Cotton, Milk and Corn, oh my

Spring officially arrives on Saturday, April 3rd when my local LYS http://www.spunfibrearts.com/ has their annual Spring Sale. So I will be stocking up on my cotton, milk, silk, bamboo and corn to create some amazing pieces to spruce up my wardrobe. Even just a few top down tee's in some bright colours will add what is needed to my spring wardrobe, and they can still be worn under a jacket if they mornings are still a bit brisk.

I will also be making a big purchase for the "Tree of Life" afghan for my (can't tell you niece or nephew) who will arrive in August, all I will say is I am thinking oatmeal, not pink. I will keep you updated on my progress here. I would not have chosen to attempt this piece, had it not been for the socks in Iron Knitter Round 4 (pattern: Maeve, available as a Ravelry download) which taught me to appreciate, but not love yet, wandering cable stitches and how to do cables without a cable needle.

and speaking of Iron Knitter - one of my team mates Ember (rav id) took the crown, unfortunately I was knocked out in round 4 with a chest infection (also the reason I have been quiet on the blog front. ). So a big congratulations to Ember!!! We started with 98 knitters back in January, and 6 rounds total.

All for now - am working on my entry for the Knitting Guild Association contest - details can be found at www.yarnmarket.com (contest sponsor), deadline is May 5th.

21 1/2 inches to go - 11 days

Well it appears my previous math was right in line - I have just under 22 inches to go and 11 days to do this.

There are already 6 people with photo's of completed socks posted, hopefully mine will be there shortly as well.

Bustapurl from Texas (her rav name) has taught me a valuable lesson - and that is the secret of colour coding your charts, moving a lot faster now.

I will post photo's tomorrow.

Iron Knitter Round 4

Well the pattern has been released, and now I have a choice.

Get completely freaked out at having to do my first "toe-up" sock with an incredibly hard for me to follow chart of symbols my brain can't comprehend or remember for more than a milli-second.

Or consider this a very zen learning experience, move slowly, and complete each stitch using all my powers of concentration and relaxation.

I has taken me the day to complete the toe and 21 rounds of the pattern (compared to my usual 1/2 of a sock done)

I have decided to attempt to follow a Zenlike path, I have until March 20th to get through this.

Here is my math - each sock will be approximately 14" from toe to cuff, that gives be 28 inches of knitting and 14 days. If I can keep on track with 2 inches of knitting a day I will be in a very calm place.

So from now until the 20th of March - you will see in the subject line of each post how many inches I have left to go vs. how many days (this is regardless of what the subject of my post may be).

And for those of you in a sporting mood, please feel free to make side bets on how long before I loose my mind and start teaching the children new and colourful language!

Must go - have to make my two inches for the day!!! (just about there and only took me 5 hours of knitting today.)

The Art of Design

You just have to love it when a plan comes together. When the idea becomes a rough sketch. When a rough sketch becomes a trip to the LYS and you find the perfect combination of yarns.
When your swatch actually looks and measures up the way you thought it would.
And then you cast on, tentative a first, but then moving ahead with the excitement of seeing your idea come to life in front of you.

Notepad beside you, correcting, adding, rewriting the pattern you have created to match what is coming off your needles. Sometimes frogging your piece, or ripping out and starting all over again.

And finally, you can adore your creation as it sits on the blocking foam. Looking even better than you ever imagined.

It is truly an amazing story, I only wish I could post the photo's to go along with my notes, but alas we will all have to wait.

For now the piece begins its real journey, through the hands of the editorial staff at an industry magazine, photo's pinned up to the board, hopefully still up there as they remove those that do not make the final cut. Checking email daily for word that it has been accepted, the anticipation, hopefully followed by the excitement of a positive response. But for now we wait! and wait! and wait!

Waiting for Iron Knitter Round 4

I have made it through the first 3 rounds of Iron Knitter. Now I am awaiting the release of the pattern for round 4. Iron Knitter is a 6 round knitting competition, with challenges at each level, winner of round 6 takes all.

We started in January with 98, round 2 was reduced to 64, round 3 saw 40 competitors, and we will find out March 6th how many have moved on to round 4.

Helen Waittes, our Supreme Commander, has made each round even more challenging by making us solve clues before she releases the pattern to us.

We have been challenged with Lacework, colourwork, and are biting our nails wondering what is coming next! Our only clue is Meg Ryan movies?!

Stay tuned!