resolutions

Around this time last year, I seem to recall making a list of gargantuan projects that I tasked myself with finishing in 2009. Its documented in this blog, but I refuse to read it. Probably none of it happened. To be fair, I had a very fun year and completed a lot of knitting projects. But you never know what life is going to throw your way, and I lost several months last year to 60+ hour work weeks. So I'm not arrogant enough to make an annual to-do list for 2010. Instead I will enjoy each day or week as it comes and try to work on as many projects as my little heart desires.

the little things

Buttons! Shopping for buttons is a very pleasurable task. The endless possibilities...the colors...the textures... Just like a pair of shoes, you can easily change the look or mood of a piece by selecting a different closure. (Of course, I am still debating which task I consider to be the least tedious: sewing on buttons or weaving in the ends of knitted projects.) Here is a recent selection from a weekend button binge:

historic swifts

During a recent trip to the east coast, I perused the marvelous artwork at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Lo and behold, in a display of Shaker furniture, I spotted a historic swift! Constructed of maple, this particular swift dates to ca. 1790-1850. Looks pretty much how they make 'em today!

birthday treats

How could I be so lucky to have such wonderful friends who give me lovely, fibery birthday gifts? From top to bottom: a french press cozy to keep my coffee warm while I knit, a skein of spooky handspun, and a Sheila the Sheep tea cozy kit to keep my tea warm while I knit. Thanks everyone (you know who you are)!

festive felts

Needle felting is so rad. And so simple. so sculptural. so tactile. You should definitely try it. Here's my first project: a sweet little pumpkin just in time for halloween!

the grape unravel

Inspired by a recent frog party to unravel unwanted knitted garments to re-purpose the yarn, I decided to finally frog my lonely purple sock. It never found its sole mate. I whipped this up ages ago as my second attempt at making socks, but it turned out way too big. I never had the heart to undo it, because I regarded it as too precious. I am excited, however, to turn into something completely different. Perhaps a bright purple cowl? A pair of hand mitts? The possibilities are endless.

how to double your stash in less than 24 hours

Alright already! I'll finally post about the wonderful gift basket stuffed with yarn that my company gave me as a thank you gift for putting in extra hours on the job. I think it came from a fundraising auction, so it was jammed packed with an odd assortment of yarn in a wide range of colors and textures. I'd never heard of most of the brands before.

Among the highlights: a pink variegated skein of super soft Atacama, two skeins of hot pink, bulky Van Dyck yarn, two skeins of Numbero Uno Print, and a couple of skeins of Velveen "Fit for a Queen." It's a wool/rayon lace weight blend that looks vintage based on the label. I've tried to track down more information on it but can't seem to turn up much. Now if I only had time to knit instead of staying late at the office...

novato knits

While on a site visit in Novato on Thursday, I happened upon Llama Llama Knit, a yarn store located on Grant Avenue, the City's historic commercial strip. (Although it is not located in one of the cute historic buildings!) The store stocks the usual suspects: a nice selection of Malabrigo, Manos del Uruguay, Cascade, etc. along with fiber from AVFKW and Tactile. Alas, it did not stock the latter two's sock yarn. The store does, however, have a couple of comfy couches in the center that looked mighty inviting. I imagine it would be a cozy place to stop by if I were a local.



I also met this handsome devil while surveying a couple of old houses:

9,076

I survived another year of Stitches West without going broke and had a blast! My friend and I wandered around the market floor for about four hours before we felt overwhelmed by the enormous amount of yarn for sale and headed back to the city.

All in all, I bought 9,076 yards of yarn! Most of it's lace weight or sock yarn though. For the most part, I stuck to my budget and picked out two beautiful skeins of Socks that Rock for Garden Gate socks and a gorgeous skein of Tactile sock yarn. I also acquired a cute pompom maker from Urban Fauna. (An excellent selection of needles btw. I'm definitely hitting up this neighborhood shop from now on!)

My downfall came when I saw the bargain bags of yarn. I fell in love with the colors though- a bright kelly green and royal blue. With ten skeins in each bag, I'll definitely be able to make something cute and not worry about yardage.





Top (from left to right): STR in Spinel and Pond Scum, Garn Studio's Safran (Egyptian cotton), and Ornaghi Filati's Baby Melbourne. Bottom: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, Tactile sock yarn, and Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine.

countdown!

We're in the final countdown to Sitches West! Only one more week to go until Bay Area knitters will be able to feast their eyes on the most yarn gathered in one location. (Or at least the most amount of fiber I have seen under one roof!) Due to the current economic crisis, my Stitches West adventure will be much tamer than last year, but I have been saving up for it for several months now. My list of projects to shop for has grown and shrunk over the past couple of weeks, but here's what it currently contains:

Garden Gate Socks by Emily Johnson (This requires the right duo of colors that must be picked out in person.)

Anne Shirley Shawl by SaRi (How can I resist making a shawl inspired by one of my favorite literary heroines? I read every single L. M. Montgomery book I could get my hands on and dreamed of befriending fellow kindred spirits and one day finding my Gilbert.)

I took the Muir Wood shawl off the list after I spied some gorgeous Berroco Alpaca yarn at Imagiknit. That's all for now. Hopefully I will stay within my budget!

hand mitts

I love knitting things for my hands and feet, because it does not take a great amount of yarn. They also do not change size, so I don't have to worry about mittens and socks not fitting in a year. And I don't have to worry about them being a certain "shape" to fit my body type. (I will always love empire waist dresses even if I stop watching PBS adaptations of Jane Austen and the like. They look terrible on me though.)

I'm also in a stash buster mode, so I whipped up these hand mitts from gorgeous yarn that I got from the Viking Princess and Starry Knit at our yarn swap a while ago. I adapted the pattern from Eunny Jang's endpaper mitts and used an "eye of partridge" pattern to make the bright variegated colors pop. They provide a nice splash of color on a drizzly day like today!

The Great Destash

What's a girl to do when she's on a yarn diet and only knitting from her stash rather than impulsively buying yarn for new projects? Quit whining and start knitting!!

Rather than complain that I lack the right yarn to knit projects in my Ravelry queue, I browsed through my stash and found three skeins of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in a pale lavendar. I whipped up this quick knit cowl over the weekend and plan to make a pair of Fetching to match from the remaining ball. The Great Destash project begins!

(Of course, I can break my destash rule for knitted gifts, sock yarn for my monthly sock group, and for Stitches West....)

speedy knits

My latest Knit Picks catalog states that Miriam Tegels holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for fastest knitter by clocking in at 118 stitches per minute! I am certainly a slow poke compared to her, but I did rock out a pair of socks in a week. A PR for me!! More fabulous socks to come in 2009....

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It's raining buckets and buckets here in San Francisco, and I actually heard thunder this morning! A rare event indeed. We're coming up to the new year when everyone reminisces about the previous 12 months and looks forward to a fresh start in January.

To that end, here are my 2008 crafty highlights:

• Learning to speed up my knitting. I can really crank it out now on simple knit projects.
  
• Working with two-color knitting (but not fair isle for all you purists out there).
  
• Finishing the piece de resistance of my budding knitting career, the houndstooth capelet. (Even if I have not yet posted photos of it on Ravelry!)
  
• Learning basic crochet stitches and finishing my first granny square-esque project.
  
• Learning tons about sock construction with all the fabulous ladies in my sock-of-the-month-club and figuring out that socks are really simple and quick to make.
  
• Feeling more confident about substituting yarns and actually making gauge swatches ahead of time.
  
• Actually finishing a quilted wall hanging. I seem to start quilt projects but never finish them.
  

Which brings me to my next list of 2009 crafty goals, in no particular order:

• Finish my redwork quilt. My mom embroidered squares with red cherries for it, so I've got to finish it!
  
• Finish the round robin quilt that my mom, aunt, and I are working on.
  
• Make a granny square afghan.
  
• Learn to take fabulous photographs of all my handmade items.
  
• Make a quilted cover for my sewing machine. I already found a cute pattern for it.
  
• Play around with weaving and perhaps acquire a cute handloom from Urban Fauna.
  
• Play around with beads and come up with more original jewelry designs.

That's about it! The list does not include any of the knitted projects in my Ravelry queue, so rest assure, I will be knitting tons and tons from my mountainous stash.

p.s. The photo is a family heirloom stocking that my mom knitted. We call it the "papa" sock, because it's around a foot wide and 3-4 feet tall. Fabulous!

heels gone bad.....

On the left is a normal heel, and on the right is an out-of-control heel that I made while watching a movie and not paying attention to my stitches. ooops.....

nine-to-five

Finally finished my 9-to-5 socks in Knit Picks Essentials!! One down and two more pairs to go before I'm all caught up on my sock wips...

birthday loot

A dear friend made me a My So Called Scarf for my birthday in a gorgeous purple/brown variegated yarn! Plus I scored a ball winder and umbrella swift that I tested out this morning. Check out my first balled skeins of Claudia hand painted yarn.

nutty nutkins

Finished Nutkins from the SF one-sock-a-month knit along. Mine is second from the left! Time to finish the second one....

Let the games begin!

While watching the Olympic opening ceremony this weekend, I made mad progress on my Nutkin sock for the Ravelympics. Since knitting's not an official sport, Ravelry's hosting the Knitting Olympics in spirit of the games. You choose a project, cast on at the start of the opening ceremony, and then post your finished project by the closing ceremony seventeen days later. Although the cuff's a bit tricky if you don't know where to pick up the stitch to fold it over, the pattern repeat's incredibly logical and a breeze to memorize. I'm almost finished with the leg!

"Pair" of socks

Do you think anyone will notice that they don't match?



Here's my progress so far on the second sock: