The GMD Blog   Knitting, fibers, jewelry, aesthetics and life.

So I figured out a way to game the system: since I am supposed to be working on my actual-job type things, I figured out that if it was going to be a for-sale item, I could totally cast on a new knitting project, even though I’m only supposed to be finishing up my current projects.

It started out innocently enough, with a spinning project that I was going to turn into yarn for the store. But the same night I was spinning the yarn, Mortie, our nervous, neurotic cat figured out that something is going on with all the boxes in the house, and things are disappearing, and OH MY GOD EVERYTHING IS NOT OK IN THE WORLD. For him, this meant that he needed to be in my lap, and rubbing my face, and purring like crazy, and basically getting in my way as much as possible so he could get as many cuddles as he could AND so he could show me that he is a good, loving cat and should get to come with us.

Normally, when he needs cuddles and I am spinning, he just settles onto my lap and it is no big deal. But he just wouldn’t settle and I really didn’t want to stop spinning, and the end result was yarn that came apart in 4 places when I was winding it into a skein. While I was sure it was otherwise solid, I just wasn’t comfortable selling a yarn with 4 knots in it. So I decided that if I could not sell the yarn as-is, I could still sell it if I knitted it into a thing first.

And that is just what I did. And that is why my discovery of how to thwart my own system really did start out innocently. Even better, though, is that the project is finished and currently blocking in the spare room. So it’s just win-win-win.

Best of all, though, is that on top of making a new yarn, and then making something out of the yarn, I also packed a bunch of boxes, worked on some of my other knitting projects, and finished making all the recycled-pants work-in-progress bags. I even fixed all the clothes in my mending pile so they could be packed in good, usable condition.

So basically, I was a total badass champion this week because I managed to work both inside and outside my system, and accomplished twice as much by doing so.

Oh, you wanted me to be awesome AND provide pictures? Fine. Here. It’s the yarn I made. You can think of it as a teaser for the finished project.

So it’s about two weeks now until we move, and I have started to hit that wall where the items left to be packed are simply harder to work with. As such, i’ve been doing other things, although not much knitting, probably as that is something I am supposed to do.
Here is what I have been actually doing:

1. Crunches, leg lifts, and going to the gym. That’s actually a really good thing and I have no complaints.

2. Cooking. A few days ago I realized we had only two weeks to eat everything in the fridge and freezer. This is complicated by the steady influx of produce from the garden, especially the tomatoes, since it seems no one wants to eat them this year. I solved our multiple-pound tomato problem last night by making fresh basil-sage tomato cream sauce. Again, I have no problems with this, since we need to use up the food, we have to eat, and it saves money.

3. Spinning. I am neutral about this, since my stash is really small right now anyway. Every spinning project is a new project, which I am not supposed to be starting, but I have finished everything I have started, and I enjoy spinning. So, yeah, neutral on this front.

4. Not knitting. This is not good. I am pretty sure I have replaced my kntting time with wandering-aimlessly-trying-to-pack time, which is really a waste of time. I should just knit.

5. Discovering and reading all of Allie Brosh’s insanely funny blog “Hyperbole and a Half.” This is neutral-good. The blog is hilarious, but I spent a lot of time reading it. On the other hand, I haven’t been knitting, so there is some free time there. Also, because of her blog, I can now more fully express my feelings about packing:
Initially, I was all, “Pack ALL the things!” but now I am more like “Pack all the things? “.

6. Legitimate job-type work, where I update etsy, make advertising decisions and also make things, like spindles and batts of awesome wool. No complaints here, actually. I should always be doing some of this.

Final conclusion: eliminate aimless “not packing but pretending to be packing time” and substitute with either knitting or actual packing. Wait for Allie to update her blog. Distract you with pictures of cats (thanks for the tip, Allie!).

P.S. I learned a lesson last time, you know, when Blog ate my post when I tried to insert a picture. I was ready this time. I win!

So remember how a few months back I kept taunting you with promises of a nifty, super-magic vest pattern? Well, I got one step closer to that goal this week, when I finished the vest. All I needed to do in the end was un-pick the cast off, and work two more repeats. Then seam, which took a few tries to get right. I did find a great resource for seaming help here: http://www.knitsimplemag.com/node/18 . The directions and pictures are very clear, and it covers all sorts of possible ways you might need to attach two pieces of knitting.

I’m not the best model for things, but I have a plan to fix that. My lovely friend Ashley S. is a fantastic model, and I am going to bribe her to model the vest for the official pattern pictures, probably by offering to knit her something. She knits, too. But I knit a lot more and much faster. Those two facts are probably related.

In any case, I thought you should know that the vest was done. Not that it means the pattern is ready, I still have to test knit it again, to make sure it works. And once I have it written, I’d love to have someone else give it a final test run before I publish it. If anyone wants to do that, you can have a copy of the pattern for FREE before it is published. This is really a fantastic offer. You know, for me. Maybe also for you.

I would start the 2nd test knit, if only I could find the original pattern recipe, where I already worked out all the math for making it go. I am sure it will turn up soon, as I keep moving and sorting piles into boxes and sealing them away. I haven’t packed any knitting stuff so I know it’s not packed yet. I also know that I will be making it in a baby/ toddler size with that same rainbow yarn I used for the last baby project because I am sure it will again lead to awesomeness. How could it not?

So I just finished writing this great post about knitting and my weekend trip to Las Vegas, and was just putting in the pictures, and *poof*, WordPress logged me out, and very unceremoniously did not bother to save a draft. So here I am, stuck trying to re-create that old post, which never works. So. instead, I will say what I was going to say, but I will switch up the format.
1. Last week, in preparation for Vegas, I spent a lot of time thinking about the perfect project to work on in those conditions (busy, dark, unclean, drunk). And I came up with 5 criteria for the perfect Vegas Project:
1. Light color, to see it better in the half-light.
2. Washable, in the likely event it gets dirty.
3. Easy, so you can work it while drinking.
4. Interesting, so you will finish it when you get home.
5. On circular needles, so you can’t drop one…because you will never find it.
When the day of our departure had finally arrived, and I hadn’t chosen anything yet, I decided to dig though the stash and start with the yarn. I found two yummy balls of beige-y mushroom colored Katia Colibri that seemed right, and then I hopped onto Ravelry to see what other people had done with that yarn–almost immidiately, I found an easy-enough-interesting-enough shawl pattern, Simple Yarn-Over Shawl by Mary Joy Gumayagay, that I knew would work. I also knew I should get it started at home (&*^%%$ provisional cast ons) and I’m glad I did, since that took 3 tries.

Once in Vegas, I only worked on it sporadically, because I was actually having a lot of fun without it, but I’m glad I had it to fill in the gaps. The gaps: I worked on it a little during dinner at Koi (both the miso green-beans and the signature Crispy Rice topped with Spicy Tuna were great) and for a few minutes at the nightclub Pure, where we were celebrating my friend’s 21st birthday in serious style with a rooftop table and bottle service (one of those two things was a Good Idea, the other, Not So Much).

Needless to say, while I enjoyed the knitting, I didn’t get much done. The next evening, we wandered around the strip a little bit, and had loads of fun taking pictures (which mostly did not come out) in the Bellagio’s fantastic psychedelic garden theme atrium. Here’s one that worked.

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything that we can do about the faces I make when someone takes a picture. This is a good one. Well, comparatively.

There is a lot that we wanted to do in Vegas that we just didn’t get to, since we were pretty busy. One of those things was visiting a LYS so I could grab souvenir yarn/ fiber. But we never got around to that. It’s too bad, but I am pretty sure we will eventually go back. When we do, I think we will stay at Aria or Vdara (so lovely, and Aria smells wonderfully of Vanilla and Sandalwood). For now, I’ve made some batts inspired by Vegas–and tonight, I’ll turn one of those batts into a one-of-a-kind souvenir yarn. It doesn’t get much better than that.

P.S. There’s another Vegas Batt in my store. All the sparkle and fun, with none of the regret.

So for the last two or three weeks, I’ve been knitting a lot of new projects–starting and finishing them quickly. This was not really the plan, though–I was supposed to be finishing my languishing UFOs. But sometimes, it’s really hard to maintain excitement about an old project that’s not really anywhere near completion (never-mind that it would be if only you actually worked on it from time to time). I think I was also having trouble maintaining knitterly inspiration because the color palette of my older projects is lovely but subdued. I think that’s why the lush, rainbow yarn was so hard to resist when I saw it. So I snapped it up, and started the unnecessary baby sweater so eagerly. But in truth, I’m glad I did–I now have an adorable baby sweater, I’ve learned how to do raglan shaping, and I’m feeling inspired to finish up other projects. Although I must admit, I’m feeling really pressured and overwhelmed again, and that is also helping me want to finish up old things and de-complicate.
For now, though, I’m happy about two things:
1. Adorable Rainbow Baby Sweaters

2. I’m past the heel shaping and onto the foot of the Olive socks. Since they are for me (and I made them pretty tall) this means I am over the half-way point. As usual, I’m knitting both at the same time, on two sets of DPNs. I find it helps me to make them the same and I love how you have two incomplete socks for what seems to be forever, and then, suddenly, a finished pair. That’s more fun than a single finished sock and a partial mate.
3. Ok, mostly, I’m excited about the colorful baby sweater. Here’s another picture. Just ’cause.

Anyway, for the next few posts, you should probably expect progress reports on old projects. You know, unless I knit another useless and brightly colored garment for a small child.

So, I’ve been trying to avoid knitting baby sweaters/ booties/ hats for a while now. I don’t have any reason to knit them, since I’m not pregnant and I’m not close to anyone who is. I don’t need them. And yet, I keep seeing them and going “Awww” and “Ohhh” and “How Sweet”. I think there is even a rational part to the appeal–they are small fast projects that finish quickly and offer big design impact. Plus the cute thing. All I know is, I’ve broken the seal, and am now cuff deep in a rainbow-sock yarn baby sweater. And I like it. I’ll keep you posted.

When last we spoke, I was contemplating adding in another piece since I had finished the mitts-of-many-problems. And by contemplating adding another project, I mean that I had already selected an object to make if I could find appropriate yarn and if I could get (or get near enough to) gauge. As it turns out, with just a few tweaks and a bit of luck, I found the right yarn, got good-enough gauge, and set out to make a nice new jacket/ sweater. The pattern, #02 cropped jacket by lovely Designers Lutz & Patmos, is from the current Early Fall 2010 Issue of Vogue Knitting. I loved the look of it right away, and it filled me with a really strong desire to knit only that and nothing else. Which, given that it’s hot as blazes in Northern CA at the moment, is a rather strange urge, even given my love of texure, big yarn, and designer clothes.
I gave in to the urge when I found that I had a perfect yarn in the stash (just enough) and was thrilled when I got gauge. I was so excited about the project that I was even chipper when I found out that my gauge swatch was full of lies 5 rows into the project, and had to start over.
The knitting for this project just flew by, with enough interesting things going on to hold my attention and keep me motivated, but not so many that my forward progress was hindered.
After 11 days, I had a complete sweater, even though I had to shorten the sleeve caps to have enough yarn, and had to buy the closest matching skein I could find for the seaming.
And as luck would have it, the evening I finished knitting it was rather chilly, and I’ve even had a chance to wear it. Can’t really do much better than that!

I was, with a final 10 row tink, only a matching set of thumbs short of the gray for the Mitts. Which is very slightly disappointing. But only a little, because really, I am SO thrilled to be done with these mitts at all by this point. They look great, and they fit well; they are comfortably loose on me, and I think they would easily fit a large size womans arm or a small/ medium sized male arm.

I’m especially glad to be done, since the most recent issue of Vogue Knitting arrived today, with 3 patterns I’d love to knit (a shirt, a sweater, and a lace wrap)…and now that I’ve eliminated one outstanding project, maybe I can add another in it’s place.

It’s Friday again, and another week has gone by. First off, I should just say that in terms of actually finishing projects, this week was a bust. The table I have been refinishing is almost done (needs 2-4 more coats of paint on the top), but it isn’t finished yet. The mitts are almost done, too, but they aren’t yet. (I think there might even be enough gray…although now that i’ve said that…) And to top it all off, I don’t have pictures of anything to show proof of progress. In all honesty, I’m not really sure what I did with my week, since all I know is I was really busy most of the time, but I can’t quite figure out what I was so busy doing. I know I cooked. I know I baked banana bread from scratch (so yummy with peanut butter on it). I read Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” and part of Jennifer Weiner’s “Certain Girls”. I knitted on the mitts a bit, and worked on the lace scarf a tad. I scrubbed both bathrooms and washed my weight in laundry. But still…that doesn’t sound like a weeks worth of stuff, does it? In any case, that was my week. Have a good weekend.

As will come as no surprise at all, I am sure, the mitts are not finished, and so their story will continue. I made decent progress on them, adding about 2 inches of new fabric to each mitt. I have no idea if there is enough gray. It doesn’t look good, though. I’m soldiering on, and will cross that pink-patterned-scrap-yarn bridge when I come to it, if that’s where this all leads.
Some of you may be wondering then, what did I do with my week. I packed and sorted some of our stuff (we’re moving in 10 weeks, and I really want to avoid the last-minute packing misery we’ve faced the last 3 times we relocated) and I did a great deal of spinning, finishing up a long term 1800 yard, 3-ply worsted/ aran weight spinning project. I’m so happy to be done, and if I can get the right gauge, I know what sweater pattern I want to use it with (p. 88 Vogue Knitting Fall 2009). Part of the pre-move plan is to finish up as many ongoing projects as I can, to limit the number things I have to keep track of in my head. It’s a small part, but it feels really good to finish a project and cross it off my mental list, which is crazy full right now.

Some of you may now be thinking, “sure, making/ plying 4 miles of yarn would be time consuming, but I’m pretty certain you can do that and more in a week.” And you would be correct. Tonight, in exchange for allowing myself to buy a set of new environmentally friendly make-up brushes, I had to go do actual work-work on a stalled project. That project, which has been in the works since November, is a new line of GMD/ Woolpops rugged recycled cotton work-in-project bags, made from, essentially, my husband’s un-repairable cargo pants. They are, I hope, fairly unisex, since there aren’t a whole lot of WIP bags for male knitter, and they have (not surprisingly given their origins) a ton of pockets for storing all kinds of notions, needles, tape-measures, secret treasures, and maybe even snacks. I’ll post pictures tomorrow, when I put the first few bags up for sale.