Note to Self...

I stumbled across this photo when looking for knitting ideas.  Sums up exactly where I feel right now with all of life's "projects", knitting included.  A friend is having a baby.  I feel I should knit something but also realize that I don't really want to.  I want to give her something lovely for her first baby but am not entirely sure she is "knitworthy" (See my previous post on this).  Instead, I should settle in with projects I want and reaffirm that I knit for me.

source:  the creative mama

  I knit to relax, unwind, and do something selfish.  I spend all day at work, and all of the other hours at home, looking after others and solving their big and small problems.  My other hobbies - cooking and scrapbooking - also involve doing things for others (cooking meals, creating keepsakes), and I carve out just enough time to run and read that I can still technically put them under my list of "Things I Do".  Barely.  Knitting clothes and accessories for me, or for me to gift to very special friends, is something I don't want to lose.  I don't want knitting to become one more thing with a deadline and a list of 'must do' for others, and to their specifications. 

So, I fight the urge to make a cute sweater for a baby boy and instead look at spring patterns and plan to be the selfish knitter I truly need to be.

Love a challenge?

I entered the Soper Creek Yarn Store annual yarn challenge. Each year, we get partial skeins of a yarn in a few colourways, and need to use the yarn to create something.  We can purchase more, but can't use other colours than the ones provided in the challenge kit.  This year's yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in blue, red, brown, and cream.  I used more cream than given (about 2 skeins instead of 0.3 of a skein) to create my set:

I used the fingerless mitts pattern from Coastal Knits, the Branching Out Mitts.  I substituted the hearts pattern from the hat which is From Norway with Love (hat).  Easy to knit and cute, I think!

The year of Coastal Knits - and some BT

I want to focus my attention.  My knitting represents the creative outlet of my life, but also reflects a bit of my wandering attention.  I like to be inspired, buy a lot of magazines and books, and then drift from one to the next in a bit of an indecisive way - like a bee hovering over flowers, not sure which one to land on.  My solution is to spend time this year knitting the projects in Coastal Knits:

Source:  coastal knits

I bought the book a year ago (or so) and love almost all of the patterns.... I love all of them, but am pretty sure I will knit 9 of the 10.  Not sure the stole will make it to completion.  Lots of yarn at fingering weight for an accessory. 

I will start my first pattern in a week or so - the hat.  I'm also going to knit a few things from Brooklyn Tweed. 

 

 

Source: brooklyntweed.net via sarah on pinterest

First up will be Inversion, a KAL with my dearest friend Carolanne.  She's a quilter/artist with all things fibre and fabric.  The pattern was a gift from her, and we plan to carve out time in our busy lives to knit this at the same time.  Photos of the projects and yarn to come!