Projects Started and Finished

Just in time for the end of 2012, I finished these beauties:

100% alpaca in my Cielo Cantaloupe colorway.  These are going in the shop.  They brought the grand total of completed knitting projects in terms of length of yarn to 5.83 miles for 2012.  I think that is a, as my sons' sports coaches are always saying, "PR" (which stands for "personal record").  I'm pretty impressed with myself considering how often my wrist injuries from the repetitive knitting process had me down for the count.

I did not yet finish the Dawg afghan, however.  Wouldn't you know it, but I ended up 10 rows short on red and, well, I guess no one is working at Knit Picks this week or last because it's been 6 business days and my order still hasn't shipped.  I absolutely hate that I spent more to have the thing shipped than it actually cost me for the skein of yarn!

New projects for the year begin with new yarn.  I picked up a lightweight worsted alpaca that I am using to do hand knit accessories for the shop and my February booth at the Concord Alpaca Festival, and I have begun a potato chip scarf in a creamy 100% baby alpaca.

I have also begun to create new colorways--probably will be out next week--of Rocket Sock, and one of the perks of being a dyer of yarn is that you can keep a little for yourself once in a while.  So, new socks for me went on the needles yesterday in my new Aunt Bee colorway.

Aunt Bee

I've also updated the intensity of California Dreamer for the new year and whipped up a second new colorway:  Seaside.

California Dreamer

Seaside

There will be a few new colorways in addition to these, but I've been waiting for a sunny spell.  I find that I am less creative when we've had a seemingly unending string of grey, wet, cold days.  You know?  But, the sun is finally going to shine for a few days, so who knows what I'll come up with!

Wishing you and your new projects all the best in the new year!

Nearly a mile to knit before I'm done!

There are many assumptions made by non-knitters about the knitting of an afghan. I don't know many knitters who have knit afghans and, of those, I don't think I know many who liked knitting afghans. Myself, I hate knitting them. Why is this?

Non-knitters think afghans are easy to knit. Theoretically, yes they are. In reality, they are mind-numbing lay tedious and put a tremendous physical strain in the wrists, hands, and elbows.

Non-knitters think that an afghan is a "quick knit". An Aran cabled sweater is a quick knit compared to an afghan. Even if the needles are US 15 and the yarn is bulky, there are often so many stitches in a single row that it could take an hour to knit an inch. Just ask me.

Non-knitters think that afghans use a relatively small amount of yarn compared to a more intricate pattern, like a fair isle sweater. An afghan is usually somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4 feet wide by 5 or 6 feet long. That's like knitting a linebacker. Pause to think about that for a minute; then, try to calculate how much yarn it would take to knit a linebacker.

So it's been five weeks and I'm sitting here knitting on this custom order afghan, still. By the time I'm finished, I will have knit 1.7 miles (yes, MILES) of bulky weight yarn. By my calculations, I've knit just under a mile so far, which leaves me nearly a mile more to knit. I'm also going to need physical therapy.

I can say with absolute certainty that I will not be knitting another afghan in the near future. Maybe not again in this decade.

Friday FOs: Hats, hats, hats!

That afghan that I am supposed to have finished next week isn't making much progress, but I did manage to finish up a few hats.  The first is Honey's Skully hat that I was making as a birthday gift, and which, I think, is going camping/hiking this weekend.  It's still a bit damp and will hopefully hurry up and dry after it's first wash in the picture, but I wanted to share anyway.

Finishing this was a bit of a chore because the pattern that I purchased was missing the key for the final chart abbreviations and the decreases ... well they didn't actually match the stitch count of the project.  But, I persevered and Honey has a pretty cool hat, if you ask me.

Then these two hats are for nephews:

I had made several of these before the last festival that I attended and they completely sold out.  Haven't had time to make more for the shop, but I'm hoping that their popularity around here will translate to well-worn gifts for the boys.

Hope your Christmas knitting is moving right along too!  Knit happy!