Happy New Year?!?

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted since September. When I think about it, there was sooo much going on to distract me.

Let's see, since I last wrote:

-JR broke up with me. Sad day (or rather morning since it was at 2am after a date), but in retrospect, maybe not such a bad thing. Without going into personal details too much, I think it was best for us to both move on and look for people who were better matches for us.

-I dated around a bit and ended up in a fantastic relationship with Bruce, a wonderful guy who fits me to a tee!

-I quit my terrible job at the movie theater. Now I make my money doing a little freelance writing and odd jobs. I've "unofficially" moved in with Bruce and his parents.

-Went through a lot of stressful times with friendships, a friend who got arrested (and to whom Bruce and I gave all our money to help bail out, great for financial security, right?), my car being unable to pass smog and now a broken driver's seat seatbelt.

Knitting has been the one of the only things to keep me sane the past few months, and sadly I neglected my knitting at the turn of the new year, right when I probably needed it the most. It doesn't help when I live between two houses and most of my yarn and tools are at the wrong house.

I have however been knitting up a storm the past few weeks. I completed Christmas presents for the family if not all the friends (before Christmas Day too!), and have since completed a headband, a bikini "rave" top (with fuzzy gogo leg warmers in the works still), and have set to work on a big, colorful hooded jacket.

This jacket . . . well, this jacket. For Christmas my mom gave me several knitting books, including Freeform Style: Blend Knit and Crochet to Create Fiber Art Wearables
by Jonelle Raffino and Prudence Mapstone. I am IN LOVE!!! The jacket is based off their basic long vest pattern, but I'm adding sleeves and a big fluffy hood. And instead of spending a lot of money on yarn I can't afford right now, I've been busting through my stash of all my odd single skeins. I just add a new color and knit until I'm out. Each color gets it's own textured stitch pattern as well, so in the end I'll have a multi-colored, multi-textured hippie jacket! Or a big mess, one of the two. I feel good about it so far.

I also have plans to start creating a few simple designs I can knit and sell on Etsy for some extra income. Wouldn't it be nice to make enough money to knit for free? Bruce and I were even kicking around the idea that I could ask at the local community centers and see if they would be interested in letting me teach a beginning knitting class.

And my "new year's resolution" - to dust this blog off and actually use it!

That took longer than expected

I am done with Tim's present! I still need to weave in the ends but at least the knitting is done. I knit almost half of it this evening. I'm surprised it took me so long to get going. I'm blame that time of the month and some rotten PMS. Now I think I'm really going to get cooking on the presents.

So the list stands as such:
Natalie - done
Tim - done
Patty
Robin
Valerie
Lucid
Leann
Mom
Dad
JR
And maybe Lucid and Leann's baby. So 10 presents with a tentative 11th. And 96 days until Christmas! That means with the 9 1/2 days per gift. Somehow I've lost time. Oh wait. 2 are already done. Duh. (Shush I've been tired lately and it's kind of late here). 8 presents left. 12 days per gift. Yay! I simply must go out and buy some more materials. I would've done it sooner, but I've been having a mini-money crisis.

Finally!

I finally finished Natalie's scarf! The feeling of relief is enormous, especially considering I orginally cast on for it back in March! I'm even a day ahead of schedule when it comes to the rest of the Christmas knitting! Tomorrow I start Tim's present, and some time this coming week I'm going shopping to get more materials for the others.

I told JR his is getting saved for last because he's the most understanding if his consists of a big wrapped up box of yarn that I then have to take back right away so I can finish knitting.

9 presents to go, 105 days until Christmas, aproximately 11 days per gift. I can do this. I'm hoping to pick up some speed on Patty's and the kids' presents and get those all done in less than their alloted time.

Ironically with all this attention going to other people's presents, I kind of forgot that my birthday in October will be the first to be celebrated. I'm thinking I'm going to squeeze in knitting my Cloud Bolero on the side so I can have a present too!

And the Countdown begins!

Today is September 1st, so there are, including today, 116 days until Christmas. I finished the two November birthday presents, so that just leaves 10 (maybe 11 if I knit for Siddhartha instead of buying him books, still undecided) presents to knit. That means I have 11-ish days to devote per present.

Yesterday I got a head-start on Natalie's scarf. I had 85 rows of it already knit, but I'd lost my stitch count and had already spent a lot of time trying to fix the problem with no success. Then I made a radical decision. I ripped out the whole thing. I decided that by that point the scarf had soooo much negative energy about it, it would be better to start over. When I had started the things my stitches were so tight it was hard to knit, I was having trouble keeping track of the pattern, and it was just an arduous process. I began to resent the scarf and resent the fact that I had to keep knitting because it was supposed to be a gift. It was supposed to be a Christmas present last year. Then it was supposed to be a birthday gift to Natalie in March. Now it's been reassigned to this Christmas.

So I took the plunge, ripped out my 85 hateful rows, and started over. In one day, not only did I re-knit those 85 rows, but I also knit 25 rows beyond that. Over 100 rows on this scarf in 1 day, a feat that previously would've taken months. My stitches are much looser and easier to work with, and now I'm actually enjoying the pattern. It's a completely different scarf.

I also blocked Lianne's hat. It's a little smaller than I anticipated, less beret-like when actually on, but still way cute. I think she's going to like it, and I think the colors will look beautiful against her dark hair. I'm so envious of her hair. Actually I think overall she's just absolutely gorgeous and she and Lucid and even Siddhartha make such an aesthetic family. Ooh, there we go, maybe I'll make Siddhartha a baby hat. That will be fast, easy, still cute, and unlike regular baby clothes he won't outgrow it by next week. I must investigate baby hat patterns.

An Adventure in Blocking

Lianne hat is finished! I finished it off yesterday to the amazement of a friend who didn't know that I knitted and wasn't very familiar with the craft. Now comes the blocking. It was sitting in a pot of hot water on the kitchen counter, but I'm sure the water has cooled by now. The next step will be to roll out the water, and stretch the thing over a dinner plate. I've never actually blocked anything, never knitted anything that needed it, so this is kind of an exciting adventure.

Now that the birthday presents are done, I can really start in on Christmas gifts. Just in time too. My first endeavor shall be Natalie's Branching Out scarf. It's already on the needles, but the last time I was working on it, my stitch count had gotten off and I still have yet to figure out why. So today I'm going to be doing a little tinking trying to get my stitch count right, and then I'll be able to continue knitting.

I'm a little overwhelmed by how much knitting I have to do, but I figure if I just take it step by step, I'll be ok. I have approximately 10 days per project if I want to make it by Christmas, not to mention I need to get out and go yarn shopping. I have Mom's yarn, and Tim's yarn, and half of Lucid's yarn, and half of the kid's yarn, so I can get knitting on those projects. Actually Lucid's present is even going to have some pattern designing to do, but it's simple, just charting some shapes.

Ok, I should go stretch that hat over a dinner plate.

1 Down, 11 to go

Yay! I finished one of the twelve presents. It's Patty's birthday present, the one that was 75% done anyway, the Berry Lacey Scarf that I renamed Ivy Scarf since I did it in a rich green. Tonight I cast on Lianne's present and hopefully I'll have that done before September 1st when my official Christmas Countdown begins. That makes 6 days to knit her present (more like 5 days and part of this evening). I think I can do it. It's a beret hat, which I've never attempted, with some lacework on the top of it (always a bit tricky), but still, I've got optomism. And a whole weekend of working in the closet answering phones.

I've been reading The Knitting Goddess by Deborah Bergman. It's a pretty cool book. The actual instructions and patterns are aimed more at beginners, but are still interesting enough for more advanced knitters. Right now I'm enjoying the stories of all the "knitting goddesses", especially since I'm a fan of mythology in any form. Since knitting is such a good meditation act for me, it's fun to read about Grandmother Spider and other divine fiber artists. Haven't yet found a pattern in the book that calls to me to make it, but that's ok, it's giving me ideas all the same.

116 Days

Give or take a little.

That's right, starting September first, it will be 116 days until Christmas. And if one has 12 knitted presents to complete (that's right, 12) That means a little less than 10 days per project. And that's not even counting my poor Cloud Bolero I haven't even started.

So here's the scoop.

I went away to San Diego like I mentioned in my last entry, and here's the shocking part, I didn't take ANY knitting! That turned out to be just as well because Comic Con so filled up all my time and attention that I probably would've left my needles in my suitcase anyway.

Then I came back from San Diego and life turned into an endless routine of wake up, go to work, lounge around in PJ's or spend time with JR when not working, rinse and repeat.

But then somewhere in there, things started changing. To give the short, pedestrian version of the story, two good friends from the past came back into my life and have been having a big influence on my life, I started channeling on a regular basis, I went to a certain beach and partook in certain psychadelics and learned an infinite amount about myself and life. And now my daily routine includes knitting as part of my meditation every morning and/or evening.

So now that the "crazies" of life have been tamed a little and I'm actually knitting on a regular basis, I figured it's finally time to get back to working on Christmas presents.

Except now I have 12 presents to make! In all fairness, 2 of the 12 are actually birthday presents, and one is 75% done already, which is good because both birthdays are in November, so I need to have them done before Christmas.

So the revised list of recipients stands as such:
Mom
Dad
JR
Tim
Patty
Lucid
Lianne (She and Lucid are the two friends that recently came back into my life)
Patty's two kids
Natalie

I have all the gifts figured out, I just need to ask Lucid if he still wants the very specific mitts he asked me for like 2 years ago, otherwise I've got a standby pattern for him. Both Patty and Lianne are the Novemeber bithdays, but I have Patty's gift nearly done, and I'm picking up yarn for Lianne's today after work. If I can get both done before September first, then I'll buy myself more time for the Christmas knitting.

And if that wasn't enough, I still want to knit my Cloud Bolero before the weather turns too cold to wear it. As hot as it's been lately, that shouldn't be a problem, but I still want to get on it, because the yarn is starting to call my name across the room to get my attention.

AND THEN, to add even more excitment, I've finally started coming up with ideas for the small Etsy business I've always wanted selling hand knits, or "magic garments" as Judy said I should make. I was pondering what sort of "magic garments" would carry enough appeal that people would actually buy them, and I decided that I'll just make things I would like to own (like I have a design for an alter cloth knocking around my head). And since handknits can be kind of expensive when you total up the cost of materials and labor, I decided that if I can't reasonably price a finished item, then I can sell the pattern instead. I plan to work on coming up with ideas and plans and gauge swatches as a sort of breather activity from all the Christmas knitting, and then hopefully by the new year (or sooner if Christmas knittin goes well) I'll be ready to really launch into business.

You know what, it just occured to me that Lucid and Lianne have a baby. Siddhartha is only 2 (or maybe it's 3) months old, so he'll barely be big enough to use knitted objects, but he's still a person too. Hmm, maybe I'll give him books for his future library, that's a traditional baby gift in our family and it's what Patty's yougest is getting next week for her birthday. Or maybe I can find a really awesome (and easy) blaket pattern. Or something. Maybe I'll just make it easy on myself and give him books.