Setting the bar

I learned how to knit in 2004.  Well, "learned to knit" as in learned how to execute the knit stitch and not much else.  I learned to purl, decrease, increase, knit socks, etc. in 2009 -- five years later.  I knitted my first lace in 2011.  I think it is time to start setting the bar a little higher for myself.  It seems like, when I stop being afraid to make mistakes (and pull my head out of my ass), I actually manage to accomplish things!  Well whaddya know?  *facepalm*

So I'm setting the bar.  These are the knitting goals I have for the upcoming 2012 year.

1. Learn the fair isle technique.

I have no intention of jumping in and doing a whole fair isle sweater (steeking will probably not happen this year).  But fair isle has been calling my name for the past two years!  And I want so badly to learn this technique!  My friend Drea gave me the book Mastering Color Knitting for Christmas, and the pictures are luscious. This will be the year!

The project?  I've had the Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon Osborn in my Ravelry favorites for the past year.  Look how pretty it is!

Whether Selbu or something else...my first fair isle project will be a hat.

2. Patterned socks

Although I've knitted about 10 pairs of socks, all but one pair have been just regular stockinette socks.  The only pattern I've done to date is the Sunday Swing pattern from Knitty.  Fun pattern, but I'm ready to branch out a little more and try some new things.

I bought a beautiful skein of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn, which promises to make a wild and beautiful pair of socks!  And for my first trick, I'm attempting Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern.  I've been eying this pattern for a long time.  It doesn't look like much yet (I'm trying to focus on finishing David's scarf, before moving on to projects that are, sadly, more fun for me), but I'm hoping they shape up into pretty Jaywalkers!

What other patterns?  I'd like to do at least three.  I've thus far had poor luck in attempting the Spring Forward socks, but maybe third time is the charm?  And my history-major soul is loving the Aquitaine Sock, named for Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of my favorite characters in history!

(Botched attempt to line these pictures up side-by-side...curse you, Blogger interface.)

3. A lace shawl.

I look at beautiful pictures of lace shawls online and I ache to do a beautiful one!  Right or wrong, I will feel like a more complete knitter when I have a lace shawl under my belt.  To date, my only completed lace project is Saroyan, which remains sadly unblocked (I have yet to block her and give her a full FO post!).  The project was so much fun, and left me itching for more lace.  Also, since Saroyan is more of a scarf, I don't consider it a lace shawl.  Better luck next time!

Wendy Johnson's Lady Bertram Shawlette is in my arsenal, has been since April when I bought it at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival, as part of a kit.  The yarn I bought with it is Super Sock 416  in black cherry -- so juicy!  I cast on this project in May, got daunted, and left it alone for the past few months.  It will get a revival this winter!

 I recently acquired (as a very late Christmas present from last year), two skeins of beautiful deep green yarn that I plan to use to make a lace shawl as well.  The shawl I dream of knitting is Damask -- look how beautiful it is! -- but I sadly fear that this is out of my league for now.  Damask includes the ever-popular nupps of Estonian knitting, and I don't think I'm quite up to the task of the p5tog.  The Calais shawl is a frontrunner -- and I think it will be far easier than Damask.  Plus it has the added benefit of being free.

From paperbirch on Flickr

Those are my three goals for the upcoming year.  I reserve the right to add projects to this list as I go...but I'm hoping to not delete any.

Day Zero Task Accomplished -- Support an Independent Artist!

I started my Day Zero list on November 1st, like everyone else.  I have two things down so far, but it's going to take me until next weekend to update the first one, because I've forgotten the name of the wine that I found I liked.  Today I'm going to talk about my second thing crossed off the list:

Support an Independent Artist

I'd like to think that this counts, even if it's only a small purchase, but this is an artist whose progress I've been following for several years, and even though it's been a while since I made a purchase from her, I looked on her Etsy page the other day and saw something I just could not resist -- it's going to make a fabulous Christmas present for someone on my list. 

Joy H. created Fabulosity Yarn (Facebook link) as a company to sell her handspun and hand-dyed yarn, as well as other pretty hand-made goodies (such as crocheted and knitted items, hand-painted silk scarves, and felted bags, among other things).  The quality of her items is supreme, and she has since, quite deservedly, taken off in the local market in her home state of Montana.  Here are some pictures of some of the beautiful items that Joy makes.

Copyrighted Fabulosity

Copyrighted Fabulosity

Copyrighted Fabulosity

 

 

And what is the item that I purchased?  This beautiful hand-painted 100% silk scarf, which I think will make a special someone on my Christmas list very happy.

Happy Friday!

The never-ending project

For some reason, summer always stunts my knitting mojo.  I stop knitting for months, and then, like clockwork, right as it gets cold, right before Christmas or so, something in me snaps and I suddenly am on the bring of frothing at the mouth over beautiful yarns, clicking needles, ambitious projects.  I do my best knitting in winter, right before the Christmas deadline (kind of like in high school where I wrote my best papers five hours before they were due).

Anyway.  I'm rambling.  Check this out:

Well, yay.  It's a square.

To be more precise, it's a mitered square (my first one, btw, which is why it looks a little lopsided and funky...though that may be because it has yet to be blocked), made from Noro Silk Garden Sock (color #252?  I think?  It's been awhile and I lost the tag), knit on US 3 dpn's.  

What is it going to be?  Can you guess?

Hopefully, one day, that little square will be part of this:  The Giant Sock Yarn Blankie.

Because I knit a lot of socks, I have a lot of sock yarn scraps.  I'm excited to make them all into the little mitered squares that make up this blanket.  It is going to take YEARS, I know.  That little square up there?  Is about 2 inches by 2 inches.  TINY.  But quick!  I made it in about an hour.  

So this isn't a project I can be monogamous with (sorry, Blankie).  It'll be something that I work on here and there, and hopefully (with any luck) complete one day.

On to square #2...

CT Sheep and Wool Festival 2011

I've been a knitting since I was a junior in college -- so almost eight years now -- and yesterday I attended my first local "fiber festival".  Growing up, the autumn country fairs were part of the changing seasons (I'm a small-town CT girl), but I had never been to one that was strictly dedicated to the fiber arts (spinning, knitting, crocheting, and weaving).  When I found out there was one only half an hour away from my house -- in Vernon, CT -- I grabbed three of my friends, and we were off.

The Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival is the first of these such annual fairs in the northeastern US, culminating with the famous Rhinebeck festival in NY in October.  The CT one is small, but we had a wonderful time.  I love supporting local vendors, and it's nice to find yarn that you won't find mass-produced, for amazing prices!  We had a ball.

My friend Drea posed as an alpaca:

 

We saw the most adorable baby lamb ever, who was too timid to let us pet him.

 

We saw alpacas (Drea would like me to add in that she, in fact, petted an alpaca).  I would have petted one, but I'm terribly allergic, unfortunately.

And it wouldn't be a yarn festival if I didn't come home with something (as I said, I like supporting local artists!).  

This is a skein of Super Sock 416 (75% merino, 25% nylon, 450 yards), from the Ball and Skein in Barton, Vermont.  The color is black cherry -- very apropos.  The owner was extremely nice and helpful, and they had their skeins kitted up with patterns -- how could I resist?  The pattern here is Wendy D. Johnson's Lady Bertram Shawlette -- those of you who are readers will recognize the name from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park!  There were several kits with shawls named after Austen characters, and I was so enchanted that I snapped this one right up.  It took me a while to pick out the right color to match what I was looking for, but I think the black cherry will suit perfectly.

All in all, a wonderful Saturday afternoon, and I'm so glad I went.  I'm trying to get the same friends to go with me to the fair in Massachusetts later this summer -- we shall see :)



Today: I'm going to be 90% finished with our formal living room!  The only thing lacking is going to be a living room rug.  Pictures when I'm done, I can't wait to have my own little space to entertain.  David has his "man cave" (which is far from being finished and may never be as long as he's able to play video games in it), and now at last I'll have a place to have girlfriends over and watch movies or knit or whatever in peace.  I can't wait.