progressions

I've been a busy little bee...and yet I have no pictures of finished goods to show you. How can that be?

While held up in a New Hampshire hotel during two days of rain, I managed to finish knitting the "wild stripes" baby blanket. I also had time to sew in all of the edges & cut off all of those nubby leftover bits. It kind of looks pretty all on it's own, doesn't it?

The required piping & gingham backing has been purchased. Personally, the stripes & the gingham pattern are a little too busy for my tastes. It didn't seem that way in the pictures. I keep wondering if the mother is going to think I am crazy, or think I am trying to hypnotize her or something. Oh well, too late to turn back now.

This project was my first experience in blocking. I doubt I did it the proper way, but it worked which makes it good enough for me. I just kinda sprayed the hell out of it & pinned it down into my carpet with whatever pins I could conjur up. At some point, I need to invest in some non-rust blocking pins.

Blocking is kind of weird. I felt like I was setting up my cute little blankie for dissection. I was having visions of that poor little adorable frog in Ms. Goldstein's science class...

Speaking of frogging..what I ended up actually dissecting was my way-too-large-orangina. Even though I've already started version 2.0, I had been using spare yarn. But I decided it was time to let her rip.

[WARNING: The proceeding images may be too painful for some. Those with heart problems or weak constitutions are not recommended for further scrolling]

Going...
Going...

Going...Gone.

Truth be told, it was actually kind of fun & liberating to take it apart. When I first started knitting (not even a year ago!), I collected the orangina pattern as my "someday" project. I imagined that at some point, maybe years and years from now, I would be skilled enough to knit such a garment. I pictured myself as a sassy old(er) woman wearing this shirt. And here I am just a scant 7 months later with enough confidence & skill to create this shirt, not just once, but twice!! I think that's something to be proud of.

I have more than half of my new one done already. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to complete it in the next two weeks, if not sooner.

In other knitting related news, I received my "Denise Interchangeable Needles" in the mail today! wooha, I am going to be on fire! Mostly this will enable my wandering eye when it comes to knitting projects, which is good because a) there is another baby on the way that I must begin knitting for & I only have about 2 and a half months to do it! (It's a long story why that's so last minute notice) and b) I have just formed a new love for Interweave magazine. My to-do-list has just doubled in size.

Also, my mom got me Mason-Dixon Knitting. I haven't read it all the way through, but I'm really enjoying it thus far. It's got me thinking about breaking out of certain knitting conventions, such as the "preciousness" of everything. So I have a rug in mind & some dish towels planned for some of my cotton stash.

Last, but certainly not least, my partner got me an easel for my birthday! I know what you're thinking-"what the hell does that have to do with knitting?!" My answer is, absolutely nothing. But I plan for this blog to go beyond just knitting & I've been really missing painting in my life.

So the point is- I may not have much in the finished category right now, but keep your eye on me. I'm a gal with big plans.