Eulogy for a Stocking in Ancram

It was a great project. One to end all projects. Beautiful stockings from Melanie Falick's new Handknit Holidays. Yet sometimes, a project is just not meant to be knitted by me. I can admire them from afar, know of their beauty and appreciate the pattern for what it is and be content. The passion and drive within me does not seem to be enough, and I can't seem to push myself enough to finish making these at the present. Maybe I'll pick them up again later (I've put the one that actually might end up being close to the stocking I want it to be on some string to keep the stitches live). Maybe when I pick them up again, they'll still be original.

It's all about meeting the limits right? Finding which project will simply kill me to finish. This is the first project I'm actually putting down (or more accurately hiding in my yarn box), and I've told myself that it's just honestly not worth it. I've been working on these for about two months now, and I just can't digest the fact that they've taken this long. I almost finished the first one in a couple of weeks. The project is turning into a chore, and it's actually making me not want to knit. So I'm making it sit in the corner to think of what it's done and we'll see what happens.

I went on a SNB group trip to someone's country home in Ancram, New York this weekend. It was so nice to get out of the city, to hear nothing but the tenitis in my ears, to breathe real air, to see a lake and do nothing but eat, knit, sleep and watch tv. This was all pretty much a treat because I don't really do the TV thing, as some of you may know, so watching Law and Order, horrible lifetime movies and a few other choice programs was pretty exciting for me!

Jill, Heather and I went up on Friday. We stopped at Stew Leonard's on the way. That place was an adventure in and of itself! There were so many samples that Heather and I walked in hungry and left satiated! We moseyed back to Jill's country home, turned the heat on, and wandered off to a diner for a late lunch. When we got back to the house, we knit late into the night.

The others showed up early Saturday afternoon and we all had a blast! We ate lunch, went for a walk to the pond, chatted, watched a couple of movies and knit (of course).


Heather gave an impromptu magic loop lesson, and we all picked up some interesting tips from each other.

So since I'm giving up on the socks, you might be wondering what's next on the needles. Here's a list of projects I have on my mind:

Candy Cane hat from Handknit Holidays

Flaptop Mittens also from Handknit Holidays from the same Lamb's Pride Bulky that I used for my Ruffle Scarf. I still have a skein left of each color.

Angie Sweater from some Rowan book (Link: Angie Sweater) I'm planning to make this out of Knit Picks Decadence.

Bowtie which is the current project of the moment. It should be done soon though. I picked up some Borroco Suede for this project from Jill's One Way Yarn Swap this weekend (hah!).

Two mohair sweaters one out of some tealish-green color that I got at Rhinebeck, and one from a hot pink yarn that I yoinked a lot of at Jill's One Way Yarn Swap.

Some sort of shawl thing out of Brook's Farm Yarn I got while I was at Rhinebeck this year.

Snowflakes that Betsy showed to me (I posted the pattern to the Knit List)

Opera gloves with a lace motif out of some silver yarn and some black yarn that I have yet to get. This is my first foray into designing, let's hope it's a good one!

Those don't include the various pairs of socks that I'd also love to make, but that I'm holding off on because of those stockings, or the beanie that's still on the sidebar that I'm planning to make for a friend.

The good part about having Thanksgiving at my parents' is that I will get tons of time to knit while waiting for and traveling on the bus to and from Rhode Island. It's about a three hour drive without traffic, so I'm thinking it'll be closer to four hours at least on the way there. I think I might start on the shawl this weekend, but I might work on the candy cane hat for a friend. We'll see...