A revelation!

I have taught myself to knit backwards!!! It saves so much time now that I dont' have to flip the project around. It's awkward when I have to purl, but when I'm working in garter stitch, its amazing!

It's perfect now that I've started playing around with modular shapes in a vaguely vision of a blanket. I say that because I know i will probably get tired of working on it so it will probably never actually become a blanket.

<3

I love knitting. I love reading about it. I love doing it. I love talking about it with my knitting friends! I never would have thought that back in 7th grade when Mrs. Edwards brought in someone to teach us to knit that I would fall so deeply in love with it.

My scarf is coming along nicely. I have a name for it already but I am still undecided about charts or written instructions. I don't really have a program for charts, but I'm certain I could do something equivalent in photoshop. I really enjoy using a chart when I knit, and I know that is what I would prefer, but I also know there are knitters out there that do not prefer charts, even despise them. Hopefully in the next month or so I will be able to get the pattern written down and posted for all to enjoy!

Yesterday I spend more money than I should have. I went to walmart, for lack of a better place to go, and bought a skein of yarn that I've been wisting after to make a pair of fetching for myself. I also bought a ton of fabric because it was on sale and I really really wanted to! I managed to wander down the magazine aisle after that and I bought myself a magazine too! I absolutely love looking through magazines! I love the patterns, even the ones I would never dream of knitting for myself, and I love taking it home and poring over the articles. I even love looking at all the ads! It is my opinion that nothing in the world could be more perfect than the knitting magazine in all its splendor, except perhaps that softly beautiful skein of yarn in the perfect color.

My crazy watermelon scarf is almost done. I've been working off and on for a while now and since the weather is growing colder I have decided I need to finish it. Of course, that means I will have to start a new project that is easy and I can work on while I'm working, but that shouldn't be a problem for me. :)

Life is good, though I have so many ideas and dreams that sometimes I think they might all burst out of me!

Getting my butt in gear!

I finally kicked myself in the butt and started something original. I have such a bad habit of aspiring to larger, intricate sweaters and non-realistic projects unless I want to spend every waking hour knitting. So yesterday on my day off, I got tired and frustrated and I started a new project! I wanted to do something quick with the herringbone fagoting pattern that I've been playing with so I started a scarf! I knit like a maniac yesterday, with a little cleaning thrown in there (HURRAY ME!) and I've got about a third of it done.

I'm doing it in a lace weight yarn, which is taking forever. I might knit up two scarves, one in lace and one in sport weight to show what it looks like in different gauges. Plus the sport weight is going to go a lot faster than the lace weight. I hope.

It's really a simple project, though I think it looks pretty complex. I'm pretty sure it will be a free project since I've been trying to up my free projects so that more people become interested in what I'm knitting.

I may try to work up charts for it, as well as written instructions since some people don't like charts, but that seems like a lot of work. I haven't decided yet, and since I'm only partway done with it I can think about it for a while.

I'm so excited to finally be working on something again. I've been back and forth on starting on new projects since I've got so many in progress right now, but I've decided my original designs should take precedence over the others I'm knitting. I really want to work on it nonstop like I did yesterday, but I'm afraid if I bring it into work that I'll screw it up. Better just to knit like a maniac while I'm at home. I'm so excited I might not get any sleep for a while!

New stitch pattern

Fagoting - noun, an openwork decoration of fabric in which thread is drawn in crisscross stitches across an open seam.

I am in love with a stitch pattern. It is open and beautiful and amazing. I'm having so much fun imaging ways to incorporate it into designs.

It is much more workable in the round. The only issue I have with it is that when you work it flat you have to work a yo followed by a P2tog. I find it a little awkward, but I'm not used to working YO's on the WS of the work.

I'm trying to work a suitable ribbing to openwork ratio. I cant decide to do knit 4 purl 2 ratio since the pattern is 4 stitches but I'm not sure if I like it. I kind of want to do alternating plain ribbing with the pattern so I don't overwhelm a piece. I haven't decided. I'm in the process of swatching and seeing what I enjoy. I'm so excited!

I really want to make socks with it. I think the pattern would look cool with alternating ribbing and the herringbone fagoting. I have to figure it out though. I'm totally stoked. I have so many ideas, but I'm such a procrastinator. I hope I actually work on something this time, and not just talk about it.

Not what I expected.

I thought after you get out of college, things got easier in some respects. You had more free time, you got a better job, you started living life instead of trying desperately to work through school and having no free time.

I'm just not seeing it. I have more free time now that I'm graduated, but it seems to be filled with more mundane things, like laundry and dishes and housework. I was envisioning coming home from work and enjoying hours of yarn and knitting time. It's sad to realize it isn't the fiber paradise I envisioned.

I don't know if its just the economy or if I'm unhire-able, but the better job isn't working out either. I finished my test for the position at western, but I'm not anticipating getting a call. There were about 5 other people taking the test for the same position while I was and I completely sucked on my typing test. No one seems willing to call me or offer me a position except the one that required absolutely no skills at all. What a bummer.

I think I just need to get out of this funk. Any ideas?

Too much!!!

Everything is happening at once, it seems!

Good stuff!

I applied for a job at western and I'm testing for it on tuesday! Hopefully I do well enough on my test that they call me for an interview and I get the job. I'm tryin not to be too hopeful but I really want this job.

You gotta take the good with the bad though. I applied for a job at the ethanol plant in canton where my best friend brandy works. She thought they were hiring but it turns out all the wanted to do was hire on the temp workers so they didn't have to pay them as much. I was really excited cause she was sure she could get me a job. Sadness. No job there.

Job hunting just sucks. Its discouraging, especially in this economy. I think if I don't get the job at western and nothing turns up soon then I'm going to apply to teach english in a foreign country. I really have nothing holding me here and since I'm young and adaptable then I can hang out for a year and teach english and then maybe come back and get a job once the economy is better. THe only downside to that would be my cats. I'd either have to convince someone to take them or I'd have to give them away. I would be sad, but I don't think my cats are a good reason not to take a chance if I get it.

On the bright side, I have cast on a ton of new projects. I'm starting to crotchet a blanket. I'm pretty sure it won't get done anytime soon, but its a good way to get rid of acrylic yarn.

I'm working on one of my original designs. I need to try it on right now before I can work more on it, but it's going well. I just need to not be lazy and put the stitches on waste yarn so I can finally see if my math was correct.

I still need to start on my second sock, but I started a project for a cabled band purse that is double stranded for durability. We'll see how that turns out.

I've been working on some other projects too, such as some scarves I've been ignoring. I'll still only do a few rows here and there, but its progress at least. I really need to update my ravelry page with all of these little projects, but I still can't get flickr to work and thats really frustrating me. Eventually I'll get productive and work everything out, but for now I'm kind of down about the job hunt. I figure if starting new projects helps me not feel sad, I'm going to start new projects.

One last happy thing! A few weeks ago a I found out about a guy named Matt Held. He paints portraits off facebook profile pictures. HE IS AMAZING! I decided to friend him and join his group and he painted my picture!!! He's been getting so much publicity lately and its amazing for him! This project of his is really getting him some attention and I'm so happy. His last interview was on ny1.com and it featured the picture he painted of me! It had a lot of other people too, but I feel a little like a celebrity! I really wish I lived closer to Brooklyn where he lives cause I'd love to go see his upcoming show! If you are on facebook check out his group cause he really is talented!

SSS

Alas, second sock syndrome, like second sleeve syndrome seems unavoidable to me. Maybe it's because I'm just not in love with the yarn I used. Or maybe its because I just spent two hours looking at knitting patterns and I now have more than i'll ever knit or crotchet in a lifetime.

Why is it that knitters and crotcheters alike seem to have this urge to stockpile. First it starts out as yarn, lovely mountains of soft, cuddly yarn. Then once you have the yarn you find patterns to look for the yarn, but the patterns just don't fit the yarns you have, thus you spend more money on the perfect yarn for the pattern. Its a vicious cycle, one I personally am doomed to for life.

I am very proud of my addiction to needles and hooks and the wonder that is turning a long piece of string into something beautiful. I want to convert the world, one stitch at a time!!!