Category: <span>2009 Knitting</span>

March Wrap-up

It’s time for another look at the knitting resolutions.

1.  Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
March down too, little to no progress.   Maybe by the end of the year eh?   I’ve re-started work on the lingering pair of socks that were struggling with second sock syndrome and should be done with those in a few days.   As some kind of explanation, they’re toe up (NOT a fan of toe-up socks) and rather complicated – not something you can really take along with you to stitch n’ bitch.   However, they are gorgeous and will be my first completed socks using the infamous Wollmeise.   I managed to get a spot on the sock club for this year and haven’t been doing the yarn justice yet.   I really hope to share those with you soon!

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
GOT IT!
Pattern: Lorna’s Laces basic socks
Designer: Kim Haesemeyer
Needles: US  2 (2.75 mm)
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi
Ravelry Project Link
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4.  Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Got that too.   Posted the results of that here.

8. Participate in another test knit.
See the socks above!   When the pattern is available, I’ll put the link here.

February wrap-up

Still working on the  knitting resolutions!
1.  Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
February is gone and I haven’t really made any headway there.  I managed to start way too many new projects at once and not make any real progress on any of the big ones.  I did knit three hats though this month, so that counts for something!  This means that I’m officially dedicating March to clearing the WIP queue completely.  Once that’s done, I’m going to start a sweater.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
So close on this one!  But, I think I’m still on track for 12 pairs for the year, so this shouldn’t be a big deal that I’m 4 days over budget.  February is short anyway, right?  Just finished up the socks tonight, so I’ll have photos of them hopefully tomorrow.

4.  Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Boy did I ever make this one!  There were the four ounces of superwash BFL for Thorpe  and then a whopping eight ounces of superwash Merino from Crown Mountain Farms for my Sunshine Surf Scarf.   I’ll post something more on that project later.

5.  Dye more yarn and roving.
Got this one already too, though I hope to do this again throughout the year.  I attended a class at a local art center with the wonderful Pam Pawl who took us through the process she uses for dyeing.  It really made a lot of sense and I loved her method and great organization of the process.  I got to dye two skeins of yarn that the class provided (not great quality and really scratchy, but they’ll be wonderful for a felted project!).  With the leftover dye, I was able to dye some merino roving I had brought along.  Photographic evidence:
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Project updates

January end-of-month update:
The knitting resolutions  haven’t all been met (already, I know!).
1.  Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
Didn’t happen!  I did clear out a bunch of things, but there are still two open WIPs from last year.  Not bad though..

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Got that one!  One pair of socks per month is definitely manageable and I still have time to knit other things.
Pattern:  Little Child’s Sock
Designer:  Nancy Bush
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
Yarn:  Knit Picks Imagination
 in colorway “Wicked Witch”
Ravelry Project Link–  
 

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Nancy Bush can write a pattern like nobody’s business.  It was so well written out, line by line, you just can’t but help be in awe of the time that must’ve been spent writing it out.  The book, Knitting Vintage Socks,  is becoming a fast favorite.  The yarn is super soft and fun to knit with although the variegation obscures the pattern mostly.  And see all that color pooling?  I know it’s something knitters strive to fight against, but I just love it.  It almost looks like tye dye on the stockinette part of the leg.

4.  Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Didn’t quite make this one either.  I got about an ounce of this superwash merion from Crown Mountain Farms (colorway “Sunshine of your Love”) done for the spin and knit along at Ply by Night on Ravelry.  I’ve really gotta spend more time with the wheel in the evenings and maybe alternate nights between knitting and spinning.  Plus, there’s a fun project coming up for next month with roving from dkKnits that I’m pretty antsy to get started on!

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Clapotis and resolutions

First, I have an FO for you.  Meg, the dyer at Twisted Fiber Art, does such an incredible job dyeing striping yarns and her colorways are so gorgeous.  Plus, the Clapotis pattern is such a great all-purpose scarf pattern and is so easy to adapt to any type of yarn.  This one took a little while to finish since I kept it on the needles as my mindless knitting project.  I tend to try and keep one easy project on the needles as a travel project to take with me everywhere that I don’t really have to think about or need to refer to a pattern much.

Pattern:  Clapotis
Designer:  Kate Gilbert
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm)
Yarn:  Twisted Fiber Art Shiny  in colorway “Portal”
Ravelry Project Link

Now, onto knitting resolutions!  The Selfish knitters group on Ravelry have a thread for New Year’s Resolution knitting and Atomic posted some knitting resolutions on her blog too.    I decided to post a few resolutions since I’ve had them in my head anyway.  I kept it simple on the thread and posted just the first three, but thought about expanding it here and expanding it to include spinning as well.

  1. Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
  2. Knit two sweaters this year.
  3. Knit one pair of socks per month – I had thought about doing the 52 pair challenge, but I think that’s a touch too ambitious, especially if I want to work on other projects too.
  4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
  5. Dye more yarn and roving.
  6. Knit at least one pair of stranded socks.
  7. Finish holiday gift knitting throughout the year instead of all at once in December!
  8. Participate in another test knit.
  9. Work on an original pattern.

I think that gives me plenty to work on.  I also want to be a little more careful with my stash acquisitions and either buy on sale, something unique that cannot be found elsewhere, at festivals, or with a specific project in mind.  When I started knitting this past may I sort of got out of control and bought everything in sight.  It’s time to get a handle on it and knit more, buy less!