the agony of defeat

"Agony"? Not exactly. Perhaps "irritation" or "annoyance" is more apt. It's the day after the Olympic closing ceremony and my Clapotis is still not done. It's close though. I'm well into the decreases and expect that I can easily finish it today and block it tonight.

Where does the annoyance come in? Well it's obvious to me now that with a bit more effort I could have finished it well in time. I'm bored with drafting mawatas and I'm bored with knitting this pattern, and as a result I haven't given the project as much time or focus as I might have otherwise.

Still, I'm pleased that I undertook the project, and I'm happy to have finally knit through the mawatas. The finished Clapotis will have that wonderful sheen of silk and it's light as a feather. Can't wait to see it after blocking!

slogging along

Sorry that I haven't been posting very regularly; some days the Clapotis doesn't look much different than the day before, no matter how much time I spend knitting. With luck I'll be starting the decrease rows later today. Meanwhile, here are some thoughts:

• Drafting mawatas was fun and interesting when I started this project ... now it's tedious.

• Raw silk sticks to everything.

• It is possible to drop a stitch in raw silk, but it takes some convincing. Possibly because raw silk sticks to everything?!

• Clapotis makes a beautiful finished object but it's an extremely boring knit.

• I (still) hate circular needles.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Just a quick update today - after enjoying a holiday Monday, I find myself very behind on my chores for the week!

My Ravellenic Scarf, a Clapotis from handspun silk mawatas, has stalled. I guess I just got a bit bored with it. But I'm determined to finish it; if not by the end of the Olympics, then definitely by the end of the Special Olympics. And to make sure that happens, I promise to knit monongamously on that project only. Cross my heart, hope to die.

While ignoring the Clapotis I cast on a pair of socks for my year of projects and have become entirely obsessed with using every last bit of leftover sock yarn in my stash. So far there's more than a dozen different yarns in this sock. It's making a really thick, warm and colourful sock. Perfect for padding around in stocking feet on a cold winter morning! And yes, if you're wondering, I do expect it will take hours to weave in all those ends.

What about you? What are you working on today? Why not join up with the gang at Tami's Amis on this Work-in-Progress Wednesday?

Year of Projects 2: Tiit's Socks 01

Folk Knitting in Estonia: Aino's Gloves • Anu's Christmas Gloves • Anu's Mittens • Anu's Stockings • Avo's Mittens • Ellen's Stockings • Helgi's Mittens • Hilja's Mittens • Ilmar's Socks • Juta's Stockings • Kalev's Mittens • Kristi's Mittens • Laila's Socks • Landra's Gloves • Liidia's Gloves • Liivi's Stockings • Maarja's Socks • Maimu's Mittens • Marko's Mittens • Meida's Mittens • Merike's Gloves • Rita's Stockings • Sander's Mittens • Tiit's Socks • Ulla's Gloves • Virve's Stockings

Last week I missed posting for my Year of Projects; I've been knitting furiously on my Ravellenic Games project so there wasn't much to update otherwise. But with my scarf at the halfway point I'm bored - time to cast on something new.

I made a start on the required socks for month 2 of the Summer of Socks, but I wasn't happy with that sock, so it's been frogged. I made a start on another pair of socks using the yarn ordered for month 2 of the Summer of Socks, but I wasn't happy with that either, so it's been frogged too. Frustrating! Back to my comfort zone - a sock pattern written by Nancy Bush.

Over the last couple of days I've made a good start on Tiit's Socks, and I LOVE them.  The pattern as written is worked in blue and grey, but after seeing these colourful socks I decided to pull out all the red, green and blue scraps from my stash and put them to work. This strategy fits in nicely with my challenge to Surmount the Stash in 2012 ... and my personal "Odd Ball August" challenge to focus on my scraps. My friend Nancy picked this pattern after flipping through the book Folk Knitting in Estonia; I don't think she'll mind this more colourful version one bit :)

strike two

After frogging the Lotus Heart Socks last week, I looked around in my favourited patterns to find something that might work with this yarn ... something plainer. And decided on this Porifera pattern. It's a toe-up pattern as written on 64 sts, but it was easy enough to convert it to cuff down and add a knit stitch to each repeat to bring it to 72 sts for knitting on smaller needles.

A day of knitting later finds me about halfway down the leg and not liking this yarn any better. RRRRRIP. Too bad because I really like the pattern. As for the yarn? I might try it in a colourwork pattern for my year of projects next. Or maybe, considering how frustrated I'm feeling, I'll just toss this yarn into a time out and move on.

Perhaps the higher powers are sending me a message? Maybe they're trying to tell me to get back to my Ravellenics scarf?

Surmount the Stash August Update

Once again it's time to evaluate my progress towards my goals to Surmount the Stash. This month's news is better than last month's. Considering how badly I did last month, how could it not?

Monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: Last month I completely blew it and ended with a deficit of $315.50. This month I didn't spend a penny. Not one cent! I've knit entirely from stash and entirely with patterns I already own. As a result, my deficit comes down to $265.50. Yes there's still a lot of work to do here, but I've made a good start!

Manage my WIPs: There is one project that has been on the needles for weeks now - my Smitten Advent calendar - so I'm determined to finish that up as soon as the Ravellenic Games are done. Other than that, the parade of FOs continued in July - three Miranda hats and three pairs of socks.

Plan projects to work through my inventory of yarns in my Stash: I'm calling this month Oddball August with a plan to work through all those oddballs and leftover bits in my stash. Modwitch (Rav name) has the idea of collecting all these in a basket - we work through as much as we can through the month and then donate the rest at the end of the month. Sounds like a good idea so I'll join in on that too. I'll be collecting up my stash of acrylic worsted, making as many hats, mini mittens and softies as I can. At the same time, my Year of Projects patterns should provide plenty of scope for using up oddments of sock yarn ... have a look at this project for a good example.

Now about that basket ...

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

At the Ravellenic Games I'm competing in the Scarf Hockey event - my challenge is to draft this stack of hand-dyed silk mawatas and knit the drafted fibre into a Clapotis. I got the idea from the Yarn Harlot's blog here, but decided on a scarf rather than mittens.

Each mawata is the silk from one cocoon - it's whisper-thin and the fibers stick to everything. Sticky like a spider's web, right? These were hand-dyed by Sunnyside Ellen; if you want mawatas they are available from several sellers on Etsy. To start, peel off one mawata alternating from one side of the stack to the other to average out the variation in colour. To draft the fiber I poke a hole with my index finger roughly in the middle of the mawata and then tug the hole bigger and bigger until I have pulled a loop of fiber around my hands. Working my way around the loop I tug at sections of fiber until I have drafted out something close to a fingering weight. Amazing how strong the silk is! And then I pull apart the thinnest section to make an end and start knitting.

In the first five days of the Ravellenic Games I've knit the set-up section, the increase rows and made a start on the straight rows. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think I'm getting quicker at it. So is it possible to finish before the closing ceremonies on August 12? Maybe. We'll see how far I am this time next week! To see how far everyone else is with their projects check the links at Tami's Amis!