Chugging away

I'm actually pretty impressed with myself and how far I've gotten on the Wedding scarfs. I am at a little over 5 feet with the first one. I was planning for 6 to 6 1/2 feet for the whole thing, but I'll see. My goal was 1 foot a day, and while I was behind all week, I caught up last night. Well... kind of.... Yesterday should have been 6 feet, and I'm probably 6 inches short right now. I'd better go knit!

Pictures up soon!

What I have I gotten myself into

Last May, I mentioned my knitting to a co-worker, and she expressed an interest in a pair of socks for her son. Summer started without any solid plans. August came around and she again expressed her interest. I happened to have a single ball of sock yarn in a grey color. Two weeks later, a pair of ribbed size 8 socks. I didn't want to be paid for them; the yarn was cheap, and I was happy to knit for someone else, and in a quick knit.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, she comes to me to say she wanted to hire me to make some Christmas gifts. I thought, why not? I am planning on knitting some of my own gifts, but who says I can't squeeze in some small knits too.

Thursday we meet, and here is now my list:

2 cabled scarves for a Wedding on Oct 3rd! requested by her mother ( yes this means my ban on cables has been lifted.)
One sock/hat combo in Knit Picks Princess Multi for a 6 month old
One sock/hat combo in Knit Picks Lantana for a 2 year old
One hat/scarf combo for a 3 year old with a 20" head in Knit Picks Carbon Twist
One hat/scarf combo for a 2/3 year old with an even bigger head in Knit Picks Timber kettle

I know I'm crazy for agreeing, but if I ever want to do SOMETHING in knitting for a living, I have to start somewhere, and this seems as good a place as any.

Now I know a lot of people have a lot of opinions on how much to charge for hand knitted items, but I will not be charging a reasonable price for my time. I am a college educated professional, so in my job I am highly skilled. In knitting I have 3 years under my belt, with a wide variety of experience. I CANNOT reasonably charge for my time. The way I think of it, I'm already getting paid to do my professional job; knitting is what I do in my free time. I'd be knitting anyway in my free time, and NOT getting paid, so any money I make is gravy. My mom told me this when I was about 9, and wanted to make money making lanyards. And I still think this is be best advice for hand made items. I also, do not pretend to be as skilled as those who craft for a living. Balk at my decisions if you must, but I know I wouldn't pay $100 for an acrylic scarf. (Of course I won't pay $40 for a pair of shoes, and those are workhorses.)

Official Results

Edit: I wrote this when I should have, but never posted it.
I now consider my summer over. Yes, it is still hot, yes it is only August, but for me it is the start of fall. So how did I do on my goals?


1. Finish Manly Man sock. (not a real goal, as I have about 20 rows left on the second sock.)
2. Finish Cable Net socks. (The second one has been languishing since January.)
3. Finish Dem Fisher Sin Fru.
4. Finish the last handle on the Everlasting Bag Stopper.
5. Cast on and finish Tangled Yoke Cardigan.
6. Cast on and finish Brea Bag.
7. Cast on and finish Black Sea Hat.
8. Cast on and finish Odessa.
9. Cast on and finish Shedir.
10. Cast on and finish Sophie.

Not to mention I plan on finishing a few books:
1. An Assembly such as this
2. Fool Moon
3. Sense and Sensibility

3 knitting objects, and two books. However, I did finish some things that were NOT on my list. My small chevron scarf, which I also dyed and spun, a pair of fetching, and a hither to unmentioned pair of Evangeline mitts.