Slightly afraid of Ravelry

So after hearing so much buzz about Ravelry, I decided to put myself on the wait list a few weeks ago. I went back today to check where I am in line and here is where things are at: You signed up on December 6, 2007 You are #67083 on the list. 1169 people are ahead of you in line. 5425 people are behind you in line. 89% of the list has been invited so far I'm actually almost frightened about getting in... either it'll be way too much work and I'll ditch it immediately, or I'll launch in and post pictures of every skein of yarn I own, every project I've ever made or want to make... could get totally out of hand. LOL. On the bright side, perhaps it will be the kick in the pants I need to get all my WIPs done (I've knit remarkably little in the last few months... I miss it). First I need to find them all though...

Too many obsessions, too little time.

Holy crap. Three months have just whizzed by. I'm not even entirely sure where they went. Oh ya, I remember now. 1.) I'm completely obsessed by Cuban Salsa dancing. Obsessed. As in I've been going out dancing 3 nights a week. Every week. Since August. I've actually managed to wear out TWO pairs of dance shoes. For those who might ask, Cuban salsa is definitely different than the usual style of salsa danced in North America (which is generally LA style). Less flashy, less spins, a LOT more freaky deaky arm movements, AND (this is my favorite part), it's often danced in a big circle with multiple couples. Lots of partner switching, LOTS of fun. When danced like this, it's called "rueda", which means wheel. Look up "rueda" on YouTube and tell me that doesn't look like massive amounts of fun. 2.) Moving sucks. We packed up the apartment and sent most of our stuff on a truck to Ottawa. So now I'm living with the family until my contract at work is done, and then off I go. In the meantime, my dear man is moving into our new townhouse that we bought :-) Very exciting. But the moving part sucks. 3.) Work. Too much work. Too much stress at work. Fortunately all is calming down a bit now. But still. Too much work. Knitting progress?? Minimal. I'll have to dig out the digicam and take pics of the few things I've managed to get done since the summer. Sadly, I think that only includes one and a half pairs of socks and a pair of fingerless mitts. In three months. PATHETIC.

Mmm... socks...

As of this week, I have two new loves. One, Cat Bordhi's new sock book. The more I delve into it, the more genius I think it is. My sock yarn stash is excited... it no longer feels the scorn of my boredom. My second love is Lorna's Laces Sock Yarn. I had no idea how awesome this stuff is. I love the way it's spun, the weight of the yarn, the colours... keep my out of my LYS, my Visa card may not forgive me. Now put those two loves together, and you get this: Which is part of this: I can't wait to have these done... they're Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks. And I suspect I will love them very much. And in case they got lonely in my knitting bag, I cast on another sock from my new favorite book as well...

Bored no more!

Popped into my LYS on Saturday to see what was new and exciting (it's been MONTHS since I've stepped into a yarn shop) and I picked up Cat Bordhi's new book, New Pathways For Sock Knitters. Finally, something to get my out of my sock knitting funk. I have at least 20 pairs' worth of sock yarn in my stash, and I haven't been able to get the motivation to actually knit up any socks in MONTHS. I've started multiple pairs, but by the time I've finished the cuff, I get bored. And then this book comes along... all these new "architectures" as they are called... I've cast on two different socks tonight and I can't wait to try them ALL!!! I didn't even read through the entire book, I just flipped through, picked two patterns I wanted to try, and jumped right in. The photos are just too tantalizing :-) I think my poor Brilliant Retro may find herself neglected this week... I'm too excited about my new socks. And the best part of this book? It's only Part I in a series of three books exploring non-standard methods of knitting socks... SWEET.

Who knits wool sweaters in the summer?

ME!!!!!! I'm sure more reasonable people would have spent the warm summer months knitting cool cotton tanks, or maybe even *gasp* taking a break from knitting, but not me. I knit sweaters. Wool sweaters. Because I have to bust the stash, and wool seems to be all I have in the stash... ok, except some really ugly acrylic that I haven't figured out what to do with. I also have a bit of a UFO pile that required some attention. It was getting a little out of hand. Spilling out of baskets, languishing on couch arms, staring at me with contempt. Not good. Not good at all. So I finally decided to deal with it. We'll skip over the part where I went nutso with my ball winder and talk about one project that actually crossed the chasm from UFO to finished, wearable garment. So here, I present Airann from Chicknits. Anyone who knows the pattern will notice rather quickly, that this is definitely not Airann as it was meant to be, seeing as the original is a cardigan and this, quite plainly, is not. Originally, it was. I had the whole thing knit, seamed, blocked, with ends woven, buttons sewn on.. it was totally DONE. But when I finally put it on, I hated it. The button bands wouldn't lie straight, the collar was about as unflattering for my shoulders and neck as I could imagine. Whether it was the yarn or the size I chose, I don't know. But it just wasn't working. So I chucked the thing other the couch. Until I was in the middle of my ball-winder episode and was about to frog the whole thing. But I kinda liked the stitch pattern. I liked the way it draped, the way it stretched nicely around my curves. I liked the length of the sleeves. So I decided to remove the sleeves, frog the body and reknit it as a simple pullover. When I got to the collar part, I didn't want to do a plain ribbed collar or some V-neck or something. I wanted something subtle but yet polished. So I remembered the I-cord bind-off that I'd done on the Ogee skirt and decided to use it here. And I'm glad I did - I love it!!! Now of course, with one sweater out of the reject pile, I of course immediately go and cast on another one. Fortunately, this one worked out perfectly and knit up in a breeze. It's the Tilted Duster from the current Interweave, knit up in Cascade Ecological Wool. I love the pattern, love the yarn, all I need is a few buttons and she'll be all good to go for when the weather turns towards the yucky, as it surely will soon.

Summer's over already?

My last summer in my hometown and it's OVER already?? OK, I know I have one long weekend left, but seriously? This is BUNK. Spent way too much of it in front of my computer. On the bright side, I also spent quite a few hours of it learning Cuban salsa (my newest obsession). Most fun I've had in YEARS. Especially when we get a rueda going out in public. (Rueda is Cuban salsa but done in a circle with multiple couples, with one person calling out the moves. Social dancing at its finest, IMHO. Search on YouTube or something if you want to see what I'm talking about.) I've managed to find a little bit of time to knit too. Not as much as I'd like, but some nonetheless. Did I knit any nice summer tank tops even though I have a bunch of pretty coloured cotton in my stash? No. I knit stuff for fall. I guess I want to be prepared for the chill of October. And there's no better way to ward off cold than with woolen creations! A few weeks ago, I finished Valpuri from Berroco. Free pattern AND stashbusting - perfect. And the best part is that I totally love how it turned out! The fit is great, the style is great. This is going to be AWESOME over long-sleeved tops all winter long. Beats some ratty old fleece vest. I mean, not that I have any of those in my wardrobe... Much prettier than polar fleece, no? I used Patons Classic Wool in beige, and the only mods I made were to knit the body in the round (because why seam if you don't have to???) I found the raglan decreases tricky, mainly because I was trying to maintain the cabling pattern and the two-stitch knit raglan border all at the same time. Don't know why, but stuff like that always flummoxes me. And then I get all perfectionistic, which means the whole thing takes WAY longer than it should. But now it's just the way I want it. :-D Now where the he** is my digicam?? I have a whole other finished sweater that I just remembered... and another that I should get all finished tonight (minus the buttons... because I have no suitable buttons...)

Still alive over here...

Holy crap, does time fly or does time fly?? I have NO idea where the last three months have gone. I do know that I've probably spent too much of it working, I've spent a fair bit of it dancing (salsa is mucho fun), and I definitely haven't spent enough of it sleeping. Or knitting. I do believe that I have a few FOs that I haven't posted yet. (Clearly I must have gotten some knitting done... I just can't seem to remember a lot of it...) First up is my Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. I didn't change the pattern at all, other than adding an extra repeat to finish all the yarn I had (this was a stashbusting exercise after all). And I'm just thrilled that I actually found a great project for this mystery acrylic that I recycled from a thrift store sweater. I haven't had a chance to wear it out yet (a little too fancy for work, and I haven't gone anywhere else fancy in a while), but I do love it! In order to stashbust some more, I whipped up the Ogee Skirt from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits (I think this is the first time that I've started and finished a project from a current magazine... although knowing me, I could be totally misremembering and this could be from the Spring 2007 issue... I'm too lazy to go check). I used just over 2 balls of Blue Sky Cotton (so soft... me likey), went up a couple needle sizes (no, I didn't write down what size I used... bad knitter), and I followed the directions for the smallest size, knowing that the finished project would be quite a bit wider (gotta fit over my bootay!) I'm thinking that I can wear it over my skinny jeans while the trend lasts, and besides that, I think it'll look cute as a dance cover-up when the weather gets a little cooler. You know, now that I think about it, I have a few more projects on the go... I really should get some pics: - Valpuri from Berroco (free!) in Paton's Classic Wool: I'm done the back and front (knit in one piece), and just starting the chart on the sleeves (knit at the same time of course), so I'll definitely have one new "back to school" sweater (not that I'm in school anymore, but I still like finding new outfits for September) - Diamonique from Saunshine in Paton's Brilliant: just past the hip decreases, working in one piece (as usual). The yarn is a little splittier than I'd like, but I do like blue, sparkly things. Hopefully another back-to-school piece if I find the time to get it done! - Print o' the Wave Stole from Eunny Jang: still plugging away when I can. This used to be my project to work on when I'm on the train... but lately I've been using train time to catch up on SLEEP. So project is sadly stalled. Which is too bad, because I'm having SO much fun knitting it! (Lace knitting rocks) OK, this weekend, PICTURES.