....And on the Nth Day, Robin Rested.

It is done.

The Noro scarf for my sister is finished. And it is beautiful. I know that several of my posts here were a little frustrated, but it was more with my learning curve, and much less with the scarf itself. I've learned a lot:

• How to create a neat, finished, slip stitch selvedge
• How to finish the edge of a 1x1 rib so it doesn't look wavy
• How to get around Noro's occasional sudden color change by knot
• When to tell that the color play really needs to be pulled out and fixed. Clearly, the more contrast, the better the scarf.

Ravelympics. It begins.

I'm a fairweather Olympics fan at best. Better in winter than summer, but if something interesting's happening elsewhere, I'm gone. This year, however, I'm beside myself with excitement. Ravelympics 2010 begins tonight. Team Knit Pistols will be sitting down together, simultaneously watching the lighting of the torch and casting on the first of our #teamknitpistol projects. We then continue through the night, only stopping to nap if the time is right. With this much excitement, and that much sugar, I doubt much sleep will happen. The food! The drinks! The desserts! The drinks! The cupcakes! The drinks!

Oh my giddy Aunt. I am, indeed, a #knitpistol.

Ravelry Repost: That's right I said it...

I'm reposting something that was originally posted on a Ravelry forum, and I cannot begin to itemize the number of ways this boyfriend got it right and made me LOL. So whomever you are, girlfriend, you have indeed trained him well.

I am not a knitter. I joined Ravelry to see where my girlfriend spends her time on the internet lol. In the 10 or so months that she’s been knitting I’ve been secretly/overtly observing and documenting this crazy thing called yarn and what it does to people. These things I know to be true.

Muddying the waters...

So, the Noro scarf is merrily rolling along, and I'm well into the second set of balls (!!!). However, as smoothly as the first set went, the second has seen a couple of snags along the way. First, there have been two knotted points where somebody in the Noro factory said, "Hmmm. I'm tired of this color. Let's change....NOW!" and tied the beginning of an entirely different color to the end of your lovely progression, thus messing up the color flow. Do I think anyone besides me is really gonna see this? Probably not, but it does drive me crazy to see it happen (k)not once, mind you, but twice. Who can guarantee it won't happen again before I reach the end? Right. Me neither.

Dammit, Janet.

Muddy
Originally uploaded by robin2go

Sometimes, no matter what you'd rather be doing, you just have to frog that shite and say, "Whatever."

Whatever.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, noro...

So I am finally working on the Noro my sister bought for her scarf, but then gave up because three rows after she cast on she was so tight she couldn't even push a needle through to make a stitch. Like most people, I think the Noro is beautiful and I totally want a Noro striped scarf, but when it comes down to buying the actual yarn, I get overwhelmed by the color selections. And possibilities. And wondering, what if these colors don't exactly work with those colors? Clearly, I need to man up. And so I thought we had come to the perfect solution: by working on my sister's scarf, I get to play with her Noro before I buy and she gets a scarf that's longer than three rows long.

So you'd think.

Game plan.

So it's New Year's, and I've been steadily knitting for just under a year. In fact, I'm only just now starting to feel confident that I might know what's going on. Like, I've finally realized I can't buy sock yarn unless I'm really going to make--and wear--socks. It's not like I don't like socks, but those small needles intimidate me. I mean, I'm sure I can get through one sock, but then I actually have to start over and make a second one. And get them to match. This repetitive nonsense does not compel me to start the first sock in the first place. So obviously that's an area of growth for me. But in other areas, I am progressing. I am slowly figuring out weights, gauge, and patterns. I'm gradually adding new stitches to my repertoire (and when I can't mentally retrieve that repertoire, there's always YouTube, thankfully). I'm not terribly good at self control when it comes to yarnporn; I've gone to two festivals this last year (Maryland, Rhinebeck) and came home with bags full of nom. It has slowly taken over my spare baskets and is spilling over onto the floor. Over the past several weeks I've finally gotten my stash somewhat in order, with pictures taken and uploaded, and information entered, so that when I get to choosing a new project--like now--I will be prepared. Errr, sorta.