Ruts-n-clover

Okay, My friend Ally sent me a link and is always talking about oneprettything.com, so I went. OH MY GOSH! AMAZING! There are so many great knitting patterns and sites and blogs and everything!!! One particular blog I would like to "follow" is sheepinthecity.com, I can't figure out how to officially follow but the link is below! Check It Out! :)

I am in a rut. I am still working on my rose camo scarf which is fine. But I have been working on different designs and the more I try, the less I am seeing it come out! I have tried an Embossed Leaf design and that is just not working! Is it my yarn? Am I not doing the pattern correctly? I am sad. That is all I know!

I have offically made the decision to move back to East Texas. There is a great yarn store in Tyler and the ladies there teach spinning and knitting classes at the community college! They are always at First Monday Trades Days and have good sized vendors area. I am SO excited about it! I plan on taking the classes, as many as I can! Maybe someday I will have my own yarn shop!

I took a picture of some clover on the small hill by my apartment. I would like to either find or create a stitch someday that resembles it. Is it possible to recreate such a symbol? I think so. I am aware of the Trinity Stitch, as it was mentioned many times in the book Casting Off by Nicole Dickson. Maybe this will work... we'll see!

Happy knitting!

http://www.sheepinthecity.prettyposies.com/

http://www.oneprettything.com/

presents!

This is the second of what will be Christmas presents. I am starting with family presents, and then if time permits- presents for close friends, work associates, far away friends and whoever else requests one!
I think doing something like what Tom's shoe company does would be cool. Like for every scarf I make for someone I know, maybe I should make one for someone I don't know who needs one. I could send them to a homeless shelter or something. I think that would be pretty cool and rewarding. It's like volunteering but from my own living room! haha
So to the left, I am using "Rose Camo" colored yarn. It's mostly bamboo but I forget what the company is that produces it. I think they are Turkish? I tried using the Embossed Leaf stitch design but it didn't show up very well. I am thinking I must have messed up, plus the yarn is kind of furry which I think effects the design showing up? I also used Irish Moss and Seed Stitch.
This brings up my next topic- Irish Moss and Seed Stitch. I found these designs everywhere in books and online and it seems there is a little contradiction. The Seed Stitch should be K1P1 repeat then P1K1 on row two. Then alternate those two rows. The Irish Moss should be like K1P1 for two rows and then P1K1 for two rows... then repeat, right? I have found that some people consider Seed to be Moss, some consider Moss, Double Seed. Some just call it Moss not Irish Moss and goodness I have no idea! It's so confusing. I like both! I love to call it Irish Moss though because... I wish, Oh how I wish I was really Irish! If I practiced hard enough on my accent I could pass off but alas, a true Irishman would smell the Scottish in me and kick me out of the pub!
I also used some random stitching that I made up myself. Sometimes I knit knit knit then just feel the urge to purl... so I do! It's kind of like stream of conscience writing... Stream of conscience knitting. Free style knitting. Flowing. Sometimes following a pattern is nice and gives you a sense of accomplishment when you finally complete it and see the surprise of pictures in your stitching. Especially if it looks like it is supposed to! But sometimes it is nice not to think of it and go how you like. I guess that is how life is too. Sometimes you stick to a schedule, but it's always nice to be spontaneous for a time!
Here is an Irish Friendship Wish I got in an email passed through family's inboxes originating from my Gramps in the Gibraltar:

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Care for a pint?

This is my cat, Fernando along with some of my knitting materials.

I am back from work and though I am slightly hypoglycemic and exhausted I have every intention of staying up until 0700, taking Shep for a walk, and heading to Joann's Fabric & Crafts where supposedly they sell yarn! I have hit up Hobby Lobby so many times (well... probably not as many as SOME knitters!) and would like a change in options. Just for curiosity's sake!

I am progressing on my hat! Will post a pic later. After all the practicing on the various stitches I've mentioned with a smaller yarn (bamboo), the hat is actually pretty easy! Even with circular needles! I don't think I've dropped a stitch yet.

I'm craving a Guinness right now. Aye, a pint of that would be nice!

Any requests? Any readers?

new projects!

So, I've completed one fingerless glove. I don't like it. I like the color. I love the stitching, except it is a little too loose. I don't like how I put it together. I think I will have to re-do!

I've learned the diamond seed stitch and cheveron seed stitch. Tonight I am working on a hat with circular needles. I started a sock with fisherman's wool (it is very easy to work with!) on four double pointed needles. That is for practice. I am hoping to turn out at least one thing that I like that isn't the simple garter stitch scarf! I also started a sweater, a gansey rather! I am incorporating many designs in the stitching. Sometimes I get lost as to whether I started purling or stitching a row, but sometimes I forget a lot of things I'm doing in life so I feel that the sweater reflects my personality- something I think required in a gansey.

I love working with thick yarn. I love the look of wool. I love the feel of it in a hat but I don't like the feel of it in a scarf- too thick! I made a scarf out of alpaca- now that is nice! It sheds a bit though!

I had a lovely surprise the other night when I arrived at work- a package! What was in the small white box addressed from Austin? Sock yarn! Two skeins! I am so excited to make socks with this yarn- that's why I am practicing on fisherman's wool- to be sure I get it right and don't screw up the nice yarn! My friend sent it to me, one skein for a pair of socks for her and one for myself. Awesome.

Will have to blog later. Blogging at work is hard- I don't feel as inspired under the floresant lighting :(

seed, moss, ribbing

Ahhh, so I only THOUGHT I could seed stitch. Well, I CAN seed stitch, but I wasn't, instead I was making ribbing. I looked at it and compared to the picture and said, "Hmmm, that sure looks different!" But now, I can rib! Single and double. I really like how I fit my finger in the trough of the double rib. Is that weird?

Since I learned ribbing, I decided I would learn one more: MOSS! I love moss. Not just the stitch but moss in general. If I could live in a world where moss was the only thing on the ground, outside and in your home, I would. There are all sorts of mosses, by the way. They all need shade and moisture though. So I'm definitely living in the wrong part of the world for my moss fantasy to ever be close to true!

I think once I get to learning lace I will do a big project. Like a big blanket with really nice soft yarn. I have some really nice blue yarn that would be perfect. I would consider it a "french country blue." I bought it at a yarn shop in Osage Beach, Missouri. It deserves to be turned into lace.

yes! achievement!

I did it! I can now purl knit purl knit purl (otherwise known as seed stitch!) to my heart's content! And boy is it content now that I know how. I simply read along (once again) in my knitting book about purling. What I wasn't doing was moving the lose yarn to the front when I was purling, and then back to the back to knit... instead I was just leaving it there and creating a mess.

I think this morning I will knit at the coffee shop while I wait for my friend.Though I wish I was going to Sugar Browns, we will be going to Daybreak. I wish I was going to Sugar Browns because I briefly spoke to a guy there the other day who had sheep! He commented on my dog Shep, a Great Pyrenees, and about how he kept them with the sheep. If only I had not been so distracted- could have gotten me some wool!!

I can't wait to be able to make a sweater.

Each stitch means something. Whether it is a shield against tears, whether it is a gate against anger, or whether it is hope that I have a future and something to offer. Each stitch is carefully looked at and planned and appreciated.

purling away

I cannot do seed stitch. I just cannot. I can knit. I can purl. I can do "stocking" but I have spent hours today trying to do the seed. Is it seed stitching? Is it stiching seed? I don't even know the terminology usage! Either way, I have tried using different needles, different yarn. I have used the thickest yarn I can- which is what all knitters I know recommend for beginners! I need help.

He said, "Knit one, purl two, that's how the story goes, huh?" (a client at work)

Earlier when I was practicing stocking, I thought of my cousin. Whenever I do purl I think of her. Her birthday is in April, and the pearl is her birthstone.

I met with my friend tonight for coffee before work. She is a knitter and invited me to my first (and only, so far) knit nite. It's on Tuesday evenings. It was surreal the night I went there. I showed up with my few skews of yarn and crochet and knitting needles. I was working on a hat; and I was crochetting it, not knitting. There were about 15 women there, mostly middle aged, so younger some older, and they all seemed dear friends. They were all what I'd call Southern. I could not help but laugh at the typicality (is this a word, well it is now!) of the situation, especially when someone mentioned being SLUTS... Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress! I laughed out loud.

They were real knitters. One woman was making a doll! Several, shawls and blankets. My friend, was knitting socks. I wasn't even knitting, but crochetting. I showed them what I called my "ghetto" hat... the first knit hat I had made! They laughed, but out of joy, and said, "It's a start!" Now I have circular needles (I didn't say I was an expert at them yet) to bring to the group, and now that I am starting anew and getting out more, I will go again. Not this Tuesday, but next.

The book is wonderful. My plan is to practice each stitch as it is introduced in the book. I am stuck at seed. I want to learn to spin. I need wool! If anyone knows the direction in which to go... point!

I should be sleeping...

I work nights. This gives me a lot of downtime, a lot of time to think.

Thinking... is not what I want time to do.

I have decided to be a copycat. To make an experiment. As a way to save myself, to keep me from overthinking thus getting depressed about my current heart-ache, I shall blog about knitting.

I am currently reading Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson. I picked it before the break-up, probably subconciously knowing I would need a book in the future about letting go. Also, another book filled with Irish humor, scenery and... knitting.

Though I just started knitting, I learned to crochet in junior high. My step-mom Andrea taught me. I never did finish that scarf. I have finished several scarves now and hats! Working with different yarns, sizes of needles, playing with different stitches... this is my life now. That and blogging about it!

This shall be an effort to be honest (might as well be since no one's reading, right?!), committed (every day!), and to challenge myself to keep going (I can't just post about knitting single knit stitches every time... I must push towards new horizons!).

I will post pictures. Write stories. Talk about books about knitting, Irish sweaters, sheep, knitting patterns I have tried, knitters I have met, spinning (when I get there!), what knitting will mean for my future. And of course when I am not blogging, I will simply knit.