knitting-mania

I have taken to knitting on the bus and subway, during lunch in the cafeteria, and whenever otherwise not engaged. My fingers can't get enough. If I'm not typing away on the keyboard...they are itching for needles.

My sister's stocking is on hold until I get dpn in the correct size. They will not be metal! (see previous post)

In the meantime, I am working on a Christmas present for my mother. My first afghan. It's great. You work the patches individually and then sew them together at the end. I really like this. You work on itty, bitty, portable pieces. Each one takes a day or two (especially when you work as compulsively as I do). You feel you are making great progress...rather than working on a massive piece that never seems to get closer to the end. I'm really excited about this.

I have lain out the patterned squares and the various colors on a piece of paper...now all I have to do is keep knitting like a mad-woman. Can you understand my insatiable fingers?

I do have a question about the afghan. It reads - selvage st = garter st (knit every row). However, when it says Selvage St in the pattern, it isn't for an entire row. Does this mean I simply knit the one time...or do I knit one row and pick up afterwards?

Call me clueless. Logically I think I should create one row of knitting all around each block to provide a uniform edge through which to sew them together, but I don't feel that is how the pattern reads.

This is the only confusing part...so far. Whew. Can't wait to go home and knit. ;-)

Hope everyone is safe from Ivan...this has been a crazy hurricane year!!!

Metal Mentality

Yesterday I got the yarn for my sister's Christmas stocking. It's a simple stocking, really, just needed more yarn (isn't that always the way?). Luckily I'm visiting my mom in North Carolina, so I found yarn that will work perfectly for much less than I would at home (New York City). Only problem, I have metal needles!

Ergh!

I just discovered how much I hate metal needles. I am using a 100% acrylic yarn and metal needles. My gauge is huge (and off) because the yarn slips so easily from one needle to the next, I have little/no control.

From now on...it's bamboo!

Going to watch a Bob Hope & Bing Crosby movie (Road to Bali), knit, and hang with mom. More kvetching later...

All she wants to do is knit...

Longest of long days at work. I really just want to be home knitting. Of course, I don't have the necessary needles to finish the current project, so I'll be running to the Yarn Co. on Broadway to pick up the necessary supplies.

This is more dangerous than usual for many reasons.

1) Isn't going to the yarn store always dangerous? Especially when in the midst of 3/4 UFOs? I mean, when you have a few going...what's one more!

2) I am bored at work, which means I have spent all day scrolling through other blogs and getting inspired. Now I am dreaming of all the things I can make!!! My head is 100% in the clouds.

I'll be flying stand-by to my mother's this weekend, and I'm almost hoping not to get on the earlier flight so I can sit around the airport knitting undisturbed!

Is it natural to be this obsessed with my projects?

Oh, I almost forgot. I won't be able to finish the series (the cabling one mentioned earlier) because it is for a family member I will see at home...and it's a surprise. So, while at the Yarn Co. I am afraid I'll talk myself into an unnecessary project in order to have something to work on while at my mother's!

Save me from myself, someone...