skittermagoo!

The Fastest Hat in the West November 18, 2007

My knitting mojo! I found it!! Nothing like a little deadline knitting to force a knitter to get her groove back . . .

So, ever since a bunch of us descended upon NanC‘s brother’s house back in May for MSWF (he and his family were gracious enough to let us stay and totally disrupt their household), we’ve been planning to knit hats for the family as a thank-you . . . and we stalled, and stalled, and stalled. Some of us (me!) practically forgot and didn’t start anything . . .

Anyway, NanC mentioned last week that she really wanted to get them sent off next week, so I needed a finished hat, STAT (heh). EEK! I was a bit panicked not only because I’m not the fastest knitter around, but also because my yarn closet is in such a state of disarray that I can’t find anything, and every time I open the door something falls on my head . . . this time it was laceweight merino, which was no help when it came to a fast hat (especially one for a teenaged boy).

I managed on Friday night to quickly put my hands on some leftover yarn from Samus, and had the sudden (deadline-driven) inspiration to hold it doubled and use really big needles.

And within 24-hours, a hat was born!

please excuse the cleaning products in the background!

Y’all, this is my first finished object in a REALLY long time, and even though it’s not my favorite ever project, it was fast, and it’s finished, and it helped me find my misplaced mojo. Yay! It doesn’t mean that I’m insane enough to start a bunch of christmas gifts at this late date or anything, but it makes me believe that I can actually finish a pair of socks sometime before 2008.

Tip of the day November 13, 2007

When peeling and slicing a fresh mango, it is always best to cut away from oneself, or one risks cutting the bejesus out of one’s finger. Those suckers are slippery!

I’m just sayin’.

and yes, this lame-o Public Fruit Announcement comes to you compliments of the Still Not Knitting Much Society

Fiber deficient . . . November 10, 2007

No, sillies, not in the “dietary fiber” kind of way, thanks.

No, no, what I mean is (sadly) in the knitting/spinning/etc sort of way. To wit:

1. My knitting mojo seems to have disappeared! Hopefully this is temporary . . . right now I have two projects going: the Everyday Neverending Cardi, and the second sock from last year’s SSSSSSSock exchange with my grrls. Last year. As in, I got the first sock over a year ago, and have yet to even make it through one pattern repeat on the second sock. Here’s the first sock, the one that Petra made for me:

I was working on some socks out of panda cotton in the Mardi Gras colorway, but they went on a permanent trip to the frog pond. Here’s what the first sock looked like before I ripped it:

no, I don’t want to talk about it.

2. I haven’t done any spinning since around, oh, the end of May. Hmmmm, that timeframe coincides perfectly with Small Cat Mardi’s adoption. Coincidence? I think not.

3. I was supposed to go to the Kid n Ewe festival this weekend, but life got in the way. Not that I’ve actually done anything at all with any of my purchases from last year, but you all know full well that’s not the point.

4. OH! I almost completely forgot about Norovember. My track record with knitalongs remains unblemished, and I am such a loser that I haven’t even pulled any Noro out of the stash closet to cast on something.

Wow, all of this kvetching makes me sound quite depressed, doesn’t it? I can assure you, that’s not the case . . . I think I just have a temporary case of the Fiber Blues.

Hmmmm . . . November 1, 2007

So, today is the first day of Norovember, which I signed up for again this year . . . and today is November 1 . . . do you think I remembered to bring a Noro project in my knitting bag for meeting up with my knitgirls later?

Nope!

Not an auspicious start to Norovember, I think.

I’m not even going to think about joining that NoBloPoMoGoHoHoHo thing (you know, where you promise to post to the blog every day in November?).