Yep, after coming across a knitting webring the other day (while shamelessly browsing this infamous blog), I discovered, to my mild dismay, that I don't write in here enough to qualify to join said webring. And so the time has come to give you, my nonexistent readers, something more to read about. Or not read about, as the case may be.
First off, I must admit that I'm not the first in my circle of friends to bear the title "Yarn Ho". In fact, the first to be called this isn't even a person; it's the little red car of my friend, Al. I believe it was our friend, Amanda, who originally dubbed the car "The Yarn Ho", and the name has stuck. 'Tis quite a fun name to bestow upon things that tote yarn (like Al's car), and people who knit obsessively (like...well, like a lot of people I know).
Okay, now that Photobucket has decided to finish uploading stuff, on to le pictures!
Garter stitch rib socks from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. I first saw the book in a KnitPicks catalog, and ended up requesting it from the local library system. The setup struk me as strange at first, but after knitting sock #1, I think I'm in love. The toe and heel constructions are pretty much the same as the ones on other socks I've knit, but these somehow came out neater and more attractive.
These are actually cotton socks for my mom, who is terribly allergic to wool. (Yes, you unbelievers, there is such a thing. She can't even hug me when I'm wearing a wool coat without getting itchy.) They've been my "desk project", so to speak; something small that I can work on while waiting for websites to load on our terribly slow dial-up connection, or waiting in line at the grocery store, or waiting for the lovely ladies at the local Jiff-E-Mart to make my weekly sub sandwich. Needless to say, these socks have been around a bit.
This is a more recent project (read: started on Friday afternoon) that's the result of a random yarn encounter. I was between doctor's appointments on Friday and found myself with about an hour to kill, so I popped over to AC Moore and started browsing yarn. Yes, I know, terrible me, cheating on my local yarn shop, but I was far from home at the time and desperately without anything to knit.
So, there I was, poking around at the recently-expanded yarn collection, when I came across this lovely, if you can believe it, 98% acrylic/2% rayon blend that's soft as a cloud and a pretty decent price. It has little flecks of color in it to make it appear tweed-y. I was in love. Due to my budget, I usually find a project first, and then the yarn, but this time was the first time the process has reversed itself. I saw this stuff and thought, "Sweater. No, can't spend that much. Baby sweater? No pattern. Hat! Yes, hat."
And so it is. Hats are something I can do without a pattern, and I'm hoping to give this one to my brother's best friend's wife as a graduation present. I threw in a few cables to make it interesting, and knit incessantly during the family Mother's Day gathering to keep myself grounded in the midst of my great-aunt talking about American Idol.
And this...is my baby. What started out as a stash reduction project has turned into one of the largest things I've ever made. This is the Hearts & Stars Blanket from Zoë Mellor's Adorable Knits for Tots.
See? Hearts and stars in moss stitch inside cute little stockinette squares, surrounded by moss stitch borders.
Technically, the blanket is supposed to be knit in all one color, but I didn't have enough of any one color in my stash to do that, so I thought, "Hey, intarsia would look neat." I, of course, didn't think this through and had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it's turned out quite nice anyway. This thing has been my baby since some time in early March, when I cast on and knit the first moss stitch rows at the Stitch 'n' Bitch group I go to on Monday nights. Since then, I've knit my way through the entire first season DVD set of House, MD, several new episodes of the same show, a couple episodes of Lost, and a viewing of Robots with my 10-year-old cousin. I've stuffed it in my knitting bag and toted it to Stitch 'n' Bitch every Monday without fail. Now, here I am, on row 29 of the last repeat of a 36-row pattern. Add to that the moss stitch edge and I only have 17 rows to go before I bind off.
Excuse me a moment. *SQUEEEE!*
Then I have to weave in all the ends. Ouch.
Once all that's done, this cute little (LITTLE?!) blanket will be making its way to the local chapter of Project Linus. Charity + stash reduction = a win-win situation for all involved. I wish I could see the little kid who gets it. That would be beyond adorable.
Whew, yet another reason why I should be updating this at least weekly: I won't need to go back and recap so much knitting! Not that I don't love yammering about my own projects, because, not gonna lie, I do. I shall return next Tuesday with more from the land of crazy knitting!
Mood: rushed
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