Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A More Prepared Blogger



I decided to grab some pictures of my blooming iris before the thunderstorms and nickel-sized hail hit and mangled them all to hell and back.

(I should note that said thunderstorm and nickel sized hail never materialized. But would it have stormed and would ice the size of a small coin fallen out of the sky had I NOT taken these pictures? You bet your sweet Doppler it would have.)




Monday, March 21, 2011

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Spring is springing all over the place here in Middle Tennessee, and I'm pretty much thrilled. I have daffodils on my table, greening grass outside, a red bud in bloom, and iris.

My iris are starting to bud out, and that makes me happy.

(A prepared blogger would have a pretty picture here of her front flower bed. Pretend I am a prepared blogger and imagine a flower bed full of beautiful green iris leaves. And since this is an imaginary picture and not a real one, go ahead and finish weeding that spot in front of the garage with your mind's eye, won't you?)

Things on the knitting front are moving apace. March is supposed to be for Making Mates, but so far it seems to be mostly for watching NCIS re-runs and test knitting mitts for a friend. (In my defense, I did make two mitts, so mate making happened.)


Meet Pretty Perdita X Mitts (Ravelry link). The cable would have been less, shall we say, "subtle" in a different yarn at a different gauge, but that is no fault of the designer. In any case, they are going in a box labeled "Do not open until Xmess" in a no doubt mis-guided attempt to avoid an onset of what Stephanie Pearl-McPhee refers to as "It."

Unfortunately, I also have less successful knitting tale to tell. My Sock Club socks for Mar-Apr are doomed to the frog pond, I fear. I'm knitting Jaywalkers (another Ravelry link) out of a really pretty striped indie-dyer yarn. They look gorgeous, but they aren't going to work. The fabric has no give (and Jaywalkers are tricky to fit anyway) and they aren't going to fit. So, rather than finish them and have pretty socks that I hate, I'm going to frog them and make a new plan.


My original concept with the whole sock club thing was to challenge myself (and to actually finish some damn socks, but that's beside the point). But... you have to know when to bail, I think. I may try Charlene Schurch's Chevron Socks (still yet more 'nother Ravelry link), and see if I can get them to act right.

Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Being A Compleat Accounting of February, Including Attendant Finishings

February is for Finishing turned out to be a ridiculously successful venture here in chez woolly. I started with 25 projects -- some that had been languishing on needles for YEARS.

YEARS, she says again for dramatic emphasis.

So here are the current standings:
  1. Halloween/Samhain Mystery Shawl
  2. Red Heart Afghan, started in the early 00's
  3. Ab-Fab Afghan
  4. Winter Marigold (current sock club sock)
  5. Dr. Who Scarf
  6. Arabella
  7. Blue Triangle Headscarf
  8. Flamin' Fingerless gloves
  9. Wee Toe of a Sock
  10. Socks that Wanted to Be Mittens Instead
  11. Water Shawl
  12. "Blue" Kerry Shawl/Blanket
  13. Mandala Shawl
  14. Mystery Swan Lake Stole
  15. Soleil
  16. Cheeto Socks (Gentleman's Fancy by Nancy Bush)
  17. Clapotis
  18. Amelia Cardigan
  19. BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket, not Bloody Stupid Johnson)
  20. Pink and Grey Stripedy Socks
  21. Sooper Sekrit Surprise Projeck
  22. Checkerboard Twist Socks
  23. Eala
  24. Watergarden Cardigan
  25. Awkward Red Thing
Six projects left, kids -- out of 25. I pretty much rock, I think.

(I did cast on my Mar-Apr Sock Club Sock yesterday, so I'm back up to seven active projects...but I feel like that's legit. I mean, it's all part of the plan, man.)