I’m knitting my fingers off in a doomed attempt to finish something for tomorrow.
In the meantime, rest assured that in the next week we will have posts on a variety of topics, including:
In case you were wondering, my Christmas knitting is done. (I hope.)
I reknit Gramma’s beret while up in Connecticut and left it blocking on a plate in the kitchen. I hope it fits better than it did the first time, when it was simultaneously too big and too small. (I know!) Since I was fighting the clock (and the cabbie who was waiting patiently in the driveway for five minutes unbeknownst to us), I didn’t put the cute little stem on and I didn’t snap pictures. Hopefully when Mum gets home, she will a) report back as to whether it actually fit and b) snap a picture for me (particularly if it fits this time around).
These pictures are from the first time I knit the hat. As you can see, we suffered a sad loss during the knitting process. Luckily, I learned from the mistake and used a metal size US0 to help me with the K3togs this time. It slowed down my progress, but all my needles are still intact.
Also done are Mum’s Monkeys:
I believe that it’s Posh Yarn Saskia in Serendipity (a cotton/silk/cashmere blend), although the eBay seller I bought it from listed it as Lucia in Highland. A bit splitty, which is no surprise with cotton-based yarn, but otherwise quite nice. It had a particularly nice hand, and the colorway worked well in the Monkey pattern.
Last week I caved into the twee side of my nature and signed up for Emily’s Wee Tiny Sock Swap. Emily was my spoiler in Amanda’s Bloomin’ Sock Swap last spring and I adore everything she does — whether it’s aimed at me or at the knitting world in general.
So over the weekend, I knit a tiny sock out of some leftover lavender Opal Gems I had in my stash. My sock fit on my pinkie. I sent it off to Jackie, who is a fellow purple lover.
And in Wednesday’s mail, I got a lovely spring green envelope containing a dear itsy-bitsy sock of my own. Mandy knit it out Socks That Rock in Rocktober. Funnily enough, the only other time I’ve encountered STR is when Emily made socks for me. See? I can make it come full circle…
I love my sock. My polar bear is currently modeling it to keep it safe from the kittens, who thought it smelled intriguing and offered to carry it off, àla Mooch, to spend some personal quality time with it.
Thanks to Mandy, Jackie, and Emily for making this such a fun swap!
Well, at least while it’s cold out…
May I present my Every Day Cardigan?
Knit in Peace Fleece’s Georgia Rose worsted weight (but using the sport weight directions).
I grabbed Rudi to take these shots as he was on his way to bed after a long evening of meetings. Better (daylit) shots may come over the weekend.
Sufficed to say, I’m still utterly delighted with my sweater.
With three hours of sleep, I’m doing okay right now. Check back with me after work, when I have to do some cleaning before my friend Amani comes over for us to watch the first half of Sense and Sensibility on PBS tonight:
1. Sweetpea and I have been social knitters this week. On Sunday we ventured north of the border to the Homespun Yarn Party where we got to put a face with Mia‘s blog (yay!), catch up with Lolly, fondle and buy some yarn (wanna see my purchases?), and eat some delicious snacks to benefit Ravelry. Then last night we joined the Dupont Circle S&B’ers and spent several fun hours with some really talented folks.
2. Sunday night, Rudi and I were lucky enough to have tickets to the opening of the new Nationals ball park. After blowing a lead in the top of the ninth, we came back to win with a home run from third base phenom Ryan Zimmerman. It was particularly satisfying because his shot into center field went into the lower section and certainly would have been caught at RFK.
3. Saturday dawned early and cold for Rudi and me as we got up to cheer on our friend Phillip who was running his first marathon. We were positioned just before the first hill of the course and got to cheer on a lot of runners in the 45 minutes we were outside. A friend had mentioned at one point that a lot of runners write their name on their clothing to enable strangers to offer personalized encouragement, so I knew to look for that — and it was nice to see smiles cross people’s faces when I shouted out to them. And because we were up, we headed to Teaism for a delicious breakfast (before returning home to bed).
Yes, yes, yes. I know it’s five a.m.
People, I have a sweater.
With buttons.
My very first grown-up sweater made with my own two hands.
Seriously, I’m so excited.
Tired, but ecstatic. (And tired enough to want to spell ecstatic with an “x.”)
But you’ll have to wait for pictures until the photographer is awake. I think the photos would be unflattering if I awakened him now just for this.