It's so very rare for us Central Texans to have a full-on snow day but today we do! We all knew to expect around an inch of snow last night (yes, a trivial amount, I know) so I got up super early to check and see if it snowed! Then I turned on the news to check the latest weather and traffic. I had already planned on staying home today if it snowed because I knew the roads would be a wreck with people who don't know how to drive in the snow and the news confirmed it for me. At 6:30 AM, before rush hour really started OR the sun was up, there were already 118 traffic incidents on the Austin roadways. Several of them were rollover accidents. So I sent an email to my boss, made a pot of coffee, and worked on sewing in the ends of this:
This is the Cowboys scarf I've been working on for my Aunt Patty since BEFORE Thanksgiving. I'm so terrible at finishing projects, but as she will be in town this weekend, I had a nice firm deadline to meet and I'm proud to say that I've met it (almost) with no tears. The scarf is currently drying on the ironing board. All I have left is to sew up a little seam from where I started working it flat and then switched to the round and it will be 100% finished!
Next up: Fingerless mits for me based on a very simple pattern I found on Ravelry. I bought two skeins of Canopy fingering weight yarn in a gorgeous heathery blue for a Christmas gift idea I had. The idea didn't pan out, but this yarn is just dying to be something for yours truly.
Note: In the photo, that crunchy stuff you see the yarn sitting on is snow!
Now that Christmas and the Christmas knitting frenzy is over, I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit uninspired in my craft life. I find this happens a few times throughout the year - after Christmas, during the dog days of summer, and other times when the responsibilities of life are all that I can handle.
Fortunately, there are a couple of tricks I play on myself to get that "gotta knit now" feeling back.
1) Take a trip to the yarn store. Looking through some of the newest knitting books and touching the newest yarns make me excited about knitting and I usually leave with a list of at least 5 things to queue up on Ravelry.
2) Look over old (or new) issues of Interweave Knits and knitty.com. I love that I have a few years back copies of IK. It's absolutely my favorite knitting magazine and the one magazine subscription that I couldn't possibly live without.
3) Have a knit night with one or more of my girlfriends. Usually this takes place at a bar, so even if I decide I still don't want to knit, the night isn't wasted. I get to enjoy a favorite brew and chat with the ladies. Luckily, the enthusiasm that my friends have about their current projects is enough to jump start my interest in something fibery.
4) Bust out my spinning wheel. I have a gorgeous, gorgeous Louet Victoria that I got as a Christmas gift a few years ago. I love learning to spin on this wheel. Usually, after an hour or two, I'm feeling somewhat defeated as I am not a world-class spinner, and it makes me want to turn to something that I am great at - knitting!
So, if you ever find yourself in the same don't-wanna-knit-and-you-can't-make-me-spot, give these ideas a try. I'm sure you'll be back to your favorite needles in no time!
This is a Pygmy Puff that I knit for my sister for Christmas and forgot to give her. I've started a tradition of knitting her Harry Potter themed ornaments for her Christmas tree. I hope I can dig up some photos of what she got last year!
Eyes and nose for the Puff were purchased here. I love buying from Etsy and this shopkeeper shipped straight away.
The pattern was based loosely on this pattern, though I made several modifications that I wasn't clever enough to write down.
Oh the joys of travel! Maybe it makes me completely crazy, but I can honestly say that I love knitting in my hotel room on business trips. I can't help but love sitting in bed with six fluffy feather pillows, a cup of coffee or glass of wine, a huge tv with something entertaining that I got to pick, no one talking to me, and my knitting project du jour. Even though I am able to do this same thing at home, this just feels so much more luxurious!
What are your favorite times/places to knit or crochet?
In case you're wondering, here are the project deets:
Summertime Tunic
by Katie Himmelberg
Featured in the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits
Here's the Rav Link
Yarn: Craft from the Vickie Howell Collection
It's organic cotton/milk fiber blend! Color is called Sandi, but I call it cranberry.
