knitwitzinc.com Blog

“Hence that general is skillful in attack
whose opponent does not know what to defend;
and he is skillful in defense
whose opponent does not know what to attack.”

–Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Thanks to the women who participated in the self-defense class this evening at the shop.  I hope you learned a lot – I certainly did.  And I hope you practice and make these things a second nature you’ll never have to use.  And a huge THANK YOU to Mr. Voutour, our capable instructor.  If ever in a position to have to use these techniques, I wouldn’t want to let him down by not having that fire!

Have you heard of Ravelry?  If you have, and if you’re “in” – please join the KnitWitz group there.  If you’re not in yet but are on the list, be patient – it’s worth the wait.  In the meantime, there are a couple of things you can do to prepare.  First, start taking photos of your projects and stash.  Second, get a Flickr account for your photos – Flickr ties in directly to Ravelry and it’s drag-and-drop easy.

If you’re not in, you’re not on the waiting list, and you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about – boy are you in for a treat!  Ravelry is a new site designed for the fiber-loving community.  You can log in your projects, add photos, descriptions – see what others are doing with your pattern or yarn.  You can join groups, and follow discussions.  Want a knitalong but can’t find one, then you can start one.  I think if you’re someone who wants to participate more with the online knitting world, but doesn’t have the time or inclination for a weblog, Ravelry might be the ticket.

Then there’s the not in, not waitlisted, not interested bunch…. c’mon!  You’ve gotta at least be curious about what everyone out there is doing.  Here’s your chance to look in everyone else’s knitting bag! 

The waiting list is sort of long, but I think they are trying to speed up the invites as they go.  Get started now by putting your name on the list at Ravelry.

Seriously, I started this little cardigan on last Thursday after a visit from my favorite Big Brown Truck.  It’s the Edge to Edge cardigan from Bergere de France in Doussine, a nylon/acrylic/wool blend that looks like mohair (which I love) but is wonderfully soft and wearable.  It went fast and was a snap to sew up – Bergere gives you row counts!  Gotta love that.  Anyway, it’s hanging up in the shop as you can see and hopefully gravity will do the blocking I didn’t do myself.

I have never been a very patient person, just ask my mom.  I’m really not – although I’ve never taken a peek at presents before their time.  Which is interesting, given the topic of this post.  I think patience is one of the things that is just my lot in life to learn.  Hopefully I’ve been doing better lately!  I’m thinking I have been, because the adage that “good things come to those who wait” proved true today.  It should say “who wait patiently” because I think just waiting alone isn’t enough – it’s the patience part that pays off.  Or the creative visualization of the end result… something.  I don’t really know.  I just know that I’m now the proud – and patient – owner of a BEAUTIFUL pair of Gryffindor socks!!!

My secret pal knitter person had a long busy summer (who doesn’t know about those?), but she came through in the end.  Which made my surprise just that much more surprising – and that much more appreciated!  But check out those socks…

How cool are THEY?  Simply stunning traveling cables – they’re too pretty to wear!  But they do fit, perfectly and with a bit of wiggle room.  Thank you, Sue!  It was TOTALLY worth the wait.  The stitch markers are sooo pretty.  When I finally get my project count under 30 and reward myself with casting on a Weasely sweater I’m going to use those stitch markers on it.  And the other goodies are icing… treats for Walker (he’s 7 tomorrow - perfect timing), and stuff from Montana… too bad a bit of sky wouldn’t fit, but I wouldn’t see it with my nose in those Huckleberry preserves and tea and gummi slugs anyway!  I’ve always wanted to visit Montana.  A comfy lawn chair and a lovely view.  The roving is sooo pretty, and the needles, keychain are way cool, too.  I’ll be brave and risk the combination of dirt and earthworm flavored beans a bit later.  (Do they really taste like earwax… what does earwax taste like?)  Thank you again – I never expected to receive such amazing socks.  I just might have to frame ‘em.

A few weeks ago I had the first vacation I’ve had in 3 years.  Vacation defined as “time away, with nothing to do.”  It was bookended by a reunion and a christening, but in between I did basically nothing except be with family.  Of course, I also got some knitting accomplished!  I even got to visit a yarn shop with my sister-in-law, and we had a great time.  The shop was Graceful Stitches, in Medfield, MA, and it is unique.  Founded in 2004, Graceful Stitches is a nonprofit yarn shop devoted to funding cancer research and providing a knitterly place for those affected by cancer.  It was in a little house and is the first yarn shop I’ve had the opportunity to visit since opening KnitWitz.  It’s run by volunteers!  I spent a great hour there and saw somethings that will be coming to us here in Jacksonville soon as a result.

Back to knitting…  Here’s what I did first:

It’s a little hat for my niece, Annie – and this is how it looked on:

The pattern will be up when I get the other projects I started done.  The nephew projects were a bit more involved and are still in progress!  But stay tuned for the finished tractor (in the appropriate green) and a brown monkey with unusually skinny arms.  They’ll be heading off soon to my bestest buds: