3KCBWDAY6: Improving Your Skillset

For today's topic I have a meme I did in 2009.  Since then I've accomplished a few more things and there are still things I've yet to do.  I think my biggest goal is to knit a sweater that fits me.  I'm a loose knitter and I keep thinking if I knit the medium it'll work out.  I don't swatch, I don't do the math.  I just cast-on, go and end up with something too big.  Definitely something I need to work on.

Ah, well -- on with the meme.

THE DEAL: You mark the things you have knit in bold, you italicize the things you intend to try, and everything else you just leave in regular font. My own comments in parenthesis.

Afghan (I've got some Lorna's Laces I bought for a sampler afghan)
American/English knitting
Baby items
Bobble
Buttonholes
Cable stitch patterns
Cardigan
Charity knitting
Combination knitting
Continental knitting
Darning
Designing knitted garments
Double Knitting
Drop stitch patterns
Dyeing spinning fiber
Dyeing with plant colors
Dyeing yarn
Entrelac Lady Eleanor
Fair Isle
Free-form knitting
Fulling/felting 
Garter stitch
Gloves (I have a kit for Sanquhar Gloves)
Graffiti knitting
Hair accessories
Hats: Cuff-up
Hats: Top Down
Holiday knitting
Household Items
I-cord
Intarsia
Jewelry (something in Adorn)
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Knitting a gift
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting art
Knitting for a living
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting in public
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting on a loom
Knitting smocking
Knitting socks
Knitting socks on two circulars
Knitting to make money
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Knitting two socks on 1 circular simultaneously
Knitting with alpaca
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with beads
Knitting with camel yarn (have some in the stash)
Knitting with cashmere (oh, yes, yes, YES! did that sound orgasmic?)
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with cotton
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting with dpns
Knitting with linen
Knitting with metal wire
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Knitting with milk (some in the stash)
Knitting with silk
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn (stashed!)
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with synthetic yarn ack-rylic!
Knitting with wool
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn (if I can bear it)
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Machine knitting (circular!)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip Down.
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Participate in an exchange
Participating in a KAL
Pillows
Publishing a knitting book (someday)
Purses/bags
Rug
Scarf
Shawl
Shadow Knitting
Short rows
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slip stitch patterns
Slippers
Socks:toe-up
Socks: top-down
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Stuffed toys
Swatching (I really should do this more)
Sweater
Tassels (and/or pom-poms)
Teaching a child to knit
Teaching a male how to knit
Textured knitting
Thrummed knitting
Toy/doll clothing
Tubular CO (on a sock machine all the time)
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Writing a pattern

3KCBWDAY5: Something Different

For today's topic, I give not just one but three poems on three subjects in three forms.

Acrostic for Knitters

K is for Kindness, what you always show,

N is for Nimble, you're quick and fun at play,

I is for Inspirational, you uplift those around,

T is for Talented, you're just so amazing,

T is for Terrific, you're simply the best,

E is for Elegant, you're so full of grace,

R is for Ruby, as precious as the gem,

S is for Sensational, enough said!

Cinquain for Needles

Needles

Pointy batons

Knitting, cabling, lacing

Connecting each stitch to form cloth

Magic

Haiku for Sheep

Sheep graze in Winter

Covered fleece growing heavy

Ah the Spring shearing

Dedicated to the wonderful artisans who inspire on Fiber Arts Friday!

3KCBWDAY4: Seasonal Knitting

Living in Northern California, in the Bay Area the weather is pretty mild.  The winters aren't terribly cold and it doesn't snow.  It does rain, but even that's been light of late.  Looking at my knitted wardrobe it mostly consists of accessories like scarves, shawlettes and socks.  I have a few large shawls and stoles and even fewer sweaters.  The rest of the items seems to consist largely of vests and shrugs, they are the perfect thing for Spring or Fall around here and a wonderful vehicle for all sorts of yarns in various weights and content.

I like knitting with wool the best.  It's easiest on my hands and therefore more comfortable and enjoyable to knit.  I tend to gravitate more now to the dk weights and I love the new trend for knitting sock weights at a worsted gauge.  I don't knit as much during the summer because working with the wool tends to make me and my hands more hot and sticky. I suppose my cotton/linen projects are more appropriate on the more hot and humid days, but I don't have as many of those and wool dominates the stash. The rest of the year I'm probably knitting the same sort of things with the same sorts of yarns.

So I don't consider myself a seasonal knitter, rather a constant knitter with summer (and just the hottest days at that) only a short respite from knitting.

3KCBWDAY3: Hero Worship

Today's topic for the 3rd Annual Knit and Crochet Blog Week is "Your Knitting or Crochet Hero".  I'm not much into hero worship for anything let alone knitting, but if we're talking admiration there is one individual I can think of in my fiber world.

She is an accomplished knitter both hand and machine.

She is an accomplished weaver, basket and rigid heddle to complex cloth, published, in fact.

She is an accomplished spinner, one fait acompli worth mentioning is the Barbara Walker Learn to Knit Afghan that she not only knit, but spun the yarn for each square from the fleece of a unique breed of sheep.

She is an accomplished dyer of yarn and fiber, her color sense is fabulous and if you know me, by now you know her.

She earns my admiration for all these things and more.

She is my mentor, my boss, my partner in crime, but most of all she is my friend. 

She is the artisan behind Handwerks and her yarns are an endless inspiration for me. 

3KCBWDAY2: Photo Challenge

Yarn and Fiber Sundae