Several months ago (ok it was August 2011) Target unveiled an “epic 400-piece Missoni” line of items ranging from sweaters to rainboots.

Tragically I am neither hip nor funky, and more often look like I should have stepped out of an episode of What Not to Wear (definitely the before pictures!)

Anyhow, not being particularly mod, I took note of the craze and moved on. Until I saw the cutest pattern on Ravelry. For a baby blanket.

And just like that, I’m addicted. Envisioning 20 odd versions of this blanket in scrap yarns and Wollmeise and handspun and….

A few weeks ago, while perusing my Twitter feeds, I saw a retweet from someone saying that Lucy Neatby was looking for test knitters. Ms. Neatby happens to be a very important person in the knitting world. (I do believe when telling a friend about this project I referred to her as Lucy effen Neatby – meant entirely in complimentary awe of her talent).  I shot off a quick email and next thing I knew I was signed up to test knit.

The pattern arrived a day or so later, and I had those first pangs of anxiety – you know that sort of stomach dropping moment where you think maybe you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?

The pattern was for a double knit baby bonnet. Our good old friend Wikipedia defines it thusly:

Double knitting is a form of knitting in which two fabrics are knit simultaneously with two yarns on one pair of needles.

Clear as mud?

The pattern called for a tubular cast-on, which was also something I hadn’t ever tried. I’m sure had I invested in the collection of Lucy Neatby technique videos, I’d be well versed in this method, but I went looking for a tutorial online and found one of my favorites, Eunny Jang, here:

Duly fortified with this knowledge I set about casting on and it worked beautifully.

Now I by no means consider myself an expert at the technique of double knitting, but here’s how I went about it.  I kept my chart close at hand.  Normally I don’t need to track the chart excessively with highlighter tape, but because each stitch on the chart was actually TWO stitches (both the inside and the outside color) and because sometimes these colors were switched (to create the patternwork) I tracked it VERY carefully.

The top panel of the hat is worked back and forth meaning each time I turned my work over, I had to reverse the “main color” and the “contrast color.” In color terms: on one side red was my dominant color, with the white snowflakes in contrast, and on the other side, white was my dominant color with the red snowflakes in contrast. I only did a few rows at a time through the top panel of the hat. Also, I knit with both colors of yarn in one hand, but I switched each row so that the dominant/main color of that row was the more tensioned yarn (with the contrast color just following along). If you knit continental, this may be easier for you.

The rest of the instructions in the pattern were clear and concise. It took me a little over a week, but I got through the pattern and save one (unfortunately very visible) mistake, I completed the project.

This is the time of year that visions of pumpkin casserole and Grandma Ruthie’s homemade stuffing and of course that chocolate cherry Bonnie Maziotta cake dance in my head.  Where we make the stuffing on Wednesday night and then on Thursday I put the mashed potatoes through the Foley food mill, and the little sis stirs the gravy. And we eat too much and talk and laugh.

It’s also the time of year I’m thankful: thankful for my family and most especially my wonderful husband, thankful that we all have good jobs and roofs over heads and plenty to eat, thankful that we’re healthy and happy and have survived another year.

The only problem is that this year I may have to go naked at Thanksgiving because I’ve been concentrating on what knitting projects I’m going to take. The yarn and patterns and implements are all packed, but nary a stitch of clothing. This is normal right?

from a friend

Most of the weekend was spent knitting and spinning in this beautiful lobby.

We also managed to take a detour to Omaha and participate in a little retail therapy. We visited both String of Purls and Personal Threads. I might have died a little in the second. Please excuse the blurry camera phone photo of the wall of Koigu. This might be what heaven looks like.

And I even made a dent in my first April sweater:

Now I just need a weekend to recover!

I fear that March’s sweater was a disaster. I returned it to yarn form tonight. It’s always a little sad and depressing to me to come to the conclusion that what I’m knitting just isn’t going to be what I hoped it would be. It’s a combination of the time, and effort, and seeing something not become what I saw in my mind’s eye.

But I’ll move on. I’m already planning to start two sweaters in April to make up for it.

I’ve been spinning this month. Spinning a lot. There’s more to talk about there, but I’m not quite ready to share yet. For now I’ll just show you something I recently got off the wheel:

And there’s been knitting. But I can’t really talk about that yet either. Oh ok, maybe a little peek:

There’s also been a lot of reading. I’ve recently been using the Kindle app on my phone and enjoying reading a variety of books. So far, in the last month I’ve devoured: The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Too by Kate Jacobs, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. More in a few days when I can talk more about the secret projects.

The Pattern: Off the shoulder cabled aran by Calista Yoo

The Yarn: The Plucky Knitter MCN, “Tara’s Velvet Drapes” inspired by Gone With the Wind

The Needles: US 2 & 4

The Verdict: I started this on January 1, 2010. It got abandoned pretty quickly because I was upset that the yarn kept bleeding color onto my hands. This month I decided to suck it up and finish the sweater since I really really want to wear it! I still need to soak it in vinegar and try and exhaust the rest of the dye, but I love the overall look and fit and the yarn itself feels divine.

***

A while ago I spun up approximately 440 yards of yarn from some Beemiceelf fiber. While I loved the individual braids, I was a little disappointed in the resulting yarn. I wondered if by plying the variegated with the semi-solid, I had overpowered the lovely transitions between colors in the variegated braid.

Then I found a pattern that I thought might work. This is Chrissy Prange’s (LeftSideKnits) Unwinding Hours. As I knit this pattern, I was thrilled to see that the subtlety of the colors hadn’t been lost. I think I’ve fallen in love again!

Even NPR says so! Listen here

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I spend a large amount of time knitting. A large amount as in a few hours each day. It’s a bit like breathing to me.

This year a group on Ravelry was started to encourage shawl knitting in 2010. They called it “10 Shawls in 2010.” I enthusiastically joined and at last count I have shawls #14 and #15 on the needles.

A month or two ago, I started thinking about the end of the year, and the start of 2011 and what I wanted to accomplish in 2011. I surveyed my stash, and realized that I had an embarrassingly large number of sweater quantities of yarn. The answer was elementary (my dear Watson). I would knit sweaters.

Thinking Knowing everyone would think I was crazy, I started telling selected individuals my plan. And to my surprise people wanted to join me. So I did it. I took the plunge and started a group. I named it, most originally, “11 Sweaters in 2011.” If you want to join us – to participate, to watch, to cheerlead, or to chat, all are welcome. You can find us here.

In my previous post, I explained all about NaKniSweMo. You can imagine my surprise when I saw this article in the New York Times on Saturday the 13th.

Let me excerpt.

November is National Novel Writing Month. Perhaps you know that already. Perhaps you’re trying to reach word 23,338 by night’s end. If you don’t know NaNoWriMo, think of it as a literary marathon with nearly 200,000 mostly amateur writers. The goal? To write a 50,000-word “novel” in 30 days.

“Novel,” in NaNoWriMo-speak, means “laughably awful yet lengthy prose.” What began in 1999 with 21 friends has grown into a nonprofit called the Office of Letters and Light, whose purpose is to get people to throw their literary inhibitions aside, work within a communal deadline, and have fun.

Imagine, a contest called NaSweKniMo — National Sweater Knitting Month — in which first-time knitters knit their hearts out. In many cases that would be a total waste of wool.

I don’t know what disappoints me more. I’m used to the slightly mocking tone, although I don’t really appreciate it or the “waste of wool” comment. But the editor can’t even be bothered to Google the notion before he hits publish.

I stewed about this for a few days, and then this morning wrote the following letter to the editor.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing to notify you of an error in your Editorial ””Word After Word After Word” which appeared on November 13, 2010.

In the article, the editor is discussing National Novel Writing Month. He/she makes a tongue in cheek comment:

“Imagine, a contest called NaSweKniMo — National Sweater Knitting Month — in which first-time knitters knit their hearts out. In many cases that would be a total waste of wool.”

Such an endeavor does indeed exist and has since November 2006. NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) is the brainchild of editor and knitting author Shannon Oakey and was first brought to life on her blog in 2006.

I just wanted to say that I’m surprised and disappointed by your article – both that the editor feels the need to call what we do a “waste of wool” and that he/she can’t be bothered to do basic research on Google (when I enter “nasweknimo” in the search box I get no less than 198 results).

I don’t expect a response, but I feel better now.