Spiraling into knitting oblivion...

As you can see, I have actually made progress on the spiral stripe sock, though it's really only thanks to my knitting buddy. She has encouraged me to bring knitting along when I hang out with her. Admittedly once I get going, I really enjoy getting into the rhythm of it and wish I was doing it more often. The hard part right now seems to be getting it out of the plastic bag I keep it in and actually pick up the needles. What with the new job I started six weeks ago and the beginning photography class I'm taking, there does not seem to be much time left for fiber arts. My library book stack at home, which used to be full of titles by Debbie Stoller, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and Nicky Epstein, is now full of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and John Hedgecoe. I would really like to combine my love of food and cooking with photography, as well as the complexity and beauty of knitting as well. If I get particularly inspired, I will try to post some of the black and white pics I develop and process for the class.

I've given myself a rather modest knitting goal of completing these socks before the weather gets cold. I think I'm almost ready to start my short row heel. If I can get there, I can at least have anklets.

In household news, my husband's interest in homebrewing has been rekindled. Not quite as labor intensive as knitting, but still a respectable hobby. He started his first homebrew in many years last weekend. The urgency to start manufacture was provided by our lovely cats that decided to bite into the bags of malt syrup and yeast. This was really the trial brew anyhow; the kit for this first beer is a stout. The ultimate goal, however, has been an Belgian Abbey-style ale. In particular, one of his absolute favorite beers at the moment is Brother Thelonius by North Coast Brewing Company in Mendocino. This beer and others similar to it are about 5+ times the cost of Natty Light, making homebrewing a potentially more economical option. (Potentially I say, since homebrewing like other hobbies "requires" all sorts of fun and shiny accessories to aid in the production process). Anyway, it's fun to see my husband jazzed up about this. Perhaps one of my upcoming knitting projects will be customized beer cozies or a keg insulator.

Just another manic knitter

I tend to get restless easily so it's not surprising that I tend to knit in manic waves. I will go 3 to 4 months at a time with doing nothing more than looking with heavy heart at the sprawl of yarns beside my bed. Then I'll wind up cranking out 2 or 3 projects in a few weeks when I'm bitten by the fiber bug. Recently, I've been slacking a bit which is bad since I've been doing a knit-a-long with a friend from work. We're working on the aforementioned skirt and toe-up spiral striped socks. She went on vacation this past week, and the deal was to have finished the sock up to the heel. I am not only a manic knitter but also a bit of a procrastinator so I finally picked up the stitches from my second short row toe and started spiraling. It took me about an hour to do a half inch. I'm getting a massive mocking tomorrow.

I have, however, made some progress on the skirt, which is in the depths of stockinette purgatory. It is at least mindless, so it's something I can do on my commute (I carpool) and still carry on a conversation. Additionally, I am proud to finally show the purse that had been sitting handle-less for a good 3 to 4 months. It's based on one of the bags in the Spring 06 Knit.1. The handle is supposed to be a long crocheted strap, but I was running out of yarn so I bought these wooden handles and made a liner for the purse. I sewed the liner in before I put on the handles so I had to make some hidden straps to attach the handles. Thank goodness my work friend is a sewing genius that helped me figure it out. I got one handle attached about 2 or 3 months ago, and I finally got the second one last weekend. Finishing a project actually feels pretty good. I should try to do it more often.

Getting a rise out of the British Empire...

I have been swamped by work this past week, so I haven't made it very far on knitting. But decided it was my duty as a blogger to share with you these awesome clips I found on You-Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpzEF0D2xfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03XrnpUN540

And the British are supposed to be more "civilized" than Americans. It's a little hard to see in the videos but maybe they have their pinkies up.

And now the boring begins.

I have finished the bottom of the ruffled skirt. All that's left is uninteresting stockinette stitch. The skirt currently measures 4" in length; I will knit in stockinette stitch until my boredom overcomes my propriety. (Minis are in, right?)

What this also means is that I will probably be moving back to my neglected lace knitting and that I need to figure out how we're going to proceed on the striped (stripe-Ed) socks. Updates to follow.

In the beginning...

I have tried to blog about knitting and other stuff before, but I'm going to really give it a go now. I stick with fiber-related topics to start and see how that goes. I've been knitting for about 3 years now, about as long as I've been on the West Coast. I've made my share of scarves and hats, and maybe a shirt and a half. I have pulled a coworker into the world of knitting as well. We've picked two projects to work on this summer: striped (non-self-striping) socks and a really cute knitted skirt. I will try to cover my progress on these projects over the summer.

The skirt has ruffles on the bottom and they are taking forever. You have to cast on over 500 stitches which you whittle down to 200. I cast on to a single 29" circ, and the stitches are really scrunched. I look forward to every decrease round.

I'm also working on a lace shawl, Knitpicks candle flame shawl, that I've been struggling with for the last two and a half years. I finally had a lace breakthrough a few months ago, so have actually made considerably progress but it's still slow going because 1) there are other slightly less frustrating projects I can work on, 2) I had been taking a microbiology class in the evenings limiting my knitting time, and 3) it's frick'n lace so the yarn is about as big around as dental floss. I was trying to take a picture of it, but the circular needles it's being knit on are really curly, and I'm too lazy to move it onto something straight just to take a photo.

In addition to telling you about my current projects, I feel compelled to show a couple of my recently completed projects.
This is the Sheldon the Turtle pattern from Knitty.com. I couldn't quite get the nose right so he looks a bit like a snapping turtle. But he's ultra cute. And the best part is...(scroll down a little)... he can take off his shell! Isn't he adorable?!? I sent him to friends of ours as a baby gift.