My Life in Stitches: Floor Full of Blocking

My knitting has fallen victim to my new job. Not that I have one of those exhausting jobs, but that my 9-5 is occupied and I can’t knit as much as I would like to. Before I had dedicated times of knitting. Now, I knit on 15-miniute breaks, while I’m stuck in traffic or any other moment I can steal.

The problem with this is over the summer I started a number of projects to wear once the weather changed. I had a sweater, a shawl and a poncho on my needles at the same time. I thought I had enough time to finish them all before now. I did manage to finish knitting two of them but I didn’t block them, and according to my husband, they’re not finished until they’re blocked.

This past Sunday was my wake-up call. When we left for church, it was barely sixty degrees outside. And the building we meet in is county-owned, so the thermostat is set until someone comes and turns the heat on later this year. I nearly got hypothermia during the church service. I needed the things I knitted but they weren’t blocked.

I realized the error of my ways and blocked all three garments, in addition to an item I knit for a swap partner and a scarf my husband knit. Right now, they are keeping my living room floor warm but soon, they’ll keep me warm.

My Life In Stitches: Cold Office Knitting

I recently got a promotion from bookseller to the Community Business Development Manager at Barnes & Noble. I loved my old job and I equally love my new one. It allows me to still sell book, but on a different platform.

It also means that I got an office…a very cold office.

I am one of those people who stay cold no matter what season it is. I keep a heavy comforter on my bed all year round, much to the distain of my husband and wear long sleeve shirts all year round. My fingers and toenails are always blue and I dress in layers even when I’m inside. Needless to say, I spent the first day in my new office training shivering.

As I sat, watching training videos, I found it hard to focus. Not because they were boring or that I was cold. I kept daydreaming about all the sweaters I was going to knit to wear in my very cold office.

Some knitters find it hard to knit sweaters in the summer cause it’s so hot. But when you have your own personal winter all year round, it’s not so hard. I actually sat outside in the sun on my breaks from my very cold office and worked on a worsted weight poncho.

So here are my cold office projects I have lined up.

Vodka Lemonade. I loved this project when I first saw it and now seems to be the perfect time for it. I’m almost done it, but I think I’m going to have to reknit the first sleeve cause I don’t like they way it looks. I’ll probably keep this hanging on the back of my door in cause of a freezing emergency.

I Want That Wrap. This is my current mindless knitting project. It is also the first poncho I’ve ever knitting. I love the color and can’t wait to wear it in the fall. It’s also warm!

Pucker. My husband and I made these socks for a KAL for this last year. The goal was make a pair of matching socks. I didn’t like the pair I made but he loved them. Since he got my pair, I promptly bought the yarn to make another pair. I’m not a big sock girl. The cold office has changed that.

I hope to get this all done before it really gets cold. In the meantime, I have a heater.

My Life in Stitches: She's On Fire!

Last week, I posted about my lovely little Verdant. I raved about how much I enjoyed knitting it. It rightfully earned its place as my favorite project. Unfortunately, it held that spot for a short while. I seem to be on fire with picking great projects.

Love this sweater!

Last week was odd for me. I got a sinus infection with debilitating headaches. I slept most of the week and the pain from the headaches made it hard to concentrate (the migraine I got last Thursday didn’t help, either). I couldn’t read. I tried watching TV but found that too mentally tasking. What I needed was something super-mindless. And what could be more mindless that stockinette in the round? My husband caked my yarn for me and I casted on $5 in Paris by Anna Peck. Boy, I’m glad I did.

First of all, it did meet my requirement for mindless knitting. It was simple and easy.  I’ve had a sweater-phobia for a long time, and this project went a long way to ease my fears. But more than it being mindless knitting, it’s a really great pattern. I love the fit, the look and the color (I used Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool Worsted). I love everything about it.

I also love the fact that I could make adjustments as I went to insure a perfect fit. Don’t have to worry about my teenage daughter stealing this one. It would look frumpy on her since I’m a little curvier than she is. I had no problems understanding the increases and decreases even with a pounding headache, which earns this pattern more cool points.

This pattern looked so great on me that it inspired my husband to start a sweater project of his own (but no sweater-phobia for him. This is his fourth sweater). He’s working on Cloudy Sunday by Hilary Smith Callis. It’s nice, but it’s not as fitted as mine. I certainly want to make a striped version of $5 in Paris.

My $5 in Paris is now my favorite pattern. We’ll see how long it stays at the top.