I hate knitting sleeves.  I haven’t knit all that many (yet) but I already have decided that I really don’t like them.

You’d think, being that I love knitting socks, that sleeves wouldn’t be a big deal.  What is a sleeve but a long sock minus the heel?  Yet, I can’t stand them.

Exhibit A. My “Charlie Brown” sweater.

I started on this project on August 16th.  I made great progress on the body of the sweater, which was knitted in the round from the bottom up.  The fair isle zig-zag was fun. Even the decreasing for the neck kept my attention.

But the sleeves?  No.  This thing has been languishing, stuffed in the bottom of my living room ottoman (thank goodness for storage ottmans - every knitter needs one).

If I could just get past the sleeves, this sweater would be done in no time flat!  All I’d have to do is knit the ribbing around the neckline.  That’s it.  But no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to force myself into digging it out of the ottoman.

Exhibit B. Wallaby Sweater #2.

And here we have another armless sweater!  (Er… or should I say sleeveless?  Sweaters don’t really have arms, do they?)

I thought I’d get particularly clever with this sweater and knit the sleeves two at a time.  And I thought I’d do it on magic loop so that I wouldn’t have to deal with pesky DPNs.

… Both good ideas, but I’m quickly finding that neither is helping my sleeve-knitting motivation any.

You know what’s even worse?  These are only children’s size sweaters.  Imagine what’s going to happen when I cast on the adult-size sweaters that have in my “to-knit” queue?!  HELP.  I need some sleeve-knitting mojo over here!!

Hm, either that or perhaps we’ll go with a Charlie Brown vest and a hooded tank top sweater.  What do you think?  Ha ha.

Tomorrow I’m teaching part-1 of my Wonderful Wallaby Sweater class.  I’ve really become pretty hooked on this pattern.  I have one finished and two more at different states of completion…

The pastel one on the left is a children’s size 6 and the dusty blue one on the right is the very beginnings of an adult size XL.  The latter will hopefully be a Christmas gift, though I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much.

My plan for tomorrow’s class is to get everyone to cast the body on, knit the ribbing at the bottom, and show them how to pick up stitches to start the base of the pocket.  (I’m using a slightly different — and I think easier — method than suggested in the pattern.  Then I’m going to use the rest of the class to show how to cast on to knit the sleeves both at the same time on magic loop.  I didn’t use that technique for my first Wallaby, and if you look closely, my sleeves are slightly different lengths.  Whoops!  Not to mention that by the time I was casting on for the second sleeve, I was tired of sleeve-knitting and wanted to move on.  So I think the 2-at-a-time magic loop technique will be great in this instance.

Of course you all know that I can never have just ONE project going at a time, so I also am working on a pair of socks (Christmas gift).

The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock and it’s been in my stash for a while.  It’s the July ‘08 limited edition colorway, Fireworks (though I think it looks more like fruit salad than fireworks).  It’s such a happy, summery color so it is a lot of fun to be knitting this time of year.

The pattern is the official pattern for Summer of Socks ‘08, designed by Wendy — again, I’m just finally getting around to knitting it.  Better late than never, eh?

Anyway, I’m really, really liking these socks a lot … they’re going to be difficult to give away come Christmastime!

I found this originally posted by Cat Bordhi on Ravelry within the Sock Summit 2009 discussion group.  I’m reposting it here because I felt it summed up a lot of what I’ve been feeling lately.

November 3, 2008

Heal the Election Wounds and Embrace Humanity with a Moebius
By Cat Bordhi

I awoke this morning realizing that publicly knitting a beautiful Moebius scarf as I begin to float (I live on an island), drive, and fly toward Stitches East on Tuesday would be a beautiful and profound public expression of my hopes and dreams for the world, as well as a symbol of the healing that our country will need after the election.

If you want to follow along, I recently made a Youtube video which will clearly teach you how to knit a Moebius whether you have my books or not.

So - here is why the Moebius is a perfect expression of the best of humanity, and the healing of the fractured country and world that I trust is coming:

1. The Moebius appears to have two surfaces and two edges - ie, polarities such as black and white, right and wrong, good and bad, Republican and Democrat - but when you follow the surface around you will run right into your starting point without ever having changed to the other “side.” For there isn’t one. Everything flows into itself. Polarities are an illusion. What lies beneath the apparent polarities is oneness, beauty, and grace. In a Moebius you can see it, hold it, be awed by it. Once the frenzy dies down, hopefully those with opposing views will slowly rediscover their common humanity.
2. Like the surface that flows into itself, so too does the Moebius’s single continuous edge - thus everything is recycled. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if the ultimate alternative energy involves a Moebius form or dynamic. By the way, the recycling symbols (2 are in common usage, one with a single twist, the other with 3) you see everywhere are actually Moebii (too hard to say Moebiuses - try it!). I think we are all hoping for significant and effective new discoveries in alternative energy - and the Moebius would be a great symbol for this global effort.
3. Once you complete the first ring (it takes 2 rings to make a round - watch the video) of your Moebius, you are in for smooth and happy sailing. All you have to do is to knit the stitch in front of you, then the next stitch in front of you, with not a care in the world for what came before or what has shifted into the “future”. You’ll look at the mysterious shape on your needles and wonder how “those stitches” can ever come to you … well, they will, without your needing to understand how. And they will all come in perfect sequence, resulting in a beautiful and graceful Moebius. The Moebius rewards your faith in its mystery with the easiest knitting you will ever do. And the result is always graceful - for this is the very nature of the Moebius. You can knit along while you watch the election results, while walking, while standing in line at the store, wherever you may find yourself during these days to come. You will be knitting the graceful healing and ease that I believe is flowing toward us, requiring only of us that we stay true to the powerful sense of loving kindness that resides in the center of every person. No one could ever possibly understand enough to make the healing happen, but if we all just knit the stitch before us, as they come, marveling at the innocence and sweetness of it all, with our oh so familiar continuous strand of yarn, the healing will happen. We need not understand either one fully - the Moebius or the world. They both operate with inherent grace.
4. I looked through my stash and chose a luminous yarn in deep watery colors from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - LSS (Luscious Single Silk), and did not realize until I looked at the label that the colorway is absolutely apropos: Lunasea. Tina no doubt named the colorway after the moon and the sea - and after lunacy. So let the lunacy of the election months give way to Lunasea - the grace of the moon, the sea, the Moebius, and the beautiful heart of humanity, of all people, the “us” and “them” who merge into one. I shall be winding the skein on the ferry tomorrow, then knitting all the way to Baltimore. I hope to see many, many of you there.

With love from Cat Bordhi

Note: If you alternate sets of knit and purl rounds, you will have purl ridges all around. Then your Moebius will not curl along the edges when you are done.

I’ve seen too many people hurt over this election.  Please let the healing begin, and no matter what the outcome after today, let’s get behind our new president and band together as Americans and support eachother to make this world a little brighter, better place.