Bummer.

My first, and only, hand spun socks.  Rats.

Hope your day was better than this.

New Beginnings

One of the things I love about my job, and about knitting, is that we get to take things in small bites, and begin again whenever we want.

It's the beginning of a new semester here at my high school, and students are setting new goals for themselves, prepping new folders with promises to stay organized, and reveling in the fact that they all have 100% in my class for at least one day.  The school year has such a comforting and predictable cycle.  Students rev up for the beginning of the semester, work hard through the term until they get to a hard unit, or forget to turn in an assignment.  Each of them deals with the increased stress in different ways.  Some give up.  Some ask for help.  Some buckle down and put forth one extreme effort.  But one way or another, the semester comes to an end with one stressful week filled with tests asking them to sum up their knowledge in a 90 minute final exam.  This week, our exams are over, and we have a few different faces in our classes just to change the dynamics up a bit.  Honestly, I love this.  In what other job can you start fresh with a clean slate?   Even with the snow flying today, Hope is poking her head up and giving me new enthusiasm for working with my students.

Isn't knitting like that sometimes?  You fall in love with a yarn, or a pattern and knit with great gusto until you hit a hard bit.  Often I choose projects for social knitting, and when I get to the shaping, I need some quiet time at home to work through the counting parts. . .Sometimes I stall out when I make a mistake and am loathe to rip it out.  Other times, I'll leave projects sitting without buttons for months. . .dreading the final finishing work (It takes minutes!  What am I thinking?).  Or a sleeve can my undoing at times--I've been known to have multiple sweaters done but for the sleeves.  Blocking, seaming, repairing, all of these take me away from the project I once loved; but with knitting, I don''t have a teacher encouraging me to muscle through to the end.  Don't you think our finished objects a bit like our final exams?  When we wear a new scarf or shawl, or slide into that new sweater, we know that we've finished.  We've gotten to the end of our "semester" and can proudly (or in the case of some of my students, humbly) say to the world, "Look at what I did!  Aren't I clever?"

What final exams haven't you taken yet?  A friend is waiting to spend a gift certificate at her LYS until she finishes all of her UFOs.  Another must complete two objects before she can cast on one.  Yet another promises to have less than three UFOs by the end of 2011.  Our guild promised no casting on during Lent for a few years in a row in hopes of clearing away the rubble in our knitting baskets.  We all find ways to create intrinsic motivation for pushing ahead to the final exam.  Or avoiding it.  My UFO pile is somewhat staggering.

I finished a design this weekend and posted it on Ravelry for sale.  My mittens have thumbs.  A sweater and hat made it to completion, and I frogged a small project I know I'll never finish.  I'm eager to start my new semester and find out where my quest for knitting knowledge takes me. . .but instead, I think I'll dig into the UFO pile and finish up at least one final exam first.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Mitten Mojo

I love to knit mittens.  Love.  So when I encouraged members of the Black Sheep Knitting Guild to join me in a knit along this month, I thought there would be no problems.  I suggested three patterns of varying complexity, and figured I’d finally make myself a pair of Hedgerow mitts.  (I cannot tell you how many times I’ve printed that pattern, and contemplated what yarn I’d use to knit them!)  Eagerly, I finished the sweater I was working on, and dreamt about the mittens I’d be knitting.

Black sheep were casting on mitts left and right. . .Harriet has several pair completed already.  Kelley is making a beautiful pair, and I have yarn to match hiding in my stash! Several knitters began talking about Meta Mittens, a pattern  I purchased this fall, and have yet to cast on.

But instead of beginning my mitts, I cast on another sweater.  I’m eager to burn through some stash yarn this winter.  And after all, there is a pair of mittens that matches the sweater.  That counts, right?   

Also, knowing I’ll be teaching next month at our guild meeting, I began doing some color work designing.  I knit one mitten with black sheep on it, and as you can see, the sheep don’t look so much like sheep as they do black blobs with blobby faces.

As the sweater got heavier, I tried to move on the mitten KAL, it would be embarrassing if I didn’t get a pair knit this month, after trying to ramp up everyone else’s excitement.  And after all, the sweater wasn’t such good social knitting any more with its weight.  I chose two skeins of sock yarn and prepared to cast on my Hedgerows last Monday.  Suzanne convinced me that my dark hand spun sock yarn would not be the best choice, so I cast on in a bright yellow.

After a bit of work, the color and pattern just didn’t seem to be a good match.  I pulled the needles, chose a new yarn and went back to my sweater.  And began work on a hat design. . .The Hedgerows? In a new yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed), but hibernating for a bit.

The sweater is done.  A matching hat is done.   

The Fair Isle hat pattern is nearly ready for publication.   

And a pair of chunky mittens to match the sweater?  Waiting for thumbs

. 

Perhaps my mitten mojo is back.  It just took knitting other things to find it.

The podcast is up. . .if you're interested in listening, the link is here.  Let me know what you think!

Absenteeism

After a long absence, is it necessary to explain where you've been?  Sometimes I wonder how time gets away from us, and how things pull our interest in different directions.  Suffice it to say that I've been engaged in knitting lots of wonderful things and learning plenty about life.  How about you?

I've spent some time recently thinking about how to best use my knitting time.  In the last six months or so I've knit a lot of samples, developed several patterns for workshops at my LYS, and prepared things for gift giving.  I've swatched, knit from stash, and have been busy learning how to use some new design software.  All of these activities have sparked my imagination, pushed my skills, and had me dreaming about the future.  I've begun to label myself differently, both in my head, and out-loud.  Where once I thought of myself as just a knitter, I'm now changing that definition of myself.  I'm a teacher.  I'm innovative.  I create things.  I'm artistic.  I'm a designer.

I've been vision casting a bit, and dreaming about what my life will look like in 5, 10 and 15 years.  What do I want to be doing?  What do I want my life to be like?  Who do I want to be surrounded by?  I have some things written down, and things still percolating.  I'm not sure how this oft neglected blog will figure in to those plans, but I hope to be spending more time here. . .but I think I say that every year, and then beat myself up about not posting as regularly as I "should".  Several new patterns will be posted to Ravelry soon, and one will hopefully be up on the Knit Michigan website sometime in February.  I have a couple of design proposals I'm preparing for some publications--so keep your fingers crossed!  And will be featured on a podcast this weekend.  Listen in, and let me know what you think.  I'm a bit anxious about it, but you can be honest and tell me if I sound like an arrogant boob or a bumbling idiot.  Hopefully Lara will edit out the stupid bits.

Two sweaters have recently made it to the finished object pile, and several hats and mitts are on their way.  Interested in having a peek?

Dear Linda,

Thanks to you, I am diligently working on my gauge swatch hat, and am previewing the colors.  I'm not sure if I'll get it completed prior to leaving, but I am working on it.  Are you proud?
Love,
T


For the rest of you?

Hoping your knitting is going well. . .Soon I'll be seeing this:

Wish you were all coming with me.  Wish me good weather, good friends, and good fun--see you soon!

Pictures From Camp

The sheer amount of sweaters there are in our classroom is amazing.  Many were knit by Elizabeth, but others by Meg. . .I feel like I want to have about 8 different sweaters knit up to the yoke so that I can try out one of the interesting techniques that were taught today. . .it was sort of like a live version of "Knitting Glossary"!  Have a bavarian twisted stitch hat on the needles that I hope to make progress on tonight, but for now, it's nap time!

Wish you were here. . .

Road Trips, Dells, Curds and Knitting

On the road to knitting camp.  Promised to post at least one sentence and one picture each day--and it's midnight at home, but only 11:00 here, so I figure I'm safe.

Spent last night with a friend, Isabella wasn't too happy for the company, but Dorcus and I were pleased to be able to relax in the comfort of a home, rather than a no-tell-motel.

Today was a leisurely trip on the hunt for good shopping, good eating and full of laughter.

Went to Nancy's Notions, and bought some goodies. . .tried to take a picture with Nancy, but aparently she was camera shy!

Found a great place for lunch--or was it our breakfast? with an excellent view of a Piggly Wiggly!  Wanted curds, but wanted them fresh, rather than fried, so we're still on the hunt.

Found a local yarn store that will be celebrating it's grand opening this weekend.  Really, a super sweet shop, and the owner helped us plan the rest of our day.

We intended to head to three other stops, but time got the best of us, and we needed to get to our destination.  We drove past the Dells--and wondered. . .what is a dell anyway? Saw some bogs that were growing cranberries, and many other farms growing undetermined crops (we think they should put up signs on the side of the road for tourists), and a bit of wild life too.

Made it to dinner just in time. . . and ate with Michelle from Schoolhouse Press.  Found our seats in the classroom and were delighted to be sitting near Jennie the Potter. . .who had just gotten an email from Suzanne!  Several otther nice knitters who've all been to camp more than once made sure to give us the scoop, so we're prepared for tomorrow.

Lots of inspiration in the classroom, and we haven't even begun the instruction yet!  We feel like we've put in about a week's worth of a journey and have only been gone for a couple of days.  sheesh.  More tomorrow, with pictures of EZ's sweaters. . .

TTYL!