Loose ends

Knitted Newborn Hat

Yarn: Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy (50% nylon; 50% acrylic; worsted weight)
Colorways: 31 (Baby Pink) and 33 (Dark Rose)
Needles: US 8 circulars
Stitches: 54

Tonight I wanted to tie up some loose ends. I've needed to fulfill my end of the Pay It Forward exchange with one person. Since she had a baby a week ago (and thus should have better things to do than reading my blog), this seemed like the perfect thing to make. I'm not completely satisfied with what I've done. There is a fairly bad and loose ladder at one of the decreases that I tried to cover up when weaving in the end. Oddly, the place where I've usually had a noticeable ladder on hats--the place where the hat is joined in the round--is better than usual.

A baby hat is not what I originally intended to do, but I've been thwarted a bit on that project. I started it months ago but kept getting tripped up and ripped it out a couple times. I considered using that yarn for this baby hat, but I couldn't find the label and am not sure what the yarn is. I'm guessing I'll have to go back to where I purchased it last winter to identify it. I unearthed many labels, plenty I probably no longer need, but the one I needed to find eluded me.

While I'm botching things up, I pulled the Knit Picks Option cable out of the join when removing this WIP from the needles. Good work! Gorilla Glue will fix it but still...

Of course, the one thing I'm trying to fix, the finished sock in need of frogging, won't cooperate. I was ready to rip it out last night, but I couldn't find the end woven into the toe. It figures that I can't see the end the one time I need for it to poke out and wave at me. After messing around pulling some stitches loose, I pulled out the scissors and cut a strand in half thinking that I could freely unravel the sock. Hardly.

I've been pulling and undoing stitches one by one, but the whole thing isn't coming apart. On the one hand it's good to know that my handiwork won't fall to pieces, but in this case that's what I want it to do. Any tips for how to rip out a completed sock?

New York state of mind

New York Dishcloth

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Color: Delft blue
Needles: US 7s
Stitches: 37

Since this item has made it to its destination, I can now unveil it here without hiding it behind a link. One part of what I owe for the Pay It Forward exchange down...

Did you hear the Marketplace piece about knitting and yarn shops? Knitting is so passé now, if you didn't know.

In my view the report is built on two faulty premises. For instance, here's part of the anchor's intro: "But now it looks like the fad has passed, because those still in the market for needles and yarn are buying most of their wares online." Wait a minute, if people are still buying, how does a shift to online purchases suggest that knitting is no longer trendy? In mathematical terms, both sides of this equation are not equal.

There's also a coastal bias in the piece. Well, this California town had both of its yarn shops close! And this shop that does most of its business online attracts clients from New York City who are just too busy to go to a physical location!

Now I'll grant that the reporter likely isn't saying that two Davis, California yarn shops are a bellwether for the industry and hobby's health. Who's to say if the business plans were feasible at these stores? I'd be more convinced of the reporter's thesis if she included some hard numbers revealing the growth and closure rates of local yarn shops. As it is, this seems very anecdotal. If you quoted Ravelry's explosive growth, you could probably file a story saying that knitting is as popular as ever.

I suppose I'm also suspicious of stories that need to declare something's time has passed. Sure, it's reasonable to believe that some who picked up knitting when it was the hot hobby have moved on to something else, but should the focus be on the trendoids who do what's fashionable for a brief time or those who do something because they enjoy it and aren't trying to make statements?

In these hands

Last week really knocked me off my game, so I'm looking for some equilibrium this week. I finally got to one of the projects I owe for the Pay It Forward exchange. Wouldn't you know it? I cranked through it all today.

Since the recipient may come across this, I'm posting a link to a photo of the FO, which said person should not follow, and will type up the details once it's in her hands. To put a finer point on it, looking at it before it arrives is like sneaking into mom and dad's closet to see your Christmas presents early, Amanda.

I've been knitting long enough that it can be second nature to me (sometimes), but I still have moments when the needles feel strange in my hands. It happened again today. Granted, I hadn't knitted in a week, but the awkwardness didn't manifest itself until resuming the project after setting it aside for awhile.

The best I can determine is that for some reason I was helping slide the old stitch off the needle with my right index finger, which isn't typical, rather than letting the left do all the work. The way I was holding the needles felt weird, but I couldn't figure out why that was or how to remedy it. The next time I picked them up all was well again. Does this happen to anyone else?

Peanuts

It's been a very long "directive" day, so I present some quick hits to meet my daily blogging quota...

-So that fix to the errata that I posted with my Chevron Stripes Hand Towel? It's been on the pattern's Ravelry comment tab for months. D'oh!

-Thanks for the recommendations for Shout Color Catchers for when I wash said hand towel. I wouldn't have thought twice about throwing it in with the other colors. I know that the stereotype is that men are clueless when it comes to doing the laundry, but I manage OK and haven't ruined...much. You may have saved me when washing this item for the first time, though.

-I've determined what my next project will be, but it will not be named or described until it ends up in the recipient's hands. The deadline is nearing to complete my end of the Pay It Forward Exchange, and I need to get cracking. I expect to have this knitted item to its intended before the end of the week, so you won't be left wondering for long.

-Beyond this quick knit, I am seriously considering the recommendation to make a market bag. Assure me that it's the right choice before I look at a pattern and get spooked. :)

Paid forward

As regular readers should know, I am fond of getting mail. Well, good mail, although I think that is implied. It's always a pleasant surprise to receive something unexpected. Such a package arrived this week.

You may remember that I pledged to participate in the Pay It Forward exchange. I have yet to live up to my end of the bargain, although a certain project that was giving me fits a week ago just might have something to do with fulfilling part of it. Out of the blue I received a scarf from Jennifer, who was doing her part in paying it forward.

I have been in need of a shorter, heavier scarf, which is why I'm working on one currently, but the one she made for me comes at a perfect time. The weather has turned cold again, and the scarf she knitted specially for me will be very handy. I wore it today and will be toting it along back from the area where it came when I go to the film festival this weekend.

So, thanks Jennifer! I've enjoyed knitting things for others, including those I've come to know through this blog. It was equally nice to receive a handknit.

By the way, Jennifer recently broke a blogging dry spell for some important news that you all should check out and congratulate her on.

Actual knitting content

It's catch-up weekend in terms of movies, which means I had some time to kill between two films around lunchtime. There's a yarn shop near where I had been and my next cinematic stop, so I decided to pop in and knit for awhile.

I've only been there once before, but I was welcomed and recognized by the owner, which surprised me. I hadn't been there since October, but then again, I imagine I stand out a little more than the average customer.

It occurred to me tonight that this is the first time I've been in a yarn shop all year. If that isn't an indication of how busy I've been and how little knitting I've done, I don't know what is. I purchased a single skein of wool to be put to use for the Pay It Forward Exchange. I know what I'm going to make with it, but I'm not telling what it will be or whom it is for.

How pleasant to sit in the shop and knit for forty-five minutes. Listening to the conversation, I'm obviously not the only one who feels that way. I couldn't add anything to talk of hysterectomies and breast cancer, but I understand where the other knitters were coming from when discussing the stress reducing effect. Of course, you already know that.

I'm getting close to polishing off the first of five skeins for the blanket I'm knitting. At this rate it will be done in mid-April. So I'm in need of some other projects. My mother's birthday arrives in almost a month. I'm need to figure out what to take when I go to the film festival in Cleveland in three weeks. There are plenty of lags in the schedule for knitting to fill. Any suggestions?

Lazing about

Considering I engaged in some intensive knitting while vacationing in Arkansas, you'd think that I would be a machine now that I'm home and off work for the week. Except for attending a few screenings, my schedule has been open. Lazy days have been spent going for walks, writing, and napping in the afternoon. I have not picked up the needles since returning.

I want to to knit. I should finish the secret projects, although they require weaving in ends, seaming with single crochet, and learning back stitch. I should cast on for a second sock so I will finally have a pair. (I've knit three singles, one for a baby and two different ones for me.) I should figure out how to do blanket stitch so I can sew the messenger bag strap together. I should get the items to include for my leg of Dish Rag Tag. That's a lot of shoulds.

So why have I been so unproductive? I blame too much freedom. Having no restrictions sounds good in theory, but in practice it produces chaos or paralysis. My days in Arkansas were far from rigidly structured, but they had enough shape to give me direction during free time. At home I can do as I please when it suits me, but formless days lead to aimless activity, if that much gets accomplished. Or I could lay on the futon and catch up on recorded TV.

All this lazing about isn't a bad thing--I'm not chomping at the bit to get back to work--but I could use a little motivation to goose my slacker ways. I could finish all those things that are awaiting completion, or I could throw something else onto the heap and see if that gets me moving.

Which means that I'm going to follow in Jennifer's shoes and participate in the Pay It Forward exchange. Here's the deal: I'll knit something for the first three people who leave a comment asking to play along. What I will knit is undetermined. Apparently I have up to a year to fulfill my end of the bargain, although we all know that I'll be faster than that. All you have to do is agree to do the same on your blog.

Leave a comment, but you should also e-mail me with your e-mail address, assuming I don't already have it. I might try to follow through for more than three people, but I reserve the right to get preoccupied with something else and stick to the rules as they are laid out.

That's better. I'm feeling motivated already.