I really needed another knitting project

New lace

I still haven’t gotten a good finished project photo of the Cathedral Stole. That will be the next post. That certainly doesn’t mean I couldn’t cast on something new.

This is some of the prettiest yarn I’ve worked with in a long time. It’s Lisa Souza 100% Silk Lace, in the color Cameroon. It’s 1000 meters/100 g, and is just gorgeous to knit with. After a few starts to get the right needle, I ended up with an ebony 2.50 mm circular from Holz & Stein, with wickedly sharp tips.

Doesn’t look like much yet, but I’m loving knitting with this. This will be another shawl, Elizabeth, by Dee O’Keefe.

Stay tuned for the Finished Project post for the red shawl!

Pesto blobs

We have several basil plants on our patio that have yielded a bounty of basil all at once. I made a huge batch of pesto yesterday (around 12 cups of cleaned basil). I’m freezing it in meal-sized blobs to give us a taste of summer through the dark, rainy days of winter.

That’s just a bag of happiness right there.

I have been knitting, of course. I signed up for a mystery knit-along, Casapinka’s autumn shawl project. It’s just plain fun. I have the first clue done, the next one comes out tomorrow. I even used stash yarns.

The first section used three of the four colors, the fourth I’m using is a deep blue. Most of the yarn is from the Sanguine Gryphon, sadly no longer available. That pale gold is a four skein gold gradient from a long-ago sock yarn club (Three Irish Girls).

Those little knitted knots in the center of that are called Gobshites, if you want to know. There’s likely an official knitting name for them, but that’s what the designer calls them, so there you have it. If you’ve knitted any of her patterns, you already know that she doesn’t take things too seriously.

Wooly bully

My yarn stash is taunting me. I already have close to a dozen projects going. I have three lace shawls, two sweaters, two socks, one hitchhiker mindless garter stitch shawl, a pair of color work mittens, and a linen washcloth. And a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, and the mystery gift thing that will likely take months to complete.

I shouldn’t be rustling around in the stash boxes looking for distraction.

Yet here I am. My stash is bullying me into starting something new. That is a perfectly lovely skein of Dream In Color Smooshy fingering weight, the color is called In Vino Veritas, which is I’m sure why I bought it in the first place. This has been in the stash box for over a decade. I even have a pattern picked out.

Isn’t that pretty? It was written for this very yarn, and it’s free! Free is always good. Of course, I’ve been telling myself that I don’t need another project on the needles, but really, who’s counting? The pattern is Larch.

You do know what happened next, right?

Stealth knitting

This is all you’re going to get for the next couple of weeks. I’ve never been one of those organized knitters that start knitting Christmas gifts in January every year. I usually think about it around December 20th, therefore, no Christmas knitting ever gets done around here.

Last week I had the bright idea to knit a few things for a few people. Mind you, I picked some VERY SIMPLE things that I can practically knit in my sleep, more of a “stocking stuffer” type of gift.

Then I started thinking, well, I could do these for a few more people too! Pretty soon I was up to knitting about a dozen of these little Mystery Projects.

Right. I am insane.

Of course, though I had the yarn for a few of these Mystery Projects, I don’t have enough to knit all of them. This is despite the boxes and boxes and nearly half a million yards of yarn around here.

So I ordered more. It was supposed to be delivered Friday. I got a tracking notification from USPS that it was indeed delivered “at or near the mailbox”, whatever that means. I think it means it is “at or near” someone else’s mailbox, since I did not receive it. This makes the likelihood of me completing my Christmas knitting even more improbable than it already was.

This my friends, is why I don’t do Christmas knitting.

Please send whisky. I will surely need it.

Sick day

The creeping crud from yesterday was enough to keep me home today. I haven’t done anything all day except sleep and drink tea. I’m starting to feel a bit more human, so I should be able to go to work tomorrow. It isn’t anything serious, I’m just whiny and really hate being sick. It seems like such a waste of time. I have found that I don’t bounce back from being sick as well as I used to. I suppose it’s that aging thing. I realized a couple of weeks ago, to my dismay, that I am the oldest person working in my clinic. I’m twice as old as some of them, and three times as old as a few. Sigh.

I did start that new Hitchhiker yesterday during the Seahawks game.

Wollmeise Pure, 100% merino, color is Flower Power. I’ve quit trying to use straight merino to make socks, it doesn’t wear as well under foot.

And as you can see, I’m making a valiant effort to stay awake and do a little medical review. It makes me feel a little less like a slacker for staying home from work. We’ll see how long that lasts.

I might have lost my mind

I finished my Hitchhiker shawl on the long plane ride home yesterday (finished project post later when I find it in the heap of bags). So I had an itch to start something new. Meet Cloud Blue Kiri:

I purchased the yarn when we were in Carnation and Duvall WA a few weeks ago. We stopped at Tolt Yarn & Wool, and this was one of my purchases. It is Biches et Bûches Le Petit Silk & Mohair. I’m not quite sure what possessed me to start yet another lace shawl, especially in fuzzy lace weight mohair. If you’ve ever knit with Kidsilk Haze, this is similar, but if anything, with longer mohair “feathers”. Any mistakes in this are likely not going to get ripped back. The pattern is Kiri, which is a similar version of Birch, but top down so you don’t have to cast on (and count) millions of stitches. I knit Birch 15 years ago, and there isn’t enough whisky in the world to make me do that cast on again.

For those of you keeping track, this makes four lace shawls on the needles. My plan was actually to start a simple project to take the place of the Hitchhiker, but this yarn just rolled out of the bag and into my lap. It’s mighty pretty yarn, but I might need that whisky before this is all over.

It’s Not My Fault

I’ve generally tried to keep the knitting projects down to three or four things. Usually it’s a sock, a sweater, a lace thing, and maybe a simple accessory item.

As of this morning, I had a sock, a sweater, 4 lace things, and 2 accessory items.

I bought a bunch of yarn a couple of weeks ago. I took photos of it today and got it entered into my Ravelry database. When I was closing the lid on the storage box, one skein hopped right out, rolled over to the yarn winder, then jumped onto the needles. So now I have TWO socks in progress.

The yarn is Signature 4 ply self striping, from West Yorkshire Spinners. It’s a BFL/wool/nylon blend that will make fine socks. The color is Owl.

John took one look at that and claimed it. Here’s where I got it, in case you need more sock yarn.