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Just popping back in because I have a photo, or something. Yeah, two more sets of sixteen POP! Blanket squares. These are the third and fourth sets, if you're keeping count. Actually, that remains true even if no one is counting, but that is a different topic. As far as knitting goes, that is pretty much it. Life goes on as it does, the seasons change, and the fact that I have not blogged each bit of it is something for us to all put in our gratitude jars.
Anyway, there have been some really nifty and exciting things happening. For example, my nephew, Harrison, had his first birthday in April. A month from now, it will be time to celebrate the first birthday of my niece, Madeline. And before the year is up, Harrison will have a new little brother or sister. The due date is 11-12-13, and the appointment to discover the branding of new baby is sometime the first week of July.
I have been thinking about the next knit, and I am just not sure. It has been quite some time since I have had lace on the needles, and socks seem like I good idea, too. Then there is the 2013 Entrelac thing. No, I won't be combining it with either Forest Path Stole or Entrelac Socks, but what I will do next remains to be seen. In the meantime, I will keep knitting the blanket squares. It feels like quite the accomplishment that I have kept up with the end-weaving part of the project. I was trying to recall just how many squares I planned for this blanket. I think I might have decided on 100, so that means I am over halfway there, but still have plenty more to go.
My mom went to make bottles for the babies and came back to find them celebrating joyously. Victory was theirs; they had found a hidden prize and their determination and efforts had finally paid off. They were waving their quarry in the air, cheering and poking their little fingers through the lace. It's a good thing I love them so much. Now I just have to figure out if and how I can repair the damage. Yes, there are nupps, yes, there are many broken ends in the yarn, and only a couple of the marked areas are pulled stitches.
Well, it may not be particularly original, but I love my new Honey Cowl. It came off the needles, went onto my neck, and has spent most of its time there. I'm ready to call my first attempt at knitting from unspun silk a success, and I have something useful to show for my efforts. The experience of knitting this was good, and now that I have some experience with it, I would be confident to work with unspun silk away from home. I would still keep the process of peeling and stretching to make the yarn as a home activity, though.
With the exception of the excitement of Surprise Senior Women Orthopedic Surgery Week, and no, you really do not want to hear any of those stories, we have continued with resting and a lot of downtime. Then my gmail wouldn't work, and I decided I needed something new to knit.
Silk seemed like a good choice, so I grabbed some that I dyed with my nephew and started peeling layers and stretching it out to what I hoped would be the right diameter. Then it all seemed like it might turn to crackers on me, but I kept going, and maybe it will work. Either way, I should have something to report soon.
Poor Brucie has some sort of plague, and we are into week two. I believe he is on the mend; it is just not happening as quickly as either of us would like. This has kept me out on the couch and up and down taking care of him, and my sleep schedule set to random. By Monday, I was just flat worn out and slept most of the day, and then I realized I was not feeling so fabulous, and I kept telling myself that it was just a lack of sleep combined with high pollen levels, but I began to worry that I had contracted a case of plague-light. Really, I did not feel too terrible, but I certainly did not feel great.
So, when I haven't been sleeping through the television shows that interest me, I am knitting through crap programming or reading. Last week I finished my Lady Violet's Dinner Gauntlets (Jimmy Beans Wool Downton Abbey Mystery KAL). I like that I now have this pair of long gauntlets, the knitalong was enjoyable, and the pattern was simple. You're only getting a blocking photo of one, but super-swear that I have finished both and laced them with their i-cords.
After I finished the gauntlets, I was not really up for figuring out a new knit, so I worked on more squares for the POP! Blanket. When I had the second set of sixteen done, I blocked them. I even took a crappy cell phone pic and tweeted it, but then somewhere in the midst of possibly coming down with this crap (denial? me?) I managed to delete it. Such is life, right? Anyway, the first thirty-two blocks are waiting in a bag, and I have knit four more. The good news is that I have been knitting the center circle with the second colorway (Rainforest) of Classic shades, and it looks like it is working well with the first (Watermelon).
In other news, it is time to find a new feed reader because Google Reader is going away on July 1. I was sad when they decided to get rid of iGoogle, but now that they are ditching Google Reader, I am starting to take it personally.
As if that were not enough, we are having septic tank troubles. Best-case scenario is that it just needs to be pumped. If there are tree roots in the lines, well, that is not what we want, but someone will be out to work on the system on Saturday. I hope things stay well enough until the repair/maintenance work is done.
I meant to get this post up this morning, but a stabbing ear pain drove away my denial and to the doctor. I have respiratory crud and an ear infection. On a more positive note, I was able to knit one more square for the blanket during waiting times.
A bunch of boring things happened, but, apparently, they were a bit more than I could handle. Oh, but it is all good, because I have more to share for February Finish.
Yep, I finished Bauble. I could probably work on getting a good photo of it from now until next February and maybe not come up with anything much better, so here it is. None of the photos really get the color right, so maybe squint and shake your head quickly and that might be it. I really like it, but think that it is probably a gift. I owe (my own weird decision and imagined obligation) a shawl and need to decide between this and a Swallowtail. Anyway, I omitted the beads because I did not think they really added much and was not sure if the yarn would hold up well to beads.
The yarn is Malabrigo Lace in Jewel Blue, and I still have 26g left of the second skein. I am thinking cowl--either Kuusk or Wavy Feathers.
Maybe it was the success of the last blanket that inspired me to try another, or maybe I had destroyed that part of my brain that tells me blankets are a bad idea. Whatever the cause, when I saw the offer of a free pattern from Tin Can Knits, I chose the POP! Blanket. Then, because I do not want to contract norovirus, I chose a yarn other than Noro. Yes, the brand and the ailment are bonded in my brain for many reasons, not the least of which was the time I contracted it from a gathering of knitters. I really do not hate all Noro yarns, but I am weird. Anyway, for this blanket I am using Classic Shades in Watermelon (and perhaps Rainforest and Tropics) and Sheep(ish) in Grey(ish).
While I am only twenty-five blocks into the project, I do not yet hate it. This works very well for on-the-go knitting, and I can complete a square in a relatively short amount of time. Each piece looks a bit terrible when it comes off the needles due to the curling nature of the stockinette, but I blocked the first square, (as the pattern directs) and it worked out the way it should.
My squares are a bit smaller than those in the pattern are, but I like the way they feel, so I am not changing anything. I have not decided just how large I am going to make this blanket, but I do not think I am giving it to a baby. Then again, I am not very far into the process, and baby-sized may be all I can handle. As an extra bit of motivation and inspiration, I wove in ends and blocked fifteen more squares, and I really like what is happening. It even takes the sting away from just how many more I need to knit. I have been trying to make sure that I keep up with weaving in ends so that part does not become too overwhelming.
I also bought more yarn so that I do not have yarndage troubles. I think I may have bought a bit more than I will need. There is a small story behind that. At first, I only bought one ball of the Classic Shades in case I did not like knitting this pattern or found that the yarn would not be a good match for it, but since it all seems to be working, I needed more. I went to the yarn store to get more of the Classic Shades in Watermelon, but they had one fewer than I needed. I So, I looked at other colorways to find one that might work with it, and I chose Rainforest and Tropics. Yes, that is two, and I only needed one more ball of yarn, but this gives me the option to make a really big blanket if I so choose.
