Mikknit

Thanks to those who left them for the kind words. I’m slowly starting to feel less heartbroken, but damn, I miss my Tig. She was the best cat *ever*.

Now, this is why I’m not knitting at the moment:

That’s Arlo on my back. He was tired but didn’t want to nap, didn’t want to be put down to play. He was helping me take nice pictures by leaning WAY BACK and trying to throw himself out of the carrier. So if my other pictures are blurry, that’s why.

I’m almost finished with the PINK sweater:

I knit the neckband on Wednesday and promptly ripped it out again - I want to do a hemmed neckband like the hem and cuffs, but I think I had too many stitches and that made it look weird. I haven’t had the ambition to try it again, but I may do it tonight. We’ll see.

While I was pondering my neckband, I cast on a sock in some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock - Borealis Yarns got in a shipment of the potluck colors and I couldn’t resist. I was just doing my usual 2×2 ribbing and didn’t like the way the colors were pooling, so to the frog pond it went while I considered my options. I’ve avoided the Jaywalkers since it seems like *everyone* else is knitting them and I don’t like bandwagons. However, I have to say the pattern is simple enough to knit while reading but interesting enough to keep me awake. And it looks nice, too:

Baaaaaa!

In memory of Tigger
1996-2006

Rest in peace, sweet kitty.

I’ve done a little finishing work this weekend, blocked a couple scarves that had been sitting for 2+ years and 1+ years, respectively. The newer one was knit from alpaca I’d been given, in a seaman’s scarf style. I cannot find the pattern now, but it was a free pattern written by Myrna Stahman.

It had been sitting, finished but unblocked, in a bag since I finished it. I didn’t know what to do with such a scarf, since it is not my style but was so lovely to knit. I sent it off to a local mama who lost her daughter earlier this week. I was unable to attend the service and I wanted to send something a little more concrete than just a card. I hope it brings her a measure of comfort in such a painful time.

Next is a scarf I started when Grace was just a few months old. I bought the yarn and pattern at the Shepherd’s Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival, at the Blackberry Ridge booth. It’s a laceweight wool in their Firecracker colorway (last one on the right)… I am not finding handpainted laceweight on their site now, wonder if I’m just missing it or if they discontinued it. The pattern is here, I did Sunday’s. This is where I learn that a lace scarf + handpainted yarn = not a good idea. The lace patterning is pretty much invisible. The colors sure are pretty, though! It didn’t photograph well at all, so I’m going to spare you the picture. Again, this scarf had been sitting, finished but unblocked, in a bag. Just waiting. Now it’s ready to wear (but needs a visit from the lint roller first. The cats really like it!).

I haven’t made any progress on Grace’s sweater since last Saturday, but I wanted to post a picture, since I blocked it too. (Why not block everything in the house, as long as the ironing board was out, right?)

And last but not least, a scarf for a friend who could use a little extra love this week. The yarn is Queensland Collection’s Llama Seta, 80% alpaca, 20% silk. It is *so* luxurious to work with! The pattern is Wavy from the Winter ‘04 Knitty. I modified it a little - I’m knitting on a 6 since this yarn is a little thinner than the Cascade 220, and I’m knitting it over 33 stitches instead of 45. I thought 45 was just too wide, and I really like how this looks. I’m a good bit farther than I was when I took this picture, but I can’t be bothered to find out where the camera’s been hidden. I’ll post a photo again when it’s finished.

Chris’s socks are finished, but he wore them and put them in the wash before I could take a picture. They’re hanging to dry in the basement as we speak. I think he likes them

Here is my end-of-day shot of the sock:

I could keep going on it, but I keep hearing peeps over the baby monitor and I know that any one of those could turn into a wailing must-have-boobies breakdown. And of course, if that happened, there would be no photo posting.

I’ve still got about 1/2″ or so to go on the heel flap, and then the heel turning and picking up stitches. This part will wait until tomorrow night after the kids are in bed, most likely - I need to pay attention to my work for that stuff and, needless to say, that’s difficult with kids around.

Instead of working on the sock tomorrow, I will continue on Grace’s PINK sweater, which has a picot hem (with blue accent) and blue stars. I will post a photo tomorrow, when the light is better.

And now, goodnight all!

Scoutj has posted a Super Bowl Challenge - post a picture of your WIP before you start knitting for the day, and then another one before you head to bed for the night. Whoever makes the most progress wins something cool from Village Wools.

So here’s my before picture, taken at 10:39 AM:

That’s the second sock of a pair for Chris, 1/2″ into the ribbing.

Sock #1 looks like this:

Now, on to the knitting!

This is more a note for my own reference than an actual blog post:

Gauge of 5 sts/in and ~7 rows/in acheived in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes on a size 7 Addi Turbo. Gauge of 5.5 sts/in acheived on a size 6 Addi Turbo. Now to decide on a color for my sister’s Eris - I’m looking forward to knitting this sweater!

I suppose I should swatch with Cascade 220 as well, since I gave her the option of that for the sweater too. I like swatching in the round - it’s mindless knitting that I can do with a sleeping baby in the sling.