Ribbit

Well, since I ended up frogging a pretty sizable chunk of my top last night, I don't have any progress to take pictures of.

I did, however, find this lovely Frida Kahlo online today. She looks so sad I figure she must have just frogged back a bunch of her work too! I wonder if, like mine, it's because her yarn splits like a *#@!&*. I mean, you can tell she, like me, was knitting without really looking at what she was doing, so it's likely that was her problem as well...or maybe, while driving her cart in 19th century rush hour traffic she occupied her time while knitting like I do and that's where she made her errors. Or maybe a squirrel stole her fleece...

Alter"quilt" Lifestyle?

Well, I stayed off the blog for a while simply because I wasn't knitting and this IS called AlternKnit Lifestyle. But, I've been giving that some thought, and I don't intend to create separate blogs for everything else I do, so I'll just have to be sure to put a little disclaimer in the first paragraph of any blog that's not going to be about knitting. This one will have some knitting in it, but more quilting, since that's been my mood of late.

The annual Quilt Oddysey is rapidly approaching and I'm so excited about it, all I really want to do is quilt. The only problem, of course: quilting is a much louder activity and you have to actually watch what you're doing (although you might look at some of my earlier efforts and ask "Are you SURE you were watching what you were doing? Really? I'm just saying..."), so TV is sort of extraneous with quilting and it's difficult for me to focus on only one thing at a time anymore.

But, I've had this particular quilt in my closet for a while and it was time to bind it off and put it on the bed, where, if I do say so myself, it looks very nice

The pattern is Blackford's Beauty. I'm not sure why the picture makes it look like the strips are darker in some places than others. I assure you it doesn't look like that in real life. This was my first ever queen sized quilt. I didn't quilt it myself, I only pieced the top. I have a strict policy about not trying to cram miles of fabric that weigh eleventy billion tons into my tiny little pfaff sewing machine when there are plenty of women with long-arm machines who are willing to do it for me. Besides, I could never get such a nice quilt pattern as I got by letting someone else do it. Check it out:

But, as I said, I haven't completely neglected my knitting. I finished the back of my top and for a while I suffered SOS syndrome. Stephanie calls it the SS (Second Sock) syndrome, but since, in my opinion, that particular disease applies to anything that's a repeat of what you've already done, to me, it should be called Same Old Sh*t Syndrome, and that's another reason why I've been quilting instead of knitting lately. I mean, look at this:

The front is done exactly like the back until you get to the armholes...you can see I have a LONG way to go before I get there...I know, I know. It only took a week to get there on the back, what's the big deal? I'll tell you...SOS! That's what. *Sigh* But, I am excited about finishing my very first top and I do think it's going to come out OK. So far, the size seems to be on the right track.

My next project will be the Green Gables pattern by Zephyr Knits. It's knit in the round, so hopefully it won't present the same problem. I'm knitting it up in a red cotton blend...don't remember what right now. I'll be sure to report all that when I actually get started on it. Oh yeah, and I guess I'll put another Afghan Block on the needles...right after I frog that last one. *Ugh*

We're Everywhere

I met a fellow knitter today. I was walking by the rows and rows of cubicles that infest this office space and caught a quick glimpse of a picture of spindles being used as wallpaper on a laptop. Of course, I couldn't just walk by without finding out who she was and if she was a knitter. Sure enough...she not only knits but has honed her spinning skills down to lace-weight fiber.

She gave me a quick lesson on turning a heel and then we discovered we have something else in common...

We've both learned how to deal with the local traffic jams without losing our minds. I only got three rows knit up on the way in this morning since there was a pesky police officer who stayed in the lane next to me for about 80% of my drive in. While I very much appreciate the job they do, I don't think they understand that it's really not too difficult to knit while sitting in a parking lot on the express(and I use that word laughingly)way.
If the Yarn Harlot ran the world, I'm sure she'd pass a law to permit such behavior. The reduction in road rage would certainly make it a worthy law!

Giddy

That's how I feel this morning. I was so thrilled to sign on and see three comments to my blog...all from readers of the Yarn Harlot, of course...and the Yarn Harlot herself was the first to post a comment!! I'm So Thrilled!! Yes, I know, she said it's a community. We read her blogs, she reads ours...still! Very thrilling to see three comments on my very first ever blog.

OK, enough gushing!

So, yesterday I said I only had one project on needles. And that's the truth...but that's because I've sort of let my sampler afghan fall by the wayside. This was my third project. I picked it up thinking I'd learn lots of new stitches and with all that knitting, I'd get plenty of practice and eventually a nice, even tension. Of course, the problem with that plan is the tension on the afghan is all over the place! And some of the errors in this thing are dramatically bad. We're not talking about "Hey, I'll bet you can't find my error" type thing. We're talking about "Good God! How many margaritas were you drinking while you were knitting this?!" type thing. This is where the knitters in my group say "Oh, it can't be that bad...you're just being overly critical". Which is when I whip out my nine (out of 20 *groan*) completed squares:

This was my first. Probably not a good choice for my first block. The tension is so tight it measures somewhere closer to 9" instead of 12. And whereas the bobbles are all supposed to be alternating, some of them line up quite nicely

The shell pattern for the second actually turned out well enough
and there aren't any dramatic errors...
I remember thinking I might just be catching on to
this knitting thing....

And then came the hearts! Doesn't it look great!
That's because you can't tell that it's almost big enough to be an afghan all by itself! All the blocking in the world won't bring this behemoth down to 12"

Still, not being one to give up easily, I pressed on. I had had good luck with yarn-overs in the shell pattern, so I attacked the alternating lace pattern and it turned out nice enough (I haven't blocked any of these yet, so, really, who knows?!)

And finally, I was ready to try my first cable pattern. This looks great! But then, of course, it ought to, considering how many times it got frogged, tinked and generally cursed at. Thank God for Patricia who finally frogged it back to the right spot and got me started on the right track.

So, time to tackle cables and yarn-overs, and that, as well as the Fancy Lozenge and Semi Woven Lattice patterns came out well...that's five in a row! Obviously, I really did have a solid grasp of this knitting thing now....

Yep...pride goeth before a fall alright! It's not surprising that this was my last block. But I've got it figured out: The trinity stitch can be made into a small pillow, the heart stitch can be made into a large pillow, and I think this could be made into a lovely skein of yarn! Which means that I don't have 9/20 blocks put together for this afghan. I have 6/20. Hardly a surprise that I've decided to set this aside for awhile.

Gettysburg Weekend

My First Blog Post! Both exciting and a little intimidating. I can't imagine a large audience visiting this site, but still, what to say and not be mundane or trite? Well...it's yarn and needles and knitting...of course it can never be trite so long as I stay on that subject, right?

Anyway, about the weekend. I tricked my SigO into a trip to Gettysburg with the premise of riding our bikes around the Civil War Battlefield. History buff that he is, he jumped on the idea. Of course, we've been together long enough now for him to be fully aware I wouldn't have chosen a spot for a weekend ride if there wasn't a yarn shop nearby that I was interested in visiting. In this case, it was The Misty Mountain Fiber Workshop located right in the heart of historic Gettysburg

When I first walked in, I was a little concerned, since the bulk of the space is occupied by looms and spinning wheels. I've only been knitting for 7 months now and I'm just not ready to add that dimension to the craft. I was worried I wouldn't find anything of interest to me, but boy was I wrong.

I found this great yarn cultivated from local animals, hand-spun and hand-dyed by a couple living in a log cabin in the nearby Applachian Mountains (at least that's what the shop owner tells me--as much as I would have loved finding out first hand, there's a limit to my SigO's tolerance of fiber shopping).

This yarn is half wool, half Llama. It has a charming name, but I've forgotten what it is...I'll do better in the future

This yarn is 100% wool. You wouldn't think so to touch it. It feels much more like cotton. It's called Bobcat. Each skein is 200yds, so I think I should have plenty to do something (who knows what) with, someday. My savings account would be a lot healthier if I was what the Yarn Harlot calls a Product Knitter instead of a Process Knitter, but I can't imagine walking by yarn like this simply because I don't know what I want to make with it yet.

I do only have one project on needles right now...

My first top.

I've knit two hats, four scarves, a shawl and some Hokie Squares for the victims and families of the VA Tech Tragedy and now I feel prepared (ha ha, ho ho, hee hee---whew---I kill me sometimes) to knit a top. Actual Clothing. I had to use US#5 needles to get guage on this cotton/viscose/silk mix that splits like CRAZY! Unfortunately, when I first cast on, I used regular length needles. Those ended up being too short, but I didn't have any US#5's in the longer version, and I was unwilling to put the knitting down and pick up something else (like my now, seriously neglected cross-stitch), so some of the stitches on the ends are somewhat stretched out due to being shoved nearly off the ends of the needles while trying to cram all 106 stitches on one needle. I now have the longer needles and am knitting happily on those.

Which brings me to this:

When I first learned to cross-stitch, I went out and bought all the colors DMC had out. So, is it crazy to have two of everything (and four US#8's) as well as one of every size in the longer version of needles to ensure that the above tragedy doesn't recur? I just want to know, since I don't yet have all sizes and am wondering if other knitters out there have every size necessary for any project imaginable? And yes, my circular collection is just as crazy...is this normal? You know, now that I think about it, does it matter? Not so much. I'm not normal in any other area of life, why start now? But see, there I go getting off track, so I'll end before this gets too wierd.