Baby Bootees

ADAllen made these (Ravelry link) and I wanted to make them too. Then one of my best friends found out she was pregnant, and as soon as she told me that she was having a boy and that her colors were green, I made these:



I love them. I think they're adorable. I want to knit like 80 pairs because they are quick and adorable and fun. Excellent!

Knitting Controversies

Knitters and the BBC face off:

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080509/1244161074.shtml

It's an interesting comment on the BBC's decision to go after fans who have created knitting patterns of Doctor Who characters. Who knew that knitting could create such a controversy?

Loopy Fetchings

I taught myself the Magic Loop knitting method this week, using Fetching as a excuse to try it out. I have to say I love it. I'm extremely fond of using dpns, but there is something, well, magical about using this technique. Plus, I have awesome new needles from Knit Picks that are apparently perfect for Magic Loop.

I discovered that I needed to knit them smaller, so I'm using size 4 needles. I also might try some shaping around the wrist on the second one, since they are quick to knit, and I can experiment with the second one. I don't really like them to be too loose. See my Ravelry page for more info on them.

KB is supposed to be on Ravelry soon, incidentally, so I can't wait!

I Made a Hat

I've had a recent flair-up in my desire to knit. I suddenly have plans for big projects. I'm also jump-starting the knitting group, so yay!

Here's a hat that I finished today at lunch with KB:


Isn't it pretty? Foliage of my favorite patterns--I've knit it three times now, and I love it. I subtracted one repeat because I was running out of yarn, but it seemed to be just fine. I made it for someone with light brown hair, so I think it'll look really nice on her.

I'm excited about starting Kniterati back up again...and for working on new cool projects. Whee!

The new nook

Over the weekend, inspired Noel's cleaning and organizing binge while I was out of town, I decided to finally put my knit nook together. There's a little corner by our garage that I used to use as my home office when we first moved in, with a desk, chair, and bookcases. But the addition of home WiFi to our life, plus my general disorganization and packrattery, meant that the desk corner quickly became a dumping ground for all kinds of papers and files and computer equipment and camcorder tapes.

Several months ago, when Archer started bringing homework home from school, I decided he needed to have the desk in his room. So I bought some wireframe storage cubes to make the soon-to-be-vacant nook into my knitting storage corner.

It took a long time to get around to it -- and some of the crap on the desk has just been moved to a temporary staging area in the guest room -- but I now have a home for all the yarn that was previously stuffed on my side of the bed, and all the needles that were previously stuffed in pockets in my knitting bag, and all the notions that were scattered in various project bags all over the house. Behold -- the knitting nook!



My sock yarn stash:



And a few special single skeins for display:



How do you store your yarn and tools?

What have we learned?

It's 2008 -- time to take stock! What did we learn about knitting this past year? What new techniques did we master, or at least try? What are we most desirous of learning (or attempting) this year?

As a new knitter, almost everything I did had some learning in it. The only thing I entered 2007 knowing how to do was knit and purl. But then again -- looked at from a certain angle, that's the only things you need to know how to do!

So my steep learning curve in 2007 included:

• socks, which themselves include:
• dpn's
• knitting in the round
• picking up stitches
• short rows
• reading a lace chart
• provisional cast-on
• Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off
  
• I-cord
• Judy's magic cast-on for toe-up socks
• single crochet
• picot bind-off
• Magic Loop
• cables

I imagine the pace will slacken a bit in 2008 as I knit a few things that aren't entirely new to me. But I plan to accomplish a sweater and knit socks two at a time. I'm sure something else will occur to me.

What about you?

We are not alone

I was perusing the iTunes store in search of Vicki Howell's new podcast. I was completely distracted by the New and Notable section because there I saw Kintterati by Nina Casey. It seemed almost like fate, so I had to download it. It is a videocast about knitting and I think it has a lot of potential. During this twenty minute cast I heard a fantastic story about the Yarn Harlot Represent Event, I learned about naalbinding, I gathered all sorts of travel knitting tidbits, and learned how a caliper might help me out in my knitting future. Kintterati has, without a doubt, the best sound quality I have encountered in a first cast. Since it is a vidocast, as opposed to a audio only podcast, the files are larger and it takes a long time for my lagging internet to get it all to me. I think it was worth the wait and I'm looking forward to the next episode. Maybe if I find myself addicted, I try to persuade her to release an audio version.