FO Friday (Almost)

So it's almost a Finished Object Friday.   I say almost because there is blocking and edging that need to be done still, but the knitting is finished and I just can't wait to show it off.

I present to you a knitting complete Urbana!!!!!!

It's so big that I couldn't fit it in the picture.  I'm not sure how long it is yet.  I will measure it after I am done blocking it.  That will have to wait until tomorrow as we are having friends up tonight and the only space that is large enough for me to block it in is the living room and I don't want people to have to step over it!  The original pattern called for a key hole which I omitted due to the size of the finished object.  But, the knitting is finally finished and I am very happy with it.  

Better photos to follow after the blocking is complete.

Project Spectrum Red

I stumbled upon a group over on Ravelry called Project Spectrum.  It's a group that has dedicated each month to a different colour.  I loved this concept instantly.  Really, what fibre person doesn't love colour? I decided I had to play along.  This months colours are Red & Orange.
So off I went and since I am incapable of being separated from my phone, it means I always have my camera with me.  I didn't think much of the whole thing as I left, but very quickly after walking out of my house I realized that the idea of looking for colour was having a huge impact on me.  I was seeing red and orange everywhere!  I was seeing colour everywhere!  I mean really seeing it.  I had to stop myself from taking pictures every 10 seconds.  I think that as many of us do, we become so familiar with our regular surroundings that we stop noticing just how pretty and interesting they are.  But not yesterday.
So, here are a few of the things I snapped yesterday.

These are oranges!

And not leave the knitting completely out of this post

This last one isn't from yesterday, but I had to include it.

This was a lot of fun and I have already set up files on my computer for the rest of the colours.  I am dedicating Thursdays to colour.  Next week there's more red and orange coming your way.

WIP Wednesday May 18th

So there is some exciting news in the WIP front. First, my Urbana has finally reached the point where I am finishing rows in a reasonable amount of time! I am thrilled. And I am not ashamed to admit that on Monday, when I realized that I still had 60 rows of decreasing to do before I could bind off, I just about burst into tears. For a brief moment, I prayed for the wrap to spontaneously combust into a ball of wooly fire or that somehow a plague of lace weight eating locusts would magically appear and eat the accursed thing right out of my hands. ANYTHING so that I would be finished with it. Of coarse the only thing I could do was just keep on knitting, (and knitting and knitting.) So that's what I did and wonder of wonders, I may be able to finish the knitting this afternoon. I am so happy to have today off work and the afternoon slated for knitting with my BFF and Little J, (who really tries to help us while we knit.) But there has been progress of the best sort and I am becoming a happy knitter again. This is all I have left to deal with!!

Also, The Year Of Projects challenge is starting to take shape. We have our own group now called Come Blog A-long on Ravelry. Come check us out. It's got a lot more attention then I thought it would. I'm amazed that other people think that it's a good idea. More updates about that as things take shape. I have my projects picked. But as always I think I've overestimated what I'm capable of and will have to remove a few things. (Or I may just continue on in my fibre induced madness and try to do them all.) Either way, it will be an interesting challenge.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

I decided on Thursday what I needed in my knitting life was a distraction from my ongoing and seemingly never-ending projects. The Astrick is still sitting in the naughty chair for being such a misbehaved piece of knitting and the Urbana has sadly not finished itself while I wasn't looking. Both socks still need their mates and I want to have all of this and a second Boneyard finished before July 1^st and the Blog a-long starts. But, the mojo wasn't there and when it's gone, you need to find a way to get it back. So that was my mission on Thursday. Find my mojo. And I did.

I was reading another blog, which sadly I can't link to right now. (I am still waiting for comments to reappear after the little temper tantrum that Blogger had last week and I'm not sure whose blog it was that I was reading at the time but I do know that they had left a comment on my WIP Wednesday post.) And there, in the blog post, I saw washcloths. Really cute washcloths. I have a dishcloth pattern that I make. But these were different and cute and would be an excellent addition to Christmas gifts especially if I asked my friend to give my a few bars of soap. (She makes her own bars of soap in her kitchen, it's amazing) So it was decided on the spot. My mojo wasn't lost, it was just hanging out with the washcloths.

This pleased me for a number of reasons. First, more Christmas Knitting. YAY! (You can tell it's still very early in the process since I am making these to be additions to other gifts and not the whole gifts themselves.) Next, stash knitting (and even better) cotton stash knitting. And finally, fast easy knitting that will act as a palate cleanser and let me get back to my other projects. So off to Ravelry I ran to get some patterns.

But here's the thing. I'm me. And me being me means that I am not making two or three or even five washcloths as my distractions. Those numbers are way to small. I'm making fourteen. That's right, fourteen. When completed there will be 5 Dragonfly cloths, (those are already finished,)

 4 coffee cup cloths. (One down three to go.) 

3 flamingos, and 2 Tardis cloths. (What would the plural of Tardis be anyway? Tardii? Tardises?) 

That will be a set of three for my mom, my mother in law, and my sister in law. Also for the first time I am making a gift for the work staff exchange. Each set will also have a bar or two of soap and I will be down a few balls of the dreaded cotton. The Tardis washcloths are for us. (Just finished the second season and cried like a baby when Rose was left standing on the beach.)

But that's it. That's may palate cleanser. Some might argue that's a whole meal, but what can I say. It's where the mojo took me. And clearly it's working since I'm thinking I will finish typing this and maybe knit a few rows on the Urbana. And if it was your blog that had the washcloths on it. Thanks for the inspiration.

WIP Wednesdays an update.

Three of my ongoing WIPS have been receiving love this week.
First, one Lenore is finished. As always, when I get through the lace cuff, the rest flies off the needles and it becomes a fast and even slightly boring knit. I am going to wait until the weekend to cast on the next one so I don't have a whole day at work and a trip to the gym to contend with while I'm trying to cast on something that I find personally very challenging.

The spinning is going well and I have completed 1/2 of the roving in this colourway. I'm starting to fill the second bobbin and I'm hoping to start plying next week.

Lastly is my Urbana. Cognitively, I know that I am making progress on this. I have moved from the increase to the decrease section and I am using the second ball of "When I Bit Him." I can see these things happening right before my eyes, and yet I am convinced that no real progress I being made. Somehow, this particular project is warping the time and space continuum, breaking the laws of physics, and many of Einstein's Laws of Relativity. I pick this project up and somehow, magically, time stands still. I knit, I religiously decrease on each row, and yet I swear that each row is not taking any less time then they did 5 days ago. I am really beginning to believe that this is a life long knitting project and one day when I'm too old and sore and jaded to continue, I will have to find a much younger knitter who still has the stamina and vigor of youth to finish tackling this thing. Forget heirloom knitting, this is generational knitting. I am sticking with it and am hoping that one day soon I will have a finished Urbana to show you. Just don't hold your breath. I'm not.  ;)

So what WIP is currently going on forever in your world?

Blog Through a Book

Last year the owners of my favourite LYS, The Purple Purl, decided to knit through a book.  Being the owners of a store, they had lots of books to pick from and an unlimited supply of materials.  Their journey has inspired me, and I thought why not give it a go too.

But, let's be honest, things are always more fun with your friends, so I posted about it on Ravelry.  And a little to my surprise, there are other knitters/crocheters who seem to think this is a good idea!  

So we tossed some ideas around and decided that a whole book might be a little too intimidating both time/project wise and financially for most of us.  But what are knitters if not adaptable? So with some modifications, here's a year of knitting and blogging together or for simplicity sake, "Blog Through a Book."

How to pick your patterns: 

There are a few options here, pick one:
Pick some or all of the patterns from one book or magazine. 
Create a collection of patterns that you assemble from Rav or any source (one person suggested the top 10 patterns on Rav.) Basically, make your own book.
Pick a number of patterns from your Queue. 
Maybe you want to finish all of your WIPS, and using them as your Blog Through a Book list will be the last push you need to finish them off and get your needles back.
  
There is no minimum/maximum number of patterns (if you want to try to do a whole book, go for it.)

*This does not mean you are committing to only knit/crochet these patterns for the next year.  This is about goal setting* (I will have to  try to balance my choices with Christmas Knitting.)

What we will be doing: 


On July 1/2011 (or something close to that) post all the patterns you’ve picked on your blog.
Every Monday after that we can post about the progress/frustration/insanity related to committing to a certain number of projects and a public timeline.
You can post on the Raverly thread and I am going to scurry off and see if I can add a "Mr. Linky" widget to my blog for us.

Please keep in mind that this is supposed to be fun.  There really are no set rules other then posting your pattern choices on July 1st.  We are here to be each other's cheering squads!! This is not a competition with each other.  You need to pick a number of patterns that is a challenge for you personally and there is no need to explain or justify your final number.  This is meant as a way to knit, blog, share, and build a community while engaging in a personal challenge.

Currently, I am waiting not too patiently for Mr Linky to send me my confirmation code.  Once I get that I will add it to this post so people can start signing up.  For now, check out the Ravelry thread. 

Comments broken

Let's see if this works.  There was something wrong with my last post and comments were not be accepted.  It looks like it was a problem with blogger that has been fixed.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to post on my WIP Wednesday posting about my FO Friday post :)