Mission Knit

There's been quite a bit more of the paid labor than the fibercraft. 

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AnnieBee sent me some work. I suggest anyone else with the knitting inclination try this check list.

Here is what she suggests:
1) Bold things you’ve done,
2) Green thing you are currently doing
3) Red out things you’ve abandoned or will never attempt
4) Italicize things you want to try

Afghan
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Baby items
Bobbles
Button holes
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Continental knitting
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting
Fulling/felting
Gloves
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Hair accessories
Hat
Holiday related knitting
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry
Kitchener BO
Knitting a gift
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting socks
Knitting to make money
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Olympic knitting
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks: toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching
Sweater
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Writing a pattern

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I learned to crochet, too. 

As far as knitting experiences go, my Tangled Yoke was among the best. It was well designed, the yarn was perfect, the fun part was saved for the end so I actually chugged through miles of pretty boring garter rib and stockinette so that I could tangle the yoke. There were some frustrations - like the metal DPNs I inherited from my grandmother were technically the same size but were so heavy that they pulled the gauge off by almost a stitch per inch.

Nothing was so frustrating, however, as the second wearing of the sweater. The button bands were curling and the outer edges were growing. The neck, anchored by a folded-over rib and three-needle bind off, was growing and looking awful. I didn't document the finished sweater much because it hurt to see how far it had drifted from the adored project it had been,

No longer.

I took it to Britex Fabrics, to the ribbon wall. I found three yards of grosgrain ribbon in a color that looked amazing and unexpected. I then dropped the sweater and the ribbon off at a tailor near my work and begged them to take good care. They did.

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I'm back in love The neck sits just where it should. The  buttons don't threaten to pull the whole thing out of shape.

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There's a cheerful band of purple when the wind flips the corners back.
I'm inspired to take on yet another frustration. A lace sweater I made my ma that is six inches too short. Oy.

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I need to perform a little surgery here to add lendgh to the bottom. I'll be plopping a couple more pattern repeats between the ribbing and the first lace repeat. Hope I can get gauge.

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There has been modest progress on a few projects. I've finished the first full pattern repeat on my great aunt's lace

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This is one of five and a half repeats. So I'm approaching the 20% mark.

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Aunt Nan, this is the first finished sock. The sole looks a bit larger than it is in relation to the rest because it's not on a foot. Here's a detail of the lace:

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The yarn is Dream in Color's "Smooshy" and the pattern is Cookie A's Baudelaire from Knitty.com, summer 2006. They're a great match and I'm speeding through the next sock.

I'm revisiting a baby sweater I started two years ago abandoned when the intended child outgrew the size I started, and now has resurfaced because my new roommate has a new nephew.

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I still owe it sleeves and a shawl collar but I'm plugging away.

MY Great Auntie H is getting some lace for her birthday.

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I've been much too absorbed by the process of moving and job hunting that I'm totally unmoved by the idea of starting a big new project. I fiddled with a baby sweater I set aside after I realized that babies don't stop growing just because I can't finish their gifts. It's back in the works because one of the new roommates has an adorable nephew who is just shy of the size I started. Hopefully I'll have some cute shots of that soon.

I've been hitting the sock yarn stash pretty hard.

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That lovely hardwood floor is pretty awesome. The yarn is Bo Peep sock and the pattern is a basic toe-up formula.
My friend Jacqueline has been in need of some nice. Grad school applications, a wedding to plan, a future mother-in-law to live with. Oy. I made her these:

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Debbie's Anemoi.

The Lilly of the Valley Shawl from Lace Style is finished and blocked. I realize now all the reasoning behind the design of blocking pins. Length is good. A pinhead that won't pull through lace is even better. We McGivered sewing pins with one though each point and one perpendicular holding it in place.
Enough chitchat, though:

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I've long heard the story of my mother making an aran sweater for my father, right in front of him, and still surprising him. She said it was an afghan...apparently with sleeves.
I am so close to finishing the hat. In front of him. Surprise!

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I'm not going to post about anything I'm actually knitting.
There was a little candy making for co-workers.
Candied Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate

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