A new Twist

I've been spending way too much time knitting... and not enough time blogging! If you follow the Knitwits KY group on Ravelry, you know that the shop has been very busy, my list of FO's is growing almost daily and my WIP's is tripling. With all of the new yarns coming in, I have been knitting up a storm and Ive especially enjoyed knitting slipper. Single slipper syndrome is my latest illness. There are so many great slipper patterns out there to test drive that I haven't had a chance to knit any mates. I'll add those to my growing list of To Dos.

The collaborative effort of writing the Knitwits E-news every week has been taking up a lot of my blogging energy. Janet and I discuss the e-mail all week long and when it comes time to get it all down, we stall and freeze. I've been doing the 12 Gifts of Christmas (which of course we started way too early-it's week 13 and we're still in October.) I try to knit each of the gifts, matching the right yarns, patterns and needle sizes. Very time and energy consuming--but kinda fun. It has turned me into someone who actually finishes things (woven in ends and all). I enjoy the process of researching quick, simple, single skein projects and I enjoy the quick knitting. I hope you enjoy the gift ideas.

In doing the research, I try to find projects that have been popular with the Ravelry-ers and that use yarns that you all will enjoy working with. My newest favorite yarns are Cascade 220 Superwash, Classic Elite Chesapeake, Doubled Kid Silk Haze and Shepherd's Wool. These yarns are just delightful to work with!

Being October, I have officially entered the Annual Christmas Stocking Knitting Season. Every year, I have a handful of faithful customers who ask me to knit Christmas Stockings for their ever growing families. Every year, I ask Janet and the Knitwits to tell me not to do it! The stress of knitting under a deadline and the monotony of knitting with Christmas Green and Christmas Red is almost too much to bear. For a knitter who can only knit slipper, making two or three of the same stockings is really stretching it for me. To date, I have one stocking done and six more to go. Stay tuned for the progress...

Every time I log into Ravelry, I enter a black hole of time. I start researching one thing and hours later, I have added a dozen things to my cue, strayed away from the one thing I wanted to research and found myself on some other distant link, casting on another random project. Does this happen to anyone else?

My latest "Black Hole" destination is the Twist Collective. The Twist Collective is an on-line magazine like Knitty, but the patterns are sold on-line instead of being free. The Twist Collective is the brain-child of Kate Gilbert of the Clapotis Fame and it features great projects and articles from very talented designers and knitters. I actually read the articles! Many of my favorite designers Like Kate Gilbert, Connie Chang Chinchio, Ysolde Teague, Pam Allen and Elinor Brown (met her on one of my flights) regularly have projects featured. If you haven't looked at Twist Collective, take a visit!

Must finish knitting my apron for the Apron Contest (deadline next week), must get at least one more stocking knit by the end of the month...but I can't stop knitting on my Coquille---I'm using the new Unique Sheep Gradience Sock Yarn. AAAAGH!