SpringPlum

So Matt and I made something together.

This is Harper. We are expecting her Jan. 20, 2012, if she doesn’t succeed in chewing her way out of her fleshy prison before then.

Now I need to stop saying that Matt’s just not into making things as he did a bang up job with her. In fact, he has been the most supportive husband a pregnant wife could hope for.

Because I am who I am and do what I do, I started this baby blanket for her about a millisecond after we got the positive pregnancy test.  It is a Double Ten Stitch blanket.  It is not very big yet which sucks since I started on it 6 months ago.  But that is also who I am.

Since my super self-empowering declaration of my crafty identity, I have done nothing but knit. My fickle heart has turned from sewing and cross-stitch to knitting. I want to knit everything. I want to try new things. To soothe the urge, I cracked open a kit that I bought a couple of years ago.

It’s the Soup Socks for Tots in Primary by KnitWhits.  I have never done stranded colorwork before, and this has definitely been a learning experience.  I knit WAY too tightly and have a lot of puckering.  I of course am sure that a lot of it will come out in the blocking.  Right? Right?

You all may have noticed that this blog went into hibernation.  So did my knitting.  I went through an existential crisis of sorts.  I went through a period of idiot fingers.  Now most knitters go through this affliction occasionally.  You make stupid mistakes, your fingers slip, and your yarn tangles.  What should be an easy project turns into climbing Everest.  A type A knitter rips back and starts over while a laid back knitter reclaims the yarn and knits garter stitch scarf.  I am neither.  I chucked the orange shawlette in a bag and turned to cross-stitch.  You see, I have a terrible confession to make.

I am a crafter–not a knitter.

This was the crisis.  I was in deep denial.  I worked on my cross-stitch for months, but called myself a knitter.  I played Warcraft all evening, but called myself a knitter.  I almost forgot to give my sister her Noro scarf at Christmas because knitting hadn’t crossed my mind since the summer.  I sewed up some project bags and bought 2 sewing books.

But the project bags were to hold my knitting stuff, and that seemed to be the kick in the pants that I needed.  I can do both knitting and sewing.  I can do knitting, sewing, and cross-stitch.  Toss cooking in there and call me Martha Stewart.  I make things.  I am a crafter!

I’ve been making treats for our gaming sessions.

For this Sunday, I’m making cake balls with yellow cake, buttercream frosting and chocolate coating.

Every knitter is familiar with the siren song of Start-itis.  But this month, I have heard the swan song of Complete-itis.  Yes, it is true dear knitters–I have finished Boy Blue, a pair of  hibernating socks, and now my Simon Tam.

I started this hat back in December, 2008 and it has been languishing in the bottom of my knitting bag for a year.  But as I started picking out a project for the Olympics, I was startled at the number of unfinished objects that I in my bag; in fact, I’m not sure I could’ve stuffed another project in there.  Sure, I was tempted to stuff them in the back of my craft closet, but I was coming off the high of finished the blanket.  Even now, the thought of starting my Ravelympics sock pales against the desire to finish a red shawl.

I did start one little project.

I’ve never beaded before and I’m hooked.  Now I want to make some removable markers and ones with sparkly beads and ones with bigger hoops and…

Freya says, “Stop Mommy. You don’t need another craft.”  But she’s a dog.  What does she know?

All over the blogosphere–specifically the crafting blogosphere–are posts about how knitters turn on the TV as background noise while they knit or to make row after row of fingering weight stockinette more bearable.  My mother would always turn on Victor/Victoria while working on a long sewing project.  Or they knit while their spouse watches football or their offspring watches Elmo and Big Bird.  These crafters aren’t really interested in what’s on the screen.  To them, the show is for someone else or just so there isn’t dead silence.  On the flipside are the knitters who actually watch the TV and knit to keep their hands busy.  I suppose that this latter group is where I should be classified although I don’t pick up my projects because of itchy fingers–I knit during TV out of guilt.

I will start knitting so that I have an excuse to turn on the TV.  I will masquerade as a non-watcher while actually being engrossed in the program.  See, I come from a long line of doers and makers.  My mother sews and quilts and my father has his fly-tying and assorted fix-it-ups.  My sister loves wood-working.  Although TV watching was never forbidden in our house, it was never encouraged as a primary activity.  We were supposed to be productive.  This sounds admirable but it’s become a bit of a neurosis with me.

This Tuesday, I realized that I might have a bit of a problem.  The Lost season premiere was on and I really wanted to see it.  Matt and I sat down, turned the set on, and the guilt set in.  I was about to watch 2 hours of TV for its own sake and I didn’t want to do anything else during the show.  Now, I’m a grown woman and, my mother can’t ground me for being lazy–but I still felt awful.  Watching isn’t producing.  Intellectually, I know that there isn’t anything wrong with watching a bit of TV now and again–and Lost certainly takes more brain power than most shows.  My hands didn’t want to be busy, but I felt like they had to be.  I’ve got to break myself of this, or at least change my outlook.

The good thing about guilt-powered knitting is that I’ve finished up to projects this week.

Boy Blue is finished and fabulous.  And I also finished up some socks to clear the way for my Olympics project.

They are a bit small on me but that’s good since the recipient has smaller feet than me.  Hopefully she doesn’t mind a little bit of Freya kisses either.  On a bit of a side note, it is impossible to take an attractive picture of your own feet.

The Ravelympics start in 10 days.  I am competing in the Sock Hockey and the Designer Original Dance.  My socks will be toe-up anklets with a crocheted ruffle–all of my own design.  Swatching is finished although I am still wiffle-waffling on the stitch pattern to use.  I am also a co-captain for Team Woolie Ewe; we are representing the best yarn shop and community in Texas.

Our roster is posted here.  Candice-knits is the other captain (and creator of the banner above) and you’ll also notice that the Pirate Hooker–owner of Picklesnot Designs–is also a competitor.

It is also a distinct possibility that I will have Boy Blue finished by the time the Opening Ceremonies roll around thereby also meeting my goal of having it completed before the sprogling in question greets the world.

My work on Boy Blue continues swiftly–so swiftly that even Matt commented on its size.  I love the colors that I chose even though I had to order more of the dark brown.

While crocheting this, I noticed that I crochet just as tightly as I knit.  The center of the blanket is messy as I found my groove.  Now the stitches are lined up with military-like precision.  Stitch-hance!

I started a new project (yes, I know I haven’t finished those socks yet–don’t judge me).  Take a look–

Wait, what?!?  That’s not knitting!  No, indeed.  I appear to have become one of those most befuddling and envied of knitters: the duel crafter.  How’s that for a comic book character?  Duel Crafter–able to wield both knitting needles and crochet hooks with the same reckless abandon.

I never particularly wanted to crochet; I still don’t think the finished product is as attractive as a knitted one.  But crochet does have one distinct advantage over knitting. It is much much faster.  I am not a fast knitter, and I needed to make a baby blanket.  In order to get it finished before the baby is finished, I turned to the enemy.  The enemy is my enemy no longer.

The Woolie Ewe is having a giant sale, and to reassure myself that knitting is tops with me, I went and got the makings for a Noro Striped Scarf.

Some lucky someone will get one for Christmas next year.

Freya says, “Polite pups get treats, right?”

So Matt calls cross-stitching “knitting”.  That’s okay–as long as he doesn’t complain when I spend money on it, he can call it whatever he wants.  The knitter/crocheter animosity runs so deep that I’m more offended when people get those confused even though they are at least both yarn arts.  I’ve got my priorities confused–so what?

I love adding the backstitching to a project. I think it really helps picture come together. Before the backstitching, you have a big, jumbled mess of colors, but after, you can see where one elements stops and another starts and the pattern really makes sense.

Of course the best part of finishing a project is going to the craft store to pick out another one.