Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft? Maybe the skill or pattern is one that you don’t even personally want to make but can stand back and admire those that do. Maybe it is something you think you will never be bothered to actually make but can admire the result of those that have.

At this point with knitting, I’ve learned a pretty vast amount of skills, but I have a LOT of skills I have not tried or mastered. Some are simple things I haven’t tried simply because I haven’t been interested enough, but appreciate the creations others make – entrelac and beadwork are two examples – and there are a number of skills I am very excited to tackle but need the time to sit down, prepare myself, focus, and do it.

Like lacework. Oh how I need to start lacework. And my lacework, I don’t mean putting cute eyelet enhancers on a piece or basic lacework in shaping like my Monkeys here:

(Though credit where credit’s due, these Monkeys gave me my first foray into yarnovers, and I was no longer afraid.)

Lacework is a skill I want to tackle this year. I want to choose lace patterns that will challenge me but not make me tear out hair in frustration. Something that requires some careful attention to detail, at least at first. I want to NOT have it be a mindless pattern, I have plenty of those. Perhaps this summer, for something nice and lightweight to work on. I just need to keep ogling these to inspire me…

(KnitPicks Shadow laceweight in Vineyard and Sunset)

Lacework’s gonna be hard to resist this year.

What’s been going on? Well, this is Jack.

Jack was born on December 7th, 2007 at about 3:00pm. My brother called me to announce him at about 4:00pm. Not a word of a lie, I cast off at 3:38pm for this.

This is Jack’s Beanstalk Blanket.

It was a name that was suggested by three seperate people after hearing his name (Ninja-Boyfriend, friend Janis, and friend Kevin, for credit’s sake) and I liked the name, so it has been named.

The lace columns are a Vandyke lace pattern, split with columns of stockinette stitch, and a seed stitch edging all around.

Knit with Patons Decor, a soft acrylic and wool blend, making it both machine washable and warm. The final measurements are about 30″ wide by 31″ tall.

Took me a total of two months to knit, smattered with other knit things, here and there. Mostly focusing on the blanket. The pattern is an original design by myself, and I will be publishing it soon.

But first.. I need to finish the painting I’m doing for Jack’s nursery and get this parcel sent off for Christmas. :)

Even the Jaywalker has taken a back burner, and hasn’t seen much progress since I last posted it. I’ve been putting all of my time and focus into one project, one that I spent hours designing, measuring, swatching, and now finally knitting.

A baby blanket, for the incoming niece or nephew. Knit on Addi Turbos, with Patons Classic Wool Merino in a nice forest green. The design, on its own, is basic -seed stitch border, three Vandyke lace columns on a background of stockinette stitch-  but the execution was much harder than I had thought. Three swatch squares, lots of measuring and re-measuring… but the process was delightful.

Now that I’m already just under a third of the way to completed, I’m pretty confident that I can finish this by the end of November (the baby is due December 5th). Once the blanket is done, I’ll post an official pattern for it – it’s only the third thing I’ve ever designed, so I’m excited.

I plan to start a few smaller projects while finishing this one. Just baby bonnets, and maybe some booties. I’ve also been working on a KnittingNinja Designs branding kit to put in my design portfolio – perhaps some little card-tags I can tie to projects I give out to people, and something with which I can make little kits to sell on Etsy. I’m in the business frame of mind again!

Also: some new links added to the blogroll, of some cool people who have linked to me. Hi, gals!