Spooky Things

It's the end of the month and I was going to do a big knitting progress post, but I'm currently serving as a cat recliner. This is a very important job, and one I take very seriously.

Instead of going upstairs to take pictures of my knitting, I'll share this little cross-stitch FO. Bats! And a little pillow you slip them into -- no finishing! Did I mention it has bats on it?


Now for the reason of the lack of knitting content. This is a closeup of the situation on my lap.


Yeah. I need to take pictures of my knitting soon. Once the cat leaves. If she leaves. This one has staying power.

The Good, The Bad, and The...

Have you ever bought cheap yarn that looked OK in the skein? Sure you have! I went to Jawoll in Germany, a discount store with all sorts of bobs and ends, from groceries to... well, yarn. And I saw this. Blues, greens, purples, burgundies... looks OK, right? It was cheap. It was self-striping. How bad could it be?


There are questions to which we do not really want to find out the answer. I cast on a pair of Stripe Tease for the SKA unusual construction challenge. I knit. I frogged. Tip: follow the pattern exactly as written, don't try to think. If you try to think for yourself, you'll mess up. Take my word for it, I did.
Anyhow... yes, I'm procrastinating showing you the next picture. Because it's downright pathetic, my poor, poor ugly sock. I hope it looks better when it's finished, because right now... well, see for yourselves.


The combination of unusual construction and unfortunate yarn choice is making the poor sock look like it's been massacred. So let's move on to happier things, like Blathnat.
Koigu KPM in a happy green, pretty lace, it's going well. I can still knit pretty socks! I sure need that reminder.


And yet again, I cast on for the Geodesic Cardigan. Let's hope it works this time around. The stockinette is curling in spite of the garter stitch edges. Maybe a good blocking will help.


I am off to work on my poor misshapen socks. Hope springs eternal. Maybe my ugly ducklings will turn into a beautiful swan...

Startitis

I have heard much about startitis, the almost pathological urge to cast on new projects, but until the last couple of days, I had never experienced it for myself. Now, I have a bad case of it.
Usually, swatching is a barrier to entry when it comes to sweater knitting. I don't want to do it. The start of a new project is my least favorite part of knitting, if you'll believe it. So you can imagine my surprise when I started swatching. Big swatches, too, not just a scanty inch to figure out if my gauge is anywhere in the ballpark. No, 4+ inches. For multiple projects. In fact, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to swatch for another project before work now.

Socks and... Not Socks!

This is going to be an interesting year in knitting. I have once again signed up for Cookie A's sock club, the rationale being that having some new yarn show up every two months will keep me from buying more at the yarn store. You know how it is. Stash yarn is nice, but every once in a while, you need something new and exciting to knit with.

These were made from stash yarn. See, I am knitting down stash. My feet are small and my ankles are skinny, so I have almost half a skein of the Meilenweit sock yarn left -- I see leftover socks in my future. But these are a simple 2x2 rib, 60 stitches, US 0 needles. Everyday socks that don't need to be washed too carefully because they're superwash.


You may or may not know that I signed up for 11 sweaters in 2011 and finished exactly 0. So I did the only logical thing: signed up to do 12 in 2012. Makes sense, right? Only this time, I want to at least get close. This is a (somewhat blurry) progress pic of my first sweater. It's done except for the sleeves.


That doesn't mean I'm not knitting socks, though. I have a good 5 or 6 sock projects in various states of completion. These are Hex socks, part of the October patterns from Cookie's club. The yarn is String Theory Caper. Love the colors, the stitch definition, the floofy softness. Beautiful yarn.


I have a business trip coming up and expect to have quite a bit of knitting time, so stay tuned for more knitting. Maybe by then blogger will have fixed whatever issue it is that's keeping me from leaving comments on people's blogs. I know I'm not the only one who's knitting away furiously.

Here We Are

2012. A couple of days in, right after the resolutions. Time to check in and see how it's g oing!

So far, so good. I'm knitting on... 5 pairs of socks? Maybe 6? I have a sock WIP for every occasion. The body of my current sweater project is almost done, and I have two shawls that need finishing -- as in, substantial knitting, not just washing and blocking.
The stash is shrinking. Trouble is, most of these don't come from my bedroom stash, which is supposed to shrink. They're coming from main stash.

It's a dilemma: knit what I want to knit even if it comes from main stash? Or stick with knitting from the bedroom stash even if it's not giving me that "want to knit this right now" feeling? Not sure.