Springing Forward towards 2009

Seriously, that was the best title I could come up with. I'm sorry.

What I'm not sorry about is finishing my Spring Forward socks:



Mmmmmm. They were a little big, because I had swatched and machine washed the swatch and knew exactly what would happen. I washed them once, and they shrank a bit and now fit ever-so-perfectly!

I love the snaking rib down them. It reminds me of the game "Chutes and Ladders" (which is sometimes called "Snakes and Ladders", but the version I had was "Chutes").

This freed me up to work on another project:



That's the "Here There Be Pirates" hat from Hello Yarn, made with some Dale Baby Ull. The colors are brighter than the photo suggests, but I was too lazy to work at a better photo. At first I was really slogging through this pattern, as each round takes between 5-10 minutes, AND it requires following a chart. I'm definitely becoming a more intuitive knitter, and/or I've memorized the chart, because it has become much easier.

I would love to be done with this by midnight on New Year's Eve, making it my 13th FO of 2008, but I know better than to push myself. It's my first attempt at colorwork, and does require a bit of attention, and each round takes between 5-10 minutes, so it may be done over the next weekend instead. I'm about halfway done with it, though, and it is quite a fun knit.

I also set aside some time for spinning:



This is the turquoise and gold Coopworth/Merino/Silk that I purchased at the CT Sheep and Wool, and I finally finished plying it! I had to go out have ZMrK drive me to A.C. Moore and purchase more gold metallic thread to ply with it. I had hit my sweet spot and I didn't want to stop until it was done! The remaining bit of plying took about 2.5 hours -- I watched "Demons" (1985 super gory Italian flick) and "Macabre" (1980 kinda sleazy Italian flick) while finishing it up.

Here is the single I worked on to warm myself up for plying:



The photo color is crap, but it's pink, black and white merino. ZMrK had purchased this (7.5 oz) for me at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival a couple of years ago (2007, probably). It looked lovely, but inside there were several clumps of the fiber in the different colors that weren't blended. I have blended those clumps with my new hand carders, and I'll spin up a bobbin of that. I'll have to show that off too.

I really need to take photos of my Christmas gifts. I got THREE skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn! Damn, I could probably post that somewhere on Ravelry and have people get all pissy with me for "hogging" it all. Hey, they were gifts from my pets, and who am I to refuse them? Man, they are so gorgeous. I got another skein of sock yarn that is purple, yellow, and orange, but I don't know who the vendor is. ZMrK also gave me "Knitting Lingerie Style" and "Romantic Handknits". I think I'll be very busy in the upcoming months.

I think my first project for 2009 will be Knitty's Frankensocks, done in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn. I could change my mind in the next four days, though.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Hope you and yours are well and happy today!!!!

I got spoiled, per usual, by ZMrK and our pets -- enough yarn for 5 pairs of socks, some gorgeous knitting books, jewelry, comix, DVDs, chocolate -- but most important, love.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Congratulations are in order!!!

To the wildly entertaining blogger Bezzie, who not only has welcomed a new little one this past weekend, she managed to keep that bun in the oven a secret from most of us in blogland!

SNOW!!!

It's been snowing here since Friday afternoon. It may have stopped for a few minutes.

This is what our house looked like yesterday morning:



That big piece of shit snow drift on the roof is still there. When it comes down, it's gonna take out our bird feeder.

Our desktop is in the hospital, getting a virus cleaned up while hopefully our photos and other work (like the latest draft of ZMrK's book) can be salvaged. So, I'm using the laptop, which I'm not used to AT ALL. Such a tiny little keyboard!

We've been inside all day. We had to go out yesterday to get my hair cut, and then ZMrK went to the post office/to get lunch/to get beer. Then he had to go out again to bring the hard drive in to be checked out by the Geek Squad. But today, we're indoors. Thankfully the landlord takes care of snow removal, and a couple of teenagers came by to shovel the walk and stairs. Yes, I offered them hot cocoa/coffee but they declined.

I should get more photos while the shit it still there. It's stuck to the trees and there has been barely any movement out there. I think it'll be there a while though.

This is what I have to say:

Two!

I have two finished objects to show off today! Both have been languishing for a few months, so it felt great to finish both this week.

First, are ZMrK's socks:



This yarn is from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, and I purchased it at least 2 years ago. I knit these socks on #3 needles, but went down to #2 for the cuffs, since ZMrK is thin. We're both quite happy with how it came out.

Second, my Dickenson Pullover!



It's a little "roomy", but oh-so very comfy and warm. The sleeves come halfway down my hands (which I rather like in a sweater, since my hands are often cold). It's so roomy, I had to do jumping jacks in it:



I've already cast on two more projects; I just don't have photos yet because that's boring. One is the "We Call Them Pirates" hat by Hello Yarn, and that will probably look a mess until I get more of it done. The other is the "Spring Forward" socks from the summer 2008 Knitty, which are coming along beautifully already.

Today we went to the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston. They moved to another location (their third since I've been going), but it was no less crowded than it has been before. There seemed to be a consistent line down the block -- it was there when we got there, it was there when we left. I did buy some cool stuff, including a skein of sock yarn from Woolarina. I'm so bloody tired, though -- we were only there for a couple of hours, but we were on our feet the whole time. I'm just about read for bed. Of course, that may be the cold medicine talking (yup, I'm a tad bit sick).

We also got our first snowfall today. It's just a little dusting, and it's not really sticking to the street. If this is all we get this year, I'll be happy. I'm sure we'll get more though.

Ken is doing pretty well. He "broke in" my new sweater last night when I was in the shower -- I came out to find a spot of it was pulled up, with teethmarks. He did have a bad drooling episode today, brought on by the crushed pill in his food. It must have tasted bitter. He wouldn't go back to that food dish; he was going after Ellie's food instead. Smart cat. Ellie has been going nuts entertaining herself with various "toys" -- today she found a drinking straw on the floor and was going beserk with it.

I was going through my flickr set of FOs for this year, and only came up with 10 there. I think there are at least two more that I either didn't photograph yet, or didn't put in that set. I'm thinking I'm up to 12-15 FOs. I don't know what the most I've done in one year is, but this year is probably it. Even with my period of losing my mojo, I still managed to be a fairly productive crafter.

Well, now that I'm practically nodding off at the computer, I think I had better get going.

Need a witty title about updates.

Ken had his ultrasound with a heart specialist today. He does have restrictive cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart), and a clot outside one of his valves. The news isn't the best we could have hoped for (that would have been, "oops, our bad, your cat has no health problems!"), but I'm hoping we'll be able to treat it with medication. He needs to go back for a blood test in a week, and another ultrasound in 3 months.

Now, about that sweater I've been knitting. . .

This isn't going to get it done, is it?



Ellie was all over me when I was trying to knit the other day, the little bugger.

Oooh, but I wuvs my widdle bebeh kitteh.



I was trying to pick up and knit approximately 172 stitches for the neckline, and I had strategically placed markers everywhere. It's one of those "it makes sense to only me" moments.

This is what the sweater looked like before it grew its Ellie appendage:



Damn, that's a lot of cables.

I did finish knitting the collar last night -- in fact, I'm done with ALL knitting on this thing, and just have to seam it. I "tried" it on last night, and went to check it out in the full-length mirror (in the bathroom). I stopped by the bedroom to pat Ken on the head, and when I went to go into the bathroom, I discovered I had a "shadow" following me. Ken was going after the long tails hanging down! He followed me all over the apartment like that, and then Ellie discovered he had discovered something fun. I wish I had the camera fired up for that one.

So, if I have seaming to do, what the heck am I doing sitting at the computer?

Hopefully I'll have a new sweater to show you in a day or two!