Must Keep Knitting

I feel as if I have gone a bit crazy with yarn lately.  I currently have five projects on the needles right now:

• I started a cable blanket for my bed.  I’ve already used 1 of the 8 skeins of yarn I have for it. 
• I still haven’t finished the stag bag, but who can blame me?  I’m to the point of a whole back of boring stockinette.  I need excitement. 
• I finished one of the Classic wool socks and was a bit dissatisfied with it, so I dread starting the next one….but I feel bad about having one lonely sock. 
• This past summer, I began crocheting a doily and boy was that a mistake.  Tiny crochet needles are not the most fun thing to use. 
• After I got my package from my secret swapper, I immediately had to start using the Misti Alpaca Sport in Forest Green because it was so soft.  It called to me at night - “use me, use me.”  So, I searched for a scarf pattern (because that’s what it told me it wanted to be) and began making Argosy.

Now Christmas is soon approaching.  I told myself earlier this year that I was not  going to knit any presents.  It is so much easier to buy something.  However, there is so much that I want to make that it is easy to shorten my list by making stuff for other people.  I have 5 people to knit for and yarn for one of them.   So, reader, I am warning you to be prepared for the frenzy of my knitting this season.  I will probably rarely have an FO to share.  I will probably have dozens of projects on the needles at a time.  I will gripe about how much I hate knitting and how bad my shoulder hurts, but I will never mean it and I will never let my yarn hear it.

I have proof that I have gone a bit insane with wanting to make everything.  I went through all of my knitting magazines and books to put a tab by everything I want to make.  I used over 100 tabs.  I know you are probably thinking “that’s nothing.”  I also have thousands of patterns saved in my favorites, two binders overflowing with papers, and a file in my documents made just for knitting patterns.  Not to mention, I have thousands of ideas swarming in my head for patterns I want to design.  You may be a bit crazier in this than I am, because I have been only knitting for roughly a year, but *Sigh*  deciding what to make is so stressful!  

 Well, I am going to go start making a pair of socks for me with some luscious Miss Babs Yarn!

 Happy Knitting,

Katie

The boyfriend named this post.  He said he would laugh everytime he read it.  Quoting him, “it’s like having a bear on a leash, but tamer.”

Fall break began on Wednesday.  Since the boyfriend went home that night and I was on duty, I worked dilligently on my Luxe Ripple Throw.  Guess what! I finished it.  It’s home is on the back of my papason chair.  I thought a finished blanket would be a nice surprise for the boyfriend to return home to.

On Thursday, I was in a painting mood.  I had a wooden letter “K” to paint, since the boyfriend broke the old one.  I also wanted to make some magnets from clothespins.  However, silly me had to go and make a mess.  My paints weren’t mixed very well - watery on top and gloopy at the bottom - so, I decided they needed a good shaking.  I was picking up each one, shaking it, then taking the lid off.  I picked up the fourth paint, shook it, and before I could do anything to stop it, blue paint flew everywhere.  It was all over my pants and my carpet.  I couldn’t reach the papertowels without spreading it over the carpet even more.  After I wiped it up a bit, I took my pants off to throw them in the laundry.  I had to scrub my floor all weekend before the stains were unnoticable.

Friday was a day for cleaning and knitting.  My room looked better after some more scrubbing on the carpet.  I also finished the Classic Wool Sock that I began working on in the summer.  It took most of the day, but I was determined.  I was tired of working on it.  I hate socks!  Now I just need to finish the other one and I’m through with socks!….abut then again, there was that beautiful sock yarn at the LYS that I want… and I found some great sock patterns.

My parents came to visit me again on Saturday.  They brought the puppy!!  We ate lunch at the Trolly Stop, went to a few stores downtown, visited the local yarn store, then headed off to the Moses Cone Manor craft center off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I was walking around outside with the dog, when this mountainish looking man said “aww, what a cute puppy.”  I looked over at him to say thanks, when I saw that he had a goat…on a leash!  What meant to be thank you came out “Wow..cool!”  He let me pet his goat, which later tried to eat the porch railing on the historic house.  It was hilarious to watch everyone’s heads turned as this man walked by with his goat.  As he was leaving he made sure to tell me by because I seemed to be the only one that kept talking about how cool it was to have a goat.  After leaving the manor, we pulled off on the side of the road so that I could take pictures of some horses.  In the same spot, I noticed that two trees in the field had graves underneath them.  It was a little creepy and made me think the family that owns the land has some big family secret.  Later that night, I worked on putting together my boyfriend’s bulletin board.  I must say, I think it turned out pretty great.  I also began working on the “Five Easy Cables” Afghan from Big Needle Knit Afghans.

Sunday was long and boring.  I had too much homework to do, and I didn’t even finish it all.  The boyfriend and I decided we needed some fresh air and that we would do our homework in the park.  Of course, that didn’t happen.  We ended up just laying around lazily in the sun, enjoying the fall weather before it disappears.  I did, however, manage to read a chapter in two different books and write a paper.  I feel as if something was accomplished.  I just have another paper and studying for a test to go.  But I MUST KNIT!  (which is what I am off to do now!)

 Here are some pictures of the puppy, as promised:

Happy Knitting, Kate

 PS:  I got my package from my secret swapper.  I am so thrilled!  And she’s sending me more…(2 skeins of yarn were missing. I also finished a hat from Knitting Loves Crochet a few weeks ago.

It has been almost a month since my last post.  I’ve been meaning to update for so long, but life gets in the way.  I really haven’t had anything to show off anyway.  I have finished the Striped Scarf and Cinchy Hat!

Right now, I’m currently working on the Luxe Ripple throw from Crochet Today (Feb ‘07).  I’m actually almost done with it!  I’m missing one of the yarns because it is no longer made, so the blanket might turn out shorter than the one made in the magazine.  So far, it looks like it might be wider than it is long.

My secret swapper received her package.  I bought her 3 hanks of Cascade 220 in 2 different colors of blue so she could make the Damask bag from Berroco (I plan on making this for my sister some time - It is her wedding pattern.)  I also made her a scrapbook/ travel guide of different bags to make while in different cities of Italy.  I haven’t received my package yet due to complications with a LYS order.  I’m waiting anxiously!!

Some other craft news, I am going to start working on my other website more in order to bring some yarn and patterns into your home.  I hope this endeavor is successful.  I am so excited to hear some input, so if you have any types of yarns you would love to see or any types of projects you are interested in making, let me know.  This website will be for you - knitter or crocheter.

Outside of the world of yarn, my parents came to visit me last weekend to bring me a new bike because my old bike’s seat was bent out of place, the peddle fell off, and my shocks were not in the greatest shape.  The week before that, my brother broke his collar bone after flipping over the handlebars of his back.  He is doing well though.  The weekend prior to that accident, I went home to see my sister’s new puppy!  She is a mix between a Chiuaua and a Pomeranian.  I’ll post a picture of her sometime.

Happy Knitting,

 Kate