Whew

I have just finished conducting an inventory of my stash, including partial balls of yarn AND sock yarn, and boy am I tired.


Anyone care to hazard a guess?

Give me back my nap

It is a Federal holiday, a day of remembrance and, for the cynical, a day of rest.  I'm supposed to have contractors here, but I don't.  The one doing outside work can't work because it's raining, and the one who needs to do some inside work just didn't bother to show, which means that numbers three and four may not be able to adhere to the schedule we have, and this project may never be bleeping finished.

Fine.  No work is to be accomplished today.  I'm tired, so I'll take a nap.  Only I can't because DingDong! someone shows up with a delivery for number two that I didn't know we were expecting.  (I'm rather pleased about the delivery, actually.  I was concerned they'd forgotten about that bit but the delivery means that they haven't forgotten, they just haven't been telling me everything.)   So good and I settle back down and then DingDong! contractor number five shows up to do some poking around and measuring.  He was not expected today.  My nap is blown.  Fuck it.  The only thing that can help me now is a trip to the yarn store, even though writing checks to contractors one, two, three, four, five, and six (oh yes, there is a number six) has left Mr. Bank Balance a little low.

But isn't this supposed to be the place where we discuss the knitting?  Fine.  Here is some knitting:

These are the Ilga socks.  Named for a woman but claimed by The Man.

How bout that fair isle, hmmm?  And the braid!  Do you see the braid?  I am awesome.

And then there are these:

The September socks.  All done as of last night.  They aren't for me either.  I'm working on a shawl and a scarf that are for me.  The shawl is black, which means it photographs like ass, and the scarf is lace and I fucked it up so bad I decided to rip it out and start over, which means it technically is not on the needles at this particular moment, but it will be once I put some time in on some secret deadline knitting and once I buy new short straight 4's to replace the now-broken replacement size 4 straight shorts that I got when I broke my short size 4 straights.  Or maybe I'll get a size 4 circular with lace points instead.  

Exciting Stuff

I thought I'd show you some of the stuff I recently finished, but the photos are crap and now the stuff is gone and can't be re-photoed.  So this is the best I can do.

2x2 ribbed scarf, in a melange of red Pam yarn and a dark grey yarn, plus a hat made from the leftovers.

Purple socks for my sister-in-law, from leftover Kimono shawl yarn, and already en route.

I've started a new shawl, but it's black, and there isn't enough pattern yet for it to be worth showing off.  I thought I had enough yarn to finish it, but now I'm not so sure, and that means going stash-diving to see if there's more.   Stash-diving is interesting, because I always find something I had forgotten about, and I usually end up distracted from the task at hand and going off in some unanticipated direction.  Since there is very little in my life that is not anticipated, that is a good thing.

Not Done After All

I thought I was, but I'm not.  Can you see the problem?

*going off to have tantrum now*

OK, I'm back.  Now, please check out these two photos of ADP:

that's David Trezeguet on the bench, and Lorenzo Ariaudo (with the ridiculous hair) in the background looking on

What lesson can be gleaned from these photos and applied to my knitting problem?

Figured it out yet?

The answer is:  Some of the most horrible, unthinkable mistakes (that hat, that awful, awful hat) can still, despite all appearances, be fixed (the hat is detachable).

I can fix this.  I'm not quite out of yarn.

Purple Lace

Today is Columbus Day, the best day of the year.  Athough we have cloudy, chilly weather this time, that just means that I can make soup and maybe when it's done it won't look like diarrhea to me.  I intend to enjoy myself today.  While The Man completes the vacuuming (Hey!  I dusted, and I did some vacuuming too), here is your periodic yarn-related update.

I have a use for the last of the Pam yarn:

I still have a way to go on this, but the colors are blending nicely, and the scarf is turning out both manly and cuddly at the same time.  I like this way better than stripes.  (oooh! speaking of stripes, I could start on some World Cup scarves now that more teams have qualified!)

And there are some plain brown socks:

This yarn was some kind of ugly in the skein, but it knitted up very well, and it's soft, too.

And there are a lot more socks as well.  These are the ones I didn't have to dig out of a drawer to photograph:

Those are some Ilga socks destined for The Man, the September sock club socks, and some purple jobbies from the leftover purple yarn for the Kimono shawl.

Speaking of which, this would be an excellent time to show you the kimono shawl:

Nope!  That is The Man sporting his lovely new Flit and Float scarf in lovely lilac Zephyr with the butterflies and the ruffled edge.  (Also, he is wearing the grey sweater I knitted for him two years ago.)


OK, here it is:

Oh yeah.  This might be the best thing I have ever done.  Or it might be the second-best thing after the crimson cardigan.  I can't decide.  I love them both.

Check it out:

Didn't I do a great job?  I am so proud of this and I love the color too.  The color, by the way, is Mel's fault, because she made a Baby Surprise Jacket for The Bean from this yarn.  I loved the color so much that I greedily snapped some up for myself.  I am not going to give this one away.  This one's a keeper.

This Blows

Ziggy sucked, so I killed her.  She is dead.  Let's never speak of this again.

Socks so nice, she made them twice

Remember these?  They were a sock club sock from last year in Bunny's favorite green.  I liked them so much, I used the pattern again for socks for my sister in law. 

And they are done.  And you can't see diddly from this picture.

So.  Why do I like them?  I like the heel detail:

I like the way the slip stitch pattern on the heel flap continues around the heel to the bottom of the foot.  Looks sharp and feels nice on the foot too.

And I like the double cable pattern down the front:

Pretty.  But they're done now (sigh) and I am determined to finish the stupid Kimono shawl this weekend.  Thus, although my next sock club sock is here, I am not starting it yet.  I really mean it this time.