Setting Priorities

Guys, I have such a hard time choosing which of my planned projects to knit, remember in a past post I showed you "my next two things to knit", well scratch that, I was waiting for the yarn to knit the cabled shirt in Vogue Knitting and meanwhile got another yarn for another project so I started that, it is another project from another Vogue Issue made with FILATURA DICROSSA BRILLA. Oh! how am I loving this yarn !!! I heard of people saying they loved it and now I can see why. The fabric it produces is beautiful ! It has a great drape and such a fresh feeling and the colors are so nice. Anyways, I will try to take a picture of it as soon as I can as my camera perished in action...

The issue that I wanted to bring up is how to set priorities when you have such huge amount of projects you want to knit. I was thinking about this and decided that there is no point in starting a bunch of projects. At least I have found this very unproductive and it seems like you never finish anything. So, I allow my self to have two projects, one that is easy and portable and one that is harder and requires full attention. So, with that in mind, I am trying to use two criteria for choosing my next project. 1. How eager (exited) I am about this project and 2. Need.

I never thought about #2 before, until I read in a book about the importance of knitting based on need. So, I went to my closet and chose the colors according to what I need and also decided that I really need some nice tops to wear with skirts for church and stuff, so that is why I am knitting tops right now. I just finished the turquoise top and I am still finishing a top that I made last year from GEDIFRA Highlights 101. This top took me like 4 months to knit because of the small cables it has. It has was equally hard to finish it. Once it was finished (sewn together), I realized that the shoulder bands were too long, so I had to undo the shoulders 1.5 inches and sew them back together only to discover after blocking, that the arm opening needs more definition, so I am going to have to add a finishing border to it. Wow! So much work! I hope I can get to wear it some time soon.

I also force my self to work in finishing every other week. Right now I have 4 project awaiting finishing. So that is the only way I can get it done. I, like most knitters, HATE FINISHING!

Anyways, I wonder if other knitters go through the same questions when selecting the next projects and what parameters do they use to choose what to knit next once they finish a piece.

My mind is always in the search for new challenges and projects... So my motivation to continue working in what I have already started is the possibility of wearing the item soon. I also look at the amount of yarn I have used up and the amount of yarn left to motivate myself and keep me going ...

I wonder how other people deal with these issues...

Canadian Living Magazine Website

Wow! what a great finding! These are only a few pictures of the beatiful patterns available for free in the website of the Canadian Living Magazine. I want to make the tea cozy for my mother in law. I felt in love with it since I saw it in the book Mindful Knitting but I did not want to buy the book just for the tea cozy pattern right? Well, what a nice surprice to find the pattern available at www.canadianliving.com Excerpted, with permission by the distributor of the book Raincoast Books. Check out this great website which also have wonderful tips for the home and plenty of yummy recipies!

Aran Knitting YAHOO Group

About 4 weeks ago I found a Yahoo group in Aran Knitting. That is how I learned about a book called ARAN SWEATER DESIGN by Janet Szabo. Everybody in this list "worship" Janet and her book so I went ahead and got it from her website www.bigskyknitting.com . The book is wonderful, it is a complete design workshop specific for Aran Knitting. Janet is also the Administrator of the Yahoo group which is extremely strict about content. Janet reads every email and decides if the content is relevant or not. Many posts get deleted because she considers that only postings related specifically to ARAN should be published. Therefore, conversations on other knitting related subjects are deleted and don't even make it to be published in the list. I wrote to Janet expressing my desire of the group to have a more relaxed guidelines regarding posting, after all, all group members in the list are Knitters first, and Aran lovers second and most of us knit many things, not only Aran items. As long as the subject was related to knitting, it seemed appropriate to me to be allowed in the group. This seems to be the position of several people since Janet wrote a note to the group saying that "many people continued to ask her to allow other knitting related postings". The interesting thing is that my post and those other postings requesting a slightly different posting guidelines were never published to the list. They were deleted by Janet before they went into the group. It is sad to me that instead of moderating the group, Janet is censuring it to the extreme of not allowing any opinion that is different than hers in any way. Yes, it is true that she founded the group, but what is the point on opening the membership to the public if only your opinion is allowed?
Janet sent an Administrator Note to the group letting us know she was temporarily going to shut down the group due to the non related postings and people (like me) asking her to have a more open posting policy. Janet unkindly invited these "new members" to "go chit-chat somewhere else".
Janet states how she is tired and wants to take a break from the group which is understandable since she exercises such a controlling and time consuming supervision over it. In my opinion, she should take a big breath and relax and let people enjoy their conversations on knitting and aran. Needless to say, I unsubscribed to the group and head up for friendlier waters. I finally was able to subscribe to another Yahoo group on knitting and another one for socks which so far seem very friendly and more focused in the fun of knitting.
I respect Janet Szabo a great deal for her personal and knitting career achievements and whish her the best in the future but I think she is exaggerating a little bit at macro-managing a yahoo group that should be a relaxing outlet for her instead of a daunting task. It would be a lot more fun for her if she moderated the group instead of censure it. Loosen up Janet! Life is too short to stress out over little things, there is so much to knit too...

What's next ?

My next two projects will be the Short Sleeve Pullover by Mari Lynn Patrick featured in Vogue Knitting Spring / Summer 2006, page 70 (right) and the Sueter with Honeycomb Pattern featured on the cover of Rebecca No 29. I can't wait to make those !

Estos serán mis próximos proyectos. No puedo aguantar las ganas de hacer estas dos blusas!

Silk Summer Top

This is the project I am working on right now. The back of the top complete. I got inspired to make this project by a pure silk yarn I have gotten last year from India. I had no idea if I was going to have enough yarn but to my surprise I made the entire back in size S with only one hank ( I have 3 more). I combined the yarn with some Moda Dea Tutu in the same color that I found in my stash and made a wave pattern with it at the base of the top. It is hard to appreciate the wave pattern in the picture though.

Este es el proyecto en el que estoy trabajando ahorita. La parte de atrás está terminada. La lana fue la que me inspiró para diseñar esta blusa. Era una lana de pura ceda que compré en Ebay de la India. Es de color turqueza. La combiné con Moda Dea Tutu que es una lana con tiritas de papel gindando también en el mismo tono de turqueza. Tenía miedo de que no me iva a alcanzar pero para mi sorpresa me tomó solamente una bola para hacer la parte de atrás en talla Pequeña. (Me quedan 3 más) La lana con tiritas forma un patrón de olas en la base de la blusa. (foto a la izquierda) Aunque es un poco dificil apreciarlo en la foto.

Heather Heart Sweater

I am very proud of how it came up, but I still need to rip the neck and do it again reducing the number of stitches to give it a nicer shape. I also have to do more work in calculating the sizing as the sleeves turned out a bit too long for Rachel. And also... I have to write the pattern which is everywhere in my different little note pads that I have around the house. :-(

Jelly Bean Polo Baby Sweater

This sweater takes exactly one ball of Lion Brand Magic Stripes for the size 3/6 months. It is not finished. I want to do some embroidery in the wider stripes in the front of the sweater and still have to waive in the loose ends and of course... write the pattern. That is, if I manage to find all the notes I have around the house.

Designer in progress...

Here I am... A frustrated knitting designer or a designer in the early states... I am not so sure but I do like to design and have a notebook full of sketches of my designs. Lately, I finished one baby sweater, the Heather Heart Sweater and right now I am working on a summer top design. The drawing, the swatching, the knitting and ripping are all OK. My problem is with the writing of instructions which seems so boring... And take time away from the knitting itself. I find my self writing notes in different pieces of papers everywhere while I am knitting, hoping I will remember how I did this or that later when writing the instructions. I have to make an effort to write the pattern as I knit or my designer career will not get too far... LOL !

Aquí estoy yo la diseñadora frustrada o la futura diseñadora en proceso, no se. Ultimamente eso es lo que he hecho diseñar. Hice un suerter the bebé, un sueter para Rachel de corazones, y ahorita me estoy haciendo una blusita de verano en ceda pura. Me encanta todo el proceso de diseño, dibujar el proyecto, hacer las muestras, tejer, deshacer y volver a empezar, medir, todo eso no me importa. El problema es que me da mucha pereza apuntar las instrucciones porque es aburrido y me quita mucho tiempo de tejer que es lo que en realidad quiero hacer. Bueno, voy a tener que diciplinarme a escribir el patrón mientras tejo o de lo contrario mi carrera como diseñadora no llegará muy lejos.

Made this vest in one week!

Hello fellows, after been stocked with that ribbing sweater for long 4 months I really, really, needed some instant gratification. So, I made this vest with NORO silk garden. I plan to make a matching bag and a matching hat with the rest of the skeins that I have left from the bag. One insteresting thing is that it only took 4 skeins and not 6 like the pattern was calling for. This pattern is in the Vogue Knitting Magazine Issue Winter 2004/05 Page 104.
Después de estar atascada con ese sueter por largos 4 meses... necesitaba un poco de gratificación inmediata, así que hice este chaleco con una lana japonesa llamada NORO que cambia de color al ir tejiendo. Es una lana muy popular por sus lindos colores. Solo me tomó una semana y planeo hacer una cartera y un gorro con la lana que me sobró. El patrón está en la revista Vogue Knitting Invierno 2004/05 pag. 104.

Here it is finally my FULLY FASHIONED RIBBED sweater

Here it is finally, my fully fashioned ribbed sweater from Classic Elite TWEED 2. I have so many complaints about this design, like I said before. I should've known since I saw the picture in the pattern book of the model hidding her arms in the back... that the fitting is not very good. I wish they should've pull the fabric a little (since the ribbed stitch is elastic) to get the gauge, in that way the body would have been a little bit more fit, closer to the body. My biggest problem with the fitting is that the sleaves barely fit in the armhole. I literally had to sew 3 or 4 stiches in the body per each couple of links in the armhole. The result, the armhole is tight, while the rest of the sweater is loose, wuk! Not very femenine. Besides that, the neckband, like I predicted, is going to need to be folded in a corner shape in the join between the front and the back. I plan to do this with a sewing machine and then, cut it !!! Yes! cut the excess. I am also very tempted to shape the sweater more in the waist using the same method. This sweater is not worth the effort. The conception is good but the designer failed to accomodate the sleeves properly in the armholes, the instructions for the neckband are incomplete, the cable openning instructions in the V neck are wrong, and the fitting of the sweater is too loose considering that you are using an elastic stitch.
Este es mi suerter de Classic Elite Tweed 2 ya terminado. Tuve muchos problemas con este patrón y por eso no les recomiendo tejer este modelo. El sueter queda muy suelto, pero las bocamangas son muy apretadas, lo que hace ver el sueter un poco raro. Además hay que coser a máquina las esquinas en la parte trasera del cuello para que tome forma y las instrucciones de la trenza que se habre al frente en el cuello están equivocadas. Yo planeo tratar de arreglarlo con una máquina de coser y luego cortarlo!!! Sí cortarlo! El concepto del sueter es bonito pero el diseño no está bien hecho y el suerter no queda bien. Con razón en la foto la modelo estaba escondiendo las manos atrás para entallar el sueter un poco y evitar mostrar las mangas. No vale la pena tanto trabajo, no recomiendo este patrón.

Thank God Christmas is over!

Wow, I worked so hard to get my Christmas presents done ! hooo, but amazingly the three things I was knitting got to their destination right on time on Christnas eve.

This is a picture of one of the things I was making. It is a dog sweater for my father in law's new puppy "Chelsea".

After the Holidays are over, I was able to concentrate in my sweater and I am almost finished. I have so much to say about the experience with that sweater... it actually inspired me to start a new blog just to post mistakes in knitting patterns, ha ha ha. Then I decided it is going to be anctual website called "knittingerrata.com" I will let you guys know when it is ready to launch!

Corrí tanto para tener mis regalitos de navidad listos para la Navidad que no tienen idea... La casa estaba hecha un desastre porque yo como loca teje y teje. Al fin por dicha llegaron a tiempo las cositas que estaba haciendo, entre ellas este sueter para el nuevo cachorrito de mi suegro que se llama Chelsea. Luego de que sali de los enredos de la navidad, pude dedicarme a terminar mi sueter que ha sido una aventura total debido a todos los errores en las instrucciones, al punto que me inspiró a diseñar un sitio de internet donde la gente pueda mandar todos los errores que encuentra en los patrones. Se va a llamar knittingerrata.com ya compre los derechos para ese nombre y estoy trabajando en el diseño. Ahí les hago saber cuando este listo y operando...

Proud to become an American Citizen

Last monday I officially became a citizen. My daughter Luz Mariel and I went together to the ceremony. I feel very proud of becoming an American Citizen and I pray that God will keep this country close to him; just like it was intended by the founders of this country. "One Nation, under GOD, indivisible, with Liberty (of religion), and JUSTICE for ALL." God bless America!

El lunes pasado me convertí oficialmente en ciudadana americana. Mi hija Luz Mariel me acompañó a la ceremonia oficial. Me siento muy orgullosa de ser ciudadana americana y le pido a Dios que mantenga a este país cerca de su corazón, tal y como fue el plan de los peregrinos que fundaron este país para poder ejercer su religión cristiana sin ser perseguidos. Como dice el juramento a la bandera: Una Nación, bajo Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para TODOS. Dios bendiga a America!

The magic loop...

I decided to try the magic loop techinique for the sleeves of my sweater, so I can knit them on the round instead of having to sew them later. It was a nightmare. They came out wrong 2 or 3 times. I was using cheap circular needles and then I read a blog where the person advice to use good needles with flexible cords. So, I got a pair of ADDI turbo's and voila! What a difference! The stiches flow through the needles! It is not hard at all. Now if you try this technique with your sleeves, make sure you cast on 2 stiches less than what the instructions call for. Since you are knitting in the round you don't need the two stiches on the sides that are usually left for sewing the piece. Next, I would like to try the two circular needle technique to see wich one is easier. So far, the magic loop had worked fine.

Decidí probar la técnica del círculo mágico para las mangas de mi sueter, en esta forma puedo tejerlas en forma circular sin tener que coser los lados al final. Al principio fue una pesadilla. Me salió mal 2 o 3 veces. Yo estaba usando una aguja circular barata y luego leí en un blog de otra tejedora que ella aconsejaba usar agujas Addi, que son más caras, pero tienen el cable más flexible. Qué diferencia! las puntadas vuelan por la aguja! no es dificil para nada! Eso sí, si usted trata esta técnica debe comenzar con dos puntadas menos de las que dicen las instrucciones para agujas corrientes ya que no se necesitan las puntadas de los lados que usualmente se dejan para coser la pieza. El círculo mágico consiste en montar las puntadas en una aguja circular dividiendo las puntadas en la mitad sacando el cordón de la aguja por entre las puntadas formando un círculo con el cordón. Se saca el lado derecho de la aguja suficiente para poder empezar a tejer el primer grupo de puntadas uniendo el tejido, y de esta forma se forma otro círculo al lado derecho. Osea, que se tiene un círculo de cordón de un lado y otro círculo en el lado derecho; en el centro, las puntadas divididas en dos, la mitad en un lado del cordón y la otra mitad en el otro lado. En esta forma se consigue tejer circularmente medias y mangas con una sola aguja circular. Suena complicado pero no lo es. Es cuestión de sentarse a intentarlo.

To knit your own sweaters or to buy them... That is the question...

I have been struggleling with this question. With such an owesome sales at the stores and such a gourgeous sweaters on display... Why to kill my self knitting a sweater, which usually takes me one or two months... when I can go and buy it for less than $20 and... with no mistakes on it!

The answer came to me yesterday as I was shopping at JC Penney's. Most sweaters there are made out of Acrylic. If you want nice, wool sweater or other finer materials such as Alpaca, you would have to pay a fortune (if you are even able to find them) or... make them yourself. So there you go, I feel much better knowing that there is a practical reason to make my sweaters instead of buying them.

I still have the big problem of not finishing them fast enough. The winter is already here and I need them now !!! Rachel needs turtle necks. So, I desined a combination of guernsey and fisherman style turtleneck for her but I haven't have time to even start it.

I am knitting the sleeves of my own lime green sweater, which I wish I would have made Small and not medium since I lost 15 pounds and the medium size now fits big. And.... I promised a sweater to Mariel (my teen age daughter) made out of the softest wonderful Cotton Cashmere by Debbie Bliss. That one is also on hold.

I feel like the Christmas presents are interfering with my knitting too much. I am making 3 scarfs right now. I finished a dog swater. But I don't know if I am going to be able to finish all these presents on time. I doubt it. Besides, this is not really what I want to knit. I really wish I could finish my sweater !!! So I can keep going with my kid's sweaters...

The problem is... I should have started my Christmas presents long time ago... and now I am knitting agaisnt the clock... I wonder if other knitters are in the same boat ?

Tejer mis propios sueters or comprarlos... he ahí el dilema... Con estos precios tan increibles de las ofertas de navidad, he estado luchando mucho con este dilema. Para qué matarme tejiendo un sueter por uno o dos meses cuando puedo comprarlo por menos de $20 ? y sin ningún error en el tejido ! La respuesta vino a mí ayer cuando estaba comprando en JC Penney's. Todos esos hermosos sueters que venden en las tiendas son hechos de material Acrílico. Si uno quiere un material más lujoso y duradero como lana de oveja o alpaca, hay pagar sumas exorbitantes, y eso si los encuentras... porque no hay. Así que, ahí está la respuesta. Mejor tejo mis propios sueters !

Sin embargo, todavía tengo el problema del tiempo. Ya se vino el invierno y ocupo estos sueters YA !! Rachel necesita cuellos de tortuga para ir a la escuela. Así que diseñe un patrón con trenzas y figuras muy bonito pero no he podido ni comenzarlo.

Estoy tejiendo las mangas del sueter color lima que empece hace tiempo, que desearía haberlo hecho en talla pequeña y no mediana porque he perdido 15 libras y el mediano me queda grande. Pero ya ni modo. No pienso desacerlo.

A Mariel le prometí un sueter de un material super suave llamado algodón y casimir de la Diseñadora Debbie Bliss y tampoco lo he ni empezado.

Lo que pasó fue que se me vino la navidad muy rápido y tuve que socar a hacer unos regalitos que están a medio terminar... Entonces mis cosas están puestas en espera... y esto me desespera. De veras quisiera poder tener más tiempo para tejer pero durante el invierno usamos tanta ropa que es increible la cantidad de ropa para lavar y la cantidad de oficio en la casa, y siento que nunca voy a terminar...Me pregunto si otras tejedoras como yo se sienten igual...

God is in control to the detail !

My friend Luz just went through a terrible experience; she had to get surgery on her scalp to remove a thumor. It was a very scary situation for her and her family. Thank God, the thumor was not malign, but she was depressed after the cirgury as they shaved the front area of her head and she partially lost her beautiful long hair.
Months ago, I started a baby sweater for no reason, with no pattern, I just grabbed some baby yarn and my circular needles and started to knit in garther stitch. I ended up putting it away after a couple of weeks. Last week I wanted to make some leg warmers and needed my needles so I decided to bind off my half-way through-baby sweater. The result was was an interesting rectangle that with a few stitches turned into a perfect headband. I added some beads for decoration and voilá !

Turns out the size was perfect for Luz's head and big enough to cover the bandage. She loves it!

It amazes me how God takes care of little details like this as He used my knitting to bless someone in such a practical way... when I wasn't even planning in doing so.

I am so exited that my knitting could be useful and help my dear friend to feel so much better and go out without having people staring at her.

Thank you God for taking care of the little details... That just shows us the infinite power of your love... I praise you!

Mi amiga Luz recientement pasó por algo muy dificil. Tuvo que someterse a una cirugía en su cabeza para remover un tumor. Gracias a Dios no era maligno pero ella estaba muy deprimida ya que le razuraron la parte frontal de su cabeza y perdió parte de su preciosa cabellera larga.
Hace tiempo yo había empazado a hacer una sueter de bebé sin motivo alguno, solo agarre un poco de lana y me puse a tejer en puntada garter sin tener un patrón ni nada. Después de unos días lo dejé a un lado. La semana pasada decidí dejarlo como estaba y lo sequé de las agujas ya que ocupaba mis agujas circulares donde estaba este tejido. Era un interesante rectángulo que con unas pocas puntadas se convirtio en una banda para la cabeza o calentador de orejas como le llaman aqui en los EU. Le puse unas perlitas para decorarlo y listo ! Se me ocurrió que Luz podría usarlo para cubrir sus bendajes de la cabeza y se lo llevé. Que increible que el tamaño era perfecto y cubría los bendajes y la herida sin apretarle demasiado. Le encantó! Ahora se siente mejor porque puede salir a la calle sin que se le note la cirugía.
Que grande que es Dios que tiene cuidado de los más pequeños detalles y que usó mi tejido en una forma tan práctica para bendecir a mi amiga. Señor, te doy gracias porque tu amor es tan grande he infinito que tiene cuidado de cada detalle de nuestra vida. Te alabo y te glorifico!