Knitting Sutra

On Projects Less Finished

While I finished at least a handful of projects last season, I also started and set aside a couple more. Unless I have to finish a project (or just really, really, really want to), sometimes very small set-backs will send a project to the wayside. Case in point: the silk daisy scarf I started nearly three years ago.

Two such projects have been languishing. One dates back to sometime around September 07, and the other is not quite a year old, so I could still finish them with some dignity.

Behold! Unfinished socks!

First on deck: Secret Socks.

What you see is my first attempt at color work. I picked up the Lang Jawoll yarn on my trip to Berlin two summers ago. The color work pattern is a portion of a pattern from a German flier I picked up on the same trip.

I actually started and finished these in 2007, well almost anyway. I had been knitting them in secret because I so wanted to just show off the FO. I was looking for a big reveal, natch. This was going to be a big deal because not only did I knit two colors at once, but I knit both socks at once! You were going to be so impressed and proud of me.

The problem? I spaced out completely when I cast off. What I mean to say is that I spaced out and just cast off when I should have been doing Elizabeth Z's sewn cast off. One sock is still on the needles, while the other is off and won't fit over the ball of my foot.

Bugger! I don't know how to undo a cast-off. So, this project sits, but probably not for too much longer. I'm really itching for a new pair or socks, so I may drag these down to Knit Happens and get one of the fine ladies to help me out.

Next up: Mocha Socks

These have fallen victim to an even more pathetic excuse for setting aside a project: I'm not sure they look right.

The yarn is a lovely hand dye that Meghann sent me last year for completing a survey on her site. The pattern is the Uptown Boot Socks from Favorite Socks.

I followed the pattern exactly, and it just doesn't look right. Rather than knit a few more rounds to give the pattern more time to emerge, I just set them down much the way a deer freezes in your headlights on a lonely, West Virginia road. To continue would waste time, but I really didn't want to frog them just because I wasn't sure.

It has occurred to me more recently that I might actually be messing up the pattern because I'm knitting them toe up. As soon as I finish another big project this season, I might do some investigating and see if that's it. Or I might just suck it up and work a few more pattern repeats... you know to give the pattern as chance to emerge. sigh I exasperate myself!

Lost Hat

Funny (not funny haha) thing happened the day after I posted my last post. Nat, of Nat's Hat fame, rang me up to inform me that she lost the hat! Seriously! I dunno what that means, one day I show it off and the next day it's gone.

On the up side, I was poking around in my copy of Favorite Socks and found the notes I made for the hat. Nat knits, so I'm going to try to piece together the pattern so she can knit herself a new one. I'm afraid that even though she's offered to pay me - crazy lady - I really am on a big deadline for my current project, which I will reveal shortly.

The upshot for all of you who like the hat (Thanks, BTW!) is that I'll type it up and post it for yins to enjoy.

How do you like them apples?

FO: Last Year's Winter Knits

So let's see... somewhere back in September I was hoping to get back on the blog train. I feel like such a flake. I have some excuses, but you don't want to hear those. So, I'll give you some keywords instead: lost camera battery charger, quickie trip to Vancouver, new & intense work project, Thanksgiving, B out of town, insane pets.

Recently, however, events have turned - thanks in no small part to last week's Black Friday sales bonanza. The background is this: Rather than struggle to buy each other presents for Christmas, B and I tend to just buy a big item, wrap it, and put it under the tree. There's definitely a certain lack of mystery with this scheme, but no shortage of anticipation come Christmas Day.

This year we decided to go completely digital and update our fancy SLR camera. I've had a nice point and shoot, but have long been frustrated by it's poor excuse for indoor, flash photography. Given the store's return policy, of course I had to pull out the camera and take it for a test drive before stowing it under the tree. Of course. ;)

So, ta da! I took a bunch shots of old FOs, some new(er) WIPs, and even a bit of stash. Mmmm stash.

Without further ado, behold Last Year's Winter Knits:

Ho Hum Hat

Pattern: My own, based on a formula in "The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns" by Ann Budd.
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, Aquamarine
Thoughts: Meh. Sure it's soft and snuggly, but I really wish the cables were chunkier. They look wussy in this yarn.

B's Manly Striped Scarf
This has been uploaded to Ravelry for AGES. I didn't show it off for no good reason other than I really wanted to get shots of it in action. B never quite cooperated, and now it's full of lint and pet hairs. You'll have to believe me that it looks super sharp with B's overcoat. Very manly.

Pattern: 1x1 Rib
Yarn: Mysterious Berliner Yarn

Nat's Hat
This was my big project last Winter (I know, a hat, right??) - the copycat hat for my friend's birthday. Promised to her in November, I didn't hand it over until March, just in time for the last cold weekend of the season. Everything conspired against me from having difficulty finding the colorway she wanted, to knitting and ripping it out about four times. You may recall that I was trying to reconstruct the Peruvian Hat listed for $259 in an issue of "Real Simple."

In the end, I didn't include the garter stitch, but the rest was pretty close.

Pattern: My own (wish I wrote it down) with a bit of help from Ann Budd
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, Monet Melange