This may sound crazy,

but I like cabling with a cable needle. I know, I'm a traitor to the ease of cabling without a needle, and honestly, I haven't tried it (so, maybe I shouldn't be so quick to exclude it, right?), but cabling with a needle is gratifying. I like managing the little needle with all the other needles.

I recently had a strong urge to cable, as most of my recent projects have been cable-less. To the rescue, I found Ganiggle's Celtic Memories bag pattern. I started it a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't gotten very far, mainly because I'm taking it slow to ensure I don't mess up the gorgeous cables. The purse is knit flat on small needles, so the fabric is really dense and the cables really stand out. I'm using a gorgeous heathery Wool of the Andes shade called Tidepool Heather.

I was going to give this away as a Christmas gift, but now, I'm pretty sure it will be in constant use by me. I may make another in a different shade for a gift, though.

I've never done interlocking cables like the center panel (the side panels are lace), but it looks so fancy.

I might as well just strike this sentence from my vocabulary

I don't know why I do it, and I know I'm not alone, but I always hear myself saying "I'm not going to buy yarn (obviously, other items can be inserted in place of yarn) for X number of days/months/until I use X amount." What a stupid thing to say. It's just out there, taunting you, daring you to break the promise you've just made. Inevitably, you break it. Whether you rationalize it or not, it happens. I've decided that I'm going to try to stop saying I won't buy yarn. The truth is, I will.

A new friend, Sonya, and I were talking about process/project knitting last night (my fourth public knitting event in two weeks!). I'm definitely a process knitter. Although I, like every knitter, like to finish something once in awhile, I barely ever do, but I love the process. I love to pick out the perfect pattern, the perfect yarn (which may or may not be in my stash), search through Ravelry to see what others have done with the yarn or pattern, and start knitting. I love to challenge myself with a pattern that seems just out of reach for my skill level. Although I love a good solid stockinette patch, a pattern needs to have some element of challenge, if it's going to keep my interest. Obvious exceptions from this rule are gift knitting, as you sometimes do need a quick and easy FO.

And that brings us to my latest cast-on, the symmetrical braided gauntlets that I started two days ago. I need to make a few gifts in the next month, and this pattern is easy and beautiful. I'm pretty sure it will be a go-to for gifts.

As I said, two days ago, I cast on, and I just bound off the first one. You can't get any simpler than that.

Spin me right round

Sarah and I took a spinning class this past weekend at Hill Country Weavers in Austin. This was my first class (and really, it's been a month of knitting/crafting firsts), and it was so much fun. We were by no means experts by the end of the class, but I think all of the students (I think 7 or 8 total) left with a grasp on the basics, as well as a desire to immediately buy a wheel! Sarah and I joked about a timeshare spinning wheel, which might not be a joke at all.

I don't have any pictures of me spinning, but here are Sarah's hands in motion. It's amazing to see the fiber go from a pile of unbrushed wool to this:

Here's our finished yarn off the wheel:

Not the most gorgeous hank of handspun in the world, but not too shabby.
We're already talking about taking the second class next month.

In other fiber news, I've made some stash enhancements in the last month, but no pictures to show just yet. I cast on for a cabled bag, published by Ganiggle while on my trip.

This Wool of the Andes color, Tidepool Heather, is such a gorgeous shade of blue-green (with little yellow bits thrown in). I love it.

In public

I only really know one knitter in real life. Thanks to Ravelry and the various blogs I read, I've become acquainted with others, at least virtually. In celebration of WWKIP day, I decided to attend the Houston event and make some new knitting friends. The event was at Northwest Mall on Saturday afternoon. Dean decided he would shop while I knit. I met some lovely people, exchanged ravelry information so we can contact each other again, and knit on my slipped-stitch sock. Of course, I have no pictures of the event, but I've already made plans to attend a weekly knitting group tomorrow night. Hopefully, it will turn into something quasi-permanent. I'm so glad I went.

I've essentially finished my Frock Camisole. I haven't woven in all the ends (of which, there are a lot, since the yardage per ball is only about 85 yards) because I'm really disappointed with it. I'll still finish, but after trying it on, I'm not satisfied with the fit. When determining which size I would knit, I saw that the model in Interweave was wearing the second size. She looked to be about my size, and I fell in the bust size suggested for that size, so I cast on and started rolling. I honestly didn't even consider trying it on earlier, because it's knit from the bottom, and it's supposed to be drapey. Not this drapey.

Stockinette

There's no point in showing you another picture that will look exactly the same of my Frocking Pink camisole. I'm almost through the fifth seven balls of yarn, but stockinette is stockinette. Only I can tell that it is inching along and growing into a tank top. I'm so ready for it to be done; I can't wait to wear it! I'm just about done with the body, and I'm thinking I should be able to finish it within the week (of course, by saying this, I've jinxed myself). I've also been inching along on the scarf. I imagine that will be a WIP for months to come.
In non-knitting news, Dean and I started a new MMORPG, Age of Conan. For any non-nerds, you can pretty much stop reading now. The game is really fun, and has certainly diverted my attentions away from all things crafty. I play an Assassin, which is a pretty tough class to learn, but I think I've got the hang of it now. /end nerdiness.