Because sometimes the Blog just needs it.
Snow? In CT? IN FEBRUARY?!
It’s shocking, I know.
Free yarn
One of the moms from our home school group showed up yesterday with an imperial asston of yarn. Evidently a neighbor of hers is a recovering hoarder and was destashing a LOT of knitting stuff. The vast majority of it was grouped into projects, with all of the yarn, the buttons, and the pattern packaged together in a zippered plastic bag. There is an abundance of knitters in our group and we all pawed through it like slathering maniacs. I managed to score some pretty good stuff:
The patterns for which all of this was intended just weren’t to my taste and/or were somewhat out-dated, so I let those go to the universe and will see what trouble fun I can get into on Ravelry. I’m already thinking the Louisa Harding stuff would make a really pretty shawl.
Fish Hat Fail
This was going to be the victorious Finished Object post for E4’s Fish Hat, but as I was getting ready to do the fins, I realized something. This thing is huge. Seriously, it’s enormous, elephantine even.
I must have done one of the decrease sections more than once. Perhaps even more than twice. Add to that a four-year-old who a) dislikes things with stripes and b) thinks all things wooly are “too itchy!” well, that is a formula for failure, my friends. I may or may not finish this one. Either way, UGH!! It’s cute though, and I really love how the yarn colors pooled in the middle. I wish it had done more of that.
SQUEE!!
IT CAME!
Poisson
I’ve had a slight cold for the last couple of days which, while it hasn’t been too horrible, has been a great excuse to park myself on the sofa and knit. I cast this hat on Sunday afternoon and finished it last night.
[ravelry]
This was a great knit, fast and fun, a treat, especially after the l-o-n-g s-l-o-g of Hippy Dippy.
I’m still somewhat sick, luckily, because I’ve promised a fish hat to E4.
Hippy Dippy
When I was a kid, I spent many hours admiring a pair of jeans my mother had saved from when she was younger on which she had embroidered brightly colored suns and rainbows and lazy daisy flowers, as was the style in the late ’60’s. I secretly coveted those jeans, but realized early on that they would never be mine because in the late ’60’s, my mother was a wee tiny thing and I was the exact opposite of that. When I got to be a little older I made an attempt to learn embroidery, with the hope of eventually being able to embellish my own jeans with the same sort of hippie flair. It turns out that I suck at embroidery, mostly because I suck spectacularly at drawing.
Eventually, dabbling in the textile arts led me to knitting, where I found my true calling, and I knitted myself a sweater. I loved that sweater. I loved that sweater to death. We had a glorious 4 months together, that sweater and I. It was my constant companion. I wore it almost every single day and fell asleep wrapped in it more than once. But over the course of those 4 months, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the sweater was too plain and I often fantasized about embellishing the yoke with embroidery, the way I once dreamed of decorating my jeans. Killing that sweater turned out to be a perfect opportunity.
[ravelry]
As it happens, I still pretty much suck at embroidery, but I love how the new sweater came out anyway.
Really Truly Finished
I finished my sweater today, just as the sun was setting. Of course, now that it’s been washed and laid flat to dry, it is entirely too dark for proper pictures. Here is a tiny preview.
Tomorrow, the full report.
A Few Incidental Snippets
1. I finished knitting on my sweater just a couple of hours after my last blog post.
2. Work on the yoke has commenced; pictures soon.
3. I have been riveted by the news coming out of Haiti. If you haven’t already, go to your preferred aid organization and give what money you can. Every bit helps.
4. The Mr. and I have started watching True Blood.
5. I have mixed feelings about this, being categorically opposed to post-Anne Rice vampire tales on the one hand, and needing solid entertainment while knitting on the other.
6. I worry that I might find myself saying things like “fangtastic”.
7. I ordered a iPod touch using our American Express reward points.
8. It is awesome.
9. The only thing that would make it better would be a camera.
10. And access to the internet wherever I go.
11. A dedicated Mafia Wars app would be nice too.
12. Here is a recent picture of Doozer, LOLtagged for your LMFAO convenience.
The Light at the end of the Tunnel
You know what I’m talking about. It’s that point in a project when you go from “just trying to push through” to “holy crap, I’m actually going to finish this thing”. Every project has that point. With cuff-down socks, for example, I experience that sensation as I near the beginning of the toe decreases. If it’s a scarf, that point happens when I realize that I’m almost out of yarn. When I get to that point in a project, I tend to drop whatever else it is I happen to be working on (or other things that need to get done–dishes? laundry? don’t bother me, I’m knitting) and turn the attention of my entire being toward the project’s completion. Every nerve trembles as I knit intently, singularly focused on casting off the project and experiencing the satisfaction of a newly finished object.
At some point during my obsession with slippers, I realized suddenly that I had crossed that line with my sweater and before I could cast on a single slipper, I had to finish the sweater.
Here you see it laid out for buttonhole placement. I have only to finish the button bands and then to execute my grand plan for the yoke. So close. So close. They should’ve sent a poet.*
*bonus points if you can cite the reference!
Knitting Interrupted 
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