Knitting In The North

Obsession

Ravelry has struck again, and obsession has taken me over.  The Snow White sweater pattern is all my little heart has ever desired in a sweater.  Pretty, fitted, not too fitted, sexy, not too sexy, great neckline, amazing details.  I've been looking at it the last few days, here and there.  Today began the inevitable stash diving, and I think I've come up with something just right.  I have some Cash Iroha in my stash that I had earmarked for the Hourglass Sweater.  Now, this seems oh so much better.

I'm trying to be strong, and wait until I finish some of the knitting already on my needles.  Any bets as to how long I'll hold out?

A Whole Lotta Hats

Here are the little hats I knit up for our upcoming Fall Fair, although I confess I kept the green one (I didn't follow any particular pattern on this one, just knit ribbing for about an inch, and then decreased after a couple of inches of stocking stitch).  The purple one is the Cotton Hat from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts that I made a while back for Gwenyth.  She wouldn't wear it, not even once, so I though someone else should have the use of it.  The two blue and white ones are from the book, Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, one of my new favourites for baby knits. 

I had every intention of knitting a few more, but was weak and distracted by that beautiful sock yarn.  (The pattern, by the way, is called Waterfall, as is the yarn, and is from Woolgirl.com, although I don't know if it's available for purchase, or only as part of the sock club.)  I finished the first sock today, and plan to cast of for the second this evening.  I'm still in love with the yarn, which is great.  Often, I find I love a yarn during the first sock, and then simply tolerate it while I knit the second.

Since I've decided not to join any more swaps at the moment, KALs have been my new thing.  I've joined two recently:

• The Holiday KAL CAL is motivation and accountability for all that holiday knitting coming up shortly.  I heard about it on the She-Knits podcast, and it looks like fun!  Since you know I have some big holiday projects planned, I'm hoping this KAL will help keep me on track.
• The Second Wave Clapotis KAL is for those of us who missed the Clapotis obsession the first time around!  I've long been planning to knit this pattern, so perhaps this will get me going.  Although I admit, it's not the best time of year for it.  I might not actually begin this pattern for a while, as I really do need to be making progress on the Christmas knitting.

I was driving around today, and was caught several times by the sight of a breeze blowing fallen leaves across the street.  The sight of the yellow leaves dancing over the pavement was so lovely, I had to catch my breath.  Isn't is amazing how something we can't see at all can create such beauty?  I felt so sad that I didn't have my camera - I think I'll have to start carrying it around with me.

I'm a Woolgirl

Isn't it pretty?  Here are the contents of my first Sock Club delivery!  Look at the cute little journal, with the little pen holder!  Look at the stitch marker!  (I know, you can't really see it, sorry.  It's very pretty, though, with a crystal and bead hanging.)  Look at the lip balm!  (Chocolate mint - yummmm.  Plus, it's fun to click/slide it open and closed.  Just ask Brian.)  Looookkk at the yaaarrrnnn!  This yarn is beautiful.  The teal, purple and blue are lovely, plus the yarn is superwash, sport weight Merino.  It's amazing.  I can't believe how amazing.  It's squishy.  It's soft.  It's elastic. 

I've knit quite a few pairs of socks, both in fingering and sport weight yarn, and I must confess.  I love knitting socks with thicker yarn.  I feel a bit abashed to admit it, this preference just doesn't seem to be done in the sock knitting world, but there it is.  I like how fast the socks knit up.  I like how soft and padded the finished items feel on my feet.  I like 'em!  And so, I like these!  This is obvious, of course, when you look at my sock knitting progress, here.  I have no ability to delay gratification, apparently.  I wound up the new yarn, and started knitting within hours of it's arrival at my door!

   

Fall Colours

• My knitting in the last week or so has been hurried - lots of little things that "need" to be done.  Interestingly enough, this is also what it's been like at home.  I feel like we've not accomplished much in any particular areas, but have completed lots of little "must do" tasks.  All good, and necessary, but there's not a big feeling of accomplishment when your day is filled with 5 minute jobs, and your knitting is full of one day projects.
• Hats.  Lots and lots of hats.  My knitting group is part of the women's ministry for a local church, and so we contribute knitted items for the church's annual Fall Fair.  I have several hats in the bag so far, and a couple of more in the wings.  It all needs to be handed in this Wednesday night, so with the deadline looming, my hands are constantly holding needles with little things on it.  Although I will confess my selfishness - even though I am not expecting a baby, there is one hat, made from the leftovers of my green Horcrux socks, that I simply cannot part with.  I love it deeply.
• Baby, baby, baby.  Most of the hats are baby sized, but I'm also working on a sweater (this is the back of it, here) for my friend who had a baby.  The gift I made her was very neutral, leaning towards "boy colours", but when I saw this yarn months ago, I knew it would be wonderful for my friend.  This little sweater is occupying my non-hat-knitting knitting moments.
• That Darn Robe is making slow progress.  I refuse to accept that my fascination with the baby knits is in any way a purposeful distraction from the miles of stocking stitch.  To prove that I have not forgotten this project, I keep it sitting on the end table in our living room.  It won't stop looking at me.
• I'm always watching for "knitting content" in books and movies, and found a new knitting moment this week!  I've recently started reading a series of books called the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon, and in my reading the other night, the Scottish husband couldn't believe his wife didn't know how to "clickit".  All children, boys and girls, were taught to knit their own stockings, and the men thought it was very funny to have to teach her.  I was amused at how excited I was to see knitting mentioned in an unrelated fiction book.
• In the podcast category, I've discovered a new one that I'm deeply in love with!  The Creative Mom Podcast is really amazing.  Amy does knit, although so far I haven't heard a lot of knitting content; still, her thoughts on creativity, and encouragement to step outside our comfortable and established mediums have been wonderful.  She also has an excellent speaking voice, and wonderful taste in music.  A weekly podcast, there are 60 some archived episodes, and I'm slowly rationing them out, hating the thought that one day I'll be all caught up, and have to wait a whole week for the next one.  Kind of like that feeling when you discover some talented author you'd never heard of before, and go crazy reading everything ever written by him/her, and then have to wait a year for the next book to come out.
• I've started a new creative exercise, partly inspired by the above podcast, of journaling something I see each day that speaks to me.  For myself, I'm using this as an opportunity to develop my relationship with God, so am looking for either moments when I see God working in my day, or insights into the Character of God.  It's been an excellent discipline as well as a creative outlet for me, although each day I'm wishing to express myself more and more, and I get frustrated when there's just not enough time in the day for it.  Maybe I should look a little closer for the Character traits of Patience and Acceptance, eh?
• Hooray!  I was just about to post this, when I heard the dog barking, and looked to see the postman walking up the path.  I ran quickly to open the door before he could ring the bell and wake the napping babies, and was rewarded to receive my first installment of the Woolgirl Sock Club!  I've never taken part in a club like this before, and have been impatiently waiting my first delivery.  When I saw the address on the parcel, I must have looked very happy, because Brian asked me who it was for.  I said, "Me!"  He looked at me with a smile, and asked, "What is it?"  "What do you think it is," I bantered.  He sighed, "Yarn?"  "Yup," I replied gleefully.  He looked at me a little reprovingly.  "Mom," he said, "you can't always get yarn!"

Happy New Year!

I was out for a crisp fall walk with a girlfriend the other evening, and we were talking about new beginnings.  Funnily enough, we both feel that fall is the time for fresh starts, for starting a new page.  January 1st, the Real New Years', has never been meaningful to me.  I don't make New Years' resolutions, I don't stay up until midnight, I don't party hearty.  I'm not sure why; I've just always felt that if you wanted to make changes in your life, you should make them now, not wait for the first day of the year.

For all that, though, this season always causes me to be a little more introspective, a little more thoughtful.  Perhaps I'm still clinging to my youth, when the start of a new school year meant so much.  Whatever is it, I love the freshness in the air, the turning of the leaves, the lush, autumnal colours I see in the trees and foliage.  And I think it's time to begin again.

I look around me, and where so many people see an ending, I see potential.  People around me hate fall, hate that everything is "dying", and that winter is on it's way.  As a knitter, of course, fall is wonderful, it means digging out the wool, making cozy sweaters and hats and mittens and slippers to guard those I love from the cold.  Even more, though, it's a time to tuck in, to focus on family and friends and...  life.  Life in a way that's unique, completely separate from the spring and summer days.  I'm inspired.  Peaceful.  At rest.

I've also felt myself wanting to knit practical things.  I'm not so thrilled at the thought of whimsical knitting, of dolls and slinky tanks and pretty little shawls.  I want to knit dishcloths, like this one.  Cushions for the couch, slippers for chilly feet.  Useful things.  But still beautiful, and important, just like fall.

ETA: I just came across this quote, and had to share it here, it says so much of what I'm feeling.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.   It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

--Melody Beattie

Management

I've been thinking deep thoughts of late.  I don't know if this is influenced by the time of year: Fall has settled in here, and my "project time" in each day is being spent getting ready for winter to arrive - putting the garden to bed, picking up windfall apples and pears, tucking away window boxes and flower pots, packing up summer clothes. 

My thoughts may be so deep because of the transitional time I'm in - I'm still adjusting to being at home in the evenings, to working from home during my days.  Still trying to find a daily routine that works for me and my family, a pattern to my days that allows me to accomplish my daily household tasks, while leaving room for down time in the day, for a bit of knitting or podcast listening.

Whatever the reason, I am frustrated with myself.  It's not so much the idea of "staying at home", or of "not working", as people like to call it.  Although I've (mostly) made peace with the idea of putting child-rearing first in my life, of the importance of this task whether or not it is recognized as important by those around me, I feel disappointed.  Not with the kids, or the house, or Stuart.  These things are what they are, as a friend of mine likes to say.  My thoughts and feeling don't change these.  What frustrates me is the realization of how carefully I need to manage myself.  My thoughts.  My emotions.  My words.  I came across an article today, and it gave me great food for thought.  The jist of it is how important it is to work to avoid the "winter blues", or "cabin fever", as we call it up here.  It is great practical information, and I found myself reading intently, printing it off, bookmarking it for future reference.  Then I started to wonder:  why do I have to be so careful with myself?  Why, in a world where I have so much to be thankful for, do I need to be reminded to start every day with gratitude?

Perhaps I'm just chasing my tail, maybe my question shouldn't be "why" so much as "what do I do".  If it is what it is, in myself as well as my family, then do I just accept as fact that I am wired this way, and then set up little tricks and patterns in my day to jolly myself along?  Or do I try to change myself, so that these steps are no longer necessary?  I want to tell myself to grow up, to keep my chin up, to just do it.  At the same time, I want to wrap myself up, serve myself tea, comfort myself with my knitting. 

I re-read my words, and am irritated.  "Stop feeling sorry for yourself," I say.  "This is not who you are!  You are the happy, bubbly, chatty person!"  But the feelings are there, and as much as I hate self-pity, I need to work through them.  Am I alone in this?  Are these feelings common to you?  Am I being selfish, do I not have enough to do, or worry about in my day?  I don't know.  Perhaps I never will.  I guess I can be okay with that, too.

Tiny Thujas

Here they are, nicely modeled on Gwenyth's chubby little feet.  These were a lot of fun to whip up - using DK yarn, and only 32 stitches, I made them in two days.  I'm sure the bulk of you could have them finished up in a day - I really am painfully slow sometimes.  It's okay, though, sometimes it's enough for knitting to be all about the process.  I did follow the Thuja pattern, just modifying the numbers to come up with something to fit the wee little feet they were intended for.  You can see they're just a titch long, but at the rate this one is growing, that's probably a good thing!

My good friend had her baby (a girl, sooo sweeet!), and so now I've quickly cast on for something girly for the little one.  I'm hoping to visit with them this week, although I'm wary of "bugging", since I know there are probably a million people who want to see the family, and get their hands on that baby.  Baby girl stuff is just plain fun, and a welcome distraction from the black stocking stitch for That Darn Robe! 

Baby Feet

There are times when I think there is nothing better on earth than chubby baby feet.  I guess this one is really more of a chubby toddler foot, but I'm having a hard time accepting that fact.  Baby feet they will remain, until I say otherwise! 

I finished my Top Secret baby gift - it's nicely blocking, but I can't share pictures until said baby arrives (which may be soon - I just heard that "something is going on" over there).  I'm pleased with it, and will have to keep this in mind for future baby gifts.  Can't wait for the little one to arrive, so I can pass it on (and share photos, too)!

This meant, of course, that it was time to pull out the yarn and pattern for the Wizard Robe.  Groan - I'm so afraid this project is going to take forever!  Miles and miles and miles of stocking stitch - lets hope that there are a lot of good movies that come out this fall.  Maybe I'll have to start watching a new TV show.... any suggestions?

Once I pulled out the great project, though, I felt I needed a little instant gratification.  I dug out the leftovers from my Socks of Doom, and cast on for a pair of woollies for Miss Gwenyth.  I was inspired by the Family of Thuja socks I saw over at Tiennie's, and figured this would be just the thing to keep little feet warm on our chilly mornings.  I cast on 32 stitches on 3.5mm DPNs, and finished sock #1 in one day, plus cast on for sock #2.  I hope to have it done tonight, so I can get back to the fascinating and deeply exciting stocking stitch.  I was moaning and groaning about it today to a friend, who pointed out that I did this to myself when I bought the book.  There may be a point there, but I refuse to see it.   

WIP Wednesday

Knitting is progressing up here, although the bulk of what I'm doing is Top Secret.  I'm making a baby gift for a good friend of mine, who is expecting her second babe in about a week, and have set myself a daily requirement for the project.  If I meet my daily requirement, then I'm allowed to work on my current sock.  Most days, though, by the time I'm finished the necessary knitting of the day, I'm tired, and ready to go to bed.

We're gradually settling in to a routine in my house - as you know, I left my evening/weekend job in August, and now I've started providing child care for a toddler during the day.  This seems to be working really well for all of us, and the little guy is super sweet, which is fun for me.  It still seems strange to be at home every night, but I can feel myself slowing down inside a bit more each week, and I'm happy with it.

Ravelry has taken up a fair bit of time as well!  I am trying to add "my stash" as I acquire new things, and am slowing getting caught up on the older stuff.  It is the same with projects - as I come across pictures and details, I'm adding them in.  At the moment, though, my queue of "want to knit" projects is much bigger than my list of completed items!  Do you have the same problem?  There are just so many wonderful patterns out there, I am inspired every time I pop in to look around.  As soon as I finish up the Top Secret knitting (definitely by the end of the week), I want to cast on for Brian's Wizard Robe.  He's still talking about it, and I would love to have it finished and tucked away before Christmas, so that there's not the big stress in December.  I'm trying to keep the Christmas knitting list to a minimum this year, but my family's just not co-operating!

Secret Goodies

My first package arrived from my Secret Pal today!  It was so nice to drive up to the house, and see a parcel waiting for me!

Inside were all sorts of lovely goodies - Regia 4-ply Color sock yarn, in colourway 5574 (a nice, neutral blend that I think I'll be fighting Brian for!), some chocolate, several bags of great tea, some stitch markers, and a couple of samples of Soak fibre wash. 

The best of all, for me (yes, I am easily amused), was the stitch keeper for my DPNs!  I almost always carry a sock in progress with me as I go about my day, and have been looking for something like this for quite a while.  It is too, too frustrating when I pull my sock out of my purse, and find one of the needles has come out.  This will be most excellent for my about-town knitting (it won't hurt for my around-kids knitting, either, they also think it's great fun to pull out a DPN)!

I really appreciated the little card my Pal included - the quotation on the front says, "Don't count the days, make the days count!"  There have been times I've fallen into that terrible mind-set that being at home with my kids is something to just "get through".  That is not the way I want to live my life, and not the way I want my children to grow up.  I really appreciated the reminder that I can make my days count, even if what I'm doing doesn't look as outwardly important as the life of some of those around me.  I know in my head that raising my babies is the most important thing I can do with my time, but every now and then, a little reminder is a great thing. 

Thank you, Secret Pal, both for the fun stuff, and the good thoughts, too.