Day 11 (a bit behind)

Still knitting away on the 2012 Advent Calendar Scarf. It's Day 11, and I'm currently 1/3 of the way through Day 9. Not sure I'll ever catch up, but I'm having fun!

Days 5-8 plus 1/3 of Day 9
What I have so far

Advent Calendar Scarf 2012

It's time!! Kristin has once again created an amazing mystery scarf for Advent 2012.

The link to her blog (where the patterns will ultimately be, yes, it's in German, yes, it translates with Google) is here: http://www.von-stroh-zu-gold.de/

The link to the Ravelry group is here: Advent Calendar Scarf 2012

The Twitter hashtag for everyone playing along is #adventscarf

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I already have my yarn:


It's Neigborhood Fiber Co.'s Maisonette, a lovely laceweight merino/silk blend, and hopefully the 1250 yards in the skein will be enough, because it was the only skein left at Fibre Space last night.

I'm really looking forward to it - and maybe THIS will be the year I actually finish it to wear to Christmas services!!

Order Mission Request

Speaking about those BROOMs - I'm definitely doing a Central Command mission this time. There's a bunch of people doing the Radience shawl, and I found The. Most. Perfect. Yarn!!! for it - some wildharefibers.com "Galaxy" in the New Penny colorway. It is beyond gorgeous, and it will be such fun to knit up!


I did have just a wee bit of trouble, though, winding it up. Turns out you actually need to pay attention to your ball winder, and not just wind with one hand while holding a book you're reading in the other.


Ooops!

Here's my Mission Proposal:

BROOM
Name: CraftyGryphon (aka Moira Hazard)
House: Slytherin, Sixth Year
Department: Central Command
Mission: #12 Grimmauld Place

---

To the attention of Chief IsisOnEarth:

I would like to apply for consideration for another Order Mission. As my proposed Order Mission last term was technically successful but personally went a bit... wrong (please see my file), it was decided at that time - how did my sister, Carrolon, put it? Oh yes - I'm not to be allowed "off my leash" again until I'm a bit older.

Therefore, I propose to knit a Radience Shawl, which starts in the center of the back (with a mere 5 stitches!), and then radiates outward (hm, that's why it's called "Radience", maybe?), increasing gradually into a lovely semicirle, with a lovlier ruffly edge! The pattern itself comes with a checklist version - which tells the knitter what to do for each row, and how far along (in %) the knitter is at any given point. I found the prettiest yarn - Wild Hare Fibers "Galaxy" in the "New Penny" colorway - which is just perfect for something called "Radience". Since it is a lace shawl and fairly simple, I should be able to finish it within the stated time frame as long as I'm good and stay in the Central Office and knit.(It's still a pretty big shawl, and there is a LOT of picot edging right at the end. I'm hoping I'm not biting off more than I can chew, but I think I'm up to it.)

I have to add that applying for this particular mission was mostly my sister's idea. She's a big fan of keeping me busy, which supposedly keeps me out of trouble, even though I was perfectly busy last term and the only trouble I got in was TOTALLY her fault, really. I think I'd be fine on another undercover mission. But since she and my new brother-in-law insist, I would like to request I be allowed to stay here at #12 Grimmauld Place this term.

Thank you for your consideration!

Plus, it was all 15% off because I Voted, and had the sticker to prove it.

The Disclaimer:
The overview picture is mine; the rest are linked back to the original site, but no worries, I am *not* taking up space on other peoples' servers. I am a good bunny, and seek only to allow others to see the pretties and find the way to get the pretties for themselves.

The Overview:

The Store:

Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria
Just a short walk from the King Street Metro Station!
Since Stitch DC closed its Georgetown store, Fibre Space is now the easiest store for me to get to under my own power (this is key), and its hours (the earliest it closes during the week is 7pm) make it super-convenient to drop by after work. Yay, more yarn!!

The Yarn:

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (Designer's Choice)
Color 71 (Flourite Blue), Dye lot 347. I got enough for a big-girl sweater, and then some extra (okay, I bought every skein in the store).

The Pattern:
*
Alice Starmore's "Elizabeth I", originally from her book, Tudor Roses, and reprinted this year in Issue #10 of The Knitter magazine. (Um, seriously, click on the link for an interactive look at the next issue, which was #11 when this was posted. I wish ALL knitting magazines did this! - Ooooo, issue #11 actually has an interview with Alice Starmore!!!) I've missed issues #1 and #9 of this magazine, which makes me quite sad, since it's lovely and my favorite at this point.

The Extra Toy:

Another GoKnit Pouch, this one small and pink (as opposed to the small and yellow one I've already got.) Turns out I was three dollars short to fill up my Space Cadet card, so I grabbed one of these. My Tiger Eye Shawl is now living in it, and getting carried around, and I actually got two rows knitted on it this morning on the way in to work!

The Bonus Prize:
I filled up my Space Cadet card, and was rewarded with a Fibre Space t-shirt, which I'm wearing today (see top photo, right). I now have my Space Explorer card to fill... woohoo!



* While the original image appears to have come from the Virtual Yarns website, I can't actually find where it appears for regular viewing. Lots of lovely stuff over there, it being Where The Starmores Are. Wheee!

Finished Objects!

Well, Photobucket.com is down for maintenance... so today's images are brought to you via Flickr. And all of today's images are of Finished Objects! Woohooo!

First up, the new thing: Liz's Stroller Blankie, pattern to be posted eventually, and bonus cute tiny green booties, both crocheted:




Close up of Crocheted Feather-and-Fan


Bootie close-up - so cute!
Then, ages and ages ago, I promised better final photos of two projects, and in between doctors' appointments on Monday, I was able to get some. First is my LabCat lace Scarf:


Artsy Tree Shot


And finally, Secret of the Stole II.


Artsy Tree Shot


See, I really do finish things sometimes!

Yarn on Thursday - One!

Yarn on Thursday! Okay, other folks have Dogs on Thursday or Rabbits on Thursday... since the closest thing I have to a pet in my house right now is my yarn, that's what you'll get. Fortunately, this week, I've got some lovelies to share. I went on a wee bit of a local-dyer binge this week, and got Stuff to Try. And then had the fun of going through my queue to figure out what each one was going to become. (And yes, I turn my yarn into yarnballs of the outside-pull variety. I don't have a cat, so I can safely do this.)

First up, Stitch DC Georgetown happened to have the VERY COLORWAY (Donegan) of Three Irish Girls Beckon Stretch Merino that I had been thinking "hey, if I ever order something from them, it should be that!".


These will totally be turning into Leyburn Socks, because I want to knit a pair, and the pattern seems to show up just fine even on high-contrast colorways (like turquoise and brown). Yay! Donegal Leyburns!!

Next, Woolarina's superwash merino/silk, colorway "hp672-2p"... officially known "Neon Pink and Orange". Because the colors, to the naked eye, blend very well, these socks will have Dramatic Cabling And Stuff. Squeal!


Looking about, Anna Bell's Spindle Socks fit the bill perfectly! Yay!

Next, Sanguine Gryphon's "Sea Sock" in colorway "Standing Stones". Now, I already know I love Gryphon's yarn, since I think I have more socks started in it than anything else (two pairs finished, even - see here and here), and my favorite stole (Secret of the Stole II) is also of her yarn. (Hm. I really need to get a good photo of the FINISHED stole out on this blog. It's so beautiful, and I don't have a good shot of it! Criminal!!)

Lovely, soothing colorway - and lovely soothing socks will result. I have some commercially-made socks that I love (I know, I know, I'm a heathen) - and naturally, they're no longer made. Fortunately for me, they're very close to the pattern Evening Stockings for a Young Lady (sorry, Ravelry link only) in Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, which just happens to be available through our local library system. So, I'm going to have a lovely warm pair of Favorite Socks!!

Last week, I bought a ball of Lorna's Laces in Sheperd Worsted, in colorway Woodlawn (the golden one on the right), so I'd have it... for when the rest of the Lorna's Laces came in this week. Which they did, and I chose some Green Line Worsted (100% organic merino!) in the Poppy colorway to go with it. This will be an alternating every two rows k1p1 scarf (not really a Noro scarf, since Noro is not involved, but using Jared Flood's idea for same). So this, at least, I knew what I was going to make when I bought it.
I love the scarf I made from the Lorna's Laces Worsted I bought at the beginning of the year. I've never had a 100% wool scarf before, because of previous itch issues which have thankfully gone away (I lost an allergy! I lost an allergy!) over time, and I have needed it on days like today when it's 13F when I leave the house! (That's, what, 2C? 3C? COLD!) It is, however, lovely and muted and matches my coat wonderfully. Which is not really "me". Thus, more color!!

I hope you've enjoyed this first installment of Yarn on Thursday!

Finished Noro Mobius Scarf

Friday night, I was going along happily, almost done with my Waiting Project, when I discovered, to my horror, a KNOT in my colorway:


Now, you may not be able to tell, but this is BRIGHT pink, tied to green. The green, in fact, that I rather thought would nicely wind up being at the end of the ball, thus matching the green from the beginning of the ball. Having the green here didn't work at all. So, being me, I untied it, and rewound what was left of the ball. The scarf went from BRIGHT pink to kinda muddy turquoise.

So, Saturday night, I actually managed to finish my Noro Mobius Scarf. I used ALL the yarn in both balls - and about 6" of it-matches-well-enough yarn at the very, very end of the cast-off. Here it is, all knitted up:


Then, there was the "softens after washing" that the Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot mentioned. How does one wash Noro? I'd heard that wool "blooms" if it's soaked, very carefully, after knitting, and softens up. And something about "very gentle soap, if any". So, I found the big stainless-steel bowl. And two other bowls. And ran them through the dishwasher, because... well, sometimes things fall into bowls. And, quite frankly, if I can't identify their origin, the bowls get washed before use. (Will now store bowls upside-down.) So, took big bowl, and put a Wee Drop of Ivory Liquid in the bottom, then filled it with warm (not hot) water.

The little scarflet did not want to drown, and held a HECK of a lot of air, so I had to weight it down with the silverware holder from the dishwasher (which was also just cleaned). Eventually, the whole thing stayed under:


Nothing bad seemed to be happening to the colors (yay!), and the yarn did seem to be getting somewhat thicker. This may have been an illusion, but I don't think so. Then it was time to figure out how to dry a Mobius-something. It sat, more or less in shape, on the metal bowl over the sink and dripped dry for about an hour - that seemed to get the bulk of the water that was going to leave quickly out. Then it moved on to the fluffiest, cleanest white towel and sat in front of what passes for a fan in our house: the clean heater vent.



By morning, the towel was soaked (I guess wool holds a lot of water... or fluffy cotton towels don't dry very fast when there's wool sitting atop them), and the Noro Mobius Scarf was almost dry. Since the remaining moisture wasn't weighting it down very much, it has been carefully suspended on a special hanger in front of the heater vent for the day.

Hopefully, I'll be able to wear it tomorrow - because it has gotten COLD down here!!

Oh, really quick: Daily Rabbit Count 27 Rabbit Squares Knitted, Two Rabbits Assembled.

TGIF. Seriously!

Cindy wanted to see the rabbits... which, right now, make up 23 6"x6" squares (although the "Chocolate Rabbit" out of chenille is actually about 10"X10"). This is not such the exciting picture. (And, yeah, I was only able to stay awake for One Bunny last night.) However, here's the link to a photo of a finished Bunny, which, incidentally, leads to the pattern as well.

Here is proof that I do actually get to knit at my desk every so often... although today, I'm just too tired to do so more than two rows. Sad, no?


Having three separate projects has the appearance of keeping me out of trouble (mostly - ignore the two balls of Feza "Cyprus Mohair" that followed me out of Stitch D.C. Tuesday night), so I think I'll keep going with it. Looking at my Ravelry projects, I need something that doesn't travel well as Couch Project, something nonboring for the Commuting Project, and something mindless for the Waiting Project. So, a break-down of which is what is needed:

Couch Project	Commuting Project	Waiting Project
Peacock Scarf. (beads involved)	Forget-Me-Not Shawl	Ninja Armwarmers (if on circs only)
Titania Cardigan	Tiger Eyes Shawl	Koigu Scarf
Argyle Hearts Sweater	FTSC-1-III Socks

You'll note that I'm assuming that I'm going to finish the current three projects (SotS-II, 30 Rabbits, and the Noro Mobius) by the end of the month, or sooner, and will need new projects to concentrate on. HA!!! Well, actually, I *have* to finish SotS-II over the weekend. I've reserved the floor of the main conference room at work all day Wednesday, so I can use the (carpeted) floor to block it! There isn't a space in my house, other than my bed, that would work for blocking something this size, and my husband has put his foot down about "pins" and "bed". And this isn't the order I'll be using, either... for example, if I *do* finish SotS-II, then the next commute project is finishing the FTSC-I-3 socks, before the first of the FTSC-II socks arrives. (Yeah, yeah, I never even started FTSC-I-2, but I finished I-1, so there.)

For the crocheters out there, first, a VERY cool hat made by D here at work:


and now, a quick joke from Kodi on Ravelry:

A man and woman were married for more than 60 years. They shared everything, they talked about everything. They kept no secrets from each other but one: the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.                For sixty years, the little old man never thought about the box, but one day his wife got very sick, and the doctor said she would not recover. While sorting their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed: it was time for him to know what was in the box.                When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000. He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me: 'the secret of a happy marriage is to never argue.' She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."               The little old man was so moved - he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box! She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness!                "Honey," he said, "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money - where did it come from?"               "Oh," she replied, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."

Murphy's Wednesday

Yesterday was one of those days when every little, silly thing that could go wrong did. Nothing major, nothing long-lasting or irreparable, but the weight of the hundred silly things piled up to the point that I cried when I discovered that someone had "cleaned out" my drawer in the fridge, and tossed out my Bacon Salt. It turned into, eventually, a nightmare that woke me up around 3:30 this morning, and, after waking up my husband to get much-needed hugs, I went out to the couch and finished reading The Lace Reader.


(Sites of interest: LaceReader.com and Brunonia Barry's blog.) It's one of the better books I've read for some time, if only because the entire pattern is *right there* through the book, but I didn't see it until the end. I probably should have, but I didn't. Masterfully done.

As a result of Murphy's Wednesday, I started yesterday with just under eight rows left to go on Hint #8 for SotS-II, and joined in the fourth and final ball of yarn. Eight tiny rows until the home stretch... so, naturally, the plan was to "forget" to come back from lunch for an extra fifteen minutes, just so I could finally be on the FINAL HINT. This SO did not happen. Thus, today, instead, I'm hoping to get to Hint #9. As I did no knitting at all on the commute in, I've stopped seeing this as realistic.


On the Noro Mobius Scarf front, there was an "interesting" development. Noro yarns tend to the scratchy and straw-like, but I'm assured they vastly improve upon careful washing with a wee dram of conditioner. Silk Garden, I hear, is the softest after-the-fact. However, it would behoove one to first, before washing, remove all the thorns. Yep, that's right - I pulled a THORN out of one of my stitches after it felt beyond reasonably scratchy. (This was Murphy Wednesday's Second Small Thing Gone Wrong.) I wish I'd kept it to get a photo, but I flung it away at the bus stop. A THORN. That would've hurt, a lot, on a tender ear - or, heaven forbid - EYE. Nothing similar has been found thus far today, but believe me, I'll be keeping my fingertips on Thorn Alert! And I was bad, and the only thing I worked on was this project, regardless of where I was (but trust me, most of it classified as "waiting"!!). Murphy Days require mindless knitting.

DAILY RABBIT COUNT: 22, putting me the required two rabbits ahead for the date. It looks like one rabbit takes about 40 minutes, or an hour, if TV is *really* interesting. I'm looking forward to having all the knitted squares finished, so I can start rabbit assembly. They're going to look a bit wierd, I fear, since I've run out of several colors before getting to the ears. And that's really how you can tell that nothing major was wrong yesterday, even if it felt that way: I still knit my Daily Rabbit.

Commenting... on comments.

First, there was a bit of waiting yesterday, so I had a chance to about double the amount of Noro Mobius Scarf I've done:


Second, our area got the first light flurries of the season yesterday. (I didn't actually see them, but there were reliable news reports and some video, so I'll believe it happened.) The little plants in our yard, however, clearly didn't get the "it's winter now!" message:


DAILY RABBIT COUNT: 21, due to an insane flurry of Rabbit Knitting last night, that ended far too late, but got me two days further ahead than I thought.

And now, for something completely different: Now, for the tag part. Cathy tagged me on a recent blog post, so now it's my turn. I'm to comment about the last ten persons who commented on this blog. I'm not going to tag anyone (you can play along if you wish), but it's been fun actually going back through my entries and seeing who's been commenting. I very much appreciate you all stopping in! (And pardon me if I'm shocked because more than 10 people have commented here in the last month...!)

So here we go:

1. Liz is a longtime friend in the real world, even though she lives far away. I actually met her through her husband, whom I've known even longer... back to the 80's, I think. They own a lot of my cartoons. She's an amazing metalworker, great mom, and all-around fun girl. Eventually, I will get to the RIGHT part of Florida *and* remember to call first...
2. Cindy is my favorite quilter. Seriously, look through her quilt page, she does beautiful stuff! I own one of her bags (it's orange, of course!). I found her on LiveJournal, and have been following her around since. She's also the #1 commenter over here!
3. DK is the fearless designer of the three Secret of the Stole stoles, one of which I've almost finished (trust me, that's some dedication on my part!), plus a fourth in the works (patterns are available for sale here, including the Civil War Shawl by Suzanne Pufpaff). Keep checking http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secretofthestole-iv - it's going to be opening up early next year (I believe), and it's TOTALLY worth it to be in on one of these lovelies!
4. I just started reading Kar's blog recently. I found her through another blog - someone had dropped by Kar's blog, and she'd thanked them very sweetly in that other blog's comments, and thanked them for explaining the "magic loop". So I decided to drop by her blog and say "hi", too!
5. Kim has a visually fun blog. Its colors and layout change with some frequency, and there are lots of dog photos. I'm allergic to most furry creatures, in person, but I love seeing them, and wishing that "allergy to fur" hadn't been one of those things that went along with me getting older! (She just got an adorable new puppy, too...). She knits, she spins, she does it all! And she finishes stuff. A lot. Every time I'm not sure if I'm ever going to finish (X), I wander to her blog and look at all the pictures of finished things, thus reassuring myself that finishing is, in fact, possible!
6. Cathy tagged me. This is all her fault. We know each other from the Virginia Knits blog, which I think was an offshoot of Virginia knitters that were doing one of the SotS knitalongs, and has morphed into a great community for Virginia crafters. We legal chix need to stick to gether. (Yes, three puns in one sentence. I live for that kind of stuff.)
7. Claire and I found each other on a Stitching Knitters yahoo group, and have followed each other over to Ravelry. Or did we find each other on LiveJournal? Y'know, it's been so many years at this point, I can't remember! I tend ot think of her primarily as a stitcher, since she does stuff like Teresa Wentzler's 'The Castle'. I have the pattern, but I haven't started it yet. Or maybe I have, and I've just forgotten? She's one of the few people who's allowed to nag me about how many UFOs I have. (The answer, as of today, is 67.)
8. M is my cousin, and will probably kill me for stating this fact publicly. But I have, so there! She can't stop me! BWAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
9. I stumbled across Alex's blog somehow, and I'm so glad I did! (Not just because she sent me orange fluff to turn into my very own hat, either...) She is *so* creative. She does her own embroidery of some really unusual things, making beauty from things you wouldn't expect. A M9 handgun, done in redwork. Lungs, embroidered. Supersocks. Also, she's forgiven me for introducing her husband to Bacon Salt.
10. I think I found Lynnio's blog because of her Fla-vor-Ice Cozy, which, let me tell you, is something I desperately, desperately needed as a young child growing up in Georgia. (Yeah, for just two years, but...) Nothing, I mean NOTHING, feels as cold in August in Atlanta as grabbing a fresh Fla-Vor-Ice or Otter Pop out of the freezer! Anyway, I'm glad Cathy tagged me, because I *thought* I'd added L to my list of blogs to read, but I hadn't (?) - but now I have! (I can't comment there because I'm not a Wordpress-er, but I read it all!)
11. Finally, Jo of Celtic Memory Yarns dropped by. (Eeek, a internet knitting celebrity!) She's based in Ireland, and I just love reading her blog. It's always full of photos - people, history, geography, sheep, yarn... all sorts of loveliness from across the pond. Even if she's not going far from home, her entries are like wonderful windows into a fairy world full of color and fleece and fun. Which, as it's Ireland, seems appropriate!

And, once again, just because I love it so much, my Favorite Knitting Photo:

My favorite knitting photo so far...

In between the frantic Rabbit Knitting and the attempt to actually finish Hint #8 of Secret of the Stole II, the Noro Mobius Scarf jumped (completely unassisted, I swear!) onto my pretty new needles. Since I'm a loose knitter I knit loosely, I cast on 51 stitches, and that'll give me a nice width for a headscarf-ish thing. K1,p1,k1,p1.... and so on. This constitutes "almost mindless knitting" - truly mindless knitting being either the purl rows of SotS-II (I purl faster than I knit) or the stockinette Rabbit Squares. I actually kinda had to pay attention at first, but after a few stripes, I was just flying along. I hope to have the whole thing knitted up in time to wear it before the second snow. (Since the first snow is supposedly going to fall today, I'm not going to make THAT deadline!)

This is also going to be the Waiting Project. Did I mention I'm now categorizing my projects? There's the Transit Project, which is Secret of the Stole II, seen here at the end of its third ball of yarn:


There's the Couch Project, which is the 30 Rabbits in 30 Days, the deal being knit only rabbits on the couch until and unless I am at least two rabbit-days ahead. (I'm presently, as of this morning, done with 16 rabbits, so there's more rabbit knitting in my immediate couch-future.) Then there's the Waiting Project, the Noro Mobius Scarf. This is for doing while waiting for the bus, waiting for my ride, waiting for the train - times where picking up the other portable project (SotS-II) just won't work well. As of this morning, I was able to take what is possibly my favorite picture of my knitting ever:


See? The blue of the sky, the green of the grass, the orange of the leaves on the tree, plus the strong "stripes" of the shadows on the bridge... I mean, the setting just screamed out to have this scarf-scrap held up before it whilst it was recorded for posterity. I am all a-squeal about this photo, and I'm just wishing I had my *real* camera (and the yellow filter) to get a publishable image, with the real vibrancy of the colors that were there. But this will do, and I still love it!

Busy Weekend.

Busy weekend, with a lot accomplished, some of it actually yarn-related.

Friday night, wound up the last ball of Gaia Lace, colorway The Gorge. I got four for SotS-II, and the third ball is rapidly dwindling. On the other hand, I will probably have enough left over for a pretty SotS-II headscarf!


On Saturday, on the way to play with friends in the morning, we were running about forty-five minutes early, and since traffic on the Interstate was, per the Radio Traffic Guy, "horrible", I finagled a stop at In Stitches near Woodlawn Plantation (hey, it's on Route 1, we were going down Route 1...). They're the LNS locally that *always* has Noro yarns, and Friday, I was seduced by the Yarn Harlot's post about The Noro Scarf. That's Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Scarf, and after you click on the link and drool a bit at the loveliness of said scarf. I don't want a six-foot scarf, actually - so I just got two balls of yarn.


I'm going to cheat a Mobius strip scarf, without actually making a Mobius scarf. I'm going to... GRAFT. Yes, you said it. But why would I do such a thing, when I've successfully Mobius-ed before? Because I also got THESE:


Yes, I finally broke down and got my own pair of Lantern Moon needles, which I've wanted for a while. Darned store had them RIGHT as you go in, a whole rack, and these pretties were in the size called for by the yarn. I must obey the yarn, right?

Also, during the various events on Saturday, and most of Sunday afternoon/evening, I was doing things, socializing, and catching up on my Thirty Rabbits in Thirty Days. I cast on #15 this morning, so I'm only a little bit behind, and should be caught up by the end of "How I Met Your Mother" tonight. No, I haven't actually made any into rabbits just yet, but I have faith it will work.


And then, on the way into work this morning, I walked past the Gap, and they had this in the window:


I'll be investigating THAT at lunch, because as Argyle goes, pink-and-orange really IS me. (And that way I'll have an Argyle sweater to wear this year, because we all know I'm not finishing the other one any time soon!)

Getting back on track.

Tuesday night, I noticed it was cold. Not that it hadn't been cold for some time, but it was cold enough in my house, on my sofa, that my hands didn't want to knit.
This is Unacceptable.
Thankfully, earlier this year, I'd been charmed by a small photo in IK of the Winter Twilight Mitts, and, after Great Travail and Consternation, was able to get the pattern (which I promptly modified the stuffing out of, due to freakishly small hands and freakishly loose knitting). I actually finished the mitts. (Proof here.) And, Tuesday night - and again last night - I had occasion to wear them whilst attempting to knit on my couch.

Review of finished product:
These things are form-fitted to my hands, and, as such, are a bit tricky to get on. On the other hand, they're form-fitted to my hands, so nothing gets caught on the thumb or the cuff. For knitting, I made the finger part a bit too long - it still feels a bit awkward to knit (or so my left hand tells me). I'm not sure why, but then I also hadn't realized that my left pinky finger plays an integral part in my knitting, and that having warm, fluffy merino nestled in the inside curve of the middle knuckle on said pinky finger would throw me for a loop. So, I'm glad I made the darned things, and just turning the ribbing back does the trick, and I know that my next pair of mits should stop at the first palm-to-finger knuckle of my middle finger, and be no longer.

As to why all this was important, after last week's descent into knitted-rabbit-argyle insanity, I'm back on track knitting things that will allegedly help me get under 50 UFOs by the end of the year. (Stop laughing, I hear you. Yes, I know I'm at 66 right now. But the resolution was to be under 50, and I'm dedicating Thanksgiving weekend to tearing through the stash and figuring out if there's anything I'm actually not going to finish, or if there's anything I could finish in three days, etc.) Thus, last night I finished Hint #7 of SotS-II, and I'm chugging along on Hint #8 now. And, because every entry really should have a picture, here's the one for today:


P.S., Is it Friday yet?

The Dawnzer's Lee Light

(If you're a Ramona the Pest fan, you'll get the title today. If not, oh well.)

I hit a milestone of sorts yesterday: I finally finished Hint #6 of SotS-II. It took a wee bit longer than I thought, though, because while I managed to figure out one tiny fix, I caused a huge error by not actually looking at the *edge* of the chart. So, frogged back to the first of the non-ssk-psso rows, and redid. But I finished! Well over halfway done now, and on a "just follow the pattern now, the edges and center are all the same" area, which should just fly by. I really may hit the end of this lovely shawl. Maybe even by Christmas??

One thing that helped a lot: My lovely new Floor Lamp!

Nice, bright, AND reflects off the ceiling!

Pic illuminated only by lamp while sitting on couch!

Love this new lamp. Suddenly, I'm not getting headaches from wearing a headlamp (yes, this is what I've been doing since it got dark at night), squinting because none of the ceiling lights are actually located anywhere near the current position of the couch... I can actually see and knit WELL. Yay!!

In future travel news: I haven't been to Italy for over twenty years now, after being back several times in my younger days. (Why? Because that last trip, I forgot to toss two coins in Fontana di Trevi, that's why.) Browsing through the various offerings on the web (while remembering that a Knitting Cruise to the Bahamas in May isn't on tap for this year), I found Tactile Travel, a company that arranges knitting-oriented tours of Italy. The one to Milano & Turino would be FAB, if I wasn't taking a two-week vacation after Thanksgiving next year (third honeymoon). 2010, though, I'm going to go on some sort of fibery travelfest! Anyone wanna tag along?

The Mice Did Play.

So, yesterday, we had three lawyers at work. (We should've had only two, but an extra one snuck in.) As a result, I got to finally watch "Wooly Bullies" from beginning to end, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and Tina Fey on SNL last weekend.

Of course, I had a chance (after 3.5 unexpected hours of paperwork) to knit at my desk for a wee bit, and FINALLY finished Hint #5! Here is my poor chart for Hint #5. It's been written upon (in orange Sharpie), folded, crinkled, taped, and otherwise abused for over six months. Poor little thing, it's time to retire!


Now, the word for today is "FOG".

Fog Here	Fog There
Fog Everywhere	Same as shot on left, WITHOUT fog.

The phrase for the day is "fresh sewer-near-the-river scent". Ewwww! I'll be staying indoors and knitting during lunch!