Meme = Me! Me!

I wasn't tagged for this one specifically, but I'm doing it anyway, because I'm too tired right now to put together a real post.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO (I will learn this someday. Next time I something starting with ribbing; the cardi I just started has seed stitch edgings.)
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

That's a lot of bold, isn't it?

Whew!

It's funny how deceptive distance can be. The great little park with the awesome playground seems like it's only ten minutes away from our apartment when we drive past it. I thought, if I'm going to start walking in the morning--which I am, I'm slowly putting on all the weight I lost a few years ago--that would be a good place to head for and use as a halfway point. A nice little twenty-minute walk every morning, nothing that wears me out before work, since of course I work on my feet.

It's not ten minutes away. It's seventeen at power-walking speed. Regular walking, I'd guess it's more like twenty-two. Not an unreasonable walking distance at all, just a little farther than I wanted to start out with--I learned my lessons with DDR the last time I got determined about exercising: don't start out with too much, work up to more later.

Now I know, at least. Tomorrow morning I'll figure out a shorter walk to take until I get my legs back, so to speak. I was heading into a decently strong wind the whole first half, so now I feel a little rubbery.

Back on Track

After slacking off for weeks, I'm going to try, yet again, to get back into the swing of blogging.

This means, even though the pull of video games is strong right now, I'm going to live up to my YPF obligations and post this morning.

It helps motivate me that I'm very excited about this yarn.



Elann Lara in #910 - Green Tea






(The color is truest in the first picture--spot on, in fact, at least on my screen.)

Why am I excited about this yarn? I'm not usually one to go all goo-goo over cotton, and green isn't even my favorite color.

It's because of the project I've finally (after three years of searching!) found the right yarn for.

I bought this on my first trip to England, visiting my then-betrothed while he laboured away at his Master's at U of Nottingham. I couldn't afford to pay for the brand label yarn at the time--still can't, probably, if the stuff isn't discontinued or something. I haven't bothered to look.

But I fell in love with Sycamore--though not with the color as pictured.

I kept my eyes open. I waited for the right yarn, while I debated on color. Black would go with everything, but I've knit fine black lace before, and I'm in no rush to do it again. Any other deep color I like would have the same versatility, but give me the same headache, so there goes navy and forest and deep, subtle purple. Pastels? Out of the question, I can't abide wearing them. And bright crayon colors seemed to unsophisticated for a cardigan of this caliber.

When Elann introduced Lara last year, I must have had a gigantic brain fart--I thought it was a lovely yarn, but I couldn't think of anything I'd use it for. My brain was still wired to cotton = DK from all those tank tops I'd knit the previous summer, and it didn't occur to me that I had a project waiting in the wings that needed a finer yarn.

Then, last week, TA-DA! I finally made the connection when Lara was relisted; I scrolled down the color chart and saw Green Tea. Whip out the calculator and figure out how much I needed and how much it would run me....twenty seconds later I whipped out my credit card.

Now, if only I wasn't already knitting something on my only #1 needles....I'll have to finish this sleeve and set its cashmere beauty aside for the summer. The call of cotton has seduced me.

FO: Lizard Beach

Mine's not a ridge, it's a beach....



I chose to use three colorways of SWS to get more variety in the finished piece, and because I was buying full bags it worked out to one bag each to make a slightly smaller blanket, which was what I wanted. I picked out the colorways that I did merely because no three other colorways seemed to match up as well as these do.

I didn't expect that I would fall in love with them so much after only a few hours spent knitting. By the time I was halfway through the third block, just starting to see all three colorways working together, I knew I was into beach territory. Every individual color called something to mind: the bright, pale gold of dry sand or the mellow brown of wet; the faded tones of driftwood; the shades of the water in full sun, twilight, or moonlight, and the sky above each.



And so, finally, my blanket has a name: Lizard Beach.



Project Specs:

• Pattern: Knitty's Lizard Ridge
• Yarn: Patons SWS in Naturally Denim, Naturally Blue, and Naturally Navy
• Yardage: 6 Balls of Denim, 5 each of Blue and Navy
• Needles: Size 8
• Gauge: ~ 4 sts/inch, blocked
• Finished Size: 46" x 52"
• Modifications: Many, detailed below

As mentioned before, my basic modifications mirror Aija's; I was thinking of doing this project when the pattern was first published, but it wasn't until the happy coincidence of stumbling across Aija's FO just before Christmas while wondering what to do with my Christmas money, and finding a good deal on SWS, that I actually realized I could afford to make it at all.

The basic mods: 1) Knit in panels rather than blocks; and, 2) Non-short-rows are worked in garter stitch rather than stockinette.

My further mods: 3) Worked in three colorways, alternating two per block (A/B then B/C then C/A and so on, with the panels lined up so that no adjacent blocks were identical); 4) All ends spit-spliced rather than carrying the working yarn up the side; 5) Edging done in MC rather than CC.



While I sewed the panels together with a good strong wool in a neutral color (navy, in this case), I couldn't bear to have the whole thing edged in it. I started the edging with Denim, but ran out a third of the way through the second round. I switched to Naturally Navy, which produced the lovely shifting shades of edging around the rest of the blanket. Now, I wish I'd done the whole thing in NN, but when I finished and blocked it, I was so happy to be done that I didn't want to go back and change anything.

My plan of panels left on hold worked out rather well; I knit each panels to four-blocks-long, then decided how much more to add based on the yarn I had remaining. Because of my color layout, I used rather more Denim than the other two, so I only had enough to add another half-block to each panel, bringing the final dimensions to 4 x 4.5 blocks, rather than 4 x 6. But it's plenty big enough for me and the sweetie to snuggle under on the couch watching a movie. That's the real test of how big a blanket is!



Knitting it in panels did make it a bit more awkward towards the end of each; they did get rather long, and I've never managed to teach myself to knit back backwards, so I was turning the whole thing rather often. But I did manage to remember not to turn it the same direction every time, which would twist the panel, but to go back-and-forth, which was less of a strain. I traded slight awkwardness for quite a bit less sewing up, which is a trade I like.



Patons SWS was a joy to work with and a great substitute. I've never actually knit with Kureyon before, but I've handled it, and it always seemed a bit rough for me; I don't think I'd like to have a blanket made from it, no matter how much it may soften up in the wash. SWS isn't buttery soft or anything, but it was softer pre-washing than Kureyon. Also, less knots! Kureyon is famous for knot density (so much so that Aija also talks about that in her FO post), but in the 16 complete balls of SWS I used, I encountered only six knots. Not too bad at all. Like tales of Kureyon, I was occasionally picking out tiny bits of foreign matter (mostly tiny shreds of straw) but they weren't common and they came out without much fuss.



The colors. Can I wax poetic about the colors some more? While the blanket was blocking on the floor of my living room, I kept looking over at it while I was sitting at the computer playing video games or reading forums or whatever. And then, whenever I got up to get something from the kitchen or use the bathroom or what have you, I would go over and kneel by it, pet it, gaze lovingly at it, before returning to my chair. I was, very literally, having a hard time pulling myself away from it. Those little waves are hypnotic, and while I wasn't so far gone I could hear the sounds of the ocean just from staring at it--I may be in love but I'm not a total lunatic--I did feel a little peace descend on me from being near it, a remarkably similar feeling to what I've experienced sitting on a hotel balcony and wave-watching. (Oh, how I wish I lived on an ocean....)

Now, while the mornings are still cool enough, even in my little oven of an apartment, I'll curl up on the couch with a book and my Lizard Beach, and be content.