I haven’t done much in terms of knitting, which is why it’s been quiet around here. I blame the summer. I hate summer, although I must say, this has been one of the most pleasant summers I’ve experienced in my adult life, so maybe I shouldn’t complain so much. Not to mention a friend and fellow hater of summer just returned from a trip to Texas and he tells me it was hot & humid the whole time he was there. EW! We both agreed that us Southern Californians are really spoiled and should not complain. So what was I talking about???
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Oh yeah, knitting.
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I haven’t done much knitting. I think the only summer knit I’ve done was a baby sweater for a co-worker who is expecting a baby boy later this month.
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I love knitting for babies. Mainly because I’m an instant gratification kinda girl, so it’s always nice to have a finished item before I get bored with a project like I did with my sister’s annual Christmas scarf, which I started this time last year…. and I’m still working on it!
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Boy was I proud of myself when I started this in August of 2008. I figured starting in August would give me ample time to finish by Christmas, but I was WRONG! I blame school for this one, deadlines, deadlines, deadlines! Then my sister’s annual Christmas scarf turned into a birthday scarf (her b-day is in February) and that came and went. And here I am one year later, still working on the scarf. Poor lady has already bragged about it to her friends… but I’m happy to report that I’m got my knitting mojo back and hope to finish it by the end of this month. The pattern is Here and There Cables from Scarf Style, which is a really nice reversible cable pattern – it’s just so many cables! But seriously, it will be done before the summer ends! PINKY PROMISE!

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We has a kitteh!
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Apple is her name, isn’t she adorable?
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And we moved! Knitting shall resume shortly…

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My preferred craft when it comes to yarn play is obviously knitting. Recently, I’ve noticed that when it comes to putting off deadlines, like let’s say, the papers that are due at the end of this quarter (ahem, NEXT WEEK!), my procrastination seems to manifest itself in a desire to crochet! I learned to crochet as a kid, way before knitting needles entered my life. As a result of double jointed fingers, I’ve always had a bit of difficulty with crocheting and when I learned to knit, it quickly became my preferred craft over crochet (Sorry, mom).
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Last week, while waiting for The Salvation Army to pick-up our old TV, I sat on the couch and crocheted, once again, using my free time to NOT study. But why crochet? If I’m going to procrastinate shouldn’t I be at least knitting? Perhaps finishing my sister’s overdue birthday scarf? Nope. I wanted to crochet.
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A few quarters ago, it was crochet headbands.
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I can’t quite figure out why I do this, but the thought of it makes me laugh to no end. I even crochet in class, during the breaks! Last week, during the class break I finished making this a flowered headband using the pattern from Creative Yarn:
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Crochet is only the beginning of my “I need to do that, instead of this,” procrastination. I also find myself cleaning out the fridge, organizing my craft thing, or cleaning our bedroom – all things which generally don’t bother me if they are a little messy, but suddenly they must be cleaned – NOW!
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Ok, this week for sure I will start writing some papers… maybe.

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I wish I remembered to take a before picture of the neckwarmer I made for my friend Mal, before I blocked it.
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You see, rarely do I block a knit item. I’ve read about blocking and all its magicalness, but I’m usually satisfied enough with the end product that I don’t think that it needs to be blocked. Or maybe that’s just something I tell myself to get out of doing a little extra work.  The last thing I knit AND blocked was the sweater I made for my niece, which was forevers ago in knitting time.
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So blocking – not really and integral part of anything I knit. It never crosses my head to do so. That is, until Christmas when I decided to make a neckwarmer for Mal. I saw the red buttons at the store and thought they were perfect for Mal so I picked them up not knowing what I’d do with them. Then I saw this stitch at Lion Brand’s website and thought it would be great for a neckwarmer using the red buttons and some aqua colored yarn I had in my stash (her favorite color combo = aqua/red). I got to work, loving every minute of this stitch, but then I noticed something… it started to curl!!! Now, I’m not some newbie knitter and am well aware that stockinette curls, but I figured the purls thrown in would prevent curling. I was so wrong.
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Upset, I entertained my options: Frog and start something different? But there is no time to start over!!! Do I… do I just buy her something for Christmas (GASP!). Then I remembered – BLOCKING! I must at least try to block this before I give up. I worried that it wouldn’t work because the yarn is an acrylic/wool blend, but blocking worked like a charm in getting the curl out!
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So yes, I am now a believer blocking. It surely saved me with this Christmas gift.
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And like with any gift I make for a friend – I totally wanted to keep it!!!

A couple weeks ago I went to A Mano Yarn Center to buy some yarn for my sis-in-law’s Thorpe hat. While I waited to pay, I noticed this really nice beret sitting on one of the counter tops. It was soft and had the most perfect ribbed pattern. I couldn’t stop admiring it. I really wanted to ask about the pattern source, but my shyness got the best of me (ugh!).
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On the way home all I couldn’t stop thinking about the hat. I needed to make one. These were the thoughts that ran through my head: do I email them to see if they can point me to the pattern? Why am I such a shy doofus? Raverly, I should check Ravelry.
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I got home, logged on Ravelry and started my sleuthing. The first place I went to was A Mano Yarn Center’s group page. Then from there, I checked out the mods, and finally – I found the most perfect beret  pattern that I had eyed at the store, Joelle. I purchased it immediately, but because school just started, I had not yet had time to knit it. That, of course, did not stop me form glancing at the pattern everyday, patiently waiting for the time to make it.
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Last week I caught the one of the worst colds I have had in my adult life. On a side note: Do these illnesses get worse with age? I feel like if this was two years ago I would have been able to go on with my daily life, but this time around I felt like crap. I was sad because I had to cancel my plans to go to Disneyland on my birthday (sad faces), but on the bright side, this illness afforded me some time to knit in between my Nyquil comas. And of course, first up, was my hat!
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I worked on it a little while I watched day time TV, and was finished by the second day home from work.
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My purled increases need some work. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I knit the wrong way. I’ve known this since the first time I saw someone knit on Knitty Gritty via the overhead Knitty cam.  My wrong knitting is further confirmed whenever I browse through the videos at the How I knit, purl, crochet, or spin group at flickr. I’m kind of a continental knitter, but not really – eh, I’m going to have to upload my own video soon. I’ve only found one person on there that knits like me.
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But I digress – the moral of this story is that I really love this hat pattern and I think that you should make one too!