Teaser

Just to prove that I have been doing something...

I know this is getting boring...

But since all I've been doing is working on projects that I can't actually show you, I can only update the list as items are finished and checked off. Sorry!

Not surprisingly, things have changed again...

Person A - mittens from my birthday present from my MIL (and no, it's not her). There are not started, nor is yarn chosen. Move along here, there's nothing to see I've gone back to the original gift for said person, which is finished. Check number one.
Person B - cowl and maybe a hat from same yarn. Cowl done, hat, not so much cowl is still done, but in keeping with the rest of the Christmas knitting this year, I think the hat will now become mitts.
Person C - hat or some manly fingerless mitts. He could carry off fingerless mitts that are alas, not started finished! Blocked even. Check number two.
Person D - ?????? Fuck. Alpaca scarf. Done. Numero tres crossed off the list.
Person E - handspun mittens. One finished, one started but I had to spin some more yarn. And knit on tiny needles. Hmmmm...this is the TV knitting except that I am out of yarn and haven't soaked/thwacked the newest yarn, plied last night. Sigh. Finished, put check number 4 on the list.
Person F - hat and matching mittens. Done! Blocked even. Hooray! Check number five.
Person G - felted clogs. Not started. I've got yarn somewheres though. Might could go and dig it out while my new handspun is drying tonight... Still not started, nor have I gone stash diving for yarn.
Person H - Albatross. Which is done but not blocked. Blocked, but still pinned out on the guest bed. Which needs to be freed up by Monday when the first set of overseas guests arrives. Check number six.
Person I - mittens, which are done, but there's another project to go out with them in the mail that won't be done for a while Mittens have been repurposed for someone else, but the socks are almost half done.

So if I can count accurately (one can only hope) that means I have only two presents that haven't been cast on and one that is halfway done. That's actually pretty good, although I forgot to include Boo's hat on this list, but it's about halfway done too. I must needs cast on for one of the two remaining items tonight, but the situation is not too dire. At least not yet...but you never know when an emergency might strike!

And I promise, as soon as I'm able to pull my act together enough during the (too few) daylight hours, I'll take some teaser shots of everything that is done so far and actually put some pictures in one of these posts.

Non-striking postal service

A few weeks ago, I packed up some parcels and took them off to the post office to ship to the States.

In spite of various and sundry postal issues, I now am the proud possesor of this pile of September HYFC fiber:

I don't know why I so fell in love with this stuff (pink, green and brown? Seriously?), but I did, and was desperate for more. By the time I got ahold of her, Adrian was cleaned out, so I posted on the HY forum swap thread looking for more. A flurry of Ravelry PMs later, I divested some Hive, Mollusc and Sour Fig (a borrowed picture from the HYFC flickr group), and ended up with twelve more ounces of Winter Storage (September Club fiber) and some lovely merino in Harmonia (the purpley-brown one).

I'm hoping to have enough to make myself a sweater out of the Winter Storage. Which will require some super fluffy woolen spinning to stretch out 20 oz to enough yardage to cover moi, size Large. But between this and the purple stuff, it's looking like January is going to be a happy sweater spinning month!

In other news: today I hit a new knitting milestone - I walked out the door wearing three handknit items: this, this and these. There was frost on the Combat Zone car, so more wool seemed like a good thing. Toto, I don't think we're in Houston anymore!

Sad day

Last week I got some very sad news.

As you can see, my LYS is closing down. Which is very sad, since the people who run it and work there are absolutely lovely. I will be very sorry to not be able to drop in with Devil in the afternoons while we wait to pick up Boo. I will miss the Yarn of the Month, which has garnered me some lovely yarns. And I will miss the Thursday night knitting group, which I hadn't yet made it to, but was excited about joining after Christmas.

We dropped by yesterday to pick up a few goodies.

I made Devil promise she'd wear a hat made out of this



Some Malabrigo Lace 'cause I don't have any yet



One lone skein of Lion & Lamb for a mini-Clap? Some sort of scarf in any event

Best.Procrastination.Ever

I was very lucky early this autumn to get in to Alice's Knit Love Club 2010 sock club. And someone happened to suggest on the group forum on Ravelry that maybe we should do a mini-sock swap for the holidays. So I've been using the swap as my excuse to churn out teeny tiny socks at every opportunity.

Pattern: Toe up magic loop wee tiny sock swap sock by Sean Higgins
Yarns: assorted. Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art Forest, left over from Glynis, Trekking XXL left over from socks for my Dad two Christmases ago, and some random bits and pieces from the bowels of the Sock Yarn Blanket scraps.
Needles: 2 US 0/2.0 mm dpns
Gauge: ? socks are about 2 inches high as pictured
Start/finish: 15 Nov -25 Nov 2009, but each one only took about an hour
Comments: fun, quick pattern. Purple sock is worked in garter rib on instep and leg, red stripey is stockinette with a 1x1 rib cuff and the candy cane one is stockinette with a picot bind off. I just hope my downstream swap person likes them!

The thing about Boo socks

Is that she likes them and they don't take very long to make. Thankfully.

Pattern: Riverside architecture by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Regia Jacquard that I found at Oxfam for 99 p
Needles: US 1/2.00 mm
Gauge: 8 sts/12 rows per inch
Start/finish: 8 Nov - 24 Nov 2009
Comments: This was my first working of this particular architecture from New Pathways, and it was pretty straightforward. I did a whirlpool toe, eye of partridge heel, and garter rib for the leg. Wove in the ends last night and she asked to put them on with her purple fleece jammies.

Unfortunately she then went to stand on the highly patterned rug we have in the living room, but so be it. You can get the idea.

Feels a bit like a cheat using these for the Sock a Month, but you gotta do what you gotta do. It's been a busy one!

Where have I been?

Ummmm...I wish I had a good excuse, but I'm not even up to the halfway point in the Nano writing fail exersize, and I certainly haven't been doing much spinning or knitting...there has been cooking, however, but I eat most of that before I get pictures taken.

The Christmas list is under revision yet again.

Person A - mittens from my birthday present from my MIL (and no, it's not her). There are not started, nor is yarn chosen. Move along here, there's nothing to see.
Person B - cowl and maybe a hat from same yarn. Cowl done, hat, not so much.
Person C - hat or some manly fingerless mitts. He could carry off fingerless mitts that are, alas, not started.
Person D - ?????? Fuck.
Person E - handspun mittens. One finished, one started but I had to spin some more yarn. And knit on tiny needles. Hmmmm...this is the TV knitting except that I am out of yarn and haven't soaked/thwacked the newest yarn, plied last night. Sigh.
Person F - hat and matching mittens. Done! Blocked even. Hooray!
Person G - felted clogs. Not started. I've got yarn somewheres though. Might could go and dig it out while my new handspun is drying tonight...
Person H - Albatross. Which is done, but not blocked. That could be another project for tonight, hunh?
Person I - mittens, which are done, but there's another project to go out with them in the mail that won't be done for a while.

So, nine people, not counting the ones I live with, who are in line for knitted goodness. And I have 4.5 done (if I count the Albatross as done when really, it isn't). I suspect this is my Puritan, self-flagellating ancestry making itself known in a modern fashion, but I can't be the only one that does this, right?

Right?

Shut up crickets, you're too loud.