Looking for Inspiration

I'm in need of some knitting inspiration. Last night, I didn't even feel like picking up my sticks. Weird. I always want to pick them up, I always want to feel the yarn as I throw it around the needle.

I know this knitting lag is temporary. I think it's related to the impending deadline and all I need to accomplish between now and then. I know it's related to the fact that I want to knit some new socks for myself. It's also related partially related to all the secrecy surrounding my current knitting activities. But this will come to pass.

I was cleaning the bathroom this morning and listening to my iPod. Since my running is currently on hold due to some knee issues (which I don't want to discuss) I don't get a chance to listen to my favorite podcasts like I used to. There are not too many benefits to cleaning the bathroom, but listening to podcasts is one of them. I was listening to Cast-on, my absolute favorite knitting podcast. Brenda was talking about a recent trip to Italy on a fibre tour. She talked about knitting with Italian knitters who spoke no English and how wonderful it was to all share passion in knitting and new stitch patterns. She had an essay about how knitting and time are relative; how we won't live forever but our knitted objects will be passed down for generations. Inspiration packed into 50 some odd minutes of knitting love. This is just what I needed to pick up that 2x2 rib hat that seems endless, or that big blue blog of wool that I can't talk about.

Thanks Brenda - you gave me just what I needed today. Now back to that gray hat....

J.'s Christmas Workshop

Everyone is busy in J.'s Christmas workshop. The elves are baking almost every day. They've even done a little decorating. Yes, everyone in J.'s Christmas Workshop is busy getting ready for Santa.

Buttons have been selected and attached.

Heels have been turned.

Gifts are being blocked and new ones cast on.

A clutch has been whipped up in preparation for celebrations! (I think I'll be making these as gifts next Christmas so if I know you and you'd like one, let me know. They're way faster to knit than socks!)

It's even lined! Sometimes, these elves really do impress me.

And just to keep you tied to reality, I present the ghost of Christmas past.

(T. would like you to know that this gift was knit with love. Why else would you continue to knit this scarf? Gauge is a grinch.)

I'm not buying what you're selling

You know when people try and convince you of something. Something that you firmly believe is wrong or crazy, but someone will work really hard to shake your foundation of beliefs. I just want to tell them "I'm not buying what you're selling".

Case 1:
Nylons with open-toed shoes. My mother (who was raised by quite the fashionista) believes a proper lady always wears nylons or tights. I often balk at this - mostly because finding comfortable tights for my 6'2" frame is near impossible. I have to buy the xx-queen size in order to be able to pull them up. I get the ones that fit 250-300 lbs and hope they'll stretch vertically rather than horizontally. Anyway, back to my original point. Open toed shoes are in - and supposedly wearing them in winter is ok. With your tights. I did this once and I couldn't stop looking at my feet. I felt self-conscious all day long - I thought someone was going to come up to me and say "That's not appropriate dear" (with my grandmothers inflection). So no matter how many fashion mavens say "it's ok" I'm just not sure I'm buying what they're selling. Your thoughts?

Case 2:
That this pattern is going to work.



J. and I joined this sock club. Beautiful yarn, good price. Our first sock club (in preparation for '08 Rockin' Sock Club). And the promise of nice patterns with the yarn.
The actual stitch pattern is nice - easily memorized, only a 4 row repeat. I can handle this with no problem, right? Oh no, so so wrong. I knit the heel flap, turned the heel and started the gussets. The pattern wasn't centred on the front of the foot - so I frogged. Back to the start of the heel, re-centred the pattern, re-started the heel flap. *&$()*&ed it up - somehow kept dropping a stitch. Ripped back AGAIN. To me, 2 frogging incidents means something's up. The yarn or pattern is cursed or there is a toxic combination of yarn & pattern. Now I'm contemplating my options. The yarn is supposedly a little heavier than fingering, so I'm looking at patterns that use a bit heavier yarn. The only problem is that these on are the Christmas To Do list and I can't weigh my options for too long.

Case 3:
That this kid hasn't been naughty.


Really.
Buddy - I'm not buying what you're selling. And neither is Santa.

Homage (noun) (def) an expression of high regard

It is cold in our little neck of the woods. I won't tell you how cold because I don't want to scare you. Suffice it say that it is best to stay indoors which is what I did this weekend. I put my little knitter down for a nap each afternoon, covered myself up with an afghan crocheted by my Baba and watched Elizabeth Zimmerman unravel the mysteries of the knitted universe while I did a little knitting of my own.

Homage #1: That Elizabeth knew a thing or two about knitting and it is no wonder that most knitwear designers cite her as an inspiration. She made two color knitting look possible. She cut (gasp) her knitted projects and it wasn't terrifying. She even took scissors to the garter stitch vest she was wearing in order to demonstrate her afterthought pockets. Have you ever cut your knitted work much less something that was hanging off of you at the time? Unreal. No wonder everyone wants to knit what she did. She just makes it seem so simple and straight forward. I find myself wanting to knit her Seamless Yoke Sweater. She's very convincing.

Homage #2: So while I watched Elizabeth teach me to cast on, knit, purl, increase, and decrease, I picked up my Montego Bay scarf. Now, I love this yarn. I love it like I've never loved yarn before. It glows in sunlight. It is smooth and lustrous. It smells faintly of the sea and whispers of sandy beaches and far away summer. The colors are vibrant and remind me of the city after which it is named. Sigh. If I could only knit with Seasilk in Paris, I would be happy. The Tuscany shawl that started my affair with lace is a favorite and I like to fondle it in my closet when no one else is around.

That is how I feel about this yarn. And I'm going to give it away. I'm going to give this glimmering scarf to my mentor, the person who first handed me a pair of metal needles and some crafter's cotton and taught me how to knit. My sister in law, who is one of the craftiest gals I know, is the only person I can think of who will love this yarn as much as I do. AND it will look terrific on her to boot.

This is my Sister, not my Sister In Law.

This is not my Sister In Law, either.

Homage #3: Now that I've completed 4 of my estimated 7 remaining Christmas projects, I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That light is my birthday and I always knit myself socks for my birthday. To ease the loss of the Paris Seasilk, I'll be knitting myself some socks in Paris Casbah. I think you'll agree that nothing says homage like cashmere. Now, please help me decide what socks to knit with this precious yarn. Do you think Thelonius is the right pattern? How about these or those? What should I knit as an homage to me?

The STASH Survey - Updated Results

So I got some grief from fellow people in the research biz about the name of our survey (the BMPISS survey). It's true - I'm in a profession where naming your study is important stuff - entire meetings are spent trying to come up with appropriate acronyms. We like names like HOPE, LIFE, BRILLIANT and PRAISE (I did not make any of those up - these are actual studies....)

So no, I didn't spend much time coming up with the name of the sock stash survey - sorry. Unfortunately - this blogger thing doesn't earn me any money, unlike my real-life job where I get paid to come up with study names.

Here were some of the suggestions:

SOCK - Stash Of Crazy Knitters

ADMIT - BaAD Medicine Informal poll of sock sTashes

STASH - Survey To Assess Sock yarn Hoarding

All excellent suggestions - but I felt STASH encapsulated our objectives best, and all important criterion for study naming. And the person who suggested this name watched some Oprah show on hoarding and is somewhat concerned about this now (you're not anywhere near those crazies yet Lauren).

Here are some numbers from Edmonton Ravelers:

Jillygirl admits to 17

dandelionfluff to approx 40

bonebagz to 10

No one else wanted to respond...can't understand why....

I'm not going to do any formal statistical analysis (oh, I could, trust me) to correlate size of stash with different personality characteristics, or financial status, or age, or sex. Maybe I'll apply for a grant to further our research in that area...but until that time, I think the average is somewhere between 1 and infinity and since we all land somewhere in there, we're all average and none of us has a problem.