Knitting – Page 20 – The Knitting Doctor

Oh, The Suspense!

Or,

Will She Finish The Main Body Section By The End Of The Month Like She Said She Would?

Who knows. I have six days left in the month, plus part of today, and I only work two of those, so it could happen. Here’s where I am:

Sorry for the weird color. It’s not really tomato colored, that’s just my phone camera, and I didn’t have time to fix it, I’m on a tight knitting schedule here. My plan for May was to finish the body section, and then I’ll “just” have the sleeves and the hood to go. I have the left front done, and am about a dozen rows from finishing the right front, then the back section from the armholes up to the neck. We’ll see, we’ll see.

Here’s what Riley thinks.

I’m not sure, Mom. This is my “dubious” look.

I’m off to keep knitting.

Oops…

Or,
April Wrap-Up
I can explain. There are a lot of reasons for the brief blog absence, but here’s the main one.

I finally made it into the 21st century and got an iPhone. To say that I’ve been captivated by it would be an understatement. I can finally get rid of all those little bits and pieces of paper and the paper so-called organizer that is NEVER in sync with anything else around here.

So. Here were the April goals.

I have some Corgi Hill True Blood Red fiber that I started last summer, spindle spun. I’m going to get half of it spun up.

The wheel project is that Spunky Eclectic fiber. It’s Targhee wool, the color is called Flannel. I’ll show you a photo next time, it’s gotten dark here and photos just aren’t working tonight. I want to FINISH that!

Get the bodice done on the Faery sweater, and start a sleeve.

Really, those damned brown socks that I’ve been knitting forever need to be done. I promise that if I don’t finish them by the end of April, that I will burn them in the backyard in a spectacular sacrifice to the goddess of knitting. Really. I’ll take pictures.

And how did I do? I got part of a batt of the red fiber spun, but nowhere near half. I didn’t come close to finishing the Targhee fiber. I have an excuse for both of those, which I’ll show you later. I’m very easily distracted, as most of you know if you’ve been following me for very long.

I did finish those brown socks. Thank God, I’d have hated to have to burn them in the back yard. Besides, it’s been raining here so much that I doubt I’d have gotten a fire started.

I didn’t come close on the Faery sweater. Here’s where I am.

So I did actually work on it. I’ve gotten most of the left front done, I only have a few rows left before I can put it on a holder and work on the back section. At this rate I might finish it in time to wear for NEXT winter.

I did read a couple of books, and I also did 8 blog posts in April. Plus several levels of Cut The Rope on my new phone. Don’t even ask.

And what was that excuse for not getting any spinning done, you might ask?

That’s 4 ounces worth of a very dirty Romney fleece, from a sheep named Peggy. Here it is getting a bath:

And here it is, much cleaner:

I think I’ve officially lost my mind. I have another pound of this, but can’t quite face it at the moment.

How about goals for May? I probably should set some before the month is over.

I really want to finish the body section of the True Blood Faery section.

I want to finish the Targhee spinning.

Blog more.

That’s it. I’m not over-reaching this month.

So if anybody has some cool, you-can’t-live-without-them iPhone apps, let me know about them in the comments. Just remember, for every game recommendation you send me, I’ll get that much less knitting done.

World Grits Day, 2011

Well OK, it was Thursday, not today, but we did have grits, and I took a photo to commemorate the event. Kris tuned me in to this several years ago with her Grits & Sticks contest, so I included knitting in the photo.

That’s a nice plate of shrimp grits, with the first rosé wine of the spring, and my True Blood Faery sweater. You will notice that the wine matches the sweater.

I’m clearly not going to reach my April goal on this project, which was to finish the bodice and start a sleeve. The whole thing is knit in one piece up to where it divides at the armholes. I was pretty sure I had gotten to that point already, but I keep knitting and knitting cable rows, then measuring and getting the exact same number. I still have about an inch to knit on the bodice before it splits, but I appear to be in limbo at this point.

Last but not least, the spammers have gotten more clever lately with the comments. My spam filter is pretty good, it rarely misses a spam comment, and even more rarely dumps a real comment in the trash. I do glance through them before I permanently delete them, mostly just for laughs. Here are a couple of the recent ones that make me laugh. I’m excluding all of the comments written in Russian, since I would have no idea what I was posting.

Can I simply say what a reduction to find somebody who truly is aware of what theyre talking about on the internet. You positively know tips on how to convey an issue to light and make it important. Extra folks have to learn this and understand this aspect of the story. I cant imagine youre not more popular since you positively have the gift.

Well, thanks!

Hello there, Are you going to be publishing a follow up piece? My husband and me have squandered some time browsing over your web page and surprisingly enough you touched on some thing we had been discussing only the other week with our accountant. We often notice ourselves quarrelling over the smallest of issues, isn’t it childish? At any rate we wish you greatest wishes from the Usa.

Sorry, no marriage counseling here.

This looks to be a very active website. How do you manage to keep up with filtering out all the comments?

Good question, good question.

I’m off to get some stuff done, have a great weekend!

Saved From The Fires Of Mount Doom

Or,

Finished Project!

Project Details:

Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveler sock yarn, color is Penny Pot, NJ. Go check out her yarn, her colors and fiber bases are wonderful. This is superwash merino.

Pattern: What do YOU think? Same old pattern, 72 stitches around, top down, this one with a ribbed cuff. I put Wooly Nylon in the heels and toes.

Needles: 2.00mm Blackthorn needles. I like these, and the tips are absolutely the sharpest double points I’ve ever seen. I was worried that these would hurt my hands, since my one go-around with the Signature needles did (enough that I sold them), but these are fine.

Started: July 2010. I’m not kidding, even though it’s a bit embarrassing to say so.

Finished: Today!

For: Me!

What I Learned: Medical conferences are really good for finishing sock knitting! Lookie here at what else I did today:

In the spirit of full disclosure, I didn’t do all of that today. This was my Wintergrass sock, and I was about half done with the cuff before I picked it back up today. I ran into two other knitters today, one of them did her best to try to convince me that I should buy a loom. She also said that I shouldn’t Mickey Mouse around with a small table loom, I should go right to a huge floor loom, and I wouldn’t regret it if I did. Who knew that a medical conference could be that dangerous of a place?

Here are a couple of photos that show we’re still having fun. I have been going to all the meetings, since in fact that’s what I’m being paid to do, but we did have a great couple of days before the meeting started. We’ve also been finding some wonderful restaurants in the evenings.

More meetings tomorrow, then back home to rain and cold (I am assuming, I haven’t bothered to check the weather yet).

March Wrap-Up

It’s a new month, which only means one thing. A Wrap-Up! No joke!

So how did I do? Here were my March goals:

I’m getting back to that True Blood Faery sweater. My goal is to get at least half of the cabled bodice done in March.

I am going to finish that lilac fiber, and ply it too. So there.

I now have two pairs of socks on the needles, so I need to finish one of them. The brown Sanguine Gryphon socks need to be done. I have one sock done and the cuff of the second done.

I have some fiber from Spunky Eclectic on the wheel that I’d like to finish, but that might be a bit ambitious since there’s a pound of it.

Because I Can

And, it’s Dorothy’s fault. Really. In her last post she mentioned she has an upcoming trip to San Francisco, and she asked about yarn shops. This reminded me of a trip from the past, and a yarn shop in SF, and some lovely stuff that’s been marinating in the stash.

Out it came, and here it is, started. There are no WIP Police in this neighborhood, and in honor of actually finishing something for once, I started a stole.

Click on that to see just how pretty that is. As you can see, it’s two separate yarns, the first is Houdini, a nylon ribbon, which they don’t seem to have on their website any longer. The second is Kyoto, a mohair silk blend. After I picked this out, I mentioned that I had no idea what I would do with it, and the shop owner sat down and sketched out a pattern right then and there. Fortunately I saved it and the needles in the bag with the yarn. It’s basically a rectangular stole, you knit two rows with the ribbon, then two rows with the mohair/silk. It starts with 3 stitches, increasing on each side every other row until it’s as wide as you want, then increase on one side and decrease on the other until it’s as long as you want, then decrease again on each side to narrow down to the other point. It’s totally different than anything else I’ve knit with. I have some of the ribbon in a deep red as well.

Here’s a photo of what I had for dessert last night.

It would seem like I’m on a gold-orange-brown cycle.

Happy Fat Tuesday to all! We’re having seafood gumbo for dinner tonight in honor of the day. I’ll get photos for next time!

Big Pink!

Well the mystery package has reached its destination, so here’s the Finished Project post!

Project Details:

Started: Way back in October of last year, in plenty of time to finish before the recipient baby was born.

Finished: February 27th, a good two months after the recipient baby was born. Don’t even ask. There’s another baby in the family due later this summer. I should probably start knitting now.

Project Name: Tweed Baby Blanket, mostly. I made it a little bigger, and of course it doesn’t look anything like the original since this one is knit in Startling Pepto Pink acrylic-cotton yarn.

Yarn: Cotton Ease in Startling Pepto Pink, from the stash. This is one of the older, now-discontinued colors. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they did this in favor of the insipid pastel neutral colors they have now. I love this yarn. I’m not ordinarily an acrylic fan, but this is just plain nice stuff. And it’s machine washable, a big plus when doing baby knitting. I love the look of the original yarn that the designer used, but what real-life new mom has time to hand wash a damned baby blanket?

Needles: Size 5mm, started on Denise interchangeables, finished on Knit Picks acrylics since I needed a really long one for the edging.

For: Baby Rowan Annabelle, my latest grand-niece. I realized that I never showed a photo of her.

Isn’t she adorable?

What I Learned: Once again, babies come faster than you think. Start knitting early. I made the center square a little larger than in the pattern, which gave me a finished blanket that was very good sized. I forgot to measure it before I sent it off, I’ll have her momma do it at some point.* The edging is just a feather and fan with an I-cord bind off, and I had to do a little math to figure out how many stitches to pick up around the edges. The original pattern called for 6 repeats of the feather and fan pattern on each edge, I did 7. My garter square was 86 garter ridges, and I picked up 128 stitches on each side. I think.

Here are a couple more photos.

That’s Sweet Pea, of course, standing in for baby Rowan. My verdict is that this one is a total success!

*Oh wait, I can measure that chair that the blanket is on. 49 inches across the diagonal. There you go.

January Wrap-Up

Let’s see how I did with my January goals.

The first was to blog more. How did I do? Twelve posts! In one month! In December of 2010 I did four posts, in all of 2010 I did fifty-four posts. I consider that a success.

How about knitting? Ahem. Remember this post? Here were the knitting goals from January 1st.

Finish the Big Pink Baby Thing.

Finish the pair of socks on the needles, an embarrassingly aged project.

Work on the True Blood Faery sweater. I’d like to finish the bodice section by the end of the month.

Finish the mittens (dog mittens) that have been on the needles since last year, and start the first pair for 2011.

Nada. Zero. I didn’t accomplish any of that. Though I “only” have about 6 rows of Big Pink left, then an interminable I-cord bind off on 60 billion stitches. And I made a bit of progress on the brown socks on the needles.

Brown socks on black needles make for difficult television knitting. As much of my sock knitting is done while wasting time watching television, this isn’t getting very far. And is there any way to photoshop in a decent pedicure? Sorry if that big toe grosses you out. I intended to get a pedicure while we were in Mexico, but I opted for the hour-long massage instead.

Spinning? Equally a flop.

Finish at least two spindle spinning projects that are languishing, a blue/black merino/bamboo blend that just needs plying, and some merino silk that has been on the spindle since last summer.

Again, not a thing finished. I did work on plying the blue stuff, but that’s about it. Not finished.

So, in summary, January 31, Lorette 0. In my defense I worked a lot, had a great vacation, drank a lot of margaritas, and read a few good books*.

Here are the goals for February:

Finish that damn Big Pink Albatross.

Finish plying the blue stuff.

Finish spinning the lilac stuff.

Continue the blogging effort.

That’s a little less ambitious. We’ll see how it goes.

Here are photos of the spinning projects.

That’s a merino/bamboo/sparkle blend, and it’s been on the spindle so long I have no recollection of where it came from. Oops, here’s where the blog comes in handy. The fiber is from Butterfly Girl on Etsy. The bigger spindle is from Bosworth, and I’m doing the plying on that one. After I got my plying ball all wound up, I found another little wad of the fiber and spun it on the other spindle, also from Butterfly Girl.

This is my Cascade Mt. Helens spindle, named Helen, of course. The fiber is merino/silk from Louet. Who the hell knows when I started this. I think I bought this fiber right after I started spinning, so this is another of those embarrassingly ancient projects.

Tomorrow: Remember this? An update later this week on how it’s going!

*By the way, if you’re a reader and on Goodreads, come be my friend. Here’s my profile.

Still Here…

On vacation, that is. We did a mid-week arrival and departure, so we don’t leave PV until Wednesday. So you’ll have to put up with more photos of crappy weather for a couple more days.

Saturday we did a whale watching cruise. We saw a lot of whales as well as some dolphins and manta rays. There are no photos of the rays, since they are under water. Here are the dolphins at play.

The whales were harder to photograph. We saw a bunch of them throughout the day, but by the time you see them and get the camera pointed in the right direction, this is mostly what you end up with.

Here’s a little better one.

They are really pretty magnificent animals. A couple times they surfaced right next to our little boat. We were on a small rubber Zodiac craft, which has its pros and cons. The pros are that it’s fast and maneuverable, so we got a lot farther out from shore than we would have in a bigger more comfortable boat. Being a tiny little rubber raft, those whales looked pretty gigantic. The cons are that there was no room to move, so we were stuck sitting on one seat for the whole nearly five hours. And no bathroom facilities. That was definitely a con. It was well worth it, though.

Here’s a photo of where we are staying:

There have been lots of opportunities to walk on the beach.

There has been some progress on the Big Pink Thing.

Now with White!

Last but not least, another in a long line of margaritas.

We’re off to visit the downtown again today. I’m looking forward to a little shopping and a little lunch. Maybe even another of those margaritas!

Nothing To See Here…

Angie, move along. I’m just not posting any baby-knitting related photos. If you need something to do while you’re waiting for me to finish it, go here. My husband sent me this link, it’s a terrific time-waster. It also might be a little politically or socially incorrect at times, so I’m not going to take any responsibility for any of you who might be easily offended.

The Big Pink Thing that I can’t show photos of is coming along. It’s huge at this point. I have 512 stitches on the needles, and 20 rows left, then the bind off. Not only that, the rows increase in length from here on out. Terrific. Next time any one of you guys has a baby, you’re getting a gift card to Babies-R-Us.

Since I can’t show photos of what I’m knitting, you all get food. Here’s the sauerkraut in action. The second time around, we had it with pork chops and noodles. I soaked the kraut in water after rinsing well, and it was much less salty this time.

And here’s my breakfast today. I know you all are sitting on the edge of your chairs wondering what I have for breakfast. When I’m working, it’s two hard boiled eggs and a thing of yogurt. I can pack it up and take it with me, eating it later when I actually get to work. I am not a morning person (there’s a news flash for those of you in my family), so I have trouble eating anything until I’ve been up awhile. I’m not really a fully-functional human until about 10 AM, and some would argue not even then. My husband, a confirmed morning person, learned a long time ago not to shake me awake at 7 AM asking “honey, honey, it’s a beautiful day, do you want to get up and go do something??” Honey, honey, shake me again, you might lose an arm.

Ahem. Right. Breakfast. Here’s what I had.

This was actually yesterday, but you get the idea. Tea, in one of my favorite teapots, and toast with Nutella spread. Where has this stuff been all my life? This is actually a fancy-schmancy gourmet version that we got at the Pike’s Place market, but it’s the same thing. Costco now has Nutella in huge jars, so I should be set for awhile.

We’re off on another adventure soon. We are going to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow for a week, and since our flight leaves at some ungodly hour of the morning (see note above about me not being a morning person), my sweetiepie got us a hotel room close to the airport for tonight. Of course I have all the knitting lined up, and I do know where my sunglasses* are, but other than that I haven’t even started packing. I better get a move on. We’re taking the Mac Air, of course, so I might get to post while I’m there. I plan on doing very little except hanging out by the pool and knitting Big Pink.

Adios for now!

*I find it amusing that sunglass sales in the Pacific Northwest are actually rather high, considering how rarely the sun shines here. My theory is that we lose them during the long rainy stretches, so we buy a lot more than say, Floridians.

Year Of The Blog

I hear by declare this the Year Of The Blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ravelry, but one of its major impacts has been a sharp decline in knit/fiber bloggers and blog posts. I can’t imagine the Internet without Ravelry, BUT. There are some big advantages of active, creative bloggers writing regularly. Having a relatively close group of blog friends is a little like having a small wine party or tea party in your living room, sharing knitting or spinning. Ravelry is more like a huge convention center full of knitters and spinners, all jumbled up and bumping into each other. I have also noted that forum threads tend to degenerate into nasty name-calling much more frequently than you’d ever see on a blog. Most of the Ravelers are very polite, friendly people, mind you, but even the most innocent sounding threads can take a nose-dive to drama in zero-to-sixty seconds flat. Sometimes I can see it coming, sometimes not. It’s a little like watching a car wreck.

Ahem. Anyway. I’m not about to give up Ravelry. But this is the year I’m going to try to blog more, and to try to comment more. There you have it. I don’t promise to blog every day, but I’m going to try to show up here more often.

A couple posts ago I promised you photos of knitting-related acquisitions, and a peek at what I got for Christmas. Here you go.

A Tom Bihn knitting bag! I’m so excited. I’ve wanted one of these forever. I actually bought this for myself with a little Christmas bonus I had. Note Big Pink peeking out. Here’s another look:

Big Pink removed so I don’t give anything away. This has lots of space, is sturdy, and you can customize it with a bunch of little bags that clip to the inside.

And why do you suppose I was shopping on the Tom Bihn website in the first place? Because this is what my sweetie pie got me for Christmas:

It’s a Mac Air! Oh my. I adore this. But I needed a case for it. Ergo Tom Bihn.

It’s perfect. It’s his Ristretto bag, and has a nice padded compartment for the laptop, and plenty of pockets and space for other stuff. I could even stuff a sock in progress in here for travel.

And just so I can show that I really do knit, here’s the dog mittens I mentioned in the prior post. In case you all forgot, I started these eons ago, dragged them out this fall, decided they were too small, and ripped half a mitten out. Here’s where I am.

I’m about half done with the first mitten (again). Just because I always get asked, the pattern is Dog Mittens, by Jorid Linvik. Here’s a Ravelry link, and here’s her pattern shop link.

So, there I go, making New Year’s Resolutions that I said I wasn’t going to do. What plans do you have for your blog this year?

New Year Fiber Resolutions

I hope your NYE was swell and fabulous! Ours certainly was. We had a little pre-dinner cocktail party in the lobby of the Westin Seattle while we were all (10 of us) waiting for our rooms. While we were there, we tried to scope out the best possible party to crash after dinner. The hotel lobby was jam packed with people coming and going, many with cases of booze, platters of delicious looking things, and coolers full of who-knows-what. It seems that this place is a happening joint on NYE. We are probably 8 blocks or so south of the Space Needle, and we all had high-floor rooms facing the Needle, important for the fireworks that took place later.

After we got settled into our rooms, we went across the street to the Icon Grill restaurant for a lovely dinner. The place was bustling, and nicely decorated for the holidays, adding to the festive spirit. After dinner, being the old farts wild partiers that we all are, we went back to our respective rooms with plans for naps and to meet at about 11PM for the fireworks show. The latter was pretty spectacular. At exactly midnight, the Space Needle lit up like a Roman candle for eight minutes, accompanied by an enthusiastic musical show. We had little food nibbles that everybody brought, along with a variety of sparkling beverages. We all managed to stay up and talk for another hour, then gave it up and called it done for the old year.

This morning we’re having breakfast up the street, then back home to get those black eyed peas done for luck.

Here are some photos from the evening:

Now for those resolutions. I’m terrible at NY resolutions. They don’t usually last a month around here. So I’m not doing any craft resolutions, except one. I’m going to try to do a new set of fiber-yarn goals at the beginning of each month. I did sign up for the 11 mittens in 2011 challenge on Ravelry, but I have no real illusions that this will last. My goals for January? Here they are:

Finish at least two spindle spinning projects that are languishing, a blue/black merino/bamboo blend that just needs plying, and some merino silk that has been on the spindle since last summer.

Finish the Big Pink Baby Thing.

Finish the pair of socks on the needles, an embarrassingly aged project.

Work on the True Blood Faery sweater. I’d like to finish the bodice section by the end of the month.

Finish the mittens (dog mittens) that have been on the needles since last year, and start the first pair for 2011.

There you go. Have a great weekend!

How Do You Know When It’s Done?

Sauerkraut, that is.

The correct answer, of course, is “when you have to hold your breath walking through the garage because of the stench”. It reached that point last week, but I put off dealing with it until today. It’s an icky, rainy day in the northwest, too nasty to do much else, so I figured I might as well put this in jars and in the refrigerator. At first I thought I’d put this up in quart jars, but it appears to be the wrong time of year to buy canning jars around here. Currently John is out foraging for a gallon glass jug, but here’s the interim solution:

I’m pretty sure that storing this stuff in plastic will doom the plastic containers to smell like sauerkraut forever, but so be it. I never really talked about what you do with this stuff once you get it in your crock. Periodically during the brining process, oh, about once a week when I remembered, I took the rock out, then scooped out some of the nasty liquid on top, along with whatever yucky stuff had started to grow, then the plate. I mixed the kraut up a bit, added a bit more fresh brine, mixed again, then washed the plate and the rock and replaced. I haven’t tasted it yet, since I’m a bit of a stickler about food poisoning, so I’ll plan on heating it up as I use it. It looks and smells like a fine batch of kraut, however. It’s just that a gallon or so of it is a bit overwhelming all at once. Tonight’s dinner is sausages and kraut, I’ll report back if we survive.

OK, John just sent me a photo from Target. John and Tar-zhay save the day!

On the knitting front, I’m still working on the Passionately Pink Surprise Baby Present. (I’m going to have to pick a name and stick to it at some point.) I better get on it, since the recipient was born earlier today! I have a new grand-niece, Rowan Annabelle! I don’t have a photo yet, but I hear tell she is gorgeous.

I hope everyone’s holiday season is going well. We had a fairly low key weekend, since I had to work. I was pretty grumpy about the whole thing, but to put a positive spin on it, at least I have a job and don’t have to live in a box under the bridge. Where the hell would I ever keep all the yarn?

We did have the annual Solstice friends and neighbors gathering this year. It was quite a festive event. I made cassoulet, which I’ve never done before. Rather than putting up a billion photos here, I’ll just link the Picasa photo album that John put together. Let’s just say that our coronaries all probably took a hit from the duck fat and sausage load.

Well, the guy with the kraut jar is home, so I’m off to finish that project. Next time, maybe some actual knitting!

Progress, I Guess…

Because I’m knitting a Startling Pink Secret Project which I can’t show photos of on the blog, I decided to drag out one of the UFO’s from my short list of remaining UFO projects. Here’s the original list of all of them that I put together earlier this year:

1) True Blood Faery sweater

2) Crazy King Cole Mohair thing, um, stole RIP

3) Wollmeise Squashed Frog Socks Finished

4) Grey Ribbed Peace Fleece Socks with red accents RIP

5) Frootloops Morning Glory Stole

6) Puppy Mittens

7) Evenstar Shawl

8 ) Baktus Shawlette Finished

9) Euroflax Linen Facecloth Finished

10) Spirit In The Sky Beret Finished

11) Startling Pink Secret Project (new)

12) Brown Sanguine Gryphon socks (relatively new)

Six projects remain. I should renumber them so the UFO’s are on the top of the list.

1) True Blood Faery sweater

2) Frootloops Morning Glory Stole

3) Puppy Mittens

4) Evenstar Shawl

5) Startling Pink Secret Project (new)

6) Brown Sanguine Gryphon socks (relatively new)

7) Crazy King Cole Mohair thing, um, stole RIP

8 ) Wollmeise Squashed Frog Socks Finished

9) Grey Ribbed Peace Fleece Socks with red accents RIP

10 ) Baktus Shawlette Finished

11) Euroflax Linen Facecloth Finished

12) Spirit In The Sky Beret Finished

There, that makes me happier. Anyway, what was I saying?? Oh, yes, knitting. I dragged out the Puppy Mittens.

These were originally intended to be John’s, a nice little cozy pair of mittens to wear at the dog park. I stuffed the whole mess into a bag last spring when I got tired of them. Here they are again.

I finally had to face the reason that they got stuffed into a bag and hidden away in my office.

I have rather skinny hands. John’s hands are relatively small for a guy, but not this small. Damn damn damn.

Out they came. Here they are, restarted on larger needles.

I should be able to tell for sure in another inch or so if they’ll fit. If not, they’ll be mine, and I’ll make him different mittens. I better get busy. It’s just damned cold and icky outside, and supposed to get colder yet as the week goes on. I’d be embarrassed to have to wear store-bought mittens.

Lookie Here!

It’s Knitting! On a knitting blog, no less. First up is the True Blood Faery Ring sweater. After the cable set-up dust-up, I’ve managed to get a few inches of that cable section done finally.

Sorry for the crappy photos. It would appear that we’ve entered the grey and gloomy season around here. Try clicking on them, but the lighting is just so lousy that it might not help. Notice that pesky seed stitch out there under the armpits, where it belongs.

The Major has more or less shamed me into hauling this out and working on it in earnest. She suggested that we ought to get our butts in gear and finish these, and I think she outranks me, so here we go. She has the body and part of both sleeves done, and if she keeps it up will be done with hers by Thanksgiving, if not sooner. I also pulled out the buttons to show someone this past week, and that got me all excited about this project again. Here they are, in case you forgot.

Yes, they really do have little fairies on them. I think I spent more on the buttons than I did on the yarn.

Here’s the sock in progress.

That’s the first of the pair, the yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Little Traveller yarn, the color name is Penny Pot, NJ.

I also forgot to show you a shopping acquisition from this month. This was my birthday present to myself. During the birthday trip to Seattle, we took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island for a day, and had lunch and did a little window shopping. There is a nice little yarn store there, Churchmouse Yarns, and they happen to be one of the handful of shops that is carrying Jared Flood’s Shelter yarn. I’ve been drooling over photos of it since it appeared in stores, but wasn’t about to plunk down a lot of cash for it until I could see it, since it’s fairly spendy. Well, I saw, I squooshed, then I plunked.

Oh yeah. It really is that pretty. I bought four skeins of this in Button Jar (isn’t that a great name?), and the pattern for Terra. Now I just need to finish the other two shawls in the UFO pile before I can cast on for this.

I’m off to take care of some business. I’m back to work tomorrow for a seven day stretch, so who knows how much knitting or blogging might happen. We’ll see!