The end of an era

Guys, you won't believe it, but check this out.

The world's my longest running UFO is now an FO. I can't even believe it.

Pattern: Sock Yarn Blanket by Shelly Kang
Needles: US 1.5/2.25 mm for squares, US 2/2.5 mm for I-cord edging
Yarn: sock yarn. Lots and lots of teeny balls of sock yarn. No earthly idea on the yardage, but I've still got a crap load left, so I'm not sure this was the ultimate stash buster I was hoping for!
Start/finish: this is where it gets impressive. I cast on for the first squares on 16 April 2008. I was originally intending to give this to Boo for Christmas in 2008. Then it was going to be for her second birthday. Then we moved and it migrated to the bottom of my laundry hamper of ongoing projects. And I tried desperately to forget about it.

Well, as I got to the end of the River Run pullover (I swear I will blog this soon!), I had a hankering for mindless garter stitch, so I pulled this out again. The last few squares didn't take all that long, and then I had to figure out how to fill in the sawtooth edges. I had grand designs on being really fancy and matching the mitering on the main squares. After much mental gymnastics I decided it was too complicated and I picked up stitches along one side of the sawtooth, and decreased/attached to the other edge on every other row. Easy peasy.

Then I picked up one stitch for each garter ridge along the edges, and worked about 3 inches of border, increasing two stitches at each corner to make a point. Then came the attached I-cord edging, which I thought would drag on forever, but actually flew by. I did a 5 stitch i-cord, which made for a nice ~0.5 inch edging.

Then came the weaving in of the ends. This thankfully coincided with my tendonitis flare up that meant I couldn't really knit, so those suckers took a couple of evenings and four episodes of "Game of Thrones".

I was going to put a fleece backing on it so I didn't have to weave in all the ends, but someone got impatient and didn't want to wait any longer. Fair enough. Final finished date: 15 April 2012. Yup, you're looking at a four year project. Seem's like maybe it should be a bit more impressive, doesn't it?

Done, dusted. Boo has named it "Colorful" and had to be distracted with TV so I could take it away for some photographs. I call that a success.

I am thrilled to be finished with it. And I love that we can spread it out and identify squares that are from yarn from socks that I've knit for the family. There's yarn from Nana socks, Grandpa socks, Mermaid and Koala socks, Uncle socks, Auntie socks, Mummy and Daddy socks, as well as handspun yarns, yarns from friends in Houston, and yarns from socks I've made since we've been in the UK. A whole (more then) four years worth of memories to keep her warm.

Devil will be getting a blanket as well, some time in the future, but it will be out of worsted weight yarn, if I have anything to say about it. It might end up being worsted weight handspun, but so be it! And my piles of sock yarn scraps are destined for some really entertaining mis-matched socks and some baby gear for upcoming sproglets (not mine). Hooray!

Houston, we have edging

I have finished the border on the (never-ending) Sock Yarn Blanket and am now working on the edging - a 5 stitch attached i-cord in various shades of blue and purple and red to finish this puppy off.

So. Damn. Close.

Regressing

After a solid week of fingering-weight, handspun colorwork*, I felt the need to do something waaaay mindless and straightforward.

Enter toe-up, thick yarn socks, in handspun. Fiber is superwash Corriedale, colorway "Tartan" from Spunky Eclectic. US 5/3.75 mm needles. One sock finished in two short evenings of knitting. Gotta love it**.

* I finished on Saturday afternoon, wrapped it up, and gave it to Himself for his birthday. He was very pleased, and totally unsuspecting. Now I have to find the mental fortitude to weave in all the ends.

** I've also finished the center panel (yay!) and started the border on the SYB, picking up umpteen million stitches around the edge and starting to work in garter stitch. I'll keep going until it's big enough or I get tired of the damn thing.

A blast from the past, aka productive procrastination

So...last week I finished up the first of this year's secret knitting projects, and have it mostly packed up to go out in the mail tomorrow. I'm jonesing to get started on the next secret project (which has a killer-soon deadline - I will be mainlining ibuprofen and icing my wrists on this one I think), but I'm waiting for the yarn to arrive. Thus I entered the weekend with no active projects on the needles. Woe is me!

I rummaged through the active stash (otherwise known as the massive pile of crap next to the couch in front of the TV) and came up with a number of options: 2 different pairs of handspun socks (one for me and one for he whose birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks - eep!), a sweater design that needs to be ripped back to the armholes and redone, a hat for Boo that needs finishing (which seems less serious given the remarkable fact of Blooming Daffodils in February!) - all very worth projects, some with that almost irresistable shine of New! But then I got to the bottom of the pile, and realized that I had something that would suit my requirements admirably. In other words, I had a project that was not-terribly taxing intellectually (garter stitch), was easy to pick up and put down (small modular construction), was in horrific need of being finally finished (started in gulp 2008), and would be perfect for someone who's birthday is coming up quickly (like tomorrow). Behold, I give you, the long lost Sock Yarn Blanket (of Doom).

That was the progress I'd made as of 19 January 2010. When I picked it up on Saturday, progress was more at this stage,

which means I must have worked on it at some point between 19/1/10 and 25/2/12, but I have no idea when. It took me several tries (read: ripping out and reknitting 4 squares twice) before I managed to remember how I did the decreases before. God forbid I go look at my notes on Ravelry and save myself some knitting time, FFS. Anywho, several tries later, I'm now at this stage.

Three more squares to go, a bunch Metric Crapton of triangles (30 to be exact), and a border of some kind. I think I've figured out a plan for the triangles, and the border is just going to be more garter stitch. If Boo is lucky, it will be done by Devil's birthday.

In 2013...poor Boo!

How did this happen?

I realized the other day that, according to Ravelry, I've only got two active knitting projects on the needles at the moment. It took me about four hours and much mental anguish to acknowledge that this is, in fact, true. There's the double knitting socks I'm working on for Devil, which are mere rows away from being separated so I can do the toes (I'm definitely not brave enough to try and do those both at the same time). The only other thing actively being worked on is the Sock Yarn Blanket (the crowd goes wild).

To say that it's been a while since this baby got any play is a major understatement. The last blog post about it was here, but no pictures have been posted since almost a year ago. A few nights ago, as I waited for the most recent sampling to dry, I picked it up and got back to work.

A bit of garter stitch was just what I needed after all the math involved in spinning to match a commercial yarn*. The only strenuous bit has been trying to pick out colors, and I'm getting to the point where I'm just going to grab things at random and throw them in. Anything to get this puppy done by the end of February.

The status of the SYB has now gone from this

to this.

There's a chance I might be done by 28 February, but I still haven't figured out how I'm going to fill in those funky little triangles around the edge. Or what to use for the edging. Or the backing, because Boo will be forty two before I finish weaving in all those ends. But the light at the end of the tunnel, if not getting closer, is at least visible from here. And that's progress.

Now I just have to gear up to finish up my Hurricane Vest before spring hits and I'll really feel virtuous.

* If I had had even an inkling of the number of times I would need a calculator for this project, I never would have started spinning, much less spinning for this damn sweater. Never.

The crickets are getting loud out here

Just a brief update to prove that I am not dead or disappeared (although I am stuck under a load of unpacking/SAHM-ing/generally trying to pull my self together-ing). There has been some knitting (SYB, TdF socks), more spinning (I've finished plying all the Yarn School Corriedale and hope to wash it tonight) (and I've started on Devil's merino, which she has requested be made into a blanket), and some LYS stalking (I've discovered this one around the corner from the girls' new school, but I have not yet made it in to check it out).

Our sea freight is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, which makes it just about 4 weeks from packing up to arrival. I'm just glad it all made it hear without falling off the side of the ship! We do now have a landline, so broadband should be just around the corner, along with expanded posting soon. Thanks for all your patience, and stay tuned!

A cubic buttload of sock yarn scraps and some wire

In the spirit of working on UFOs, let me update you on the progress of the Sock Yarn Blanket, aka my Albatross.

As you can see from the layout, it's moving along. I'm actually starting to think that maybe this puppy might see the end of the line in this century. I am ignoring the fact that I still have to fill in all those little triangles around the edges. Denial is a wonderful thing.

And, since you haven't seen an actual picture of the thing in more months then I care to admit, here it is:

And here's the stash of sock yarn scraps waiting for incorporation. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the pile. I may end up not having to repeat yarns, which would be awe-inspiring.

Boo's birthday is at the end of the month. I'd like to pretend this will be done by then, but I suspect this will be a "Welcome to London" present for her instead. So be it.
***************************************************************************
My first experience knitting with wire:

Pattern: Bijouterie by Rosemary Hill, Knitty Winter 2008
Yarn: 30 gauge sterling silver wire (white beads) and 32 gauge silver-plated Artistic Wire (red beads), very small amounts of each, beads from here.
Needles: Bamboo US 2/2.75 mm needles
Comments: OK, knitting with wire is weird, but strangely satisfying (hello instant blocking!). These two pairs took me less then two hours to do, even with Alias Season 1 on the tube. I ordered the wire in December, hoping to have them done for Christmas presents, but it arrived two days after we went North, so no dice. I love them, and have ideas for all sorts of other incarnations for future gifts. Quick, easy, and gorgeous - what could be better?

Oh, right

I've not been feeling the blogging love recently - too much time in front of the computer at work, and lots of projects that are making progress, but aren't getting anywhere close to completion, making for somewhat dull reporting. I'm hoping for a bunch of completed objects soonish, but here's the current state of affairs:

1) Gathered Pullover: one sleeve done, need to pick up stitches for other sleeve and redo the neckline. I love the top-down set in sleeve cap. I think it's going to become a standard technique.

2) Ironman's Christmas socks: should be finished tomorrow, just it time for the August installment of the SAM knitalong. Next month's installment is scheduled to be Azure in StR In the Navy.

3) I finished the last 2 oz of Maldives yesterday, but haven't yet taken pictures to share.

4) My Ravelympics project continues on - it's still a big black blob with beads ever so often, but it's moving along. I'm torn between three or four repeats of Chart B - it may depend on how long the rows take me after 3 repeats.

5) SYB is limping along, but I'm running out of scraps to use. I don't really want to start recycling them yet, so I either have to put it aside and knit socks faster, or start cracking in to unused skeins. Hmmmm...here's where it stands though.

That's about it. Keep your fingers crossed that I get my butt in gear to take some photos so I can post some of these soon to be FOs.

SYB Update

I have slowly been plugging away on the Sock Yarn Blanket. It is a much better project to work on during the Olympics then my actual Ravelympics project - lace and beads do not make for good TV watching. Although they do make for much muttering and cursing from my corner of the living room. For the same reasons, the SYB is a good Thursday knit night project - I am much more successful if I talk and knit garter stitch at the same time.

Here's the current state of affairs:

Slowly but surely it moves. I think I'm now 20% done, so maybe by Christmas? Of course, if I finish this one for Boo for Christmas, I'll have to get the Duck blanket done for Devil, just to be fair.

I'm starting to think about how to fill in the missing triangles along the sides. I can't decide if I should try to keep the orientation of the garter stitch ridges, or just pick up one stitch in the valley and knit a triangle to fill in. Any suggestions?

Oh bugger, or: I should have believed in EZ

The sock yarn blanket has been limping along. Wait, no it hasn't - I knit six squares and then chucked the thing in the closet for a month. At my last Knit Night*, I brought it out again, since I got a pile of sock yarn scraps from various people. I looked at the "squares" I had (and by "square" I mean "oddly-shaped trapezoid"), and decided to try a garter stitch square just to see how it looked.

Oh, this is a whole 'nother ball o' wax kiddies

On Friday I was stuck at home with the AC guys, again, and I obsessively worked on garter stitch squares. So I went from this

to this

to this (!) in less then 24 hrs. Now I'm stalled out again working on other projects, but I'm much happier with how this is working out. And knitting every row is so much nicer then all that damn purling!

* we had a destash/swap party at Whole Foods and I got rid of a bunch of stuff, and ended up with much, much more. 2200 yds worsted wool in blue/grey/brown anyone? I sense a cabled Ironman sweater in my future. Assuming we do move across the pond that is, because I'm not actually trying to kill him by heat stroke.

Remember me?

I apologize for the lack of posting these days. I'm in the midst of writing a 5 year grant proposal and enjoying life as a single mom for a bit, so in the evenings my free time is taken up by knitting to Buffy Season 4 and not so much by the computer. But it will soon be over.

I actually have two mostly-FOs to blog about: I finished Devil's skirt, but need to get some ribbon for the drawstring and finish the finishing (my favorite part!). I've also finished the top-down interpretation of the Summertime Tunic, but that piece also requires finishing (darning in all those damned ends!) and, surprisingly enough, some ribbon for the straps. My excursions to anything that might be vaguely called a sewing store in Houston have been pretty much limited to Michael's and JoAnne's, neither of which have great ribbon selections. Does anyone have any good ribbon sources in Houston?

In order to distract you from the lack of posting and FOs, I'd like to introduce you to my new long-term (reeeeeeeally long-term) project: The Sock Yarn Blanket.

This absolutely crazy lady (and I mean that in the best possible way) looked at her pile of sock yarn scraps and decided to knit a mitered square blanket with them. Seems like a good way to use up that pesky few grams of sock yarn that always seem to be hanging around after you finish a pair of socks, right? Right I thought. So off I went.

And that's when I realized that, while I have a bunch of sock yarn scraps, I don't really have that many. So this project is going to take me a really really long time to complete. I'm not doing a full sized blanket (I am not that nucking futs yet) - mine is going to be a kid's blanket, probably for Scud*, and will end up being approximately 28 x 40 inches. Here's the schematic:

Instead of doing garter stitch squares, I'm doing mine in stockinette, so I'm planning a garter stitch border around the edge to keep the thing from curling too much. Plus some kind of soft fleecy backing so I don't have to weave in all those ends (per E's suggestion at my Wednesday knitting group).

Here's my somewhat slow progress to date:

Is there any chance I'll finish this before Boo leaves for college? Anyone have any leftover sock yarns lying around that they'd like to donate? I'll send you good chocolate...

* I've decided this is Boo's new nickname following a trip to the zoo on Mother's Day. She wants to walk everywhere now instead of being held, but her attention wanders quite a bit so she weaves all over the place. And more often then not, misses her target. Truly entertaining unless you're in a crowd and she starts bouncing off people's legs!