Knitting: Back in the Saddle

One of the Ravelry groups I'm in does monthly knit-a-longs (KALs) for fingerless gloves. Although I joined the group last year, I spent most of last year throwing the patterns in my Raverly queue (a list of patterns I want to do) rather than participating in the KALs. Well, since one of my goals this year is to stash bust, I decided that I should actually participate in some of the KALs, but only if I had the yarn in my stash.

I fell in love with the pattern that had been selected for January, as it had all kinds of cabled goodness. And, as luck would have it, I had yarn for it, too! I started out strong, and the first mitt flew off the needles. The second mitt was on the needles in quick succession, because the pattern was so much fun. (Don't worry, there'll be more on the pattern itself when I post the FO pics.) But when I got sick a week and a half ago, there was no way I was doing any knitting. I was barely doing any reading.

In fact, I had to put down the newest release by my favourite author (shameless plug - "The Inner Cirle" by Brad Meltzer - go read it now) because I was getting to the end and I couldn't understand it. When I complained to my friend Kirsten about this, she suggested it was time for mindless reading. So I knew I had been right to not bother to pick up knitting that had two different cabled patterns in it (or knitting that involved counting at all).

But today was the first day that I felt like I might be able to handle some knitting. It took FOREVER. Seriously. It took me about 3 hours to do 21 rows (of 44 stitches each). But I did it! I still have to do the thumb gusset on each mitt, so that's the goal for tomorrow, since I'm supposed to finish the pair in January. Two thumb gussets and block these suckers.

Wish me luck!

All about the Turtlegirl...

I owe Cristi (turtlegirl76 to you Ravelers) a MUCH belated thank you and shout-out. Remember the Turkish Stitch Scarf I gave to my doctor? The reason it was so nicely blocked (at the very last minute the night before) was because it was steam blocked. I have never steam blocked anything and had no idea how to go about it.

But Cristi walked me through it step-by-step via IM. And she didn't even laugh at me when I misunderstood her original instructions and thought I was supposed to somehow have enough hands to push the steam button on the iron AND stretch the scarf into shape all at the same time.

Or maybe she DIED laughing at me, but was polite enough to do it behind her computer monitor and didn't type it all to me. "ROFLMAO No, you dumbass! You put the effing iron down first, you moron!" She didn't say that at all. Well done to her.

And while I'm singing her praises, I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention that you can vote on her "Calvin and Ripple" sock pattern here. This is the poll for the Q4 Socks the Rock KAL. So vote for her kick-ass pattern AND join a great KAL!