Swearter gets the Checkered Flag

Well, I finished my Swearter on Sunday, you win Nittany Knits. With four laps to go and Jeff Gordon battling for first place I began to cast off my four stitches. I crossed the start/finish before the checkers. Jeff came in second but retained his first place standings for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship. Go #24!

I can't turn the lap blanket in until two weeks from now. We won't meet on the Fourth of July for some reason ;) I know the ladies will be proud of me. I picked up some baby yarn last week so I can do a few preemie hats. I need some instant gratification. Baby yarn isn't something I got in all the donated yarn my bag o'yarn stash from columbiafreecycle. I chose some soft, silky, shiny white partial balls leaving the whole skeins for the blanket and sweater makers. I really do like this mindless pattern though. It begins each row with a simple 4-5 stitch pattern and then it's k,k,k,k. It's knit on the diagonal and increases each row until the middle of your available yarn or when you've reached you're desired length. Then you start to decrease until you reach the other side. Brilliant! It's great for Thursday nights down at the Lakeside. A pretty eyelet forms around the edge and Miss Mary tells me she threads a ribbon through it for her baby blankets. Maybe a baby blanket the next time, they do get a fair amount of pastel at the Senior Center and I do need something mindless when I talk..

In other news, I am sad to announce my retirement from knitting. ravelry is so much fun and time consuming that I have decided to give up knitting and concentrate on the world surrounding knitting. I feel really fortunate to have the account. It's like manna from heaven. When I got the invite from frecklegirl (one of the originators) I was excited. It wasn't until I began to explore the site that I got so amazed. From the site 10 days ago:

We are up to 3063 users, 682 unclaimed invitations, and 7303 people on the waiting list.

Geez! I'm more in awe than ever. I was reading in the forums today and realized something. They only started the site nine weeks ago on May 2,2007. Nine weeks ago! These people live in our heads. It has everything I've been thinking about for organizing my knitting and more, so throw away your little books and spreadsheets. They do have plans to tweak several areas like the needle inventory. It's still in Beta testing after all. But there is a forum dedicated to working out any kinks. Turns out Firefox is the browser of choice so I'm in the pink as far as that is concerned. They had no idea it would fly off the needles like that.

Huzzah! Revel in ravelry!

I've been busy exploring the site (screenshots here), entering data about my projects, FINDING the data for my projects, taking pictures of my stash to enter, gathering data about my needles . . . the list goes on ad nauseum. Seriously, no knitting for two days. Haven't looked at the needles or fondled the Austermann yarn now that the Swearter is done.

So go! Get in line. It's only going to get longer. I'm tinkknitz there too and you'll see Javagem, KnitGlit, StormMoonKnits and GiantsKnitter too. There are others I recognize and designers too. C'mon over to the dark side.

I only hope I can keep up. Back to ravelry now . . .

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!

Group : Take II

Since the Mayer Center is only twice a month, I started looking for another daytime charity group. The Kiwanis Wallas Rec Center on Frederick Road in Ellicott City was just what I was looking for. They meet two days a month also - on the alternate Wednesdays from my other group. Perfect!

Their stash is huge. Four two-sided cabinets, six feet tall and crammed with every imaginable color. These ladies turn out a lot of knitted goods, let me tell you. On the day I was there, They turned in about 20 blankets, their biggest project. There were also numerous hat/scarf/mitten sets, baby sweaters and hats for hospital nurseries. Several blankets had gauge problems with mixed yarns, and when I offered to help organize, the ringleader laughed it off.

Honey, we're all about product here. This is charity work.

Seems she just can't keep up with the supply and demand. Women go through large lots of yarn as fast as she can bring it in and return odd balls and partial balls. These are tossed in where they will fit. People use several small balls for hats and scarves for shelters. Besides, it would take time away from knitting. I acquiesced.

Their current biggest charity is lap blankets for wheelchairs at the Veterans Home. They have a great pattern that starts with four stitches at a corner and knits with diagonal increases on both sides. When you are halfway through your chosen yarn, you start to decrease This forms a square. The YO increase even gives it a pretty edge. It's simple and eliminates waste. One lady had several lovely blankets made in this pattern made from ribbon. They were beautiful, luxurious and flexible. There was some discussion of how the gentleman in wheelchairs liked the blankets like this because they stayed in place better. Pop Pop had one at Riverview. I never knew who knit it or where it came from, but it was always there. When he passed, I asked if I could have it. I liked the idea of "replacing it" for somebody else's Pop Pop.

I found a woven cotton yarn from Spain. 5 grey, 2 red and 2 mauve. I took all nine balls, no leftovers from me.