Thursday, March 01, 2007

February knitting progress report

I know February is the shortest month, but wow, that went by in a hurry. A new month means an update on how I'm doing with my new year's knitting resolutions.

My biggest achievements had less to do with what I made than what I learned to fix. I figured out how to frog with care and get the stitches on the needle again. I seamed something properly after my first attempt had less than beautiful results. I finally made sense of picking up dropped stitches. Those accomplishments made it a good month for knitting regardless of my output.

It was a productive month, though. I can cross off "make a hat for myself" because I knitted one...and then knitted another. I did it just in time. The weather took a nasty turn for a couple weeks, so the toques have come in handy. It's starting to warm up, but I expect we'll get at least one more cold spell before spring arrives.

I took care of keeping my feet warm by knitting a pair of slippers. They're too big, and the first one I made is starting to unravel at the toe. The second slipper shows improvement over the first, so the next time I make them should produce better FOs. (Also, I've since turned those slippers inside out, so the seams in the pictures are now hidden like they should be.)

By the first of next month I should be able to put a check beside "make a baby blanket". It's helping me with my resolution to learn how to use circular needles. I'm almost done with the increases. I can tell what a difference it makes knitting the blanket on the circs. The twisting cable isn't as much a problem now. I suppose I could count the blanket's stockinette pattern as a second stitch pattern. Incredibly, I haven't knitted anything in stockinette before, although all I'm doing is knitting every stitch,which could make counting it questionable.

After doing it for the first time last month, I've become relatively comfortable knitting in public on my own. Who would've expected that?

I think I get a gold star for the regular blogging goal. I wrote every day in February and have only skipped four days all year--two weekends in January. I knitted more for myself than for others this month, which surprised me.

Am I taking better care of myself? That's debatable. Ask me when I'm in a new apartment.

My January progress report listed six FOs. I also have six for this month, although I think it's a more impressive list:

-2 ribbed scarves
-2 toques
-1 pair of slippers
-1 coffee cup cozy

I have a WIP baby blanket on the needles. My mom's birthday is about two weeks away, so I need to think of something to make for her. March brings a trip to the Cleveland International Film Festival, so maybe I'll do some film fest knitting. The adventure continues...

5 Comments:

At 7:07 PM, Blogger Karen said...

Sometimes I am amazed at how focused you are on your knitting resolutions/goals. Then I looked at my one goal for the year - to knit a pair of socks - and realized I have accomplished that with the baby socks I've made. LOL (That reminds me, I need to take a picture.)

On to your mom's gift. Dishcloths? A little purse or clutch of some sort? Not another scarf! Does she wear hats? What about slippers for her?

 
At 9:10 PM, Blogger the secret knitter said...

Part of the reason why I'm able to focus on accomplishing these goals is that I have nowhere to go but up. You may see all those FOs, but until I made that first coffee cup cozy and dishcloth in January, I knitted all but one scarf in garter stitch. I mixed it up a little by adding the blocks of color on two scarves, but it was basically the same thing with different materials. I'm not bored knitting scarves, but I like learning new things. Some of those goals were very modest too.

Compare me with Donna, who's been far more adventurous out of the gate than I have. She's fearless.

If I put my psychology degree to use, I'd also say that with all the uncertainty right now, knitting is one area where I can exercise some control.

A purse or clutch is a good idea, but I don't think I can get that done in time. (Plus, I'm hoping to have Kristin's friend--the one who made my messenger bag--make a bag for her.) I've been considering slippers. A hat might be good too. I'm open to suggestions.

 
At 6:03 AM, Blogger Jennifer said...

Great job on the goals...I'm also amazed at your focus and quite jealous, actually, although I knit way more than I blog about, so I'm doing ok, but you are doing a great job of trying new things and keeping up w/ what you want to do/learn.

About the baby blanket...since I also made the same pattern, I was a little confused when you said that you are knitting in stockinette stitch, thinking that maybe I did something wrong on mine because it was definitely in garter stitch. I looked back at the pattern and it says garter stitch, so are you altering it? I never thought of changing it up to make it stockinette, but I think that would look neat...are you knitting one row and purling the next? From your pic, it looks like you are knitting all rows, so one of us is confused. Either way, I can't wait to see your progress!

As for what to make mom, I think slippers would be a great gift along w/ the messenger bag : )

 
At 9:00 AM, Blogger the secret knitter said...

Oops, I was wrong. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. I read that you get stockinette stitch when you knit every stitch in circular knitting. What I missed is that you have to be knitting in the round to get that. The blanket is in garter stitch.

 
At 11:51 AM, Blogger Yeah So said...

Here are my suggestions for mom: a drawstring pouch (like to hold jewelry), a flower pin, a headband, washcloth (with other toiletries makes a nice gift), or a bookmark (you can use beads, and it might be a good way for you to learn lace!).

 

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