Exercises in Avoidance

A month! Where did that go? Wow. So my Gathered Pullover is knit. I have to set in the sleeves and sew in the ends.... So:

Here's what I've been doing instead.

Yep, that's not knitted lace, there is a crochet hook at the top of the picture. I'm not turning to the dark side. I've always crocheted, just lately I've decided that I like knitting better. Hence knitting blog. This is pure avoidance. It's a crocheted doily that I've actually made before but seem to have lost somewhere in the not ever actually using doilies that is my life. That's neither here nor there. I've messed up though, so now it sits until I feel I can tackle the thing again.

Lest you despair, however, there has been knitting.

A couple hats for the charity bin. These are random free patterns I pulled off the net. I have the specs somewhere, but can't feel motivated enough to find them. I did not invent the patterns. The yarn, I can tell you because it's stash yarn which I have the info in front of me (as opposed to in the other room). The purple is Bernat Big Value, and the red and black is Bernat Satin. All lovely and acrylicy. Mmmm plastic...

I also finished the first one of these:

Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang for a co-worker. I had to frog it the first time because the guage was too loose. Now it's good, but I've knit this pattern twice before, and I've grown bored with it. I guess I'd better finish it someday.

I finished some stuff too:

Sweetheart socks. Regia 4-ply yarn in a bright turquoise colour. I'll post a modelled shot next time. Finished socks mean new sock... right?

Pomatomus by Cookie A. from Knitty. Sorry no link today. Google it if you really want it. It's free :) I've knit these before but they came out really loose. So I used 2.25mm needles instead of 2.75mm ones, and it's coming out beautifully. I was admiring it yesterday when I looked at the rapidly diminishing ball of yarn (Bernat Sox) and took a look at the label. I bought one ball because the label said 1 ball for the socks pictured. I looked again and saw they were kid's socks. I'm not going to have anywhere near enough to knit these socks. Wah!

Moving on to happier stuff. Lady Eleanor, she is done. Here she is blocking:

And feeling fringey.

It's a terribly dark picture, but you can see the knotted fringe which was, I have to admit, part of the sell for me on this stole. Specs: Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole by Kathleen Power Johnson from Scarf Style edited by Pam Allen. The yarn is Noro Silk Garden in colour 244, and I used a 4.5 mm needle. Next up: dinner. Yay!

What, did you think I was going to say finishing? Pshaw!

On the Block

Well, I'm very proud of myself. I seem to have managed to blog once a week for several weeks in a row. I hope I can keep it up. I'm officially on vacation right now, which is excellent news for me, because it means there's lots of time for knitting. I've been plugging away at socks mostly in preparation for my trip to my parents' place in Mississauga. Socks make such great bus knitting, but I'm easily bored, so I have three socks ready to go.

First up is the Azure socks:

You might remember, I started theses socks initially for sitting in waiting rooms. This didn't actually happen. I forgot to bring the sock, and as it turns out, didn't actually wind up waiting long enough to knit anything even if I had brought it. Yay. So dental xrays are done with no significant problems which makes me very happy and my bank account even happier. And my driver's license has been renewed which means I can drive my parents' kick ass car over the holidays!

Next up:

Southwestern Socks by Wendy at WendyKnits. This is the first sock. I still have to wind the second skein so I can start the second sock. Which I will do. Despite the seeming case of startitis I'm nursing. It looks like startitis, but really, I'm being prepared. The yarn is the Mirasol Hacho I bought at vendors night at the Knitting Guild. It's a sport/DK weight, so these socks are turning out really well.

Next in line, and final sock on the block:

This is Cairi's Sweetheart designed by Bronte. I tried to put a link to this, but for some reason doing so kept kicking me out of the internet. Thank goodness Blogger autosaves now. Anyway, the yarn is some Regia-4 ply I had kicking around. It's knitting up pretty well. I love the colour. It even matches the mattress on my spare bed. It's the small things, I know.

Speaking of blocking:

I finally got around to blocking the body of my Not-So-Khaki Cables. Here they are looking all pretty. The yarn has softened up dramatically, and I'm no longer afraid of putting it on my body. Hopefully it'll fit. So this process was in preparation for knitting on the button band this week because I can't work on all those socks if I want to take them on my trip. The sweater will be too ungainly to pack though, so I can work on it to my heart's content. I can't wait for it to dry. You might be able to see at the top of the picture why my Caleb is also known as el Plumpo. He's been told to keep off the black sweater. So far, so good. He's got better things to do.

Like this:

Birdwatching. That puffed up bird in the tree is a source of endless entertainment. Anyway, with that, I'll go off to find something to do that doesn't involve knitting socks. Hmmm, what to do...