what baby doesn’t need a washable blanket? And it was an excuse to order another set of Addi Lace Turbo needles, in size 8 this time. As I didn’t have the right length circular needles in size 8, I don’t feel any guilt about this at all. (I do have a set of 16″ long size 8 circs for hat-making, but there is no way I can make a baby blanket on 16″ needles.)

My new Addi turbo lace needles arrived yesterday, before I even got the tracking number for the package. Turbo shipping for turbo needles, I guess! …okay, that was a bad joke. Anyway, I had time to do a couple of rows on the Ostrich Plumes scarf, and already I’m in love with these needles. When I get home from work I’ll try a pattern row!

Pirate-Husband’s socks are coming along as well. I’m a couple of inches past the gusset decreases and can knit in the car again since I don’t have to look so closely. I’d like to have them done before I go on vacation next weekend.

And, someone on an IRC channel I frequent has commissioned me to make a Swiffer cover for her! That seems like it will be good vacation knitting along with the next sock.

Even though I’m not a big fan of knitting with cotton, for a project that took less than six hours total I think I can handle it. Especially when that project is so awesome. I made a cotton pad for my Swiffer WetJet, using the Ballband Dishcloth Reusable Swiffer Cover pattern from Noelle at Strange Yarns ;; Skull Charms. I love the texture of the slipped stitch and ‘bricks’ pattern, and the bumpiness is really good at picking up dirt from the floor. We gave it a quick try, and I hate to say how much dirt there was even though I mopped with elbow grease last weekend. Maybe it’s time to admit that I should be washing the floors more often…

I did add an extra half-repeat to the pattern, and for the next one I’ll add a full repeat as well as making it slightly longer. Maybe my Swiffer’s a little bigger or my gauge slightly smaller, but I’d like the side pockets to be a little deeper. Pirate-Husband tried it out and it seems to stay on just fine, so maybe there’s nothing to worry about. You can see in this picture how, er, ‘rustic’ our wooden floors are. There are big gaps between some of the boards which just tore the disposable pads apart. I’m hoping the cotton stands up to them for at least five moppings. I think they pay for themselves at two moppings, so five would be spectacular. I bet they last even longer than that!

I love the idea of reusable where disposable once reigned. There’s enough yarn to make another Swiffer cover, and I’m already envisioning cotton soap sacks and washcloths (in less obscenely bright colors). I love handmade soap but it does tend to melt away quickly, and a soap sack should help it last longer. Or they’d make wonderful gifts, wouldn’t they? I’m not sure who on my gift list would really appreciate a handknit lace washcloth and soap sack. Most of the people with whom I exchange presents aren’t into handmade stuff, so it’s wasted on them. How sad.

I know I said I was on a yarn diet, but sometimes exceptions have to be made. In this case, two balls of Lily Sugar and Cream for my swiffer cover. My theory is that if I don’t buy the yarn, I can’t make the cover – and if I don’t have the cover, I can’t mop the floors. I do have one disposable pad left, but that’s obviously single-use, and the floors need mopping more frequently than I’d like to admit. And, probably, more often than I actually do it!

Besides, this should be a really quick project. It’s 69 stitches and 33 rows 34 rows, plus a bit of seaming – I can knock that out in a day, right? I also had to get new needles for this project. Who’d'a thought that I didn’t have size 7 straights? Fortunately I carry a card in my wallet with all my needles catalogued, so I was able to double-check before just buying ‘em. Now the question is – do I cast on RIGHT NOW, or do I keep working on the sock?

The heel on Pirate-Husband’s second sock was completed last night. Since it wasn’t my turn to drive to work (hooray for carpooling!) I got several rounds into the gusset. I expect to do more on the way home this afternoon.

I spent quite some time yesterday searching for the perfect sock pattern for the next pair, which are going to be a gift to my best friend. Originally I’d wanted to surprise him, since our feet are the same size, but then I felt the need to ask how long a cuff he’d want. Once the surprise was ruined, I started asking him all sorts of questions from the exact height of his heel to what sort of sock he might like to wear. I think we’ve settled on Mr. Pitt’s Socks from Kaitlyn Wong at Sassy Stitchess. They’re simple, easy, and subtle – just the thing! I’ll be using Trekking XXL in colorway 71, which is shades of blue.

While I was going through sock patterns, I added eight (!) more to my Ravelry queue. I don’t have the yarn to knit all of them yet, but I will eventually! There are so many things I want to make and not nearly enough time to make them all.

I also added this reusable Swiffer cover from Noelle at Strange Yarns ;; Skull Charms. After years of wanting one, I finally got a Swiffer WetJet last weekend, but the disposable pads annoyed me. Why use disposable if it’s not necessary? I’m going to break my yarn diet just for the cotton yarn that I’ll need for this pattern. It’s cheap and also I plan to use it right away, so it won’t be taking up space in the stash-basket. (Not to mention, I mopped the floors with one of the disposable pads that came with the Swiffer, and they look so good that I’m tempted to mop again sooner rather than later.)

The unfortunate thing is that there are no conveniently-located Michael’s or Joann’s stores near me where I could get the Sugar & Cream yarn. I’m debating ordering it online; even if I pay for shipping on it, it might come out to less frustration than trying to drive into town. There’s a Michael’s “coming soon” to a shopping center relatively near me, but even that’s still ten or twelve miles away, and it’ll probably be another year before the store is open.

While Pirate-Husband worked on rebuilding the fish pond yesterday (with help from a friend), I sat on the deck, switched CDs as necessary, made sure they were drinking enough water, and knit on his sock. I am in the middle of the gusset decreases now, and the pond is being filled.

There was a semi-local SnB today that I wanted to go to, but thought it would be better for me to stay here and work on the house. We have guests next weekend, a wedding to attend the weekend after, and Pirate-Husband’s mother and younger brother are coming to visit the weekend after that! Still, I really would have liked to have gotten the chance to meet some of the people who were planning to be there today. Ah well, I know it’ll happen eventually.

Staycation, n. – A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.

Knitting was put on hold for a week while out-of-town friends came to visit. We spent two days visiting local wineries and three working on the rebuilding of our koi pond. It’s going to look so good when it’s done! Overall it was a wonderful time, even if it was mostly yarn-free. (One of the wineries was selling alpaca yarns. I didn’t buy any.) I got to show off the new drum carder and spun up half a bobbin of some pepto-pink practice wool to demonstrate the wheel. One friend even commented that the BFL I spun up looks “store-bought”!

I did get a little more done on the first of Pirate-Husband’s socks and I’m almost up to the heel flap (he keeps saying I should make the leg a little longer) and I’m already thinking about what the next socks will be! Too many projects, not enough time.

Besides, I have all these non-yarn hobbies. I got a mountain bike and I need to start riding, I miss playing guitar, and I haven’t drawn anything in a long time. There’s a computer to rebuild and I’d like to start work on a story that’s been brewing in my head for a while. The house is a constant project. Lest anyone think I’m complaining, I’m not! I love my life. It’s everything I’ve been wanting forever. Good job, good house, good husband, good friends, good hobbies. I just wish I could do everything at once!

You wanted a picture, you get a picture! Here is the Shapeless Amoeba Baby Surprise Jacket just after the buttonhole row. I have five more rows to knit. The color is about right, I think, but the dark pink may be showing up a little more vibrant than it is in real life. I may have to invest in a better camera if I want to keep showing off my work, or maybe build a lightbox. Despite my frustrations with garter stitch, this is actually an easy knit and a cute little sweater. I’ll have enough yarn left over to knit a matching hat – the questions are 1) how big is a baby hat supposed to be and 2) will I have the time to get it done?

I do plan to knit the Baby Surprise Jacket again, and this is the next colorway, “Amarillo y Verde.” It’s more of the 100purewool worsted merino. Ideally, I’ll knit this up before I know that anyone’s expecting. It’s a nice, neutral baby color and then I’ll have it ready to give at a moment’s notice! (Not that anyone’s ever had a baby at a moment’s notice, really, but you know what I mean.) Also, I might enjoy knitting it up more if I’m not working with a deadline.

I’ve also got two skeins of this colorway, “Winter Joy.” I wasn’t expecting the green in it; the picture on the website only showed blue and brown. But I really like it and think it would be great for a baby boy, even with the green. The gauge I’m getting makes this a sweater for a 9-month old, so I guess these will only be good presents for a baby who’s born between March and May. That means if someone has an out-of-season baby, I’m going to have to come up with a totally different project to knit. Maybe a pair of cute pants? I’m not sure I ever want to knit a baby blanket again, unless it’s a really interesting pattern and a quick knit.

Because I’m showing off pictures already, here’s a long exposure of the moonrise from my front porch. I took a dozen of these pictures and this was the best one of the bunch. (Again, I may have to invest in a better camera.) You can’t quite see it in this picture because it’s out of frame to the left, but on a very clear night I’m able to see the Washington Monument on the horizon, about 40 miles away.

Friday evening after work, I decided it was time to get started on a Baby Surprise Jacket. I’m using merino worsted from 100purewool in Trieste, a dark green with blips of light and dark pink. First, of course, I had to wind up the yarn. But where was my swift and ball-winder? Certain that it was in one of the boxes labeled “Pirate’s Room,” I searched for half an hour with no luck. Finally I called Pirate-Husband. “I remember putting them in one of the giant boxes,” he said, “I think on top of all the alpaca fleece.” Sure enough, there it was! I wound up one of the hanks and got started. Swatching on a US 7 needle gave me a good gauge and feel, so I cast on… and then it was bedtime.

Saturday morning I was up early and got started knitting. When Pirate-Husband got up, I told him, “This yarn I’m using is soft like.. like.. a horse’s nose.”

“That’s a really funny way of describing it,” he said. “A horse’s nose? Really?”

“Yeah! You know, the tip of a horse’s nose, right between the nostrils, where it’s all velvet soft? This yarn feels like that.”

Later, when he came up to see my progress, I made him pet the yarn, and he said “Huh! It *does* feel like a horse’s nose!”

I may be crazy, but at least I know my softness indicators.

Anyway, I only got six rows into the project because the weekend was dedicated to painting the great room. It’s done now, except for a little bit of touch-up on the edges. I’ll be so happy when the house stops looking like a construction site!

Edited to add: See that comment? It’s so obviously spam, but it’s so amusing to me that I’m leaving it there. “Infernal pink” indeed!

Woohoo! Sock Number One of the Garter Rib Socks is completed! I began knitting super-fast at around 8:30 last night and was able to get the toe grafted and both ends woven in before bedtime. And – the best part – I tried the sock on and it fit perfectly! I have done the one-footed happydance of sock completion, and will take pictures soon.

To avoid second sock syndrome *cough*Pomatomus*cough* I immediately re-wound the remaining yarn into a neater ball and cast on for Sock Number Two. It would be so nice if I had a scale, so I could weigh the sock against what’s left and figure out if there’s enough. Ah well, intrepid knitting dictates that I charge full-speed ahead, and damn the torpedoes! I got a few rounds done before the cold medicine kicked in and I had to go to bed.

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s going to be much knitting time this weekend, because we’re going up to the house tonight and working like mad. I’m in charge of cleaning the rest of the kitchen and painting the bedroom closets, how fun! Next weekend we are going up to New York for my grandma’s 80th birthday party, and the weekend after that is Official Moving Weekend. I’m really looking forward to getting into the house and turning it into my home.

Last night I finished the gusset decreases on the Garter Rib Sock. I took a gauge measurement and re-measured my foot, and I think it will fit okay. If it’s a little loose, well, then it’s just like all my other socks. Better a little loose than a lot tight! I will try to remember to get a picture of it this afternoon. The colors are really vibrant and I love the way they’re swirling around the leg of the sock. I wonder if they will swirl on the foot, or pool.

This week I got a skein of the new Noro Sock Yarn, in colorway 188 – greens and purples. Because green and purple have always been “my colors,” I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid buying too much green and purple yarn. This stuff was irresistable.

Next week I’m driving (again) with a friend up to Canada, and this time we’re going to actually stop at WEBS instead of just talking about it. I plan to buy the yarn to make Revolution from the Fall 2005 issue of Knitty. I’m thinking a warm brown for the body of the coat, and maybe a sage green for the accent color?

Tomorrow we’re closing on the house. While this project has severely impacted my knitting time, I’m so. freaking. excited. about this. In the fairly near future I will have much more time on my hands and much less spending money… but I’ve got a serious yarn stash that should keep me occupied for quite some time to come. I’m also going to buy some fiber with my birthday money, so I’ve kept up on scouting Etsy for beautiful roving. I have a mental image of myself, spinning by the fire, deer cavorting in the yard, a 50-mile view laid out to the east… it’s a nice daydream which will be a reality soon!