Winter Wonderland

The snow has stopped falling, the sun is trying to come out, and it's beautiful weather for staying in and finishing up those pesky WIPs or diminishing Your stash. :)

On my back porch there are a 5 inches of snow.

Not sure how accurate that is. Since the wind was blowing yesterday, i suspect we probably got more.

Since going out is out of the question, i've been knitting. Here's the Sunday Sock Knitters' Mystery Stocking as far i can get it (Jane, is the heel going to be the main colour or the contrasting colour?). i enjoyed learning the mosaic stitch pattern.

An excellent stash-busting project for this sort of weather is Calorimetry, since it takes less than 100 yards of worsted weight yarn.

Have fun and stay warm!

New Year, New Knitters: part 2

Ah, the exciting day when one moves on from the pink swatch, and starts their very first hat! The delightful choice... which brim shall I do?

i think this class's favorite was the rolled brim. Then a color must be chosen

and the knitting begins!

Note that some are talking while knitting, and others have even dared to glance up from their work. These knitters are well on their way to both a warm winter hat, as well as a life long hobby (or erhm obsession, as is the case of some Learn to Knit graduates ;)

Sunday Sock Knitters' Knit A Long

The Sunday Sock Knitters (or SSK, for short) created by Juliann, met yesterday afternoon from 1-3. While we were founded as a yarn-and-pattern swap group, the supply of yarn and patterns is piling up, so we're taking a few months off and trying something new. Jane is kindly writing a mystery Christmas stocking pattern for us, which she's doling out a piece at a time. Ah, the suspense!

She went over the pattern with us (looking over the mountain of stash swap yarn on the table),

then assisted us through the concept of a bobble that wasn't knitted into your knitting (to be attached later jester-jingle-bellwise to the points on the cuff, if desired).

After that, we tackled the lace cuff

which has a respite of stockinette and ribbing before beginning the slipped-stitch panel. O_o More on that as knits warrant!

Health Kits for Haiti

Last night at social knitting, we collected Health Kits for Haiti. UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is collecting kits made up of essentials like washcloths, combs, soap, and such to send to the earthquake disaster site.

Despite incredibly short notice, our amazing knitters (there were more, but i was a bit slow getting out the camera)

put together 25 complete kits,

plus enough in donations and partial kits to make 30 more!

A big thanks to everyone that participated! Ya'll rock!

New Year, New Knitters: part 1

I'm going to guess that a popular New Year's resolution this year was "learn to knit," based on the number of people who have signed up for our class. We had 12 people on Saturday, and even more that had to be bumped into February's class.

Those that had knit somewhat before:

And those that had never knit at all:

By the end of the session, all had a grasp (tentative perhaps, but a grasp nonetheless) on the basics, at least. It may still be sticks and string, but soon it will become a key to wonderful new worlds.

Just learning - the only time a knitter is ever delighted to have made a swatch :)

Next week - starting The Hat

New Year, New Projects--

What's new with you all? With all this cold weather, I'm more inspired to knit than to hike. I've finished my Christmas knitting, and I'm sneaking up on some lace projects-- thinking about a Pi shawl, thinking about a Print o'the Waves. I'm a little shy of it, but I'm sure that the folks at Hand Held will help keep me on the right track.