2012 FO #3!

It's March and I have officially completed my third project of the year.  I am also behind schedule by six projects.  


See, at the beginning of the year I made this list.  It wasn't New Year's Resolutions.  It was more than that.  It was like, a 12-month agenda.  A long-term to-do list.  A 2012 Vision.  I left it at work today, so I can't go into much detail right now, but sufficed to say I planned on completing 3 FOs (Finished Objects) per month throughout 2012.  Furthermore, at least one of those FOs each month had to be a pair of socks.  


What?  I want more hand-knit socks.  So sue me.  


Today at lunch, as I was weaving in the ends of Missie's Wrist Warmers, it dawned on me just how far behind I already am (33% to plan year-to-date, ugh).


So then I made a list of My SOs (Started Objects):


1.  Munchkin Socks (a.k.a. Skyp to Oz socks) - started 2012
2.  Hedgerow Socks - started 2011
3.  Brown Sweater (a.k.a. SockSweater) - started 2008
4.  Cream Baby Sweater - started 2011
5.  Green Baby Blanket - started 2011
6.  Pink Baby Blanket (this one has a fun story to it - remind me to tell it sometime) - started in 2009? 2010?
7.  Crochet Afghan (mauve) - started in 2004? 2005?
8.  Knit Afghan - started in 2007?
9.  Crochet Baby Blanket - started in 2003? 2004?
10.  Green Vest - started in 2007? 2008?
11.  Thrummed Mittens - started in 2011
12.  Green - or were they blue? - socks - no idea when I started these
13.  "Poodle" scarf - no idea when I started this


S.O.S. is right.  I'm swimming (sinking?) in SOs!


As you can see, I am actually well on my way to finishing 9 objets d'art by the end of March.  I just have to get moving on all my WIPs (works in progress)!  


Which should come first?  What do you think, first in, first out (FIFO)?  Last in, first out (LIFO)?


(That was shout-out to all my accounting peeps out there)


So hopefully before I start ANYTHING NEW I will finish some of the pieces that have been sitting in various baskets and bins (packages, boxes, and bags), yearning for completion for, in some cases, nearly a decade.


Wow.  I am old.


Back to Missie's Wrist Warmers.  Remember how I told you I had a friend offer to barter with me for a pair of wrist warmers?  That was Missie.  She has perfect timing, because just this past Saturday I got an exciting little package in the mail from the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA.  Yes, that Decorah.  It contained the following:

One packet of Green Husk Tomatillo seeds:

One packet of Flame Lettuce seeds:

One packet of Grandpa Admire's Lettuce seeds:

One packet of Beam's Yellow Pear Tomato seeds:

(which I am SO excited to try)


AND


(my favorite)


One packet of Isis Candy Cherry Tomato seeds:

Just looking at this picture takes me back to my childhood.  I cannot tell you the last time I had a legit cherry tomato.  For years and years and years I've had grape tomatoes, which are fine.  They're ok.  But they do not, by any means, compare to home-grown cherry tomatoes.  I CAN'T WAIT for the harvest!!!


So today, after weaving in all the ends, and attaching a cute little label, I mailed off Missie's Wrist Warmers in exchange:

If you look closely you'll see that my nom de plume has replaced my Christian name.  It's magic!

Yes, I'm shamelessly flashing the *bling*.  Diamonds are, in my case, a girl's very close friend - so close, in fact that I am rarely separated from them.  Only when they are sitting in the cleaning solution while I shower.  If I am getting clean, my diamonds should also get clean.


Diamonds ... diamonds ... hmm.  Diamonds.  Sounds like a segue to me:

I used a diamond pattern in Missie's Wrist Warmers, because it's pretty.

Congratulations, Missie, it's twins!


The palms are exactly identical to the backs:

For simplicity's sake.  Both to the knitter and the wearer.  Who wants to fumble around trying to figure out which is left and which is right?  In this case, they're both right.


(See what I did there?)


If I could go back and change one thing, after looking at these photos, I'd alter the thumb somehow.  Not sure what I could do differently ... it just looks very bulky.


If I could change two things, I'd reconfigure the gussets.  As much as I like the seed/British moss stitch, I think if I had done the entire gusset in stockinette it would have looked more ... tailored.


I hope Missie likes them.  I'll give a full report when I hear!  I'll also give a full report on the upcoming veggie crop.  Yay!


Mrs. Pi

Tink Tink Tinkity Tink

Tink, tink, tink, tink ... this is what I was saying in my head today as I was un-knitting two and a half rounds of Debra's Mittens. Thankfully it only took me two and a half rounds to realize I had forgotten to leave a thumb hole. Speaking of this particular work-in-progress, here is a picture of the first of Debra's Mittens:

I really love the pattern, "Pearl Chain Mittens" by handepande (available for download on Ravelry).  The challenge of the color changes keep it interesting, while the simple repetition of the pattern keeps it from being overwhelming.  Ok, so I took a few liberties; it's been a while since I followed a pattern to a tee.  Admittedly, my edits aren't always as awesome as I expect them to be, but sometimes I land on something good.  Equally as good as the original, at least.  I'm still a young knitter (or this is what I tell myself in consolation, since one of those big landmark birthdays is looming over me) and I'm cheeky and bumptious enough to presume I know better than seasoned designers of the craft.


This pair of mittens doesn't have a gusset, since I couldn't figure out how to build it in without messing up the pattern.  I'm on the fence about gusset-less mittens.  I've only knit mittens with gussets to this point.  I think Debra's Mittens work sans-gusset, but if you ask me, on a plain-jane mitten, I am pro-gusset.


Final note on Debra's Mittens: the yarn, Caron Vickie Howell Sheep(ish) in Black(ish), White(ish) and Lime(ish), has grown on me, now that I've gotten accustomed to working with it.  Sorry for indirectly bashing Sheep(ish) in the previous post, Vickie Howell.  It's soft and fuzzy and warm, perfect for mittens.


Back to the original topic: do any of you out there, in that dear void - or "cloud" although, I like Meg Ryan's You've Got Mail reference better - do any of you talk to yourself while you knit?  Inside your head, I mean - although, I am also guilty of knit-speaking aloud to myself.  My only evidence to date that I'm not alone is that a guy I dated once used to tell me that his sister was also known to mumble: "knit, purl, knit, knit, purl, purl ..." whilst completing her rounds (By the way, that's a reference to another of my double-yous eye pee, "Hedgerow Socks" by Jane Cochran, also available for download on Ravelry.  Picture below).

I'll leave you with a few questions that occurred to me as I typed this post:


1.  Who first used the word "tink" to describe knitting backward?  It's BRILLIANT.  

2.  Is there a proper way to cite a knitting pattern, a (accent grave) la MLA format or APA format, etc.?  Huh.


3.  It has often occurred to me to ask the question, why is W called a "double-u"?  Did the letter W really not warrant its own unique name?  Furthermore, should we follow the same naming convention when multiples of that letter are involved?  WW becomes Quad-U and so on?  That's a rather slippery slope, I guess, since with any URL we'd be using the prefix "Sext-U dot such-and-such dot com" ...

Mrs. Pi