What happened?

I am ready to turn the heel on the second starry night sock. I'm...not sure how that happened. I haven't been knitting nearly long enough to be at the heel. Huh?

In attempting to puzzle it out I have come up with the following possible explanations:

--Anything seems to go quickly after you have knit 12" of plain 2x2 rib in black fingering yarn.
--It has been kind of a long time since I knit the first one and I am a faster, better knitter now.
--I have been knitting on it longer than I think I have, but it doesn't seem as long because I have had other projects.
--I have knit on it in larger intervals than I did the first time, so even though I have knit just as many hours, it doesn't seem as long because there was less stopping and starting.

The last one seems least plausible, honestly. I'm hoping for number 2.

Also, the socks really aren't long enough. I don't know whether it is impatience or what but I have yet to knit what I would consider a 'full length' sock (other than the above-mentioned SFS sock). Both pairs I have made for myself are short. Now that I have experienced the socks sliding off my feet do to the shortness, I will be knitting longer socks. I may also adjust my cast-on down to the next smaller size, but I'm not sure whether that is a good idea or not.

Next up on the sock knitting path - I haven't decided. I have a skein of hand maiden casbah in peacock that I want to use to make Pink Lemon Twist's Caledonian Mist pattern, but I also have another couple of skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Snowscapes colorway from Yarn Market, and I am thinking about making just a plain pair of stockinette socks from them. I am aware that the colors may pool without a pattern to break them up, but I don't really care. The idea of simple stockinette simplicity is very appealing.

Startitis?

Is that what this is? It doesn't feel like startitis. Perhaps that is because you only feel startitis when you fight it? Since I have given in to every whim, I have not noticed?

Hm. Anyway, I kind of feel like I have an awful lot OTN.

--Shedir
--Big Black Socks of neverending doom
--Bigfoot missionary shawl (the missionary I was planning to give it to? back already. dangit)
--Snug Harbor
--Starry Night Socks

I also started a scarf for a friend but I don't like the way it is coming out so I plan to rip it back, and therefore I do not count it in this list. Those are just the active projects. The "hibernating" projects, to borrow a ravelry term, are:
--Witterings hat
--garter stitch shawl
--chocolate waffle scarf

The last is so mind-numbingly dull that I only work on it when I don't have anything else at the "relatively thoughtless" stage. It's been getting a lot of play since out of the projects listed in the first list above, the only one that I really had at a thoughtless stage was the snug harbor one and that one is really too large to be as portable as I would like.

Last night I solved this problem by inserting a dental floss lifeline and ripping back part of the BBS. I misunderstood something in the pattern and knit about an inch and a half past where I was supposed to on the foot. So last night I fixed that, and now that sock only needs a toe and then I can cast on for the second one, which will have 12 utterly mindless inches of ribbing before I have to think again. I hope to finish the toe tonight.

But, I didn't do that until after choir practice last night, and since I really needed something to work on that wasn't the chocolate waffle scarf (please not the chocolate waffle scarf), I cast on the second starry night sock. This turned out to be perfect because I got almost exactly the right amount of ribbing done at the top of the sock, so now I am set to start the patterned section whenever I am ready.

I start to get fidgety when I have too many things going on, like I have some sort of guilt complex or whatever, so I'd really like to finish off some of these projects. Shedir is about a good day's work away from completion (and I am really concerned that it is way, way too big). I have a long way to go yet on the missionary shawl. I may try to put in the time tonight on the Snug Harbor, which really should be the fastest of all of these to finish, I would think. I am thinking I will try to finish the first BBS and the Snug Harbor by the weekend, and then spend Sunday afternoon finishing Shedir. Saturday we're having a board game party, so I will need something simple to do on that day - which will be perfect for the second BBS! I'll still have a lot on the needles, but at least I will feel like I have made progress, which has been a sensation severely lacking in the last couple of weeks.

I am itching to start Odessa and also a baby blanket for a high school friend pregnant with her first child, but I am doing my very best to hold back until I can finish a couple of things.

Successes & Setbacks

Look how cute it turned out with all the finishing touches!!



I'm very pleased. The recipient liked it very much.

Here is the hat that went with the gloves I posted previously, finally photographed:



The imperial armwarmers are finished and gifted. That means I am done with all the things I promised to do for other people! I feel very relieved - I will be careful not to promise so much in the future. I will still give stuff away regularly and make notes of things people say they would like to have, but I won't tell them until it's done.

I am currently working on the Beginner's Triangle from a Gathering of Lace, but I don't have a picture of it yet. It's working well, but I discovered after several pattern repeats that I have been doing yarnovers wrong this whole time. Once I started doing them right my lace looked much more open, and I had a much easier time overall. The way I was doing them before caused the yarnovers to be backwards, and made the next row a real pain to knit because of the way they pulled the stitches. I had to start over twice after one or two pattern repeats because I just kept getting confused and losing count and a million other things. Now that I am doing yarnovers correctly and using stitch counters and a lifeline, things are going much more smoothly. The yarn is Fleece Artist Suri Blue, and it is very sticky, so unknitting can be a bit of a challenge - and I am doing a lot of unknitting. It seems like I can't make it more than a row or two without getting messed up and having to back up and redo it. The thing would be twice as large if I did not keep having to stop and backup. But, this is part of the process of learning, and I am trying to take it in good humor. At least now I am able to recognize mistakes sooner and figure out what I probably did, and back up and fix it, rather than just wailing and weeping and ripping. I think I will improve with practice, and I am still really enjoying the piece despite the frustrations. However, last night when I crawled onto the bed I landed my knee right on my Knit Picks Harmony needle and snapped it in two. I've ordered a replacement pair, but work is stalled until it comes.

I had a mishap with the second skein of Starry Night yarn for my socks. I did something really stupid and ended up with a horrible tangled mess that took me a couple of hours to fix. I did eventually fix it, and rewound the skein, but the yarn is looking a little worse for wear.

This weekend I knitted a pair of wristwarmers which are intended for hospital patients that one of my church friends serves. That was a quick, easy project from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and it only took one skein of KnitPicks Swish Superwash.

I have also joined Socks for Soldiers, and my sock kit came in the mail this week, so starting those Big Black Socks is on my radar.

I can't decide what else to start on - the lace is great for a big complicated project, the socks (both black and otherwise) are great portable knitting, but I need a project sort of in between those levels of difficulty. Time to browse my ravelry queue!

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.

Anticipation goeth before a misstitch

I really thought I had a chance at finishing my cape this weekend. I finally remembered that I had tucked it in its ziplock under the bed, thinking that I would stick in-progress projects under there because I have too many in progress now to fit them all in my knitting bag. Then I promptly forgot.

Anyway, on Friday I was kind of in a hurry so I shoved my Starry Night Socks and the cape in my knitting bag. I would have worked on the socks all evening but it turns out I had left my pattern (I decided to use the elongated corded rib from SKS) in the car, which would have been a rather chilly walk around the block from my friend's house. Therefore, I worked on the cape instead. I made pretty darn good progress on it.

Saturday morning I had to get my oil changed, so I knitted on the cape for about an hour while I waited for the car to be ready. Then I went home and knit some more. I made huge progress and I began to think I might be able to finish it, if not that evening, then surely on Sunday.

Alas, it was not to be. No sooner had this gleeful hope entered my head than I discovered mistakes, and had to drop stitches and do the ladder dance to fix them. I am not very good at the ladder dance so this took way longer than it should have, and I ended up having to do it two or three times before the stitches were finally, finally right (stupid stitches). This trend continued on to Sunday. I'm sure I could have finished the darn think if I had been making forward progress the whole time (a common cry in the knitting world, I know). But, I am still nearly done. If I don't have any more issues I might be able to finish it tonight, depending on what time I get home and how long it takes me to make dinner. Also, I don't really feel very well at all today, so there is no guarantee I will feel well enough to knit.

In any case, I am looking forward to having this done. However, I am a little perplexed about what to do with it once I am finished. This yarn sheds HORRIBLY and I will never be able to wear the cape at this rate. I hope that washing it a couple of times will fix this, but I don't know. Also, it clearly needs to be blocked, and I am a total blocking novice. What to do, what to do!

I am anxious to get this one done and off my needles. I am combating a fierce case of startitis, but I am determined to cross off all the requests I have before I start the things I really want to work on. They should all be fairly quick knits (famous last words, right?) so I am hoping that if I can just motor through them, I will be able to knit for myself guilt-free. No more requests for me - I will offer to teach people to knit but I am so not putting myself in this position again!!