Knitting as Calm

I feel like I've been juggling a lot of different things lately-lots of different projects on needles, lots of books in progress, lots of half-baked ideas. The past couple of weeks have been a little overwhelming at times, and it's difficult to see what exactly is stressing me out because there's so much of everything going on.

I've been keeping my Rios Scraps Cowl next to my bed, in easy reach to do a row or two as I need. I recently picked it up for an entire hour and finished this latest section, and I'm trying to decide which color to add next. It's by far the easiest and most soothing project I have going right now, my own little oasis of calm.

I finally have my knitting retreat next weekend, and it couldn't be coming at a better time for me. I have no clue what projects I'm going to bring to work on, but I'm really looking forward to getting away and just hanging out with my fiber friends for a few days.

Sock it to Me

Out of curiosity, I decide to pull out all of my sock WIPs. I usually have a pair of plain socks on the needles, and sometimes a pair of patterned socks, but not more than that. So I'm feeling a bit crowded with five pairs on the needles right now-and they're all still on the first sock!

I've got plain socks for my mum, plain socks for me, the Knitty Twist socks for mum, Darjeeling for me, and Springtastic for me for the Holla Knits KAL. That's a lot more than I'm used to, and it's a bit overwhelming. I used to be a huge sock knitter in college-I'd knit in all my classes, so it was easy to churn out a pair a week or two, but now I find more often that I'd rather work on bigger projects.

I certainly never intended to have five pairs of socks on the go at once-the Darjeeling socks have been in progress forever, and Knitty Twist's been on the needles for over a year as well. I started mum's plain socks around Xmas to work on at a concert, my plain socks in January to kill time before meeting a friend for coffee, and by then the whole sock thing had just totally spiraled out of control.

(Also, check out my new rug! It's awesome and squishy and I totally love it, even if it took a year and a half for me to pick one out.)

Linking up with Yarn Along

Springing Again

Yup, that's the same sock I showed you on Friday, and yup, it looks different. As I mentioned before, I'd gone down a needle size from my usual to knit these, and I wasn't loving the smaller needles or the fabric I was getting, and when I tried the sock on to see how the fit was, it was just a bit too tight. I could get it on, but it was just not going to be comfortable to wear. So I ripped it out.

I've been planning to do contrasting toes from the beginning, but I weighed my sock so far before I ripped it out, and at the rate I was going at least half the foot was going to have to be in the contrast yarn. So this time, I decided to do contrasting cuffs and heels as well, and I am so glad I did. They look so much lighter and springier now, and I was able to get a little extra length in the leg-just an inch, but it's really making a difference for me.

I'm loving knitting these on the larger needles-and now that I'm familiar with the chart, they're zooming along. I'm already past where I was when I ripped out the first time, and it fits perfectly so far. I was nervous starting over from scratch in the last month of the KAL, but I should be able to get these done with just a couple focused knitting days (knock on wood)!

Linking up with KCCO

WIP: Springtastic Socks

For a couple weeks I'd managed to misplace the bag that my Springtastic Socks are hanging out in, which wasn't so bad, considering I have a million and five other projects I've been juggling. But now there's less than a month left in the Holla Knits KAL, and I really ought to be working on them, and that's when I was struck with the reality of how lost that project bag was.

(This is why I don't like cleaning. It's very hard to misplace a project bag when it's on top of a pile of stuff, instead of put away in a closet, or on a shelf, or in a drawer.)

As you can see by the picture up there, I did manage to find the elusive bag, and I plowed through the remaining gusset decreases on sock #1 during my lunch break yesterday. I'm hoping to get these mostly powered through before my knitting retreat in two weeks, but we'll see how much I can handle. I went down a needle size from my usual, and my hands aren't quite used to the smaller needles yet, but I'm really excited to see how these turn out.

A New Cowl

I've had this skein floating around in my stash since at least 2012, and I can't describe how good it feels to be knitting it up. I pulled it out the last time I reorganized my stash to let some ideas percolate out in the open. I feel like it's been ages since I've worked on a new design, and while the break was really good for me, it feels amazing to be doing design work again.

As usual, I was heavily influenced by the colors in this skein, and every time I looked at it it reminded me of The Tempest. I've been obsessed with that play since middle school, so I was really excited to dive into what I associate with that play and how to represent it visually, and I've been having a lot of fun so far. 

This is going to be a long cowl with a couple of lace patterns interspersed with garter stitch, and I'm completely charmed by it so far. I'm juggling a lot of WIPs right now, but this has been so enjoyable to knit so far that it's practically flying off the needles!

Linking up with Yarn Along

FO: Talus

Guys, I know I say this every time I knit one of Cory's patterns, but seriously, I really freaking love knitting Cory's patterns. I really admire her work, and she is such a great pattern writer-every one of her patterns is just a joy to follow.

Okay, now that the gushing's out of the way, check out my hat! I fell hard for this hat as soon as it was released, and my main hangup in terms of actually knitting it was finding yarn for it. I wanted something nice, and I actually bought a skein that I earmarked for this hat before I got home and realized it was the wrong weight (don't worry, it turned into Cabot).

I got this skein in my reward box for the Great Northern Knits Kickstarter last year, and it's pretty much just been sitting around since then waiting for me to find half a second to cast on. This was such an enjoyable project to work on, and now I have a cozy new hat, just in time for spring!

Ravelry Page: Talus

Pattern: Talus, by Cory Ellen Boberg

Yarn: baa ram ewe Dovestone DK, "Parkin"

Linking up with KCCO

In Progress

I'm back to juggling projects this week, and juggling several different books as well. I'm working on the first sleeve for my Que Sera, and I'm halfway through the lace edge of my Nusa cowl. (Pro Tip: When you're going to be in a poorly-lit auditorium all day for a Show Choir Showcase, maybe don't bring the lightweight dark grey lace project to work on). I also started another new cowl, added some more rows to my Rios Scraps Cowl, and am fighting with the neckline of a new cardigan.

Que Sera is still a total dream-so far the sleeve doesn't even feel like a sleeve (could it be, I'm actually enjoying knitting a sleeve??). I'm planning on having the sleeves be a bit more than elbow-length, so hopefully I'll keep being charmed by them until they're done.

I've made it to the third book in the Fairyland series, and I'm also working through one of Catherynne M. Valente's short story collections. I've read a lot of these stories before in online publications, but it's really nice to revisit them in print. I'm also reading Shirley on Kindle now, and it's a bit slow, even though I love Caroline as a character. She just met the titular Shirley, though, so hopefully the story should be picking up quickly.

FO: Beach House

I finished my Beach House last week, exactly as planned, and I am super happy thrilled with it. I love the length, I love the fit, I love the color-really, this is one of my favorite new tops. I cheated for pictures-the finishing's not quite done here. I usually weave in all my ends before blocking, but I missed one, and decided to get it once it was dry. Then I got all set up for the photoshoot, remembered that there was still one long end by my armpit that needed to be woven in, and tucked it secretly into my brassiere.

(And now I've ruined the secret by telling all of you. Also, I've attracted god knows how many spambots because I said "brassiere." Oh well. Hello, spambots. I hope you like knitting, because that's really all I talk about.)

Anywho, I am incredibly pleased with how this top came out, and I think it's going to be a really flexible piece. This yarn is an absolute delight, but there was still a lot of dye hanging out in it-I rinsed it six times before the water went from "washing the blood on my hands" to "mild pink." I got it from a destash sale, and it's discontinued now (because of course it is), but other than the bleeding it was a total delight to work with and I'm loving wearing it!

Ravelry Page: Beach House

Pattern: Beach House, by Teresa Gregorio

Yarn: Noro Lily Solid "24 Purple Red"

Linking up with Yarn Along

Pie with a Cherry on Top

Pictures of my Cherry Pie Skirt, as promised! There is so much I love about this skirt-the length, the colors, the pattern-I'd love for it to be a wardrobe staple. But remember that little hangup I had with the hem? I'm still hung up on it.

The fabric of the skirt drapes amazingly, but adding that extra layer to the last inch just stiffened it up too much to hang the way I want. Which is an easy enough fix-and if I can tear myself away from my renewed obsession with Que Sera, it'll be all set and ready to rock the town this week.

For comparison I pulled out my Yellow Skirt, which I love. When I knit this skirt a couple years ago, I ended up running a little short on yarn, and I was afraid of doing a folded hem as written and ending up with too-short a skirt. So I finished it off with two inches of moss stitch, and it's perfect.

So that's what I'm going to do here-I'll rip out the hem, rip back a few more rounds, and finish it off with a couple inches of moss stitch. See? Texture fixes everything. Except for the four hours of my life I spent on the most perfect folded hem ever, but a few hours are nothing when it comes to making something something that I'm merely proud of currently into something I'll want to wear all the time.

Beaching Along, and Biking

Happy Friday, friends! Is it just me, or has this been a really long week for everyone? Fortunately I have some good stuff to look forward to: my Beach House has just half of a front left before it's done! Which means it's definitely on track to be done today, and now I need to decide what to work on this weekend. Tomorrow I'll have about four hours in the car, plus several hours in concerts, so I'll probably want a variety. I'm really tempted to pull Que Sera out of hibernation for the car at least, though I might need a sock or something for the actual concerts.

I'm mulling around some cowl ideas for that blue-purple-greenish skein up there. I've had it in my stash for years, and I really love the colors too much to keep it cooped up in a bin much longer.

Yesterday I did a training ride for the Tour de Cure on my stationary bike-it was just too cold for my pathetic little lungs to want to bike outside. I rode foe 100 minutes, because I'm concerned about the psychology of staying in the saddle for a long ride. My Tour route is 50 miles, which could take 3.5 to 4.5 hours, and that's a lot of time on a bike. Yesterday's ride felt really good, but I cheated a lot and sat up to give my hands a break, which won't be an option during the actual Tour.