Spring Knitting…

It’s going to be the end of me, I swear! Between a million birthdays from here until May (including my own), friends being pregnant, test knitting a pattern, doing a Cookie A. sock knit along, temperatures starting to rise (so I want to be outside more often than inside knitting) and the new issues of Knitty and Twist Collective looking pretty darn amazing, I’m not sure how I will get everything I want to get done, well, done! I have WAY too many projects in the works and most of them I either would like to finish right away just because I want to wear it before Spring is over or I have to finish it because it’s a birthday or a due date, etc.

I guess first I will talk about me because this blog is, for all intents and purposes, for me. So this is where Knitty and Twist Collective come in. Seriously, how awesome are these issues?

On my list to knit? Knitty is free, so I’ll start there. Let’s see, there’s the Amazing (and yes, that deserves to be capitalized) Aeolian, which I have gone gaga for and in my crazy state of mind bought beads and a small crochet hook so I can make it with beads. Have I ever done bead knitting? Hell no, and I’m scared out of my mind about it but the results are oh-so-pretty I think I’m just going to have to brave it out! Next, I already bought the yarn (Berroco Pure Pima cotton) to make Decimal, which I am in love with! I mean what’s not to love? It has lacey goodness, a nice fit and gorgeous bell sleeves. I also love that they modeled it on a big girl, not because I’m that big per se (I’m smack dab in the middle of medium and large usually, which sucks in its own way as store-bought clothes rarely fit me right) but because I wish people would be more mindful of all sizes and show their garment being worn by more than one kind of body – I seriously think it would be awesome if all patterns would get at least 2-3 different models (with different body types) to model their stuff. At least that way people would have a better idea as to what the garment might look like on them. But I digress, I am talking about the awesomeness of Decimal and how I’d love to be able to finish it before Spring is over, but probably won’t be able to because of all my other knitting obligations. I am also finding myself drooling over all three sock patterns (Absinthe for its yummy cables, Cirque for its loopy-ness and Cachoeira for its lace – oh and the fact that Cachoeira means waterfall in my native Portuguese, of course!) and the gorgeous Sourwood Mountain fingerless gloves which I really would love to cast on right away. And if I had a boy, I would totally be making him Steggie, which I think every little boy would love to own!

Now moving on to the Twist Collective, I don’t have as many patterns on there that I’m dying to knit, but I can’t help but mention that I am seriously head over heels in love with Primrose Path, which is just gorgeous! I’m definitely casting on two socks, Barber Pole and Netherfield, as soon as possible. I would love to knit, though I know that sadly I won’t get to any of these any time this year, Botanical Lace Cardigan, Cherry Fizz and Pamela. All three are just beautiful and I think Cherry Fizz would be a lot of fun to knit, if one of my knitting blog friends would like to try it! 🙂

As if those issues being filled with goodies is not enough, I have plans to cast on a February Lady Sweater for myself. I have this lovely Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted to use for it and am so excited to start! I am also dying to make myself Almeara gloves but those are for the winter and will most likely be on hold until I can get around to it after the summer, unfortunately. I do have another slew of projects lined up for me as well, but I’m not even going to mention them as there’s no way I’ll be getting to those any time soon!

Now for obligations… I’m test knitting a pattern that Yarndancer previously test knit for. It’s a shrug (Rav link) that is lovely and probably will be a pretty quick knit. I’m waiting for my yarn to arrive to cast on for it as though I have tons of sock yarn in this house, I don’t have enough of a single color to make the whole shrug! I’m excited to make it as in the end I’ll have something for myself at least. 🙂 I’m also taking part in a Cookie A. sock knit along on Ravelry based on her new book coming out, Sock Innovation. I’m very excited about doing this, but now that means I have yet another thing to knit every month. Ah well, what won’t I do for the sake of knitting, no?

And last, but certainly not least, I have a slew of birthdays coming up, to name just a few, my friend’s baby girl will be turning two in April, another friend of mine has a birthday in May (she requested this scarf in a thinner version, and I already bought the yarn for it, so that’s ready to get cast on), my sister-in-law’s birthday is in April, my brother-in-law’s birthday is in May (and his girlfriend is also in May), and another good friend (the mother of the girl turning two) also has her birthday in May. Of course I won’t be knitting something for every one of these people (that would seriously be ridiculous as all of them are packed into the end of April/beginning of May), but I’m going to try to knit the majority of the gifts as I love giving knitted gifts to people. But we’ll see how many I actually end up doing. I have a sneaking suspicion it will only end up being two of them knowing me.

And as if there weren’t enough birthdays during the end of April/beginning of May, I’m going to be an auntie again (my brother-in-law’s wife is expecting her second baby – a boy) and of course he’s due in the beginning of May. Originally he was due on May 3rd (my birthday!) but now I think it changed to the 6th or something. Regardless, he’ll be born smack in the middle of all these other birthdays! But I’ve been good and have already started a baby blanket for him! I chose to go with OpArt as I think my BIL and SIL will enjoy it and like the sort of “modern” approach of it. I’m about 25% done with it.

I really like how it’s coming along but it was a true pain to start it. The 4 stitches at the beginning are very awkward to get started with and I made a ton of mistakes with it. I had to rip it out 3 times before I got it right. So, of course, after I get it right (and had worked it up to the 10th stripe), I find out that stupid me thought I was using a size 7 needle when it was actually a 6. At that point I was too pissed at all the ripping back to care so I just switched to the sevens. You can tell for sure if I let you know but since the stripes are increasing in size anyway, I don’t think anyone will be able to tell. Plus, it’s a blanket and not a sweater that needs to fit to an exact size, so I’m happy with it. I might do the last 30 rows or so of it in a size 8 to bring it back up to the right size, but I might not. We’ll see what I feel like doing when it’s a little bigger.

I wish there were more knitting hours in a day! I probably could knit all the time (well, when I’m home anyway), but who wants to do that when there are cuties like this hanging around?

So if I don’t get it all done when I want to, I can just point to them. I mean, who can blame me?