Saturday

Time to move that last post down the page. We finally have beautiful, sunny weather, great for being outside, or taking photos of things I've been knitting. Of course, now that the weather is good, the wee beastie is down with another bug. Holding steady with a fever just under 102, cheerful, but too tired and sick to do much of anything. Unfortunate, because it's gorgeous.

At the same time, I'm really behind on little tasks and cleaning, so I can catch up on those things. I'm trying to do some meal planning for the week, and stockpile some meals for those nights when there's just no time. I'm trying to eat more healthily, and not spend as much on takeout, but the last couple of weeks have knocked me for a loop.

I've noticed that the more I have going on, them more small projects I tend to accumulate. The latest evidence:

I knit a Last Minute Purled Beret (pdf download) from a skein of Manos I had been hoarding. It's okay, but I think I probably should have knit a smaller size. I just washed it a few moments ago, and it's drying on a plate. I may need to figure out something to tighten up the ribbing, or find a large-headed friend to gift it to. It's okay. I loved Manos when I first found it. The colors are very pretty, and it's soft, but I feel like this hat screams "handknit," and not in a good way. I may feel better about it once it's dried, but I'm thinking that I might put a pink ribbon in right above the ribbing, knit a quick flower, and gift it to my niece. This is hot off the needles, but still.



In the same stash-busting urge, I started a pair of Dashings. The Cascade 220 was a nice contrast to the Manos - I feel a lot better seeing even stitches. These are good for tv or movie knitting. No, I don't really need fingerless mitts, and I probably won't wear them, but I figure someone will like them. Besides, I can't make a hat out of this color. I'm really pale, and this color would look incredibly BAD on me. Wearing a hat out of this color would make me look like a zombie on a good day.


Husband is overdue for socks. I've had this yarn in stash for him for a long time, and I'm slowly knitting these up. I was speeding along for a while - the pattern is easy to remember, and since he likes short socks, they're a relatively quick knit. The hardest part is getting him to try the sock on for size, and I'm rapidly approaching the point where I need to start the toe. (An inch or so.)
I have another pair on the needles for him, but I'm contemplating ripping them back slightly. I realized I liked the purl side a lot better than the knit side, and then proceeded to work them inside out. However, the sock is a lot slower going in all purl, and I have a harder time remembering whether or not I've done my decreases. It might be a lot faster if I rip back and just knit the dumb things and turn them inside out at the very end. I was concerned about the gusset, where I pick up stitches, but this time it look just as good on the inside as the outside. Since I don't love this yarn, I'd almost rather just get it over with, and take the time to undo it so the knitting will go faster.

Finally there's Juno. I love this pattern, but right now, it's an object lesson in why it's a bad idea to try to knit from a chart when you're sick. In other words, although it's not a hard knit, or a hard pattern to follow, it's in time out for a while.


Enough for now, I suppose. I keep getting interrupted, and I can't remember what else I was going to say. Sick one is feeling bouncy, and is demanding attention.

Little bits of nothing much.

It's lovely and quiet at my house, and I am going to stay here and work on a manuscript today.

When most of your knitting has been this:

there really isn't a whole lot you can say.


I still have a love affair with Fleece Artist and Handmaiden yarns.


Comments, please. I think it might be really garish. Your thoughts?

Evidently I don't have a whole lot of words today. Maybe later.

Still here...

What do you blog about when you're in the middle of several projects that are just taking a long time? Especially if a progress shot, or comments on progress would be along the lines of "look - it's the same as the last time, just a little longer."

Since my last post, I washed and wore my cardigan. To work, even, and 2 people said they liked it, and were shocked that it was something I knit. That pleased me to no end. After washing it, the button bands behaved nicely, but I did notice the neck stretching out a bit more than I wanted by the end of the day. I might crochet a reinforcing line of stitches, just as Yarn Harlot blogged about a while back, or just file that tidbit away for the next time I knit a cardigan. The key question - did I take pictures? Of course not. I completely forgot.

I think I might have finished a sock, but it was fairly unremarkable, and when it comes to unremarkable socks, I'd like to at least have a pair to blog about. I'm still knitting what seems to be miles of a 2-line lace pattern for Juno Regina. My thoughts at the moment are that I really like the pattern, really like the yarn, really hate the color. I think the reds and purples are great, but the blue is too contrasting for my taste. I'm going to finish knitting this, then add it to a gift pile. It seems like I can find homes for my knits, so I'm not going to be upset about it. At some point I'm going to have to purchase a LBD for events around here, and I can actually wear a stole or lace shawl. I will knit one for myself, but this isn't it.

I really have nothing much interesting to blog. I've been spending lots and lots of time at work, trying to get ahead before I have to leave town at an unspecified time to be present for a family member's surgery. Which will take an unspecified length of time. As you might anticipate, I've been doing anxiety knitting, which in my case means casting on a whole bunch of things and seeing what sticks. Lots of easy and mindless knitting, until it bores me or I think I need distraction.

But enough pity party. I have more work to do tonight before I go back to knitting and stalking the MCY thread on Ravelry. It's a sick obsession of mine - but it's fascinating...

It slices, it dices, it can save the world!

Ok, not really. But the seemingly never-ending Chevron Scarf is finished. Ends have been woven, and the scarf has been blocked (yes, you do need to block it even if the pattern doesn't explicitly state that. Otherwise it puckers, for obvious reasons.)



There's not that much I can really say about it. It's a simple, boring knit. Size 5 needles. 2 skeins Lorna's Laces. Knit until you run out of yarn. It took me about 3 weeks of working on it sporadically. Mindless, but the final result is kind of pretty, although too thin. Reminds me a bit of the marbleized endpapers you find in old books. It's rather purple, and a little moody, but I could see myself wearing this with a black sweater. I won't be going out of my way to make this again, but I would consider making one for a friend if she asked for one. I did use up some stash that I wanted to go away.

And just for fun, this is an in progress shot of the Rib and Cable sock that just seems to have happened. Simple, but with enough going on to keep it from being totally boring. This is my wandering around knitting, something I throw in my bag for spare moments.



Juno Regina is the current television knitting. I've knit about 6" of the 42" of a two-line pattern repeat. I have a feeling this will be sitting next to me for a while.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the last post - it's not me, but I don't really want to talk about it, at least not now.

More knitting

I realized that I didn't actually publish the last post I wrote, so this one is a double-header.

Most of my attention has been taken up by Juno Regina.




I've finished the fun lace part for a while, now I'm on a two row repeat for another 40 inches or so. I continue to be frustrated by the multi-colored yarn. I have a lot of it, yet I find I don't love it. This skein would be great if it wasn't for the blue. I think the reds and the purples are lovely, but the blue just seems too far off. I'm going to finish the knitting and assess what it looks like, then see if there's anything I can overdye with to dampen down that blue a bit. The yarn is Helen's Lace - purchased as a present for me. It's great to work with. The combination of wool and silk makes it crisp, soft, and shiny. I really like it, but I'm thinking that the lace is getting eaten by the color. I won't really be able to tell until the end, and I might like it better by then.

In other news, there's a lot of not so great stuff going on in my life, but I don't really want to talk about it. I might not be doing much more than putting pictures up for a while, with little explanation. On the up side, there will probably be lots of knitting to look at.

Hit a milestone recently - I ran 25 minutes straight. And then my next run I could only go for 20 minutes, and felt bad about it. Then I realized that I could run 20 minutes straight, and that's a big accomplishment for me.