Supposedly spring

Tonight's playlist: The Clash-Combat Rock and London Calling  

It is still ridiculously cold and wintry here, despite the calendar heralding spring's arrival. I am still wearing all of my woolens. I did, however, wear my docs today, they feel very spring-like to mewith their wee flowers. I just hope that at some point soon I won't need to wear two pairs of socks with them. I <3 my docs.

I've been sick again, another cold, but it knocked me on my ass for a couple of days.  I've been left with a cough that just won't go away, which gets worse at night, and it interrupts my sleep so I've been very zombie-like. But there has still been knitting! Not much, but some.
For example, my Cabarat sock; I opted to make this one a shorter sock, just 4 inches. I've knitted the heel flap, picked up stitches (my favourite part!) and am finished the gusset decreases.

(but not in the above picture, that was just as I was starting the decreases)
I don't understand how a yarn that was so gorgeous hanked up, looks so ungorgeous (yes, I know this isn't a word) knitted up. I don't hate it, and I know they'll look passably cute with my black Mary Janes but the way it pools, it kind of reminds me of camo.
I don't like camo.
I have decided that no matter how stunning the yarn looks when it's a hank, I'm not buying anymore sock yarn unless it is SOLID or self striping.

Also: Hitchhiker is no longer a wip, it is now a fo!

I lurve it!

I only made 40 points,and after binding off, had 3g of yarn left. I still have a whole other ball of SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in this same colourway (Cypress) so I'll have to knit some matching socks :)
Doesn't it look fabulous??

I love it so much, I cast on a second one today!

This hitchhiker is being knit with the Noro Silk Garden Sock, the yarn that was originally bought and  meant for the sock along. I had planned on making a basic, vanilla sock on 2.25mm needles, casting  on the usual 64sts. I had knit 1.5" of ribbing and realized it was coming out way, way too big. Of course, once I checked the label, I saw that the NSGS isn't sock weight, it's sport weight. Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it. Decide that I do not want to make a sport weight sock because a sport weight sock will not fit comfortably in any of my shoes and also because to use sport weight, i'd have to do math. well, eff that. I suppose I could just look up a sock pattern that specifically uses sport weight, but ugh. And also, still won't fit comfortably in shoes.
So, hello hitchhiker numero dos!

Now, off to take some nyquil and hopefully sleep!

Tell me so

It's a Bikini Kill kind of day...

It's been a week (almost) since my last blog and I've not finished anything. But I haven't started anything either. I've got the same four wips (work-in-progress) on the needles as last week. I have to admit, until I took pictures and compared them with the ones last week, I was feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere with any of my wips. I can see that I've moved ahead on a few of my projects.  Just today I finished the decreases of the gusset of the second Twilight sock. 

I don't know why I can't pick up stitches and do the gusset on circulars, in theory I get it-in practice I get messed up and frustrated. But now that I've done the final decreases, I'll slide the whole thing onto my circs and continue the foot.

The other sock wip is my Cabarat sock. 

I think this is the project that I've worked on the least. I loved the yarn on the hank, even winding it up was lovely. Knitting it up...well...I just don't know how I feel about it. There is a lot of pooling. I'm only going to give this sock another half an inch I think, before I start the heel flap. If it was a lesser yarn, I'd probably frog it-but I do so love Manos Del Uruguay Alegria. 

I did all the straight stockinette on Sinnesfrid: 

Now it's time for some waist shaping. Not sure when I'll get around to that-i'm kind of losing interest in this project. Maybe because I don't have any clothing items that I would wear with a vest? Maybe because I'm sick of the colour (Glazed Carrot) since I pretty much wear a scarf in that same colour almost every. single.day. The saving grace is that it's knit with Malabrigo Rios (lovelovelove) and that it's knit on size US 9's which is a nice change from the teeny needles I've been doing the majority of my knitting on lately.

I have completed 21 teeth on my Hitchhiker! 

And haven't picked it up since.  But I will. I'd like to get 9 more teeth done by this time next week. I would like to have my hitchhiker done by mid-April, I think it will be the perfect neck covering for transitional spring weather. I may have to become a monogamous knitter to finish this one. 

Last night, T, A and I went to Mouline (our lys) yet again. This time for sock yarn-they have caught the fever! We were talking about doing a basic sock KAL (Knit-A-Long) all following the same pattern (that I found on Ravelry of course) and each of us using Noro Silk Garden Sock, in different colourways.  

I was armed with a Visa Gift Card that my super awesome partner gave to me (he'd gotten a number of them for xmas and his birthday and he hasn't used any of them, so they are just kind of languishing in his wallet). I did protest a little bit, but i'm not one to look a gift horse (or visa) in the mouth. Now instead of just getting the NSGS, I could get something else as well-like some of that gorgeous Eco Cloud or Viking Alpaca.

When we got to Mouline, T&A decided they didn't like the feel of the Noro, and opted for different sock yarn. I held steady and chose a lovely light blue colourway. 

I've used Silk Garden before, so I know that a good soak really makes a difference. Hopefully, the same holds true for the sock version. 

And instead of getting EcoCloud or Viking Alpaca I got another skein of sock yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Alegria Watercolours in Watered Silk. I could NOT pass it up-it was calling my name, whispering "take me home". Who am I to argue against such loveliness?

I think this must be the start of my Blue Period. 

OH! OH OH! Guess what Mouline now carries?

SOCK ROCKETS! Zooooooom! Yay! And now they are mine!

March WIPs

Welp, March break is coming to an end and I'm a bit sad about it. I like when my kids are home, they are enjoyable people to be around. Even if the 5yr old only wants to eat french toast and I hate the smell of eggs cooking.
It wasn't an eventful break; it's been chill and lovely and everyone has been relaxed and happy, for the most part... B wasn't feeling great the first couple of days, and then I hurt my back somehow (i'm standing up typing on the laptop which is on my tall dresser as sitting makes my back stiff and achy). The biggest bummer is that we didn't get to go swimming-I know from experience that if I go swimming with a sore back  I will end up with back spasms and 3 weeks of pain.  I'm not at all sorry that we didn't go sledding because it's been EFFING cold this week. We did get some park time though...

I managed two rows before my fingers were too cold, and the cable got too stiff to continue.

I had predicated I wouldn't get much done in the way of knitting and I was correct. I've been sucked into the Kate Daniels series (by Ilona Andrews) so I've been devouring books instead of yarn. I'm on the seventh book now and it's the latest release-the next one will probably not be out for a year. I need a new series, something that has at least 6 books. In the meantime, I'm going to force myself to read this slowly and savour it until something else comes along.
So the little knitting I did get to was stuff I was also working on in the last blog. I've got the two vanilla, pattern-less socks: the second of the Twilight socks by TurtlePurl yarns.

And the first of a pair made out of Alegria by Manos Del Uruguay in the colourway Cabarat

I grabbed Cabarat on an impulse, it was so pretty on the hank. Now that it's been wound up and i've started knitting with it, I'm not sure how I feel about it, it's out of my comfort zone-but it is socks, I figure if I really dislike it once it's all knitted up, someone with big feet gets a pair of hand knit socks. Most likely one of my daughters.

Also on the needles; my sinnesfrid.

And finally; Hitchhiker

I love it! I've been using my handy new exchanging fire digital row counter (thanks to the lovely A who picked it up for me) to keep track of what row I'm on and it's been very nice knitting it. It's very simple, but the teeth give it that little something special.  I do have a feeling that as this shawlette progresses I might get less enamored of it though-I've barely made a dent in the yarn and only have 12 out of 42 teeth.

While I'm showing off cool knitting things: check out my new exchanging fire jumbo snap-n-go notions case (also thanks to the lovely A)

I love organization. I'm not good at organizing, but I wish I was and this really helps. Yay! Little cubbies for all my stitch markers!