Thursday 19 January 2012

Stockinette stitching forever...

I've cast on a lovely lilac shawl to wear to Weaving Friend's wedding next month. Don't panic, it's a plain stockinette top-down triangle with a simple lace edging. It's really pretty, although I have made another discovery about my knitting personality. The corollary to "don't knit insanely complicated beaded things to a deadline" is "don't knit insanely boring plain things to a deadline". 106 rows of stockinette stitch, and every other row gets 4 stitches longer? Oy.

Still, I'm about halfway done with the stockinette and then just need to do the lace. Perhaps if I crack on I'll be doing lace by Monday!

Monday 16 January 2012

A change is as good as a rest

I'm a librarian. Part of my job involves manual handling, and lots of it. This can be anything from hauling mailbags full of parcels of books to shelving to repairing the till. Today it involved moving dozens of very heavy boxes of pamphlets around a storage room, and ended with me wrenching the thumb on my left hand. It's not sprained or broken, just sore enough that I can't comfortably knit or spin or play video games or read. (I hold the book or Kindle in my left hand and manipulate it with my thumb.)

Fortunately, crochet doesn't require any effort on the part of that thumb. And I have been meaning to use up some more of my scraps by making squares...

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Socks!

Hurrah for finishing socks! Lacy Grey is done, my very first FO of 2012. I shall be wearing them to work.
Lacy Grey Socks 001
Pattern: Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4-ply (discontinued)
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPNs
Mods: Shortened the cuffs, but made no other changes

I started these back in October because I'm trying to work on using up my oldest stash yarn. This was my very oldest sock yarn, as it happens. I'm delighted to have used it up.

Monday 9 January 2012

Rip!

Catkin is no more. I also ended up ripping out the Bordello Cowl. I'd started it ages ago, long enough that I'd lost my place in the pattern. It'll be less effort overall to just restart it!

I've only got three pattern repeats and the toe left of the second Lacy Grey sock. I could've finished it this weekend, but I got a new video game for Christmas and was rather engrossed in 16th-century Istanbul. I'll see whether I can get it done today, but if not it'll certainly be done tomorrow.

Friday 6 January 2012

A Plan.

11 WIPs, according to my calculations. Far too many! Conveniently this weekend is free, so I shall be spending it pruning that number down.

First goal, frog the Catkin shawl. Mother and I have agreed on a replacement shawl to use the purple yarn, and I'll find another pattern for the silver. Yarn to make a better Catkin will be acquired at some point in the future.

Second goal, finish the Lacy Grey socks. The cuff of the second sock is nearly done, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that I'll be able to finish the whole sock this weekend.

Third goal, work on Noro scarf. This is going to be my at-home project as soon as the socks are done. Mostly because I want to put the loom away to make space for sewing, and I'm afraid that if I put it away with the scarf still on it'll never get finished.

The blue Monkey socks are currently living in my handbag. I'll keep them there until they're finished, then move the scrap sock yarn to my handbag so I can crochet more squares. Once all the current round of scraps are used up, I'll move the green shawl into my handbag so that some progress gets made there.

Of course, there's a slight hitch in all of this planning. I want to knit myself a shawl to wear to Weaving Friend's wedding, which is next month!

Wednesday 4 January 2012

State of the WIPs, January edition

I've been doing photo updates for my Ravelry account, and it would seem that my WIP count has gotten a wee bit out of control! Here's a rundown, keeping in mind that there are also spinning, embroidery and sewing projects lurking about the place. Here are the yarny things, in order of age.

Sock yarn granny blanket:
sotw0112 001

Progress being made here. This is a very long-term project, of course. The balls of yarn in the photo are the scraps waiting to be crocheted into squares.

Vintage Tsocks:
sotw0112 004

Slow but sure. I've just about memorized the pattern for the leaves, so they are quite quick when I'm working on them. I'm not particularly looking forward to the toe-up sock, though, so I'm not in any great rush.

Insane Mitts:
knit nation 2011 022

Haven't touched them since Knit Nation. I'll pick them up again once I've gotten the total count down a bit.

Leaf on the Wind Shawl:
Boy socks 002

Again, haven't touched this in ages. It's an enormous garter stitch square to begin with, so it's pretty mindless. If I can find a sturdy project bag I may make this my handbag project once the current socks are done.

Noro Scarf:
sotw0112 002

Generic woven scarf. The yarn is outrageously sticky, so I only work on it until it annoys me too much. I may spend this weekend ploughing through to see how much I can get done.

Silk Scarf:
Inner Child Yarn 007

Love it, just haven't had the mental energy to work on it of late. It's pretty complicated, with patterning on both sides. I want to get it right!

Lacy Grey Socks:
sotw0112 003

Nearly done! I love them to pieces.

Mum's Catkin Shawl:
sotw0112 007

I'm not sure about this. I don't think the yarn is right for the pattern, plus I'm not enjoying the pattern all that much. We'll see how it looks in a month or so.

Handspun Cowl:
sotw0112 005

When this grows up it'll be another Bordello Cowl, this time for me. This is only a weekend's worth of knitting, so I hope to get it done soon.

Suitable Socks:
sotw0112 006

Remember my need for black sock yarn? Well, I ran out of knitting while visiting family and ended up in an unfamiliar yarn store. The lovely lady who runs it had just finished unpacking a shipment of sock yarn, including some in black. It was destiny. These are eventually going to have big cables and lace running down them. Very snazzy.

Christmas Monkeys:
sotw0112 008

Last but not least, the Monkey socks I cast on for my vacation project. I always like to have a travel project that doesn't require a pattern or much thought, so these were perfect. Plus it's my second-oldest sock yarn.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Old Year, New Year

Farewell 2011, and Happy 2012! Time for a quick year-in-review and planning post!

Finished projects:
  • 6 pairs of socks
  • 5 shawls
  • 2 pairs of wrist warmers
  • 3 cowl/hat things
  • 2 scarves
  • 4 skeins of spinning fiber
  • 3 oddities
  • 1 Master's degree
Only 25 fiber arts FOs, but that last one took up a lot of my time! I'm still waiting on my diploma, but I've had my official pass letter and gotten my dissertation back. Managed a distinction on the dissertation, too!

For the coming year I've got some general goals, but nothing really precise. I'd like to knit up more of my stash. I need more handknit socks, since I'm starting to wear through a few of my everyday pairs. (By everyday I mean socks that can go in the washing machine.) I definitely need to get to work on my spinning fiber, since it's a little out of control! Ditto my fabric stash - now that the MA is done with, I'm hoping to get back to the SCA, and for that I'll need more garb.

I was lucky enough to receive a membership to this year's Tsock Club for Christmas. Those of you who have good memories may recall that although I also had a membership in 2010, I've yet to knit a tsingle Tsock. My most specific goal, therefore, is to knit up some of my first round of Tsocks and some of this year's.

Watch this space for forthcoming posts on the state of the WIPs and a crazy plan inspired by memory lane!