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Swearter

My friend Nittany Knits sent me a suggestion for projects I have sworn to finish. She wrote: I'm on the last bit of my 'Clapotee' and am struggling to get it done as well. Finishitis perhaps? I'll finish mine if you finish yours! I believe that is a perfect name for the disease, but perhaps I would call the project itself a "Swearter" as in:

I have Finishitis but swear to finish my Clapotee swearter before starting another project.

I finished my Monkey Socks swearter. Now I am free to start my Falling Leaves shawl.

I would love to cast on some socks with that Austermann yarn, but I have a lap blanket swearter to finish first.

So it's official.

Swearter (n) a project which has been almost done for a long time, and whose knitter is embarrassed by this and swears they won't start another until it's finished

Okay, Nittany Knits. The race is on!

Slogging through

Now I need to find a word for "a project which has been almost done for a long time, and whose knitter is embarrassed by this and swears they won't start another until it's finished".

I won't be able to go to knitting on Wednesday morning if I don't get this blanket done. The ladies will call me names and point their fingers and snicker behind my back. The pressure is on. I am on my last ball at least. I tried last night and made some progress, but the the mind was strong and the body . . . uuugh. I will mush on with resolve and Tylenol today.

Pattern Snob

I have come to a realization about myself. I am a pattern snob. I have known this for some time, but didn't have a cute name for my disease.

Patternophobia (n.) an irrational fear of knitting one's yarn into an inferior project because you are sure a more perfect pattern is out there somewhere.

According to Google I am the first to use that word.

You see, I have all this lovely yarn. There are definite plans for some of it - a gift here, an indulgence there. The problems come when I try to decide on which pattern is worthy of my yarn. I narrow it down, only to find three or four new candidates. So what do I do? I knit for charity. I am proud to announce a breakthrough however. After many days searching, many websites visited, and many patterns bookmarked or downloaded (drum roll please) I have chosen the Austermann Sock pattern for the Step sock yarn. I got the pattern from their British language website but the American sizes are there. I did check two other sources and I feel confident that my sister is a size 38/39. I sat down and studied it and figured out the numbers for Debbie's size to plug into the pattern. God help me, I'm ready to take the plunge so I printed it out.

And the crowd goes wild.

In other news:
I took the two No Hair Day chemo caps over to the Mayer Center today. They were a huge success. The moderator of our group said she knew just the person for the red one. I promised more. They knit up very quickly so it shouldn't be long before I crank out another one.

As for the grown up socks? Pray for me.

BTW

I did finish my other Tiny Sock just a few days after the first one. I made what I believe was a pattern correction for the beginning of the heel. Shweeet! Then I studied hard in my "Knitters Companion" about how I picked up the stitches for the turn of the heel. I found out I misread what "pick up and knit" meant. Viola! No holes in my heel. Next was my toe, and a little attention to my change from an eight stitch draw-in to a Kitchener stitch. Ta-Daa! Better decreases = prettier toe.


Now then. I still gotta find a simple pattern for my first big girl socks. I want to use the Austermann Step sock yarn I bought at MSWF. There's a pattern on their site, but it's one of those universal patterns where you generate your own numbers and I didn't feel confident with that. I've read it over a couple of times and might try to write it out a little more clearly with the numbers I need for the size I want on another document and proofread it like crazy. If I do, I would probably beg someone else to look at it too. Until then . . .

The search goes on.

:)

haiku

a note to myself
while watching Kevin Costner
do not knit lace hats

a note to myself
the lace hat is put aside
for Kevin Costner

I don't know which one expresses the idea best. I was knitting the lace cap last night during a DVD The Guardian. It was better than I expected (probably because I knew nothing about it) and the effects were excellent. You guessed it.

Tink, tink, tink. . .

First Lace

I started my first lace project last night for another chemo cap. The hat is a cloche pattern from headhuggers.org and again I’m using the lavender “I can’t seem to get bored with you” yarn . It’s stockinette with about two inches of lace around the brim. It’s feminine but covers nicely. I’m through one and a half cycles of the lace pattern and haven’t screwed it up (that I know of anyway). Oooooh. I like lace. The rhythm thing is addictive and no wonder folks churn out this stuff.

See more progress on: Knit something lace

No Hair Day Red Hat Society

Finished another fuzzy chemo hat last night. I must say, it is magnificent. Lavender yarn with a red eyelash this time – perfect for those Red Hat days we all need so much. I figure ladies on chemo must like the red hat thing too, right? This one is very soft, much nicer than the other two for some reason.

I hope it makes her laugh, she’s gonna look like a giant dandelion.

Gee, I hope the No Hair Hat design is a hit. I’m not going to make another until I know for sure though.

See more progress on: make 43 'chemo caps'

Chemo Caps

I have found a rededication to chemo caps. I finished this one the night before I left to go to a family reunion on Friday and started another in the car. It felt good.

I got off track for a while, making things for other charities, making other projects for my family at Christmas. I shopped for new yarn with my own projects in mind. Tackling new skills on my list of knitting things to do. Stitches East is on the way and I signed up for four classes. I forgot why I started this knitting thing in the first place. By far, the chemo hat is the most satisfying for me.

I need to always be working on one.

For John.

Goodbye

I bid a non-tearful farewell to my Knit for Kids "foreversweater" today at the Post Office Drive Thru. Less than five bucks and it's off to New York state for distribution. I know I've bitched about finally getting it off my needles and out of my sight, but it was done with care and it felt very good to produce such a good and needful thing. As I slid it into the mailing bag, I noticed a row about halfway down the body. The stitches are twisted backwards all the way across. It was there I had to rip out several rows for a dropped stitch or other catastrophe and loaded them back on the needle flipped the wrong way. My fellow knitters were kind. "That's not a mistake, that's a design feature".

God bless 'em.

And God bless the kid.