Self-Indulgence

Current knitting frustrations aside, my stash has experienced considerable growth over the holiday, even though only a couple of people got me yarn for Christmas.

The SO's mom gave me this:



and this:



(note the lovely handmade drop-spine box she presented it in)

The panda silk is so lovely I am considering whether it could possibly be used for something other than socks. Not that I don't love socks, but it would just be so pretty in a lace scarf or something like that. Pondering.

On top of this, I have managed to make her something of a knitting convert. She does crochet some, and learned to knit once many many years ago, but up until now she has continually protested that purling was awful, the height of all evils, something greatly to be detested, but then on New Years' Eve I showed her how to do it and she found that it was not, in fact, as difficult as she had thought. She promptly took herself to a yarn shop, procured some large needles and a variety of novelty-ish yarns, and is knitting away. Score 1 for the knitters! (she does, however, protest that she is only going to knit square things...and socks, eventually)

Such a convert was she that she called me about Aylin's anniversary sale, and met me there (even though she had already been and bought a bunch of stuff). I procured this:



One of the ladies working there looked at me and said, "Are you making...the scarf?" and I had to laugh and admit that I was indeed. Baaaaaah.

I also bought this:



The SO's mom (I shall have to think of a better way to refer to her, because that is getting tiresome and sounds oddly disrespectful to me) gave me a kit some time ago for a tilli thomas bag using these yarns, but she had only bought one skein of each, and when I looked at the yarn requirements, I found that - one skein was no where near enough. Fortunately, my memory was equal to the task and I was able to get matching skeins last night. They might be different dye lots, but they are close enough. I know I could have asked and Aylin's could've looked it up for me, but to tell the truth...I didn't want to admit in front of SOMom that she didn't buy me enough. It was very generous to get it for me at all and I didn't want her to feel bad. I am determined now to knit this bag up ASAP since I am sure she must wonder why it is taking me so long to make it.

Before I even left for Christmas I had ordered this:



which will become a Hemlock Ring Blanket. I'm going to go back and find the Ready-Set-Knit podcast knitalong for that too and pretend I am part of the cool crowd who knitted this ages ago.

I also ordered this:



Which is a sparkly mohair that I got for so cheap that I am sure it is not entirely on the up and up. I have had an uncomfortable feeling ever since I got the order confirmation and saw that it was shipping from Turkey. I will have to do more research before I buy anything there again. This is, alas, more Christmas knitting, but no deadline on it for now. A work friend wanted a white sparkly snowflake scarf. well, 2 down...I will have to work on the snowflake thing. But it's not as if I don't have resources. I have all this to draw on:



Wasn't that a lovely segway? Have some edging shots - big ones, because I could not find any that showed the edging to my satisfaction when I was looking to knit it, so here's hoping someone else will find these useful:





I was squinting at many other pictures trying to figure out if the purl side really was supposed to be the right side, and couldn't figure it out, so - I hope it is! I am somewhat concerned because I can't figure out how this is supposed to be the right hem, because it totally looks like the left hem to me in every way. Except, I guess, when you are knitting, because you are holding the shawl upside down? I am sure I could e-mail the designer or ask on ravelry and have her answer my question very nicely, but apparently I am determined to figure it out without help. It looks fine the way it is, anyway, so I'm trying not to fret. The edging does make it so pretty and feminine looking!

One more, to show a little more of the pre-edging:



I love the row of eyelets it's making along the edges. Should certainly help when it comes time to block! If that day ever comes (I am almost done with 1/2 of the edging).

If she does not like it I may cry. Kind of a lot.

Back to the yarn pr0n...

When I got back from my lousy vacation, and everything seemed to be going wrong, I bought some feel-better yarn, and it arrived to thrill me the day before yesterday - but I didn't see it until I was on my way out to work yesterday morning, so I grabbed the package and took it with me, ripped it open in the car, and admired it all day.

Handmaiden Casbah in Topaz:



and Peridot:



I didn't realize how much blue was in the peridot until I took that picture, but I checked the skein and it is definitely there. If it were on the other side, though, it would show more green.

I have decided that I really hate my current sock, and I think it is on its way to the frog pond. I already frogged back to the ribbing, thinking I just hated the way it was working up, but I really think I just can't stand that color combo right now. (it's hand dyed and I feel guilty for saying that - I'm sure the designer is a wonderful person and that this colorway is perfect for someone that I have not met yet, and will eventually meet a happy fate)

I started the Noro scarf yesterday to give me something simple to knit at choir tonight, but the rest I have put aside for now. Sockwise, I am caught in serious indecision. I am having a hard time letting go of my current sock, no matter how much I hate it, and I am having an even harder time deciding what I would knit and what pattern I would use. I did buy the Pink Lemon Twist new fallen snow pattern, but I just don't know.

Everything else must wait until the Christmas knitting is done, and so, alas, must this:



I am DYING. As a side note...I managed to make one of the footman joints about a quarter of an inch shorter than the other one, because I am apparently measuring impaired (really, I think that it has more to do with it being difficult to put the screw in without accidentally pushing the treadle either up or down before the screw makes it to the joint, but both possibilities are valid). Is this a problem? Am I going to be miserable? Should I just buy a new footman joint and fix it right away, and am I sabotaging myself as a new spinner by having uneven footman joints? Or am I being overly anal and is it really not that important?

(Please note that the smear on the treadle does not in any way mean that I do not love and respect my new wheel. I was just a little clumsy while oiling the hinges. I swear to be a better, more coordinated person in the future and not so reckless with the application of the oil. It is my first wheel, and I was excited.)

More stash to come, when I remember to photograph the rest of it. I have at least 4 more skeins to show!

Much the Same

I don't quite have the heart to say Happy New Year because it hasn't been that happy so far, but here it is and I'm still racing the clock. I'm edging the shawl as fast as I can go, in the hopes that I will be able to finish it by Sunday evening so that I can deliver it. I'm about halfway through the right hem edge, which leaves a distressing amount to be done tomorrow, but I made a lot of that progress tonight as I was a little sick yesterday, so I am still hopeful. So, rather than happy new year, I will say, up again and take another, and pray for better things after!

I had three knitting resolutions last year:

1) do something with cables
2) make at least one complex lace project
3) knit a sweater

Well, I got two out of three, and if I ever get free of the Christmas knitting, I intend to embark on the third this year. I received Knitting Nature for Christmas, and in addition to the swirled pentagon pullover I am really interested in a couple of other sweaters. I will have to swatch and decide...but not until I get this shawl done!!

Disaster

My Christmas knitting deadline is tomorrow and I was determined to have the orchid mitts at least finished. They're small, they're relatively quick, that's totally doable, right?

No. Last night I got to the point where I was supposed to put the thumb stitches on the holder, only I had gone two rounds too far. Tonight, I picked back the two rounds and put the stitches on the holder, increased as directed and continued on...and found I was one stitch short. I backed up...still one stitch short. I put the thumb stitches back on the needles. Still one stitch short.

I am dead certain that I was counting those stitches at least every other round, if not more often. I cannot imagine where I lost that stitch. I can't find anywhere that a stitch was lost. I can't find any random extra decrease that I may have made. As far as I can tell the issue is not in the thumb stitches. I can't find it anywhere. I know that I could just increase an extra stitch and proceed, but frankly I'm afraid to do that without knowing where I went wrong. If there is a dropped stitch somewhere it will have to run eventually and that will be a problem. Still - I can't find one.

I put it down and decided to get out the other mitt and do the rest of the thumb. And...here's the really horrible part.

I can't find the almost-finished mitt. The SO and I have turned the house upside down (and discovered an extremely upsetting mouse nest in the process) without success. I called my mom to see if I maybe dropped it in their guest room. No luck. I'm terrified that I left it at the plane, and I'm certain that I had it here. Unfortunately, I have a very vivid imagination and I remember all sorts of things that never happened. I am sure I didn't take it out at the airport or on the plane, but again, "sure" for me is a relative term. And, even if I'm sure I didn't take it out on purpose, that does not rule out having dropped it out of the bag on accident.

I am extremely upset, not just because I don't have a present for my friend tomorrow, not even one completed mitt, but because this means that I will not be free of the Christmas knitting for even longer. The two things that I planned to knit for Christmas and I haven't finished either one of them and I am going to be knitting them FOREVER as punishment.

I know many people do not knit for Christmas do to this very feeling, but I really thought what I had on my list was doable (and it was, until work exploded, I got sick, and I added 3 other projects to my list).

I'm just so, so disappointed.

When the Christmas Knitting is over

I'm back at home, yay. More on that some other post. I need a moment of self-indulgence. I finished the mitts for my brother ("Just what I always wanted. A fabric tube"), the hat for my dad ("I thought you could wear it when you went hunting." "We usually try not to wear things the same color as the deer.") and the scarf for my mom was declared done somewhere around midnight or 1 a.m. Christmas Eve/morning, when it reached 3 feet and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer ("Oh, it's cute!").

I still have to finish the Orchid Mitts and Whispering Pines. I worked on the second mitt on the plane and finished the cuff, so I'm working on the hand now. It's going fairly quickly and I am confident I will be able to finish it before Wednesday, which is my deadline.

I've finished the body of Whispering Pines and I'm all set now to work on the edging. However, it's kind of a lot to get done by Wednesday and I am working this week. Therefore...I may need an extension on that one. Dangit.

However, it is JUST BARELY possible that I might be able to finish it and I am going to knit like the wind until there is NO HOPE LEFT. But, the mitts are the priority because I see that recipient more often. Also, I am confident I can finish those. It's possible that if I worked on WP I might not manage to finish either and then I would really feel lousy. SO. A ways yet to go, but I am dreaming of new projects.

Therefore, I present to you, a list of what I plan to knit when the Christmas Knitting is done:

--Swirled Pentagon Pullover, a.k.a. My First Sweater (Valley Yarns Colrane)
--Hemlock Ring Blanket (Valley Yarns Northampton)
--Swan Lake (Jaggerspun Zephyr, ebony with hematite beads)
--Hamsa Scarf (Homestead yarn)

Things I'd like to get back to:
--Moonlight Sonata (Rowan KSH)
--MS4? Maybe? Eh. Not sure about this one...I've got a lot of stuff I would rather work on.

I have lost the coffee pot rock socks. I can't figure out what I did with them. I may have dropped them at church or something, or stuck them in a bag - as long as I didn't drop them in the road somewhere they should make their way back to me eventually. I'm well known to be the knitter. In the meantime I have started a pair of socks using the Blue Ridge Yarns that I got at Nature's Yarns a while back. So far, I have received no yarn for Christmas, so I may have a little sock yarn binge in January, because I'm definitely running low.

Flail

I'm leaving for the airport in an hour and a half!! I have been very occupied this weekend, cleaning and prepping and...



Packing. From the left: Scarf for my mom, Whispering Pines, Swish Superwash to make handwarmers for my bro, sock yarn (the coffee pot socks are MIA and I am very worried about what has become of them), the Homestead yarn (this has since been edited out of the 'stuff to pack' pile due to both space and time concerns), orchid mitts yarn

Will be postless for a week or so while I'm gone, but I'll let you all know how it turns out!

Well, darn

It's Monday and I have no progress to report. Zip. None. I was working fairly late most of last week, so I only got a row or two done at most each evening on the whispering pines shawl, but then on Thursday night I was completely leveled by the cold from hell. The timing was horrible since our Christmas musical was yesterday evening. In a choir as small as ours losing even one or two people is difficult. On top of that, I had a solo, and there was really no way for anyone else to learn it in time to take my place. I soldiered through it but it was definately not my best performance ever.

I stayed home Friday and I'm staying home today, but I haven't felt like kitting at all. All I want to do is sleep, and that hasn't really worked out for me thanks to my stuffy nose...woe. However, I do think I'm feeling better today, and my nose cleared up enough that I got an okay night's sleep last night so...here's hoping I'll be better tomorrow.

Just Keep Knitting

Friday was the ornament exchange for my church. I whipped together a container for my ornament as fast as I could, as pride would not allow me to just wrap the thing and be done with it. I'm pretty happy with the top:



But I thought the sides were kind of plain. I was out of ideas, short on materials, and like an idiot...I put the paper on first and came up with decorations later.



Which meant those Versamark snowflakes were stamped on a rounded surface. I am a moron. I used an angel punch and my little xyron to stick on the angels. All in all - not my best effort. I wish I had done the top first so I could have based the whole thing around that. The ornament stamp came from Angela's Happy Stamper. I used dark green opaque embossing powder and then cut it out. I adhered it carefully so that it covered up the smudge on the quote. That stamp also came from Angela's.

I put the same ribbon on my Tree ornament, added some tissue paper,



and off I went to the exchange. I got an adorable little snowman ornament, which I neglected to photograph.

This took knitting time away from Whispering Pines, but I'm still plugging along.



That photo shows the color pretty accurately I think. When viewed up close, like this:



It appears white, and you can see the bits of color running through it. But from a distance, as in the first photo, the impression it gives is of an ice blue. Very pretty. Anyway, I'm on the last tree, but every row is so long at this point that whenever I am called upon to describe my progress I use words like plugging, plodding, anything that gives the impression of doggedly toiling onward with your head down, making no effort to measure your progress because it will just discourage you anyway. Other knits are calling, I am trying to ignore them, even as my hands freeze off and the wind gets under my collar and my ears go all tingly (Okay, we have not quite reached tingly levels of cold yet, but the wind on bare hands is enough to make you think you are going to get frostbite just trying to get your groceries out to the car).

One of my friends sent me this for Christmas:



4 oz of hand-dyed fingering weight yarn from the Homestead Heritage craft fair. She got me some worsted last year that has been sitting in my stash waiting for me to get over the aversion to scarfs I had after beginning my knitting life with several. I actually washed one of the skeins last week to try and soften it up a bit, as it was a little rugged and a tad sheepy (If anyone has any solutions for the removal of VM I would love to know, as there is kind of a lot in those skeins).

The sock yarn is not rugged and has no VM and it is shiny and beautiful and the perfect color. It's hard to tell in the photo, but it has more of a semisolid effect to it. Very pretty. Too pretty for socks. I am thinking Hamsa.

I wore my Scheherazade to church on Sunday and two separate people told me they would pay me to make them one. My general reaction was uh, no...As appealing as extra money sounds, I don't think I want to cross that kind of line. I will make presents, I will keep mental notes about what people like, but I am not going to knit for money. Besides, I am pretty sure that is illegal under the pattern copyright.

I'm getting a bonus this year, and I plan to use it to buy a spinning wheel (probably an Ashford Kiwi). I did not make it very far in my resolution to drop spindle every day, so I may be setting myself up for disappointment or insanity by getting a wheel, but I am taking the plunge anyway. Used wheels generally keep a lot of their value.

I wonder if I could get the SO's mom to paint my wheel for me. She is a very good painter and I would so love for my wheel to be pretty. Maybe I can trade her some knitting for it! I don't know, though, would that affect the balance? Would it not spin as well?