Learning Curve

Learning new things isn't always easy - especially not for those of us who have the lovely combination of perfectionism and impatience, with just a hint of narcissistic arrogance thrown in. Okay, I'm not that bad, and I've gotten much better in the last 10 years or so. I know I've talked about it before, but it's so true. Knitting and now crocheting has taught me *so* much about curbing my perfectionism, opening up my patience, and increasing my tolerance for making mistakes. For some reason, I've been on this total crocheting jag. I think because I want to make some hats, quickly, and I don't have a lot of time, so crochet is appealing as it's quicker. For some definition of quicker that seems to include needing to rip out 75% of what I'm making. Yeah, insert eyeroll here.

I started a hat for my daughter, realized I'd screwed up the pattern so I ripped it out and made a different one. I finished it, but I really don't like it, and it's not long enough. I don't know why, I have this problem making hats long enough! Then I made the above-picture hat, which turned out COMPLETELY cute, and I think is even the right not-quite-newborn size that I think will be useful for my friend. That's from some leftover craft-store acrylic that I acquired many years ago. I really struggled with the sizing of the pattern - I'm still new-enough at this to not know if the pattern is off or I'm off. Most likely the latter.

So then I found a cute pattern for a crocheted baby helmet-type hat, and I know my-friend-the-photographer would like one. I was knitting her one, and it was going to be HUGE, like it would fit my almost 3 y.o. daughter. So I ripped that too. I'm having gauge issues, apparently. (This, people, is why I don't usually knit items where gauge matters. I'm also paranoid because she told me that the little pink and purple helmet I did was way too small for her 9 lb niece.) So ANYway. I found this pattern, looked doable, found some really pretty yarn, so I waded in. It's really not hard, actually, but now I'm realizing that it's going to be HUGE. The complete opposite of the problem I had with the Bear Hat, which I had to do a 12-24 month size in order to get a hat that would be a bit loose on DD's baby doll. I think before I rip the hat out, I'll shove it on her head (the daughter, not the doll) and if it goes on her head, I'll rip because I do want a closer-to-newborn size. But not tonight, I've ripped out enough today.

Actual Knitting Content!

I auctioned off a hat and scarf for our preschool's annual benefit. A friend had seen my purple Foliage and wanted one just like it, so she bought it! I ended up making it in exactly the same color. Just a note, I contacted both designers and requested permission to use the pattern for a fundraising item, and even though I already owned the Just Enough Ruffles pattern, I repurchased it. Both designers graciously gave me permission to use their patterns to benefit the school.

So, the pattern for the scarf is Just Enough Ruffles. Knit exactly to pattern, so any mods are simply my own errors. I knit this in Malabrigo Worsted in the Jacinto which I ordered online from somewhere, I can't remember where! As always, Malabrigo is *just* delicious! I used my KP Options for this one. I was very nervous about the blocking because it's not a skill I have, really, yet. Need to finish some more lace so I can get more practice, right? :) I ended up steam blocking it. I wet down a cotton pillowcase and placed it over the areas I wanted to block and ironed it. I didn't block the ruffle at all, I liked it really curly!

The hat, is of course, Knitty's delightful Foliage. I seriously love this pattern. I love leaf lace, and this hat is so cleverly constructed! The only modification I made in this one is the same as I made for mine - I knit 2.5 pattern repeats instead of three. I found the lace opened up with wearing and with my original version in the bulky (RIP pretty green hat), it soon became too long. Which is odd because normally hats knit to pattern specs are too short for me, what with having a long, pointy head. *ahem* Not that I'm insecure about it AT ALL.

These are both pretty quick knits, and fun to do. In the process, though, I have (re)learned a valuable lesson which is that while I love to knit for others and give my work away, I do not love knitting for a deadline. In this case, the deadline is internally imposed because my friend was very gracious about taking my time, but I really wanted it done by Christmas. I am going to VT in January and want to have my sister's shawl done by then, and I have some other projects I'm excited about. I also have FOUR socks in flight, so I need to finish those. I just don't like feeling like I *have* to get something done by a specific time. This is not an unusual thing for me, that's my general attitude (though sometimes I think without those deadlines, I'd never have finished graduate school!).

So, we're off to visit my ILs for a few days and I've packed up the knitting - the shawl, and yarn for some felted slippers for the kids and for me (my awesome clogs are just about worn through). I'd like to have it all done so I can felt them in my mom's top loader.

For all those who celebrate, Merry Christmas! For all those who don't, I wish you the joy of the season. I'll have my phone with me, so I'll be posting from Western MA.

And on a knitterly note...

...which I couldn't include in that last post because that was about joy and gratitude and this is about annoyance and frustration. I completely f'ed up the Foliage I'm making. (a) Now that this is as much a gratitude blog as it is a knitting blog, I somehow feel like I shouldn't swear anymore. *heh* (b) The Foliage is for a friend, via the preschool auction (I got permission from the designer to knit it for the auction). I have *no* idea what I did, but on one section, there weren't the YOs needed to separate the leaves, and I was somehow a bunch of stitches short when I hadn't been earlier. WHO KNOWS??? Not me. It's always sad to me how you can rip out 2+ hours of work in about 32 seconds.

I gave up on the hat for now and started Just Enough Ruffles, the scarf that's going to go along with the hat (yes, I got permission from the designer and bought another copy of the pattern). I got the 200 stitches cast on, and about one and a half rows done before I had to go make my family dinner (AGAIN, sheesh, they need to eat EVERY NIGHT). I am trying a slip stitch edge just because I tend to prefer those on scarves.

From Yarn Purchase to Blog...

Just over 4 hours. That's got to be a record for me. :) There's even a picture!

So, my daughter has this really cute jacket from Costco. It's a fleece/windbreaker thing, reversible, and it's a really pretty purple fleece, with the windbreaker material being a dark purple floral. I'd take a picture but it desperately needs to be washed. Maybe tomorrow. :) Anyway. We're at that awkward stage of Fall where you don't really need a heavy winter jacket, but a hat can be good, especially when it's windy. I decided I wanted needed to knit her a hat to go with this adorable coat. She and I were out this afternoon, so I swung by the yarn store. We got there just before closing and stumbled upon a SALE. Hmmm. Very interesting.

I found a few different things that would work, color-wise, and settled on a skein of Tahki Torino Bulky, in 228. It was on sale for $4.80, and I came home, pondering hats.

I decided to just make a simplSo recommended gae little hat, and thought about size. I did my usual method of swatching, which is to say, I didn't. I looked at the needle size and gauge on the label: 13 sts over 4" on 10 1/2 (US). I measured my daughter's head: 18.5". I did a little math, and decided to go down a needle size to 10s and make it a bit big for her, and came up with c/o of 66 stitches. I did a few rows (6 or 7) of a twisted rib, 1x1 then switched to stockinette. As I knit, I began to get more and more nervous that I was going to run out of yarn. Now, this is a worry of mine, but I really was getting low. It's a 50g skein, but only 55 yrds. I tried it on my daughte and I think it's going to be a bit big but fine in terms of diamter. Unfortunately, she had to go to bed before I was done so I was definitely winging it for length. I did a sort of off decrease pattern. First, I decreased by 2 stitches, to get down to 64. Then, on the next row, I started decreases in blocks of 8 (so knit 6, k2tog, then knit 5, k2tog, etc.). I did 3 decrease rows in a row, then switched to knitting a row, then decreasing a row, until I was down to 8 stitches. Then I decreased down to 4 stitches and knit a tube long enough to knot. I bound off, knotted the tube, and wove in the other end, and voila! Hat is done! I don't actually know if it fits the girl or not, we'll see tomorrow. (I'll try to get a picture then!)

The yarn is quite nice, very lofty. I think it's a four-ply and it's a bit splitty so you have to take a bit of care when knitting because when you split it, it's pretty noticeable. Oh, and I did cut it pretty close. I cut off a short chunk at the beginning because of a knot, and I didn't end up using that, and I had enough to maybe do 1-2 more rows of the body of the hat. I really hope it's long enough because I really don't want to pull out the top and make it longer.

Nothing Like a Little Super Bulky Yarn for Some Instant Gratification!

I managed to start and finish not one, but TWO things today. Okay, both are hats, one for each son, and both are in this, so they knit up quickly, but still. TWO. It's not like I've been finishing much lately, so this was a bit of a thrill.

Back story, both sons are going to be skeletons for Halloween. My oldest decided that's what he wanted to be (because of some Lego, I think), and younger son is in "I have to be just like my brother" mode these days. Okay, fine. I got the costumes a bit big, so we can layer 'em up underneath. One of the joys of growing up in NE is that it could be 70 degrees (F) on Halloween, or it could be literally freezing. I asked them if they wanted me to make them each a hat and scarf...for some reason, I thought that would be really cute - little skeletons with hand-knits. Cute, right? They both said yes, and DS1 picked RED and DS2 picked (OF COURSE) green. Green is his favorite color. And has been since before he could talk.

I was out with DS2 at Target, purchasing said skeleton costume, and we hit the Michael's nearby. We ended up with the Wool-ease, which is mostly acrylic with a bit of wool. It's fairly soft and fulfilled my requirements of being cheap, bulky, and available. I got one skein for each kid. This afternoon, I had some time so I started the first hat. I did my usual wing-it method. Recommended needle size is 13s, and it's 9 sts/4". I decided to do 11s, and figured I'd get closer to 10 sts/inch, based on...well, nothing. I just like the number. I measured DS1's head and figured I was shooting for somewhere in the 20" diameter range (his head is 21.5"). I cast-on 50 sts, and got going. I did a twisted rib to start, for 5 or 6 rows, and then switched to stockinette. I knit it until it seemed long enough (based on trying it on his head-gotta love Magic Loop) and then did one round of 2 decreases to get to 48, and then used a 6-pt decrease. I did 1 round of decreases and one round of knitting even. I decreased down to 6 stitches, and then pulled the yarn through. I tried the hat on DS2 and decided to go down 2 stitches for his hat and make it a bit shorter. His hat had 6 rows to the ribbing, 11 rows in the body of the hat, and then the decreases.

I started the first scarf - I am doing a simple garter stitch scarf with a slipped stitch edge, over 10 stitches. Easy easy, and hopefully it'll go quickly with the bulky yarn.

FO: Top Down Ruffly Baby Hat

Okay, forgive the diaper background, I just wanted something less distracting than the random swirly of my ironing board. I'd love to be one of those people who takes really beautiful, artsy shots of my knitting, but (a) I really don't have the time and (b) I'm not that detail-oriented, really.

So, I finished something! This is a prototype for a pattern I'm writing (yikes, that sounds so official!), and I can see what I need to do differently next time.

This is a top-down baby hat with contrasting ruffle. I'll take a picture tomorrow of DD wearing it, but I wanted to at least post that WOW, I finished something! So, details.

Pattern: My Own
Needles: KnitPick Options, size 6, 40" cable for Magic Loop
Yarn: Takhi Cotton Classic, leftovers in my stash

Notes: The main thing I'd do differently next time is make the body longer. This is barely 5" (because I ran out of yarn!), and it needs to be about 1/4 to 1/2" longer. I would also make the ruffle a tad longer, just one or two rounds maybe, but a bit more. I did the last two rounds (pre-bind off) in seed stitch, and I might do the whole ruffle in seed stitch, or I might not do it in seed stitch at all, and block it. The picture above is post-blocking, and here's a shot pre-blocking.
This may actually be the very first thing I have blocked (not including the acrylic baby sweater before I knew that you can't actually block acrylic). I did a steam block by soaking a pillow case and wringing it out, and then putting the hat the way I wanted (I didn't actually pin it) and steaming the ruffle so it'll lay flat. I am hoping I didn't do TOO much, and hopefully it'll look cute on her.

Finishing off 2007 with a bang!

I managed to complete all my knitting in time for our holiday in Western MA! And, except for SIL's booga bag (which was a hit, and coincidentally, is the same colorway as the bag features in the pattern), I even have pictures!

So, first, the mini-fetchings. All were done in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, all using Knitty's Fetching pattern. For the red pair (for the youngest recipient), I did 16 instead of 18 rounds on the palm. I used the Magic Loop technique, and I used Addi Turbos, 40" in size....I can't remember, I think it was size 3 (which I think is 3.5 mm, but I'm not sure, and I'm too lazy to go look, sorry). I was down to the wire on these, and regretted breaking my "no knitting after 9:30 pm" rule, with the last thumb on the black ones. I've never really figured out how to successfully pick up the thumb stitches, and I always have little holes. Well, on the last black thumb I also ended up dropping stitches here and there (it's REALLY hard to see what you're doing when the yarn is so dark!) and it was sort of a disaster. BUT, the black did hide most of the errors, I got them all fixed (one way or another), and the recipient (a 7 year old boy) was *thrilled* with them. All three kids loved them, and slept in them every night! :) I was fully prepared for the kids not to be too excited so it was an added bonus that they were such a hit.

This hat is the Irish Hiking hat pattern that I can't find again (my google-fu seems to be lacking today), but it was a nice pattern, and an easy knit. I accidentally knit it on size 9s instead of 8s, and dropped one of the cable repeats because it seemed SO huge. I made it deeper than she called for as well, because, well, I like hats deeper. It ended up fitting my husband (who has a huge head) quite well, but was too small for the recipient (my BIL, who has HUGE head apparently), so my husband is keeping it and I'll do another one for BIL. I think I'll drop the needle size and add back an extra cable repeat and add at least another inch, maybe two. It looks sort of weird but it does fit well.


Here's the fetching inspired-inspired hat, which I am loving. It's not quite as wind-proof as my fleece hat, but it's quite warm for most weather and I love it. (Not the best picture of me...)

And, I finished the monkey socks! I love them so much!!! I am really happy with how they came out. I started these in August and I've been working on them on and off, and it's so great to have another pair of socks done! I have been loving all the handmade socks I've done so far, and wearing them a ton (pretty much all my other socks are old and sad, and slowly getting thrown away due to holes) so I really need them! YAY! I promised SIL a pair of handknit socks too, so I'll have to figure out some good yarn for her. She really liked these but I just couldn't waite find it in my heart to give them to her. I am a bad person, I suppose.

I also managed to get two cable repeats done on my Double Braided Cable scarf, and I think I'll do two more, probably, since the recipient (who doesn't know he's getting this!) seems to like shorter scarves. I am a bit unsure how to block this, as it's superwash wool. Is that an issue? It needs some blocking because even with the garter stitch edge, it's still rolling a bit. It's quite pretty though, and I'll have enough left over to do some hats or something.

So, I'm feeling pretty good and inspired at the moment. :)

Can't blog, knitting.

Well, not just knitting. It turns out that if one wants to make a holiday festive, and one does not go visit one's Mommy who will do this for one, then one must do all festivity-creation oneself. We were totally low-key and it still was a LOT of work.

But, presents were wrapped, cookies and a pie were baked, the Christmas meatloaf was delicious, the fancy breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls was also delicious, and fun was had by all.

On the knitting front - booga bag is knit and I've got about 18" of icord done. One pair of mini-fetchings are done, another is started. The third pair is just a gleam in my eye. The hat for BIL is done. It looks sort of funny off the head, but it fits my DH just fine (who has a huge head), so it should be okay. Turns out I knit it on size 9s, not 8s, and I took out 1 12-stitch cable repeat, but it looks just fine to me. DH has decided he wants one too, so if I have enough of the Swish Superwash left-over after I finished the braided cable scarf, I'll do a hat for him in that.

Once everything is done, I'll post a ton of pictures. I've been sadly delinquent on the photo-front, which makes for a none-too-interesting blog, I am sure.

And I pulled out the baby blanket that I'm almost half way through. Remember how I thought it was girly looking and wasn't sure whose daughter I was knitting it for? Turns out it was for mine*. :)


* At least, they give us an 85% chance of the Frog being a girl...which apparently is as good odds as they'll give.

I am so smart (not).

I have a lot of knitting to do in the next week and a half. A LOT. Well, a lot for me, because my available knitting time is really small. Perhaps if I had full-time childcare and no job (and, you know, some random, seriously lucrative source of income to pay for said childcare), I could get it all done easily and perhaps toss of some more socks for myself as well. But that, sadly, is not my life situation so my knitting time is mostly limited to the evenings, and it turns out that by the time evening rolls around, I Am Fried. Today was a particularly busy day, as it involved not only some Christmas shopping (I relented after I asked my husband to go purchase his gift from me and agreed to do it myself as well as get the present for his dad), but about 200 phone calls between my real estate person, my mortgage person, and my lawyer to work through a last-minute hitch in our house-buying experience. IT WAS SO FUN. Then I had to go to my husband's office to print out a revised P&S, get him to initial some stuff, initial some stuff myself and fax it to our mortgage lady (who does rock my world). So instead of having a fun afternoon hanging out with the boys at home, I was doing all that. It's sort of good that I don't actually have paid employment, because in my grown-up life, I'm a psychotherapist and not really available to wrangle a million phone calls.

So, yeah, what's left? About 10 more rounds of Fetching 2 of 6 (sounds so Star Trekian) plus the thumb, the rest of the Fetchings (4 total), 32 rounds on the Booga bag plus 6 feet of i-cord and felting, and a cable-knit hat for my BIL because apparently I am NOT CABLING ENOUGH.
I am doing my BIL's hat out of some sort of craft-store yarn (Patons worsted weight wool). I actually do like this yarn. It feels pretty soft, they had the color I wanted (a charcoal grey), it doesn't break the bank, it is actually 100% merino wool, and I was AT Michael's and didn't have to go make a special trip anywhere to get Fancy Nice yarn. He won't care at all. Do I sound defensive about using craft store yarn? :)

What else. The Frog has a nice heartbeat. It looks like our house deal is going to go through. Perhaps our condo will even sell. It's all good. It's all going to be okay. *deeeep breath* Tonight, I think I'm going to climb into bed and read and do Sudoku and go to sleep early.

Fetching-Inspired-Inspired Hat Done!

I'm not sure where the camera is, so no pictures at the moment. Maybe tonight.

The hat is done and it IS long enough! Woo hoo! This makes me happy. I ended up modifying the pattern a bit. Where she has you doing 8 rounds of st, I did 14 (I think). I then did one round of decreases, 5 rounds of st, then alternated a decrease round and a round of st until the end. For the last couple of rounds, I did decreases (so 16 to 8, and then 8 to 4), and then did not do the last knit round (I didn't like the little bump it made).

I think it's going to be toasty warm. I wore it around the house a bit, but I was self-cleaning my oven, so it was really hot in the kitchen. My head was quite warm though. I am going to wear it out in a bit when we go to pick up DS1 from school, so I'll report back. But, at least it fits, and I think it's cute!

Buh-bye hat!

So sad. I ripped out the hat. I actually tried it out last night (24 degrees, felt like 10 or so with the wind) and it was entirely inadequate. It just didn't cover my ears, and it turns out that when it's very cold out, you don't just want the top of your long and pointy head to be covered, you do actually want your ears covered too.

So, I pulled it out, and managed to pick up all stitches (only really dropping two, which were easily picked up), AND figure out where the start of my row was. I am pleased! I also actually measured the (ballpark) length that I need to add, and did a rough estimate gauge, and figured out how many rows. Turns out it was double what I was assuming. I guess I have tall ears as well. :) So, I'll reknit it and see if my math leads to a hat that fits me in reality. It would be nice to have such a thing, and it's a good thing to learn that I need to add a couple of inches to hat patterns to make them cover my ginormous pointy head (why no, I haven't developed a self-esteem issue around this AT ALL). (Really.)

I must say that I do adore the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran...it's so yummy!!!

Bugger!!

This post could also be entitled "Apparently I have a very long and small head."

So I finished the Fetching-Inspired Hat. Overall the pattern is nice, not difficult (I mean, I've knit Fetching 3 times already so I know the cabling, and I've knit a ton of hats so I know how to decrease). But, for one, I had to drop the number of stitches I cast on from 135 to 120. I arrived at that number by the very scientific method of measuring my Fetchings and calculating gauge of the 4x1 rib (6 stitches per inch), picking a circumference that I was shooting for (about 20"), and multiplying the two and hoping it was divisible by five (it was). Other than that, I followed her pattern. I am pleased to note that the hat does fit my head circumference perfectly.

BUT. BUT. BUT. This is the THIRD hat I've knit myself that is TOO short. Not by a lot, probably even another half inch would have done it, but DAMN IT. I'm not going to do anything about it right now because I am too tired and annoyed. I know this will drive me crazy, and also, I live in NE and even with global warming, I am still going to want a hat that entirely covers my ears, you know? Apparently I need to adjust all adult women's hat patterns to add a half inch of length or so. Long skinny head, that's me (why couldn't this have been an issue with my WAIST, I ask you?).

I think I am going to rip it back to the beginning of the decreases (i.e., half the damn hat) and add about 5-6. I've got plenty of yarn, so that's not a worry (I used far less than she recommended).

Argh. And I still have no warm hat to wear tomorrow.

Knitting Math

(also known as OMG 2 POSTS IN ONE DAY???)

But anyway.

Because I have all of this gift knitting to do, of course I decided to start a hat for me. I found this pattern but I have concerns. So my first attempt, I foolishly thought "hey, a long tail cast-on would be great!" Forgetting how twisty it is. So half-way through the 135 stitches, I bagged and started over with just a plain ole cast-on. So. 135 stitches on size 6 needles. Color me suspicious, but doesn't that sound like a heck of a lot? I cast 'em on, knit one row, and slid the stitches back onto the cable of the needle, and even with only one row, I can tell it's going to be GINORMOUS on me.

So, I'm going to rework the pattern for my head. But I have questions. How much negative ease would you put in for a hat? 10%? I measured my head at 22 inches, and I measured the gague on my Fetchings (in the rib pattern) at about 6 stitches per inch. So, assuming I want approximately a 20 inch circumference, at 6 stitches per inch, does 120 cast-on sound right? That also seems ginormous to me. Well, maybe not, actually that seems comparable to Halfdome. I'll have to try that. Argh, that means casting on 120 freakin' stitches! I hate casting on. Well, not hate it, but it's not my favorite part of the knitting process.

I am not doing this tonight (or tomorrow probably) so if someone reading this thinks my numbers are out of whack, let me know!

Two, COUNT 'EM, TWO FOs!

So, I managed to get some knitting done this weekend! The first object was a quick little project that I'll be sending off tomorrow or the next day. One of my very dear internets had a hysterectomy today (she's younger than I am), and I figured she needed a little cheer-me-up surprise. So I knit her a uterus, and I plan to fill it with these, or these, perhaps.

I am pretty sure she'll think it's funny (and not too tasteless). I did modify the pattern quite a bit, mainly in that I added a picot cast-on (because wouldn't you like a cervix with a frilly edge?) and made the whole thing quite a bit smaller. I added a braided tie cord. The yarn is some Red Hat acrylic I had hanging around, and I love the colors. I used KnitPicks Options in a size 8 (I think). Gauge is not particularly important in this project. I'm going to add some Sudoku (and new pencils!), and perhaps a Nora Roberts or two. I think it's a nice surgery recovery kit.

On to the second finished object, which pleases me much less. Oh, I'm quite happy to have this done and off the needles. It would have been a quick-ish knit if I'd, you know, kept working on it, but it got dropped for a while. I decided to finish it today because, well, it's cold and I need a hat that actually covers my ears.

Pattern: Artyarns P51: Flat Top Hat by Iris Schreirer
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino in Colorway 108
Needles: Knitpicks Options in Size 7

First, here at the pictures:


Now, some thoughts. Overall, the knitting is fine. However, there are some things that I'm just not thrilled with. I *love* the feel of the Artyarns Supermerino, it is SO soft and makes a really nice fabric. I just, as I've mentioned before, don't love the way they do their dying on the variegated yarns. I'm not dissing the yarn, it's so pretty, but it's just a matter of personal taste. They do more...monochromatic with little (3 stitch) bits of other color interspersed. I think you can see it in the picture. I guess I like how Koigu designs their yarn better. Simply a matter of personal preference.

Overall the pattern was well written, easy to follow. These modular knits are really clever. I got cocky on the last triangle and instead of crossing off every line or two as I did them, I just plowed ahead, and late in the game realized that I had gotten turned around on where I was doing my skp's. Whoops! I just finished it and it's fine, but I learned that lesson. :) I didn't like how at the end, after you've done the 3-needle bind-off to join your top triangles, you really had a big gap at the center that you have to sew together. I've read that other people have that issue, so perhaps it's not just me. Another small peeve is that I got gauge exactly, and the hat is quite snug on me (and I have a pretty small head). It's going to be warm, but leave a wicked hat head! Also, I feel like when the hat is on, you really don't see the cute construction, and it just looks...shapeless. I will wear it, but it's sort of a bummer. At least I didn't feel like I'd put hours and hours of work into it, you know?

But, yay for getting something done that's been lingering! (And yay for a warm hat!) This leaves currently on needles: Monkey 2, Braided Cable Scarf, and the diagonal baby blanket. Then I need to finish the green stripy socks and Falling Leaves socks...and then, who knows what?

I think I'm going to end up eating my words that I had no interest in ever doing a lace shawl. The whole idea of something that really requires blocking scares me....but I am thinking of doing this in this (maybe in Grape Hyacinth). And perhaps ordering these and this for my husband to give to me for my birthday/Christmas present. Hmmm.

Okay, off to update my Ravelry projects since I finished something!

Full of updatey goodness!

For some reason I am in a really great mood. It might have something to do with the fact that my kids are off with the babysitter. :)

I've gotten a ton done today, most of it not knitting. I cleaned a bunch. We had a nice play date and lunch with a friend. I remembered that I should give my son a birthday present and found the Right Thing at Target for much less than I had planned to spend. I cast-on a winter hat. Yes, I know, it's 84 degrees F out there, but whatever! It's the Artyarns Hat P51, in the Artyarns Supermerino, colorway 109. You know, while this yarn is so soft and lovely, I am realizing that I don't LOVE the way they variegate (is that a verb?) their yarns. They have sort of a main color and then some very small bits of other colors interspersed (like 2 stitches) and I think I prefer longer...what would the word be? Slower transitions? It's still very pretty, but I think once I knit up what I've got, I'll probably not use their yarns again. There are so many lovely yarns out there, anyway!

I also finished two NICU hats. One was just about done, it just needed two little leaves added. I can't find the yarn that goes with the hat, so now I've got an apple hat with the red body in Samoa, the brown stem in Sugar'n'Cream, and the green leaves in Tahki Cotton Classsic. Somehow I don't think the babies will care. :) I also started a little lemon hat on Sunday and finished it last night, also in Tahki Cotton. I just used standard Ann Norling Fruit Hat Pattern, from memory. This was knit on Knit Picks Options size 4, Magic Loop and is quite cute. I now have several hats to take into the unit (though I may just send them this time). I haven't taken anything in to them in months, so I'm glad to get back into it. I really appreciate the reminder of perspective this knitting gives me. I feel so grateful for my life, and how full and rich and just plain wonderful it is, most of the time. Most of our crap is little stuff, you know? It's good to remember that.