So Many Things to Knit

There are so many things to knit, especially now that there is a dusting of snow on the ground and the temperature is below freezing even in daylight. Wristwarmers-neckwarmers-Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted gloves for me. My fingers want to feel the spring of real wool across the needles and the teasing catch of mohair and the tiny whisper of angora. Shhh.

I'm making progress on this silk, bamboo, and wool stole. (50% bamboo, 25% silk, 25% wool. I'm about half way. The colors are beautiful and it's exciting to see it reaching garment status, but it's not as much fun the way it hangs on the needles. That's more because of the materials, than the size of the object, but it's both. The yarns are soft and yummy to the surface touch but as drapey as I intended. There is the possibility that I may have to knit onto each end because it may be a mite short in length. I just have to see how it behaves when it's off the needles. I don't mind that at all. I'm almost hoping for it so I can flex a little creativity and give it a bit more personality.

Baby Hat Revisited & Socks

Here is a better, but still lousy picture of the baby hat for Ethan and 1 and 1/5 of the matching socks. (The second sock is now finished.) I still couldn't get the color right on the hat, so let me throw in the 1,0o0 words that this picture isn't worth. The green of the sock is warmer than in the picture. In fact, it's KnitPicks Essential sock yarn in the color Grass. Here's a picture that I borrowed from Ravelry. It's more accurate than KnitPick's own picture. As a matter of fact, my picture is better than that of KnitPicks. They really should look into that.

Back to the hat. So the green yarn was held together with a self striping yarn in which every other stripe was gray and white mixed like a ragg. The remaining stripes were bright green, orange and hot pink. When knit together, the green of the Essential became infused throughout whereas in my picture it only appears as a stripe. The whites and oranges in the picture are much less prominent and a quick glance might not evev reveal that it is striped. Altogether, it is much warmer than the picture, and quite appealing.

Hey

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. It's Friday after work right now. I'm very tired, but it's a good tired for a change, as if I had been productive--which I have--at work--for 3 days now. Woo Hoo. Not to mention I finally managed to buy vinegar on my way home. I didn't bother with the quart or half gallon. I went straight to the gallon this time. Actually it's good that I didn't have any vinegar while I was sick and still thought it was gas. I read a few home remedies on the 'Net that said to drink 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. I would have drunk some (even tho it's white) and been that much sicker. Yuck! Now I can dye another day.

Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to take a better pic of the green baby hat (avec pompon) and maybe find the oldest picture of me for week 7 of blogstalking. Yes, I know it's week 10. I've been out of commission. For now, please be content with a picture of my secret project. It's really a shame that I didn't stop when it looked like this. It's needle felting. I bought that bag of roughly used wool roving and a little felting kit (whence the foam) from Mielke's Fibers at the Spin-In in West Bend at the beginning of October. I like needle felting, but man!, try not to poke yourself with those needles. They go in deeper and hurt more than pins or regular needles. TMI? Sorry.

Baby Hat F.O.

This is a quickie that I made over the past couple of days. I don't usually finish things that fast because of all the frogging and reknitting I do, but I was just laying around and it's all I did. It's not my first baby hat either. I've got experience. One of my very first projects when I restarted knitting was a Lil Devil Baby Hat from Kittyville.com. There are similarities in that they both have flaps, but the Kittyville one is bottom up and mine is top down. I made the back longer to a. show which side is the back, b. keep that scrawny neck warm and c. keep it from riding up and tilting forward and covering the little dude's eyes all the time. Then there is the eternal question: To pompon or not to pompon?

Not one of these pics shows the color well at all. Sorry. I had trouble just holding the camera still. It is much greener than shown and I like it a lot. I'll probably throw in some little sockies while I'm at it. It is for my friends Nii and Rostian's new baby boy, Ethan. Maybe I'll be able to get pics of him. With or without the knitwear.

Details

Pattern: None

Yarns: Held together throughout: 1. Lion Sassy Stripes in that gray/white vs. orange, fuchsia & bright green striping design, 2. KnitPicks Essential in Grass (solid green). About 25-30 grams of each.
Needles: Various of my size 4 circs and dpns. Incidentally I don't like the KnitPicks #4 nickle plated circs because they're too pointy. I love the cables. The cables make other needle cables almost unendurable. Why aren't others coming out with cables like those?

I am I, Sancho Panza

Back in the saddle again. See that giant ball the Don is carrying for me? That's my former gallstone in my ex-gallbladder. I did get a little knitting done, but I only had the onliest acrylic from a baby blanket. There are now matching acrylic booties and cap with lots of seams to sew and ends to weave in. The baby was born yesterday. A boy named Ethan, Kojo and some other names for good measure. I hope I get to snirfle him.

Pity the Fool!

Because I have had a really, really, really, really bad stomach ache for a week. I believe that most of the people at work think I am malingering. I feel very sorry for myself and would like even more pity. Just for fun, here is a picture of King Tut. OK, thanks.

P.S. I went to the doc. Tests are pending.

New Socks, Departed Pot

Started: Way back when

Finished: 11-1-07

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool

Content: 70/30 wool/silk

Pattern: No Pattern

Toe up

Cuff A: 2x2 rib w/ 4 stitch cable at sides

Cuff 2: 2x1 rib

Heel A: Afterthought

Heel B: Short Row

In a recent post I told of my plan to boil down some leftover dyebath into a stronger form. Yeah, well. The bubbles are actually the stainless steel finish. Lesson learned: Gosh, I hope so.