Welcome back to knitting, Laurie, I'm just coming back to it too after a four month hiatus and loving it morew than ever!

What about the Angelina Hat? No way that was 5 months ago. Was it? Welcome back to the knit world!

I did the same thing this weekend; cranked the a/c to Arctic, put on some Canadian football (to pretend it's Fall) and knit!! That and a few glasses of wine and I was transported to upstate New York in October. I did have to pull the blinds though. You know how you can see heat, literally, rising up from the ground? It was wrecking my fantasy; thank god for light-blocking blinds!!

I knit my first pair of socks, Laurie!!! They're tiny baby socks but they're still socks!!!

I'm using your roll-brim hat recipe to knit a beanie for my daughter and it's coming out good. Thanks for the great pattern!

I just "rediscovered" knitting this summer too...it's been almost 100 (yikes that's hot!) here in ST. Louis and knitting keeps me from going crazy inside in the AC! Keep up the great work...Christmas is less than 6 months away and I have a TON of gifts to make!

Awwwww. I love to knit and watch tv and have the cats snuggle up. It's awesome.

Glad you found your knitting love again.

I get the same immediate sense of calm when I finally stop all this rushing around and sit down and knit. Just touching the yarn has this effect on me at times. So, if we love knitting so much, why is the rest of life always in the way? Why is knitting last on the list? How do these knitters whose blogs I also read (yours is one of my favorities, Laurie, even with knitting "gaps,") get so much freaking knitting DONE?

YAY!!! I have been trying to expand my talents (ha! talents!) by trying to knit something that has an actual pattern... a lacey scarf. So far 2 frogs and me needing to find the right yarn. But I am enjoying the journey.

Geez, I had forgotten this was a knitting blog, tee hee, welcome back to the dark side.

hehehehee ... love all the "welcome backs" LOL

It's funny, I never think of this website as a knitting blog, I think of it more as just my online diary.

Do ya'll find sometimes you go through phases where you just don't knit much?

Yeah, I've been on a six month hiatus myself. But, I have found that it comes and goes with the seasons. I just feel so silly when it is umpteen-hundred degrees outside. Love you, Laurie!

I go through phases of not knitting...usually in the summer. But I always miss it. Even when it's been 3 weeks.

Not sure what sets off my knitting "hiatus."

I think knitting funks are more common in the summer... I was having a bit of one myself until I started on my current pair of socks. You know what I keep telling you about socks, but I have to admit: this is my first pair in standard sock yarn, on size 0 needles. Have I mentioned that I'm an insanely tight knitter? You know you're getting old when you're making stitches you can't see. (Allow me to point out once again, however, that you're quite a bit younger than I am.)

I'm about to start a baby hat, too. The state of the world having depressed me beyond measure, my only hope is to try making something and giving it away. Don't ask me why this works, but it does, for me anyway.

So glad to hear that the pull of the wool has drawn you in again. Can't wait to see what you're making!

LOL Today must have been cat day, I also posted a pic of my Sasha today. She looks like your kitty they could be kin LOL.

Stay cool today, it's hot as hell here today too.

Hugs!

I just started a wool blend scarf this weekend in the 102 degree heat.

Heat wave. Oh boy, can it be hard to knit when it's that hot. Yeah - on a knitting hiatus - but I use it as an opportunity to plan projects!

Try to keep cool. Mebbe set up a kiddie wading pool?

Hooray for air conditioning! I was made fun of yesterday because I chose to FINALLY seam my Misti Alpaca turtleneck sweater (which was neatly folded in four pieces and ignored for months) yesterday, on the hottest day of the year. Glad to hear I wasn't alone in the heat wave craft craze!

I've had a couple of times where I'm not knitting anything in particular, but in the 3 years I've been knitting, I'm waiting for the haitus to start. (what's that they say - in LA we have 3 seasons: regular, sweeps and haitus.) (UN?)Fortunately, I *always* have to be knitting something, if even its just a swatchie.

A/C. How I envy you. I thought I was gonna DIE last nite. And the dry lightening was a nice touch, too.

Monkey, actually, I do knit a fair amount of swatches, even in the off-season LOL. I tried to come to snb last thursday but my clutch went out on my car, ah well. Hope you and lil monkey are fine :)

Laurie,
I don't knit, but you are an inspiration to me. Today I got my first ever manicure and nails!! I am now tap tapping on my keyboard with pretty nails. I love them. My nails also were paper thin, I could never keep ten at the same length. Thank you for the inspiration.
I love your blog, and read it faithfully. I have cats too, and horses, and chickens, and a dog, oh yeah, and a husband of 19 years. I hope my new nails can survive!
Cathy

So glad to hear you've picked up the needles again! And I think knitting hiatuses (hiati?) (what?) are perfectly normal. While I was pregnant--a time in my life when I thought I'd be endlessly knitting baby booties & sweaters & blankets over my ever-increasing belly, all with a sweet, secretive Madonna (Jesus' mom, not the pop queen) smile on my face--I quit knitting AT ALL, and didn't pick it back up until my son was several months old and I figured I should finish his baby blanket while he was still small enough to use it.

Now that my son goes to bed by 7PM, leaving me a whole stretch of time to myself each evening, I'm fully back in the habit. I LOVE it. I recently finished the Reid sweater from the spring Knitty for a friend's daughter, and I'm even crocheting now, too--another blanket for my son, inspired by the spike stitch pattern shown in the Stitch 'n Bitch Happy Hooker crochet book by Debbie Stoller. It's good to be back in the habit!

I have phases where all of my knitting just sucks and I hate it all and it hates me, but I always always get drawn back into it. Your description of starting the kitty pi again really sums it up perfectly. It made me smile, thankyou!

It must be something in the air. I didn't really give up on knitting, but I haven't done much lately and have gone days on end without touching one of my zillion projects. This weekend I started two pairs of socks and am hooked once again.

BTW, this is my first comment, so "Hi!" I spent the last two months reading all your past posts and am now caught up. I have one question...id you ever finish that Mystery Ugly Cat Thing?

-Sunny

I have phases where I don't do anything crafty much. No knitting, no crocheting, no sewing, nothing. Then suddenly I'll pick up needles or hook and off I go again. Now the real question is why did I fixate on and subsequently cast on a wool sweater to break my most recent hiatus, especially since tomorrow I'm getting on a plane to Florida and this is the WIP I'll be taking along? Maybe the heat has affected my brain? Oh well. It'll be a beautiful sweater. And your kitties will totally enjoy their pi.

Other Tara - I quit too at the beginning of pregnancy! I just couldn't focus. And that was through 60 days of rain (gotta love Portland)...you'd think that would've been inspiring enough.

Laurie - I have to agree summer is the hardest time to knit. Especially when it's hot...I've managed to do a few things. All for a charity event. Nothing like helping others to get back on the knitting horse...er...needle.

OK. Maybe I'll get off my lazy butt and start working on my cardigan once more. Oh, and there's the cute little dress I wanted to make for my cousin's daughter's first birthday in October.

i had a purse in progress run me out of knitting for a while until i was re-introduced to my yarn stash over july 4th... it is a wonderful thing to fall back in love with knitting! i am glad you fell again :) i look forward to more knit pictures and postings along with patterns and instructions soon :)

I need to get obsessed with cross stitching again. It's a gift for a wedding in October. Blah. All the fun is sucked out when there's a deadline.

Welcome back to the knit!

I have to tell you, when I was a little girl growing up in the LA area, it never got as hot as it does these days. And I'm close to your age. Global warming is alive and kicking. And it scares me!

Thanks for the new(ish) Soba pic. Soba rules. I think we should make bumper stickers.

Helen

I have been knitting since back when jesus was a pup (can you hear that in my faux Southern accent), and I have gone through many (hiatuses? hiati?, hiatoni?) breaks. I learned in elementary school and then stopped and picked it back up again in college. Then stopped again when i was pregnant, and really didn't start back again until I separated from my husband (five years later). In general, I find that I stop knitting (or doing anything creative) when I get depressed. As a matter of fact, my disinclination to knit is one of my clues that I may be heading into another depression. So...in light of that, it is great to hear that you have picked it back up again!

I was just thinking an ideal vacation for me would be to take my (new) dog to the beach, hole up in a cottage for 10 days, and do nothing but knit, relax, eat, drink, and walk the dog.

I'd knit nothing but in the round! Excited to see the kitty pi's. :-)

Oh girl, I SO know what you mean. It is sheer bliss to be knitting on a beloved project with fantastic yarn while situated comfortably (stretched out) on the couch, with a cat or two nearby and something delightful on the tube. Can heaven be much better than that? I'm thinking, not.

In fact, I envision a knitter's heaven where everyone has an unlimited yarn stash and the most comfortable seat ever and sitting quite nearby are several fantastic knitting friends on their most comfortable seats ever, and we all have at least one cat snuggled up next to us. And there is no such thing as incorrect gauge or dropped stitches. And all the yarns are soft. And all our F.O.s are beautiful and beloved by their recipients. :-)

I totally fall in/out of crafty phases!
I fell back into knitting a few weeks ago when I was having a hard time justifying my horizontal tendencies and I had a few chick flicks to watch.
I am so proud of my finished projects that I'm planning for more and more - and here I am buying yarn instead of food again.
One day when I actually get a digital camera, I will include pictures to links of said finished projects...maybe a blog of my very own?
Until then, just imagine how cute my tiny dog looks in her little white sleeveless sweater - with her name fair-isled on the back.
Cats would never forgive you for knitting them sweaters though.

Okay, it's only been 90ish degrees in Berkeley, but there's no AC in my apartment (poor hot kitties), broken AC in my car and no AC in my place of work (the attic of a 100 year old histerical building). Yet still I knit WITH WOOL because I started taking my first official knitting class last week. They don't call it a SWEATer for nothing.

Alas, I can't knit in this heat. We just run out to the pool and float all day.

PSA - big sunglasses and a lack of sunscreen lead to serious raccoon look. Just sayin

Think of all the attention you could get if you knitted Los Angeles weatherman Johnny Mountain a new hat for winter.

Yay, Auntie Purl is back to knitting!!!

I'm just a freak - I knit with wool, in all temperatures. And damn it's hot up here in Toronto too...

I have done the same thing! Over the weekend, I picked up a baby sweater that I had started months ago. I have, unfortunately, also been neglecting my poor little blog...

I seem to have started a year-long beading hiatus when I started to knit, and one of the reasons I wanted to learn to knit was to do knitted beadwork. Soon, soon..

Heat wave = socks &/or lace!

I think everyone goes through knitters block every now and then... I find that it is my WIP's that I am uninspired to finish hold me back from the new projects, so then I don't knit because I don't want to finish the WIP's (right now)and I don't want to start something new till the WIP's are done....vicious circle...
Can't wait to see that kitty pi.
Heidi

are you sure you don't just love your fake fingernails???

Just kidding... though there is something much more calming about knitting in the round than straight...

I do kinda love my fake nails. heh.

I definitely have an occasional knitting funk. It usually happens right after I finish either a really big project or a really exciting project, something I was looking forward to finishing. I get that massive high - "Look! I did it! Look what I knitted, y'all!" - and then come down reeeeeal hard. At those times, there's only one place to turn: My British cross-stitch magazines. :) Lovely cross-stitch, my other crafty obsession!

Knitting with a friend and beer. The little joys of life. I was able to read (and finish) a book during my trip to Mexico City and yes, I called room service for beer. Que Viva!

I hadn't even noticed you'd stopped knitting, but now that you mention it. . . How great is Linda from Yarnzilla? She doesn't even blink when I come in and buy yet another set of Denise needles, cos she's addicted to them too. Her mom is often there knitting away and it was her advice that led me to go ahead and just stitch up my first sweater. There are so many yarn stores where the owner and sales people like yarn more than they like people, but Linda seems to like them both. They are hard to find and their hours are a little limited, but they are really terrific! (I know I could order online anytime I like but it seems silly when I pass within blocks of them each day on my way home from work)

Knitting is like the proverbial "riding a bike." You can always come back to it because once you know how to do it, it will always be your friend. (Or kick your butt, depending on the day and the pattern and the yarn.)

I quit completely for seven years (living in NYC, other things to do, whatever) and now I'm back to knitting every day.

For everything there is a season, yes? Although it must be said that summer ain't exactly the ideal season for knitting. I'm off to sit in front of my AC with my wool now...

Welcome back to the maniacal fold, CAP! I've recently discovered the joy of short-rowing thanks to a cool pattern I found at MAGKnits. Stay cool and keep stitching!

Laurie, do you have Wendy's book? She's revised the Kitty Pi pattern so it's less likely to flop post-felting.

I retrofitted my first KP with a ruffle, which did provide more stability but makes the cat inside look like a Bizarro World oyster on the half shell.

This is what's called "feeling comfortable with yourself, by yourself". It is a big honking step along the journey. You can spend lots of time with friends and lovers, but now you have the option of being happy by yourself. Once you know you can be comfortable alone, you can be happy just about anywhere.

Congrats on getting back to the knitting, too. You've pretty much sold me on Noro Transitions.

YAY for knitting!! I do socks in the summer. All I can manage.

112!?!? That's about what it was here in Vegas on Saturday! I didn't go out of the house, just watched TV, sort of, and let the fan blow on me, while the A/C failed to keep up. It was definitely too hot to knit!
My cats spend most of their time lying on the kitchen floor. It's not cool, exactly, but it's way cooler than it is upstairs!
Julie

Somedays I think knitting is the only thing I have left that's wholly mine. Except for the last few days of yarn dyeing, I haven't taken a hiatus, but I imagine that is coming when my daugther gets old enough to open the outside door be herself and doesn't nap anymore.

Laurie, you're what the Yarn Harlot calls a "Pretender:"

"These knitters are barely knitters, having been granted "knitter" status only by the virtue of their affection for the craft and the way they keep turning up. Pretenders buy lots of yarn and lots of patterns, show up at all the conferences and knitting meet-ups, but- inexplicably- don't seem to knit at all. Pretenders can be outed by careful observation. Have they been knitting the same blue garter-stitch scarf for six and a half years with no discernible progress?"

Laurie, you can break from the reins of pretender-dom and become a Real Knitter! All you have to do is knit MORE!! You can do it!

Gotta love it when it's 110 in the house and the cats want to snuggle. Nothing beats trying to sleep with a 15-lb longhaired cat on your shoulder. I've been in a knitting funk and can barely haul out the needles and yarn when it's SnB time, but I've been working on it. Maybe when it cools down out here. The SG Valley is as hot and nasty as the SF Valley, methinks.

You're right about the lapses - I think everyone has them. It's good to rediscover knitting and then the obsession seems even more, um, obsessive. Welcome back!

Re: Sobakawa. Even dictators need down time.

Wonderful post! They say the fingers remember - only, I wish mine would remember the speed they had learned last time too ;o) Every time I go off knitting for a few weeks and come back, I am slower than ever for a few days!

Oh yeah, you're really feeding my itch now *grin* I haven't knit in a couple of months now.. but at least I've been thinking about it. Your post just made me think a little more about how comforting it might be. Thanks.

I go through knitting phases too. Of course, it's a lot more shameful when knitting is your business.

"Here, customers, knit this pretty shawl!" I say, while cobwebs grow over my pile of unfinished projects....

Try knitting "My So Called Scarf" with the Noro. You can find the pattern at http://www.sheepinthecity.prettyposies.com/archives/000079.html

Its really just a herringbone stitch but I had never seen it before. I have become obsessed with this stitch. The colors of the Noro would work so beautifully with this stitch. I have just started this pattern and its only two rows so very easy to memorize.

I think my next project will be a kitty pi for Toby, my chihuahua. He needs his own bed so my husband and I can have our bed back. For a little thing he sure does take up a lot of room.

BTW, on the "My So Called Scarf", I should send this page also. It has an alternate way of doing this stitch that I found is a little easier.

http://scooterknits.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/01/my_so_called_sc.html

Happy Knitting!

I picked up crocheting again after getting a tad bored with knitting.... (shhh! don't tell my husband or he'll start yelling about all the knitting books and stuff! -- LOL!!)
I haven't had my nails done in a while and they look crapola, just haven't had the $; But to me, it is a very female thing to do. Just makes me feel more feminine.
Not as hot here as there, but it still sucks.

Repo Man is always intense.
How strange, that I didn't notice you weren't knitting. I think it was those clever patterns and tutorials that threw me off. Okay, so it was one each. But still.

I think I could knit on the sun. It's the only thing that allows me to truly relax and just get lost in creative process.

Okay...am I the only one who now has that Abba song in my head? (I do, I do, I do, I do, I do)

I think I've been listening to the Mama Mia soundtrack for a little too long...

Thanks for the shout out to Stitch Cafe in the Noro post. I just moved to town and was wondering where the nearest yarn enablers to my new place were...at five minutes away, sounds like they're it. See you around.