What I do when it snows.

The snowstorm came and went, leaving a lot of snow in its wake. I haven't actually been out of my apartment since Friday night, so it didn't affect me that much. Saturday morning I cleaned and did a new (to me) exercise video, which seriously kicked my butt. I took a nap in the afternoon, watched junk on the computer, and knit on my seasilk clapotis. The snow stopped late afternoon, but I wasn't that motivated to get out and go. Sunday I woke up to beautiful weather. It was gorgeous, and I should have been up and about, except for the fact that I was (for 3 days) so sore from the video that movement was challenging.

Now we're in the throes of another snowstorm, and the view from my window looks like this:

Sorry for the blur - my camera isn't that great for nighttime photos taken through a dirty window. Everything appears to be closed for tomorrow, but I'll be walking in to the lab regardless, as I have some things to do. Luckily, it's not a difficult walk, just a mile, but it will be kind of messy out there. I don't have to stay too long, and then I think I will be back home to enjoy some quiet time to myself. My neighbors all seem to be very excited about their unexpected day off, and are up late and being really loud, which I'm not excited about. I probably would be if I was staying home too, frankly.

Knitting has been sporadic, as usual, and I'm fighting the urge to cast on for about 10 new things. Tonight I took advantage of not having as many urgent tasks to deal with and updated my stash page on Ravelry. Over the weekend, I finished my first two knits of the year - one that had been languishing, the other was a quick and new knit.

The oldie was finishing my striped Opal socks started back in November when I was evidently looking for a simple mindless knit. I don't typically knit with the self-striping yarn, but it does seem to go faster. I was also quite amused that my socks ended up almost identical without my trying. I think they are about a row off. I now have only 3 pairs of socks left to go, and hopefully I will have less trouble with second sock syndrome.


The quick knit was a replacement for my sadly misplaced hat. I found this pattern, the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret on Ravelry, thought it was cute, and whipped up a hat while watching a movie on Sunday night. I like the hat better than I liked the movie (Notting Hill). I'm not sure it's entirely successful - the cables make an interesting texture, but I don't think it reads that well in this hat. It is, however, cute, and I think the slouchy berets are kind of flattering. I used about a skein and a half of Tahki Yarns Tweedy Alpaca, which is also a nice yarn. The tweedy bits aren't very tightly incorporated into the yarn, so they will fall out, but the stuff was soft, pleasant to work with, and not bad elasticity. I knit the brim with a twisted rib so that it would hold shape better. This is one thing I have learned from making this kind of beret a few times.


I don't have photos of either of them, but I also put some time into my clapotis and into a lace scarf that I have been working on since March of 2008. I think that scarf is on the top of my list of things I want to finish. It's a simple pattern, just a matter of plowing through it and getting it done. I'm not doing any Knitting Olympics, and I'm not making any promises regarding my knitting promiscuity, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the number of ongoing projects, so I'm trying to wrap a few up before I start anything new.

Like Minions. Or Endpaper Mitts. Or a chevron hat. Or another beret. Of course I'm not looking at patterns. Really.

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.

Choices for blog entries.

It's not very easy taking pictures of your own head. This is the best I could do until this morning. It was complicated by the fact that every time I tried to do this using PhotoBooth, the Amazing Blur wanted to get in on the action.

So, this is the Fountain Hat. I downloaded the pattern from Knitting Daily. I wasn't totally enthralled with it, but I had 2 skeins of ShiBui Sock that refused to become socks in my hands. I tried several patterns, but I couldn't find something that I thought worked with the yarn. It's a pity, as I thought they would be excellent socks. The yarn is nice to work with, the same Louet Gems-like yarn that I gravitate towards. I adore the mulberry color, and the tonal variation - it's deep and rich and the sort of thing I get far too excited about. However, it pools. I did know this when I bought it, or at least shortly afterwards, but I thought I could beat it. And frankly, if I alternated skeins, I probably would still be really really excited about it for socks, but I'm a bit lazy for that kind of effort. Even though I love this deep burgundy/wine color.


The lace pattern wasn't hard to knit, at least the large snowflake-like motif was a piece of cake. The only stitches in this whole hat are knit, YO, and K2tog. Simple. The smaller motif was more challenging. I'm not sure what the designer was going for, and I'm not certain there isn't an error in the pattern. There aren't any difficult stitches, it just required more attention as I couldn't figure out the logic of the yarnover placements, and the overall effect is kind of incoherent to me.


My only other minor gripe is here - the very top of the hat. It's finished by simply drawing the yarn tail through a whole lot of stitches and weaving in the end. This not only leaves a fairly prominent hole at the top of the hat (it looks okay), but also doesn't strike me as the most elegant way to finish the knit.


In the end, it's a neat hat. Not super impressive or exciting, but it is cute, and I'll probably wear it around sometime. Just not until after this summer. Even with the lace holes, I don't really need a wool hat in 85˚F weather.

Knitting has slowed a little more again, this time due to a work related injury. After 9 years, I finally got bitten by a rat. Little buggers have sharp teeth. It hurts less than you might think, but my finger is a little sore and I don't want to drag yarn across the wound. (Don't ask what I was doing - you probably don't want to know. Unless you do, in which case I'll tell you.)

Summer of Socks starts soon... why do I suddenly want to cast on for a sweater?

A weird photo of a hat

So I knit a hat. A beret, specifically. I used the Purl Bee Beret pattern, which was popular a while back. I have no idea why. It's too big around the crown, and the color isn't particularly flattering; as you can see, it sort of blends in with my neck. (This is a photo of the back of my head - the hat is oversized, but not that oversized.)

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. But it's done, and it was satisfying to knit. I'll probably make another one, in fact. Just because I can.

I seem to be in the mood to do nothing more than knit in a circle. Socks are too complicated. I have regressed to tubes. I'm on the 3rd skein of Oasis for the Phiaro Scarf. It's still a green tube. A larger green tube, but a green tube nonetheless. I rather like the yarn. It's too heavy to make a garment out of, but it has a pleasant feel to it, even if it is environmentally suspect.

I also started a cowl out of some leftover alpaca and silk. Because one always needs a cowl in the summer in the south. It is a very pale pink and will look horrible next to my face as I am extremely pale. I also don't wear cowls. Regardless - I seem to be knitting tubes.

Today was a rotten day. A really really bad one. I'm not going to vent much about it, only to say that it's no fun at all to work with people who have such negative attitudes about everything that you actually feel ill when they come into a room. All the joy gets sucked out by their crappiness. Even an iPod couldn't save me today.

But all is not lost. There's still this out there:


And one of these days, I'm going to go sit on that bench and knit a tube.