Working out Nicely

I was very happy with the execution of my plan of attack for the Frolic.  I did my research, got there early enough to whip around before things got crowded and so was able to locate the things I was interested in. Then I went back to the booths I had targeted and did my shopping. Lapsed time - 40 minutes.

With that accomplished I felt free to wander about looking at this and that, flipping through pattern books, handling lovely yarn bowls wondering whether I'd enjoy using one, staring at the wall of Shetland colours for a while imagining the "someday" possibilities...that kind of thing.

With both concrete and fanciful "shopping" complete I met with Brenda and Sandra and Sandra's friend Susan for coffee. Sandra left the first comment I ever received here and it was Sandra who made me Christmas PJ pants in celebration of her birthday. We live within half an hour of each other yet we've never met so it was great good fun to finally sit across from her and get a chance to ask her just how she is sooooo productive. (Knitting, sewing, beading, working, parenting, cottaging, gardening)

I had also hoped to quiz Brenda in detail about the amazing construction of her Colour Block Cardigan wherein she ingeniously integrated a combination of two contiguous set in sleeve techniques and but darts but time among the yarn fumes ran too short for that. :( I've made a promise to myself to catch up on those details next time Brenda! I hope you're game!)

With all of that I was still home in time for lunch, a bit of knitting on Deco, some yard work and bbq'd cheeseburgers to celebrate a long awaited warm and sunny Saturday!

Photo evidence of my purchases will have to wait until I get my camera back from Number One Son. He's had it at school for the last few days of his time in residence this year. Tomorrow we move his things home and Wednesday he will follow. ( I don't really understand the disconnect between him and his stuff but at this age and stage I know its probably better not to!)

Tonight is Craft Group and I'll be casting on the first sleeve for "Deco" amid the crazed crafting chatter. I'm not sure what I'll be baking and taking so I'd better get to that!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Friday, February and 5th

Well, well here it is Friday and February and my 5th Blogiversary!

Being Friday I can now report a week of monogamous knitting on Ranger! No screaming progress as a result but sleeve #2 is underway and if I hadn't been faithful goodness knows where on sleeve #1 I'd still be.

Being February is also not being January - a month where I kind of mentally checked out. I can't say for sure how much of that was by choice or just portions of my brain taking a breather. I've pushed myself past my physical limit in the past to the point of feeling ill with exhaustion but never has my ever busy and hungry mind ever been more sieve than steel trap.

I'm not talking about sadness or depression or being disinterested in things. Just not having capacity to manage commitments to anyone or even any thought. I could feel it beginning to happen after Christmas and I just went with it as a necessary passing thing, I was relaxed about it, kept up exercising and eating right and now the clouds and fog are lifting.

Good thing too as today's new found clarity has me suddenly recognizing its the 5th Anniversary of this blog documenting the adventure of "catching up" my knitting skills with those of the talented young knitters I'd been following on line.

I feel like now I am at the point I was aiming for - I did catch up...

I know lots of ways to cast on, I've steeked and felted, learned Continental, struggled with altering patterns and understanding fit. I've taken lessons from big time designers and workshops aplenty.

I've ordered yarn on line and done regular rounds of the many shops in our Great City.

I have (DKC)Frolicked and Modelled. I've maintained a membership in that guild, tried Stitch and Bitch drop ins, attended Knitty Yarn Tastings and joined a regular craft group.

I've bought expensive hand dyed skeins, knit with pencil roving, fine alpaca, heavy cotton and mohair lace yarn. I've worked sweaters with more than a dozen colours within them and re imagined colour schemes from scratch. I've used Intarsia Bobbins and done one and two handed stranded colour work.

I've explored the many three dimensional attributes of Gloves, Hats, Mitts and of course socks from top down and bottom up using Bamboo, Birch, Addis, Vintage straights and handfulls of dpn's.

Zippers, buttons and linings have been installed in my knits. I've dallied with lace and seen firsthand the value of woolly wool.

I joined Ravelry, made real life knitting friends and attended Yarn Harlot readings where I knew so many in the room I shocked myself. I met knitters in person after coming to know them on line.

I discovered Elizabeth Zimmerman and have tried to channel her as well as work her "rules" and I've considered many of Annie Modesitt's "heretical" ideas.

I've learned about and used safety lines and stitch markers, row counters and stitch holders. I've bought T pins and blocking boards, blocking wires and SOAK. I've built up from a wee collection of knitting magazines to a bit of a knitting library with books and pdf patterns, stitch dictionaries and instructional manuals.

I've watched YouTube How To's and listened to knitting podcasts. I taught beginner knitting to school children over an Academic Year.

I've received gifts in the mail from knitters all over the world and blogging awards too. Thrilling!

I haven't yet joined a KAL  (I did an Olympic Knit Sweater if that counts!) I haven't knit with beads. I haven't spun my own yarn or bought a loom. 'Haven't knit from silk hankies or thrummed. I have never travelled to a knitting event or gone on a knitting tour. I don't regularly attend an LYS knit night and I have yet to try out an on-line Craftsy-like course.

Once I bought yarn on sale without a pattern in mind for two projects. That yarn burned a hole in my brain for almost three years before I knit it up and was free of its silent but unrelenting pressure. Needless to say I have never developed a yarn stash.

Through all of this the biggest lessons have come from making stupid mistakes. The biggest victories are the sensations of confidence to now try pretty much anything out there and/or to work up something from my own imagination.

Over all five years people have pointed out I could always buy that (fill in the blank) faster than make it myself, suggest I must be a very patient person and have helpfully observed I clearly have too much time on my hands.

None of the members of my family have become any better at standing in a yarn shop without having an anxiety attack although the knitting-related gifts I receive from them are starting to increase and improve dramatically.

Oh and somewhere along the line I came to think of myself as a knitblogger ; to self identify as "Sel and Poivre". I've even introduced myself as such.

So what now? Now its time to enjoy.

Enjoy more monogamy with Ranger, the longer days, brighter sun and clearing mind of February and maybe tinker with how things look around here. I haven't even checked into all the new doo dads Blogger offers these days. And I'm going to enjoy the weekend!

Hope you do too. Thanks so very much for dropping by!

As I stumble along trying to get my knitting to fit, trying to choose patterns that suit me, trying to figure out what yarns to use or substitute I love to visit Knitted Bliss where the "trying" seems to be nonexistent because home runs out of the knitting ball park are standard fare.

I happened on this blog via a link over at Tanis' Fiber Arts blog (Tanis borrowed Julie's wedding dress for her wedding. Read Tanis's account of how it all happened - its a fabulous story.)

One of the best features of Knitted Bliss is a feature Julie calls "Modifcation Monday" in which she highlights how great knitters have modified existing patterns to create truly inspired knitting. This week, however, had me gasping in disbelief. The featured knitter took the chart from a colour worked sock pattern and turned it into one of the most magnificent hand knits I've ever seen.

The colours are bright and contrasty but work perfectly.  The fit is flawless. Check it out - its worth the click!

Spring Cleaning the Blog

One of my 2010 goals for Sel and Poivre was to sort out my sidebar elements. I've been picking away at them over the past few weeks while they stayed down below the live area to keep their messiness out of sight.

Its been fun testing out the gadgets and tools that are new since the last time I tried this many, many months ago now. Probably most people are familiar with such things but they were new to me so I  thought I might blather on about them a bit...

Google Search

I finally added a Google search bar and put it right at the top. It should be helpful when in an LYS I need to reference a yarn or pattern or source I've used in the past.  (I guess you could use it that way too if you've seen something you like here and are out shopping!) I could do the same thing on Ravelry but my blog goes further back than my Ravelry projects page does. Eventually I may add the early '08 FO's to Ravelry so everything matches. I've found having complete records of my knitting details on line to be very useful.

Followers

I put up a "Followers" box. If you click on any one of them you can check out their blogs (for those followers who have them). Some others seem to have information pages that list even more blogs!

Blog List
I put my own up again after removing it quite a while ago because I was too lazy to keep it current. But I appreciate using the bloglists on other people's blogs and so figured I should at least make that an option on mine. I visit a few more than listed but I didn't add blogs that only post occasionally. I opted for the list to appear in order of who has posted most recently so it should be fun to watch that change.

Another reason I wanted to put it back up is I know the effort posting takes and figured if I'm enjoying someone's regular posts I should not only comment but also link to their blog on mine. I feel better having now taken care of that. (Kind of like putting a thank you note in the mailbox!)

FO Links
I still have a few to add to the FO's from the first few months of '08 but all the FO's since that time now are linked to their original FO post.

What I'm Working On
'Time to get real with this one. If I'm really only working on one then that's all I'm putting up there. Hibernating projects all got the boot and will not be included hence forth.

A Cloud of Labels
The "Labels" list is now formatted as a "cloud" rather than a list. (its waaaaaay down near the bottom of the sidebar.) I've seen that sort of thing elsewhere but I never understood why some words were bigger than others until I saw mine and realized their size relates to the number of posts each word represents. Neat!

So all in all, it wasn't that bad to revisit the details around here. I'll be happier when its all completed but then what isn't like that anyway?

Thanks for dropping by today!
...Oh and thanks to Laurie for her comment on yesterday's post about Number One Son's surfboard looking like Rice Crispy Squares, I had been trying to think of just what it looked like and she nailed it on the head for me while also giving me the inspiration to whip up a pan of them for the after school onslaught!