Knitting Bucket List

I got to thinking the other day. "What would be on my bucket list?" Then, I got to thinking "More importantly, what would be on my knitting bucket list??"

I one of the top items on my bucket list would be my knitting bucket list. But that is cheating I reckon. :)

My ravelry.com queue could be considered a knitting bucket list of sorts. However I think I need to pair it down and think about it some more. I treat my queue as a place holder for stuff I like at the moment. At the moment there are a lot lace shawls and kiddie clothing pieces. However I don't know how many of these I will go out of my way to complete before I kick the bucket. I grant you, there are a couple of items on that queue that I consider "graduation" pieces. Pieces that I want to complete before I feel that I have gotten significantly better as a knitter.

The following are current contenders for my knitting bucket list:

• Haruni by Emily Ross - stunning full size shawl with beautiful detail. Love it.
• In Bloom by Kimberli Mackay - I am intimidated by felting. This would be the project to prove to myself that I am over my intimidation AND I would have a gorgeous bag to boot.
• Peacock Feathers Shawl by Dorothy Siemens - This is huge, awsome, stunning and truly scary. I want to make one.
• OpArt by Melissa Dominguez - this make my inner geek happy. I just have to find the right parents/baby who love it too.

stay tuned for more additions...

Platypi Squared baby blanket

Last week was a week of extreme knitting for me. This week marks the start of the local county fair which meant I needed to get my entries in last Friday. I had everything completed, blocked and finished.... except one.

With 24hrs to go, I still had 7,000 to go, all the ends to be sewn in and needed to at least attempt some sort of blocking. So it was off to my mother-in-law's place so that the kids could run around and play while I sit down and KNIT! By 2am, all bar 10 rows where done. I thought it wise to get at least 4hrs sleep. To give some context, I am not the fastest knitter in the world and can average about 1,500 stitches on a good day.

The next morning saw a DvD go into the player for the kids and the last 10 rows completed. Sewing in the ends was done during my son's speech therapy session. With four hours left I still needed to block. So, I packed up my rubber blocking mats, my spray bottle and pins and headed to the swimming pool where the kids were having a swimming lesson. I think knit blocking was a first on the pool deck of my local swimming pool! :) Thanks to Colorado's hot and dry summers, blocking was completed in about 15mins.

I managed to get it submitted with 2hrs to spare. It didn't win any prizes, however I am really happy with the way it turned out. Once I get it back, I'll back it with fleece and send it onto my sister in Australia. I also submitted my Traveling Woman Shawl, which came 2nd, which I was pretty happy about.

I've written up the pattern and it is currently up for test knitting on Ravelry. If anyone is interested in test knitting this pattern, just follow the link:

Platypi Squared Baby Blanket

Note: you'll have to have a Ravelry.com account to be able to see the above link.