little knitting

As the holidays approach my RL work schedule becomes even busier and I have little time for knitting. The projects that I knit must be small because I have to take them with me down into the orchestra pit so I can knit during intermission. Here's the latest little project, a small purse knit with recycled silk from Nepal.



And proof that David's Once Again sweater exists, although it's much too bulky to carry with me to knit during orchestra breaks.



In the meantime, it's little knits like scarves, socks and mittens.

How big is your knitting?

look ma! no fingers!

I devised my own fingerless mitts pattern.
At least, I think it's my own pattern. I just knitted until things looked the way I wanted, but who knows if out there in the Universe my knitting twin has come up with the exact same pattern and has published it already.





I'll attempt to write out the pattern soon - if anyone is interested.

What's on your needles?

two minute knitting

My knitting time is decreasing as the hustle and bustle of daily life increases as we head toward the Holidays, and my RL work doesn't allow much free time for needles. I can knit in spurts of 2 minutes, so I've been knitting little projects like scarves and mittens.



I just received the Crystal Palace Daisy needles that I ordered from Fuzzy Galore and knit a CP Splash/Fizz scarf in no time at all. I knit a similar one last winter and have had so many compliments - or are they hints? - that I've knit several more as gifts.

These needles are light and colorful, which makes my knitting even more fun!



Thanks for the reminder, Linh! I'd better make some time for knitting!

Gone with the wind

The weather here has finally cooled down (even rainy!) and some of my precious spare time this past week was taken over by airing out my yarn stash. What a revelation! With an unemployed hubby home nearly 24/7, I had some serious hesitation in pulling out all the boxes, pillowcases and bags in one go. (The last time he saw the whole shebang was in 1990 when we packed up our belongings to move back to Israel and its only gotten bigger since then.) Instead I've done a few boxes/bags each day. I'm now on day 4 and there's still yarn that hasn't yet seen the light of day.

It's at times like this that I shake myself and shout, "What were you thinking?!"

Let me tell you what I was thinking:

• When we lived in the States, there were 3 yarn shops within a 15 minute drive from my house. What better way to spend a rainy/snowy/sunny morning/afternoon/evening than surrounded by beautiful fiber and like-minded people.


• I worked very part time in a large yarn shop where my monthly pay check usually covered my yarn purchases.


• Shop employees often had access to sales on yarns that weren't offered to the general public (for a reason; more on that another time).


• One of the local yarn shops used to have 2/$1.00 sales. Like I needed another excuse to stock up, right? But most of my luxury and plain ol' sock yarns came from there.


• After a couple of harrowing experiences discovering that by the time I got around to actually wanting to knit a pattern with the called-for yarn and finding that the yarn had been discontinued, I learned to stock up while the yarn was still available. (Can we all say Rowan?)


• Since Israel is in the YDZ (Yarn Deprivation Zone), whenever I travel abroad I carry along an extra suitcase just for my yarn purchases. (On occasion I have sent my clothes home by surface mail in order to make room for larger-than-expected purchases.)

I am a very slow knitter. While leaving most of the various online knitting lists has quelled the yarn acquisition Siren Song to a great extent, I still enjoy revelling in my own personal yarn shop, open 24/7.

Now to just find the right pattern/stash yarn combinations!