Poor Neglected Blog

Wow - I have been a bad blogger for a few months now. Sorry about that (you know, to any of my faithful readers who have been leaving all those comments about my quietness...).

This month has been tough. It's had some really high highs, and then some really low lows. And the in between has been closer to the low than the high. So I'm definitely looking forward to October.

There has been knitting this month - lots of knitting. And you guys haven't seen any of it, so this will be a knitting post, for those who are uninterested and just check to make sure I'm alive - you can go about your business now.

First, I really should show you what I finished in August.
The Presto Cardigan. I love it! I wear it every chance I get. I think I might need to make another one in a different color. And I really should get a better picture, that one just looks goofy to me.

Onto the September knitting. I started a little sweater that I've had my eye on since the pattern was released, Goodale.
It saw a lot of knitting time on the road trip at the beginning of the month, and then it kind of sat for a little while, and then it just kind of slogged along there at the end (never ending purl rows will kill a persons will to knit, I tell ya). The above picture doesn't look all that fantastic I know (it's closer to the true color), it's not blocked yet. But look what happens after it's blocked:
So cute. A pain to block though. I love knitting cardigans and sweaters in general all in one piece (so nice not to have to seam) but I hate blocking them. Oh well, you can't have everything right? Tonight it should be dry enough to finish up (it might have been dry by now, but I only just managed to sew in the ends before Mom and I left for the Chicken BBQ yesterday). So I need to make a trip to JoAnn's to find some buttons, and tomorrow I should have a finished sweater, maybe I'll even get back on later this week to post about it - how crazy would that be?

I also started my "crazy project" for the next little while. I talked about it before - the Corrie Fair Isle Vest. I'm (amazingly) at the 25% mark (I told you I managed to get in some knitting this month), and I think it's looking really good:
And fun. It's fun to knit too, but I'm weird like that, fair isle will amuse me forever.
A little closer so you can see the colors better. Ignore the bumpiness, it needs to be blocked. I haven't worked on it much in the last week (as I was stuck with the slog of the project previously talked about), but I'll get back to it soon. The trick is to just knit a few rounds a day, and pretty soon your 8 inches into it.

I was overtaken with an urge to knit a pair of socks this month too (why no, I didn't finish the plain pair of socks that was started during two-a-days, I'm a grown up and can knit what I want).
The Sleepy Hollow Socks. So cool looking. I mean, look at the leaves!
Something else that will endlessly amuse me, little leaves in my knitting. I really am a simpleton. But I'm at the heel on the second sock, so it shouldn't take too long to wrap these up. Ha.

And then this weekend, I fell into a little black hole. I had to start this project. And then I had to keep going on it.
I mean, isn't it cool? What? You don't see the cute little owl?
It's adorable. But will be more so when finished. I don't know where my obsession with owls came from, but I love em. I may or may not have purchased yarn to do one for me in different colors...

And then there are 2 other projects this month that aren't shown. I finished the Tammy Wrap (a new pattern from KNOTS owner, Kate Jackson) but haven't gotten any pictures yet, hopefully today. And then there's a sekrit project. Not sure how long it will stay sekrit, now that I'm back at home, but we'll see.

Probably see you later this week with some updates and finished projects!

Knitting Content Only

So I thought that today would be a good day to focus on the knitting part of the blog - seeing as I'm still a few weeks away from the taping part of it. Anyway, haven't knitted since last Friday. Very bad. But it's still ridiculously hot here in Mentor and I needed to get some other (knit) things done and out of the way. And I found some fun new things - to be discussed a little later.

So today after work, I went to the office supply store and got a new (pretty) binder and folders and page protectors and other stuff, but all that was to better organize all my WIP's and all those wonderful things I long to start to knit. And then I proceeded to figure out the blankets to be made for soon-to-be-arriving niece and nephew and wrote them out. Then I wrote out the pattern that my sister expressed some interest, and then the "Ballband Dishcloth" pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting, so that all my library books could be returned on time tomorrow after work. Woohoo. No I just have to organize and put them all away. No problem.

The other knit related thing that took up some of my time this evening was me joining some KAL's. Maybe I've gone a bit crazy, but I found a link on a blog I was reading for a list of KAL's, and wouldn't you know it, the second from the top is a Football-Along. Now, anyone who knows me will know that there was no way, absolutely no way possible, that I would not click on that link and sign up as soon as I figured out that it combines football and knitting. So I did. Then I go back to the list and scroll down. And what do I find? One called "Black and Gold KAL". Hmmm, could it possibly be that somehow there is a sight devoted to combining my love of the Steelers and my love of knitting in a way to meet other people just as obsessed with those two things as I am? Surely not. So I clicked on it.

And there it was, a knit-along devoted to people who love the Black and Gold - whether it be the Steelers, the Pirates, the Penguins, or any other team with the colors of black and gold. But seeing as it is done up by someone in Pittsburgh, I think it's safe to say that I will see many wonderful idea for some Steeler knits for the fam. Now I just have to get all my other projects done so that I can start something. So excited. Can't wait to figure out how to get the button on here somehow.

I promise that tomorrow night, there will be some knitting. Hopefully some finishing of a pair of socks and a right front panel to a cardigan in seafoam green. (It's supposed to be significantly cooler here tomorrow, can you tell?)

P.S. I can't tell you how bummed I am that I missed out on the Mystery Stole 3 PHENOMENON that is taking place over with Pink Lemon Twist. Silly vacation getting in the way of new knitting projects. So jealous of everyone who is having fun with the lace making and beading. Next year......

A Brief History of Knitting (according to me)

Once upon a time, let's say the summer of 2002, my sister Ellen, and a friend decided that they wanted to learn how to knit. So they bought a kit and "learned." So, she was excited and wanted to teach me. I said alright and went with it. I was intrigued. So I went out and bought a small pamphlet thingy that described the basics of knitting. Soon, I moved onto purling, with a little help from my mom. My sister was a little irritated. Then I said, heck, I wonder how easy it is to crochet?! So I went out a bought a kit, and in the course of an afternoon had taught myself to crochet. And seeing as it's easier and faster to crochet, I dropped the knitting needles and went on a whirlwind of afghan making.

For the next three years, I always had a blanket in progress, if not more than one. I made hats and mittens and scarves for my roommates the first year, but after that I stuck to blankets. Needless to say, I ran out of people to make afghans for. So last spring, I went out and bought "Stitch'n'Bitch". And from that, I taught myself to knit, again. But this time, I learned to hold the yarn in the left hand, which seemed to me, so much easier, and more natural. I don't know it's because I did so much crocheting or that I just think it goes faster. And so, for the past year, I have had at least one project on my needles at any given time. My mother thinks it's unhealthy to have so many unfinished projects, but her friend who is a knitter says that it's completely normal. And in the various blogs of knitters that I've read, I think that only having 2 or 3 projects at a time is pretty good.

To this point I have made this: the "Berry Tart" hat from Knitty's website (isn't my goddaughter Kaylee the cutest!!!!) I know it's not the best pic of the hat itself, but it's the best of her in the hat.

And this:

My brother Tommy showing his displeasure at my asking for him to try on the camouflage beanie. He's a Marine stationed in Okinawa and it was like 75 degrees that evening.

My biggest achievement thus far has been: the Samus sweater from Knitty. This is my wonderful cat, Maddie, luxuriating in the pure, undyed, sheepy-ness of the sweater. It seriously smells like the wool was just shorn from the sheep, it's natural wool color. So, think of that when purchasing wool, the dyed stuff has at least been washed.

I have yet to block the sweater, I don't know what I'm waiting for exactly. I am a little afraid due to the fact that I don't know how to block exactly. I can read the directions, but in each book or magazine I read, they outline a different method, so I'm not quite sure which to do. I'll get around to it eventually. Not in too big of a hurry, hopefully spring has finally come to northeast Ohio.