Maisie: I have a confession to make. I have too many WIP's. Exhibit 1: Phil's white-and-navy-blue sock. This sock needs to be ripped out and retried. The sock in general is too loose. I KNOW that Rowan Wool Cotton is not meant for socks, but I won't give up. After his are done (probably when I'm 53), I'm planning to make some red-and-white ones for myself. Exhibit 2: The beautiful, cabled, purple sock. I'm almost there! I only need to finish the foot. Exhibit 3: The cuff of the romper for my bass teacher's baby (shh! don't tell him). The whole thing is giiii-MUNDOUS. I just wish I was at LEAST at the leg already. Exhibit 4: The orange-red, demim Honeysuckle sweater for me. I have included a picture pre-ripping. I've altered it for my own stitch pattern and my own cuffs. I am making moss stitch cuffs that are shorter than the model's in the picture in Simple Knits by Laines Du Nord. Also, I have columns of reverse stockingette stitch that look like those in the Cingular Wireless commericals. The reason I need to rip it out is because with the columns going up as they are now, they won't end before the armhole. So, I just did some serious ripping and re-winding (by hand, and it's not pretty), and I'll redo some tonight. Exhibit 5: the blue Blaze sweater (I like to call it What in Blue Blazes) for my friend Sarah (or Shorty). I'm ALMOST DONE with the armhole at the front. Really I am. 17 out of 20 cm. Go knitter go. And finally, Exhibit 6: some sort of lace sock from Sockbug. Mine does not look like the one in the picture whatsoever, but I have heard tales of the magic of blocking knitted lace, and I like knitting it. This is also out of Lorna's Laces. I'll do some serious knitting tonight, and order the yarn for Trudie's Big Sack Sweater from Stitch N' Bitch for the Knitting Olympics, plus add buttons to our blog, tomorrow. (Most knitters are lucky: they don't have homework.)

Rowan: Au contraire! Knitting is precisely what peple do when they have other work to attend to, but want to avoid it. I know I'd rather knit than pay my bills.
Especially right now, because Maisie got me started on a sock with my excellent Italian self-striping stretchy yarn. While we knit we are listening to "Across the Nightengale Floor" which we downloaded from Audible.com. It's a great way to finish the evening.
I've been wondering about something. Are there any other knitters out there who also like archery? Maisie and I do. Is it something about bowstrings and arrow shafts looking like knitting needles and yarn? Is it the sharp and pointy qualities? Or maybe it has to do with focus and absorption in your task.

Here is the awesome sweater Maisie knit for Phil.  

Maisie is modeling my lumpy first hat. She is appreciating its many fine qualities. 

This is our new puppy. He has been distracting us from our knitting. Maisie tries to knit with him on her lap, but he wants to chew on the needles. 

Rowan: We decided to knit a baby blanket for a SECRET friend. (I won't say her name, but I can tell you that she is now at the stage whered she can't tie her shoes because her belly's too big.) It is the Big Bad Baby Blanket out of Stitch 'N Bitch. Maisie started it off in beautiful moss stitch with the yarn doubled, but when I took over, I had to undo each row after I knit it because I don't have the hang of moss stitch yet. Now I'm practicing my moss over on the little orange swatch. I hope I'll graduate back to the blanket soon.

Maisie: The cabled socks are getting ignored, uuuuunfortunately. But I am almost done with a sweater which I forget the name of and am too lazy at the moment to look at from a recent Rowan pattern book. I just casted on for Honeysuckle out of another book I'm too lazy to look for. Also, I will knit The Big Sack Sweater from Stitch N' Bitch for the winter games Knit-a-long. So, I'm a busy knitter. I've been thinking of casting on a certain lace tank top, too......more on that later.

Maisie: Hello everyone (which is nobody so far)! I picked up some really nice blue merino wool at Wild and Wooly Studios because they are having their winter clearance sale. I also got a Rowan pattern book, and am making a sweater for my friend Sarah. The plain old boring socks I'm knitting for my boyfriend, Phil, are progressing slowly but surely and we have started a baby blanket for my aunt's baby. No progress yet on the second leg of the romper that I'm working on for my bass teacher's baby (the legs take for-stinking-ever.) Pictures later, I'm too lazy right now. Plus, I taught knitting at Afterschool today. My students learned very well, but their cheap acyrilic is hard to recover from.

Rowan: When I got home with my new yarns from the Wild and Wooly sale, I realized that I have a stash. Until now, I just thought of the yard beside my bed as a few future projects, but now the pile is growing, so I guess I have to face facts. Which makes me wonder: is there any difference between stashing and hoarding?

First posts are the worst posts

Rowan: This is a mother-daughter blog about knitting. Maisie taught herself to knit, and now is teaching me. I used to knit not, but now I knit Knots. So far I am content to knit lumpy hats and slubby scarves. We like to knit while listening to audiobooks or watching The Simpsons. I recently finished a deflated blue hat knit on four double-pointed needles. It turned out mostly ok, except for the loose cast-on edge, which I knit backward. If looks sort of lacey-droopy. My current project is a narrow cabled scarf (my first cable project--it makes me feel like a REAL knitter), using a gorgeous red unplied silk yarn (Fiesta yarns). I have to keep the yarn ball in a plastic bag while knitting so it won't get fuzzy.

Maisie: Welcome, ye who hear the call of the yarn. We are relatively new knitters, but I have knit a WHOLE LOT in the year that I have knit at all. I enjoy driving my mother insane with Zeppelin and Hendrix, or playing bass when I'm not knitting. The last thing I knit were some cabled Greensleeves I made up. Now my sisters want some. Right now, I am working on a pair of cabled socks from Chicknits out of Lorna's Laces (Black Purl colorway). But, the problem is, the first sock the ribbing was too loose. No problem, I thought, all happy and cheerful and optimistic. I'll just unravel the cast-on edge and knit the ribbing up on size 1 needles! So I unraveled that bit and put the needles in wrong, leading to lots of little sort ends not even long enough to weave in. Undeterred, I continued to knit up the ribbing. Then, I bound off regularly, neglecting to remember that a normal bind-off would be much too tight. I tried, and failed, to put the sock on. I tried several times to do a grafted cast-off, but failed. Please help the poor sock. Also below are The Greensleeves and the new Lorna's Laces. I'll post a picture of my boyfriend wearing the sweater I knit him later.