Triumphant

I didn't blog yesterday because I was determined to finish this:



My Umaro blanket is done, and none too soon, for cold weather advances upon us. This project hit the stage where it infuriated me greatly that it wasn't finished, and I spent just about every spare knitting moment on it for the last week and a half to finish it. On the advice of others I added a repeat, so it is not only long enough for me, but for my soon-to-be-DH. Although he is hardly ever cold. In fact, I'm marrying him for his heat-producing capabilities, as I'm chronically cold.

I have exactly one ball of yarn left over, untouched, unopened, unloved. I'll find a use for it. Maybe it will be reincarnated as felted slippers.

I was forced to take a brief hiatus from knitting on the blanket with the single-mindedness and intensity of a marathon runner in her last mile (or a madwoman, however you want to look at it) to go out and socialize with people. I took my naughty, color-shifting buttonwillow with me, only to find once I got where I was going, that I'd made a mistake somewhere and had an extra column of stitches that wasn't supposed to be there. Now, I like to think I'm good at fixing mistakes but mistakes on the edge of a row have always been my downfall, so I gave in to the inevitable, ripped back almost a whole repeat of Chart A (which is only like six rows, but they're getting kind of long at this point) and managed to get it set back up so that when I return home tonight, I can attack it with renewed vigor. I'm in a serious finish-it-up mood at the moment, and I'm riding with it. I'm even starting to think about that cozy sweater from French Girl Knits that's sitting abandoned upstairs.

But, let's not get carried away. The October Pins & Lace shipment is due in my mailbox any day now and we all know I'm going to drop everything as soon as it gets here! (Depending on whether I have to buy needles and yarn.)

Oh, I almost forgot - I also blocked (finally) the Scarf That Would Not Die. I think, despite all my frustration that it was forever short of six feet...I overachieved.



That's a lot closer to seven feet (if not eight) than it is to six. Oh well. He'll wear it, and he'll like it.

Catching Up

Sunday may become our new regularly scheduled blog day. I prefer to spend Sunday knitting and take pictures at the end of the day, since I usually make pretty good progress on Sundays, but I'll just have to make do.

I've been working on my Buttonwillow but progress has been slower than it could be, because it's getting cold here, so I keep reaching for my big squishy Umaro blanket.



As I laid Buttonwillow out to take its picture, I realized something disturbing.



There is a very distinct color line where I changed skeins. Now, I've been very fortunate with this kind of thing in the past, so I guess it was inevitable that I would have this issue eventually. But I'm feeling a little grumpy about it. I didn't alternate rows, obviously, but I didn't really think it would be an issue. I'm not ripping it out. my buttonwillow will just have to be striped.

Sigh.

I also finally got some long overdue blocking done. This prayer shawl has been laying around my house for ages waiting for me to get around to blocking it, and at last, I have done so.







This yarn is a wool/microfiber blend. I'm not even sure what it is now - I know I got it from LittleKnits but--time for a rav check. Please hold.

...

Okay, it's Rowan Cashsoft Aran, and the pattern is "Prayers of Love" by Carla Willingham.

Anyway, so instead of soaking and pinning, I put it in the washer on my 'hand wash' cycle, and then took it, still damp, and ran wires through the edges and pinned it out. Then I took a towel and my iron and, keeping the towel between the shawl and the iron, and without putting my iron down even on the towel, I puffed steam all over it and steamed it really well, until it was damp(er). Then I left it until it was dry, at which time I unpinned it and took it to my prayer shawl group to turn in, immensely pleased with myself for having finally gotten off my butt to do it.

I also blocked my Kleio, since the person for whom it was a gift was in town this weekend. I gave it to her on the condition that she modelled it for me, so here she is!



With a Romi pin:



I adore the edging on this piece, it really just makes the look.







Love, love, love. Again, this is Kleio from Romi in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock, and the whiter colorway is "Luna," and the more colorful one is "Dobby." Appropriate, as my friend is a big Harry Potter fan!

We've been best friends since middle school and Kleio, the muse of history, is just so perfect for her, and the colors are so exactly her colors, that I really couldn't be happier with this project. She loved it, too, which really made my day.

Now, if you'll excuse me, dear readers, it's very chilly today, and I feel the need to knit a large squishy wool blanket!

Gasp! A real blog entry! With real pictures!

Again, desperately sorry for the hiatus, folks. I'm going to have to work out a new blog schedule with my new job. The hours are a little different from what I'm used to and I have plenty to fill my time, so no down time to blog in.

On with the WIP report! Here's what I've been up to:

1. Umaro
It got cold outside and I went running for this blanket. It's so squishy and it will be so warm, I'm looking forward to wrapping up in it. I've got almost three repeats done out of seven, so I still have a long way to go, but it's coming along nicely.







2. Galadriel's Mirror
I picked this one up for a little while, but it kind of got sidelined when my life became a swirling vortex of chaos. I just didn't (and really still don't) have the mental energy for it just at the moment, but I did make some progress.





3. Buttonwillow
Of course I have to have a Romi on my needles, and this is her newest design, Buttonwillow, released today for Ravelry purchase. This design debuted at Vogue Knitting Live and then was available as a kit only. I got the kit so I've been working on this one for a few days already. Road to China light is gorgeous and oh so soft, very nice to have in your hands. Mine is in the Grey Pearl colorway. This is really a good knit for me right now, it's pretty simple and it just feels nice.





So that's it for the works in progress, other than a sock I've been working on in Neighborhood Fiber Company Capital Luxury Sock. When I did my stash organization I found that I had bought a whole bunch of this yarn in different colors, but had never actually knit with it! I decided it was time to fix that, picked out one, wound it up, and it's my mindless, carry-around knitting.

Many of my finished objects are languishing waiting to be blocked. Kleio is in that pile, sadly.





Lovely, finished, and unblocked. I've got some new blocking wires on the way, though, so I'm waiting for those to come in before I worry too much about this one. I do have a lot of ends to weave in on this one before it can be blocked anyway.

I did, however, finally block my Katanya (also by Romi):









So there you have it, and hopefully I will return in a more timely fashion next week!

Still Alive!!!

Deepest apologies, my much beloved blogees, for my extended absence! I hope to be back to blogging shortly, but there has been a lot of upheaval chez Ninja of late. Here's a brief synopsis:

--I finished Kleio
--I got a new job
--My brother also got a new job in another state, which means he is moving out of my basement in rather short order
--We took a quick beach vacation between the end of the old job and the start of my new one AND...CodeNinja and I are engaged! We're hoping to be married in the spring, and there is soooo much to do!

With all of that going on, I just haven't managed much knitting, and I haven't blocked Katanya or Kleio. I have done some work on my Umaro blanket and some on Galadriel's Mirror, plus I started a boring plain vanilla pair of socks, as that's all I seem to have the brain power for. I have not knit in four days, that's how crazy it's been. I finally broke that unfortunate streak this evening thanks to the boring socks.

Of course the second (or third) question every knitter asks is, what, if anything, I'm going to knit for my wedding. The answer is - I have NO idea!! I don't even feel like I can decide that until I get a dress. I don't know that there is time or that I want to put myself through the stress of knitting anything. When I announced my engagement on the Romi Rav board I had tons of support and several offers for help if I did want a knitted item for the wedding. It was very sweet and I'm honored by all the attention. I'm just totally unequipped to decide at the moment. Part of me wants to do something crazy and knit a Princess Shawl or something of the kind in cobweb yarn to wear, perhaps as a veil. But, I don't know. Again, it depends on the dress. If I have something with a lovely back I might not want to cover it. If I have something with a simpler back then the shawl might jazz it up a little.

Also, I'm afraid CraftMama is not terribly knit-friendly and while I am sure if I wanted to wear a shawl she would not say anything, but I fear the Eyeroll of Doom. I know, it's my wedding and I should wear my knitting if I want to, and if I decide I want to, I will. I just don't know what to do yet. Obviously, if I decide to knit something myself I need to decide pretty soon to make sure I have enough time to actually knit it - although I feel like I am reasonably speedy at this point in my knitting career.

So, in light of all this, I hope you will forgive me for my radio silence. I hope to have pictures of knitting to show in the near future, as soon as I can face up to all the pins I will have to use to block either Kleio or Katanya. Blocking both at the same time is not really feasible - there is no way I have enough pins for that!