Sunday, February 24, 2008

Lazy sunday knitting

Today Ali and another college friend, Jon, met at my place for some lazy Sunday knitting. They are both new knitters so I was excited to share what I've learned and see how much they have progressed. Turns out Jon is a "knitting genius" (so termed Ali) so I didn't need to help much there. Like me, he learns best on his own by reading books and watching videos on the Internet. His second scarf was Palindrome (with reversible cables) and he discovered a form of double knitting without knowing it already existed! I digress...

We sat down to knit straight away, and after 30 minutes or so we were like, oh yeah, the food. Jon and I both made sinfully delicious treats that I knew Ali would feel guilty about eating, so I decided to not tell her the full story when encouraging her to try them. Jon made chocolate and Kahlua trifles,
And I made the butter cookies from Weekend Knitting, whose recipe needless to say calls for one pound of butter. Delish. Ali had one cookie and stopped eating the trifle when she tasted the alcohol (to be fair to Ali, I called her later and she said that she downed the trifle after her volleyball game). And guess what she brought? Carrots. This one "baby" carrot wasn't much of a baby.So for the knitting. I am almost done my Bloody Stupid Johnson, I'm just decreasing the crown. I love this yarn!
John is making a Palindrome hat to go with his Palindrome scarf, but he got way frustrated. When we were chatting earlier in the afternoon he said something many new knitters say and I quote, "I just don't see the point of starting something else. Just finish what you have and then start something new." Well halfway up the crown, the hat went away and out came a new project. So there!
Ali was just finishing her first project, the classic 2x2 ribbed scarf. She put it down here to do some Internet surfing. The following is her cast off edge. Only two inches left of the yarn! She held up the scarf and one half looked like it was knitted on 2 needle sizes smaller. She said, "this is where you told me I was knitting too tight! So I knit looser for the second half!" At least it's consistently two sizes. And I commend her for being able to adapt like that. People say that once you have a certain tension, it's your own. And she just changed it at will.Then with her newly finished scarf in tow, Ali joined us in our new project, the little cat. Jon brought over the pattern and thought it'd be cool if we all made one. Ali had started her scarf so long ago that she claimed to have forgotten how to cast-on. Then she looked down at her hands and they were just casting on like they were independent from her body! The little cat is a nice knitting party project since it's so little and isn't very complicated. Knitters of all experience levels can appreciate it. Also, it's a good beginner project because it calls for (optional) color change, basic increasing and decreasing, short rows, seaming (we whip stitched), and (optional) embroidery. You can find for it directions here: Knitted Kitty

And speaking of cats, James came over to help, but fell asleep from boredom. The no opposable thumbs thing held him back I guess.
So we popped in Amelie and knitted our hearts out. I know, I know. Subtitles. But keep in mind we have all watched this movie aplenty and therefore have the plot and several lines memorized, so it didn't affect us or our knitting much. Ali left for a volleyball game and Jon and I finished the cats, switching to Cirque du Soleil after exhausting the Amelie special features DVD. We ended up finishing the cats, but with a little disappointment. There was a lot of, "If I made it again, I would have..." But, we agreed that they still came out cute. Jon's is the black and gray one and mine is the brown one.
Shadow liked them too. I'll keep it away from him in the springtime, if you know what I mean.

So onto my current wips. I have so many projects on my needles right now!
  • Jeanie shawl which is borderline hibernating b/c I rarely work on it anymore
  • My so-called scarf
  • My so-called hat which I'm making up as I go along
  • Halcyon lacy scarf
  • Wavy ribbed scarf
  • Socks which I did work on today on the metro on my way to Takoma Park for the farmer's market and Now&Then, which is enchanting, as is the awesome beading store next door
  • Crocheted lacy scarf that I am contract knitting for Amy
  • Tacky-chic my-first-fairisle tea cozy
  • Felted Mancala board
So yeah, knitting. It's fun. I'm tired.

Happy knitting, people!

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