Not sure about this blogging thing...

Since I'm already on Ravelry and have a hard enough time keeping projects updated there I'm not entirely sure that I'll be terrific at this blog business. However, there are so many knitting blogs that I enjoy reading that I thought I might just give it a try and see what happens. Also, who doesn't need another distraction from studying for finals? Politics and Human Nature BAH! Temporal Monarchy, Autonomous Collective, Representative Democracy... who needs it. Any way don't expect any sort gushy life details in this thing it's going to be purely about knitting... with the occasional complaint about school thrown in. And anyway my life doesn't have any gushy details to share so bugger off if that's what you want.

Now knitting.

I have three (maybe four depending on how you count) WIPs.

The first and most urgent is the Baby Baseball Tee from Knit2Together. It is for my boss who is preggers so there's kind of a time line on finishing. So far, the back is completely finished, the pocket lining is finished and knit into the front (but not sewed down) and I'm up to the decreased on the front. I am very happy with this as the baby is not due until September. While I could care less about the Green Bay Packers the mother is a huge fan I mean HUGE and the baby is a boy, so I'm knitting the sweater in Packers colors, gold body and green sleeves. I'm knitting it in Plymouth Encore which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool so it's machine washable, cheap, a baby skin friendly. I'm not a big fan of acrylic and like I said don't care about the Packers so the yarn/color scheme isn't too appealing to me but it makes me happy to knit something for Jenny because she's a good boss and cool person.


Second WIP is going on a full year now. It is an acrylic and nylon blend boucle wrap/shawl/wide scarf. The yarn is fun to look at and touch but terrible to knit with--it's splitty and impossible to frog; the stitches might as well be glued together. It Jo-Ann's Sensations Rainbow Boucle I like the fabric that I have so far, but I'm only half way done. The pattern needs 36 4-row repeats over 80 stitches and I have 20 done. It's not at all a hard pattern, it's a simple drop stitch patter--basically a way easier version of the Clapotis. It's boring and fussy which is why progress is slower than a snail's pace. Hopefully I will like the finished product as I like the bit I have now. Otherwise, I will cry bitter bitter tears of sad regret for my wasted time. Obviously it needs some blocking...


The last WIP is coming up on a few months shy of a year now. It started out as a sweater for my brother who is pretty skinny but 6'8'' tall and makes me look like a rag doll when I stand next to him. I quickly realized that even though he's skinny I would not have enough yarn/time/sanity to finish. My dad said he hates wool because it's scratchy after glaring at him and making him hold my softest merino sock yarn until he admitted that it's not too bad gave up on him. I thought about just wearing it myself since I had cast on for a 36'' chest anyway but then my boyfriend said hey that's a cool sweater who's it for. I told him if he liked it is was for him and the darling accepted. Sweater curse be damned. It's in Cascade 220 wool and is a pattern from the Rowan Pure Wool Collection: Eden.


The last WIP is sort of not mine, but really it mostly is. It's a pair of socks out the Trekking Pro Natura done one-sock-at-a-time, cuff down, on two circs. It's supposed to be Andrew's, he said he wanted to learn to knit. (OK maybe I pushed a wee little bit but he agreed to learn in the end.) He didn't want to buy any yarn In case I don't like knitting, instead he wanted to knit out of my stash. No problem, I love the kid so I went through my stash and laid out before him all the things I was willing to part with for him to learn on--of the two balls of sock yarn he chose the green one and not the pink, green, purple, and yellow striped one... go figure. Now I know that socks on size 1.5 needles is not the most encouraging fist project but he didn't want to buy his own yarn and that worsted weight already has a project assigned to it damnit. And just so I don't come across as selfish, that sock yarn was supposed to be my first pair of Monkey socks... now that's sacrifice. Andrew dutifully learned to cast on, do the knit two purl two ribbing and the simple garter rib pattern for the leg. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks The sock is on Knitpicks fixed circs which I love because they are very pointy but Andrew has no knitterly blisters yet and his fingers start to hurt after one or two rows of 72 stitches per row. I frequently pick up these socks and work on them when I'm in his room because it's knitting and it's there so I've probably done more of the knitting on them than he has... but it's still his project right...

Alright I'm going the "publish" this now and then try to figure out how to go back and add links and photos... we'll see...

ETA: Success! I'm a natural born blogger.