In my next two years

Happy Blogaversary! Today marks my two years since I started this blog. Has it really been that long? As I look back on the last two years, I am struck by something depressing: how many things were in progress this time two years ago that are STILL in progress.

1. Jaywalker Socks: 75% finished. Not in love with the yarn, and the pattern is a bit stiff, so not anxious to wear them.

2. Pomotomus: 75% finished. Like the colors. Like the yarn. Love the pattern. I am befuddled. I HAVE been working on lot on this one, and hope to have it finished soon. ("Soon" being a relative term for me.)

3. Turquoise sweater: only needs sleeves. It probably doesn't even fit me anymore.

4. First Lace: Around 60% finished. Technically, I started this one at the end of March, but that is close enough to count. Love the colors. Like the yarn. Love the pattern. This was intended to be a, ahem, first lace teaching project, and now that I learned how to do it, I am strangely uninspired to finish, even though I still love it.

I guess all of this proves that I am a faithless project slut.

Today, it is all about the two years.

Respect the lace

Third time turned out to be the charm with Branching Out. Sunday, I successfully completed a pattern repeat. And I took note of how many stitches I should have for each pattern row to make it easier to spot an error. (Why don't lace patterns already have this helpful hint?) So, fresh with my victory, but sufficiently humbed by ending the weekend with exactly the same number of repeats as I started, I knit on it last night. One successful repeat. Yea!

I think I just did not truly resepct the complexity and precision of lace. Yes, I knew that with a chart, I was obviously doing a lot more complex knitting than normal, but apparently I was just not paying close enough attention. All I can say is thank God for lifelines.

I had my first comment yesterday. It was nice to know that someone is actually reading, though it does put more pressure on me. Must be funny. Must post more pictures. Must keep my two readers (I am being optomistic and doubling the number) glued ooey-gooey to their computer screens.

My sweetheart went hunting again last night, and came home empty handed. He was thinking about doing stuff around the house today, but instead will likely be sitting in a tree again. He is counting the number of day left in the season, what with that pesky holiday in the middle, and doesn't want to waste any possible days.

And if my talk about hunting offends anyone, I apologize. I personally would not be able to hunt, because I am squeamish. I would not be able to do the job my mother did (running the heart/lung machine during open-heart surgery) either. When we were caring for Grandma after her surgery, the nurses teased me because whenever they came in the room to check the dressing or, well, do anything, I quickly ran out of the room to fetch grandma more crushed ice or otherwise loiter in the hallway. In defense of hunting, I will only say that I don't see a difference between venison and beef, just because deer are cuter than cows. And in Indiana, they have even raised the bag limit this year because the deer population is unusually high. Obviously, the hunters aren't at risk of creating an endangered species (which would be a horse of a different color altogether.) The only legitimate condemnation of hunting I will accept is from vegetarians, in which case I hope that we can respectfully agree to disagree.

Today, it is all about the respect.

Negative knitting

It is my husband's fault that I didn't post yesterday. Not that I post every day or anything, but yesterday I felt like blogging, and it was his fault that I didn't. He took the camera. Hunting. Why he needed the camera while hunting, I have no idea, but mine is not to question why. I assume that it was in case he needed to document the hunt, which as it turned out was not needed. He spent the day watching squirrels and chipmunks, which I guess can be relaxing in itself.


I spent the day knitting, or at least attempting to knit. I decided since I was solo for the day, I would pick up neglected lace. I started Branching Out, well, a lot of months ago, and haven't touched in since. So I put on a movie, and went to work. I slid right through 8 out of 10 rows of the pattern repeat (half of which are purl entire row), and made the mistake of thinking "Ok, I am actually getting it. This isn't too bad." which should have been my first clue that something would go terribly wrong. Predictably, on row 9, I had two extra stitches at the end. I have reviewed row 9 eight times, and can find no error, so it may be that the error is in rows 1 through 7. Likely the patterned row before, since I had the correct number of stitches for that row, but I can't be exactly sure. Now, I am not working without a net here. I put in a lifeline, but you hope not to actually have to USE the lifeline. Just to make things worse, I noticed a dropped stitched a row or two before the lifeline. I was tempted just to tie a knot with a stray piece of yarn, and hide the ends in the lace, hoping that it would all magically disappear in the blocking. Now, I find that not only do I have to frog back to a lifeline, I have to frog back to the FIRST lifeline. Two whole pattern repeats. I only had three completed! I made a special point to lace knit yesterday (overcoming my odd reluctance to work on this scarf, which probably is based in numbing fear) and now not only do I have to remove everything thing I knit, but I have to undo TWICE as much as I accomplished yesterday. This is some cruel form of negative knitting! No wonder I dislike math.

My knitting time wasn't a complete waste yesterday. I worked on my second Pomotomus at Sock Club yesterday afternoon. I am almost afraid to look at it now, for fear I have to frog all of that too.




I also went through my knitting basket. I bought the basket while visiting my brother in Poland to hold my current WIP's. What I find is that it holds my current neglected and forgotten WIPs. The real ones are in my purse, workbag, on the coffee table, on the ktichen table, etc. (My husband is particularly fond of this.) So, I sorted through the basket, just to remind myself of what was in there. Not that much, actually. So either I am getting better about neglected WIPs, or I am finding better ways to hide them from myself. The search continues.





And since I recently posted my least favorite socks, I thought I would give equal time to my most favorite. (Is that a legitimate phrase? "Most favorite?") Behold, my Trek the Rib socks. Made from "Trekking" in the purple/blue colorway, in a garter rib stitch. I love these socks. I love the way the three plies gradually and randomly change colors as you knit. I love the simple yet classic stitch pattern creates a non-fussy, understated yet textured look. And for once, I was able to properly fit my own foot. I love these socks. I am wearing them now.



Happy Sunday to everyone, excuse me while I go frog lace.



Today, it is all about the negativity.

The Commandments of Lace Knitting

Deprived of my Secret wedding sock for the night, and momentarily bored with sock knitting, I picked up a not forgotten but long neglected ball out of my stash. I had fallen in love with this lone ball of Whisper in the clearance bin, and was assured that it would likely be enough for a lacy scarf, my first attempt at lace knitting. Branching Out from Knitty seemed like a reasonable first lace attempt. Challenging, but not insanely so.

I had cast on a while back, but encountered serious problems. After receiving two minutes of free knitting advice from the yarn store's knit doctor, I hadn't been able to bring myself to try again. The yarn is half mohair, and loosely spun, so I knew that frogging would be annoying, and the yarn wouldn't allow too many more mistakes.

Last night, I cast on again. A couple little errors, like a missing stitch on one side, until I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. (I think. Famous last words.) I finished one repeat, and stopped for the night.

However, after an incident or two, I feel the need to identify the Commandments of Lace Knitting, for all the non-knitters out there, my sweetie in particular.

1. If you see me working on this. . . . do not under any circumstances startle me. The needles are slick, the yarn doesn't stick, and if you cause me to drop a stitch I will take it out of your flesh.

2. Do not move the directions on my lace in progress, and especially do not touch the postie note on the chart.

3. The little green piece of paper tells me where I am in the pattern. This is not trash.

4. Be very careful whenever in the vicinity of my lace in progress. (See #1 above regarding the slickness/stickiness issue.) Do not push it aside, remove it from the table or chair, in fact, don't even touch it at all. And I think avoiding spilling Mountain Dew on it goes without saying.

5. Offer words of consolation and comfort if I am forced to recount my stitches and refer to my chart 3 times or more on the same row. A foot massage may be necessary if you see me ripping out stitches.

6. Do not, under any circumstances, remind me that I can buy a scarf for less than $10 at Walmart, or ask why I knit. It is a process, and if I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand.


Please note that violation of any one of these commandments at any time the lace is actively in progress will result in numerous fingerprints all over the chrome you just spent hours polishing. Unusually egregious violations may also involve grease, oil, and water drops on said chrome.

Signed, the knitter you live with and love anyway. . . .

Today, it is all about the lace.