California Sunshine is done!

Wahoo! I finished a blanket in about 10 days! I only worked on it only on the train. This is my first yarn recycling project. Tee hee - I'm being green. I'm using some yarn that was already a perfectly good feather and fan blanket. When I made the blanket I was proud of myself for mastering the feather and fan stitch - but I was not really loving the blanket.

However - since I seem to have stolen the baby blanket mojo from Ms. Urbanknitrix I ventured out and made yet another Big Bad Baby Blanket out of the feather and fan blanket. I was surprised in the way it came together. So here is some California Sunshine for you! I was gonna give this to my neighbor who just had a baby boy but Mr. Knitfloozy said that it's not a good color for a boy so now I have to see who else could use some sunshine in their lives for a baby. So how come orange and yellow are not colors to wrap a boy in? What ever I may have to just sneak it over there anyway with some blue beanies for the boy. Hmmmm....more small projects...Nope I won't do it - justify my starteritis. It's gonna have to wait.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Holidays! Enjoy your family! Love your family no matter what!

Commuteritis? Starteritis? Which is it?

Is it considered Starteritis if you only work on the project during your commute to work on public transportation? See what had happened was - I have started several projects while on the train. The problem is - when they are not portable anymore - they get relagated to knitting while watching TV. Well since my hours are kinda squirrely and I don't always stay awake through a whole show - do I really have Starteritis or is it Commuteritis? Hmmmm.....inquiring minds want to know. yeah yeah yeah - I know it's just an excuse to start yet another project. Can I help it if they all look so purdy? No I can't and you can't fault me for it either. Yeah - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Curlicue

Have you ever stopped and looked at your knitting and realized that something is actually taking shape in your hands? Just having a knitting moment while working on the Curlicue by Oat Couture. Sometimes it's hard to trust that the pattern is going to do what it says - but I am amazed almost everytime when a difficult pattern takes shape. I give you the beginning of my pink Curliecue.

Holiday Season

Well well well....the holiday season has crept upon us and well....I have no anxiety about unfinished holiday presents. Why? because that kind of pressure is/was ridiculous. We (most knitters) love the idea of giving our knitting away to others - not just at Christmas time. It's hard to hold on to the things we knit during the year for those we love. A spring scarf seems silly to give someone when it's 32 degrees. Anyway - my latest project is one of knitters gluttony. I have a feather and fan blanket I just don't like. I have decided to turn it into a big bad baby blanket. The thing is - what parent is gonna want an orange and yellow blanket? I'll just have to see. I''m calling this one California Sunshine. Hopefully I will be able to give this one to someone who just appreciates the idea of a handknit soft and squishy warm and cozy blanket for the newest little person in their life. Oh yeah for the gluttony part - I've also started the Curlicue Blanket. I will admit all of the WIP's for my New Year's Post complete with photos and estimated time frames for finishing them. Ha! will y'all be able to admit to your starteritis? I challenge all of you to admit all of your WIP's and see who has the most, who will finish first and NOT I repeat NOT start anything else until all of them are done.

Happy Turkey Day!

I seem to have contracted starteritis again….I’m working on the Circle of Friends Baby Blanket in the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I seem to have a gift for knitting baby blankets because my knitting mojo won’t let me knit anything else. Once projects become non portable on the train – I put them down. I’m too ashamed to show how many projects I have going. I haven’t even put them all on my Ravelry project list. I tell you it’s just so easy to be swayed by all the pretty pictures you see on Ravelry. It doesnt help when you already have yarn designated for projects that seduced you in while in said yarn store you were only browsing in. Don't act like I'm the only one this happens to. *Big Sigh* The Circle of Friends Blanket is a great way for me to practice the Continental way of knitting. I was taught by a thrower so that’s how I knit. It’s weird for me to hold the yarn in my left hand and knit – but it seems to be a little faster than the English Style.

I have to confess….that is not the only project I’ve started. I started a hexagon blanket called Bobby’s Garden. However – I am using sock yarn. So if you have any left over Koigu PPM (or it’s equivalent ) that you don’t know what to do with (or don’t want it)– please feel free to send it to me. Shoot me an email chicknit@gmail.com and I will send you my address. I want to see how long it takes me to make it thru this particular afghan and will post photos as yarn arrives and becomes part of the blanket. I was inspired by The Heathen Housewife on her Mitered Sock Yarn Blanket and found the hexagons on size one needles more fun. Call me nuts – I’m sure it will take a year or more to complete this one. But the squishy warm blanket at the end is worth the time! What are y’all working on? Do you have starterisit too? Please tell me I'm not the only one with this dreaded disease...

Yes We Did!!!!

So did y’all Barack ya vote? Or did you have a McPalin experience at the polls? I don’t care who you voted for – I just wanna know did you vote? We went to do the early voting thing and lemme tell you it was quite an experience. We drove by City Hall on Sunday and decided to come back on Monday and found that the line for early voting was around the block! If we had stay we would have been there at least six hours or more.

We went back on Monday morning and were happy to see the line was not as long as the previous day. Well we had a heck of a time in the maze that is the bowels of City Hall. On Monday the line was started inside the building instead of around the block. Not so bad right? Yay!!!! ( I’m not really a germophobe – but why did my purse have to be man handled by the security chick who was really just doing her job but becoming a little to intimate with my purse and my knitting.)

Nevertheless – there was quite a bit of excitement in the air as people lined up to vote. It was interesting the way the voter volunteers kept the lines from full view of the voters. I think they wanted to discourage voters from giving up on the whole process because of the perception that the lines might be too long.

The wait was approximately three hours to vote – but because there happens to be so much artwork on the walls and plenty of “people-watching” to entertain us – it wasn’t that bad.

I was really happy to see people from all walks of life there for one purpose. There was a homeless woman who said she was so excited that she couldn’t wait to vote. There was a handicapped lady in a wheel chair that left because she said the lines were too long. I was dismayed when I saw her later on hanging out doing nothing but smoking cigarettes in the rain. How come we don’t have a special place for handicapped folks to vote? Yeah I know I thought about it when I saw her later on. I saw old, young, tall, short, Black, White, Chinese, Latino, Philipino, Samoan, Cuban, etc. I saw the united nations of the people here to vote. I saw people here who are tired of the status quo and the same old mess from our government. If you did not vote you missed an opportunity to make history.

A Broken Clapotis!

Has this ever happened to you? You're cruising a long in your knitting project and happy with the progress and then BAM! You find a mistake that you can't fix! You have to start from the beginning. I tried hard to fix this mistake in my second Clapotis to no avail. I had to frog it all and start over! sacreblue! (I'm sure I spelled that wrong!) Oh well such is the life of a knitter - rip it out and start from the beginning. It just makes you a better knitter! Yeah - that's the ticket!

Continental Style Knitting

Ok y'all I've been wanting to learn how to knit continental style - so I watched the videos on http://www.knittinghelp.com/. It was pretty easy except that I learned how to hold the yarn in my right hand not my left. The stupid thing is I'm left handed and way back in the early 70's when I was learning how to write - the teacher kept putting things in my right hand - so now the only thing I do do with my left hand is write. Anywho - I have the hang of knitting with my left hand continental style. I said I have the hang of it, I'm not quite good enough at it yet. I was feeling all confident and things until I tried to purl continental style. That became a big tangle of yarn and I had to frog a whole row of my second Clapotis. Ok I liked it so much that I decided to make another one. Anyway - I'm gonna hafta practice or just purl english style. Has anyone else tried to knit contienental after knitting english style for a few years?

Oh - the first Clapotis was done in Koigu PPM! This has to be the best yarn to knit with - its very squishy!!! I was supposed to be knitting the Big Bad Baby Blanket in this for my cousin - but since it wasnt blue as they requested I opted for the Clapotis. It took me about four weeks because I only knit it on the train during my commute. It's always kinda funny to see people's reactions to me knitting while standing up on a bumpy train. May I say my legs are a lot stronger and getting toned. Ha! I knew there was a reason to stand up while knitting. Now um if you attempt this style of knitting - dont stand next to someone seated because well - you could end up in their lap. And lets just say that can be embarrasing and funny all at once.

This second Clapotis is being done in Lionbrand Microspun in a Lilac color. It's almost blue but not quite purple. This one is for a very special person at work who has shown me so much kindness that I could not help but make her this shawl. She is a fireball who reminds me very much of MamaC and she is in love with my tuna. Whenever I make tuna I bring her a bowl to take home. She's got a special place in my heart. Just another wonderful person who reminds me daily there are still nice people in the world.