12 hour days for nearly a week now. I know it will all be worth it in the end, but I am starting to not want to leave my bed in the morning. Especially if the cats are asleep on me.
Here they participate in separate grooming rituals. Sunshine:
And The Darkness.
Any space that is yours is also mine, yes?
Sunshine may complain but if an ear is presented to her, she will clean it.
Oh, very well.
Right. But this is a knitting blog, yes? How is the knitting front? Is that what you have come to learn?
With work keeping me so busy you'd think I wouldn't have much going on. and you would be WRONG, because I am the Queen of Hypocrisy. Never has my knitting been more diverse. Actually it's more that I am the Queen of Short Attention Spans. I am brimming with the love of all my yarns, and finally unpacking them all (the deepest stash) and playing with them all. Except laceweight because I am too lazy to wind it. Am I knitting some of my ever-growing Ravelry stash? No, of course not; I'm knitting up things that have been on my to-sell-or-trade page on Ravelry. Apparently I only find their value when I just want to get them the heck out of my stash, even if I must stoop so low as to actually knit them up.
So, what am I working on?
1. A floppy-eared bunny. I saw one in the local yarn store when I was there for knit group. They couldn't find the pattern that was used on him so I improvised my own based off of his design features. I did mess up one thing--his arms are too thick--but with a little bit of creative maneuvering this hasn't mattered. Alas that he is on hold until I get safety-eyes to use on him, and stitch him a mouth or something (can you believe my local Michael's doesn't have safety eyes? What the heck?)
2. socks for my twin<3! Alas that I need to measure them before I do the heel turn (her feet are a bit larger than mine) and my tape measure has gone missing. So those are also on hold
3. a hat for my brother<3. This was on hold because I needed to make sure it would fit an enormous man-head rather than my own petite skull. I have to corner a coworker and force them to model for me before I finish it, though it's 90% of the way done already :P Need to figure out how to attach/where to get a Green Bay Packers patch or something, so it's still on hold.
4. mittens for my older sister<3! Alas that while they are stranded colorwork, they are a non-repeating pattern and so require CONSTANT attention. I am slogging my way through these but it is a rough long haul. Still, they're one of my few projects that counts as "in progress"
5. the annual holiday surprise. This, alas, has barely been begun, which is really terrifying to imagine. I need to get on this!
6. holiday gift for my mom<3--not yet begun. Oops?
7. socks for myself! I'm doing 2 at a time, cuff down, using magic loop (ie on one giant circular needle). It's not as bad as it was--I was learning how to magic loop when I started them off and it was DAMN slow going for a while--but it still doesn't feel as fast as DPNs for me. I have, however, determined that I only need to go some 4 odd rows before doing the heel flaps and turns, so they are no longer on hold but slowly progressing. Slowly.
8. A cowl. I knit the bulk of this back in March but after I bound off I decided it was just too skinny, and I had 3/4 of a ball of yarn left that I could put into it. I finally picked out the cast off, ripped back 3 rows to a good point in the pattern, picked up the stitches, and re-learned the pattern. This is a really fun knit but for now it's relegated to the emergency yarn drawer at my office, for when I need a simple knit to think about some code that doesn't work, or a way to stay awake at colloquium, but alas I've been so busy writing a paper that it hasn't gotten much attention. Still, it's in progress. Slow, slow progress.
9. The scrappy stripey shawl! This started off as a shawl anyway; I wanted to make a giant triangle, with a single increase every 4th row. But I got bored with it when it was a couple of feet long and frankly I wasn't sure how I was going to wear it as anything other than a weird scarf. So I bound it off and started seaming the pointed end to part of the broad end to make a neat folded cowl. It's not fully seamed up yet, though, and I have a lot of ends to weave in from the striping
10. fingerless mitts. I wove in ends and seamed down one hem of one mitt. I only have 3 more hems left and this pair of mitts that I've had for at least a year will finally be complete. Actually I think it's been 2 years :P Can you tell I don't like finishing? I don't like finishing.
11. More fingerless mitts. These need buttons. 14 buttons per mitt. I think I only got 6 on before I gave up on them. They're lingering going on 2 years now as well, but they've made it back out of the depths and into my work-to-do pile.
12. A sheet of colorwork fleece. I'm doing stranded colorwork in the round with some hairy single-ply peruvian wool "peruvia" by Berocco, I believe. I love the stuff--it's super warm and fuzzy and fluffy--but it isn't really garment-appropriate because it fuzzes like the devil. So I'm going to knit a tube, felt it in the washer, cut it open and up into pieces, and try to make some cat beds or something out of it. I might cut it open before the washer, just to take a stab at cutting a steek like I someday want to do.
13. The blanket I started in January. It's a good thing I don't really want it right now because I've only got 2 or 3 squares done. I may have a few more planned but I'm a bit worried about what I want to do and also about getting the right background color of yarn. Anyway, it's malingering.
14. For this month's goal for the year, I wanted to start a shawl out of some green mohair I got in Denmark, for a dear old friend of mine who lives on the other side of the country. Haven't managed it yet but I'll try to cast it on tonight!
Things I've relegated to the depths:
Stripey socks. They're from some leftover scraps of plain sock yarn I found in my deep stash. They're fun and easy but they are locked in a government building that I won't have access to until the shutdown is over :P woot!
The brown sweater. It needs to have the sleeve ripped out and I have to figure out how to do the front and back top pieces because I don't have enough yarn for full sleeves. I might rip it out completely. I like it so far but the fit is not perfect; to be honest it's kinda crummy.
fixing the other cowl I knit back in February/March. Half of it is knit too loosely (I was in a hurry to finish it), and really it has had too many stitches cast on. I need to cast on fewer. It fits around my neck 3 times with ease and it just looks ridiculous.
the surprise mittens for my best friend. I finished one but haven't added the ribbing for the convertible mitts part yet; plus I need to knit the other one. But I can really only do one stressful colorwork project at a time and the mittens for my sister are taking that up right now.
Things I really can't wait to cast on:
1. I want to improvise some stripey fingerless mitts from some rowan felted tweed dk that I don't even HAVE yet
2. I want to re-do my Hanna Cowl using the neon yarn I found in my LYS
3. I want to start Takoma. I finally have enough yarn for it! I've been craving this sweater for YEARS. Alas that the yarn is in a different color but I still have enough, actually enough for it and I want it, I want it so bad, and I am gonna steek it and do it in the round! woo!
4. I want another shawl in progress for me. I am not sure if I want to cast on my Color Affection yet (a few years later it's just... not as appealing) or if I want to remake my purple Summer Flies that was lost in the car crash, or if I just want to toss it all out and find a new crazy shawl to make, but I'd love to have one on the needles.
5. I want more socks, but mostly I just want to HAVE socks, not to knit them.
