It's like visiting an old friend

As I've said before, too much crochet hurts my wrists. So, if I'm having a big marathon session on, say, a wedding dress, I have to stop periodically so I don't injure myself. During these little breaks, I generally knit. After all, the two activities use the arm muscles differently!

This weekend I decided to pick up my moccachino shawl. I'd done the first chart a while back and then put it down to focus on Christmas and other gifts. I picked it up on Friday evening and after a quick peek at the chart was sailing away. I'm halfway through repeat 4 of 10. My fingers seem to remember how to work the lace, and the fact that I'm using the same yarn as the last time makes it even more familiar. I don't expect to finish this in the week I took for the last one, but I have high hopes of a new shawl to wear by the end of February!

I should have added some details to my last post. The wedding sampler was worked by my amazingly talented mother. I can't remember a time when she hasn't been working on some form of embroidery or sewing, and she is a very big part of why I love needlework so much. Thanks Mum! You rock! The embroidery itself is about 18 inches by 12 inches or thereabouts. It's hanging in pride of place in our living room.

I missed Delurking Day, but wanted to thank everyone who comments and reads. I still can't figure out how to reply to comments, but I do read them and appreciate people taking the time to write. This was never intended to be anything other than a 'note-to-self' blog! :D

Another state of the WIPs

I really, really dislike having so many projects on the go. I just ripped one the other day, but cast on something else. Finished 2 projects for Christmas, but one gave me leftovers and the other was tiny and never got photographed. ARGH!

So, as a note to myself, here are ALL of my WIPs. Oldest first.

• The Coatigan. Needs 1.5 sleeves and a collar, plus some seaming. I could almost certainly finish this in a weekend if I sat down to work on it properly.
• Ripple Bedspread. About 1/3 done. It goes quickly when I work on it, but I rarely do more than a few stitches in the evenings. I may bring this out as my tv-watching project.
• Pomatomus Socks. I am actually working on these on and off. I finished the gusset of the first sock a few days ago, but haven't worked up the energy to do the foot.I'll finish them someday!
• Silky Mittens. These are on hold. I only cast them on out of frustration, and I don't really need them urgently. And they are a bit boring, if quick.
• Leafy Manos Hat. I packed this away while tidying, which was a mistake. I could probably finish it in an evening. In fact, I might work on it tomorrow morning before work and see if I can get it done this weekend.
• Mum's Wool Peddler Shawl. I'm working on it. It's a whole bunch of garter stitch for a good long while yet, so not hugely interesting.
• Rock and Weave Socks. I love these tremendously. They are in my bag waiting for a dinner break, in fact. I'm slightly putting off really working on them because I will need tofind buttons at some point.
• Test Mittens. These have thoroughly been tested now, so there's no rush to finish. I had to rip out most of the first mitten because it was too small, so they are hibernating until I can face reknitting all that colourwork.
• Replacement Noro Triangle. I had a cast-on itch, so succumbed. I'll work on it when I'm finished with some of the other stuff.
• Gifts for people who read my blog. Yeah, so not giving away what those are!

Actually only 2 really old projects. Everything else is from this summer or later. But there are many, and they are annoying me. And most of them require 2 items to be knit, for such is the nature of the mitten and the sock.

Perhaps I shall restrain myself by not allowing myself to cast on the beautiful tangerine-coloured laceweight I got in the post this morning until all of these WIPs are done...

Pictures! At Last!

I found some camera batteries this morning, so here is a quick rundown of recent activity.

I had a hugely productive weekend, somewhat unexpectedly. I finished up a project that's a gift for a friend who reads the blog, so no photos until I've given it to her! But it's done, and I'm happy. Then I thought I'd do a little bit on the red garters I was making for my mother, and realized that actually there wasn't much left to be done on them. So I just finished them.

And then I discovered that a project I wanted to work on required US 7 straight needles, and my favourite pair was embedded in a Calorimetry. So I finished that too. Didn't make it nearly as big as the pattern suggests, because it would have eaten my head if I had. I even had a coordinating button to finish it off, so it's really truly done.

I managed to take a photo of the finished Odessa hat, too, although I finished that a while ago.

And I only started one new project, even though I finished 3! It's another one-skein scarf, although not garter stitch this time. It's a pattern I found on Ravelry, and I'm loving it.

I even spent some time working on a couple of UFOs! The grey scarf got another few inches done, and I worked on the coatigan. I've sewed the second lapel and started the first sleeve, so that's good. I'd really love to get both of these done soon...

Tidying again

The sewing was making me nuts, so I spent a goodly portion of yesterday and this morning sorting things out in my stash. It's been productive in an inverse way, for I have been frogging again. The Clapotis and the Interlocking Cables Sweater are no more. I didn't like the Clapotis. It was boring to knit and I don't really like working with that yarn on something so big. So it's been ripped.

The sweater was a little more of a surprise. I was rereading my old blog entries (looking for typos!), and found the one where I was musing on the kind of knitting that I actually wear. And I was looking at that sweater. I don't wear heavy sweaters. I certainly don't wear off-the-shoulder sweaters. So why, for goodness' sake, was I knitting an aran-weight, cabled, off-the-shoulder sweater? Mostly because the pattern looked like a lot of fun and I wanted to knit something with obscene amounts of cables. Great, but not on something for me.

My husband, on the other hand, loves heavy Aran sweaters. And I just so happen to have several patterns that he loves. And I've got 2700 yards of this yarn, which is more that enough to make him a suitably ornate and baggy sweater. So, the yarn will hibernate until the weather is cold enough that working on it will actually be fun.

Of course, now that I've ripped out the sweater I was making myself, suddenly I don't have anything on the needles to wear to meet the Yarn Harlot. That's ok - don't forget, I have all that 4-ply wool that I got back in March to make myself a Fair-Isle vest!

I also ripped out the experimental sleeve that I'd been working on for the coatigan. It really wasn't working. So it's gone, and I'll make normal sleeves for that, again once it's cool enough to have a lapful of sweater. Socks and lace in the summer.

Mess can be productive

I had a party a week ago, which meant hiding all of my needlework stuff in bags and putting it in the bedroom so nobody spilled beer on it. I know my friends well. (I also hide the throw rugs for the same reason. Handwashing woollen rugs? Ick.)

Of course, because I was in a hurry and was in the middle of a baking session, I didn't put things away in any particular order. Which meant that when I went to look for my lucet this weekend, I couldn't find it. This meant pulling every single scrap of needlework stuff that I own out and putting it all in the living room to sort it out. I found the lucet in the bottom of a bag of yarn when I thought I'd put it in the tin with all my oddments. Oops. It, its instructions, and all the string I'm planning to use with it now have their very own bag to live in, and I've finally got a use for the bag. It was a freebie that was too small for any knitting projects, but I couldn't just throw it out. The reason I was looking for it was that I finally bought the sandpaper to sort the edges out and make it useable again.

While delving in the depths of my stuff, I was inspired to finish the crocheted pillow. Mostly so I could just get rid of the naked pillow form that had been lurking on top of the wardrobe. It turned out I was a lot closer to being finished that I thought, so I just got that done. And I've now met my 2 projects goal for March! Woohoo! I also found the lime green baby jacket I started ages ago, and decided to fish it out and finish it. It's so small and was going so quickly, and in fact is still going quickly. I finished the body, sewed the shoulder seams, and did half of the first sleeve. I've got it and a darning needle in my bag for the lunch hour, so hopefully that plus the pub tonight will allow me to get most of it done. I haven't brought a circular needle for the edging because picking up stitches evenly is a task that requires good light and sobriety. If I finish everything else, I shall work on the alpaca neckwarmer.

I went through my Mission:Possible stuff again this weekend too. The biggest project in the pile is the crocheted ripple afghan, so I think that's going to be the at-home priority. It's not the most complicated or the one that'll take the longest, but it needs an entire bag for all of the yarn that goes with, so it needs to go!

Other goals are making progress. I started the pair of mitts that will use up most of the green and yellow Dr Who yarn. They are looking good, although corrugated ribbing is really, really fiddly to do. They will take longer than I had hoped, but they're still fun. (Remind me I said that in a month or two when they are making me nuts.) I did a couple of rows of the silk shawl, but it's really not something I can do in company. Conversation makes me lose count, and then I screw up. And tinking silk laceweight is right up there on my list of not-fun, somewhere around the point of getting chewing gum out of hair. I can do it, but I'd really rather not. I did some more work on the Dr Who yarn mini-scarf, too, but that's obviously not something I can finish until the mitts are done. I thought about knitting the black shawl. And then I decided that on the not-fun list, it's well above the chewing gum mark. So I left it in the bag to marinade for a while longer.

I changed one of my goals, too. I told the Ravelry group, but I don't think I ever posted it here. I think I might turn the Kaalund laceweight into a very ornate Pi Shawl, which will probably take me much longer than a year. Especially since I don't want to rush it (and since truthfully? I don't want to use the yarn. It's the first really great yarn I ever bought, and I'm emotionally attached to it.). So, replacing that goal is the coatigan. When I started making it, I loved it. I loved the yarn, I loved the way it was turning out. And then I had to buy interfacing, and then buttons, and then I couldn't get the right size needles, and gradually I came to resent it. Which is silly, because it's about to be the perfect weather to wear it, I've now got everything I need, and it'll take a couple of days, tops, to knit a sleeve and a half, a collar, and finish the lapels. So my replacement goal is finishing my coatigan. I rounded up all the stuff that I need to finish it, and I think I will work on it over Easter on the days when the spouse is home and I can't work on the shawl. Maybe I'll even finish it!

And we also sat down and figured out exactly what he's going to need in the way of garb, and how much of that I'm going to be doing. It's not too bad, actually, and he's keen to learn to sew well enough to help out.

So, as you can see, sometimes making a big mess can be really helpful.

There will be pictures, darn it.

I took pictures this morning. They are on the camera waiting to be uploaded to my laptop. The reason they haven't yet been is because, inevitably, the batteries need to be recharged. Again. So they are plugged in and I am hopeful of uploading tomorrow morning.

I actually knit on the Shedir this morning. I'm getting more comfortable with the travelling stitches, so hopefully it won't spend too many months languishing while I look at it wistfully with a headache.

Also finished up the second border of Mr Fluffy, so now I just need to work the centre of the beast until I'm nearly out of my lovely kidsilk. I'm quite happy, actually - I wrapped the finished part 'round my neck, and it's more than long enough to be a proper scarf. All the remaining length is simply bonus fabric now.