Rip it, rip it good

Despite all my whining and malaise I have actually become quite and accomplished knitter in the last year or so. I made my last garment in August of 2008, and despite still trying to work out sizing issue ( I am consistently small than I think I am, and even than some of designers think I am based on my measurements - I blame yarn ease), I feel confident starting, trying and finishing new projects. With my increased confidence has come a new thinking about errors I make when I knit and running instances when I have to rip/tink/undo something I spent hours working on. A year ago, I was still in the mindset of making it perfect on the first go - now I realize that if I get 75% done and it's not right, it's OK to undo and redo. It's not a failure in my knitting skills per se, but a regular part of the design and make process, and with every re-do I learn something and get a little bit better. In the case of my current project, I knit up to the bodice before trying it on and realized (again) that it was too big and decreased in the wrong place. Where I year ago I would have sworn a blue streak and shoved the knitting under the bed for a while (yeah, I'm mature like that), this time it didn't even phase me. The kitty and I happily ripped out the yarn and I started over on small needles. I was able to shave unnecessary several inches off the circumference- making the top less maternity and more sexy- and as an extra bonus I will be able to make my tank with the 4 skeins I bought and not have to run all over ebay looking for 2 extra in the dye lot I need. Hurray!

Speaking of said kitty, she happily, merrily, purringly ate one of my stitch markers (see picture to learn what a stitch marker is). After freaking out for about a min, I called the vet, was reassured she'll probably pass it ('check her stool and look for straining' - sigh...). Yeah, so not ready for a human child

In other knitting related news, 2 of the most fabulous short haired ladies I know, E and B, E's adorable 5 year old, and I are going to make forays into the world of dying our own wool. Later this summer we will set up shop in E's backyard with koolaid, yarn, and prepare for good times. It's like tyedying but I'll actually want to wear the result! After some deep thinking I realized that buying and dying yarn for an entire sweater on the first dying go around would probably be disastrous (every skein would come out differently), but - inspired by my SIL - I could dye a couple of skeins and forge into the world of socks! Now, I'm not that excited about socks, but damned if I need another scarf and socks always come in handy. I'm planning to dye at least 3 skeins and make socks for me, a "lucky" second person, and maybe some Ninja socks for my youngest BIL so he doesn't have to cram his regular tube socks into his flip flops in the winter.