February is For What-Now?

February ought to be for finishing. And normally it is (and by "normally" I mean "any year that is not this year, or for that matter last year."

I digress.

Because you see, this year - this very February - there may very well not be any finishing. Because this year it's the Knitting Olympics-slash-Ravelympics-slash-whateverlympics.

Serious contenders this year include making a Weasley sweater for my eldest. She's nearly 16, but believes that since her name begins with the letter "R" that she has some entitlement. I am also seriously considering working to finish my Mystery Stole number... 10? I think? No -- 9. It's this one, anyway (Ravelry link). Or perhaps a shrug? A hat and mittens set? That afghan I started in 2002?

What do you think?

Remember When I Used to Knit?

I miss knitting.

It's starting to get cold here in Tennessee (I know those of you in more Northern climes would mock my concept of what qualifies as "cold" -- but hey, gimme a break, this is the South.) Anyway, the point is, my hands are freezing, and I lost one of my Fetching at a biker joint last year (true story), and I MISS knitting.

Right now I should be sewing Halloween costumes, but I'm surfing Ravelry looking for a good fingerless mitt pattern instead. In this particular instance "good" also means "dead simple" and "would look good variegated."

So far, major contenders are Jacoby and Mitt Envy. (Ravelry links). I saw some other cute patterns that would make for great Yulemas gifts.

And speaking of Halloween, I should be sure to get pictures of the kids this year. Rowan is going to be Luke Skywalker (Return of the Jedi era) and Morgan is going to be Fraulein Maria. It's Morgan costume that I'm supposed to be working on right now.

And in other, other news, Jess, Koren and I hit the Cannonsburg Fiber Festival this morning. We saw some wee sheepies, drank some warm cider, and I came home with some more fiber that I don't really know how to spin.

Good times.

Not Really Knitting

I have been amazingly cranky lately, and I couldn't figure out why. But then it occurred to me -- I haven't been knitting.

Like, at all.

I have a pair of socks that is less than hour from being finished -- and they've been that way for nearly a month. I have three sweaters (two adult, one baby) on tap, and two shawls. And we mustn't forget the ubiquitous clap. There's another pair of socks that I'm a solid 25% into, and a Dr. Who scarf. Surely I don't need to point out that I'm likely forgetting three or four projects.

Anyway, saving the socks and the Dr. Who scarf, none of these projects are at a place where I can just pick them up and start knitting. I need to sit down with pretty much every single one, figure out where I was, and what the frack to do next. And frankly, I just haven't had two brain cells to rub together lately to accomplish this.

I realized that the problem was serious last night when the Knitting Purchase Pushers Association (KPPA)* was placing an order with Knitpicks and I'm all, "Meh. Yarn. I don't need more yarn. I have yarn."

People. This is clearly even more critical than I thought.

I clearly require some sort of intervention, or some cashmere or really fancy hand-dyed sock yarn.


* KPPA, or the Knitting Purchase Pushers Association is also known as "my friends, Gretta, Jess and Koren."

Not Dead Yet

Just a quick check in to let folks know that I'm still here. I am knitting socks at work, and I finally finished a scarf that I started two years ago. It was originally meant for a co-worker (from a job where she and I were both laid off). We've completely lost touch, so I donated it to Bardic Olympics instead.


Jess' wee little Iris chose it as her prize, so I feel that it has found it's best true home.

Starting to Finish

I haven't got the oomph to update properly just now, but I did go through my UFOs on Saturday. I had entirely more than I wish I did (some of which I had intended to frog last February...now that's just embarrassing.)

Anyway, for now I'm finishing up one or two small projects, like some Fingerless Mitts and a scarf or two. My main push is going to be to get my Hippy Chic Cardigan as close to finished as possible.

I'll post a proper list later.

No really.

Hush up, you.

Watch This Space

So, February is for Finishing is right around the corner. This will be my fourth year doing this (I think? Four? Yeah, four.)

Anyway, here's last year's rundown. I'll post my personal updated rules later this week.

I'll be hunting up and taking an accounting of WIPs this week, and post a full accounting sometime before the first.

Anyone want to play with me?

Counting One's Blessings

As Jess pointed out in the comments, I have recently gone back to work. This was not something that I actively wanted to do, so much as an obligation that I had to fulfill (as part of being a good mommy is seeing to it that the lights stay on.) So anyway, back to work with me.

Earlier this week, Carl and I very quickly realized that I had been doing a lot more of the housework than I at least (he claims he knew) realized. I discovered this when I came home two days running to a house that was not only not neat, but was in fact, trashed. Crankiness ensued. Negotiations were entered into.

The good news: Carl started doing laundry again.

The bad news: my hand knits were in that laundry.

The good news: Socks made of Knitpicks Dancing don't shrink when you wash and dry them!

The bad news: Socks made of Knitpicks Essential do.

The good news: Both pairs of Dancing socks went through the laundry together, so all environmental factors remained consistant.

Tha bad news: The Riverbed socks (made of the Essential) did not go through together. So only one of the socks shrunk to hell and back.

The good news: Morgan is getting a new pair of socks.


I just hope that when I wash and dry the second sock, it stays the same size!

(And to give the tragedy the sense of scope that it deserves (as well as some much needed scale) here is a picture of the two socks in their current state: