Naughty Knit-blogger

I confess...I have not been keeping up my knitting blog.

So what have I been up to? Christmas knitting! Which is to say, this:



And this:



And these:



Not too shabby, right? The top is the Knit Picks Dimple Shale Scarf in Knit Picks Ambrosia, Horizon Colorway. The middle is a pair of Urban Necessity gloves, size XL, knitted without the mitten cap, that will go to my boyfriend's bro for Christmas. On the bottom, a pair of Knitty pedicure socks that I gave my church choir director in Artyarns Supermerino (I forget the colorway - that is what they get for using numbers instead of names).

But wait, there is one more item!



One completed Imperial Armwarmer - covered in pug hair because I knitted it while dogsitting. I still need to do the other one, but it got put on hold while the Christmas knitting was going on.

I also actually got another pair of Urban Necessity gloves done (without the mitten cap again) for a friend that wanted a pair. They look just like the pair above, only all black and slightly smaller.

One final project which I have finished and photographed but dare not post just yet because the recipient is on flickr and might notice it - a panda hat for my boyfriend's mom, who is a zoo volunteer. I used a Lion Brand free pattern for a bear baby hat, but I knitted an adult-sized roll-brim hat for the base. I used Karabella Aurora for that one, I think, in black and white (obviously). I still need to sew some buttons on the eyes, and embroider a mouth, but it is really darn cute. I will post it after the holidays.

My poor starry night socks have languished...



But now that the Christmas knitting is finished, I can go back to them. I did have a little trouble figuring out where I left off last night, but I was able to work it out and managed to get a fair amount done on the gusset decreases. It feels good to get that one going again.

I just ordered a skein of Hand Maiden Casbah sock yarn as a little Christmas present to myself (to be paid for with the money my grandma sent me). Excited about that. I like the Lorna's Laces colorways but the yarn just doesn't seem that soft to me. So, we'll see how the fancy stuff looks.

Next up on the needles is the Beginner's Triangle from A Gathering of Lace. I plan to work on this on the plane to Texas to visit my family for the holidays. It will be done in Fleece Artist Suri Blue in the 'Stone' colorway. I wound the skein last night and the ball looks so pretty! I'm excited.

Woohoo!

It is with immense glee that I move the columns scarf from the "On the Needles" list to the "Completed Projects" list. It's done!!

It is actually a few inches short of my goal of 5 feet...but I ran out of yarn. Not the nutmeg, which is what I thought would happen, but the moss!! The pattern requirements said I would need 2 balls of each to make a 72" scarf. LIES. It took 3 balls of the moss (main color) and 2 of the nutmeg, and even with the third ball, again, I only made it to about 57 inches or so. I didn't really measure once I ran out of yarn.

Anyway, it is finished and put away for the opportune moment. I didn't bother to take a picture since it pretty much looks just like the picture I posted earlier, only longer.

Once I finished it I worked on my cape. I immediately discovered that I had misread the directions, and ended up having to rip back twenty rows or so. I continued to have problems with it throughout the evening, almost entirely due to my inability to count. I'm a little concerned now that the finished border section will look wierd, because my increases are not all in the right place, but...I'm not going back and doing it again, so I'll live with it. :oP It's really frustrating to have nobody to blame but myself. Lessons I have learned during this time:

--I am too stupid to follow directions that say 'do this 9 more times' without assistance. From now on, I will acknowledge my stupidity immediately and write out next to each line of instructions the row numbers on which I am supposed to follow that particular instruction. I do think it is especially mean of the pattern designers to nest these things by saying things like 'row 5-6 repeat rows 3-4' and then 'repeat 1-6 nine more times.'
--I don't work well with the rowcounters that you have to turn to increase. I am better off with the ones you hit on the top that make a fun clicky noise.
--I need to take better notes when walking away from a project for a while.
--Alpaca sheds like a mofo.

The last is kind of disappointing...wearing my fetching cape will be a lot less fun if I have to have a lint roller in my pocket to use every time I take it off. I am trying not to think about this for now.

I'm waiting on some measurements for my friend for her Urban Necessity set and then I will get started on that. I was seriously tempted to start the Dimple Shale scarf because that yarn is so luscious, but I am afraid of another bout of scarf boredom. I hope it wouldn't be as big of an issue since this will be lace which should be more interesting...but I fear that it will still be a problem. :oP Maybe I will just make it a short little thing that she can tuck in her jacket. We'll see.