Knitting

Today I'm going to talk about knitting. No, this is not because my brain is like a sieve and I can't think of anything else to talk about. I made a handy dandy list in my handy dandy PDA and have a whole series of blog posts lined up. Today I just feel like talking about knitting. I had a not so great day at school and knitting is therapeutic for me so that's what we are going to talk about. If you think that's boring, you can stop reading now, if not go on...

I have decided to *mostly* subscribe to a practice of knitting monogamy. This stemmed from the realization that I had 10 no 11, no 12 different projects going on at once. 6 of which were socks. Three of which are destined to be frogged. So my new theory is that for every big project I finish I must complete one pair of socks in progress. This should cut my UFO count down quite a bit, but I can still start a new "big" project for everyone I finish. I know the math doesn't work out, but it makes me feel better. Projects like Ellen's afghan are so big they are an exempt to the rule, and there will always be one pair of socks in the car for travel knitting. So, maybe it's not really going to cut down the numbers, but since I've been subscribing to this new monogamous way of life things are getting done. The socks from the last post were the first pair to get out of the queue (just 5 and a half more socks to knit!!). A blanket for nephew to be popped out just before them (full disclosure-it still needs end weaving and blocking, but I count it as done!). Before that it was the toddler size sweater for said nephew:

So, I felt that all the finishing allowed for the thrill of a new beginning. IN WOOL. After knitting with cotton, which is tough on my wrists, acrylic, which I usually just find icky, and bamboo, which was a new fiber experience and not as enjoyable as I was hoping (there's something weird about knitting bamboo yarn on bamboo needles don't you think?), I was in desperate need of wool. I love wool. So I planned to start on Rogue which I totally adore, and started once before but the wool was too bulky so I made something else, and bought different yarn to do, but it needed to wound into a ball and my fingers were craving wool too much to spend time dragging out the swift. So this is what has popped on and off my needles since late Friday afternoon:

It is the back to Kate Gilbert's Sunrise Circle Jacket in Filatura Di Crosa Primo, color 267, that I got at the Webs tent sale early in the summer. It is a really pretty ice blue that the picture doesn't do justice. I was a little worried, because even though I love the sweater, my last flirtation with a KG pattern was not a success. I still might be the only knitter in the universe that does not own a clapotis. In retrospect I probably should have started with one of the fronts since that's were the interest and therefore the difficultly would be, but I have this concrete sequential way of doing things and the pattern starts with the back so I made the back. I like the pattern so far, especially the turned up hem detail. But, man, it's curly. I'm going to spray block the back before I do the seaming, but I think it's going to need a full on severe blocking when the whole thing is through.

This is the fastest I have ever completed any piece of a sweater. I don't feel that I knit a lot this weekend. In fact, I know one contiguous 10 hour chunk of Saturday was taken up by reading Harry Potter cover to cover, so I couldn't have knit that much. Maybe I'm just getting faster. I guess that stands to reason.

So there it is, I'm down to 10 WIPs. So what did I do? Exactly what you would think. I volunteered to be a test knitter for this pattern. I've never been a test knitter before. Before ravelry, I didn't have enough contact with other knitters to see the process in any stage other than a finished pattern. I think the tank is absolutely gorgeous and I'm really excited to knit it. So I did some swatches from a couple of odd balls I had lying around, and picked one I loved, and ordered up enough to do the tank. I'm waiting *patiently* for it to arrive. And yes, it's mostly wool :). Ok, so being honest 11 WIPs. Maybe I'll just try to keep it under a dozen.

So that's what I've been up to. Harry Potter and obsessive knitting. Welcome to my version of escapism.