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!

Quick Update

So, I've been having a tough time getting inspired for the season lately. It's always a little difficult for me, I think partly because the commercialism disgusts me quite a bit. As a pagan within a predominantly Christian environment, things can be awkward. Especially since my family is part of that predominantly Christian group. What can you do?

So yesterday, a couple friends and I gathered together for a decidedly pagan ritual masquerading as Christmas :)

The tree has been trimmed. It was fun. We had food and watched Love Actually (which I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it), and listened to holiday music.

Plus, I've been working away at that holiday knitting.

My sister's endpaper mitts. These are coming along well. I ought to be done with them in a couple of days.

And because I have no willpower :)

I broke down and cast on for a new sock. I had to try out my new needles... right? Anyway, this is the toe for a pair of Azure Socks from the new issue of Knitty. It's the Koigu KPPPM I got a couple of months ago. My thought was to have it for sitting in waiting rooms. Next Saturday, I have a dentist appointment, and have to renew my drivers lisence (which should have been done months ago, thank goodness I don't have a car). I suspect I'll have a pretty long wait for that too. This will be much more portable than the endpaper mitts. They will hopefully be done by then anyway.

So that's it. Still not feeling super festive. I have a bit of a cold hovering around the edges. But I'm trying. Maybe once I see my folks in a couple of weeks. Here's hoping :)

I'm gonna eat you little fishies...

Lots of knitting chez Lizard. I've been mostly posting stuff to Ravelry lately. It's slow going, but a little bit at a time will see it done. In the meantime, unfortunately, I've been neglecting this little blog. Part of the problem has been that my rechargeable batteries for my camera gave out. All of them. I don't know how it happened, but they weren't cheap and I'm a little annoyed. But nonetheless, I broke down and bought some disposable ones and now have progress shots to show you.

First up, is a sock I don't think I've blogged about. It's Conwy from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. It's a pretty cable pattern, which I think shows nicely in the taupe yarn I chose. I thought these could be a simple dress sock. This is actually the progress on the second sock. I finished the first sock and actually cast on right away! Impressed, no?

The yarn is Regia 4 ply, and it's knit on 2.5 mm dpns. A little snug, which is mildly irritating when I want to put them on, but is the way I like my socks. They don't slouch down that way. And for trouser socks, I think they'll be perfect.

Next. Lots and lots of endpapers. I knit Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts for myself nearly a year ago, and have had a lot of enthusiasm over them. This boggles my mind because I think I did a terrible job on them. This time, I think they're turning out better. The first pair started.

I've just started the thumb gusset at this point. These ones are for a co-worker and are knit in Dale Stork 100% cotton on 3.5 mm dpns (I think).

Then there's endpaper mitts again.

This time they're for my sister who cleverly lost one of the lovely alpaca Fetchings I knit for her last year. This time they're to her specifications: black and hot pink, to match her coat. And they're plain old superwash wool. Jawoll by Lang, to be specific. They are also, if you notice, being knit on 2 circs. I tried this method for the first time with my Red Dwarf socks, and am a complete convert.

Speaking of the Red Dwarf socks, I finished Them. Mostly over the first 2 seasons of the show. Yes, I've said it before, and it's guaranteed to come up again. I'm a geek. Deal with it :)


So here's a photo of them looking very odd. They look odd on too, just a little less odd, and I haven't figured out how to take a modelled shot of knee socks. I think I'll have to get help with it. I'll post it when I have it

Incidentally, this is the yarn in the ball. I like the colours much more in the ball than in the socks. They're really comfy, so I'll wear them anyway, but they'll be worn under jeans

The pattern is Turtle Girl's Red Dwarf socks knee high version. The yarn is Jawoll color sport. I knit them on two 3 mm circs. My first time, as I said. I really like this and have ordered 2 sets of circs from Knitpicks for knitting socks from now on. I'm finding the dpns really cumbersome now.

So anyway, I'm finally done this post, and have been working on it since about 9:30 this morning. That's what comes from trying to sneak it in at work :) So hopefully, I'll be back on track for at least weekly updates of the blog. Fingers crossed.

Back from Vacation

Wow! It's been almost a month since my last post. I just returned from a fabulous vacation abroad and have been spending the last week remembering why I left :)

I spent a little over two weeks in Europe, starting with a visit with my grandparents who were vacationing in the South of France, then off to London to begin a Contiki bus tour. We did London, Paris and Rome (we being myself and my brother aka Boy) and had an absolute blast. We met lots of new fun people and made total fools of ourself when we discovered the joys and horrors of absinthe. The books make it look very glamorous, but boy does it pack a punch.

Anyway, not a whole lot of knitting got done, though I did take some along. I figure that if I had left it all at home, I would have been bored stiff and have been practically screaming for some pointy sticks and string. So here is the rundown:

I finished my Endpaper Mitts. These are from a pattern by Eunny, and she deserves all credit for anything fabulous about these mitts. I love them, though I discovered that my tension goes all to hell when I do stranded knitting. This was my first attempt, so I won't be too hard on myself, but you can see where the space between my dpns was, and my tension is way too tight. They fit, barely. I won't give up though, I'll just try bigger needles next time, maybe even bigger yarn.

I finished my Baudelaire socks. This pattern is by Cookie and I got it from Knitty. The yarn is Regia 4-ply tweed in colour 70. The flecks of orange mixed in with the green is lost in the pictures, but I love it.

Here's a look at the cable down the sides:

I finished these on the bus from London to Paris, and the photos were taken in my Paris hotel room. Pretty nifty, huh? Anyway, this was a pretty easy knit, the patten chart is simple enough to memorize which made them great for travel, but I have yet to master cabling without a needle so wrestling with 6 dpns on a moving vehicle is not something I would recommend.

This was my first attempt at knitting a sock from the toe up, and I don't think I'll be trying it again soon. I can totally see the appeal in being able to knit until you run out of yarn, and for anyone who hates kitchener stitch, avoiding that would be a blessing, but personally, I have shapely calves and don't like really high socks anyway, plus I am a freak who loves the kitchener stitch, so, I think I will stick with top down for now. Don't hold me to it though.

So here is the next sock on the agenda:

This is another design by Cookie (number 3 for me). These are Monkey socks, again from Knitty. The yarn is ONLine Supersocke 100 in colour 844 which is mostly brown with bits of cream and blueish gray mixed in. It's self-striping, and I hope I can manage to match them. I did it before with my Jaywalkers (which were before the blog. Maybe someday, I'll post a picture), so I should be able to do it again.

Here's a closer shot:

I knit all but an inch and a half on my flight from Rome to Toronto. I might have finished it if I had knit the whole trip (10 hrs), but I had to stop due to hand cramps and imminent food.

Oh well. I suppose that's a pretty respectable amount of knitting for an adventure packed trip. I saw a lot of really fabulous places and if I'd been knitting the whole time, I would have missed an awful lot. The sort of things that I may never see again. Knitting won't go anywhere. So now I'll leave you with a picture from the trip. I think I'll post a couple of pictures each post so as to not overload a knit blog with not knitting content. Here is a picture of the candy I bought at the Confiserie Florian in Pont de Loup, France:

Not enough? Okay, here's the Mediterannean:

That's it for now, I'm off. I won't be gone for a month this time, I promise.