Wednesday, August 27, 2008

All set for Stitch 'n' Pitch

I just bought our tickets to the local Stitch 'n' Pitch game, which will be on September 14. The Oakland A's will play... baseball. (Texas something. Lone Stars?)

The wonderful gal at my newly discovered LYS (11 miles away as the crow flies, 15.4 miles if the crow drives a Subaru station wagon) has discovered that we are definitely getting goody bags. This was a big selling point at home.

"You know, I bought us tickets to a baseball game."
"No. I don't want to go."
"It's called Stitch 'n' Pitch, knitting and baseball, isn't that cute?"
"So it's like knitting baseball?"
"Um, kinda."
"Cool. As long as it's not the A's."
"Um... it is the A's. But they'll have goody bags."
"Oh, OK."

Should be fun! Even if baseball is deadly boring to me most of the time. I hear they sell large beers. And we can take transit there. Plus knitting? Sold!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

219.

Oh, good God. I have just updated my stash photos again, and now have 219 yarns in my stash list on Ravelry. That's 219 types of yarn, not 219 balls. Holy cow. (654 total balls. Holy cowherd.)

I think I'd better get knitting!

Fortunately, the back of the purple "summer" sweater is finally going well. I'm within 2 rows of casting off for the neck shaping. And then I can move on with my life--perhaps with a pair of fronts!

The Windowpane socks are ready for heel-turning, which I may do during G's martial arts class tonight, after I've done a bit of shopping (TJ's is close by).

I'm still a little overwhelmed by the stash thing. My Ravelympics task was to organize my stash, which I have been doing, and taking photos and entering info is a big step toward that end (oh, I just realized I have many more balls of the Finullgarn downstairs, uncataloged. sigh. It's going to be great for stranded knitting, but it is a little defeating to consider!).

I do need to get all the sock yarn together in one place. It's now in at least three. (And yes, I have even more sock yarn than I thought I did. Can't wait for Ravelry to allow subsections of yarn, so I can sequester off the sock yarn and really know how much I have. I had never even entered in the Trekking skeins I have. And some "Hot Socks" that came from I know not where.)

But I am enjoying my projects currently (as they are currently behaving), and seeing a little teeny light at the end of the tunnel. And, as always, itching to cast on still more projects...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Serenity NOW!

Finally finished the back of the purple cardigan, up to the neck shaping--and it was as the Yarn Harlot has said, you knit and knit and knit and you measure and have made zero progress. Then you knit and knit, and you've actually shot past your goal. Well, I didn't shoot past it, but I did make it, and set out to do the decreases for the neck shaping.

Too many stitches. Damn. When I ripped back to make the back shorter, I bound off 8 stitches on each side (God forbid I look at the pattern to double-check) and continued on my merry way.

Small consolation: I should have bound off 11 on each side, and when I redo the top half of the back for the third time, at least it should go faster, as it will be on fewer stitches. (Yes, my math whizzes, 6 whole fewer stitches, but hey, it should go faster, right?)

I have already started ripping. I really want this cardigan to be done!

Monday, August 04, 2008

Here's to being transported

I just started the Windowpane Socks from the latest IK--not that I always pick out a project from the latest magazine and just cast on, but that the needle size & gauge matched the yarn I wanted to knit with, a chocolate-brown Opal 4-ply. The pattern calls for a solid and a variegated yarn, and when I spotted it, I thought of a mainly-orange-toned yarn I'd been given in a swap a bit back. When I got the yarn, I kinda cringed and stuffed it into my sock-yarn box.

But now that I'm knitting with the two, I'm enchanted, absolutely transported. The pattern itself is very simple (and could be more exciting, I think), but it really works so far.

I'm knitting them on two 2.5mm circulars instead of the dpns I was given at Christmas. I think I like it better, at least for stranded knitting.

But I'm looking forward to the solid-color heel!

Friday, August 01, 2008

When you can't knit

I have a hard time with my limited knitting time as it is. Makes me jealous, if just a little, of those who have jobs where they wait for the phone to ring, and kind of get paid to knit. I always want to get more done, more things knit, more things started and finished.

But now, with my lovely lateral epicondylitis, I'm even more fidgety. I knit two rows night-before-last before quitting due to that prickly feeling in my elbow. Dang it.

Maybe I can put my time to designing mom's round-necked pullover on paper instead.

sulk.