Victory is mine!

And it feels soooooo good. I may never knit with another sock yarn again.



Oh, that? Um...elves wound it.

Last night the women's ministry had another fellowship night, and this one was cookie decorating. Behold, the fruits of my labor:





Sandy of Sandyland Cookies taught it, and it was fun, although I think the SO would have gotten more out of it than I did. He's a baker and famous for his cookies.

I allocated today for knitting and rest. I was thwarted in the resting, unfortunately - I had bad dreams and finally just decided to get up rather than continue to flee tidal waves and killer whales (I don't know what my subconscious has against orcas. When I'm awake I think they're beautiful and powerful and generally awesome - but in my sleep they eat people. Go figure.)

That just left more time for knitting. A whole day of Christmas knitting progress! Right?

Yeah...not so much. Grumperina came out with a new hat pattern. I knit her Odessa pattern back in April for the sister of one of my church ladies who was undergoing chemo for some fairly serious cancer. She did very well in the treatment, and her cancer was in remission for several months. but this week she had to go to the hospital and it looks like she's going to have to go back into treatment, so...



It's a quick knit. It won't throw me too far off schedule, and even if it does - they'll understand.

Falling short

Yesterday, I left work...well, late, again. But I left work and didn't have to take any home with me. It rained yesterday (again, again, always always again, and can't we just build a giant shunt in the sky to take some of this to the western states or something, because really - VA is pretty thoroughly soaked) and I foolishly did not look outside before leaving, and when standing in the doorway and faced with the torential rain, did not go inside and switch my short, light coat for my long raincoat, because I am apparently stupid. Also, I am allowed one trip out the door in the morning without my pups wailing for me to come back. If I come back in and then out again they cry because I have now broken the routine, and therefore they believe me contractually obligated to stay with them. Or something.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter because the real issue I had was that I was wearing dress shoes as always, and because those dress shoes were flats my pants were too long, and so the short version is my shoes got soaked, the bottom of my pants got soaked, and I spent the entire day with wet feet thinking about those Casbah socks at home that were so close to being done, and determined that when I got home I would change pants and then finish the socks. Then I would sit with my warm feet and feel accomplished. I imagined photographing the socks on my feet and posting the triumphant story on this beloved blog the next day.

Unfortunately...I had farther to go than I realized, and even though the SO picked up a frozen pizza, cooked it, brought it to me on the couch, and then took my plate away and put it in the dishwasher for me (he is so awesome and accomodating of the knitterly obsessions that possess me), even with all of that extra knitting time...it hit 10 before I finished the toe, and I was forced to acknowledge that I did not have the brainpower left for kitchener stitch, and that I had better leave well enough alone before I really screwed something up.

So, alas, I put it down and went to bed, sulking a little that I did not get to wear my toasty socks, even though I had solved the cold feet issue in the meantime by sitting on the couch indian style so they would be tucked under me. Because somehow...putting on store-bought socks would have meant admitting defeat?

Sigh.

Certified Content-free

I have no pictures of knitting progress, not because I have not had time or opportunity to take pictures...but because I have been working such long hours that I have had little to no time to knit. I have made some small progress on my sock but other than that...nothing. Very depressing. Also kind of alarming, because here we are nearly halfway through November and Whispering Pines is in the same state of not-yet-done that it was at the end of October. I am starting to be concerned. A month and a half is plenty of time, right? But if I don't get back on the knitting track soon I may find myself in a panic.


I did get a little time off from work, as I left at noon on Friday. This weekend was our annual church retreat at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, VA, and while we were broken up into groups for an activity my Pastor came over to me and told me there was a group of ladies "knitting or crocheting or something," at the end of the porch, and he made me come peek out of the meeting room door to see them. When we got a break he marched me over there (supposedly because he wanted to see what they were doing, but I think he knew I was too chicken to go without help), and lo and behold, I met wendyknits and a group of other knitters who were hanging out. As usual I was awkward and babbly but they were all very nice and Wendy let me touch her shawl. I have read about the wonder that is sea silk but I have never seen it in person, much less touched it, so I was really amazed at the softness. Mega drape, definitely not for structured garments, but really beautiful and I want some.

Another knitter whose name I completely flaked on was knitting a Clapotis, which was the first time I had seen this fabled item. I wish I could remember the name of the sock yarn she was using, it was really pretty. I showed them my Casbah sock, wishing I had better proof of my knitterly credentials, but I did win some points for being a two circ devotee.

Actually, it was the funniest thing, I said "I'm a knitter," and Wendy looked at me and said "Are you an internet knitter?" and I was like I AM AMONG MY PEOPLE (because, surely I'm not the only one who noticed...non-internet knitters can be a little odd). I hope I wasn't rude to anybody, I am just such a verbal klutz and I was nervous, but they were all very nice. And now I think I owe my paster a pair of socks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering where they were going on the 'field trip' Wendy mentioned to me that they were going to take, because I was sure it involved yarn and I really wanted to know where it was, even though the retreat would last until 5 at least and there was no way I would be able to get to any even semi-local knitting place before it closed (why didn't I ask? I don't know, because I'm wierd). Fortunately, I am now able to go to Wendy's blog to find out where they went so I can plot for next year (there was a fiber festival in Virginia last month?? How did I miss this?? I have got to find more local knitting blogs, this is clearly educational).

It was a wonderful weekend all around, but the hands and heart were too occupied for knitting - I am the unofficial church photographer so I had other duties (I have no explanation for why I do not have a picture of knitters in the wild). I did knit some on my sock during the break we had on Saturday afternoon, and during the bonfire (it is cute how non-knitters are wierded out by someone knitting in the dark) we had on Saturday night, but since I drove myself, no car knitting for me (it must be difficult when you are going somewhere with knitters to figure out who is the poor soul that is going to sacrifice knitting time to drive).

I came back Saturday night and processed photos until my eyes were about to fall out for a slideshow in the service on Sunday morning, and then after church on Sunday I...went to work. I finished at about 6 and had to be back at 8:30. This week should be the last week of this OH KILL ME NOW marathon, so hopefully, knitting content will return in next week's post.

The Sound of Silence

I have been working so hard, y'all, I can't even tell you! Whine whine...but pretty much the whole purpose of this post is to say that I have been flat out at work and have had no time to knit or craft in pretty much anyway, and I have therefore very little of substance to say on any subject of interest to this blog. Here, have a photo instead:



Some friends and I went to the National Arboretum this weekend to soak up some fall color and do some photography (I keep a separate account for my crafty stuff so they do not clutter up my nice pretty arty photos). That was really all I did that did not involve work. Here, have another.



It turns out that a lot of the real beauty is kind of difficult to capture. It's tough to beat the human eye when you're looking at landscape. There's a part of its beauty that can't be put in a little four-by-six box. So, I went for closeups and wierd angles and thought about what I could do with the light I had and how I could make it work for me. I think I did pretty well all in all.



So, not necessarily crafty, but creative.

Meanwhile I am having commitment issues. I remain enchanted by the sweater yarn that was gifted to me (Kathy read my blog! Hi Kathy! I love your podcast Kathy! Say hi to Steve!) but I am Concerned about the Twist and Shout pattern. I really like it on the model, but I worry about whether it will actually look good on me. Fortunately, I have plenty of time to debate this issue since I have a long, long way to go before the Christmas knitting is done.

I was incensed at the lack of lines at my polling place. I walked up to the lady and I said "I was promised lines!!" I stood in line longer at the darn Starbucks, where I expected to be in and out and so did not bring my sock knitting with me. So there went a perfect chance to get some knitting done, right out the window. I have soldiered on despite the lack of time, in the quiet moments I can manage, and I have turned the heel and begun the gusset decreases on my second Casbah Caledonian Mist sock.

This week at choir one of the ladies in my church whose husband is in Iraq was talking about putting together packages to send to him and the men he is with, and she turned to me and said, "Do you have any socks we could send?" and I admit I was a little flabbergasted. Did she think I just churned out a sock a minute and I had just piles laying around? She knows I do the SFS knitting (which I have sadly neglected, to be truthful) so I guess maybe she thought I had some pairs that I hadn't sent off yet. I do have one pair that is still sitting at home because they are uneven and I have to undo the toe and rip back a bit so that I can get them to an even foot length, becuase I am dumb and eyeballed rather than measuring and then didn't even RE-eyeball before I washed them and one of them is at least a quarter inch longer than the other. Now I am debating in the back of my head whether I can commit to knitting a pair for her package. If I did it just plain I suppose it could be doable.

Status dump, with photos

The women's ministry at my church sponsors many fellowship outings, and recently we went to Claytime Cafe, one of those paint-your-own pottery things. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to me. One of the events that we do every year is an ornament exchange. I have always brought a handmade ornament for the ornament exchange. Some have been more successful than others. I painted one (nothing fancy, just some swirls of clear varnish on a matte ornament), I did a papercraft one (I don't think that looked very good), and last year I beaded one. As soon as I got to Claytime I started scoping out the options for Christmas ornaments, and voila.

Before firing:





After firing:





The last few years, I've done an altered luncbox as the gift box. I may switch things up a bit - I think I saw some containers at Michaels that were made to be covered. Just so I can do something besides the lunchbox. Like a little hatbox type shape or something.

We went to a wedding yesterday that was a couple hours away. Car knitting time! I mostly worked on a pair of plain socks for the SO's mom and the scarf for my mother.





I knew I needed the sock because the battery was dead in the little earclip light I use to knit in the dark, so I needed something I could work on without seeing. I had just cast on the second sock of the pair, so on the way their I got through the cuff and then put it aside to work on during the drive home. Then I went to work on the scarf for my mom's stocking. I'm having more trouble memorizing the pattern than I would really prefer, but I don't think this is the pattern's fault. It is going quite quickly, though, especially considering that the pattern is written for sock weight yarn and I am using laceweight. I have somewhere between four and six inches done. By the time we got home, I'd finished the leg of the sock. Yarn is KnitPicks Gloss Lace for the scarf and KnitPicks Essential Riverbed Multi for the socks (I think it's discontinued).

Still working on the Caledonian Mist socks in Casbah Peacock.



Almost ready to start the heel - I think I have another four or five pattern repeats to go.

I haven't worked on Whispering Pines at all this week, but I am planning to get moving on it this evening.



The SO and I have been dating 9 years as of last Thursday so he bought me a present. The present is this, but right now it looks like this:



Valley Yarns Colrain in Grape Jelly. I'm excited! But I put it away until the Christmas knitting is done. Most of it. I'm keeping a skein out where I can see and pet it, just to keep me motivated.

Plugging along

It's like I can feel the rows getting longer and longer. I really think it's an illusion - it's just because the pattern repeats right now are so short. I'm in the area I think of as the "snow field" between the big snowflakes and the pine trees. The pattern repeat is 8 stitches. I have markers every 16, just to keep myself from going crazy. Also...because I don't have enough Hide & Sheep markers to keep up with even every 16 stitches, and I am starting to be biased against the rubber ring markers - the Hide and Sheep ones are prettier and thinner and just more pleasant to work with. I've bought 3 sets of the snowflake obsidian markers at this point. I've got the set with the one star marker, the set with the one black marker, and in the set I just bought, I asked for all snowflake obsidian since I really didn't need another row marker, and the folks at Hide & Sheep kindly accomodated me. even so, I have a couple of rubber ring markers still on my shawl. Woe. I'll have to add a couple more for the next chart. Incidentally, I use the star marker as the first marker on the needles when I work a right side row, and the black marker as the first marker on the needles when I work a wrong side row, because I am not always smart enough to remember which one I am working, and coming to that visual reminder stops me before I get too far working the wrong row. ANYWAY. I am on the last row of the second chart for the snowfield, and then I think there is one more chart of snowfield before I get to the pine trees.

When I hit the pine trees I will be, visually speaking, halfway done. However, since every row gets longer - it's definately not halfway done. Still, I am encouraged that I will have this done in plenty of time for Christmas. If I can finish it by the end of November, I will be ecstatic.

Some time ago I mentioned wanting to find a snowflake themed pin to give along with the shawl, but at the time I couldn't find anything. Since it was the middle of summer I resolved to wait until a little closer to the right season before I resorted to making a pin myself. Sure enough, I found one on Etsy and ordered it. It's in the style of a kilt pin and has little snowflake charms hanging from it. Now, looking at it, I know exactly how it was made and I know I could have done it myself. But, I reasoned, of all the crafts I have tried, jewelry-making has been the least interesting to me and it is the one in which I have the least experience. Also, it's really difficult to be cost effective if you are only making one item. So, I went ahead and bought it. I do have one concern, which is that it's a kilt pin style so there is a small circle at the base of the pin that could, conceivably, catch in the knitting...but I think it'll be okay. I'm going to look at it when I get it and see what I think. It may be that I will go back and search for some kind of stick type pin instead, but I'm not sure. I'm reasonably sure that quite a bit of care will be taken by the recipient, so unless it looks like it is just asking for trouble, I will go ahead with what I've got. I'll post pictures of progress when I get the pin so you can see both. I may have to move the shawl onto a longer cable, though, it really can't be spread out anymore on the 24 inch. This is fine because I need the 24 inch cable. I'm actually out! Somehow, all of my 24 inch cables are in use.

I had several cables pop their join on me last weekend. I'm not sure what's up with that - I guess I just got a bad batch. Most of the time I don't have a problem, but every once in a while I get a cable that pops within minutes. I admit, I'm rough on them, so I shouldn't be surprised, but it's kind of vexing. The most annoying part is - I had just receveived a KnitPicks order! I was casting on a scarf in Gloss lace that I had just gotten in the mail! If I had only checked, I could've ordered more cables and been fine! argh! I had the problems with the cables when I went to put it on the 32 inch - I think two 32 inch cables from the same package popped their joins before I pulled out my second set of 32 inch cables, which worked fine. I know I could probably go to knitpicks and have them replace the faulty cables, but I don't really feel the need.

Anyway, if I switch the cables, I can put the 24 cable on the needles I am using for the scarf, and put the shawl on the 32 so that I have more length. After all, it is only going to get bigger (hold me while I weep for a minute).

Decision Made

Yesterday I put away MS4 and picked up Whispering Pines (eventually - there was a slightly panicked search when I could not find the ziplock it was in, but the SO came to the rescue, finding it in the craft room before I had time to work up into a real fit about it).

I'm on Chart C on Whispering Pines and when I looked at the picture and mapped where I was to the picture of the finished shawls - I have kind of a lot of work to do. It was definitely the right decision to pick it up.

I have to say in the interests of full blog disclosure - the last couple charts of MS4 made it not so hard to put it down. There's nothing wrong with them, per se...I'm just not sure I want to knit them as is. The designer's theme, now revealed, is "Serendipity" and it seems that the stole does not represent anything in particular, so much as the element of surprise, which...seems to me to be kind of redundant in a mystery stole. I'm a little disappointed - I love to knit things with a story, which is one of the reason I like so many of Pink Lemon Twist's patterns, they are always well thought out and representative of the story she is trying to tell, and that appeals to my romantic English major self. (also, my pedantic nature wants to point out that 'serendipity' and 'surprise' do not mean the same thing, but that is petty and I will not give in to it)

However, I do really like the pattern up through chart 5 - to me it looks like campfires in the woods with mountains in the background, and I really love it. But, I'm thinking about changing the last couple of charts to fit with my idea. I think this would basically consist of taking out the diamonds. I think I can convince myself that the flower-type motif in the very center of the shawl is the sun (I need to look at a few more knitted pictures), but the diamonds just don't really work for me. I'm considering leaving the small ones on chart 5, but the big ones in the middle just don't quite do it for me.

I bought two skeins of KP Gloss lace in Sterling and the KnitSpot pattern Tudor Grace to make a scarf for my mom for Christmas. I want a pattern I can memorize and carry around (so that it won't compete for knitting time with Whispering Pines) and that one seems like it will fit the bill. The pattern is written for sock weight yarn, but I want it to be small and filmy, since I'm intending it more for an accent with clothing than for warmth or anything like that, so I bought laceweight yarn. My mom lives in Texas and doesn't generally have to wear a scarf for warmth anymore, but she likes them with clothes. I'm hoping the grey will go with some of her things. And if it's not done by December, it can be my airplane knitting!