Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Something to aspire to.

PROMPT: Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft? Maybe the skill or pattern is one that you don’t even personally want to make but can stand back and admire those that do. Maybe it is something you think you will never be bothered to actually make bu can admire the result of those that have.

Oh, yeah. Intrelac, baby. I've been wanting to try this skill since I first saw the Danica Scarf.

Isn't she pretty?

I'm not sure why I'm so intimidated by this. According to ravelry, a lot of people have made this scarf, and so it can't possibly be as impossible as it looks. But I hate the idea of seams, and so a whole scarf based on the idea of picking up stitches from the sides of knit sections over and over and over and.... yikes.
Currently trying to stash bust, and I don't have anything appropriate for knitting it currently, but I've decided that as soon as I get back to the point when I am buying yarn, I intend to buy yarn for specific projects instead of on a whim, and this is the first thing I'm buying for. So yeah. Soon.

2KCBWDAY6

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Your knitting and crochet time

PROMPT: Write about your typical crafting time.

I am an easily distracted crafter. I only rarely sit quietly and knit without any other kind of entertainment. I listen to music and podcasts, watch tv and movies, sometimes I even read, if I'm knitting pure stockinette or garter stitch. My current favorites are these:

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

Snap Judgement

Community

and whatever's on Universal Channel, so I don't have to think about what's going on in a foreign language.

2KCBWDAY5

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Where Are They Now?

Whatever happened to your __________? Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

These are the first socks I ever knit, back when they were first finished, and the only hand-knit socks I brought with me to Mexico. The yarn I bought when I was living in Eisleben, and it looked fantastic in the skein, but I kind of didn't like it once it was knitted up, to be honest. All the same, they're warm, and I packed them in an attempt to capitalize the twofer value as both warm footware and a comfort item. I don't so much need them for their warmth anymore, but even up to last week their coziness has continued to make them a good choice on the list of 100.
These socks also mark the passage of my time in Mexico more than anything else. When I got here, they were a little worn, but still looked nice. The fit was never fantastic (does anyone do well in that department with their first pair of socks?), but they were passable. The tops were still as stretchy as they ever were (again--not the best they could've been). The fabric was in good shape.
Now, the heels have felted together and gotten really too tight to be comfortable when I walk. The big toe of the right foot is wearing out, and you can see part of my toenail poking through. The ribbing is completely stretched out, and the tops fall down and bunch around my ankles like they don't know this isn't the early-90s anymore. They're unfortunate-looking and embarrassing, and no, you can't see a photo, because I don't even wear them out into the living room anymore. They have been quarantined to my bedroom, and the internet is a much larger, more public space than that.

I love those socks.

2KCBWDAY4

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches

PROMPT: How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? 

My knitting organization style is different right now than it normally is, since I've only got part of my stash here with me in Mexico. However, I think I've grown to love this system more than my old one, and I think I'm going to keep it up when I go home. I've got a couple different systems working in glorious harmony with each other, but I'll just talk here about the big one.

The Stash

The hardest thing for me to organize is my stash. The idea is that I put yarn in zipper bags and store it in a box that fits on the shelf of my desk. But I ran out of zipper bags before I ran out of yarn, and so I had to put more than one kind of yarn in each bag. It was hard to decide how to organize that. Right now, my physical stash is organized by yarn weight, mostly for the convenience of having similarly sized skeins packaged together (I tend to buy several colorways of the same brand of yarn at the same time. Right now I'm trying to work through my Artyarns Ultramerino 4 stash.). But sometimes that doesn't make sense to me.
Because I change my mind about every week about what categorizations make the most sense, I'm really glad I have ravelry's stash page to help me out. I first put pictures with [most of] my yarns thinking that I would need something to reference when I asked my parents to mail me more yarn during the course of this year (no way I can ever carry enough yarn with me to last that long!). But it's helpful now, as I think more carefully about the exact specifications of a yarn I'm trying to match with a project. I like being able to quickly change sorting by color, by weight, by yardage, without actually having to dump my whole stash out on the bed and start over.

2KCBWDAY3

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: Skill +1UP

PROMPT: Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet?

I'd have to honestly say that I've grown in confidence more than skill. But if I have learned anything new in the last year, it's lace.

The first lace chart I tackled was at Christmas 2009, when I knit this Ulmus shawl for Granna. I really struggled to understand what was going on, and had to restart this scarf about five times before I figured it out. I probably knit more from the sample photos and trial and error than I did by being able to read the chart.

Fast forward to last month, when I knit this Moonlight Sonata shawlette for my mom. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. And I'm particularly proud of how quickly I memorized the chart. I know that's not something I can exactly point to and say "SEE?! I did it!" so you'll just have to believe me, I guess. ;)
For me, the process of learning lace was more about experimentation than skill development. As time goes on, I've learned a little bit about which way certain types of increases and decreases lean (not that I don't constantly get them mixed up), where holes will actually end up in the grand scheme of things, even though they look out of place when the yarn over first gets mentioned, and how to best control tension so that blocking isn't quite such a chore (Does anyone else have this problem? It doesn't seem to make sense to me that my tension is different when I knit lace than when I'm working in st st...). It's a little like a science experiment. It's a lot like fun.

2KCBWDAY2

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week: A Tale of Two Yarns

SHOOT! I had these posts all set up and ready to go, but for some reason they were stuck in "draft" mode, and didn't publish this week... Well... Better late than never, right?
 

PROMPT: Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

Yarn 1: Indiecita Baby Alpaca

First I should say that I don't believe there's such a thing as a bad yarn. Except acrylic yarns. Blegh. So, when I say that I really hated working with this baby alpaca, it's mostly because I got it when I was really still learning how to knit. I pretty much only worked in stockinette and simple ribs. I didn't know jack about drape. But this yarn was pretty much hell for a beginning knitter. It split on my needles. It didn't frog well at all. and when I finally got a finished project out of it, it was far too droopy. Now, I hope I know better than to try to make a 3x1 rib cowl out of fingering weight alpaca. But still. I struggled to get anything off the needles with this yarn.

Yarn 2: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino

I think I really love this merino for similar reasons. To be fair, I've worked with it a lot, and so I know its properties like the back of my hand. Merino is one of the most forgiving fibers I've ever worked with, and it's not so hard on the fingers (like cotton--ouch!). The project of these mitts was the first time I felt really, truly competent as a knitter. The floated stitches were a knew skill, but I managed them without much trouble. The yarn's variegations worked out pretty much exactly as I expected and hoped. My stitches were even and controlled. I felt good working with this yarn. There are plenty of other factors that contributed to that, to be sure, but still. Good memories. I love this yarn. It also comes in some amazing colors, and I can't stop myself from buying it whenever I see it.

I'm going to cheat and add a third yarn.

Yarn 3: handspun

I've never knit with a handspun. I'm really dying to. The colors are so incredible, especially in plied yarns. I want to play with them all and see how they work themselves out. Okay. I'm going to stop drooling now.

2KCBWDAY1

Coming Soon: Knitting & Crochet Blog Week

I have been spending more and more time doing crafts. Usually, my crafts of choice are yarn-related, but thanks to my work with two manualidades groups, my horizons are being broadened every day. I've realized recently, however, that that part of my life isn't something I tend to share here on this blog. I think I'd like to do more of that. SO! I've decided to participate in the 2nd annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Every day for the week of 28 March-3 April I'll be responding to prompts up on this website.
Why am I telling you this now? Well, mostly to help promote Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. I know some of you reading this are knitters and crocheters as well, and I want to invite you to participate. Maybe you don't have a blog yet, and you think this could be a good time to start. Maybe you'd like to spend some time reflecting on the things you've been doing for your own sake, even without posting them anywhere. Maybe you're not interested in blogging yourself, but you'd like to read more about crafting. Whatever the case may be, resources are available for you over at Eskimimi's site.

Secondly, I was hoping the knowledge that this is coming might strike a different cord of interest with you, dear readers. I've noticed that the feedback I've been getting on my blog posts and emails is lower than it was at the start of my YAGM year, but that my soup recipe was quite popular. This blog is partially a public journal to record my experiences as a volunteer in Mexico, but I mostly write for you. I want to invite you into conversation about what you'd like to hear more of, and what you don't. Please know that I always--always--welcome your comments, suggestions, or reactions. So tell me, what do you want to know more about? What should I leave off? What are your questions about Mexico that aren't getting answered?