How jsins became a knitter: A tale that includes a couple of firsts, the last and the latest

I have a little tale to tell of how jsins, she of the limited attention span, went from declaring that she would never knit again to becoming the intrepid and obsessed knitter that she is today.

In a time long, long ago (1999ish), a career hobbyist was at Joanne Fabrics with her friend Mary Jo who was picking up supplies for her daughter's Girl Scout troup craft project when she spotted a brightly-colored variegated yarn in rainbow colors. Feeling inspired, she went to her local library and picked up a book on how to knit so that she could make herself the most amazing technicolored scarf that the world had ever seen. Excited about how cool her scarf was going to be, jsins immediately went home, opened the book and had her mother dig out her knitting needles. She knit and she knit and she knit.

Then she got bored and the scarf when into a basket next to the recliner chair in the living room. Every so often she would pull the scarf out of the basket and knit on it some more only to become bored with it again and set it aside. After about a year of such behavior, she had a garter stitch scarf that measured somewhere around 10 feet long. She was quite over knitting the scarf but stuck with it due to stubborn perseverance and a strong desire to prove to her mother that she would indeed finish it as there was much doubt. Upon casting off, jsins declared that she would never knit again and had her mother do the fringe. The end result was this:

A number of years pass by and one spring day in 2006, jsins once again ends up in a Joanne Fabric and while roaming around the store happens into the yarn section. Again, the yarn calls to her and she feels inspired. She purchases a few skeins that are on sale and heads down to the Barnes and Nobles located within the same shopping complex. Once there, she makes her way to the craft section and proceeds to pick up another knitting book. This time it is Stitch and Bitch: The Knitters Handbook by Deb Stoller. This time, jsins learns not only the knit stitch but also how to purl and knits the ribbed scarf from the book for practice but does not finish it before taking the leap to knitting in the round. Heading to a LYS, she picks up a few better yarns and proceeds to embark upon a project that is a bit more interesting than a garter stitch scarf (not to diss the garter stitch scarf as I still wear my 10-foot behemoth to this day) and a love affair with knitting is born. In a single weekend, jsins creates the following:
While knitting the Adults Only Devil Hat, jsins learns how to knit in the round, seed stitch, who to pick up stitches, do i-cord, increase, decrease and cast on additional stitches. The monotony of endless garter stitch is over and an intrepid knitter is born.

Now, jsins has a number of FOs under her belt and the career hobbyist who bounced from hobby to hobby, new project to new project, has a hobby that can keep her interest long enough to finish a sweater (Egads, who'd have thunk it?) and to tackles socks with very thin yarn on extremely tiny needles. Why just last week she finished the following:

With Rusted Root, she tackled lace and stuck through even the portion of knitting a sweater when you knit and knit and knit and it doesn't seem to grow at all! She's learned how to customize a garment through shaping so that it fits her just the way that she wants it.

Upon casting off her UnRusted Root, jsins immediately cast on for Juliet and has progressed to the start of the lace portion. This is her first garment using bulky yarn and she is quite enamored with how quickly it is knitting up but must admit that she is also looking ahead to what she will cast on next.

A restful weekend and a little bit of knitting

I actually got to catch up on my sleep this weekend and to put a little bit of time into focusing on my UnRusted Root. Another couple of hours knitting and it will be done. Here is a pretty crappy progress pick from Sunday. I have since finished another 1 1/2 lace repeats. It should only take another lace repeat before I can do the ribbing and consider this one finito. I am loving the fit. I was a little overly conservative and made things bigger than I needed to when I was knitting Green Gable and the lessons learned on that sweater really show on UnRusted Root. It fits perfectly. Although it's not even finished, UnRusted Root already tops my list of best knits ever. I so hope that I can finish this on Tuesday so that I can have it washed and blocked to wear it on Thursday when I go to the Bob Dylan/Elvis Costello concert.

In other news, I catch up on my netflix movies while knitting this weekend. I watched 300 and Four Brothers. 300 is really well done with amazing visuals (including but not only the really hot half naked men featured prominently throughout the film.) I enjoyed the film but it is not one that I will have to add to my dvd collection at home. Four Brothers was good as well but not overly memorable. It had an interesting twist by having the brothers all be adopted and of different races but other than that it was a typical "find the person who killed my ..." revenge film. Not a bad background movie while knitting but not so great that I would recommend that you seek it out right now. I did not watch Suze Orman's Young Fabulous and Broke although I need to because it felt too much like homework after a really rough week.

In movies that needed to be added to my dvd collection, I hit the jackpot at the previously viewed section of Blockbuster last week and added Hot Fuzz, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Little Miss Sunshine, The Holiday and Marie Antoinette to my personal movie stash.

I also went out to Penny's for an excellent roast supper on Sunday complete with lamb, roasted potatoes, ratatoulle, creamed leeks, mixed veggies and gravy. It should be the perfect time of year for turning on the oven but, oddly enough, it is currently 90 degrees in Pittsburgh. Where is fall? I am definitely ready for sweater weather and being able to turn on the oven to make a proper meal now and again. It may be a while before we can have another roast supper if this weather holds up.

Progress Report

I am plugging away on UnRusted Root. I didn't get much knitting in this weekend as I was extremely lazy and spent pretty much all of Saturday snoozing and watching movies. For some reason, I tend to get very sleepy when the weather changes. I did make a bit of progress and have reached the point of starting the waist shaping. I am hoping to be able to finish UnRusted Root on my business trip to Wisconsin this week. In addition to UnRusted Root, I will also be taking my Monkeys with me. I have cast on the second sock and am into the first lace repeat. If I am lucky, I will also get these Monkeys off my back while on this trip. In wishful thinking, I am also taking another sock yarn with me in case I can wrap up both of these projects and need something else to knit.

As for movies, I went to see 3:10 to Yuma at the theater yesterday and give it two thumbs up. The story was really well done and the acting was spectacular. I am a big Christian Bale fan and he did an excellent job but I have to say that this film really belongs to Russell Crowe and Ben Foster. The story was gripping and, even if you aren't a big fan of Westerns, it will keep your interest.

I also watched alot of DVDs this weekend. I watched the second disc of the first season of Shameless. This is a British t.v. series about a very unorthodox family in Manchester. It is both hilarious and, at times, quite dramatic.

I also watched Hot Fuzz this weekend. This film had me laughing hysterically and, even shouting "oh my god" at one point. (For those of you who have seen the film, it's a scene that involves Timothy Dalton and I think you can easily pick the one.) If you get this DVD, I would definitely recommend watching the bonus features. They are nearly as funny as the film.

An FO Frenzy!

In the ongoing effort to organize and simplify my life, I tackled my UFO basket this weekend. I set a goal of finishing at least 2 objects in it and actually finished 3. The leaves only 4 UFO items remaining in the basket!!!!!

Friday evening when I got home from work, I decided to tackle the Cozy V-Neck Pullover with Deep Ribbing from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. I started knitting this sweater in April when the Pittsburgh weather was still pretty cold. When May rolled around, the temperatures drastically increased making it impossible to endure working on a long sleeved sweater knit in Cascade Pastaza. All in all, this was a pleasurable, mindless knit. The ribbing gets a little tedious after a while but the sweater knits up quickly enough that you can push your way through it. I have a bit of a jog in the middle of the bottom where the final stitch to be bound off fell. I also found the seaming of the neckline to be a bit fiddly. I am a big fan of layering in the winter and expect to get a lot of wear out of this sweater.

On Saturday, I started with my oldest FO, the Ticuna sweater vest by Berroco. You can find the free pattern here. This was my first large project having only completed hats before this point. I started two sweaters at the same time and as a newbie knitter, had to let one fall by the wayside. The only work that remained on the Ticuna vest was to pick up and knit the armbands, which I was able to finish fairly quickly on Saturday.

Next up was a project that will be a Christmas present. These slippers are made from a pattern that was my great grandma MeMe's. I started these quite a while ago and put them aside when the lure of other projects was too great to resist.

Feeling like I had spent enough time with the UFO basket, I went back to working on my UnRusted Root. I am actually a bit further along than this picture indicates because I finished the sleeves and picked up and knit the neckband after trying it on for fit. I like to go back and do the finishing on a project as I am working on it so that, when I do the final bind off, I'm done. I started doing that with Green Gable and find that it allows me to finish a project without it spending any time in the UFO basket if I do the finishing as I go along.I would say that I had a very productive knitting weekend. I'm hoping to be able to replicate it next weekend as well. Christmas is just around the corner and I need to pick up the pace on my projects if I am to get everything finished that I would like to by the end of the year.

Say hello to my little friends...

I did a little pattern purchasing today. Please say hello to my newest acquisitions.

The Tree Jacket by Zephyr Style

I don't have any yarn in the stash for this but I'm thinking of ordering Knitpicks Andean Silk for it. I'm currently torn between the Cranberry and Sangria colorways.

Next up, we have the lovely Juliet by Zephyr Style.

I think I prefer the full length version of this sweater. I'm thinking about ordering Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in the Pewter colorway for this cardi.

And last but not least, we have The Somewhat Cowl by Wendy Bernard.

I'm probably going to break down and order the Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk for the Somewhat Cowl. I am currently sticking to my yarn moratorium and have not ordered any of the yarns for these projects. I have to knit at least three of the sweater projects that I already have yarn for before I will allow myself to purchase any yarn for additional sweater projects. I'm currently working on Rusted Root and think the other two sweaters will be the feminine cardi with puffed sleeves from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel and Ms. Marigold by Zephyr Style.

I see the light! (well, the flash at least because my camera is back in business)

I have decided to make an attempt to lead a more organized and leisurely life than I have been. In that vein, I cleaned my house and organized nearly all of my stuff (notice the nearly, it's all about baby steps.) It didn't hurt that my roommate's family was coming to the house to visit so that I had a deadline to bring things to some reasonable sense of order. I took this picture of myself to document what too much cleaning and organizing can do to a person.

(Be afraid kiddies, be very afraid.)

While I've been cleaning I've been trying to get pictures of my projects and my stash for updating this blog and for making the most of my ravelry account. To that vein, I have some photos to share and project progress reports to make.

Let's start with the Finished Objects that I have just gotten around to getting pictures of and posting.

Candy Apple Gable

I love this sweater and wear it all the time.

Pattern: Green Gable by Sarah and Rachel of Zephyr Style

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - 3 skeins in the Candy Apple colorway (80% cotton, 20% wool)

Needles used: Size 6 and size 4 knitpicks options

Date Started: June 23, 2007

Date Completed: July 15, 2007

Modifications: I was wary of knitting the medium size (36-39") so I added an additional increase row before separating for the sleeves. In hindsight, I realize that wasn't necessary and have not done so with the Rusted Root that I am currently knitting.

One Skein Wonder

A fun and quick knit. I didn't think I would wear it much but I've worn it quite a bit since I finished it.

Pattern: One Skein Wonder by Stephanie Japel

Yarn: Nassau by the Great Adirondack Yarn Co. - 1 skein in the Tourmaline colorway (50% silk, 50% cotton)

Needles used: Size 8 and size 6 Knitpicks Options

Date started: Late July

Date finished: Early August

Modifications: Changed the body trim to k2p2 rib rather than seed stitch. Used size 6 needles for the ribbing rather than the size 5s called for in the pattern.

Adults Only Devil Hat

Pattern: Adults Only Devil Hat by Kitty Schmidt from Stitch 'n Bitch: A Knitters Handbook by Deb Stoller

Yarn: Unknown hand dyed worsted weight wool

Needles used: Size 7 16" circulars and dpns

Modifications: None

Notes: This was my first non-scarf project knitted too long ago to accurately remember when but suffice it to say that it was about a year and a half ago. I learned knitting in the round, decreasing, using dpns, i-cord and picking up stitches from this project. It sure seems like a hell of a lot to learn from such a small project but it true. I would highly recommend either the Adults Only Devil Hat or the Official Kittyville Hat for beginning knitters to tackle as their first projects.

Now on to the UFOs:

I am currently working on an UnRusted Root, that I started about a week and a half ago. The picture is a little dated as I got to the point of separting the sleeves out. I will knit a few more rows before I try it on and update with a glamorous mirror shot when I get there.

Right before casting on for UnRusted Root, I finished the first of my Monkey socks.

I also pulled out my oldest UFO that I plan to actually finish by the end of the month so that I can wear it this fall. It is the Ticuna Vest.

Well, I'm a bit blogged out at the moment. There will be more knitterly adventures coming soon to a theater near you.

j.