Laurabelle’s Blog

Four years ago, I knitted gloves for Jeff. These were not just any gloves; they were fingerless, with a mitten-top that could flip forward to cover the fingers. I even made the thumb flippy by means of a large buttonhole. (I have never seen either gloves or a glove pattern with a flippy thumb; I don't know why no one else has done it since it's so amazingly easy. I didn't have a full pattern I liked, but I took a glove pattern for the right gauge and substituted a better thumb (and mitten-end) from another mitten pattern.

That first pair of gloves kept Jeff's hands warm at Lena Lake and for almost four more years. He nearly wore them out; the holes were becoming pretty obvious.

And then he lost one of them on the way to visit my family for Christmas. He was pretty upset about it; those gloves were special to him both because I made them and because they were awesome. He had cold hands for a couple of months after that.

Today, I went to Stitches West 2009. For those who aren't in the know, Stitches is a sort of knitting convention with a bunch of classes but also a large marketplace of knitting vendors. I didn't sign up for any classes (I haven't yet found a knitting technique I couldn't learn on my own), but I did go down for the market.

It was a madhouse, even on Friday (apparently Saturday is supposed to be worse). I found a bunch of yarn I liked, but I was not generally overwhelmed by temptation. I did have to restrain myself at specific shops, but overall I emerged relatively unscathed.

From left to right:

• Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight (2 skeins)
• Miss Babs Hand-Dyed Yarns and Fibers "Yummy" Hand-Painted Sock & Baby Yarn — 2 ply Superwash (3 skeins)
• A Verb for Keeping Warm Superwash Merino (2 skeins)
• A Verb for Keeping Warm tote bag (under AVFKW yarn)
• Cascade Petite 100% undyed silk laceweight (2 skeins)
• Wooden shawl pin
• #0 47" Addi Turbo Lace
• beaded stitch marker (free from Miss Babs)

In total I bought seven skeins of sock yarn (enough for a full week of socks!). I can't wait to start my March socks.

For most of my life I've worn the same kind of socks, the white cotton sport socks one picks up in a pack of twelve at Target, Wal-Mart, or the like. Jeff would call them quantity one (1) socks; they fulfill the purpose but could stand some improvement.

In college I tried to change this by buying nicer-looking socks. While I did succeed in purchasing about five pairs of attractively-patterned socks, these are now aging. When I pulled them out of the drawer recently, the elastic gave an unmistakable creak. So in early December I resolved to knit myself some nice socks. This also has the advantage that I can knit them out of wool, my preferred sock fiber. I've never been able to find commercial dress socks in wool.

I have a few pairs of hand-knitted socks already. My mother knitted me a couple of pairs (one multicolored and one plain brown), and I made myself a bright red pair shortly after I started knitting, out of inherited stash. For whatever reason, I didn't wear them much.

I knitted myself two pairs of socks after Christmas. The first pair is Twisted Tulip Socks from the Spring 2008 Interweave Knits. Those were fun to knit. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight. I love the springiness of the yarn, though I think I will switch to Socks that Rock Lightweight for future projects. Mediumweight is a bit heavy for me.

The yarn for the other pair was a Christmas present from my mother: Regia Color 4-ply (wool/nylon). The pattern is Jaywalker (free on Ravelry), and as advertised, it's a snug fit. The socks are nice and warm (a good thing in our chilly apartment).

I've seen other knitters resolve to knit a pair of socks each month. I think I'll give that a try — starting with March. February is a lost cause.

I have a ton of catching up to do on this blog. I'll start out of order, with Christmas.

I spent the fall in a frenzy of gift-knitting. This was part of the reason for my hiatus from blogging; I felt I couldn't blog these projects for fear of giving away the secret. Not that most of the recipients read my blog, but one never knows.

The first-finished (way back in August) was a lace shawl for my sister-in-law. Jeff helped me pick out the yarn, a nice peachy-pink alpaca. The pattern is Miss Lambert's Shetland Pattern for a Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I dropped one stitch in the whole shawl, but I picked it back up later and sewed it in. I can find the mistake, but I bet no one else will see it even if they're looking for it.

I finished two long-waiting knitting projects today. These weren't particularly big projects; one of them was quite small. They had just been sitting for a while.

The smaller project was a steering wheel cover that had been sitting for a few months; I knit it in a week or so at the beginning of July but never quite got around to sewing it onto the steering wheel. (I usually knit at home or during lunchtime at work, and the steering wheel is sort of stuck to the car.)

Today I went down to the car with Jeff before he went out on errands, and he kept me company while I stitched it on. He says it was very nice to drive with, so yay! No good photos yet though; the garage where I stitched it up is dark and less than photogenic. I caught a nice photo in the car after work.

The other project I finished is about 21 months old: a baby blanket for my cousin's first baby. I knew she was having some trouble, so I started a blanket as a sort of prayer that everything would be fine. I would make the blanket, and the baby wouldn't come until it was done, and the blanket would be beautiful, and it would all be right in the end. My faith was unshakable.

I finally finished my Zara Cabled Tunic. This is a free manufacturer's pattern, using Filatura di Crosa Zara yarn. The yarn is lovely, but in this case I got what I paid for as far as the pattern is concerned.

For the first installment of the Zara saga, see my Knitting and Ravelry post.

I finally finished my Bonsai Tunic, which was supposed to be a summer project. I got hung up on (what else?) the sewing-up phase. Just before our last hiking trip (blog post forthcoming, I promise) I finished my newest project (which I can't blog because it's a Christmas present), so this week I decided to finish up some of my lingering works-in-progress.

The first to fall was the Bonsai Tunic, which I had started on July 14. I finished the sewing on Sunday afternoon and then got it completely wet for blocking. Unexpectedly it took three and a half days to dry, so I couldn't wear it until today. It possibly wasn't even quite dry when I put it on, but I wore it anyway.

I thought it turned out pretty nicely, though the yarn was a little annoying. I probably won't knit with Berroco Bonsai again.

Since I finished the lace shawl, I needed a new project. (Two works-in-progress aren’t enough, especially if they involve sewing-up. I dislike stitching my knitted pieces together.) Therefore, I started a steering wheel cover.

The good thing is, it’s small and will be finished pretty quickly. It’s also a cable (which I like) and an intarsia cable at that (which I had never tried before). It was fun at first, but unfortunately it became boring fairly quickly.

I made a mistake in the cable a few pattern repeats back (I twisted after 10 rows instead of 8). I spent a while thinking about whether to go back and fix it, then decided I couldn’t bear not to (now that I’d noticed it) and ripped it out. Still, I’m at least two-thirds done, and it won’t take me too much longer to finish.

A few months ago I joined Ravelry, and it has changed my knitting world. I can search for patterns and see what yarns people have used and how it looks on various body shapes. I can look up a particular yarn and see what people have done with it. And last but not least, I can record my own projects and stash.

To Jeff, late at night: But if I stay up a little bit longer, I can tick off another 5% on this project!

I have started brailling again. I stopped because I was moving to California, and then I didn’t start again because I was tired from my new job or because I was planning my wedding. A week before the latter event, the WTBBL called and said I should either do some work for them or give the software license key back. I said I’d start up again after the wedding, and I did.

I completed the first assignment over the first weekend I had it, but the second took me a while to find the time (really, the energy). I started on Monday and am now three-quarters done.

I have also recommenced knitting. I took a hiatus for quite a while because I simply felt uninspired. I was uninspired by the yarn in my stash, mostly left-over or speculative purchases, and I didn’t feel that I could afford to buy new yarn. I saw the exotic fibers my co-workers brought in and felt scornful of my own plain wool.

In the summer I bought a load of Blue Sky Cotton and knitted what I call Jeff’s go-faster sweater. After that I bought a lot of other yarn for little Christmas projects (and a couple of bigger gift projects too). I am finished with most of my planned Christmas projects and am looking forward to starting on other things.

I was tired for a long time—a fatigue that sleep never seemed entirely to solve. I have begun to sleep more effectively, perhaps—not necessarily to sleep better but to feel better after sleep. For a while I came home exhausted after work, took a nap, and then couldn’t sleep for half the night. I am trying not to do that any more.

Maybe my hobbies are helping too. I felt like I only had time to work, eat, and sleep, but now that I am making time for myself and my interests, especially brailling now, I feel like I am using myself and my time to a fuller extent. I am living my life, not the other way around. As I am so fond of saying, there’s not enough of it to waste.