2012 recap

I am, generally, pretty anal retentive about keeping track of projects in Ravelry. Which makes the retrospectives over what I knit in the last year much easier. Doubly so when I realize that the last thing I knit in 2011 was my dorky hat, finished on New Year's Eve, so everything after that is 2012.

Vlad
Trollblume
Dishcloth
Frosted Ferns
Headband (crochet)
Cat Vest
Clapotis
Circle Socks
Little Flower Doily
Filly Knit Scaf
Snowflake dishcloths (crochet)

So one shawl, two scarves, three doilies, one pair of socks, seven dishcloths (I did the snowflake one six times) and some random oddness. Not a whole lot of knitting. Some huge projects (Frosted Ferns felt like it took forever), but mostly tiny things. I did, however, spend the whole year in physio with my arm, so I need to be patient with myself on that front.

I already have a project on the finished list for 2013 (a pair of socks that almost got done on the 31st, but not quite), and more clearly to come.

I just don't know what, if any, theme do I want for 2013. Finish up old stuff? (the usual, as I have projects from 2005 and 2006 in my UFO list, clearly I'm bad at it) Accept that there will be a lot of little stuff (or not much little stuff) and go on? Try and start something big and work at it a bit all year? A sweater? A shawl? A blanket? All doilies all the time? All out of stash? (Unlikely, I can already think of a ball or two of worsted I would like to pick up). I suspect I shall muddle along as usual, knitting what catches my attention at the time, plodding along on the ones in progress and generally not having much of a plan.

Story of my life really. :)

Crochet

I found a free pattern for a snowflake dishcloth at Len's Mills on the weekend. (For those not in SW Ontario, Len's Mills Store is kind of like a junk store/craft store mash up. You never know what you'll find, buy it when you see it, because you'll never see it again. The craft side is a bit more consistant.)

snowflake dishcloth, originally uploaded by Jazmin_.

I don't often crochet, I'm actually fairly spectacularly awful at reading crochet patterns, but once I got the hang of this one (I ripped out one round many times before I came up with something that looked like the picture), this sucker goes by quickly. I forgot how fast crochet is. How effective something with that many holes is for cleaning dishes (or faces), well it's a Christmas novelty. I'm rather pleased with it.

I'll post a photo of my scarf of shame in my next post. Once I swallow my pride enough to admit to having knit it. 

A slow lemming

When Clapotis burst onto the scene in Fall of 2004 (Knitty that year), it was a huge success. It was /the/ thing to knit. Everyone was making one and more than one. It's got almost 20 THOUSAND projects listed in Ravelry.

And I went 'enh, whatever'.

I'm not much of a lemming. I'm not much of a follower on the trends. I didn't knit February Lady when everyone else did. I didn't knit myself a Birch when it was all the rage. I got around to Jaywalker and Monkey socks /eventually/.

This time, I had some nice yarn (stash yarn, discontinued, Fiddlesticks Country Silk) I wanted a scarf from. I had a vacation that I wanted something easy to knit that showed off the yarn and not the pattern. Finally Clapotis rose to the top of the queue.

Well now I get the appeal. It's fast, it's easy, it looks awesome. You get to unravel your work and have it just look /good/. Alright, alright, I'm a slow lemming.

Gather scarf 2012 is done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it this weekend (and to those who wait for November, consider this a very early Thanksgiving greeting).

I'm grateful for so many things every day, from the way the light highlights a flower, to the birds that come to my feeder, a lovely little house, creativity and knitting and friends and the cats and my best beloved well.. life is good. Life is generally very good.

And right this moment, I'm very thankful for my husband having made me dairy-free pumpkin pie. This girl's got her priorities straight.

Decimal continues

Following up on the length revelation a few weeks ago, I sat down and had a good hard look at the sleeves for Decimal. Now, I might be a 4X in the body, but somehow my arms are quite slender. (Relatively speaking) I had a tiny bit of this revelation when I started, and knit a 2X sleeve rather than the 3X (a good 3" narrower just to start) and then I had a look at the measurements. And a quick measure of me and my wardrobe.

Right. Rip out started second sleeve, cast on for medium. Yes. Medium sleeves, 3X (shut up, I'm optimistic) body and size sm length.

Bodies are such weird things.

A revelation

I have a bit of a confession to make here. I've been knitting for about 15 years, and sewing for closer to 25 (even if that's more off than on, but still) and I rarely get garments I'm happy with.

I can be a bit of a blind follower when it comes to sweaters, probably because I never am happy with what comes out, and well, I dont follow any size ever, so surely they know better than I do, right?

No.

I finally measured a sweater I wear often. 20" long. And another. 22" long. I looked at the pattern I was knitting in a size that was closeish to my actual size. 28" long.

Well you /idiot/, no wonder you find all the sweaters to knit for yourself to be dumpy and unflattering. I need the small or medium length directions, and the 4X width directions. Why yes, I am short and fat, thank you for noticing. ;) (Weirdly, I dont think at 5'6" I am all that short, but as I need petite length trousers and every sweater pattern ever is about 8 inches too long on me, apparently the world is certain that by being a 4X I'm also 8 feet tall or something.)

At least I came to this revelation only 5" into my decimal rather than 17 inches into the 10 inches I need before armhole shaping.

Untitled, originally uploaded by Jazmin_.

What a fundamental basic /duh/ moment. I mean /really/.

So close.

I am getting oh so very close to the end of Frosted Ferns. Last pattern row! (Then of course there will be the resting row, the crochet cast off, and then the procrastination on blocking.)

I am very /very/ good at the procrastination about blocking. I keep telling myself that I'll block this and Trollblume at the same time, and then take both of them to show and tell at the KW knitters guild.

Which I finally joined. Finally. I've known about it for years, but finally getting off my arse to go out to KW in the evenings. I'm glad I'm healthy enough (generally) to still manage to do something after work. It's nice to be amongst my tribe, this tribe at least. I have a lot of tribes, but I'd missed a handwork one. It also gives me a deadline to work against, I want to show this at the guild meeting. So I'd better get it blocked.