Saturday, November 17, 2007

Unsanctioned knitting.


I've done a couple of these the last few days. They're like potato chips; you can't do just one. You bind one off and go "That didn't take long" and cast on another. Yes, that's Purple Trainwreck sock yarn, if you're wondering. I had half a skein of it sitting here, waiting for me to make it into socks. It would have taken until 2015 toget to it - at least - so to hell with it, I'll make some squares.

Over at Mason-Dixon Knitting, they've got a call out for squares. They wanna sew them together and auction a couple blankets to raise money for a kid with (I think) Cereberal Palsy. Since I had the Goob and started blowing all my money on diapers, I don't have a lot of cash to donate to charities, but I've got enough sock yarn to float the Seventh Fleet, so I figured, hell, I could crank out a few. So I did. They're easy; cast on three stitches, increase once each row until the 'legs' of the square measure four inches (or ten cm), then decrease one stitch every row back down to three stitches, and bind off. Leave tails to sew up with. Viola. Charity contribution.

I don't normally get involved in charity knitting (obviously, if you've read my blog for any length of time), but this time of year I start thinking about everything I'm thankful for. (The US Thanksgiving holiday is coming up in a week and change.) Top of my list is a healthy kid, and the money and gear to take care of her properly. So this one kind of pushed my buttons - it's for a kid, after all. (If he can't have his health, at least he's got cool parents and friends.)


Speaking of my kid, she's been wearing the drum around on her head again.



As for the knitting project monogamy (to jackrabbit back and forth between topics... the weather changed AGAIN, so I'm a little loopy), it's going well but it's not working. If that makes sense.

I'm up to the neckline on the Russian Prime (which means there's only about four inches left to knit on the body) and hope to have the front neck stitches on a holder and the rest of it steeked, tonight. (Anyone want a tutorial/commentary on neckline steeking?) It's been going well, other than having to tear out that round I screwed up while reading the other day. And of course, knitting on just one project at a time gets the project done a lot faster.

However. I was sitting at the pharmacy Wednesday, thinking "I need a sock". Or at least, some small take-along project. For situations like that. With further meditation on my old, pre-insanity-of-2006 knitting methods, I recall that I usually had two projects on the needles, one simple and one complex (back in the day, often a Dale of Norway and a single-color stockinette blanket) and would switch back and forth as desired. So I'm gonna go back to that. (Depending, I consider lace easy, take-along knitting, heaven help me.)

So my next small project?

Nipple warmers.

Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Bells said...

everyone deserves a little break from big projects. It's just when that break goes on for six weeks that it's a bit of a problem.....

The goober and her drum is so funny.

Anonymous said...

sometimes unsanctioned knitting is what you need to make the world right.

not gonna ask about the nipple warmers... not gonna ask.

Alwen said...

Me neither!

Yeah, an instant gratification project every so often is fun. Really spices up the knitting when something just got finished and cast off and is DONE.

Amy Lane said...

Nipple warmers. for bottles or boobs? Nevermind. Don't wanna know...

When I'm at my most monogamous (right now I"m a total project slut) I have a bag at home with one working, and a small bag of a sock or a hat that I just snag and run out the door with. I can tell my life is getting out of hand when that small bag morphs into a big bag with six small projects inside. Sort of where I am now...

Sheepish Annie said...

Unsanctioned knitting is the best kind! In fact, I have dedicated the rest of this holiday season to it. I'm knitting things that are fun and make me happy. That's it. Everyone is getting a gift certificate in their stockings and I will be less stressed. Yay!

Such a cute Goober! I swear she does these things just to keep us all entertained...

roxie said...

How do get hem to stay on? And des the attern offer an option with tassels?

The goober is sooo cute!

You were knitting Russian prime while readng? How many sets of es d you have?

Donna Lee said...

Ok, I will ask, Nipple warmers? I automatically thought boobs, not bottles. I haven't had a bottle in the house for 18 years so I didn't even think of it.

Anonymous said...

For "freezer section discretion," if you will?
I've always secretly been curious as to how well a knitted bra would work.