Travelling complete (in more ways than one)

Sorry for the delay in posting--I went out of town unexpectedly last weekend, and of course it put me behind all this week. It was a good trip, though, in many ways. For one thing, I got to see Jane! We were headed in perpendicular directions, so we met up for dinner and catching up along the way.


Before I carelessly abandoned my duties here, however, I did unpin my blocked scarf. And Thursday, scarf and I went outside for a photo session. Behold:


Pattern: Travelling Roses by Leanne Cooper. Needles: Takumi No. 1 US (2.25 mm). Yarn: Diana (90% merino, 10% silk) from Posh Yarn.


The Diana is wonderful stuff. It knits up into a warm, soft fabric with just a little sheen to it.


It looks so dark against the snow, but in sunlight you wouldn't even know it's the same scarf.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, a-blocking we will go

I blocked Travelling Roses over the weekend--


This time I invested in a yardstick and some heavy-duty T-pins. Unfortunately, I didn't get quite enough of the latter and had to fill in with regular dressmaker's pins. Lots of them. Here's the scarf, full-size (click to embiggen):


I desperately need some blocking wires--I estimate, conservatively, that there are about 250 pins in this thing. Blocked, it's about 60" long and 7" wide, which is a little smaller than Leanne's (66x8). I probably could have blocked it a little more severely along the width, but I didn't want to break any threads.


I was once again amazed at how magical lace is when blocked. What was all crumply before becomes elegant and orderly. I'm even more amazed at how it stays that way when you take the pins out. This picture gives you a better idea of the colors:


Next time: finished scraf (as K would say)!

(I again apologize for the photos--these were taken at high noon, but you'd never know, would you?)

Back in the Saddle

At long last, I am home again. Everything seems to be as before, and it's frickin' freezing outside . . . hooray?

Travelling Roses is done and awaits blocking--I'll probably do that this afternoon. (If I don't freeze to death, brrrrr.)

Work on the second toe-up sock continues, as does work on the North Star mittens. In this weather, mittens are top priority. I'm about half-done with the first, but they're quick to knit up.

In the meantime, I leave you with . . . kitteh pictures!

Mickey, too, has a yarn habit:


I can quit anytime I want to, I swear:

Happy New Year!

Now that everyone has recovered from drunken debauch (or in my case, back-to-back Batman movies), on to the knitting.

I finished the first of the toe-up Regia socks the other night and went to cast on the second. I had forgotten to copy the pattern before leaving home, but I was pretty sure I remembered how to do it. Erm. Well. I got it cast on, no problem, but when it came to the increases, I could not for the life of me remember where they went. I tried two different configurations, getting more and more frustrated all the time. At length, K asked me what the problem was and how we could fix it. "Tomorrow, find a bookstore and look it up," I said. "Is it on Amazon maybe?" he asked. The man is a genius, I say, a genius. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to find the exact page and get my decreases perfect. The second sock has been launched!

Of course, now that it's well-established, I'm ignoring it to work on Travelling Roses. I'm determined to finish it by the time I'm home.