Year of the Sock: April in Retrospect

Well. I'm a little behind. But I have been knitting some.

This is the first sock of a pair of Graphics from Melissa Morgan-Oaks's Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks. Fabulous book, by the way.


I'm knitting these out of ZAUBERBALL in "Chocolate Cream"--don't you love it?

These are for my dad; for Christmas I gave him a "coupon" for a pair of socks in any color or style he fancies. He checked "surprise me!" so I went with the Zauberball. I'm hoping the cables will add warmth and stability so he can wear them with his boots.

I was also knitting the Irishman some socks in that lovely Sweet Georgia yarn, but I frogged 'em Wednesday night. The calf was coming out way too big (even for him). I think I just need to knit all his socks toe-up.

But that does put me seriously behind. I'm trying to have the Zauberball socks done in time for Father's Day, although that still leaves me down a pair for the year.

I've just felt blah about knitting lately--everything seems uninspired and limp. Maybe once I've finished the albatross cross-stitch my mojo will return. (It's almost finished! I'm literally on the last color of the back-stitching!)

Bits and Pieces

Pretty much same old same old here. Irtfa'a looks pretty much the same as last time. I've done about 20 edging repeats, so it is still stuck in big black blobdom. I've at least gotten into a rhythm with it, so I can do a couple repeats every time I watch TV or whatever. (The Irishman and I are watching Studio 60--he's a big Aaron Sorkin fan, and we've already gone through Sports Night.)

The baby sweater is getting closer to completion--both sleeves are done, and the first front is alllllmost finished. It'll be done today, and I can at least get the second started. Then comes some blocking! The dragon is adorable, by the way.

And the cross-stitch continues.

I've finished a couple of things, but I think I'll leave those for future posts. I'm so ready to move on to new and exciting knitting--I've already got a few things lined up. (As in, balls wound, patterns copied, the whole nine yards.)

Still stitching

I'm still working away on both the cross-stitch and my Irtfa'a--I swear I'll get updated pictures of the latter sometime soon. Maybe after this weekend--I'm headed to the Midwest for a wedding, and the cross-stitch isn't very portable, so Irtfa'a will be my traveling companion. (And no, it's not the wedding for which the cross-stitch is intended, thank heavens. That's not for a few more weeks. It's just wedding season, I guess!)

Meanwhile, I've been making progress on a few other things. This is the latest scarf for the Red Scarf Project KAL:The yarn is Cascade Venezia Worsted (70/30 merino/silk) in colorways 101 (white) and 104. Venezia is one of my favorite yarns--I designed the Manly Scarf out of it, and it's wonderful to work with. The pattern is my own--it's the Fleck Stitch from Knit and Purl. I like the look, and it's simple to knit.

I've also started another pair of Mindless Socks, once again in my beloved Regia Silk. This is the last I have(/cry), so I'm making the most of it.


That's all for the moment--stay tuned for book reviews and Malabrigo pictures. (Now you're intrigued, eh?)

Stashy goodness

I realized when I was writing the post showing off my Frederick yarns that I'd neglected to display some stash accumulation of the past few months. (The astute playing along at home will note that I obtain far more yarn than I will ever knit. I am strangely okay with this.)

First, and by far most important, a pretty from Nyx:


This is 100% kid mohair in a laceweight. I brightened up the picture a bit, but I couldn't get the exact hue of the green. It's a little warmer than this--reminds me of seafoam. Must find something sea-like to knit with it. She also sent beads and beautiful stitch markers, currently in use on my Irtfa'a. Yay Nyx!

Then there are these, my first ever order from the Loopy Ewe:

This is Dream in Color Smooshy (100% merino) in "November Muse." I've heard very good things about DIC, but I've never had the opportunity to knit with it.

And this is Schoppel-Wolle's Zauberball in "Cranberries." (Click through for a picture of the yarn as it knits up--seriously cool.) I have another Zauberball in my stash, but I haven't knit with it yet. I really should . . .

These are both efforts to get some more guy-friendly colors into my yarn stash. They're both colors I'd happily wear, of course, but it never hurts to have sock yarns that men won't turn up their picky noses at.

Otherwise, I'm trudging along on both the cross-stitch and Irtfa'a, which is actually considerably more advanced than that picture shows. I should get more recent ones . . .

Discontent

I am currently disgruntled. Long-time readers may remember a series of posts from last year in which I noted that I used to do a lot of cross-stitch, was possessed of the desire to pick it up again, and rediscovered that cross-stitch can be kind of boring.
I did continue to cross-stitch, however, mostly due to it being Really Freakin' Hot outside and not very suitable for knitting. I noted as much here, complete with a picture of my work. Then, it looked like this:


I put aside the project in the fall, secure in the knowledge that, although it was not nearly complete, I didn't have a deadline. After all, the friend who was engaged hadn't even set a date yet.

Fast forward to last month, when I got an invitation in the mail. For MAY. This is the current status of the cross-stitch:


It has advanced considerably, true, but it is still not done. So for the foreseeable future, all my knitting time is devoted to cross-stitch. Argh! My travel projects are still knitting, of course--cross-stitch doesn't travel well, owing to the need for complicated charts and lots of thread. But I haven't been putting in the work I usually do, and I'm really feeling it. At this point, I'd abandon the cross-stitch and knit something for the happy couple if it weren't for a few factors. Aside from being half-done with the damn thing, I don't know the woman getting married well at all (I'm quite good friends with her fiance), and I hesitate to knit something for someone I don't know well. Cross-stitch seems safer.

But I miss knitting, she whines.

Catching up

I haven't been knitting a whole lot lately--we had a very hot few days, which meant I didn't feel like sitting around with wool all over my lap. I've spent a lot of time working on this, my current cross-stitch project. I think it will be a wedding gift for a friend of mine. It's a huge piece, but the wedding date isn't even set, so I have plenty of time!


What I have been knitting, though, is pretty awesome. I'd stumbled across this pattern on Ravelry, and before I knew it, I was part of a knitalong and serving as a moderator for the community. It's been great fun. My shawl is almost done; then I have to think of something new to knit! Well, that's not quite true. There's another shawl associated with the KAL . . .


Here, it's off the needles due to an unfortunate misjudgment regarding how much yarn I had left. Fortunately, I have a lifeline in, and it was a good opportunity to get a look at it spread out.


Oh, and I also finished the latest pair of mindless socks. Stripey.

Cross stitch indeed: a rant.

This may come as a shock to you all, but knitting was not my first love. I didn't learn to knit until I was in college, but I'd been doing needlework for years and years. My big thing for a long time was cross-stitch.

Now, I haven't cross-stitched in something like ten years, but I got a hankering for it last week. Why not, I thought, and picked up a kit at what we'll call Craft Store A. At home, I dug out my needlepoint paraphernalia and set out to stitch. I noticed that the kit was missing the promised needles, but I didn't think that was such a big deal--I had some anyway. A moment of digression: this is the frame I use. The rods I have require that you sew your working fabric to the attached webbing. You then put the rods in the bars and use the knobs to hold everything in place. So I sewed the fabric on, put the frame together, and started to sort the thread . . . only there was no sorting list. Half the instructions were missing. Grrrrrr. No cross-stitch for me!

Fast forward to yesterday, when I went to the grocery store. I wasn't at my usual store, but another across town, which just happens to be next door to Craft Store B. I went in, and they had a ton of stuff on clearance--so I got another kit. I also grabbed another set of rods for my frame (I needed a bigger set, anyway), noting vaguely that the package said something about a "two-part" system. Since I had a frame already, I figured that was what they meant.

At home, I opened up my new kit, checking VERY carefully that all the bits were there. Success! Now to put the fabric on the rods. Um . . . Turns out that, since I'd bought my frame, the company has introduced a patented "no baste" system. Instead of my familiar webbing, attached to the rods is this weird cloth. I need the specific part for the fabric to make it work . . . which of course I didn't have. After a little (okay, a lot of swearing), I decided to go to Craft Store A and see if they had any of this magic no-baste crap.

Turns out, Store A does have the fabric part it--but they don't have it alone. It's all packaged in with rods and frames. More swearing. Facing the prospect of buying a whole 'nother frame just to get the stupid stuff, I take a closer look at it through the package.

It's just velcro. It's just motherfucking velcro.

Literally two yards away, I grab a package of velcro and proceed to buy it in triumph.

I get home, pick up my prize . . . and realize that it is iron-on velcro.

I believe this is the point when I lost my shit.

Anyway, I finally got my fabric in the frame (I will say this, iron-on velcro means business--that shit's not moving), sorted all the colors out, threaded my needle, and finally, at long last, began to cross-stitch.

And then I remembered why I'd quit cross-stitching in the first place. It's fucking boring.

Forgive me, knitting. I will never leave you.

(By the way, if you were under the impression that this was a family blog . . . I do apologize.)