BLOCKING:

This is the first time I have properly washed and blocked a lace scarf (the Juliet being my first lace scarf), and after leaving it unblocked and soft and cushy for months I finally got up the courage to bite the bullet and do it.

Here is a before pic:


I have learned several things:
1) This silk gets incredibly stinky when wet. Hopefully the smell will dissipate when it dries, good lord.

2) There are never enough pins, not in the entire world.

3) No-one will be able to iron shirts in the morning.

4) Despite not being wool, this pattern still opens up LIKE CRAZY.

WIP Roundup

Okay. This is just madness. I have a psychological inability to finish knitting projects within a reasonable amount of time. Here's a list:

Raha Scarf: I need to weave the ends in, wash and block, and mail to Emily. This was supposed to be done like a YEAR ago. shame!

St. James Sweater: Technically this is finished, since I sewed a ribbon into the collar (for maximum stability and awesomeness) and wore it on christmas eve. But! I still need to wash it and block it, which I'm totally afraid of since it fits so well as is. ah me. And I need a decent picture of the sweater in action.

Triinu Scarf: I haven't worked on this in a while, mainly due to holiday madness, but it's such a complicated pattern that I need absolute quiet in order to focus. So I don't see this one being finished any time soon. I have about six or seven inches of scarf done. it's gorgeous, and I love doing the lacework and working with that yarn, it's just so intensive. a rainy day project. :)

Socks: no more progress since tuesday, I still have a couple inches of ribbing to go on sock #2. But I brought it in today to work on during my break.

And because I just needed something new in my life, I've started a Ballband Dishcloth, as featured in Mason-Dixon Knitting and a million other places. I love the pattern, it looks way more sophisticated than it is, and the colors just make me alert and excited. Although when I'm madly chugging away at near-midnight, the color combo of deep magenta and seafoam green can get a little too hot, and my eyes are really tired this morning. smaaart.

In addition to all this there's several other finished projects that don't have photos up on ravelry and I feel like a slacker. this will get done! ...Eventually!

Knit Night strikes again!

I am much improved in my knitting-while-talking prowess, or perhaps just while doing things like K2P2 rib, because I finished Sock #1 during tonight's get-together. Hooray! and it fits perfectly! I'm thinking duplicate stitch to reinforce the heel.

Now I have about three inches of ribbing to go on Sock #2 and I will be FINISHED. Omg. I have ventured into the abyss, and it is awesome. But I have a million other things I want to do before I tackle another, more fancier pair of socks. But still. I feel accomplished.

SOCKS.

I have ventured into the abyss. Toe-up socks using Wendy Johnson's recipe here, only I'm using a figure-8 cast-on because I have some familiarity with that method from top-down hats, and that provisional cast-on stuff weirds me out a little. I started yesterday mid-afternoon, and so far I've got Sock 1 up to the ankle, and I'm about an inch or so past the toe of Sock 2, and I'll do the ribbing when they're both mostly done to make sure I have enough yarn. I stayed up until about 1:30 trying to figure out the short-row heel, and I finally found a tutorial online that had nice big pictures and used continental method. (woohoo!)

These socks are so comfy. The heel is a little weak, and the next pair of sock I do will be reinforced...but this is my first effort! I feel good about it! And they fit perfectly, and I always love when that happens with my knitting.

photos to come later, once I get them off mom's camera. ^_^

Happy New Year!

The Christmas Knitting fizzled out, which was not entirely unexpected, given how much of a ridiculous procrastinator I am, and also because I spent the holidays with a cold (since like Thanksgiving) and haven't felt like knitting, and I'm really only now getting over the congestion to the point where I feel like I can consume dairy products again without horrible consequences. ...Not that that has anything to do with knitting.

the point is: I finished the cowl, which is lovely, but Ronnie's hat came out WAY too huge, even for his giant head, and that took enough time that I couldn't do fingerless gloves for Jenny. meeeh. I'll either keep the cowl for myself or save it for next year, and I think the hat will be frogged and started over at some point. I did manage to make some snazzy and adorable knitted ball ornaments for John and Jenny, since they have a tree but few ornaments, and two cats. Super cute. Those were accomplished while blazing through seasons 1 and 2.0 of Battlestar Galatica with dad. hahaha! (And of course in my haste I forgot to take pictures of the ornaments, so I will have to make more to show on Ravelry. heh)

the main point of this post, however, is that my comrades at work have started an official staff reading contest for the year, and I'll be contributing my reads at UCPL Book Challenge, and probably posting more extensive reviews here. ^_^

Right now I need to finish: The Child Thief, Jenny's book, The Austere Academy, and I started reading A Study in Scarlet but I might hold off on that until I get the nice massive shiny Annotated Sherlock Holmes novels. (yes, I loved the movie and I plan on reading like all the stories, if possible. I am crazy.) I already have volume 2 of the short stories at home, and I picked up a crappy copy from children's dept. that has the first two novels in it, so that'll hold me over for now.
My thoughts so far: This is such a wonderful style, and so easy to read and not horrible like...Dickens. It's going to be fun. Poor crippled Watson.