quickest second sock EVER!

Well, I've been knitting, despite summer's approach.  I've finished 3/4 of a Goodale, a mystery shawlette that still needs blocking, the Stripe Study shawl I mentioned last time (photo to come), a few inches on a diaphanous Breezy Cardigan, and to the best of my memory, three single socks.  First was the lusciously textured Gridiron sock, knit out of the awesomely named Hazel Knits colorway Chuckanut Drive.  I don't actually remember when I started that one. I think I was on a trip at the time, but where? I'm embarassed to admit I've completely forgotten, and even neglected to create a Ravelry project page for it.

Then I knit a Serab (at the top of the photo) out of STR in one of the newish Fledge colorways.  That went shockingly fast, probably because lace patterns are like bags of potato chips to me - I knit one row and blink and suddenly I've knit another ten without realizing.  I'm a chart-aholic. 

Then I needed something simple to knit on a weekend trip, so I knit a Monkey (bottom of photo) out of some more STR.  I'm hardly the first to say it, but dang! This pattern is so much fun to knit - easily memorized and also quite potato chippy.  Those pattern repeats stack up quickly, and look so good.

So that's three socks done, all solos.  Then this weekend I was in a tidying-up mood (a rare and wondrous thing, in this household) so I was re-winding my leftovers into neat little balls in preparation for starting some second socks.  And as I re-wound the Hazel Knits, I started to get nervous.  It was a really small little ball of yarn.  Clearly not enough to knit another sock out of.  Practically not enough to knit even just the leg of a second sock.  Just as I was making peace with the idea of a very calico sock with a Chuckanut leg and a who-knows-what foot, I glanced at the crevice between the end table and the wall and saw something wondrous: a second Gridiron sock!  I'd apparently knit the second sock, put it in the project bag, forgot all about it, let it fall out of the project bag, and didn't notice until I'd almost cast on for a third one!  Or else the sockmaker elves paid a visit to Somerville one night and made a sock before my cats ate them.  Regardless of how, I went from a single sock to a pair in seconds - and although I had no reason to, I congratulated myself on my speedy knitting.

Project details:
Serab (photo, top) from Silk Road Socks by Hunter Hammersen.  This book is a must-have for sock knitters - every single pattern is beautiful and completely knittable and wearable.
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, colorway Chuckanut Drive. An awesomely sproingy, tight-twist merino/nylon.  A pleasure to knit with, and everyone who saw the colors commented on how beautiful they are.

Monkey (photo, bottom) from Knitty by Cookie A.  The famous, fabulous, fun, free pattern. 
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts - Socks That Rock Lightweight, colorway Grawk Fledge.  Still my favorite sock yarn, STR is a joy to knit, and the colorways make my heart beat faster.  Grawk Fledge is an awesome charcoal grey with undertones of purple and chartreuse.  It left a thin grey line on my fingers where I tension the yarn, which I loved - the mark of the knitter!

Gridiron (the finished pair in the photo!) by Anne Hanson aka Knitspot.  I think this is the second or third Knitspot sock pattern I've knit, and I aim to knit all 51 patterns she's got.  They're perfectly written patterns, impeccably edited and photographed, and each one gorgeous in its own way.  Anne Hanson's blog is one of my favorites - a lovely mix of patterns in progress and other knitterly info and gorgeous photos of her garden and its produce. It's written in such a charmingly conversational tone that I feel like she's my knitting auntie.
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts - Socks That Rock Lightweight, colorway Spacedust.  Not quite as retina-etchingly bright as it looks in the BMFA photo, but still charmingly colorful.

For you, Sarah

I dropped this blog like a hot potato near the end of last year, and I have no idea why.  It might have something to do with the lack of light in Boston's winter, which made taking photos of finished objects nearly impossible, especially because I came home from work every night in the pitch dark.  Or maybe finishing some projects on my New York and South Carolina vacation at the end of the year broke me of the posting habit. Or it might have to do with some disastrous and now-forgotten project that I couldn't bring myself to put on the internet.  I truly don't remember.  But here's a quick post because Sarah said she wanted one. 

Looking at my Ravelry projects, it looks like I've finished a few things, but not tons, which is probably pretty accurate.  There was a modified Reunion Cowl (I made a sort of medium size in fingering weight). A pair of 3x1 rib socks out of STR.  A Calorimetry for my awesome co-teacher Danielle. A Lacy Baktus out of Bugga that I mostly knit while on a life-altering yoga retreat at Kripalu. Most of a pair of fair isle Strawberry Mittens that I inexplicably abandoned with only a thumb left to knit (must get back to those and pack them away for next winter).  A Cream and Sugar cowl also knit out of Bugga (using up the stash, slowly but surely!).  The back and one side of an Aidez, put away because I couldn't find a tape measure, and still not gone back to (shame, shame).  A couple of single socks to be paired later.  And now I'm probably only a good evening's worth of knitting away from finishing a Stripe Study knit out of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light.  I have exactly zero photos of all of these projects.  I am a very, very bad blogger/Raveller. 

But the knitting love continues.  I have an ever-increasing queue of patterns I hope to knit sooner rather than later, I am already planning what to take to knit on my summer vacations, I am daydreaming (and websurfing) about trips to Iceland and Shetland to do a little knit-tourism. 

Soon, I will be good and post photos and totals.  But not today.
xo

Mojo Knittin'

I was never a big Mojo Nixon fan (except for the classic "Elvis is Everywhere," of course) but every time I think about my knitting mojo, my brain does a little trick and his name pops into mind.  That is entirely irrelevant, but true. 

What's also true is that I am back in business as far as finishing projects goes.  First, a couple photos of my Traveling Sweater.  These were taken on Thanksgiving by my mother, and I look completely dorky in them.  I chalk that up to all the cooking and tasting I'd done at that point in the day.  Anyway...

Then there's a super-quick project I knit in about three evenings - a Skeleton Key Tam knit in Malabrigo Twist.  This project reminded me how much I enjoy knitting cables, especially ones that can be done without a cable needle.  They provided just enough spice to keep the knitting challenging without keeping me from watching tv.  We recently got HBO so we could watch season three of In Treatment, and we've now become addicted to Boardwalk Empire and Bored to Death as well, so there's been a lot of HBO OnDemand watching going on around here... 

Anyway, it's a very comfy, warm hat, and although it might slouch in an odd way now and then (like in the picture above), I think it'll see a lot of wear this winter.  And I love the color next to the Point the Way scarf I showed you last time, so those two together might just be my super-cold-day accessory uniform.

Then there are my new mittens. 

Oh, these mittens.  I think they're my new favorite knits.  After taking a Fair Isle Tams class at Stitches last year, and the Bohus Stickning class this year, I finally felt ready to tackle a stranded colorwork project, and I was pleasantly surprised how thoroughly do-able I found it.  The pattern was perfectly written (I've been ogling SpillyJane's patterns for years now and I'm sure this will be the first of many I knit!) and the yarn was absolutely delicious.  It's Quince & Co's lovely Chickadee, which is the perfect mix of hearty wooliness and softness, not to mention being milled in the US from American-grown wool, and sold at a wonderfully reasonable price.  I just loved everything about knitting these mittens, and was able to knit one mitten each of the past two weekends.  I have lots of leftovers of the contrasting colors, and I've ordered another skein of the main color, Chanterelle, to knit a stripy hat to match these, although now that I think of it they also sort of tie together the colors of my Point the Way scarf and the Skeleton Key tam.

And so, the details:

#20:
pattern: Skeleton Key Slouchie Tam, by Simone Van Iderstine
yarn: Malabrigo Twist, bought from the Loopy Ewe
colorway: Tuareg
yardage: 190

#21:
pattern: Isidora, by SpillyJane Knits
yarn: Chickadee from Quince & Co.
colorways: Chanterelle, Moss, River, Honey, and Pomegranate
yardage: 420

2010 so far:
finished objects: 21
yards knit: 7670

Back on track (FOs #17-19)

I have been knitting.  A lot.  Not a day has gone by since my last FO post without at least a row or two completed on one project or another.  But for various reasons, I just didn't manage to finish anything for a (long) while.  All that has changed, though, and I have three items to show for my recent productivity.

First, last weekend I finally kitchenered the toe on sock #2 of my Mad For Plaid socks.  I'm pretty proud of these socks.  The color combination came to me one night last summer when I was at Ocean City.  I can't remember what exactly inspired them - probably a salt water taffy wrapper or something.  But I clearly remember sitting (okay, huddling) on my bottom bunk and ordering yarn from The Loopy Ewe for these.  I used their new-at-the-time Solid Series, a well-priced line of superwash merino sock yarn available in a kabillion colors.  I did as the pattern suggests and swapped colors between the two, so the big stripes are black on sock #1 and white on sock #2, and I have plenty of yarn left over to eventually make another pair with orange and turquoise big stripes with black and white skinny ones, so I'll have four socks of varying degrees of matchy-ness.  But to be honest, I haven't actually woven in all the ends on these yet, and the thought of another whole pair of ends to weave in will take me a little while to warm up to...

Also last weekend I finished up my new favorite scarf, a Point the Way knit in Malabrigo Chunky bought from Eat Sleep Knit.  This was a super-easy pattern to knit, with just enough going on to keep it interesting, and the yarn is just so delicious it was a treat every time I picked it up.  The color (Frank Ochre) makes me think of a delicious curry, which didn't hurt either!  It also ended up providing a perfect practice piece for a new knitting skill I picked up at Stitches East - knitting in both directions!  I took a class taught by Gwen Bortner (who is just a fantastic teacher, and fun to spend a few hours with if you ever get the chance) and although at first it felt like trying to rub my tummy while patting my head while chewing gum while standing on my hands, I kept practicing away on this scarf, knitting right to left then left to right then back again, and I now think I've really got the hang of left-handed knitting.  And of course, the finished product is so squishy and warm and bright, I just want to wear it all the time.  And as the weather continues to cool, I think I'll be doing just that!

Then this past week I managed to finally assemble and finish my Traveling Sweater.  It took me a long, long time to knit, the finishing was challenging to my not-so-great spacial relations abilities, but oh, the finished product is so, so worth it all.  It's easily my favorite sweater I've ever knit, very comfortable, and so stylish.  What a fun project.  I already have half a mind to order more Woobu and start another, but then I take look at my stash of sweater yarn and decide to hold off just a bit longer...  No photos of this sweater yet, as I can't quite work out how to snap a picture of my entire torso with just me and an iPhone handy.  I'll have to get someone to help me out one of these days and report back with the results...

Now that those are done it's on to the (many) other projects I've already got on the needles.  Getting the most knit-time currently are a Skeleton Key Tam in Malabrigo Twist, a pair of Kalajoki socks knit two-at-once (another new skill I picked up at Stitches) out of STR Heavyweight, and swatching for a scarf requested by the Mr - black with a gold vertical stripe and his initials (also in gold) at one end.  Also planning a pair of mittens combining the leftovers from the Point the Way scarf and the Skeleton Key to tie them together as a set.  Chartreuse and dark aqua - yum!

Details:
Mad For Plaid Socks
Pattern: here, free from Knitty
Yarn: The Loopy Ewe Solid Series
Colorways: Caribbean, Orange, Black, and Ivory
Yardage: 400

Curry Scarf
Pattern: Point the Way, by Trina Brielle via Knitpicks
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky
Colorway: Frank Ochre
Yardage: 360

Traveling Sweater
Pattern: here, by A. Karen Alfke via BMFA
Yarn: Woobu
Colorway: Manly Yes, But I Like It Too

Yardage: 2300

2010 so far:
Finished objects: 19
Yards knit: 7060

Goals

If I don't finish my Traveling Sweater by the end of October, I will cry.

potentially good news, potentially bad news

I have to start by saying I was chastised for knitting in a movie tonight.  Very rudely.  Apparently the infinitely quiet sound of my needles clicking had the potential to ruin her viewing experience, so she made me stop during the preview.  Happily, we decided to leave and get our money back because the movie was showing in the horrible, tiny digital screening room and the picture was terrible.  So I left and am now happily knitting away on the couch and watching Midsomer Murders on DVD.  Hmph.  I mean, if she'd asked nicely, I wouldn't have really minded, although I did think it was silly because really, movies are loud.  But she was so stinkin' rude! 

Anyway, the good news is that I'm making loads of progress on my Traveling Sweater now that it's cooled down enough to make that pile of lap-wool delightful instead of oppressive.  I might be a bit unfaithful to it over the next week or so in the hopes of finally finishing up my stripey socks during the month of Socktober.  But I'm nearly done with the big arc of knitting that makes up most of the sweater and then there's just a couple of upper back/sleeve pieces to knit and the daunting assembly process and then I'll have what has the potential to be the coziest sweater in my wardrobe.

The bad news is potentially very, very bad.  I pulled out my improperly-stored and long-ignored WIP the Gooseberry Cardi and there was evidence of moth activity!  Why, oh why, didn't I just stick it all in a ziploc and put it away when it went into hibernation?  Oh, I could just kick myself.  I didn't have the heart to examine it closely just then, so I popped it all into the blasted ziploc at last and put it straight into the freezer.  After a few days when I can be sure everything's all nice and dead, I'll get my nerve up to wash and inspect.  But in my heart I think I know there's going to be damage and the whole thing will go into the trash.  Ugh, ugh, ugh.  Those hateful moths that invaded the Mr's studio and ate up his Oriental rug and then moved downstairs! 

Nerd Alert

No new knitting to show because it's the beginning of the school year, which means two things.  One: I've been super busy getting the classroom set up, planning curriculum, getting to know new kids and families, and just generally eating, sleeping, and breathing preschool.  Two: I've got my first cold of the year, and it's a whopper.  I had to call in sick yesterday and didn't knit more than a couple of rows on my Traveling Sweater all day long.  Pitiful.

But I did just get a happy little piece of news: I won a skein of yarn hand-dyed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Tina Newton (of Blue Moon Fiber Arts fame)!  They cooked up a bunch of beautiful yellow and orange colorways, and Tina posted on her blog asking for name suggestions.  I only had a few, and I got them in just under the wire, but she picked one!  And I get the original prototype!  And it's orange, one of my very favorite colors!  So, when you hit the BMFA site in a week or two when the new colors go up, and you see a pretty pretty orange called "Darlin' Clementine," think of me!  (And when you look at that luscious pink/purple number "Truly, Madly, Deeply" cause I named that one in the last contest!)  Me and Tina - same wavelength.  (I should be so lucky as to stumble upon her creative genius wavelength!)

Other knitting news: I'm headed to Stitches East at the end of October for a few classes, and then in January I've signed up for a one-day class taught by the Yarn Harlot herself, the aforementioned Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  Very, very excited for that and for the excuse to take a long weekend trip to NYC with the Mr. just a couple weeks after our 5th anniversary.  I'm already planning where I want to eat, because clearly the point of NYC is food.  Lots and lots and lots of food.  I think a repeat visit to S'mac is in order, as well as a dessert-athon at Rice to Riches...  Plus I read about an all-vegetarian Korean place that sounds good...  Hmm, maybe I'm getting my appetite back!?!

FO 1-6 for the big 6-0

August 29th, 2010 is my Mama's 60th birthday.  I don't think she'd mind me announcing it to the world, because she is almost as proud of herself as I am for being as happy and healthy and vital a 60 year old as the world has seen.  I could write a million words about how inspiring, beautiful, beloved, and heroic my mother is and still not scratch the surface.  She has come through her life's (far too many) challenges with such grace, positivity, and goodness, I aspire to walk in her intrepid footsteps every day.  And I can't speak about her fierce devotion to my well-being without mentioning that she gave me life twice, first when I was born almost 34 years ago, and again five and a half years ago when she gave me most of her liver for my lifesaving transplant.  My own sweet Mama.

And for her birthday, I am sending her (among other things) a cozy neckwarmer that looks like this:

 

It's just a little something, but I hope it'll feel like a hug on those chilly nights when she's out walking my brother-dog, Grayson.

The info:
Fidget for my Mama
Pattern: Fidget, by Robin Dodge
Yarn: Fiesta Boomerang
Colorway: Madrid
Yardage: 150

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 16
Yards knit: 4000

Time has flown (FO# 15)

Wow, I never posted after my last FO!  Possibly because it's a hat, and it's been so darn hot that the thought of a hat hasn't crossed my mind since I bound off the last stitch.  But it exists, and it's hardly fair to ignore the poor thing.

As per usual, it's a crummy PhotoBooth pic, and you can't see how beautiful the yarn is.  It's from Gaslight Dyeworks, one of my favorite indies, and I'd had it in the stash for a while, just waiting for the right kind of project, and I do think I found it in this cozy, lightweight hat for autumn.  This was my beach-knitting project for this year's family vacation to Ocean City, MD.  It was simple enough to knit while watching my nieces play in the surf without paying it a whole lot of attention, and despite the fact that my hyper-sensitivity to the sun kept me from spending as much time on the beach as I'd have liked, I still managed to finish all but the last few rounds by the time I got home.

My other vacation knits remain unfinished.  I knit nearly the whole leg of a Pomatomus sock out of one of my new favorite yarns, Sweet Georgia Superwash Sock, before noticing a dropped stitch a good 2.5" back, and have been so bummed at the thought of frogging it that it's just been sulking on the end table, waiting for a miraculous fix-by-fairies. 

I knit the back of my Concur cardigan, but kind of lost steam on that one, and have put it aside for the moment.  Photos to come of that one when I return to it...


Since I got home I have been doing sporadic work on the Traveling Sweater whenever the weather has been cool enough to allow the lap-full of wool, and on a super-fun project that looks a little something like this:

More to come on that cutie soon...

As summer comes to an end, I am thrilled to look at my stash of wooly scrumptiousness and imagine crisp days and cool evenings spent creating beautiful, useful knits for myself and my loves.  I'm a little worried that I will have less time to knit this coming school year, as I'll be taking on some greater responsibilities at work while also just teaching more hours per week, but that's all positive, so I can't be too upset.  Plus, I've renewed my commitment to practicing yoga, which means a few less knitting hours per week, but more stretching and breathing to make everything else better.  I think I tend to make resolutions like this at the end of summer ("This is the year I'm going to be more organized! Read all my assigned chapters on time!  Finish papers before the middle of the night before they're due!") and now that I'm teaching instead of student-ing, it's no different.  The promise of unused school supplies always sparks my optimism.

Anyway, in the meantime, here's the detailios on the hat:
Ocean City Slouch
Pattern: Pinstripe Slouch Hat by Veronik Avery, from her lovely book Knitting 24/7
Yarn: Gaslight Dyeworks Superwash Fingering
Colorway: Bad Moon Rising
Yardage: around 300?

2010 so far:
FOs: 15

Yards knit: 3850

Well, look at that.

It's an honor to help keep that head warm. 
That's Little Miss Sadie, born on July 27.

Finally FOs 13 and 14!

I'm back, baby!  Not with a bang, but a little gurgle.  I'll take it, though.  Despite knitting my fingers to the nubs lately, I've not finished a blessed thing.  My dang project-promiscuity has been kicking in hard lately, and I flit, I float from project to project, a round here, a pattern repeat there.  Luckily nature has stepped in and handed me a deadline to finish something, albeit a couple tiny, 30-50-yard somethings.

Embarrassingly, I forgot to take a picture of my latest items!  So here's a word picture: two teeny tiny booties in shares of green, pale pink, and bright magenta, with little pops of sky blue here and there, and a little hat to match, with a rolled brim and a little i-cord knotted at that top.  Impossibly tiny.  Pretty darn cute.  They're both for my niece Sadie, who is due any minute now.  I do believe every baby deserves to have something handmade for her (or him) before s/he was even born, and this baby is nearly here, so I had to get on the stick(s) and make with the gifts!  After a failed attempt at a sweater (somehow the back was only a tiny fraction as wide as the sleeves and front were!) I set my sights appropriately low and went for a wee pair of booties and a hat. I'll try to get a picture of them in use if I'm lucky enough to meet her next week at our family vacation in Ocean City, MD.

Now to plan what I'll be knitting while on vacation!

Bootie Specs:
Pattern: Magic Slippers by SockPixie
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight
Colorway: Watermelon Tourmaline
Yardage: Hardly any!  I estimated by weighing these littlebits that they are about 30 yards total.

Hat Specs:
Pattern: Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat by Keri McKiernan
Yarn: same as booties
Yardage: around 50

2010 so far:
FOs: 14
Yards knit: 3550

a reckoning

I can't finish a damn thing.  It is so stinkin' hot here, I can't stand to knit on my Traveling Sweater - too much wool on my lap.  The Daybreak shawl got kind of boring, so I put it down.  I started a baby sweater for my cousin-to-be, and that was going well, but then my mind wandered and I cast on a pair of socks for the Socks That Rawk Ravelry group's knit-along.

Summer is so hard for knitting.  I can't wear anything wool in this heat (and I so prefer knitting with wool), so the incentive to finish something so I can wear it isn't there.  I can't work on a big project because I can't stand to have anything heavy on my lap.  And although I've seen a couple movies lately, I seem to have misplaced my movie-knitting (a big old garter-stitch shawl I started last summer) so that didn't lead to any productivity either. 

But!  I have a vacation coming up in a few weeks, and that means a well-air-conditioned condo for sweater knitting, and beach-time for some little project or another, and airplane and car knitting.  So hopefully the end of July and beginning of August will give me something to show off.

In the meantime, what's on the needles in varying states of neglect:
Traveling Sweater
Daybreak Shawl
February Baby Sweater
Charybdis Socks
and I'm thisclose to casting on for a couple pairs of Mad for Plaid socks from the new Knitty, knit out of the new Loopy Ewe solids series yarn. (I've got a skein each of Sunshine Yellow, Grass, Cerulean, Fuschia, and Smoke)

FO #12

And they're done.  My comfy, cozy, lovely Tesserae socks.  I cast on the first sock on the first day of our cruise to Bermuda at the beginning of the month, and knit pretty much only in the evenings when we relaxed in our cabin, and still managed to finish all but the last couple inches of the second sock by the time we were back in Boston a week later.  I let them languish in my knitting bag a bit after that, but finished them up at work this week over the course of a few naptimes.  And I love them.  I love them because they're comfortable as all-get-out.  I love them because the pattern was easy but interesting to knit, another part of my ongoing love affair with Anne Hanson's gorgeous patterns.  I love them because it's the first time I've knit with The Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga yarn which is luxurious to say the least.  But most of all, I love them because they will forever remind me of one of the best vacations I've ever taken.

Bermuda was heavenly - perfect weather (temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s), gorgeous scenery, lovely people, water that is warm and perfectly clear down-to-your-toes, sand the likes of which I've never walked upon (soft as powder, foot-caressing, and indeed pink!), and just amazingly welcoming and relaxing.  We had such a nice time exploring and swimming every day.  I even took my first-ever horseback ride (not counting that caped pony ride around the 10-foot ring I took way back in the 70s)!  So now I can look at the turquoise and blues in these socks and think of Bermuda's water and sky, the rusty orange and think of sunsets and horses and wild roosters.  And that makes me very, very happy indeed.

Project info:
Bermuda Beach Socks
Pattern: Tesserae by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga
Coloway: Black Spotted Prominent Caterpiller
Yardage: about 400

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 12
Yards knit: 3470

Serious geek-out

Ok, as everyone already knows, I am a big nerd.  This is true in many areas of my life, not the least of which is my knitting. 
Evidence:
1) I signed up for three full days of classes at this year's Stitches East convention, and that's only because I couldn't quite justify taking two days off to attend all four.  I'm taking an all-day class on knitting socks two-at-a-time on two circulars (a technique I have just not wrapped my head around independently), an all-day class on Bohus Stickning, a style of knitting developed in the Depression in Sweden, and two 3-hour classes on sweater design and knitting "backwards," another mysterious concept that intrigues me.  This is a serious treat to myself, because it isn't cheap, but it's so enriching and so much fun, I already know I won't regret a penny of it.

2) As I have mentioned before, my very favorite yarn company is Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  So far I've tried all three Socks That Rock weights and five of their other yarn bases and every single one has been just luscious, and head dyer Tina's color sense is easily the best in the business.  Well a few days ago, Tina asked in a blog post for help naming some new colorways.  I chipped in my tuppence worth, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and although it wasn't used for the colorway I suggested it for, one of my names is being used for an as-yet-unseen colorway!  I haven't even laid eyes on it, but I already know I'll be ordering a skein because, hello? Something I said struck a chord with THE Tina of BMFA!  I feel like I've touched knitting greatness.  (by parroting a great movie's title, but still.  I'll take what I can get...)

So yeah.  Serious geekery indeed.  As for actual knitting, I'm still kicking it with the Traveling Sweater, which becomes more and more deliciously cozy by the yard.  I started a Daybreak Shawl on my Bermuda cruise and managed to lose the pattern on the very first day, so that's not too far along and hasn't been touched since.  Thank goodness I overpacked the knitting supplies, and had a skein of Skinny Bugga (yum!) and the Tesserae sock pattern.  So those about an inch from finished, and will be posted about just as soon as they're done.

Planning phase...

Well, the Passiflora was a short-lived project.  I knit the first inch or two before realizing I just don't like the yarn.  I mean, it's a perfectly nice yarn for something and someone, but not for this for me.  The color was too grandma-ish, and the gauge was too loose-looking.  I don't know.  Just wasn't cutting the mustard. So I frogged it.  Still want to knit the pattern sometime, but not sure what yarn I'll use when that time comes, and that time is just not now, I'm afraid.


Enter the Traveling Sweater.  Look how cozy and useful! Look how not-summery! (I hate heat, and knitting this makes me think how cozy autumn will be when it gets here.) Look at the brand! It was over before it even began - there was no use resisting the attraction.  I ordered the yarn and the pattern, it arrived, and I cast on.  Love, love, love knitting this.  It's fairly simple, so far, at least, with just enough short rows to keep it interesting.  And the yarn is so luscious with such subtly shifting color (I ordered it in the Manly, Yes But I Like It Too colorway, which is what I believe was used for the sample shown on the pattern, that devoted to the goal of wearing that exact sweater am I) that I just can't put it down.  It's got an interesting construction, too, so I'm excited to put it together at the end.  You knit a big rainbow-shaped piece and two sleeve/back pieces.  Plus, the designer is on Ravelry and taking part in the knit-along on the Socks That Rawk board, and she answers everyone's questions (mine included) super-fast and super-encouragingly.  Not one bad thing to say about this experience.  Except that it isn't autumn yet.  But I can't really hold anyone accountable for that, so I'll try to move on.

The only snag is that I'm leaving for a week-long cruise to Bermuda in a week's time, and I'm not sure a lapful of wool is quite the right accessory for the trip.  So I'm contemplating some lighter-weight projects to take instead.  Sure, the voice of reason might remind me that I've got half a Hedera to knit and 1.8 Bellatrix to go, which would both be perfectly appropriate cruise knits.  But the voice of temptation thinks a Citron shawl might be the thing.  Or a Fernfrost.  Or maybe a Lavalette? There's some Wollmeise whispering to me from the stash bin, as well as a skein of beautiful Tess laceweight that I had completely forgotten about and just accidentally unearthed.  Which voice will be loudest? The suspense is terrible.  I hope it lasts!

FO #11

Hello, beautiful!  These here are my beloved Slip Jig socks, from the Rockin' Sock Club's May shipment, and they just might be my favorite socks I've ever knit.  How do I love them? Let me count the ways. 

1) The Yarn.  Socks That Rock Mediumweight is so sproingy and delicious to knit with, and it makes such wonderfully squishy socks that are just heaven to wear.  They hug my feet warmly but not overwhelmingly so.

2) The Colorway.  This one was great in the skein - all that pink and green was like a preppy dream, with little shots of sky blue that surprised me everytime it popped up in the knitting.

3) The Designer. Irishgirlieknits, aka Carrie Sullivan, posts on the Ravelry "Socks That Rawk" board and although I don't think I've ever had any personal dealings with her (or did I buy from her destash once? I forget), she is always so positive and friendly, and somehow it felt like "one of us" made the bigtime when her pattern came in the package.  (I do realize I'm delusional if I think she and I run with the same crowd, but that is sort of the beauty of Ravelry - we *are* all a little community, regardless of location or ability or prestige!)

4) The Pattern Itself.  Not only do I love the way it looks, but it was so much fun to knit!  First off, the garter cuff, which was a welcome break to that inch of tedious ribbing that socks usually begin with.  Then those adorable cables!  Like little portholes, first a bunch of them with fun little garter stitch stripes, then down to four, all the way to the toe (almost - the pattern carries them all the way to the end, but I garbled that bit and ended up making a plain toe).  I knit and knit and knit because I loved crossing the cables so much!  I couldn't put them down until I'd crossed just one more.

Happily, we're having a chilly May so far here in Boston, so I should get the chance to wear these beauties a few times before it's too hot.  And I see myself knitting this pattern again before too long.  Irresistible!

The details:
Ravelry Link (this is a new thing, let's see if I can do it right) 
Pattern: Slip Jig, from the March shipment of the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club.  Pattern will be available for sale in March 2011 from the BMFA site.
Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Mediumweight
Colorway: My Wild Irish Girlie, also available in March 2011 from BMFA
Yardage: approx 350

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 11
Yards knit: 3020

wanna be starting something

I can't seem to stop starting new projects before finishing the last one.  Here is but a sampling:
1) that blasted Gooseberry Cardi is still a sleeve short of done, though I won't be able to wear it for another 5 months or so, so no hurry, I guess
2) a checkerboardy scarf in gorgeous BMFA woobu that I got a few inches into and abandoned for something or other
3) the second Hedera sock that I knit like 2 rows a week on and should really finish up because there might be a couple wool sock days still to come this spring
4) my beloved second Slip Jig sock that is so much fun to knit but that I put aside to start a sweater and just haven't picked up again even though I have knit through the heel flap and could totally finish up in a day or two of actually working on it. 
5) a Chickadee cowl I cast on just so I'd have something to knit at the movies last weekend when we went to see Greenberg. (And there's a skein of yarn already would that I already want to make another Chickadee out of...)

And now I'm onto the Passiflora from Twist Collective, which is so so so pretty and which I could get a ton of use out of if I finish it soon, especially if I could manage to finish it before I go on my cruise at the rapidly-approaching end of the month.  So I should 100% absolutely be sitting here knitting like crazy on any one of those projects, but instead I just hand washed pretty much every pair of socks I've ever knit for myself, and noticed that my awesome Bellatrixes (Bellatrices?) have a hole worn in the sole, and now I am having to sit on my hands to keep from stash-diving and casting on a new pair. They're so cool looking! And fun to knit! And would look so great in that skein of Tosh Sock I just rediscovered in the back of a drawer!

Pathetic, I know.  In my defense, though, I will say that I've been working nearly double my usual hours for the past three weeks and will be again next week, so my knitting time and brain capacity are minimal these days. 

Just to salvage a little self-esteem out of this mess, here's a pic of that Calorimetry I posted about a little bit ago.  (And yes, my bathroom is kind of depressing looking and the mirror could do with a good cleaning, thank you for noticing!)

Also, and in completely unrelated news, a project that I worked many, many hours on over the past year has come to fruition: my school received NAEYC accreditation with an awesome 98% score today!

ittle bittle fo

This one's so little it's only an fo, not an FO.  But it's an object, and it's finished, so here it is.  Took me more than one evening - more like a little bit of three consecutive evenings, an hour here, a couple rows there.  Bound off and sewed on the button tonight while having a little sit-n-knit at Diesel with Sojo.  (I'm so thrilled that Sarah's started knitting - finally someone to both stitch *and* bitch with!)  No photos because it's nighttime and there's no light and I'm feeling kinda scuzzy and non-photographable anyway.  But there will be photos because this yarn is so pretty it deserves to be seen.

Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino
Colorway: Carrick (I think)
Yardage: a hundred or so

2010 to date:
FOs: 10
Yards knit: 2670

It doesn't count, but...

I have two finished socks sitting on the coffee table.  They're the first socks of two different pairs, so there's no new FOs to report, but I'm very happy with both of them.  The first is that Hedera I mentioned last time, and I've got a few inches of its match done, and the second is the March shipment of the always-thrilling Rockin' Sock Club.  I think we're still in secrecy mode on that one for now, but when we're allowed to reveal, I will do so.  It might be the most enjoyable sock pattern I've had the pleasure of knitting, and since it's STR, the yarn is of course delectable.

I have the problem of having a giant stash but only wanting to knit with STR.  I should probably just sell almost everything else, because every time I go looking for what to knit next, I head straight for my STR bins and ignore everything else.  Bad me. 

I've got a summer sweater's worth of non-STR I'm getting ready to cast on with.  Going to do this beauty in the yarn and even the colorway pictured.  It's so pretty in the photos I couldn't think of a single way to improve.  Should probably get started if I want to stand a chance of wearing it on our cruise...

And today I decided I needed a new Calorimetry for days like today when it's beautiful out but breezy.  We walked a few miles along the Charles this afternoon, and even though my body was warm from the exercise, my ears were cold from the breeze!  Maybe I'll whip one of those up tonight while watching tv.  I love one-evening projects - they make me feel like a knitting savant.

FO #9

I'm so behind on photos, it's terrible.  I just need to remember to take them when it's light outside! That said, here's my poorly-lit, night-time photo of finished object #9 of 2010.

It's an Ishbel shawl, knit out of Wollmeise.  Because I've been amassing a little stockpile of Wollmeise but had yet to use any, I decided the first project should take advantage of the generous skein size, so I went for the limit - I knit the large stockinette section and the large lace section.  Of course, after I'd bound off half of the shawl I ran out of yarn, so I had to tink back a few rows and reknit, omitting the last two rows of the pattern.  I think it still looks just fine, though.  I'll block it this weekend, and then I'll know for sure.  The Wollmeise is just so gloriously color-saturated, it was fun to knit, even though it hasn't got as tight a twist as I usually prefer. 

I've also been knitting a pair of Hedera socks, of which one is done, and the other is a couple inches so far.  So I've been knitting, I just haven't been finishing much lately.  Until tonight!

The specs:
Pattern: Ishbel, by the always amazing (and beautiful) Ysolda Teague (see above for pattern link)
Yarn: Wollmeise Twin
Colorway: Neptun
Bought at: The Loopy Ewe, my #1 favorite yarn shop online
Yardage: dang near all 510 yards of it

2010 so far:
Finished Objects: 9
Yards knit: 2570