That's a bow

In real life depth perception makes this bow much more obvious, I swear.
Me thinks I'll be having some buttons in my hair in 2014.

Giftmas

I never got the whole Christmas knitting thing. Personally I never saw my wonky, half-woven in finished objects as giftable in general. And my mom doesn't like hand knit things, and it never gets very cold in Texas so I guess I never thought of it as an option.
Till this Christmas.
My dad apparently was out in the cold with my mom downtown and mentioned needing a masculine hat. Something black. And actually requested something from me. Which is weird because my family never shows much interest in my knitting period. Either way I was excited. However as I wound my pima cotton I had gotten on sale at Tuesday Morning I realized there really wasn't that much. I reminded myself that most hats I make never take the whole skein, so a small skein must just mean I'll actually just run out instead of having a ton extra.
Maybe herringbone might use a bit more than just purls on a cabled hat? I wanted it to be fancier than a normal hat I mean it was for my dad!
I got distracted with... other gifts however. I made two other hats before I had the needles free for his. And then of course Christmas cleaning.
I was about 3 inches in when the loose centerpull got tangled.
I also realized it may not have been enough to finish it anyway.
Deciding to wait till after Christmas when I got some larger circulars back from a friend loan, I tossed it aside and had a nice Christmas. Atleast my dad understood.

The results for not dad gifts though:

 

Sister hats! Not for my sisters but family friends I've known since I was 3, the pink one for the one my age and then the teal for her older sister. Their mom is a knitter so I figured if anyone was knit worthy it'd be someone who lives in New York and someone who's mom made her fingerless mitts this year.

Hand Made

I am an artist so I think I'm coming to terms with why I like knitting.

Sometimes... no, rather. OFTEN. I am told "You know you could just buy that." I think we all hear this. All us crafters.
I think sometimes I could. If I was knitting a plain pullover yeah. Hell even if I was knitting a cabled pullover yeah.
But that's why I don't make plain socks.
I make socks in my own colors.
In textures I found myself, with cables whichever way I want.
No I can't buy that. No I can't buy a sweater with, I don't know, my face on it. Or colorwork something obscene into it.

Telling a knitter that "They could just buy that" is on par with telling a portrait artist "They could just take a picture."

Besides if no one did it to begin with we wouldn't have knitting machines. And I like letting an archaic craft live on.

Losing Track of Things

December first is the first of losing my mind a bit, forgetting things from the year, while regretting not keeping a more consistent blog or journal I can keep track of. Looking through my tumblr did help though. I'm also cycling today so I'm getting a wee bit emotional at 5:40 am. Considering I just tidied up my room a bit and piled my yarn into piles.

Then again looking at it right now from my be I mostly just untangled some things listened to pony reviews and pushed a bunch of junk away from my bed. Which I made.
Before I got in it.
It's comfy ok?

Just fingering through my yarn reminded me of how messed up my brain can be, I found skeins I forgot I had. WIPs I forgot I was working on and unlogged yarn. It also caused the dreaded stash anxiety, where you feel almost overwhelmed that you haven't knit it all yet.

However what did make me feel a bit better was my group PreProcess Knitters Stashdown.
It's a group that not only stashes down but makes you track your progress by logging new yarn and logging projects that use up yardage. Instead of starting by counting your stash you just try to get into negatives. Knit more than you buy. Basically. However has the convenient aspect of looking at your whole year in a spreadsheet way instead of your project page.

And there it is in it's color coded glory. This year I learned how to make hats, my first mittens, first gloves, discovered what makes me wanna knit. And what holds me back. Which turned out to be patterns. Not a huge pattern girl, I like to do my own thing.
Also made my own sweater without a pattern, my first one.
And it fit.
However I also have added 4000 yards of yarn.
Atleast I'm well stocked.

Walking and Knitting

October

October went by so fast, it's hard to remember what all I knit. I made my first gloves, finished my first PAIR of mittens, and started on my first sweater. I only have pics for one though.

Not super exciting. I had a weird case of startitis and have been extremely lazy and lethargic.

It's weird. Winter is coming and I feel like I have no knitting mojo.

Mittlets

 

Do you ever hate something when it's on your needles. You think it's dumb, has a gross texture, is turning out horrible. Then you actually finish it... and like it a lot better as an FO. Yeah that's how these were. They aren't for me sadly, though I kinda want them. Funny. It was my birthday yesterday and I'm making a gift for someone else.

DIY

I grew some cacti in a cup. I only note this now because I've had them for awhile and now they're actually getting big. It's exciting. On another note of things I did myself I made a facecloth. And I'm sure everyone is like, oh wow. A washcloth..? I know it's not a lace shawl but YarnHarlot made a post about washloths and the other day I got some really awesome soap that smells like fruit and rainbows.

So I made a somewhat rainbowy facecloth to match. And let me tell you. The hype is right. I've never had anything softer and gentle on my face before than nice thick kitchen cotton.

Why did that Convention have Yarn?

It wasn't a fiber fest, even a ren faire. It was an anime convention, containing all things nerdy, video games, and japanese.
Sure I was expecting knitted objects in the Artist's Alley, there's always amigurumi or crocheted custom objects. But I wasn't expecting handspun. Beautiful bulky expensive handspun, in rainbow sugar rush colors.
Then again!
I came back to explore more booths and found more.
Lots of excitement both finds, connecting to the artisans who I'm sure were surprised at the sales.

 

The bulky "Sweet Tooth" was barely enough for a hat that I almost immediately cast on.

So I had to pick up from the bottom with a dull blue alpaca mix. The colors turned out so rainbowy, it nearly turned me into a process knitter.

It's not Perfect but I Tried

this is my first pair of socks.
the first one is grafted in correctly.
both have ladders that make my ankles a tiny bit chilly.
and one may or may not be longer than the other, it's hard to tell.
one's a tiny bit more snug than the other.
both keep my feet warm

this is a fingerless knit for my special someone.

the thumb hole appears to be a bit big.

the "lace" is off in many places.
the yarn was difficult to work with.
but I know my special someone will love it just as much as they love me.

SSS

I just finished my first sock ever today. I'm super excited. Like way more excited than I maybe should be. So excited that I want to show you what's technically a UFO but isn't really because it's a finished something. What's up with that anyway? A single mitten or a single sock is considered an unfinished object because it's missing a mate. Why can't I just have some single lady socks up in here?
Fun fact I started these February 2012 but procrastinated on turning the heel for over a year.

But she already has a coat

I've had some yarn. For a very. Very. Very. VERY, long time now.
When I was a kid I was into really crappy weaving, due to a birthday present loom for kids. Because of this I acquired several colorways of the cheapest yarn my mom could convince my 10 year old self to buy, Red Heart Super Saver.
Turns out it still exists and I was able to log this chunk into Ravelry, and find out the colorway despite the tag being lost.
I'm not really fond of variegated but I saw someone use white to disrupt it into something nice so I tried similar.
It was going to be a hat but my coworkers told me to keep going and also reminded me how I make too many hats.
So to make my terrier suffer I gave her a second sweater. That's right second. I definitely need some children in my life or I'm going to become a crazy dog woman who makes clothes for her dog. However you have to admit. It is kind of cute.

See how happy she is?

Endurance

Awhile ago my sister pulled some yarn from a Michael's clearance bin and oohed and awwed over it's colors. Her room was orange, and she adored anything with a creamsicle like scheme.

What would I even make with that?

I don't know we'll figure that out later.

Days of yarn snuggling later. 

 

No seriously, a hat, gloves, mittens.

I look bad in hats. I don't wear any of that stuff...

A scarf... anything what?

 2 hours of knitting debate later

Knit me. A pillow.

A pillow? Are you sure?

Yeah what's wrong with that?

I've never made one before but sure...

 
I cast it on after a couple days to let confirmation sink in. The request was just a plain pillow, stockinette side both sides. I estimated it could be maybe 1x1 foot. 

In and out of the UFO basket it went since June, weirdly bulky to bring into the car. Hats on circs were more favored bring-along projects. 

My wrist would hurt some days from work, and I'd try to learn Continental purl to ease the pain but would be frustrated by slow knitting and switch back to English style. 

It was mostly my movie pillow, what I'd knit while watching movies or Who, or Game of Thrones once I was done with that. 

Remind me never to knit a plain stockinette sweater or anything, because this could basically be a panel of that.

And for God's sake don't let me knit a giant plain baby blanket.

 

A Few Yards of Mouse

All my UFOs are too agitating to just pick up and knit at the moment. A tiny bit of leftover yarn was on my desk a long with a twisty tie and DPNs. I had fluff from unplying a pom pom. Couldn't find scissors so used some wire cutters.

My sister loves mice, so I made her a tiny something.

Anxiety

 I get to visit my LYS maybe once or twice a month. It's close to home but I'm usually doing work or school. Lately I've been feeling really stressed out.
Momma, needs a trip to the yarn store. I mumbled to myself several times a day for the past week.
no I am not a mother. it's an expression.
A yarn store is a gigantic treat for me, for the past couple years of my knitting life I've only ever had one downtown and across town, if not in another city. So when one opened up nearby it took a lot to contain myself, and my wallet. 
Art stores are so much cheaper, and I'm not exactly a yarn snob. 

Therefore when I do get a chance to visit I feel obligated to buy something, even if I'm trying to save money or starve the stash. 

Feeling strsesed out lately, it sank in more when I was there. Strangely. Shopping usually relieves stress but lately it's felt more like extra clutter. Or a reminder to all the things I need to get done at home. 

Pacing around the store for over an hour I finally actually had to leave. On the way out I decided, screw it.
If any color had been attracting me in that store it had been this lovely coral, since the first day. Expensive for a recycled material yarn, and I didn't want to look like I was falling for all that "upcycling" nonsense. I wasn't trying to buy this because I was trying to be trendy and green. I wanted to buy it because I loved the color, I loved tweedy things, and I love cotton. I thought it was worsted and planned mittens, delightedly I realized it was sport when my clerk was winding it.
I hope to see gloves from this, I've never made gloves before.

As I hoped it did soothe my anxiety a little. I think one of the reasons we feed the stash is to renew our hope. Believe in ourselves that we'll be productive and keep knitting on. Making beautiful things with beautiful fibers. 

My mother asked me later that day "So what's so special about this yarn anyway." Wasn't till she walked away I realized I didn't need to sputter anything about what it was made of. I bought a piece of mind with it, I wasn't trying to save money by knitting my own gloves. I was trying to save money on therapy and drugs for mental health.
Knitting is much cheaper in that regard.

Winter White

Made my first pom pom the other day. 
There was some Wool-ease at Michael's in the sale bin. One of those colorways where you know exactly what you wanted to make with it. I saw a friend post something with cables and diamonds in white with a pom pom and wanted to do the same.

First FO of July ended up seeming more like Christmas wear. Perhaps I'm hallucinating from the Texas heat.
I used too-small needles for it, because I didn't want to buy something I'd probably only use once.
I don't intend on using a lot of super bulky yarn in my life if you catch my drift. 
So it's thick and solid, the cables pop out quite a bit, and it used nearly the entire hank. That's fine though.
I like it that way.  

Of Many Hats

Today I am I knitter. I wasn't before, I was a story teller, a girl, an artist, a comicker. I never considered myself a knitter, I considered knitting to be a hobby. If anything I was a yarn hoarder.
Maybe tomorrow I won't be a knitter but today I am. 
I finished a hat a few hours ago, finished knitting it, finished tucking in some yarn, even made a pom pom for it. 
I didn't have another project and for the first time. I actually didn't know entirely what to do. 
I've heard of this phenom occur in other knitters but not for me, I used to shrug with satisfaction of an FO and move on, draw, do homework. But I felt strange inside instead. I wanted to cast on something else, or pick up a UFO I'd left at home.
No wonder knitters pack extra projects. 

as a side note, I had all intentions to do other things this day, my body just wants to knit some more though.