Ravellenics Day 4

I know I've mentioned how enamored I am of this shawl...and I'm still crazy about it.  I only have a few more rows to finish and then bind off, block and voila!  There's a little shawl. I can not wait to put it around my shoulders. I hope it looks as gorgeous on as it does all by its lonesome.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the knitting of this shawl.  Even though the rows are very long I am still interested in continuing and I find myself starting another new row before thinking about whether I realistically have the time to finish it.  I'm in that "obsessive" knitting phase one gets into when a project is just right.

And this one is just right.  In so many ways.  I've shown it today on top of Lochi to give a little size perspective (she's a very large kitty, so you can see how wonderful and snuggly it looks on her).  The main problem with shawl knitting like this (from the little end to the large end) is that you can't truly get a perspective on size because all the stitches are bunched up on the needles.  At this point there is no way to stretch things out and see the whole thing.  Which makes the mystery and excitement of the knitting of it even more profound. I'm hoping to finish it tonight...and with that, I'm off to knit and enjoy the Olympics tonight!

Day 3 of Ravellenics

I'm in love with this shawl.  There is no other way to explain how beautiful I think it is, and how much I enjoy working on it, and how I was actually willing to un-knit about 150 stitches because I hadn't purled where I was supposed to on a row, and how I could put it aside last night knowing that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on it with the girls over and I didn't want to mess up again or be mad at them for being there (which is ridiculous, but you know)...

It's hard to say what's my favorite part so far.  I'm enjoying the lace which is much easier than I thought it would.  I've had trouble remembering lace patterns in the past and really really had to concentrate, but this one just seems to be flying off of my needles.  I truly love the ripples.  They draw the fabric up in such a way as to really highlight the lovely dyed characteristics of the yarn.  It kind of reminds me of that spin-art I did at the Ft. Worth Fat Stock show as a girl.

I love the cozy nature of the yarn, too.  I just want to snuggle into this shawl.

I am even hoping I finish it by Friday so that I can wear it to a wedding...which is outside...and it's mighty hot outside right now, but I keep thinking "surely there'll be a chill in the night beach air..."

Anyway, here's a closeup of the lace pattern.  When it's blocked and off of the needles it will show up much much better.  It will create "waves" at the bottom as well, but not the puckered kind.  I hope you're enjoying watching this shawl grow as much as I am enjoying making it!

Day 2 of Ravellenics

What amazing progress I made yesterday.  I'm so proud of this shawl and how beautifully it's turning out.  I can't believe the ripples are looking just like they should and the yarn...oh the yarn.  It's honestly the most beautiful yarn I've ever seen.  I can't explain how much this yarn spoke to me when I saw it the first time.

I'm about 1/2 way I think.  The rows keep getting longer, so it's hard to say...and the needles restrict the size, but I think I'm about 1/2 finished.  I love this project and can't wait to wear it!

Ravellenics

About 6 weeks ago I heard about this controversy surrounding the "Ravelympics."  For those non-knitters out there, Ravelry is an on-line community where you can share your patterns, talk to other knitters, and shop for yarns and patterns.  It's awesome.  I love updating my pattern notes every few days with pictures and thoughts and have gotten lots of inspirational messages from other knitters.  I probably don't spend "enough" time going through other people's projects, but lately I've barely had time to knit, so I figure that's probably something that will have to come when things at work slow down a bit.

But the Ravellenics are a competition housed in Ravelry where people complete projects and compete in different areas.  It's silly and fun and wonderful and the controversy was spurred from a very denigrating letter from the US Olympic committee.  If you're curious, then go to this news article for more details.  It's a copyright infringement issue, which is completely legitimate, but the manner in which the US Olympic committee went about asking for a cease and desist was highly inappropriate.

But, I heard about this and thought it might be fun to "compete" (and I still don't know exactly what that means, but I'll knit along for fun) and since I LOVE the Olympics, this is a perfect opportunity to excuse myself from daily life, get a little stress relief and knit my fingers to the bone over the next 17 days.  It will be much needed considering how stressful work is going to be for the next 4 weeks (minimum, but I do predict things calming down at that point).

I have entered three projects into the Ravellenics.  The first is a WIP pair of socks that I loved working on and put aside for other projects back in February.  The second is a sweater that David bought me the yarn for for Mother's Day.  And the third is the shawl I cast on last night.  I'm going to work on them in the order of shawl, socks, sweater.  I have to throw another project in there for mom's birthday, but it's not competing.    It does, however, have a deadline...I would like once or twice to get people's birthday presents to them within the month of their birthday at least!

At any rate, I'll be noting my progress on my projects "almost" daily.  Today's picture is of how much I've accomplished with my Wavelength Shawl.  When this yarn arrived in the mail, I knew it was special.  It is part of a sock of the month club by Blue Moon Fibers.  They provide one sock pattern and one "non sock" pattern.  The pattern that went with this shawl is so perfect for the yarn that I couldn't do anything else.  I hope I can do justice to this yarn...mainly because I'm going with my philosophy about mistakes:  If it ain't structural, leave it.  I'm thinking that the idea behind the waves isn't that they are perfectly matched but that they draw the shawl up so that it evokes the ocean.  As a result, I'm not fretting about the wave pattern and am just free forming as much as I can.  hard to tell if it's lovely yet or not, but I'm happy and that's what matters because this shawl will definitely be gracing my shoulders!

My Hands are Itching

...and not in the literal way.  My hands are itching to knit. It's like a deep muscle in my hands is saying "excuse me but I haven't been properly exercised this week and I'm starting to get antsy about it."

I'm not feeling crazy about it yet, but it's getting close.

It's weird, this physical need to do something creative.  I haven't really felt it before.  I have heard that athletes feel it in their muscles when they can't exercise, and I imagine this anxiety in my hands is directly related to the lack of knitting I've been able to do recently.

And it's weird because only a little over a year ago I couldn't knit, and it certainly hadn't permeated my way of thinking (or being) such that if I didn't get enough time to do it, I wouldn't have felt like my fingers needed to be creating loops of yarn and moving sticks and making stuff.

It's nice to know that something is calling for me.  It certainly makes my time at home productive and interesting.  I don't just sit and watch tv or wait for time to pass.  It's also nice being busy and not being bored, even if that does mean that I'm feeling the knitting itchies.

Last night, I didn't get to sit down and knit until 9:30.  I was tired, and really I probably shouldn't have been knitting because I could have made a mistake (and maybe I did and just don't know it yet), but I told myself 15 minutes would help.  I sat down, got my yarn out and things just went haywire.  The center pull pulled out a HUGE tangle of yarn and on the outside the a big loop of yarn had come loose and these two yarn ends got all tangled.  I almost put it away and said, "tomorrow I can deal with that" but my hands wouldn't let me. Once my fingers wrapped around those needles I had to knit.  And what a great excuse to keep knitting until the center pull yarn was all knitted up.  I'm hoping that after dinner tonight I'll get some good quality knitting time in.  I know that I will this weekend as the Olympics are starting and I've decided to participate in Ravellinics.  I'll be starting a shawl during the opening ceremonies on Friday.  I can't tell you how I've had to pull myself away from that yarn this week!

Today's picture is of a baby Lochi.  She used to love sleeping in my scrap basket.  I should have named her Scrappy or something.  She was so funny once because she saw me throwing away little strips of fabric.  Into the trashcan she hopped, grabbed the fabric and put it in the basket.  When she had all of it, she curled up and went to sleep, just like this.

What I Wish I Were Doing

...instead of being at work and avoiding the things I NEED to be doing, I wish I were at home knitting.  And weaving.  I don't usually feel such a strong pull to be elsewhere.  I pride myself on being where I am and making the most of the situation.

That would mean that today I would be excited about

• completing payroll (generally I like getting the packet together because I know these kids need the money:  today, I so don't care), 
• contacting my peer leaders about training next week (I'm excited about training, just don't want to call/text/e-mail all of them),  and
• finishing up my career guide (I feel no impulse of creativity when it comes to the career guide).

I don't know what spurred my bad attitude, but I really think I should have gotten myself back in bed when I got out of it this morning, worked on sleeping for a better attitude, and then getting up.  If my attitude wasn't better then I just should have called in sick and dealt with it.  AH well...

I didn't, and I'll try to make the best of it, but it'll be a struggle.

The socks I brought with me to work today in case my lunch date fell through are whispering to me, not so quietly, and saying that I really should pack up and go home and work on them because THAT is what would make my attitude better.  I may have to put them out in my car! (and if you pay attention to the picture, you can see the other thing calling my name today--vacation--the Swiss mountains).

Plugging Along

I'm still plugging along on Ernie's socks.  I made such amazing progress this weekend, and feel like I'm stuck on the foot...not that it's a particularly long foot...I just feel like I'm muddling through the best I can.  And I suppose that's true seeing that I've only had an hour or so, if that, to work on knitting these past few days.

I thought I'd share a picture of how they look so far.  I wish I had more to say today, but some days it's just boring or filled with stuff that other people really don't care to listen to (i.e. work!).