Fibercrack’d

And I was completely oblivious to the fact that I had lost it! No, smartass, not my mind. I’ve been aware of THAT loss for quite some time now, but thanks for stating the obvious. No. I’m talking about my knitting momentum, my mojo, my augury; that which makes all knitting undertakings enjoyable and exciting and challenging and fun!

My enthusiasm for the sticks and strings waned so gradually I didn’t even notice it was gone…until I got it back. It hit me upside the head like a paternally-delivered pew-based to-the-back-o’-the-head-got-caught-sleeping-during-Sunday-sermon stealth bitchslap from my childhood.

Unfortunately, it ALSO showed in my posts too, which, in my book, were more BLAHg-worthy than blog-worthy. No sense in denying it. I could HEAR you all screaming at your computers: LA! BE LESS BORING! But that’s all ancient history now, or let’s hope anyhow.

Now I have a gazillion projects I want to do, and I want to start them all now. NOW I say! It’s not like I don’t already have the yarn for most of them. Well, all the non-pink ones anyhow. I have a surprising lack of pink yarn in my stash. Must rectify that and soon.

1. Shedir and Shedir pattern-based socks;
2. Tea-Shirt tea-[shudder]-cozy for my mom;
3. Socks for the MIL;
4. Eleventy-hundred baby booties for my step-granddaughter;
5. Sweaters for every kid in the family (they all need some serious sweater intervention);
6. Felted bucket hat for my newest SIL;
7. Fiana’s Scarf from Fibertrends for me;
8. Eris for me;
9. Somekinda fingerless driving gloves for me;
10. Pad-Around-The-House socks for me;

The only thing that I can attribute to this serious re-kindling of the knit love is my most recent FO.

Yarn: Leftover Elann Peruvian Highland Wool in Oatmeal Heather

Gauge: somewhere in the neighborhood of approximately around 21 sts/28 rows = 4″, roughly

Pattern

Sweater: Trellis in the 12 month (middle) size

Cap: La Fudgery, aka…winging it, but based the smaller version of the cables on the Trellis pattern.

Notes: Okay, everyone look at those pictures closely. There is something TRULY amazing about that baby sweater. Give up? Ok, I’ll give you a hint: Look at the sides and the sleeves of the sweater. Do you see it now? YES! La fully completed a sweater….with side-seaming and sleeve attaching and button sewing on and everything. And those seams? Even though I tried Stacey’s brilliant lazy little cheat seaming, I ended up doing mattress stitch. Yes, folks, pigs DO fly!

I LOVED knitting this sweater. Except for the prior knowledge that the yarn pills like a crack ho Lindsey Lohan, I don’t think that there was one single aspect about this sweater that I didn’t like or found boring. Though, I did learn one important lesson: If the designer has you knit the sleeves flat, it’s usually for a good reason. I thought, “I am SO clever! If I knit these sleeves in the round, I’m saving time, and saving bitching about seaming, and saving DOING seaming. And I won’t have to do sleeve island a second time, though, it IS a baby sweater, so it’s more like sleeve isle, than island. Besides, just how much “structure” does a baby sweater need anyway?”

Yeah, well, I clevered myself into a tight spot…literally. The top-o’-the-sleeve circumference was WAY smaller than the armscye. hhhhhhhhhhhhh It took some doing; a little fudging in the side seam here, a re-bind-off there, and a tad of stretching, but as you can see, it all turned out ok.

The other thing I like about this sweater? It’s not pink. The DH informed me that Chrissy had cried to him, “everything they gave me at the baby shower is pink.” Well, my first thought was “Duh! You’re having a GIRL!” But then I’m all, “WTF? Do they even KNOW Chrissy at all?” That woman, though feminine and girly, is NOT a pink kind of gal. What makes anyone think that the non-pink mama’s gonna want to surround and dress the baby in pink?

Another Effed Oh!
(Hey, don’t blame me, blame Carrie who brought up “Horton Hears a Who” in comments yesterday)

Stats:
Pattern: La’s Boringest Made-Up Straight Stockinette Roman Socks Pattern, aka, winging it…
Yarn: 2 balls of Knitpicks sux Palette in Twig
Gauge: whatever
Notes:
The socks on the left are the ones I just finished. Every time I pulled these out to work on up at SAFF, I always heard someone exclaim a “Good GAWD those are some big-assed socks!” (or some variation thereof) You know what? They were right. The sock on the right was included for scale, just so you know. Yeah, the 15-year-old kid I’m making these for wears a size 13 and has huge calves, but I think these are still gonna be way big on him. Guess it’s felting time! Which is fine by me. Been working towards felted Roman socks anyway. Just got there a little sooner than expected is all.

I think I’ve finally overcome Second Sock Syndrome. I knit both at the same time. Nope, not 2 socks on 2 circs. I’d sooner remove my own spleen with 2 circs than to voluntarily put myself though THAT high of a fiddly factor. Nope, 2 socks at the same time like this:

Why yes, I’d rather wrestle a porcupine than an octapus any day! All those metal ends flailing and whipping about like so many arms from Robot B-9 will likely put an eye out…probably mine. “Danger knitter-La, danger!”

Okay. For all of you nosey and impatient peoples, or for those who just like to gaze upon knitted lace, here:

Sheesh! You know what that is? That’s a close up of a block party…

Peacock Feathers to be exact.

Please ignore the shitty pinning job. My queen-sized bed wasn’t quite big enough so I had to improvise.
Stats:
Pattern: Peacock Feathers Shawl by Fiddlesticks Knitting
Yarn: 4 hanks of Knitpicks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor
Needles: Size 4 cheapy aluminum
Gauge: Uh, yeah….whatever
Thoughts: Wow! This shawl seemed to take forever and a day to knit up. The pattern is rather complicated, therefore kept me engaged almost to the end. If it hadn’t been for a hooker cast-off, it would have had my full attention to the VERY end. It was very well-written, mainly in charts (9 to be exact). Though, in retrospect, not the best choice for my office knitting project. Live and learn. And with all the bitching I’ve done about Knitpicks yarns, I really liked working with the Shimmer, and would again if I ever knit lace ever again, the chances of which, at this point in time, are slim to none. As far as I can tell there are no noticeable errors. And to be honest with you, I’m shocked as hell. Usually I fuck something up.

This shawl is intended for my SIL who lives in Cocoa Beach, FL, so a heavy, warm, suffocating shawl was NOT what I wanted as an end product. Shimmer was the perfect choice. Just check out the drape!

It’s not done in her favorite color (red) I really hope she likes it.

ETA: I guess my fear that my SIL might not like it is 98% from my own knitting insecurities. Millie is a love. She’s also very crafty, just completing an entirely hand-embroidered Roman eagle table runner for the DH, and I know she has an appreciation for hand-crafted things.