I was sitting in the living room on Monday night and my fingers were freezing.  I thought "I need a pair of fingerless gloves."  So I checked out various patterns online and on Tuesday started this pattern:

This is the "Fetching" pattern from Knitty.com.  I knitted them in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I had left over from the scarf I knitted George back in December 2005.  The color number is 300506 and I would describe it as Fir Green.  With this pattern, I cabled without a needle for the first time and picked up my first thumbs.  I had to re-do the thumb on the first glove because I had big holes.  Now they're done and I'll leave them next to my chair in the living room for the next time my fingers are freezing while I knit, needlepoint or read.

Thoughts

I've been reading the Knitting Curmudgeon's archives lately.  She writes a lot about people being afraid to try new things in knitting.  I realized that I can often be one of those people.  It takes me a lot of time to work up my nerve to try something new -  a technique, a pattern, a substitute yarn, etc.  I tend to doubt my abilities.  Some of my fear is left over from when I couldn't afford much yarn so I was afraid of messing up and destroying the yarn I did have. 

But some of it is a fear of losing/wasting time.  I don't know where this fear comes from, but it has a big hold on my mind.  I fear losing time to having to reknit an item, to surfing the web and getting nothing substantial done, to just wasting time.  And I waste a lot of time, often doing nothing.  And then I beat up on myself for wasting all that time.  I often fear that my life will just disappear into "wasting" time.  I need to work through that and actually get somethings done.

I knitted this premmie jacket for the daughter of a boss I had a few years back.  Unfortunately, the daughter died at 10 days old so I never gave the jacket to her dad.  I'm keeping it until someone else I know has a premmie.

This isn't a very good picture, but it's the best one I have right now.  I'll try to get a better shot before I put this up on my Finished Projects website.

Wendy of WendyKnits.net posted the following on 14 December 2006:

Knit From Your Stash 2007!

A few days ago, L-B mentioned to me that she was thinking about attempting to knit from her stash exclusively in 2007. I, of course, laughed at her initially, but started thinking that attempting to knit from my stash exclusively was not a bad idea. Both L-B and I have stashes of epic proportions. L-B had suggested a period of 9 months of knitting from the stash, so that we could go to Stitches East next October and buy yarn there.

So, in a phone call this morning, we sketched out some guidelines.

Knit From Your Stash 2007

1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.

2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:

2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?

2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.

2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.

2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.

3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.

4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

So. I have put it in writing. I've got yarn for a number of very alluring projects in stash, and I am hoping to actually get to most of those projects next year. We'll see how I do.

And anyone else who would like to join us in this is welcome to do so!

I have something of a stash but what I really need to work on is knitting up items for which I have bought the pattern, yarn, and needles already.  My rules will be as follows:

1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through August 31, 2007 -- a period of eight months so I can buy yarn in Italy in September.

2. I will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:

2.a. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that I really and truly do not have the yarn for, I may buy yarn to knit that gift.

2.b. If I am knitting something and run out of yarn, I may purchase enough to complete the project.

2.c. I get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- I am allowed to fall off the wagon one time.

2.d. I can buy specific yarn required for any knitting classes I take at my LYS.

3. I am allowed to receive gifts of yarn.

These rules should work for me as I have so many projects to knit up.  And I have lots of partially finished projects to finish.

Please wish me luck!

For some reason I don't quite comprehend, I was feverishly knitting on George's second sock this morning.  I knitted at the first bus stop, I step onto the bus with knitting in hand, I knitted until the second bus stop where I continued knitting.  I knitted even while walking from my second bus to my appointment.  By the time I got to work, I had knitted to the heel start.  For that I need the book as I've only ever done one Dutch heel (on the first sock).  If this activity keeps up, George and I should have plenty of hand-knit socks.