18 June 2007

Return of the stash-busting afghan


In normal knitting news, I got the latest pair of men's socks done last night. Just in time for the end of father's day but of course he is not allowed to wear them yet. (I will try to get a picture soon.) So, not knowing what to work on, I plowed through the various projects on the needles, most of which I have been utterly uninspired to work on for months:

There is the child's placket neck pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts-- dull, dull, dull, and the seed stitch hem is rolling like crazy. I have begun one sleeve after getting up to the armpits of the sweater body. I don't know if I am going to frog it or not.

There is a drop stitch scarf out of Schaefer Anne, which was worked on steadily for 2 days or so after I planned the pattern back in February, and, while it is pretty, I have to force myself to even get a row or two done, so that may end up being frogged as well. I think the problem with that project mostly lies in the fact that it had been in a previous incarnation a basically complete lace shawl when it had a terrible accident far beyond my one and only pathetic little life line! Perhaps it is really destined to be socks.

There is also a striped men's sweater (good idea or folly?) done almost to the arm-shaping, so it awaits decisions-- how to stripe the arms, raglan or set-in sleeves-- before I can continue. And, again, it's been sitting around for ages while I don't make the decisions and don't feel like working on it. Yet it would be nice to get it done-- that would be a good quantity of stash used up and Mr. BooBoo (sorry, hon) does always wear his hand-knit sweaters without complaint, so it would be nice for him to have another before fall.

However, in the bottom of the tote, I pulled out my scrapghan pieces and decided to sew them together and then decide what to do next. You can see it is pretty wonky. I saw the pictures of Mason-Dixon's log cabin afghans back in September and gathered up lots of dribs and drabs and didn't worry about dimensions or stitch counts. It may indeed, as is mentioned in the book somewhere, just become an "interesting textile". Anyhoo, for whatever reason, I've started another piece to add to it. Even if it just hides away in the dress-up bucket when all is said and done, it's a good bit of brainless, no pressure knitting, which looks to be just what I need at the moment.

16 June 2007

Good week


It's been a good week here. I'd been worried about the big family excursion to the dentist, given how awful that had been for my youngest daughter last time, but we've been doing lots of reading of every "going to the dentist" book the library had (I bet her dad knows them by heart) and lots of playing dentist during the day for about a month now, and she ended up doing phenomenally well. The hygienist polished and gave her a fluoride treatment and the dentist double-checked everything as well. Yay, little G! It all looked so appealing to her little brother that he clambered right up on top of both of us for his turn!


We were also treated to a homemade apple pie by my eldest daughter. I didn't manage to get a picture of it till afterwards, but it was delicious. I was actually a bit jealous of her ability to make and roll out such a good pie crust-- her first solo time, no less-- when I am always having to piece it together in the bottom of the pan. She also baked some more cupcakes and decorated them with the help of her next younger sister. Yum-- we have been quite spoiled by all these home-baked goods since the kitchen remodel was finished.

I am about 3/4 done, I would say, with the latest pair of men's socks. They are a modification of "gentlemen's fancy dress socks" from Knitting Vintage Socks out of Online in one of the Sierra colorways. This is my second pair of these. They are a slightly boring knit, but look very nice once on, and I am told are comfortable as well. I would really like to finish them up this weekend but am not sure if I will be able to.

12 June 2007

the pressure, the pressure

Well, it is certainly surprising me just how much time this takes. My teenage son is pressuring me to add updates to keep this from being boring, so I, of course, need to point out that it is a knitting blog and thus by it's very nature going to be boring to him no matter how often I update...

I did have a bit of knitting needle mishap yesterday. I had stuffed the 5th of one of my double points in a ball of yarn and I guess it got stepped on at a weekend concert or recital or something, because it was mangled right in the middle and quite some trouble to get it out of the yarn without causing lots of damage to the yarn as well. This was my first broken bamboo needle, though, so pretty lucky, I guess. I don't know how come so many people use those birch dpn's because I can break those just while knitting. It is unfortunate that neither of my LYS's carries the Crystal Palace dpn's. I ended up shopping from Webs today to replace the broken needle and get a second set of 2.25 mm. dpn's while I was at it. I'm trying out the Pony Pearls. And, since I was paying for shipping anyway, I bought enough Noro Iro to make an easy scarf this summer-- planning ahead for some simple post-surgery knitting, so really there was no choice but to buy it!

We did have a nice visit from first cousins Sunday night into Monday on their way back from Connecticut. Small cousin F is chubby as ever and very nearly walking. His big sister E was a bit belligerent but still pretty cute-- she told me that the plastic kid's kitchen beans were "roast and tender".

I should get back to my knitting. Maybe next time I will start to figure out how to manage the side bars. Oy.

10 June 2007

Socks ad nauseum




I finished yet another pair in the socks for husband campaign. Here they are modeled on his feet, but they will soon be washed and tucked away in the bag. I imagine he thinks he is getting them for Father's Day... I personally am just glad they didn't get puked on by the toddler last night in what seems to be a pretty virulent but short-lived flu-like illness going through the family during our big concert and recital week.

Details:

yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Smoky Topaz colorway
pattern: ribbed lace from Sensational Knitted Socks
modifications: toe-up, garter stitch short row heel
needles: Crystal Palace 2.25 mm dpns
start to finish: June 1- June 10, 2007