And two manly socks

Sometimes my FOs really just nag at me. They drive me crazy. They haunt me. The manly socks certainly fit this description. I started them in May, hoping to finish them quickly since they are mainly plain old stockinette. And now it's December, but they are complete! Right in time, since they are part of a holiday-time gift. Want to see?



And just to reiterate, because the stripes match EXACTLY on both socks:


Fantastic. I love them. This makes an awful lot of Finished Objects lately- which is good. I was hoping to complete six items in the last six months of the year, and this brings me close to the mark.

I will be finishing up the Super Secret Holiday gift on vacation, and realized that I have another project that has been languishing. Instead of casting on for a new shawl, I found Hanami and decided to work on her again. I made it 25 rows into the first chart before giving it up, I think in part because the lace pattern wasn't obvious to me. Now that I have significantly more experience with lace, I'm finding the chart to be exceedingly simple! It should be a quick and fun knit- this is convenient, because nothing could give me greater pleasure than wearing it to my work holiday party at the beginning of January. It's a perfect excuse to buy a new little black dress- I have one from when I was 14 (it still fits, though I have no idea how or why), and one from college. It is definitely time to find a new one. I guess that's a good idea for shopping in Raleigh?

This is about what she looks like, since I'm sure you've forgotten as much as I had:


I'm away on vacation again Tuesday through Saturday, which feels blissful since I just got back from Thanksgiving. I will visit my sister for New Year's, and then I don't get a vacation again until March. I am going to live up this week in anticipation. I'm bringing the Super Secret Holiday Gift, Hanami, a sweater I need to start (blah stockinette), and some little projects. For variety, I am also packing up some very exciting sewing projects. I have the fabric and the trim, so hopefully they'll be a breeze to assemble in my Mom's fantastic sewing lair. I will remember to take pictures this time, I hope. It should be fun!

My very first knit-along

You may be aware that I'm knitting the Hanami shawl. I even have managed to post pictures of that work in progress- pretty pink! What you may not know is that Pink Lemon Twist, the designer of said shawl, has done two Mystery Stole knitalongs in the past. And I got notification that round 3 is about to begin. Having never joined a real knitalong before, and of course never a mystery knitalong, I was excited to sign up and check out this new and exciting thing. Here's the link to the group, in case you are interested in signing up: Yahoo Group for MS3. Essentially, she will send out clues, in PDF format, which include tips/charts/etc to creating an entirely new lace pattern. There is no way to know ahead of time how it will look- you just knit along for the ride! This sounds perfect to me. I should be able to keep up with the group, since it's only ever a few rows at a time and you have a week to complete them. Of course, if I don't keep up, nobody is going to knock down my door in disgust. Thus far, we have been told that the theme would work best with white or black laceweight yarn, and we can elect to use beads. I have a trillion beads left over from Hanami, so I plan to use those (clear with silver lining) and the Knit Picks Bare (Color Your Own) laceweight yarn. It's a completely natural color, and I already had one skein in my stash. I ordered another, assuming an undyed yarn should be approximately the same "dye lot" even after some time, and that brings the total cost of new yarn for this project to... 4 bucks. That's within my yarn diet rules! I also ordered a chart keeper from KnitPicks, because I have a hard time keeping track of the rows with my bad eyesight.

Yesterday I also picked up the new sock kit from the Sock Knitting Club at The Celtic Knot Yarn Shop in Ellicott City. This month's theme seems to be beachy- the yarn is a beautiful blue, and I got a nifty blue stitch marker. The sock pattern for this month is a little ankle sock, which should be a fun and fast knit. While I was there, Carole (the lovely shop owner) also sent me home with some donated fabulous pink ribbon yarn so I can knit a scarf for the SOS project. It's a great reason to knit, and of course I would not ever normally choose this yarn, or certainly wear it... so this way I get to knit with it, and pass it on. Not bad!

In other knitting related acquisitions, I ordered a few travel-sized vacuum bags. The kind that you can roll all the air out, making the contents into a tiny little package. I've decided that using these will help with stash management, and alleviate my fear of bugs getting into my wool. I also got a few Large size ZipLocks (they're huge! 3 gallon!) which I've already started using. I can fit two sweater projects in one bag- which is awesome and amazing.

Stay tuned- I've been working on a crocheted baby blanket, Brian's sweater (the back is DONE!), and the Manly Socks (one sock is DONE!). Piccies to come! For now, I'm off to WoolWinders, my other favorite LYS, to work on a baby owl sweater. Did I mention I have a really hard time with the yarn diet? At least this is a gift.

Slow progress

Usually I post finished objects. Pretty things, all done up and tied with a bow. I've been reading a great deal the past few weeks however, and despite getting some good knitting time in, nothing is anywhere near done. Here's some progress!

Brian's sweater is moving along. I might even finish the back someday. 30 inches of back, people! The pattern is there for size.


Also, I'm moving slowly along on the manly socks. Plodding, really. I suspect there is no way to make my target date... but it's summer now. Who would really want to wear wool socks in the summer?? They lose a bit of their manliness on my new blanket, I think. My mother bought new blankets for my sister and me, of the same amazing fuzzy yumminess as her current blanket-of-choice. They're machine washable, and mine is pink! Mom knows me so well.


Finally, I cast on for the Hanami shawl. It is amazingly beautiful. The cast on, however, took ages. The longest part? Getting to a bead store to buy the right dewdrop-looking beads. And then locating a crochet hook tiny enough to spear them. With the aid of my roommate, it is cast on and zooming along- nearly one repeat of the basketweave pattern complete. A full view:


And something of a detail: