Quiet knitting days here in Barbados

Goodnight from my sleepy island. It's after 10 here and I am in betwix and between. Lately, I've developed a feeling of restless expectancy and anticipation for the knitting new year. I have been steadily lurking on many blogs and would actually like to find some others to add to my growing list of blog favourites. I am feeling particulary inspired by the FOs that I've seen come off of some needles as Christmas gifts. Add to that a constant diet of the knitpicks podcast and you can begin to understand how I feel. There are some books that I have lined up to purchase and I am researching the yarns I will need to simultaneously aquire in order to ease the tension I feel building. This is one of the drawbacks of living on an island - access to things that others take for granted - especially if those things relate to knitting - can certainly put a cramp in a Caribbean girl's style, particularly when she wants to get her knitting on.

One of the many books that I have lined up is Sensual Knits. This books is absolutely stunning and it has styles that a plus sized person can knit and wear. As usual, I may come late to the party but I catch on real quick. Another book I am interested in is The Sweater Workshop. This is a book I had stashed in my knitpicks cart as a must purchase and Kelly Petkun in her podcast reinforced that decision by naming this a must have. I have been tinkering with some designs and I believe this book will help me accomplish one of my goals on creating my own designs. For me this is a big undertaking and I will tread with great care. Check me back in a few months.

Oh, I almost forgot! I have another FO - I don't have proof of it as the camera is currently playing the fool once again and I don't feel like wrangling with it tonight. Remember that mitten that was holding on to dear life to the scarf with it's ends all hanging out? (no? just read the previous post) Well, I've finished it's twin and I suspect that it might be just a wee bit shorter that the first one (nothing that a little stretching and pulling won't correct) and I'm happy with it. WIll I ever do mittens again? Yes, I think so. But this time I will attempt the convertible ones. I could have done that this time around but I really didn't feel like spending a terrible amount of time on these gifts... remember I'm feeling restless.

I also have been playing around with the idea of forming a knitting group here. People around here reserve knitting for old grammas and then still ask you - "What are you crocheting?" They call yarn wool. Everything is wool. Present them with a delectable skein of Lobster Pot Cashmere yarn and it will be promptly and unapologetically labelled wool. I learnt very quickly to NOT correct people when they say wool. It generally confuses them. But, oddly enough, I did meet a woman (my stand in hairdresser) who was able to correctly identify my work as knitting and she said that she used to knit all sorts of wonderful stuff. I must say that my efforts to get her back in the saddle were wasted as she's much too busy now for knitting. I was a little aghast as she did know what she was missing!! Anyways, I'm pretty sure my friend bajanknit will be there. I've already thought of a couple places that a group of women with needles could meet. The challenge now will be how to find these women. Surely there must be some other people on this island besides us two that love to knit and actively do so! Maybe there are some expats out there too that are sitting at home all lonely thinking that they have no one to knit with. Any suggestions on how to go about finding people will be greatly appreciated!

Anyways, I've rambled on long enough. I'll go now and see who has won the battle between Batali and Oliver and do a few more rows on my DSL - yes, that's right! I've been knitting on the DSL and I am confident that by the time it has swallowed the last few skeins of Pima Tencel, I will have a beautiful finished object to add to my first two for the year!

Later!