Many Things

I can't believe I've gone so long without blogging.  I am ashamed.  But as a result, I do have a loooooooot to share.

My usual rule is WIPs first, and that won't actually take long today.  The socks I intended to knit on our honeymoon...



Are still WIPs, but I managed to finish the first one at least.  Often, this happens, where I get to a certain point on a sock and then it sits around forever because there is one bit that needs time and attention that I don't have.  In this case, I needed CodeNinja to try it on.  I would have him try it on periodically, discover I still had knitting to do, and then I would knit a little bit, but not too much, because there wasn't that much farther to go, and then I would have him put it on again and it STILL wouldn't be done.  I took advantage of the football game this weekend to finish the sock, since that kept him planted on the couch for a reasonable chunk of time where he could try it on and then wouldn't walk away before I could knit what needed knitting.

Even so, it was a challenge, because for some reason I find football games to be the BEST naptime I ever have.  I don't know why, but I always snooze really well during games, and CodeNinja puts up with me sleeping on him even though it keeps him from being able to holler freely at the TV.  So the whole time I was trying to finish that sock, I was feeling very sleepy and droopy.  I persevered, finished the sock, and then slept through the fourth quarter.

The other WIP is Rosa Flora, the summer Pins & Lace pattern from Romi, which I'm working in a GORGEOUS custom colorway from Allison at Iridaceae Colorworks (which I have, sadly, utterly failed to photograph well).



But, I put Rosa on hold to finish these, because I was feeling terribly guilty that the first mitten was sitting around half done for so long.



I cranked the second mitten out in a day, that's how guilty I felt.  Now they are finished and I can mail them off to warm the fingers of my dear friend.  The mitten pattern came with a pattern for a thrummed hat, and I have plenty of leftover yarn and fleece, so I do think I will make one, but I'm going to go ahead and send the mittens in case I don't get around to the hat for a while!

I've had a huge stack of stuff waiting around to be blocked, and I tried to crank through some of that as well.  First, Meadowgold got a blocking job and then got mailed off to my mama for her birthday.











I did miss a picot in one place and had to kind of fake it, but I don't think mom will notice.





Love it.  Love how it came out.  Tanis Silver Label fingering weight Silk in colorway Gold.

I made a worsted weight version of Romi's new pattern Geschenk out of Cascade Eco-wool, for a friend who unexpectedly lost her adult son.  I knit this in only a few days and still got a good size.  I was in a hurry so I only got pictures of it on the mats.







Next, a tale of two Terps - First the fingering weight version of Terpsichore in Zen Yarn Gardens Bamboolicious in colorway Harvest, knit, again, for my mother, though I haven't sent it to her yet.









And one for me, the large laceweight version with the bigger border, in Iridaceae Colorworks Dierama in Black Iris.  Purple is just one of the hardest colors out there to photograph and this yarn is so gorgeous, I wish I could do it justice.  It really looks best when folded gracefully over itself, as you'll see in the photos - the shawl on the mats doesn't look that exciting, but over the chair you get a much better sense of the color.  I almost wish I had used it on a shawl that was slightly less open since I like it so much and you loose some of the richness in the openwork, but then you see the ends drape together and it's soooooo beautiful!





 

Stupidly, I originally photographed the shawl wrong side out, so I had to go retake these pictures!!  I tortured them a little to get the color as close as I could make it.











Finally, still on the boards, my Perpetua shawl in Shelby B yarns in colorway Minister of Magic. This is one of those yarns with sterling silver in it and it is QUITE sparkly.  The shawl appears much darker than it is in these photos because it's quite wet still.







I also recently finished a Carson shawl, the first pattern from Romi's year 3 7 small shawls ebook, and it is now in my to-block pile along with my Lyrica Euterpe.  I'm hoping to get them both blocked this weekend, and then I will be all caught up on my blocking!  I think.  If I haven't forgotten something.