You know the cartoons where the snowball starts at the top of the hill the size of a baseball, starts rolling down the hill and becomes the size of a house? That’s pretty much how I felt in November and December. Nothing actually<\/i> bad happened, but I got the blues pretty badly from lots of little things real and imagined. Most sadly, I LOST THE WILL TO KNIT! It was pretty bleak. I didn’t read many blogs, and the few I did, I usually didn’t leave comments. A few nice people noticed my absence and asked if I was OK, but since I didn’t feel OK at the time, and I didn’t want to be a downer, I kept to myself. I’m starting to feel better now, so I am hoping to blog at least once a week, get back to commenting regularly on your blogs, and DO MORE KNITTING!<\/p>\n

I did knit a pair of socks for Michael’s grandmother for Christmas, but I didn’t even take a photo of them. I used Shibui sock yarn for them, and it did work very well–it seems identical to my favorite sock yarn, Cherry Tree Hill. I found out that gift socks for non-knitters need not be fancy (I wasted moderately fancy knitting), and just pretty colors and a well-fitting ribbed sock is more than adequate for future gifts.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get the scarf I was knitting for Michael done in time for Christmas though. Now it is my main thing I am working on, and its simple chevron rib stitch pattern is good for getting me back in the knitting groove. It is close to 3\/4 done, which is two cushions on the couch-o-meter.
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The yarn is Ultra Alpaca left over from my Aran Pocket Shawl<\/a>, and I think I’ll still have a skein left over after this scarf. Here’s a little closer picture of the stitch pattern:
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I’ll save my other WIPs for the next post, so I won’t feel panicky about having nothing to post about, but I do want to write a little bit about a Christmas gift I asked for that my Mom got me (Thanks, Mom!). I subscribe to Janet Szabo’s newsletter Twists and Turns<\/a>: for Lovers of Cable Knitting<\/i> and I really enjoy it, so I wanted her first book on cables, Cables Volume 1: The Basics.<\/i>
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\nIt’s a great book! It is divided into chapters based upon the number of stitches in the cross from 1 to 8(+), plus a chapter on basic fundamentals, a chapter on unusual cables and another on designing cables. The book goes beyond the basics though (unless you are Janet, apparently) For example, the chapter on 4-stitch crosses contains the following headings:
\n1\/3 Knit Crosses (2 charts)
\n2\/2 Knit Crosses (20 charts)
\n2\/2 Purl Crosses (11 charts)
\n3\/1 Knit Crosses (1 chart)
\n3\/1 Purl Crosses (5 charts)
\n1\/2\/1 Knit Crosses (1 chart)
\n1\/2\/1 Purl Crosses (1 chart)
\nShe has ideas for “further exploration” accompanying many of the charts and clear step-by-step black and white photos of the the basic cross for each type. It is a very well thought out book and resource. She even signed the copy my mom bought me (through her website Big Sky Knitting Designs<\/a>) with “May all your cables cross the right way!” I’ll be using this book a lot, and I recommend it for cable lovers and those who want to become cable lovers.<\/p>\n

Well, I better get back to knitting. I hope all of you are well, and I intend to see you at your blogs very soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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