love is all you need

Q: How do you feel about my knitting as a hobby?
A: I think its great.

Q: Do you feel like I spend too much time knitting?
A: No.

Q: What is your favorite thing that I've knitted?
A: Proabably the sweater for the baby.

Q: Do you wish I knitted more things for you?
A: Yes but I know it takes a lot of time, though I do want some fingerless gloves.
(Must add that to the queue.)

Q: Do you know what my favorite yarn is? If not, take a wild guess.
A: Alpaca?
(I guess I'll give him that one, I used to love alpaca. I still like it, but I'm more wool-focused now.)

Q: Do you know what a swift is? If not, take a wild guess.
A: Yeah its that thing that you use to wind the yarn or whatever.

Q: The big thing or the little thing that I wind yarn with?
A: The big one.

Q: Do you know what DPN stands for? If not, take a wild guess.
A: Drop... Purl... News...???
(Well, at least he knew "purl" had something to do with knitting.)

Q: What is your favorite yarn?
A: Whatever you made my scarf out of.
(Knit Picks Panache. Too bad it doesn't wear well.)

Q: Do you think I spend too much money on yarn/knitting related things?
A: I'm not actually aware of how much money you spend on yarn.

Q: Use one word to describe knitting.
A: Hip.
(Good answer!)

Q: Do you notice knitted things in stores or on other people more now that you've been around me knitting?
A: Absolutely.

Q: What's one thing you'd like to say about me/knitting/my knitting to end this interview with?
A: I think you're the best knitter around.
(Awww...)

Finding and sewing buttons on the February Baby Sweater:

Watching a sock grow like magic:

And making the enchiladas I've been craving for the past three months:

Yesterday Joey and I decided to ride down to a nearby park to sit on a blanket in the shade and enjoy the beautiful weather we're having in New York this week.

Joey read aloud from Cash by Johnny Cash while I cast on for a February Baby Sweater.

We headed back home just in time to miss a sudden cloudburst. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it rained so hard that the drops were speeding down sideways. When we headed back out for some dinner, the sky was absolutely stunning.

It was a wonderful and peaceful afternoon.

I've had two skeins of this green Arucania Nature Wool in my stash for over a year. I remember when I got it in the mail I was disappointed that it wasn't as soft as I had hoped. At the time, I was completely mesmerized by all the soft baby alpaca and merino yarns out there and quickly threw this into the nether regions of my stash and moved on to softer, squooshier yarns. My tastes have changed a little since then and I find myself longing for woolier, more hardy yarns that won't pill like crazy before you're done knitting with them.
When I decided I wanted to knit a pair of dashing, I felt like the Nature Wool was a perfect choice- I wouldn't have to worry if it was too scratchy to be around my neck and I wouldn't have to worry about it pilling like mad. After knitting with it, I realized that I love this yarn! I like the wooly feel and I don't think it would be too scratchy against my neck after all, especially after a cool dip in Soak. The subtle variation in the color is my favorite part- it gives more depth to your stitches without overpowering a pattern. I love this yarn so much that I'm swatching with it for a February Baby Sweater that will be next on the needles. Hope you guys aren't tired of green yet.

Since today was Joey's first day at work and I was home alone with a monster headache brought on by being in bed all day yesterday with an atrocious stomach bug, I decided to stay in today and finish off an armwarmer.

This one is a wee bit snug on me which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't originally intended it for Joey. Now I'm wondering if I should forge ahead with the second one, potentially creating a situation in which I have a really cute knit that I don't wear that often cause I can't seem to get it off once its on. Or maybe I'll block it and see if it grows any.

Today is a peaceful rainy day. Joey and I have been sending out resumes and hoping for the best. I had an interview on Saturday at a yarn store and am waiting for a call back. A. YARN. STORE. Talk about a dream job! Spending your entire day surrounded by yarn, talking to people about yarn, teaching people how to play with yarn... sounds like heaven to me! It is a really cute store that sells coffee, too.
I'm getting close to the end on my first of the pair of Dashing I'm knitting. It is coming out smaller than I planned, I don't think Joey will be able to get his hands into these, so they'll just have to be mine. (Oh, darn)
Have you ever seen a plant like that? It is called a String of Pearls, and my Nana always has one when she and my Gampa come visit in their motor home. This year she propagated hers into three new plants for my mom, sister and me. I like looking at it and waiting for new stems to develop. It reminds me of home while I'm here waiting for new opportunities to develop.

So I got this text from my sister the other day:

Now I get to go on a yarn hunt, which is going to be fun. I've always wanted to knit a February Baby Sweater.
(No, they don't know what it is either and they don't plan on finding out which is killing me!)

Proof that I do still knit and that this really is a knitting blog.

This is the first of the pair of Dashing that I thought I would have in the can by the end of my road trip. Obviously I did not consider how much I enjoy sleeping. Those cable rows are a little hellish (as in: I've dropped plenty of stitches every time I did one.) But the rest of the way it is a really simple rib pattern. I think they're going to be really cute!

First off, let me say that today has been much better than yesterday. There is a little light at the end of our apartment search tunnel. All hope is not lost. On top of that, as I pulled into the driveway today on my way home from work I had a sneaking suspicion that there might be a little something waiting for me and I was right. Leah, of theweatherinthestreets.blogspot.com sent me a goodie package from Brooklyn!

A while back, I won a blog contest Leah was having. I think all I had to do was tell her about my favorite food and she offered to knit me a pair of socks! I was pretty flabbergasted when I found out that a complete stranger wanted to do something that nice for me. That's what's so great about the knitting and fiber world; so many good-hearted strangers coming together because of a common love for knitting. Pretty amazing.

Speaking of amazing, did you see the socks? She used green and brown, which I told her were my two favorite colors. She also used Koigu, which I've wanted to check out for some time now. I really like the slight variegation in the single-color skeins.

I have to say my favorite part is the toe. I love how her shaping turned out- anyone know offhand what kind of toe shaping this is?

She also included some awesome Mentha lip shine in spearmint- (mmmm!) along with some cute birdy stickers. This was such a great mood-lifter. I will smile every time I put these socks on, Leah. Thank you for the socks and the smiles.

Sorry I disappeared for a while there.  I guess I have a few reasons

·          Master Knitter swatches do not really make good blog reading… you’ve all seen what seed stitch, ribbing and increases/decreases look like, right?

·          Joey and I have been doing a 60-day gut buster workout thing and sometimes that makes me too tired to even look at the computer when I get home.

·          I am just completely boring right now; my house is a mess because we are trying to ‘pare down’ on household items that we won’t need/won’t have room for in new york, which has become a full time job in itself.  I just think about the amount of work and time and energy something like that takes and then I decide to ignore it and go hide in my room and watch reruns of Frasier.

I’ve really been looking for some knitting stuff to get excited about lately, but I ‘m stuck in a knitting guilt triangle.   I have three projects going right now:

·          Master Knitting Level 1: this one is my top priority, but I find that I have to make sure I pay attention to my gauge the whole time = not conducive to relaxing tv knitting.

·          My So-Called Scarf: about halfway done, beautiful, but I no longer have that cool winter breeze in my sails that would make me rush to finish it.  Plus, MK level 1 takes precedence.

·          Thermal.  Oh, god, thermal.  I really want to have this sweater, but I really don’t want to put in the effort anymore.  I’m at the part where you have to do armhole and neckline shaping at the same time, and I don’t know if I have enough brainpower for that right now.  And again, MK level 1 takes precedence.

Normally when I get in a knitting guilt funk like this I buy new, beautiful, inspiring yarn or haphazardly jump without looking into a new project, but I can’t let myself do that right now.  I need a kick in the butt and get going- with both my knitting and my new york-readying.  So, dear blog readers kick away, help me out of my funk!