I'm a busy little knitter!

I've been working on the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" stole, aka the "Sucking Up to the Future Mother-in-Law" stole, aka Elann's Voyager Stole. I'm on the second ball of yarn, and it's looking lovely! See?

I added that image to Ravelry. I also added a couple pictures of the cardigan I knit for my coworker N's baby. Here they are, for any non-Ravelry users.


I've also put in all my needles on the chart on Ravelry to keep track of them. No more buying extra needles by mistake! It was a pain adding in all the sizes that can be made from my Denise set. Oy vey. Still, I'm glad I did it. I still haven't gotten around to uploading my stash, and I'm honestly not sure I will. I'm not a huge stasher, and I doubt I'll really ever need this.

Now, to go check on the homemade yogurt that I have culturing in a tightly covered bowl, wrapped in a towel in my nice sunny garden. Yay for lactobacillus!

Ok, FINALLY I have figured out the proper way to do the YOs on the Voyager Lace Stole (aka the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" Stole). Now I'm making progress. Yay! I got to indulge in one of my favourite nice-weather pastimes this weekend: knitting outside in the sunshine! There's just something about the warm sun, the light breeze, and a lapful of knitting that makes me bliss out. :)

The Who Knits group on Ravelry is doing a charity afghan, and while I'd like to contribute a square, they're doing sock yarn squares, and I don't really have time with everything else I'm doing right now. If it were worsted, I'd go for it, but I'm sick of itty-bitty sock yarn. Pity--one idea they have is to do two identical afghans: one for auction for a charity (Doctors Without Borders, natch!) and one to send to David Tennant. I like that idea, even if I'm not as fangirly about him as I am about the last Doctor.

OK, work time now. Meh. So tired today...

Back in the saddle again

Hey, suddenly I'm really ENJOYING knitting again! It's amazing what going from socks on size 1 metal DPNs to worsted cotton on bamboo size 9s can do for me!

Yesterday, in a bar in Cambridge, I cast on for the Voyager Lace Stole from Elann.com. I'm using Blue Sky Alpaca dyed cotton in Periwinkle. I hope to complete it in time to send it to my boyfriend's mom for Christmas, and that shouldn't be a problem. On Ravelry, I'm calling it the "She's Partial to the Periwinkle Blue" Stole. After all, it's for his ma. Anyone who's seen Snatch should get it. :) If you haven't, see it! Very funny.

An amusing note: I was watching Doctor Who reruns (Series 3) the other day, and in the episode "Gridlock", where flying cars are locked in perpetual traffic jams, there are these two ladies on the motorway--the Cassini "sisters" (they're actually married)--and one of them is driving while the other sits in the back and knits. I thought, "If I were stuck in a traffic jam for 23 years, that's EXACTLY what I'd be doing. It's the only thing that might keep me sane." :)

Webs

Are any of you folks out there planning on going to the Webs tent sale this weekend? Is it worthwhile to go?

A quick, pic-less update

So, I don't know how many of my readers have heard me whining about this, but I'm getting damned sick of socks. This pair is taking me forever because I keep stopping! Fortunately, I have turned the heel of Lacy Trellis Sock #2, and am working the decreases for the instep. Hooray! Progress! Maybe now I can feel justified in doing something else for a bit. I've bought a skein of the right color of Cascade 220 to finish my Brea Bag. I think I'm going to frog the gusset, even though it's mostly knit already, because it looks horribly shapeless. I'll start over. I have a gorgeous fabric for the lining for the bag: a black cotton with a print of autumn leaves all over it.

Before I get to that, though, I should finalize plans for the shawl for M's mother. I already have a lovely yarn for the Future Mother-In-Law Shawl (or FMILS): the blue and purple variegated boucle that I got at the MITSnB Yankee Swap. I'm thinking, however, that maybe a little more subdued shade might be better for her. I want something in the light blue color family, for sure, since it'll bring out J's eyes nicely. I really need to decide on a pattern, though. Print o' the Wave is lovely, but I'm not sure I have the patience for it right now. Maybe the Voyager Lace Stole from Elann? We'll see.

I also really, really, really, really need to combine my love of knitting with my extreme fascination with Doctor Who and make a Dalek. Or two. EXTERMINATE!

It's been a while

And I really don't have much to update. I finished the cardi for N's baby, but with this odd little knitted button loop instead of the crocheted one called for, since I didn't have my hook on me. Well, I didn't like it. I took it out, but have yet to replace it with a crocheted loop, even though that will take about three minutes. Soon. I just need to get up the gumption to hunt down my crochet hooks. I have, however, been getting work done on the second of the Lacy Trellis Socks again. I'm about 1/3 done.

Hmm. What else is new? BostonWorkerBee is leaving the office! Sad. First HelloMittens and now her. Now, my office no longer owns the MIT SnB by virtue of having the largest number of people from a single office there. Ah well. I hope they're going to be very happy in their new jobs!

I haven't been to SnB in ages, speaking of that. Events have conspired against me in that regard. Actually, it's mostly my body that's conspired against me by being sick. Meh. This week, I should be able to go. Yay!

And now, it's time to get that leftover pizza for lunch, and get back to work.

Oh, and hey: when the heck is the new Knitty coming out? I'm DYIN' over here!

If at first you don't succeed

I'm nearly done with the Super-Natural Stripes cardigan. I finished the main body and sleeves, and was actually working the button band, when...uh-oh, I don't have enough of the main colour yarn! Oops! I thought, "Well, I COULD do it in a contrasting colour, but then it would look weird with the bottom of the cardigan in the main colour." I didn't want to do a half-assed job on this. I decided to frog what I'd done of the button band, and then frog the hem of the cardigan. This was the first time I've frogged something after binding off. I'm reworking the hem in a contrasting colour and will do the same colour for the button band. Then I need to decide if I want to do the same thing for the cuffs, or leave them in the main colour. I'll see how it looks when I'm done.

No bitching, but some stitching today.

I skipped Stitch 'n' Bitch today just so I could have a quiet light lunch. I also knit, though! I did a ton of work on the sweater at Arisia this past weekend. I knit at parties, even. Sheesh. I'm a geek. But I guess that's ok at a sci-fi convention. Now, I've bound off on the body of the Super-Natural Stripes baby cardi, and have begun to weave in ends. I need to get some size 7 DPNs to do the main part of the sleeves. When I was shopping for materials for this sweater, I thought I had a set, but apparently I don't. Oops. I have sixes and eights, but not sevens. Magic loop is out because I don't have flexible enough cables on my circular needles. Oh well, I'll get some tomorrow. I really need to do a needle inventory and put it up on Ravelry. I might be able to take some pictures of the cardi in progress tonight. Also, maybe my hat. I need a shot of Coronet for Ravelry.

Edit: OMG OMG OMG!!! Knitty has a Bloody Stupid Johnson hat on their site now! Squee! I LOVE Discworld knitting! :D

Yarrrrrrn!

I've got a cold today--it hit yesterday--and I'm feeling kinda crappy. This means that tonight, I'm skipping dance class and doing laundry instead. This is a good thing for two reasons. One, I would not otherwise be able to do it until next week (and I'm running out of socks and underwear), and two, it gives me time to knit!

I went out on my lunch break today to get some gorgeous Blue Sky Organic Cotton to make the baby sweater for my coworker. I'm going to swatch it tonight, I think, and hopefully also cast on.

Wee'uns!

A woman I know just announced that she's pregnant and due in early May. I'd like to make her a simple baby sweater that would be good for a boy or girl. I was thinking of making a very simple striped cardi or raglan pullover in Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton yarn, because the neutral shades are great for any kid, cotton is hypoallergenic, and it's amazingly soft and squishy. Unfortunately, a quick look at the website told me that it's hand wash or dry clean only, and I'm not doing that to a new mom. Now, I've verified that my LYS carries Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. That looks to be about the same gauge, it has some nice soft neutrals, and it's machine washable AND dryable. Does anyone know if it's as soft and squishy as the Blue Sky organic? Would it be nice and snuggly for a baby? I'm thinking that if the kid's born in May, it'll start being able to wear a six months size sweater right about when it starts getting cool. :)