"Hatapalooza" hats from Great Yarns - Day 6

Cables complete!

I’ve finished the Knotty But Nice hat! The soft wooly texture is just begging to keep a head warm, and the rich color could brighten the dreariest of Chicago winters.  Those clever cables weave themselves around the hat and keep the shape snug.  

Above them, the ribbing narrows smartly in toward the crown as you can see in this photo.  The shape is simple, but the combination of cables and ribbing takes that simple shape and crafts a smart, stylish cap indeed knotty and nice.  The very best qualities of the craft.

I’ve been on a long driving trip this week, and my knitting has been great company.  For as much as my husband enjoys driving, I am happiest knitting in the passenger seat.  I am terrible at both sitting still and waiting—life is very much better for having knitting in it.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 4

Cables and more cables...

This section was all about the cables.  The other one was, too, but this one felt a bit more...well...relentless.  I counted, and there were eight columns of sixteen cables each.  That means I used my new cable needle 128 times to accomplish this section.  That's a lot, even for a knitting fanatic like me.

We were on vacation this past week, driving all the way to Texas to show the boy some college campuses.  Down and back, we spent thirty-six hours in our car--lots of knitting time!  Most of us knitters don't think of travel time as lost at all...travel time--either driving or flying--is ideal knitting time.

I travel for work and for fun--and for DestiKNITions.  I love travel.  As such, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you the two travel aps I won't leave home without:

Waze - Since a fellow author shared this wonderful navigation app with me at a book fair two years ago, it has become my go-to travel partner.  I find it far more accurate and helpful than the standard map program that came with my phone, and I like that it can go with me to any car--my own, a rental, or a friend's car.  I love the turn-by-turn audio directions and the crowd-sourced real-time traffic info, although I will admit the program occasionally makes routes more complicated than they need to be in the name of shaving a few seconds or minutes off a travel time.  I'll always take a less-turns-but-five-minutes-longer trip.  I often travel alone, but fellow "Wazers" make me feel like I'm never completely alone.

RoadNinja - This is one of those not-yet-perfect but still useful programs.  I'm a massive fan of Steak-n-Shake, and one of my on-the-road traditions is at least one Mocha milkshake from the place on every trip.  Road Ninja was made for just such cravings.  It will tell you (most of the time) which restaurants and gas stations are along exits on most major highways.  My husband is partial to Shell gas, so this helps here as well.  If your life is enhanced by knowing where you can get your Dunkin' on or where to grab your next Grande Skim Mocha from Starbucks, this is for you.  Vital travel info, right?

One more travel note:  this particular trip was the first in a long time that didn't include DestiKNITions. Our schedule was just too tight with campus visits to carve out yarn shop time in advance.  Plus, I thought maybe my son deserved one trip that was mostly about him, rather than about yarn.  Guess what?  That was a bad thing.  Turns out that while not all of us love yarn, we all love the adventure DestiKNITions sends us on in a new city.  Usually, we're scrambling to include all the recommendations I get when we go somewhere.  This time, we spent way too much time staring at each other asking, "what do you want to do now?"  Never again.  From here on in, DestiKNITions comes along on every trip!

So far this shawl has been in six states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and I'm enjoying each segment.  I'm looking forward to the finished product of this "seasoned traveler."

Cables Building Block from Knitting Temptations - Done!

Bliss, Squared...

It’s perfect.  Simple and perfect.  

While I’ve done more complicated knitting projects, I can’t remember being so inexplicably pleased with a simple square of cables.  

Really, I’m sitting here grinning.  The texture of the thing is downright entrancing.  I suppose part of the charm for me is the eventual use of this project--a pillow for my daughter.  It’s so crazy soft; it’s perfect for a pillow.  

It makes me want to go buy a bunch of skeins of this yarn and knit up the whole afghan.  If one square is this touchable, can you imagine how blissful a whole afghan would feel?  I want to do it again, and I want to do more.  That’s the sign of a brilliant pattern.  

Thanks, Michelle Hunter and Knitting Temptations, for an absolutely fabulous bit of knitting.

Cables Building Block from Knitting Temptations - Day 4

The Imperfect Show Off...

I admit it.  I’m a show-off.  I love it when people stare at these cables and get that all-impressed “oh, you must have such knitting skills!” look on their faces.  It happened again today whilst knitting in public.

Of course, these are never actual knitters.  Actual knitters--except for the very new ones--know that cables are all smoke and mirrors.  Razzle dazzle.  They look wildly complicated, but they’re not.  Cables are so deliciously, delightfully do-able!

The only hard part about cables is counting your rows so you know which row is the one requiring the cabling action stitch switcheroo.  And evidently, even this is beyond my mental capacity because I botched my latest cable.  It’s two rows longer than the other ones.  A finer woman than I would go back and fix it, but I am not so fine a woman. it's the cable on the top in this photo...c'mon, can you really tell?  It’s such a minor gaff and this is going to be a pillow for my daughter’s apartment so it’ll have Ramen Noodles spilled on it within weeks if not days (ooo, poor pillow!). I guess I’m not much of an artisan role model.  Do not let this fool you into thinking I don’t like this project or this yarn--they’re both downright wonderful.  I’ve just never been a perfectionist.   

Like EZ says (and I paraphrase), “If a man running for his life wouldn’t notice the error, it’s not an error.”  

It’s...character.

Cables Building Block from Knitting Temptations - Day 3

Top Ten Reasons Why I Knit on Airplanes

During my flight to and from Denver for speaking engagements (and an awesome Peter Gabriel concert at Red Rocks, not to mention time with good friends), I had the opportunity to ponder the relationship between knitting and air travel.  Much like hospitals, I don’t even consider venturing into an airport without yarn and needles.  Here, in no particular order, is why:

1. I can’t always work--as an inspirational romance author I’m neurotic about writing certain scenes on airplanes.  I’m just sure that my cardiologist-from-Minnesota-seat-mate is staring at my highly emotional/spiritual/tender text and inwardly gagging.
2. There’s a tiny tiger-mama part of me that believes if properly provoked, I could take down a terrorist with my sharp wooden circular needles.  Of course, I will vehemently deny this to any TSA representative who thinks I shouldn’t have them on board for just that reason.
3. I’m downright crabby if kept waiting or kept from food.  This means that if we’re stuck sitting on the runway for two hours, I’m knitting not for my enjoyment, I’m knitting for your protection.
4. I’m secretly waiting for you to ask me what I’m doing so I can go on at great length about the virtues of knitting and probably persuade you to take up the craft before we land.
5. Having something to do keeps me from giving into the temptation of asking you what you’re reading on your Kindle in the sick hope that you’ll say you are reading this absolutely fabulous book from someone named Allie Pleiter.  I realize the chances of this ever happening are microscopic, but a girl can dream.
6. Knitting keeps me from asking what’s on your Kindle for another good reason.  If you’re reading 50 Shades of Grey and you find out I write romance then you’ll ask me what I think of that book and quite honestly if ONE MORE PERSON asks me what I think of that book......
7. I harbor the ridiculous fantasy that if the plane goes down and we’re stranded on a desert island, I’ll at least have something rewarding to do.  Not that other tasks like finding food or building shelter will be fighting for my attention.
8. It doesn’t have an on-off switch, which means I can do it from the moment I sit down until the moment I get off the plane.
9. It justifies the absurd amount of personal care/clothing items I must forgo packing because I need room for my knitting.  Don’t ask, you don’t want to know.
10. I love to knit anywhere so of course I’m knitting on a plane.

There you have it. One woman’s obsession spread out for the world to see.  I doubt anyone’s surprised.