This is why people think knitting takes patience

Not much to report today. I delivered yesterday's items. I didn't even have to talk to anybody else. It was fantastic.

Yesterday's progress on the sweater is a little disappointing.

I know it looks like a lot from yesterday, but it's less than I wanted. I'm kind of surprised that the relaxed width is SO much smaller than the stretched width. I'm still learning this machine and I don't like to swatch. What I'll likely end up with is a sweater that fits rather than a large jacket. Oh well.

So what you see there is the back, and no, you can't see the fronts yet because I don't feel like taking another picture.

There was quite a bit of knitting on my mom's gloves last night. Result:


Looks almost identical to yesterday. Why? Because I started the thumb gusset and almost finished it when I realized that without the colorwork continuing up the glove, it's coming out too wide. FANtastic. So I ripped back to the colorwork. Actually, I don't rip, I tink, cuz I'd rather take forever going back than try to pick up all those tiny stitches when I get there.

Did anyone notice what I didn't mention? Work. Yes, actual work projects. There are bags and arm warmers and mittens etc to be knit and I have forfeit them for this sweater and maybe that's a bad idea cuz they should really be up before I go... I suppose if I'm shipping them from overseas, I can post them overseas...

Help! I need somebody. Help!... I suppose it could be anybody...

I finished a cowl and a headband yesterday for two former coworkers.



Cowl is, of course, in Patons Classic Wool in Chestnut Brown. The headband is three different colors of skinny green ribbon. Not ribbon yarn. Just ribbon. Pain in the behind.

In any case, I packaged them all pretty, drove 30minutes out to give them their goods,



and realized I had left them at home. Ugh.

Now that I'm finished with things for other people, I'm working on a jacket to take with me to Germany. So far, I've done the ribbing.



I'll be using some stitch patterns from Katharina Buss' Big Book of Knitting again. I like that one. Updates as it comes along.


In other news, I had been making these headset covers for work (hint: it was a call center).



We have to have our own headphone covers to cushion our ears. I'm sure it's something about germs and stuff. I lost one of mine and didn't want to pay $2 for another pair, so I made one.


Then people started asking for them and in all kinds of crazy colors.


It was getting too tedious keeping up with all the colors I had available and all the colors people wanted, so I just made and packaged a bunch.



Now I have extra and I don't work there anymore and I'm trying to come up with something else to do with them. They're kind of shaped like little doll hats and can flatten to a disk with a lip. I wish I could explain that better. Any suggestions??? Help me out.

Only the kind with fingers

I'm seven days from a trip to Germany/France and I'm pretty excited. I was supposed to be using this week to work on my shop, but so far, I've been working on other things. Here are just a couple of quick pictures of things I have done recently.


This hat was from a pattern on Ravelry. I'll put it in when I find it. Used the usual Patons Classic Wool in Water Chestnut and Dark Grey Mix. Sold. I've done a bunch of hats with this basic shape as a template, and I don't like having the increases all the way around, although the taper seems about right. In any case, I'm going to reformat for my shop hats.

My mom's birthday is also coming up so I started to make some mittens for her:



No pattern. I am using a chart out of Katharina Buss' Big Book of Knitting, though.



This pattern circles the wrist. I need some clever, relevant way to divide this from the hand section. I may try to two-colored braid if I can find a book with those in it. Otherwise, I'll just make stripes.

I'm using Knit Picks Palette in Mist and Lipstick (I think).

I asked my mom last night if she likes mittens. Her reply?

"Yes, but only the kind with fingers."

Good thing I asked.

Hello, thee, blog

Hi, there folks.

I realize it's been a while since I've posted. Ok it's been months and months. Lots has been happening, but the important stuff is....





... just a sneak peak of a few of the first items that will appear in my etsy shop, all witty knitty. Suuuuper excited. Pics of the knits to come soon. Stay tuned!

I think I am crazy

Guess what I'm doing???

Yup you got it. The Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics! Hurray! It'll be my first participation in any Olympic knitting and I'm pretty psyched. My challenge? I'd like to finish writing the pattern for the socks I've designed, as well as test-knitting three different sizes. That's three pairs of socks and a pattern NOT including the pair I'm finishing now. That's just the design pair. By the by, I have pics of the first completed sock of the pair:

Heh... I know they don't look exciting. That's some fabulous Paint work to hide the stitch pattern. Ok, I know I'm being overzealous, here, but I'm keeping it on the safe side. I LOVE the color. It's Knit Picks Palette in I forget what color but it's lovely.

I will tell you that the stitch pattern reflects my personality pretty well. It's not really frilly, but it's just lacy enough to be a little feminine. It's got a little directional interest without being swirly and it's a pretty easy stitch pattern without being ridiculously boring or annoyingly fiddly.

May I diverge a moment to have us all take a look at that FANTASTIC short row heel? That's the best one I've done. It's beautiful and the first one I've done to actually fit my heel properly.

Back to the sock. I'll tell you something, Palette starts to pill if you rip too much, but if you're nice and rip gently, it holds up pretty well.

As an(other) aside, yes, that's my foot on the steering wheel of my car. No, I'm not driving that way.

I've got to find a way to slow my brain down or else get a lot better at sketching my mindstuff because I can't keep up with all of the ideas I have. Or maybe I should just get better about choosing what mindstuff should be real...hm...