Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

I’ve been neglecting the blog again. I did finally find a template that doesn’t look like ass in IE and I’ve been playing with it some behind the scenes so expect a more realistic blogroll and a new podcast-roll in the near future and some other little tweaks to the stuff hanging out on the sidebar here.

I won’t neglect the blog for long though. Tandaina posted a convincing post for NaBloPoMo, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon for a good kick start and rejuvenation in blogging again. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to approach the month yet, I might run into some day-of-the-week themes if the writing gets harried, but I’m mostly going to just play by ear and see where the day to day takes me. It’ll definitely be a new approach for me, since I’ve been going with the neglect and vague update route for a while now.

On the neglect and vague update front, I do have a FO to show off. I used that same fingerless mitt pattern I made before and added fingers to make a pair of gloves that match my Chevron Scarf. I realized with all the accessories I’ve been mentally knitting (because I’m just not getting stuff on or off the needles lately) that I should have at least two winter accessories that “matched”. I figure I can make a slew of winter hats in a zillion different solids to pair with the matched set of the chevron and gloves. The second glove fits a little better, I made the pinkie a little longer, and the thumb shaped a little differently and it worked better than what I’d done on the first glove, but I love them, and knitting fingers weren’t nearly as annoying as I expected them to be. They definitely get a thumbs up.

I really need to focus on getting Christmas knit to within an inch of it’s life so barring wrapping up a small project or two, these gloves will be the last selfish knit for a while. The holiday knits will be getting the forefront of the blog. There are a lot of those holiday knits to take that forefront as well, I’ve got at least 10 things on my list to make and half that list is socks. So, that’s at least 5 FOs a month for the next two months.

Other news, my car has been back in my posession for almost two weeks now and it’s behaving so far. I was also possessed by the spirit of a neat freak over the weekend (that neat freak, Peter Walsh… I borrowed his book from the library and read it in two evenings last week) and took on a massive cleaning/decluttering in my bedroom. I rearranged the furniture and cleaned out the dresser and one of the nightstands on Friday night, spent Saturday clearing out the closet and spent Sunday doing laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. Lots of stuff to the dumpster and I’ve got a carfull (9 garbage bags + other stuff!) ready for goodwill and my bedroom and closet are the cleanest they’ve been sice I moved in. I also unearthed a corner bookshelf that’s been occupying the corner behind the bed for the 7 years since I moved in and it’s just the right size to hold all of my sock yarn. So, the sock yarn stash is no longer living in the middle of the living room in a computer box.

I did come to the realization that there’s a lot of little furniture in my bedroom. The only big pieces in there are my bed and the dresser. Once my finances are in better shape, I’ll be investing in a bigger bookcase and that should give me enough room to move most of the rest of the non-acrylic stash into the bedroom. For the time being though, I’m focussing on getting more stuff out of the house. The living room will be the next attack zone and hopefully the inner neat freak will stick around long enough to tackle the middle bedroom dump zone. I suspect this topic will get revisited, since I’ve got 3o days of posting daily ahead of me. See ya back here on Thursday!

My mojo is just kinda off lately. I’ve been lurking around the edges online, but haven’t felt motivated to post. I’ve been reading but not commenting, and I’ve barely touched Ravelry in the last few weeks.I’m still knitting, but as soon as I get close to finishing a project I start something else instead of finishing what I’ve got going.

I will have wheels again soon. They took the new engine out for a test drive last week and the exact same thing happened again, so they trashed the new engine and had to order a third, this time on their dime. That also earned two more major part replacements in the car and some very meticulous and careful car folks since it’s now mostly coming out of their pockets. Their insurance agency also put me up in a rental for the last 5 days that the car is in the shop (never mind the fact that it’s been there a month already). So, I’ve got a Sonata for the next few days and ideally my car will be ready by Wednesday and my wallet will be exceptionally empty again.

I’m starting to think towards Christmas, and every time I think that way, I tend to cast on something else for myself. So, I’m making slow progress on gift knits, and I’ve made most of a pair of gloves to match my chevron scarf, and I’ve got a good start on a Cable Down Raglan in a really pretty deep burgundy colored cascade 220. I’ll get photos up soon.

Something about an ugly financial situation prompts cleaning. The loan went through, I should have the car back by the end of the week and things are generally starting to normalize again. Mike will be here this week (something else that prompts cleaning) and we’re headed to PA for the weekend for a coaster event.

So, in addition to the financial scrubbing, the apartment is returning to a state that’s almost presentable. And all my zillions of knitting projects are coming off the needles without a string of new objects jumping on to replace them.

It just seems like the right time to clean off the needles and focus on fewer projects.  The first to come off was the jaywalkers.

Jaywalkers, Apple Laine in the Carnival colorway.  These weren’t always the easiest to work on, humidity and mohair and bamboo needles don’t mix well, but the FO is worth it. They are my second pair of Jaywalkers, and I still love the pattern and love how it came out in this yarn. They are crazy warm, and wear really well.

Over the weekend, in between loads of laundry, I finished the other pair of traveling socks I’ve been picking at over the last few months.

These are a Lana Grossa yarn in a plain stocking sock. I’d initially intended these to be
a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law, but I wasn’t happy enough with the yarn to give them away and I’ll be starting a different pair for her. The black spotted all over the lighter colors, and there was a knot just far enough into the second sock to un-synch my stripes. I know it’s the thought that counts, but I’m a perfectionist and I was a little disappointed in this yarn. I’ve got plenty of other yarns that are fitting for her color sensibilities, so I’ll take another stab with something else.

In addition, I did cast on and finish another quick project this weekend. When I’d placed my last loopy ewe order, I hadn’t realized the Fiesta Baby Boom would take two skeins for a pair of socks and had only ordered one skein. Since I’m officially living like I’m broke for a while, I opted against ordering a second skein, and instead decided to use the single skein for some fingerless mitts.

I used the numbers in this pattern and just added a couple stitches to the thumb gussets and didn’t make the wrist length as long. The colorway is Raspberry Mocha, and the yarn is super soft and was a dream to knit with even if I was only knitting with it for a day.

These will probably find their way into the Christmas gift pile, and with as quickly as they knit up and with all the sock leftovers and single skeins of yarn I have around here, I think there will be some more fingerless mitts and gloves and mittens finding their way onto my needles this fall.

My WIP pile is whittling down now. I’ve finally cast on the second Pomotomous since the first has only been off the needles for three or four months now. I’ve got a good start on a first sock for my dad, and despite reducing the stitch count twice already, I’m still thinking my brother’s socks may be too wide so I need to revisit the measurements and be certain again before I get too much further along. They look unnaturally huge, but so do his  feet. That’s it in the socks in progress. And I’m still plugging away at the second Norwegian style mitten. It’s a very small WIP pile.

The willpower involved in keeping all those open needles empty is a little draining, but I’m really trying to focus my knitting energy and get things done as the holidays start to approach. Plus it just seems right to clean off the needles at the start of a new season.