Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Wednesdays are good days for snow


'05 Yarn Crawl scarf and hat
Originally uploaded by skionski.
And snowy Wednesdays are good for chili. Skyline chili. I didn't work today which was nice. It felt good to see the snow and to be out in it for awhile, but then to finally snuggle up on the couch with a book and cover my toes with a blanket.

Good thing I finished my Yarn Crawl scarf and quickly made a hat to match. I would like to acknowledge that this scarf and hat may be my quickest-to-be-finished projects to date and that I am beginning to understand why bulky yarns are so popular. In fact the hat was knit with worsted weight Lamb's Pride so maybe my problem is just choosing too many sport-weight projects. The hat only took two evenings! (Using patterns and recommended yarns helps a lot!)

I am still working on my baby sweater which never seems to end. Elinor must knit much faster and more often than I because I feel like I've devoted significant time to this cardigan and it is still less than halfway completed.
Now that I am beginning to understand how all of this fancy blogging works, I will soon add a Works in Progress link to pictures of the cardigan, the "I'll make my own glove pattern" glove, the almost completed maybe poncho/maybe shrug and the sock I started last Spring. Yikes! Though when I think about it, if I didn't start anything new and only worked on these projects, I could probably have them all done by the end of the month.

But wait! There is Christmas this month. From my brother's chuckle/groan, I'm guessing he doesn't want the winter hat I offered to make for his Christmas present. This is my first Christmas to really know how to knit well and it seems like a great idea to make something that will be loved as it is knitted to be given thoughtfully to someone I care about. But my completing rate is deplorable. We'll see if its practical at all. Are you choosing to knit the majority of your Christmas presents this year? What are you making? If you have wisdom for a new knitter/gift-giver, please share (unless its "You should have started 6 months ago" -- that I can figure out for myself)

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Knitters make good friends

In fact, knitters are just good people. Anyone who uses their hands slowly to make things that give comfort and warmth must be good people. Have you heard of a mean or dishonest knitter? I bought some yarn once that was advertised on Knitswap (a Yahoo group) and the transaction had none of the guarantees that ebay has. I just PayPaled some money to an email address and waited for the yarn to come in the mail. And of course it did and was exactly as she described it. I knew it would be.

I say all of this because in the past year, I have lived in three states and in each have found knitters who became my friends. You join a knitting group and voila, there they are, your friends. In this season of thanksgiving and family and holiday, I am thankful to have my KnitLawrence friends to share coffee with at Milton's.