Resolve to Organize

I quit making New Year's Resolutions years ago. They just don't stick. I intend to continue to watch what I eat and try to exercise. However, this year I decided to try to organize my knitting in a way that makes sense. I continue to loose patterns and needles and often do not have what is needed when it is time to work on a project.

To organize my double points and circular needles, I purchased 10 zippered pencil bags from Office Max. I have labeled each one from 0-9 and sorted my needles. I was truly shocked at how many needles I have! There are some still with current WIPs and not in the bags. I should never have to purchase another needle now that I can find them!

About 20 years ago there was a Pinguoin outlet in the area. I treated myself to Clover needles every payday until I had a full set. I keep them in a separate needle organizer. I still have some of that yarn in the attic. Much of it is appropriate for baby garments.

I also have a collection of some metal and plastic needles. I am not sure where these came from. They may have been mine as a kid and some of my mom's.

Some of the crochet hooks are still MIA. I am not sure where else to look for them. At least now when I do find them, I will have a place for them.

I also have a set of Knit Pick options.
I should have needles for every occasion.

Now for organizing projects. I am collecting the yarn and the pattern and zipping them into a ziplock bag. If the pattern is in a book, I am copying the pattern - making notes of the book and page numbers. I have bought some of the LARGE bags that will hold sweaters worth of yarn.

I have two binders full of patterns that I have printed off the internet. These I have placed in plastic sleeves and organized in the binders sorted by type.

Now, dare I make a resolution that I knit what I have and not purchase anything new? Nah. I will try but let's be realistic! Veiwing lovely projects and new, challenging techniques on Ravelry and in Blogs are just too tempting. I am weak and cannot resist!

Happy New Year to you and goold luck with your resolutions!

Christmas Knitting Back on Track

The last knitting detour from last week has been completed. It is the Carmel Cabled Hat by Iris Wilde.



I have finished The Peek A Boo Cloche for my step-daughter. This photo shows the lighter lining and also how the brim is doubled, separate from the lining and the outside of the cap.



I have begun the next project: Wintergreen mittens by Kate Gilbert. These are for my sister who lives in NYC. I imagine I will need to give her an IOU. She will be here until the Saturday after Christmas so I should be able to get them done before she leaves. I started today and I am having trouble with gauge. My LYS indicated the yarn was DK weight, it is Berocco Pure Merino but it is worsted. I tried to use a 0, the gauge seemed to be OK, the cuff fit but I could not get it over my palm. I am going to start over with a 1. I love the twist of the yarn and it is working well with the pattern. I have not knit mittens in many years. I am having trouble with the measurements provided with the directions.

I emailed Kate Gilbert and she responded very quickly but I still am not sure that I understand. On the page with the mitten chart, there are 7 sets of numbers. Each set of numbers is a series that correspond with gauge. The first series indicate that it is the measurement to the mitten tip. I just am not sure what the remaining measurements are. The measurements are increasing sizes and that confuses me. The first number is 3/12 the bottom series is 7. Is this 7" from the cuff for beginning thumb? From the 7 inches, it then has 61/4. This measurement cannot be from the cuff, is it from the tip of the finger? If you knit from the duff to the tip of the finger, shouldn't the numbers increase - not decrease?

Christmas Knitting Detour

During the days when I knit scarves out of fun fur (gasp), I was asked to provide some to our district Christmas party. They solicit gifts from the community to give out as door prizes. I sent a few. Every year after that, they have asked for hand knit donations. This year, they were a little late in asking and I though I was off the hook. No such luck, sooooo, with the limited amount of time available, I have put my Christmas knitting on hold and I have been knitting hats.

The red had is Utopia. The pattern is available from Smariek Knits.
It was knit on number 8 needles in a Lions Brand yarn that I bought at Michael's. I will upload details later.

The next is the Marsden Watch Cap. I had trouble achieving gauge with this one so I finally used a DK weight yarn, doubled. It is a very thick cap. The brim is nice and deep so that it will fit most heads and can be pulled over the ears, if our weather ever gets cold. Not complaining, just saying.

The work in progress is the Carmel Cable Hat (in green) by Strickmasche. I think this will probably be the last cap that I knit for the office. I need to return to the family projects!

Startitis and Frogging

Peek-a-Boo Cloche

I shouldn't wait so long in between posts, there is too much to catch up on. Christmas knitting has commenced. I was not planning on doing any - but.....

Our step-daughter and her family came for Thanksgiving and admired the Peek-a-Boo Cloche I made earlier so I decided to knit one for her for Christmas. The colors are Grass and Green Apple. I am using Knit Pick Shine Sport , again. I like the cotton. We don't always need wool in South Carolina. The colors are nice and seem almost designed for this cap since you need a lighter shade for the lining.

Needle Storage
I have promised myself that over Christmas holidays I am going to find a better way to store and sort my needles. I just finished knitting this pattern for myself and yet, I could not find the needles. It wasn't a problem until I started the outside with the size 4 circ. This cannot be the one I used for my cap. I think it is only 12" and there are too many stitches for it to slide well. I looked and looked and cannot find the other needles!!!! How do you store yours'? Any good suggestions?

Chevron Scarf

Work on the Chevron Scarf continues. It is probably about 4 feet long by now. I decided if I knit the cap for the red-headed step-daughter, I had better knit something for Step-daughter #1. I guess the scarf will be for her. She lives in Va and breeds and shows dogs. She is often out in the cold exercising her dogs so I guess she will need a cap to match the scarf. See how the list just takes off!!

Leg Warmers

Our daughter is 17 and still at home. She leafed through the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book that has the pattern for the Chevron Scarf and decided that she needed the pair of leg warmers shown in the book.

I had a difficult time achieving gauge. The pattern called for Cascade 220 a worsted weight yarn and Madil Kid Seta. It recommends a size 8 needle. I dropped down to a size 6 and am using 4 stitches less to obtain gauge. The fabric is denser than I would like but the Kidsilk Haze does add a softness. I always hesitate knitting for DD, she sees a pattern and thinks she will like it but then when it is finished,it does not meet her expectations. The Kidsilk Haze makes this project a little extravagant. I hope she appreciates them!

Well, after about 14" of knitting, I did not like the fabric the gauge was creating. It was too stiff and probably will not slouch like they should. I frogged them and lazy me wound both yarns together. What a mess now that I am knitting them again.

I started on a size 8 as indicated in the pattern. The LYS only had a 16" circ, a 12" really is needed. I cut back the number of stitches and restarted. I took them with me to a conference yesterday and had about 3 inches knit. The conference happened to be in Charleston, SC. There is a wonderful LYS downtown, "Knit". I was able to find a 12" circ there. I probably have another 12" knit with the new needle, it is going much faster now that the stitches slide along the needle. However, when I look at the tube, you can tell when I changed needles. They are both Addi turbos, however, when I used the 16" I must have been stretching the knit more to slide the stitches along the longer circ. I AM NOT STARTING THESE AGAIN!!!!

Additional Hats to come.......