Busy Busy

This has been a very productive knitting month, which is always so exciting and satisfying.

1) I churned out the shawl for my friend Amanda in four days. Makes me feel bad for waiting 8 years to start the blasted thing. It needs to be blocked and I might need to redo the bindoff, but that's not bad at all

2) I've gotten my brown sweater up to the point where I should begin the lace pattern. However, I have decided that if I want it to fit (and I do) I am going to need a gauge swatch in lace, which I don't have. So I need to make that and block it next, then calculate how many repeats I can fit into each front and the back, allowing sufficient space on the side for sewing in the sleeves (I probably will not separate the fronts and back until I get to the sleeves). Also I need to calculate the rate of decrease to give me a v-neck piece instead of the scoop.

3) I almost finished this pumpkin hat for my friend--it just needs a stem and a leaf or two.

4) I cast on the January Deep Stash sock that I had originally planned to do this month and am just about done with the toe. From here it is a stockinette grind--perfect for relaxing and watching some knitting podcasts or the Fifth Element (can't wait!).

5) I cast on a pair of Dashing for another friend in my deliciously oatmeal-esque hearty brown local yarn from the winter Madison farmer's market. Right now the sizing might be a concern but they are great fun to knit.

6) with some luck I will be able to finish the first half of my black-shot-with-green-and-blue romney fiber from the DC farmer's market. Then I can ply it. I might chain ply it--I think that would make it nice and scrunchy and delicious, more so than a 2 ply.

7) I picked up my Shipwreck Shawl again, put the needles back on it, and have managed a round or two. As everyone else says, it's not the incessant yo-k2tog pattern that is driving me nuts--I could get used to that--nor even the need to bead on random occasion, but the pushing of the beads deeper into the yarn ball that is creating insanity. After a round and a half of some 500 stitches, I have to push them down again and I practically threw it aside in frustration. I will leave the needles on it, though--perhaps I will work up the nerve to do my tedious work again.

as for other things--my surgery cannot proceed until mid february, and I have a lecture to teach on Tuesday, as well as a paper that I'm in the midst of writing. So things are going along. Now I just need to get a car...