This very moment

In this very moment I am

:: Picking up my knitting again and starting over on the insouciant for the third time.

:: Enjoying the sound of the rain hitting hard on my windows.

:: Eating grapes from my great grandmother's china. It now lives with us and we love it.

:: Looking forward to the new semester that starts on Monday. 

:: Contemplating making and useing washable cotton rounds for removing make-up etc.   

Crafting...

After another knitting failure, I gave up on knitting today. Don't worry I'll return to it shortly, but for now it is out of the question.

But I cannot do nothing, so I turned to another craft... Free hand embroidery.
I needed a little inspiration and affirmation, so I ended up stitching the following:

It is entirely free hand, I didn't even write it out. When I began stitching what became the first s, I was simply stitching waiting for an idea to hit me. That was when these words popped into my mind. She is crafting a greener tomorrow. This is what I hope to do.

And just because I know you are wondering, my knitting failure was such a beginner mistake. I twisted my cast on for the insouciant. tsk, tsk.

Massive knitting failure.

This was not a fun experience, but I did learn a lot from it and if there is one thing I don't want this blog to do, it is to paint a perfect picture of my life. Too many folks only post the picture perfect, to me the new movement of people being real is much more attractive, so here goes the story of my massive knitting failure:

I was on a roll with Christmas 2012 knitting and done long before the fact. All was good, I knitted socks for my man and both my parents in delicious cashmere infused sock yarn. Only the best for my loved ones.
Well, January came along and the failures appeared.

Massive knitting failure #1
When my dad washed his socks the first time they became a little snug, but they still fitted him. Then he washed them a second time. Woe is me. My dad didn't fit them, my man didn't fit them, my mum didn't fit them. And as this turns into the Goldilocks, it turned out the socks now fitted me perfectly.
So this failure had an okay result. I got a much needed soft pair of socks, but my dad is now one pair of socks further from his goal of wearing only handknitted socks.

Massive knitting failure #2
Then there is my mum's Christmas socks. They haven't shrunk yet, but... I made one sock one repeat short of the horrible, but beautiful pattern.. Now I was thinking, no biggie, right?! Just rip out the toe, add a repeat and knit the toe again. Woe is me. I had opened the toe before I remembered that I had knit them toe up. I was able to graft the toe, so instead of re-knitting the entire sock, I now only have to re-knit 2/3 of it.
Oh and the left over sock yarn? It has already been knitted into squares for my sock yarn blanket, so those have to be ripped...

Massive knitting failure #3
I had made a giant effort in order to have another pair of socks ready for my dad on his birthday (today) and he was elated when he got them. He then proceded to put them on and his ancles must have grown bigger, because they didn't fit at all. Well the entire sock fitted, but the cuff was too tight. So I began ripping out the cast off when I realized that it wasn't a cast off, it was a cast on. Woe is me.
It is still unclear if this can be fixed or if I have to re-knit both socks entirely.

What I learned from my massive knitting failures
:: Don't buy expensive cashmere sock yarn, ever. Stick to the yarn you know and love.
:: Always make sure you have the same amounts of  repeats on both socks and that the socks are long
   enough. Check it three times.
:: Always use the surprisingly stretchy bind off/cast on for socks
:: Knitting is a hobby, aka it is not the end of the world if something goes wrong and by the way,
   most failures are fixable.

2013 dreams

In 2013 I dream of:
:: adding more knitted pieces to my wardrobe
:: reading 20 books
:: baking more breads
:: do more embroidery
:: spend more time with family and friends
:: make gifts for my parents and my man

I wish you a very great new year.

Christmas Swap

Today my swap package from the 1001 books you must read before you die group Christmas swap came and it is wonderful.
I have no chance of taking pictures, but I will describe it for you.
I got 4 books:
The Thirteen Clocks
The Wonderful "O"
Possessing the Secret of Joy
Like Water for Chocolate

And the most wonderful yarn from the Neighborhood Fiber Co. called  Maisonette DK in the colour Thomas Circle. It is a 50% merino 50% tussah silk blend and it is sooo soft.

pic. from their website linked above.

On top of that, there were some dried pears that I can't wait to taste. I have never had dried pears before, but I like pears in their natural state.

There were also 3 bags of teas, that I will drink when I need to relax after long days of studying next month.

I must admit that I was a bit scared I would get something I wouldn't want. I had never been in a swap before and although I trust and love the ladies over in our group, I was weary of the concept as such. I was blown away by the gift I got and by the kindness of one of the ladies who offered to pay for my postage. She made it possible for me to join in and she holds a special part in my heart because of it. 

Stash enhancement all around

Yesterday I did a little shopping in my hometown LYS. I like spending my money there since it supports a family friend.
I got this lovely linen yarn to make Kage by Kirsten Johnstone:

Linea:: colour skifer, Karen Noe

pic. from pattern on Ravelry

I'm very excited to make it and think it could become a new favourite. But I couldn't decide what colour to make it in, so I also got this wonderful linen:

dunlin :: colour 06

 And as soon as I came home I knew I wanted to turn the second colour into this beauty:

pic. from pattern on Ravelry

It's Insouciant by Julie Hoover, originally made with silk but I think it will be pretty in linen. 

I might have a thing for linen. The pattern calls for a 5 mm needle, but to get gauge and a fabric I liked, I had to go down to 3,5 mm holding to strands together. This is likely to be the next project on my needles.

The stash enhancement didn't stop there, I also got half the yarn for Array by Shibui Knits:

the yarn is less blue, much more purple than pictured

pic. from pattern on Ravelry

So now I have yarn for 3 things in my queue, that currently holds 11 items, which in my mind is a very doable amount to knit over the years. My stash is a little big for my liking with 4 yarns in it, but that will change soon enough.

WIP Wednesday

The unthinkable happened. I ran out of knitting! How did I run out of knitting? Well, I finished the top boarder of the shawl:

The top part will be folded over and sewn to create a double thickness boarder. The shawl is huge now.

Then I sent the remaining yarn home with my in-laws (I also sent our camera, so you are stuck with bad iPod photos this week). The next step is to steak the shawl, which I've done plenty of times, but this is one big shawl so I would like a big table. Then there is picking up 800+ stitches and knitting around 40 rounds.   

Getting the shawl done before 2013 still seems unattainable when you think of the ca. 32.000 stitches I have yet to knit on it.

Friday I was done with the shawl and needed a new project, especially as my SILs and I were having our monthly knitting meetup on Sunday. I had been looking for a pattern to do with the heathered pink Wool of the Andes from a dear friend in the States. The original plan was to knit the French Press Slippers, she had gifted me the pattern and all. But at least two balls of yarn had been cut into. My man, who opened the package, swears he didn't use anything but his hands to do it, so I'm suspecting it went through customs. Oh well, nothing you can do about it. Since I needed every cm of the yarn for the slippers I decided not to bother and simply find another pattern. And while I wouldn't mind having this colour on my feet to remind me of a lovely lady, it isn't really a colour I would wear elsewhere. 

When I found the Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down, I knew I wanted to make it. So Saturday I cast on for it and Monday it looked like this:

The body is complete. I then wanted to make the sleeves, but I don't own 5,5 mm DPNs and I dislike magic looping, so I went on to the collar, read the pattern for it and knit the first 4 rows, then it hit me, this little thing is supposed to have 4 buttons. There are no button holes in the pattern. By then I was slightly annoyed and decided to let go of the needles before some real damage was done.

I keep telling myself that one day without knitting is managable. I could read on the ferry home Tuesday, and today I can figure out where to place the buttons with my mum. I can steal borrow a pair of 5,5 mm DPNs, which I'm hoping she has and I can use her giant dining table for the steaking. And then magically I will have plenty of knitting again. 

I think I might go back to working monogamously on the shawl, because I'm so close to being done, that I can almost taste it.