Okay, maybe not completely different, because it still uses yarn. But it’s not knitting.

It’s crochet!  Want to know what it is, what yarn I’m using, and more? Visit Tales from the River, the River Knits Blog.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve finished a number of projects: Two summer sweaters for me, a tank top for Victoria, a pair of socks for CIC, and these socks for me (my design, pattern coming soon! I talked about designing these last week).

All in the last two and a half weeks. Now, I don’t know what I want to work on.

It’s not that I don’t have projects on the needles right now. I do. Believe me. But none of them are particularly appealing right now. None of them are mindless and small…like socks. But I don’t feel like knitting socks. I love socks, just not in the mood for that right now.

I just spent some time modifying the Shaped Lace Tee pattern from Knitting Lingerie Style. I have it all charted and ready to go. I even have enough red Cascade Sierra to knit it. The lace pattern is simple enough to fall into the “mindless” category. But I don’t feel like it.

What’s a girl to do?

Maybe I need to do something completely different for a while. Then the knitting will come. Something will inevitably jump out at me and demand to be knitted. Right?

 I finished this last week and just thought you’d like to see it.

The yarn is leftover Papiro from my summer sweater. The bottom half is feather and fan just like the Ophelia Poncho. In fact, I followed the Ophelia chart exactly until I had a decent number of stitches, then I continued straight to desired length. (I promise good close-up pics as soon as Tim gets me a new camera…which will be one day this week.)

Or, how I spent my afternoon.

Today was a busy day. I knew from the moment I woke up it would be busy. We had lots of plans. We went to my parents’ house to help them build a deck. The kids had a blast. They spent the day outside, playing in the hose and in the creek. It was great fun. Until one of them–Aaron–came inside and walked into the kitchen where the floor was wet. His feet flew out from under him, and he bashed his head against the corner of the cabinet, which resulted in a sizeable gash in his forehead. A trip to the urgent care center led to 6 stitches:

He was such a brave boy. The screaming and the blood when he first fell was unbelieveable. But, we went right away to urgent care and they got us right in. He waited patiently to see the doctor and he didn’t even flinch when they were working on him….of course, the numbing cream and local anesthetic probably helped, but he was great. An hour later, you would never have guessed anything happened to him. He was right back to playing and running around and acting crazy.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall at preschool tomorrow….

The “What Have You Done” Knitting Meme
I first saw this on Jamisyn’s blog, then on Amanda’s blog, where I followed the link to Katydid Knits. And, you know me. So, I’ll do it too.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (there are so many on the market now…anything I’d write has probably already been written)
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (Why? I love knitting…I would hate for it to become work.)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking (I’ve toyed with this and it just looks too fiddley for me.)
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art (some of my items were included in a fiberarts display at the local art museum. Does that count?)
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting (Why? I love handknitting.)
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair 
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

I’ve been tagged by Jamisyn.

Every person who gets tagged is to list seven things about themselves. They are to write on their own blog those seven things and then list the rules. You also need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog as well as leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged. 

Okay, I don’t know seven bloggers to tag, so I’ll just list seven things about myself.

1. I’ve been knitting for 8 years. I am self-taught. I didn’t know anyone who knit when I first started, so I didn’t understand why some projects were considered difficult and others were considered easy. I think this is a blessing. It made me a fearless knitter.

2. I have three younger sisters. And we actually like each other!

3. When I was in junior high school, I collected unicorns. As a college student, I collected cows. Now I collect yarn. It’s much more practical.

4. I work from home for an educational web service, and I love my job. Not just because I get to work from home, but because I feel like I’m making a difference in the lives of teachers and students at our subscriber schools.

5. I’ve been married for 11 years. Tim and I met in college while I was dating his best friend from high school. A month or so after John broke up with me, Tim asked me out. 13 years later, here we are with 2 kids and 3 cats, and I wouldn’t change a thing!

6. I totally sucked at Chemistry in high school. I still don’t get it. Physics, calculus, trig…all fine. But Chemistry kicked my ass. It was the only subject I ever got a C in.  

7.  I used to hate knitting socks. I know…it’s shocking.

Note: I wrote this post on 5/16/07, but my blogging software or server or something is giving me fits. Let’s see if I can get it posted today.

So, this morning I woke up at 5:55, thinking about the socks I started yesterday. This in spite of the fact that I was up until after midnight last night. Sigh.  Anyway, I woke up thinking about the socks. And the fact that I continued to knit on them in aparent denial after trying them on twice and finding them too big both times. You see, even knitting love is blind. I am enjoying the yarn so much, and I love the stitch pattern. The problem is that the stitch pattern is an 11-stitch repeat. When I make myself socks using fingering weight yarn, I typically cast on 72 sts. 11 doesn’t fit into 72 evenly. 66 would be way too few, so I went with 77. The stitch pattern looks great in the yarn. See?

I love the way the stripes interact with the cables and lace. But, look at this:

See? Obviously I’m pulling on it a bit, but you can still see that it’s just too big. But, I continued. I convinced myself that they would shrink a bit in the wash and will fit perfectly. 

A few hours of sleep can do wonders for common sense. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking more clearly. There was no way 77 sts in a cotton blend yarn and lacy pattern would shrink enough to actually fit the way I like socks to fit. So, laying in bed at 5:55 am, I started doing some mental math. 
11 stitch repeat
7 repeats per round

Each repeat contains a 4-stitch cable.

What if we changed that cable to a 2-stitch twist?
Aha! Suddenly, we have a 9-stitch repeat.
9 x 8 = 72!
Now, let’s try it out…..but I’ll wait until after I get Victoria off to school. The alarm won’t go off until 7:00. After all the math and brain work, I still had a good 30 minutes of sleep I could catch.  But, no. My brain was awake already and my fingers were itching to get to the yarn and needles.

At 6:35 I gave in, hauled my butt out of bed and went downstairs to start another sock. I finished half of the toe before I had to awaken Victoria. Finished the other half later in the morning when I should have been working. Then, I worked on the lace pattern off and on throughout the day and here we go:
 

Much better, no? I still prefer the look of the 4-stitch cable, but the right twist is a tolerable solution. And they fit sooo much better.

PS: The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch.  

The Papiro top is done!  I finished it and did a quick steam block this morning. Here it is:

It is a designed-on-the-needles top-down raglan with yarn over increases. Eyelet edges at the hem and sleeves (to fulfull my Year of Lace commitment). I used about 7 balls of Laines Du Nord Papiro. This yarn is really nice. Even though it knits at 4.5 sts/inch, it’s a very airy cotton, so it doesn’t feel heavy at all. Perfect for summer. The texture of the yarn is wonderful–not unlike Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.  If you are taking the Shawl Knit Along class at River Knits, you’ll get to see the top in person Tuesday evening because I’ll be wearing it.

I had a wonderful weekend. I didn’t take any pictures. I just relaxed and enjoyed the activities. What was I doing? I attended the River Knits Retreat, of course! There was food, knitting, classes, games, door prizes and great conversation. The classes were great. From Sheryl Krohne, we learned about stretching and other exercises to prevent repetitive stress injuries. Then I taught a class on how to make beaded stitch markers. JoLene Treace joined us Saturday afternoon to share her experience with knitting counterpanes. On Sunday, Brian Doggett expanded our fiber horizons with Kumihimo Braiding. I wish we’d had more time to spend on his class. I feel like we barely scratched the surface with that.

Elizabeth also set up a mini River Knits yarn shop on site, with tons of great deals! I picked up 10 balls of this:

Laines Du Nord Papiro 100% cotton yarn. It’s so soft and wonderful. I couldn’t resist the colors and texture.

And this:

Meilenweit Cotton Stretch. I don’t own any handknit cotton socks, and I think it’s about time I fixed that!

And this:

A great little bag that will be perfect for keeping a small project in the car. The side pockets can hold miscellaneous tools. That way, even if I run out the door without my purse, I’ll still have a knitting project in the car waiting for me.

I also finished this while at the retreat:

It’s a top-down summer sweater I designed myself. The yarn is Butterfly Super-10 Cotton. I love it. I love how it fits. I love THAT it fits!  Please note: In this photo, the garment is fresh off the needles and hasn’t been blocked or anything. It will look much better once it’s been washed and blocked. (And, for that matter, paired with the right pants…)

I was so inspired by this success that I was moved to cast on this two days ago, using the above-mentioned Papiro:

Again, it’s my own design. Obviously, knit from the top down, raglan style with a wide neck. So far, it fits great. The key to good fit is constantly slipping all the stitches to waste yarn and trying the thing on. Frequently. Very frequently. It’s almost irritating how frequently it must be done. But it’s totally worth it when you end up with a sweater that fits.