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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Let's Give 'Em Something To Talk About

Well, we knitters have had a heck of a week, am I right?


Thing 1:  Apparently the Olympic Torch isn't the only thing that burns hot during certain summers.  I presume that you know there are knitterly...pursuits...that coincide in a friendly way with the Olympics, meant to encourage, support, and challenge us all while we watch the Olympics.  The plan is to cast on for a project at the lighting of the Olympic torch, and complete the project before the torch is extinguished at the end.  Pretty harmless, right? 

Apparently not. 

Ravelry got a rather snarky Cease and Desist Letter from the US Olympic Committee, which made unfortunate use of the word "denigrate" in relation to us knitters, and then there was basically a response of..."Oh no  you di-int!" from the knitters of.the.entire.internet-o-verse. 


Aw, snap.

                                                  
At which point all hell broke loose.  Maybe you didn't feel it, but there was definitely a disturbance in the force.  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the originator of the Knitting Olympics, had her thoughtful opinion of the whole thing.  Others were quite...livid about it.  Regardless of feelings, it looks like Ravelry will be picking a different name for the event.  Perhaps the Rav-a-Limpets?

                               


We will definitely be using a bit of K2,P2 ribbing on this, and some increasing....

                                   

Yes, I think there's a solution right there. 

Thing 2:  There will be some fun events coming up in July for Great Yarns and Yarns Etc.  A little Christmas In July thingy, sounds like fun, details to follow soon.  Because, as knitters, crocheters, and crafters, Christmas is only 181 days away.  Other regular non-knitters may scoff at that, but we know, oh yes, how the time flies when you're deluding yourself that A) you will knit everyone's Christmas present and B) you have loads of time.  I would know that because those are the two things I tell myself every.freakin'.year.  Also, (ahem) a little knitting concurrent with a certain sporting extravaganza...that tends to be broadcast on what is known as a television.  From a country that may or may not be British (I need a lawyer!) . 

Thing 3:  Worldwide Knit In Public Week was last week, and I got a couple of great pictures from knitters. 



A little poolside knitting from Emily.  Ah, the sweet life!

And one that is for us history buffs,



There's our Jane keeping company with a knight in peaceful repose in Leipzig, Germany. 


Thing 4:  Geez, how come so many things?!?!?  Well, on the last blog post, you knitters out there voted that I should actually finish something in particular.  I should finish Vlad in particular, actually




I have actually made it through the body of the shawl, and am now on the edging (knock on wood, throw salt over left shoulder, etc etc etc), and maybe might could be done sometime soonish!  I can't believe it.  I was so ecstatic at being done with the body that I drew out pretty much all but the two most recent lifelines (turquoise yarn towards the top), and I hope the sucker looks way better after a thorough blocking. 

So that's it for now...details to follow on many things next week!  Promise!  See you then!

                                            



Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Voting Results Are In!

Oh boy, you guys are a riot.

Knitters beware.  After lots of voting (some of y'all voted more than once, but hey that's cool), a pattern just barely squeaked into the lead. 

Out of six votes total, Vlad got three votes.  In fact, only one person, Bonitinha, expressed her concern for my mental well being.  Ahem.  I am going to presume that you are encouraging my growth as a knitter, O Blogosphere, rather than planning my demise.  This is going to be verrrrry interesting. 

I have some more pictures to post of my beloved Color Affection, since my friend DJ was able to photograph it on me, rather than me photograph it laying limply on some towels.



No, I do not have a tidy home.  One of those reasons for the untidiness is in the second photograph!
Also a friendly reminder to everyone out there that this week is World Wide Knit In Public Week!  Let's get out there and scare those non-knitters with our dashing, flashing needles, our stitches, our projects, and maybe win some over to the dark side!  Please feel free to snap some pics and send them to me (ellarine23ATyahooDOTcom, replace the AT with @ and the DOT with .) and I'll post them on the blog next week.  Major bragging rights go to the clever knitter who submits a photo showing knitting in an unusual place (don't get too crazy, guys--knitting and driving do not mix).  I can't wait to see what the week brings!  See you soon!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Stripes Make Me Smile

Apparently, if you fall in love hard with a project and knit (get this) only on that one project, unceasingly, devotedly, even ardently....


you will actually finish it rather quickly.

No way!  Way!!!!

Behold my Madeline Tosh Merino Light yarn Color Affection:


Many towels were sacrificed to the merino gods.




I love this thing so hard.  It was riveting.  The fact that someone designed this, starting with a few stitches, increasing, adding stripes of color, then adding another color to make....whoa...three stripes of color, and all in garter stitch.  I'm so easily amused it's painful.  I would, in fact, do this all over again, and I'm considering it.  In lace weight.  Look at this and just try to resist.  It's like the Borg of knitting patterns right now on Ravelry.  I kid you not.

I am Merino of Borg.  You will be assimilated; resistance is futile.

There was one little, eensy, nearly insignificant, glitchy-poo with this pattern, in my humble opinion, which other knitters noticed as well.  The straight edge of the shawl had a tendency to be very tight and, if you weren't careful, puckery.  Far be it for me to criticize the designer in the least, but I believe in fair warning for those of us who have been sucked in to the glory of it.  The Yarn Harlot recommended putting in a Yarn Over in between the first and second stitches of it and then dropping them at the end, in order to get some ease into it.  I thought I would try slipping the first stitch of each row, to see if I could get some relief from the puckering/tightness that way.  When I first cast off, I was concerned I'd have the pucker effect as well, but after blocking it is tolerably ok.  It's not loose like I'd like to see, but it is not scrunched in on itself, and I got to avoid the gut churning act of dropping stitches on purpose.  I know it can't unravel itself sideways, my head knows that, but my heart and my stomach always end up swooping like I'm base jumping when I drop a stitch.  I don't know how I survived Clapotis

So, I have this theory now, about projects in progress.  See, I like to knit.  I'm one of those process knitters I talked about before.  But now, after finishing something, having it to drape about me, I'm having a thought.  What if I delve back into my largish pile of unfinished objects...my UFOs...and finish something else???  Like, then I'd have...TWO finished projects.  Stuff I could wear, for cripes' sakes! 

Do we have any opinions about this, out there in the blogosphere?  I have several options to choose from. 

Behind Door #1 we have Corcovado:




If memory serves, all I need is to knit a sleeve and the other front part and then BAM--done.

Behind Door #2 we have Vlad:

                                             

But bear in mind my affliction/handicap regarding lace making, and the fact that it is really hard to write a blog when you're in lock down at the ward and you're not allowed computer access.  But I will roll with it if you think this is the one to finish.  (gulp)

Behind Door #3 we have the Far Afield Vest




Designed by Connie Chang-Chinchio, and my Rav-o-meter says I'm about 75% of the way done with it.  However, I've lost some weight since I've last knit this, and I might just have to do a frog and reknit. 

What say you, O wise knitters of the blogoverse?  Dost thou give a hoot?  If so, pleaseth posteth a commenth on the blogeth. 

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