Raison d'etre

I suppose that the purpose of first posts is to prove oneself worthy of existence.  Here's why the world needs my blog, and all that.  So I will oblige and provide the reason I am starting a knitting blog:  I want to.

I love knitting.  I think about it all the time, and I do it whenever I have a spare minute.  I end my day with knitting, and I usually stay up far too late.  Sometimes I feel a little guilty about that, a topic I'm sure to get into sooner or later.

Why the sanctuary?  Sanctuary is a place of peace and refuge, but also inspiration and sending-forth.  My knitting is that for me.  It's an escape from the stress of my work, but it's also something that gives me confidence and reminds me that I am a creative person.

I live in a small town, and I don't know any other knitters, so I turn to the internet to see others who love knitting.  I'm on ravelry a lot, and it's great.  I have all my projects there.  But I wanted another way to keep track of my knitting.  I want to record not just the finished object, but the story that goes with it. 

If no one reads the blog, honestly, I'd be a bit bummed.  I do want to be part of this larger knitting community.  But really, it's for me.

So here we go!  Here's what I'm working on:

It's a cabled vest for my husband in Cascade 220.  I searched for months and couldn't find a pattern that was just right, so I decided to make it up, something I've never done before.  I've already spent hours on it, and I've only done 8 rows of ribbing!  I did a 66 stitch swatch, washed and blocked it.  I've measured his favorite vest and done gauge calculations.  There are still a few things I'm uncertain about (how will the armholes affect the cable pattern?), but I'm sick of planning.  I want to get to work already.

There's so much about patterns I take for granted.  I'm ready to start the cable pattern, but I need a set up row to place markers to let me know where to cable.  So I've got to figure out where the cables go and where to place markers.  More math.  I'm nervous I won't have enough yarn.  I'm more proficient in lace than cables, so I wasn't aware that cables use a lot of extra yarn.  Makes sense, though.  It's also unnerving to not know what this thing is really going to look like.

I keep asking C what he wants out of this vest.  Does he like this swatch, those cables?  He says, "I want it to be brown."  It's possible that my standards are a bit to high, but also possible his are too low. 

Since this project is simultaneously taking forever and giving me little actual knitting to do, I'm also working on this:

It's a Cladonia for the Through the Loops summer shawl KAL.  It's in Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce and Rayon Vert.  I am loving it to pieces. 

Things in my queue I'm eager to get to:

• February Lady Sweater, since it's like a ravelry rite of passage
• Bliss, with some more Cascade 220 I bought during the Webs anniversary sale
• Abby's Blanket.  I could make this for a baby shower coming up, but I really want to make it for myself.  

Thanks for coming by!  I'm looking forward to sharing this knit sanctuary with you.