NaKniSweMo Ends

I managed about 20% of Morrigan during this month's KAL. The point was to get it done, but I feel really great about the progress that I've made! I've knit 4 of the 18 balls into the project.

Soon, I need to get back to the 2 sweaters that I'm knitting as Christmas presents. I have Yosemite and the Cambridge Jacket to finish before then.

I have, however, been working on Cambridge some this month. There are some times where I like to knit during another event. If the other event is something that needs my attention, then I've been knitting the simpler pattern of it, otherwise, I've been working on Morrigan. With all the great progress that I've made, I wish I could just keep working on it instead of changing back to presents! :) However, it's all so much fun that it doesn't really matter and I love to make things for others.

ETA: NaKniSweMo may be over, but I've signed up for NaKniSweMoDo for 2009 on Ravelry. This will be my first project to work on once the Christmas knitting is finished.

Christmas is Coming

For a great reminder of what its all about (for me any way) go read Anni's blog post at http://annisknittingblog.blogspot.com/.

Here are the latest photos of my Morrigan. I have 2 balls of yarn knitted into it at this point! Since taking these photos, I have completed about 12 more rows and have about 13% of the sweater completed.

More Morrigan Progress

Morrigan is coming along nicely. It doesn’t look much different than the last picture, but once I finished the second ball of yarn, I will take another picture to share. I finished 7 rows, yesterday! If I could do this many every day, I would be able to finish in just over 2 months. However, I rarely have that much time to knit on it in one day. I really am enjoying all the cables and look forward to any time that I can spend with it!

SP13 Questionare

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love knitting with 100% natural fibers. I really don’t care for acrylic, nylon or polyester. Although, just a little bit added to a natural fiber is alright.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have clear plastic needle rolls that I bought at Elann.com and work great!

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I learned to knit about 6 years ago from a friend that only knew how to cast on, knit and bind off. She may have also known the purl stitch but did not show it to me at that time. The rest of my learning has come from books and from reading online blogs, etc. I consider myself to be an advanced knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Loopy Ewe, Froogle, & Amazon.
I did, but it has not been updated in a long time. I will see if I can tackle that this weekend.

5. What's your favorite scent? I like lavender and mint scents, but they need to originate from essential oils and not chemicals as I am VERY, VERY allergic to chemical scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? No. Favorite candy? I generally try not to eat sweetened (whether with sugar or a substitute) items, however a very dark chocolate is wonderful. I do like unsweetened or fruit juice sweetened dried fruit and I love almost any kind of nut. Nuts are especially good when dry roasted or raw.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I am not a spinner, but do know how to crochet. I don’t really like to do crochet any more, but will for an edging on a knitted garment.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (If your buddy wants to make you a CD) I listen to Christian Contemporary music and Classical, with a little country thrown in occasionally. I do have MP3 capability.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I like earth tones and muted pastels. I don’t like very bright/fluorescent colors, nor do I like most oranges and yellows.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? My husband and I have 2 cats.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I do scarves and mittens, but never a poncho and rarely a hat. I also often wear larger sized shawls.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I mostly knit items of clothing. I have made many sweater, gloves, mittens and shawls.

13. What are you knitting right now? I have around a dozen projects on the needles at any given time. I am currently working on 2 of those sweaters that I have cast on this month.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I use circular and double pointed needles almost exclusively. I don’t like plastic needles as they bend too much, but I do use both wood and metal needles. I have a few sizes of tips for the Knit Picks Options set and also like to use Addi Lace needles.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, to both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I have a half-finished crocheted table cloth that was started five and a half years ago. For knitting, my oldest project is a large shawl that I started a year and a half ago.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but I also like Christmas.

19. Is there anything that you collect? No.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I can’t think of any thing that I want, but I do have a subscription to Interweave Knits.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I can’t think of any just now.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes, I am a US women’s size 8. The ball of my foot and ankle are about 9 inches around and my foot is 8.75 inches long. I like a bit of a snug fit to my socks.

23. When is your birthday? May 23

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? Yes, of course! I’m danim on Ravelry.

A Lovely, Long Weekend

This weekend I went to Lake Retreat, in Kanaskat, WA, with a group of friends form church. Saturday was lovely. Oft and on, there was SUN! The camp is on the west side of the lake and most of the benches face the lake. So, when I was trying to find a sunny place to sit outside and knit, most of the benches put the sun at my back. However, I did finally manage to find one that let me sit with my face to the sun. It was a great half hour, or so before the wind picked up and I went inside to warm up.

I have been working away on my NaKniSweMo project, Morrigan. It is starting to grow and the pattern is getting easier and a little faster to work! The cabling truly is lovely and the fabric so soft. I took it with me on the women’s retreat this past weekend. Everyone who saw it was awed by the complexity. I have almost 2 inches of the body done and figure that it is probably around 6.5% of the total project. I finished the first ball of yarn on Friday night and began the second after my friend untangled it for me.

I also took the Cambridge Jacket with me. We had 4 lecture style meetings while there and I like to be able to keep my hands busy. Morrigan is too complicated to fully focus on the talk, so I needed a simpler project. This one really worked well. I managed to finish the back a few minutes after the 4 and final session! It looks great and I had many compliments on that one, too.

On Monday, I knew that I would be tired from staying up too late at the retreat, so I took the day off ahead of time. I planned to knit on Morrigan some more, but ended up having a great time outside. I raked the leaves off our porch and flower beds, pruned some of my plants back, divided another plant and put away some little fences that I use to keep the neighbor kids out of the flower beds in the spring and summer. I have procrastinated for many months and finally did it! It looks great and I am happy to have it done.

More Stitches Than Expected

While reading posts on the Ravelry group, NaKniSweMo, I wondered at how many stitches my finished project would have in it. To qualify for the group the sweater is supposed to contain at least 50,000 stitches. After some lengthy calculations, I think mine has around 200,000. I’d say that qualifies! However, I am currently on task to finish in about 4 months, not 1. I don’t feel bad about that as the project is 4 times larger than the minimum requirement, so taking 4 times longer to complete would still be pretty good! Tonight, I am going to try to finish enough rows to get myself set up to finish in 3 months instead of 4. This is a cotton sweater, so if it is finished during the Spring, I will still get to wear it right away.

NOT Impossible

Well, I've been working on Morrigan some more. It is possible to knit once the set up row is finished. It is sssllllooowww going though! I have about an inch after around 6 hours of working on it. I love how soft it is and I the cabling is starting to look pretty! :)

Impossible?

I spent this morning casting on for Morrigan, my NaKniSweMo project. I knew it would be difficult, but, WOW! The directions seemed to read: ajdklfaiowefeefecxkm...when I first started to look at them. Yes, you read correctly, nary a K or P in the list. However, each of about 8 letters used stand for the next line in a chart and then those 8 or so (to begin with) charts are repeated in various orders, creating the patterning. It is pretty complicated to figure out. I misread them and left out 46 stitches. Of course, I had to come to nearly the end of the first row to realize that I had missed 2 sections. At 456 stitches, that really took a while to rip! After 3 hours I have almost 1 row to show for my time.

Later on, I went to Ravelry to add the project to my list of current projects. When it came time to rate the difficulty, I thought, "This has to be the most complicated pattern that I've ever seen," so I clicked to rate the pattern as the most difficult that Ravelry allows. They call this "impossible." If I don't get the hang of it pretty soon (yes, I know less than 1 row is too soon to tell) I may rip and knit something simpler with this gorgeous cotton blend yarn. The yarn is Rowan's Calmer. It is soft and stretchy and I love it! This yarn definitely will not be sitting and collecting dust regardless of my ability to knit the project that I desire out of it! :)