I’ve been super busy getting things done before we leave for India, but I’ve still managed to get some knitting done this week!
Clapotis
I’m just about finished with this project! I’ve finished the straight section and am now in the decrease section. I might finish this before we leave!
Super Secret Shawl
Last fall, a friend brought a shawl pattern to my attention. I liked it, so I bought the pattern. After I bought the pattern, I realized why there’s no completed projects in Ravelry. It’s an unusual size, unusual construction, and unsuitable yarn (more than a pound of light worsted weight cotton!). But I like the stitch pattern a lot. I’m swatching with some Knit Picks Gloss Lace and will do the math to work out a shawl with this lace weight yarn. I finished knitting the swatch at Knit Night tonight; I still have to block it. I’d like to cast on for the actual shawl before we leave for India, so I can bring it as one of my travel knitting projects.
Socks!
In addition to the shawl, I plan to bring yarn for two pairs of socks. I cast on the first pair. I’m not quite done with the toes, but will finish those up before we get on the plane. Once I’m on the plane, I can just knit, knit, knit, knit — even in the dark. (Aren’t sock toes cute!!)
No jokes or April Fools here. Just works in progress.
Cormo
As I mentioned in my post about the St. Augustine Spin In, I spun a couple ounces of Cormo at the event. I’m still loving this fiber!
Clapotis
When I got home from the Spin In, I collapsed on the couch and did some knitting. I’ve never knit a clapotis, so cast one on. I was thinking I might bring this to India as travel knitting, but at the rate I’m going, I’ll be done before I leave. I’m in the middle of the 4th repeat on the straight section. I’m almost at the end of my second ball of yarn and I only have 2 more. This means I’m close to halfway through the shawl. I won’t do all 12 repeats of the straight section, but I will get 8 to 9 repeats and that should be fine since I’m a short person!
Master Handknitter Level 1
Today I went through the instructions again and made myself a checklist covering all the tasks that must be completed for Level 1. I am registered to attend the TKGA Conference in San Diego in late July, and I’m hoping that I can finish all of Level 1 before I go. I’d really like to finish by late May or early June so that I can submit and possibly get back my reviewed binder before the conference, but given how much traveling I’m doing over the 6 weeks, it seems unlikely that I’ll be able to do it.
Travel Plans
It is amazing how much work it is to prepare to travel to India! I got 5 shots of immunizations, a series of pills to take for a 6th, plus antimalarial and antidiarrhea prescriptions.
Two of these were for my husband’s; the rest of those needles were for me. He’d already had many of the necessary immunizations because of his previous travel.
I applied for Global Entry, a program which makes the process of going through customs on the return trip much easier. That program required an interview, so I went and did that. We started applying for the travel visa and realized we needed additional information, so I went about procuring that. I called our credit card, cell phone carrier, and health insurance company to let them know we are traveling and find out if I needed to do anything with them before we left. There’s a lot more, but I can’t remember it all!
I thought I hadn’t done much crafting in the last week, since I’ve been working with my husband on making tools for weaving. Then I took the pictures for this post and discovered that I’d done more than I remembered!
Dishcloth Tree
I finished all the leaf-shaped dishcloths. I thought I had woven in all the ends, but when I was assembling them for this picture, I found one end that I’d missed. Usually woven in ends = finished for dishcloths. However, these leaves come out a little bit concave in the center and the designer recommends blocking them. I’m going to run them through the washer and dryer to see how they come out. If they don’t flatten out in that process, I’ll block them properly. Since these are part of a present, I think they are worth the extra attention!
Slytherin Houndstooth Scarf
I got quite a bit of weaving done on this scarf. I’m just about finished with it.
It’s so hard to show progress on woven projects because the working surface always looks the same. I tried taking a picture of the finished cloth wound onto the cloth beam. I still think it’s hard to see the progress!
I didn’t notice until I posted the picture that you can see both my spinning wheel and my floor loom in the background of this picture. Yes, my world is made of fiber!
Liquid Silver
This continues to be the project I work on at Wednesday knit nights. I only got through 1/2 of a repeat tonight because I was chatting so much. I discovered that I was doing something wrong on the double yarn overs. Turns out I’ve been wrapping my yarn overs the wrong direction around the needle. I did it right before. I’m not sure when or why I changed my wrapping direction. You can clearly see the difference in this picture. I was going to keep on knitting, but looking at this picture, the obvious difference is bothering me. I do believe I’m going to frog several inches of this project and reknit it correctly.
Travel Planning
Last week, we found out that my husband has to go to India in April for work. And I’m going with him! In the last week, we’ve renewed his passport, made our plane reservations and hotel reservations. I’ve filled out paperwork to participate in the TSA Pre-check (I’ve been meaning to do that anyway) and Global Entry (this allows for faster processing when coming through customs upon our return). Both programs require in-person interviews. I’ve booked the TSA Pre-check interview and am waiting for preliminary approval on Global Entry before I can book the interview. I’ve researched visa requirements, done some online research to see what is in the area where we will be visiting, and through Ravelry I’ve made contacts with local knitters. I seriously love the internet.
We’ll be in India for two weeks, home for one, then in Chicago for a week. Chris comes home from Chicago, but I’m flying from Chicago to New England to attend my cousin’s college graduation and visit friends and family. Since I only have a week at home between trips, I’ve got to have everything arranged for those trips also. I still need to book flights from Chicago to New England and New England back to Orlando. I’ve got to weave the Dr. Who scarf for my cousin’s graduation gift. And do taxes. And get immunized for Hepatitis A and Dengue Fever. And so much more. Most importantly of all, I need to plan my travel knitting! It’s 25 hours of travel from Orlando to India and 31 hours of travel from India to get back home. That’s enough time to knit a couple pairs of socks (although I guess I’ll have to sleep some in there).
The trip to India is scheduled at the same time I was planning to be in Indiana for The Fiber Event. I already had a plane ticket for Indiana, and I’m still planning to go at some point. I need to change that ticket once we figure out new dates. Oh, and I registered to attend the TKGA Conference in July. I haven’t made travel arrangements for that trip yet, and need to do so ASAP. The first room block already sold out and there’s a limited number of rooms in the second block. It’s going to be a whirlwind around here for the next few months!
This week, I’ve been focused on only one project. Everything else has been left sitting while I worked on it.
Leafy Dishcloths
Last October, I made a single dishcloth in the shape of a leaf. Apparently, I never blogged about it, so I can’t link you to a previous post, but you can check out my Ravelry project page if you want to see it. That leaf was in stockinette stitch. On the same blog post, the designer had a garter stitch version, so I decided to try it out.
I liked how it looked, so I decided to use this pattern as one of the days of the Dishcloth Advent Calendars. I’m making 18 of those, so I’ve been knitting leaf after leaf.
The 18th one is on the needles now. I just have to finish it, and weave in all the ends!
I have been getting a little crafting done. I’ve been focusing on getting non-crafting projects done, so I haven’t had as much time to play with fiber as I’d like. But I have made progress on several projects!
MAPLE LEAF the Ninth
I’m just about finished with this shawl. I’m on the very last corner, and will probably finish knitting it tonight!
Emergency Scarf
I finished knitting the scarf that I started when I needed something to knit during a midnight visit to the emergency vet with Pepper. I just need to weave in the ends.
Liquid Silver
This shawl was the oldest UFO that I found when I did the UFO Inventory in January. It’s been an UFO since Fall 2010. I was shocked to find that I still had the pattern in my Knit Picks magnetic pattern holder, and the magnet was still on the right row! I’ve started working on it again, and have done 1.5 pattern repeats. This is the project that I’ve been bringing to Wednesday night knitting group for the last couple weeks. The pattern isn’t as difficult as it looks, and I’m less likely to have beads spill all over the place at the yarn shop than at home, where I have 3 furry hazards.
