Love Is All You Knit

So here’s my progress on Joey’s Smokin’ Cardigan:

(that tiny white thread running across is a dental-floss lifeline!)
I’ve joined the sleeves and am now doing a few decreases, and will move on to doing my first saddle-shoulder! (I should probably read up on how they are actually constructed so I won’t be confused…)

Once I finish off the shoulders, I’ll pick up those stitches that are being held by the white waste yarn and knit a garter-stitch button band that forms a shawl-collar.  I can’t wait to finish this one!

I just love it when I see someone knitting in public, especially when I spot them knitting on the subway. Funnily enough, I’m usually too embarassed to knit on the train. Every time I try it, I always look up to see about five different people watching me. I dont know why this should bother me, but as a lifelong-shy-person I typically avoid doing things that draw attention to myself.
The other day, I sat down on the train and right across from me was this lady, knitting a beautiful moss-stitch and cabled garment.

It looked like she was knitting two fronts of a sweater simultaneously on straight needles. I was so excited by this knit-spotting that I kinneared her. (I kept her face out of the pic cause I wouldn’t want random strangers taking pics of me and posting them online.) Seeing her knitting on the train made my day.
Then yesterday, Joey emailed me this:

a guy knitting on the train! Even better knit-spotting! I’m not sure what he’s knitting here, but I give him props for taking advantage of good knitting time and not worrying about what other people think.
I was inspired by these knitters and decided I would give knitting on the train another go. I knitted on the train on my way home from work, and I knitted on my way to work the very next day. Both times, I looked up to find people watching me, but I kept going. I mean, I watch the people I see knitting on the train- so maybe, like me, the watchers are genuinely interested in what I’m making. And maybe, just maybe, another knitter who is too shy to knit on the train will see me knitting and be inspired to give it a go.

Another good thing that comes from knitting on the train? Visible progress! I have two completed sleeves now:

Whoo! This is going to start looking like an actual cardigan soon!

On Monday, I had surgery to have my gallbladder taken out. I was looking forward to a week of laying in bed, watching good movies with my husband, and lots of knitting time. What really happened was a week of more-pain-than-I-ever-imagined, complete inability to sit up, lay down, move my torso, or do anything on my own, and lots of delirious grogginess from the pain medication. I was able to eek out a bit of knitting yesterday, and even more today, so I can tell I am finally on the mend. Phew! Here’s my sleeve progress:

Even though its going pretty quickly due to the big yarn and needles, I wish it were going faster. I’m ready to have this baby finished and get some modeled shots. I still have a cardigan to knit for myself before winter gets here. And I was eyeing some noro online today for a kerchief/shawlette….

I’m re-entering the blogosphere after an unintentional break. I don’t really know what happened, I just got really busy and had nothing exciting to blog about.
It’s been slow-going on the knitting front, but I cast on for the Smokin cardigan for Joey and I’m really enjoying the bright turquoise.

I was going to do one of those cute flickr photo mosaics like all the other cool knit-bloggers to show off how much I finished in 2008, so I started counting up all my FOs.
Hmmm…. nine. Well that’s not really that impressive, is it? Granted, I pretty much stopped knitting from March-June due to our cross-country move. And technically, the Master Knitter Swatches could be counted individually….

1. Urchin
2. Dashing
3. TKGA Master Knitter Swatches
4. February Baby Sweater
5. Joey’s Stripy Socks
6. R2D2 Hat
7. The only picture I have of the armwarmers I knit for my mom for Christmas
8. My Dad’s Christmas hat in progress (finished and gifted)
9. Shredded Wheat Scarf

You see how I snuck that last one in there? I finished the Shredded Wheat Scarf on December 17th and never blogged about it because I was waiting until we got our camera back from being repaired.

Yarn: Brooks Farm Yarn Four Play, 1.65 skeins
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Options, size 11
Pattern: Scrunchable Scarf by Susan McConne
Thoughts: I used much larger needles than the pattern called for in order to make the scarf even more squooshy. I really like the way it turned out and have been wearing it every day since I bound off. Soft and warm!

Thermal is still progressing pretty steadily. Joey and I are taking a trip back to Texas next week so I’m looking forward to plenty of train and plane knitting time. We’re so excited that we get to spend a few days with our families and meet our new nephew!

Here are a few fun pics from last night’s festivities….

I finished my Shredded Wheat Scarf the week before Christmas, but I’m holding out until we get our camera back to blog about it. It’s being repaired and will hopefully be back soon.
After I finished the scarf I didn’t really have anything in mind to cast on for right away. (First time that ever happened!) And so I didn’t knit for a few days. It was kind of weird. Three or four different nights I found myself wishing I had something to knit on. I was reading the latest Yarn Harlot book one evening while trying to satisfy the urge, but then after I finished it off the urge was even stronger so I just had to go to bed early. Needless to say, I’ve really been missing my knitting over the past week and a half.
Today I decided that I needed to knit something. I really didn’t want to start a new project cause I don’t have any inspiring yarn at the moment, so an old neglected project got a reprieve.

Remember Thermal?

I can’t believe it’s been a full year since I’ve last knitted on Thermal! I got distracted by socks and other fun knits and this poor sweater was completely thrown aside. I think there’s enough armhole and neckline shaping going on in this part of the pattern to hold my interest this time, though.

Glad to be knitting again!

From Kim, Joey and Henry