As I think about what next to post on my blog, I am torn with a decision. Do I pretend that I haven't been knitting to avoid potential criticism, or profess to being fickle and chaotic? Self-confessor that I am, the answer is clear!
I have not been knitting on the Russian Prime. I have not been knitting on the Saddle-Shoulder Aran. I have, however:
- swatched for an Adult Surprise Jacket (a knitalong) from EZ's The Opinionated Knitter,
- swatched for a Celtic Cardigan, using Elizabeth's Percentage System (EPS) to follow Janine (Feral Knitter), because I have ultimate faith in her color/pattern choices.
- begun a Pi Are Square shawl from EZ's Knitting Around,
- received 3 huge skeins of Kauni Wool (photo at right) from Germany and been carrying them around like preemie babies! These are for Ruth's Kauni Cardigan, following advice from Melinda (Purlwise).
- knitted a small Faroese-Style Shawl from a new pattern by Meg Swansen (not yet available, lucky me!)
The truth of the matter is, I have a common affliction known as "Failure to Finish". I have been accused by friends and critics alike as "not liking to finish". Untrue! I can kitchener, sew in sleeves, cut steeks, I-cord bind-off, and weave in ends with the best of them! The trouble is, to get to that point, you must first complete the knitting, which I seem to rarely do! I am very envious of those knitters with piles of finished garments to show off! I just don't think I'll ever be one of them.
Once I have done my swatching (such as it is), wound the wool, calculated all the measurements and knitted 6 inches of the body, I am ready to move on! I was a weaver in my misspent youth, and enjoyed warping more than weaving! I'm an ideas person, I suppose. Once I see the project start coming to life, I'm on to the next idea, and completing the previous seems irrelevant. There, having confessed, I feel ready to talk about more interesting things!
Knitting Weekend
I had promised to write more about my experiences at the Knitting Weekend with Meg Swansen a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, I was only going to be gone for 3 days, so I "traveled light". I do think the grocery bags add a je ne sais quois.
The weekend already seems a long way off, but I have been thinking about the women I met quite a bit since returning home. We had different backgrounds, skill levels, ages, and shapes. We had a judge, a yarn shop owner, an IRS agent, and an entrepreneur (OK, now I have to spell-check). The 3 days went by so quickly, I can't remember eating or sleeping, only the lively discussions, the heaps of knitting, and the beautiful faces of my new friends. I realize that I sound sappy, but it was a pretty sublime experience. I need to spend more time with knitters.
Meg is considering offering more of these smaller workshops in the future because this one was so successful. We created this weekend to accommodate people who were on the waiting list from last year's First Timers camp. As a trial run, it was wildly successful.
Oh, and I got to meet Ada Lai, proud new owner of KnitWare knitting software. I've started playing with this (and there's a free trial download) and it is a very extensive program. It has some logic built in that I feel is lacking in other programs in that price range.
Life in the Bunker
We live in a partial-berm house (fondly referred to as "the bunker"). I took some pictures just 2 weeks ago and they are so brown and grey. Everything now is green and budding, and I'm glad to see this picture to remind myself that Spring comes in faithfully every year.
