Something finished

Despite my best efforts, I managed to finish this tank top! Woo-hoo!



Yarn: Hana from Artfibers, colour #18, a little over 4 balls
Pattern: A cowl neck tank top that the Artfibers staff printed for me. They have some computer software that can spit out patterns tailored specifically for your body measurements. I think the designs are pre-set, but it's still pretty cool.
Time: I started this last August and finished darning the ends this evening. I stopped working on it for about four months, and I worked on other things at the same time, so I have no idea how long it actually took me.
Screw-upsModifications: I thought I'd be clever and slip the stitches at the armhole edges to make them nice and flat. Hey, it had worked on another tank top pattern. Then it turned out I had to pick up those stitches later to make a ribbed edging, so the armholes are a bit tight. That will teach me to read the entire pattern before starting.

Random statistic
Resident cats who want more foliage in their diets: One. He's shunning the sunflowers though. I'll have to ask the florist what kind the other ones are.

Excuses, excuses

I'm still here! Between work and life I just haven't had the time to post anything, and even now putting up photos is a bit of a stretch. So, here's a mostly photo-less summary of the last few weeks:

1) Despite the cat's best efforts, I finished the cowl neck on my tank top and started on the ribbing around the armholes. It turned into a slightly painful lesson on the importance of reading through the entire pattern before knitting. Last year I had knitted a tank top from a pattern that included slipping stitches at the edge of the armhole for a tidier look, so I thought, "Hey, I know this new pattern says to knit but I'm going to try that slipped stitch thing". Unfortunately, it turned out that later on I had to pick up 140 stitches along that edge, which meant picking up 2 stitches per slipped stitch, which resulted in a really tight edging on my first try. I decided to use larger needles to pick up the stitches on the other armhole and re-do the first one if this tactic worked.

The good news is that the second armhole is indeed looser...but that means now I have to rip out and re-do the first edging!

2) The Knit from your Stash thing also isn't going so well, unless I'm allowed to loosen the definition of "stash" to include yarn that has been in my possession for less than a day before I start knitting with it.

3) I finished my rainbow socks!

Yarn: Socks that Rock, in the "Fire on the Mountain" colorway
Pattern: Wendy's Toe-up pattern, with ribbing on the legs.

Definitely not a magician

The front of my UFO tank top is finished and both sides are being blocked.


For my next trick, I will keep the cats out of the room until the pieces dry.

(2 minutes later) Whoops, too late.

Give and take

Who was it who said that nature abhors a vacuum?

This morning, as I was still sighing over the closure of the only LYS within walking distance (vital for a one-car household), Rachel called up and said, "What do you know about a store called Fresh Purls?"

The short answer was "nothing", but as soon as she told me it was within walking distance (or something like that) I knew I had to check it out. I toddled over on the pretext of running some errands, browsed for a while, bought some sock yarn, did my errands, and went back in the store when I saw Rachel there on my way home. It turns out the store opened this past Monday, so it's not very surprising I hadn't seen it. I don't think Google had even picked up the store's website when I searched for it earlier, though it did turn up some mentions of the store's name.

So, things are looking up and the world seems to be resuming its natural state.

In UFO news, I'm up to the armholes on the front of the tank top. Pictures will follow once I take some.

Still knitting

I finally finished the back of my UFO tank top!

...and I'm about 1/3 of the way through the front. With luck this thing might be done before summer.

I also finished a couple of socks. True, they're not from the same pair, but that just keeps life interesting.
This one is made from Socks that Rock yarn in the "Fire on the Mountain" colorway. I may lengthen the leg a bit.

And this one is from a merino/tencel blend purchased at Mind's Eye Yarn in Boston.

The Bayerische sock is past the heel. That may become my next UFO project.

The cats continue to hang out and beg for food.

Tentacles!

The blanket continues to chug along.

There is a customer at the LYS who is famed for her ability to knit fabulous cables and other complicated patterns and yet mess up perfectly simple stockinette stitch. I'm starting to know how it feels. On one hand I have the Tina Shawl and the Bayerische sock, and on the other hand I have a GARTER STITCH blanket with one incorrect stitch (offending one, I cannot spot you right now but I know you're there), some very dubious-looking intarsia, and part of a border that had to be redone because I managed to pick up the stitches on the wrong side the first time.

On a third hand, the knitting part of it is done! Hooray!


But on a fourth hand, I still have to weave in the ends. Ick.


Since I only have two hands I should probably stop worrying about two of the points above and just feel relieved for now that I've finished the knitting part of the blanket. Perhaps one could take this concept further and create a Sloth-approved relaxation system in which the number of permitted worries are limited by appendages...

My band of merry yarn

Happy almost-mid-February! I hope you're staying warm and dry. Now that the various *-alongs I joined are underway, it's probably a good time to show what I'm working with.

First, there is the eponymous (?) stash for Knit From Your Stash 2007:



The photos were taken a few weeks ago, and I have to confess that since then another skein of sock yarn has joined the collection. But I will get this under control! (Maybe.)

There's more acrylic out in the front hall...alpaca on a bookshelf...dubious-looking things that I spun...and several balls that didn't appear here because they're grouped below with the UFO Resurrection Challenge projects:



Right now I'm working on the blanket at the bottom of the pile and on a sock that is sort of present (I'm using the mustard-coloured yarn in front). A photo of the sock-in-progress will follow.

Finally, there is the pedometer for Shape Up RI:


The instruction manual that came with the pedometer recommended walking about 10,000 steps each day. I had no idea how much that really was! Fortunately, some of the roads around my workplace were rebuilt recently, making walks in the area more pleasant than they used to be.

The mustard sock

The pattern is Eunny Jang's Bayerische Sock, knitted in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn (I forget which colour). The cables and ribbing do slow me down, but most of the time I don't mind...it's so neat to see the pattern form. The exception, I suppose, is on every eighth row when I have to do the large cables. Blunt needles, thin yarn, and a stubborn desire to cable without a cable needle do not combine well.

Sloth-a-long

So far this month I have joined three something-a-longs. Here they are; which one is not like the others?

1. 


2. 


3. 

a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) What are you talking about? I think you're typing in your sleep again.
e) Hey, this is a trick question! They're all alike!

I suppose the correct answer is context-dependent. The first two are related in that I might be able to get my yarn stash under control if I stick to both at the same time, but all three will involve a certain amount of self-discipline.

My husband has just pointed out that #3 is going to seriously cut into the time I have for either #1 or #2, unless I can learn to knit while walking. I must go think about this.