Yarn Crawl Awesomeness!

Yesterday morning, I got together with several other members of our friendly local knitting and crocheting club for a "yarn crawl," which is like a pub crawl, but to yarn shops instead of pubs.

We went to two yarn shops, ImagiKnit in Tullahoma, TN and The Knit Kit in Shelbyville, TN. In between the shops, we grabbed lunch together at Applebees. I bought yarn and patterns at the first shop, but nothing at the second, primarily because I couldn't think of a specific project to use it for. I will probably go back there soon and buy yarn for a baby project for my friend Amy's new daughter. My Ravelry queue is getting out of control, though.

It was so much fun to see new yarn shops, feel all the nice yarn, and to spend the time with friends who also appreciate yarn and don't think I'm strange if I rub it on my face (because they've done it, too)! We shopped, we conspired to share patterns from an expensive pattern book, we ate, we talked, we even had an impromptu sock-knitting lesson in the car. It was a blast!

I can hardly wait until the next one, set for early September.

Every Way Wrap

I've revealed my sometimes-poor impulse control and the story behind this wrap in an earlier post on this blog. But sometimes poor impulse control isn't entirely bad.

I'm still really enjoying this pattern. The yarn I chose is so soft, it is a delight to knit with. It has become one of my favorite yarns of all time. As I knit, every now and then I just hold the work up to my face and brush gently... so nice! I can hardly wait to be done with the wrap, so I can wear it.

Meanwhile, I need to find a small project to take to work with me so I can knit during downtime. I'd like to make handwarmers, but I'd need to buy yarn, and I'm on a yarn diet at the moment, unfortunately. I have so much sock yarn, I really should pick some and a pattern and knit some socks. That idea's just not floating my boat right now. Maybe I'll go play in my stash until inspiration hits.

Sweater accomplished

I've done it! Finished my first project that I designed myself, the celtic cross sweater for my dad. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The picture above doesn't show the cross to its best effect, but it does prove that I have in fact finished it!

Having a new project I am so excited about really gave me the kick in the behind that I needed to finish this one, when the stockinette got too tedious. Otherwise, it might have taken until Dad's birthday (in November)!

Now I need to decide what to do with the design. I am considering posting it on Ravelry and debating with myself whether to charge for it or make it free. I've checked, and there are no similar patterns for sweaters on Ravelry. It took a significant amount of time and effort to create the design, and it seems to me that it deserves the respect of being paid for. On the other hand, as a pattern-buyer, I'm not sure I would want to buy a pattern that includes only one size. I think I may compensate for that by offering my suggestions in the pattern itself and email support for needs above and beyond that.

Well, that can wait. Time to start on that cashmere wrap...

The thrill of a new project

I am so excited right now about the newest project I have plans for. I just have to share.

I was hanging out at my favorite LYS, and the fall issue of Interweave Knits magazine had just arrived. On the cover it advertised an article about how to do cables without a cable needle, so I started flipping through the magazine. In the pattern section, I ran across several patterns that make use of reversible cables, which fascinated me. One of them is called the Every Way Wrap. Depending on how you wrap it, it can be a scarf, a shawl, a vest, or a cardigan. How cool is that?

Well, I decided right then and there that I was going to make that. I bought the magazine and I started looking at yarns. If it's going to go around my neck, it's gotta be soft, so I settled on a cashmere blend. There wasn't enough for the size I wanted to make in any one color, so I had to figure out what to do about that, and decided that a combination of light blue for the cables and dark brown for the moss stitch portion would be striking. I found some buttons that went with it, and pretty soon, I had all the supplies.

I work very hard to maintain self-discipline in situations like this. I have been working on this very ambitious sweater project for my dad for about a month and a half now, and I didn't want to abandon it to start on the new project. So I kept to my rule of having only two projects in progress at a time. I made a pact with myself not to start on the wrap until I finish my dad's sweater.

But it's so hard to resist! Wish me luck.