Sassy Does It

In the spirit of basking in fall goodness (and in Halloween preparation mode, in Squeezer’s case), we ventured out recently to get ourselves a spiffy pumpkin.  We’d previously picked up some smaller pumpkins for baking, but we were in need of a bit of ceremony, and thus journeyed out to a neighboring town with wider open spaces and plenty of pumpkin patches.

Immediately upon return back home, Squeezer wielded the knife and gave our new friend a toothy grin.

Boy howdy, that girl doesn’t waste a minute in getting projects like this started (and finished) - she’s my hero.  The pumpkin was carved and propped on our front porch within 20 minutes.

The crisp fall air inspired me inpsired to whip up some pumpkin-based dinner that evening. 

I removed a couple of cups’ worth of pumpkin pieces (as previously frozen from the cut-up baking pumpkins we’d bought a few weeks earlier) and altered a favorite go-to recipe from Mediterrasian.com (a fan-freaking-tastic site) to create the following:

Pumpkin Curry Soup
1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
1 onion—chopped
3 cloves garlic—chopped
2 teaspoons red curry paste
2 cups of fresh pumpkin —peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup red lentils (or yellow split peas)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk (less if desired)
1 heaping teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander
pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
fresh cilantro

Lightly brown the garlic, then add the onion; cook for a few minutes.  Add red curry paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.   Add the pumpkin, red lentils, stock, coconut milk, spices, and brown sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes.  Puree the soup in food processor until smooth, then add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.   Add a few tablespoons of fresh cilantro and serve.  Serve with a dollop of nonfat natural yogurt and garnish of cilantro and freshly ground black pepper. 

Too bad I didn’t take a picture to share with you.  It was so pretty.  And so delicious and warm and cozy.

Other reminders of cozy fall goodness include the wooly comfort of The Big Project (Bidie-In has now shortened his name for this sweater to just TBP), with which I’ve made the opposite of progress.

Yeah, I frogged my Fisherman’s Sweater, like, entirely.

It was just getting a little too baggy.  And by a little I mean a lot. 

Even after the first few inches of stockinette I knew it was on the big side for Bidie, but I hoped it would be within the margin of error for “big, cozy, hot-toddy-by-the-fire” sweaters. 

Then I held up my in-progress front and back pieces to the actual width of Bidie this weekend.  Ah…no.  

The wool I’m using has a bit more give than the acrylic blend from which my seaworthy-sweater-model was knit.  This makes “a little baggy” more like the way-too-droopy clothes on the kid version of Tom Hanks in Big after the Zoltar wish machine brings him back when he’s done being an adult.

This problem is exacerbated a *teensy* bit by the fact that I screwed up with the gauge at the very beginning. 

I know, I was shocked too, because usually the smoking gun of improper sizing doesn’t simply lead back to the fact that the dimensions of the starter swatch were completely ignored.

Bit too quick to green-light the gauge for Rowan Plaid on US 11s. 

Hello!  Look at this picture! 

In spite of the photographic evidence shown here that clearly illustrates how NOT close the size of the brown stitches is to that of the off-white stitches, I think I just thought my swatch was close enough to the existing knit gauge to base my design roughly on the number of stitches of the prototype pattern rather than the actual measurements. 

[boo, hiss]

I know.

Argh, rookie mistake!  I should have either tried a smaller needle or adjusted my first swipe at the design, or both.  Which is what I’ve now done.

Frogging it isn’t that big of a catastrophe, though, really.  Don’t feel sorry for me.  The yarn knits up at about 3 stitches/inch, even on a size 10½ needle, so it’ll knit up fast all over again.  And the yarn wears/frogs well, so it’ll look fine the second time around.  I hope. 

Right.  Done with the ripping out part, starting with the re-doing part.  Yes!

Swatching now on US 10½, I can see the fabric holds its shape a bit more to my liking.  And my design notes are headed in the right direction, too.  I’m using a bit more actual math, boys and girls, in converting the real gauge (not a pretend one) into a number of stitches based on the desired finished dimensions.  Capital idea.

In other news, my 2-at-a-time Practice Socks are off the 40-inch Addi Turbo Lace needles (still sexy, as previously reported).  The Raindrop Lace Socks, bless their wee hearts, are on.  Really and truly.

Although it was touch and go during my first hour or four of learning the 2-at-a-time method, I’m happy to report that once I hit my activation energy I was off and running, with fairly infrequent consternation.  Perseverance led me through the initial (heavy) cursing at tangled yarn to a happy harmony of satisfying, quicker-paced sock knitting.

At the heel flap

At the heel turn

Best tip I’ve garnered so far from Melissa Morgan-Oakes, other than the actual technique of keeping both socks on the needles at all times, was to put the ball of yarn in a Ziploc and pull two ends of yarn from the ball (one center-pull and one from the outside) and poke a little hole in each bottom corner of the bag, such that one end of yarn comes out each side.  Then any (short) length of yarn that is stretching from the bag to the needles doesn’t get tangled.  Smart.

These two little guys would need blocking before gifting (due to my beginner’s inconsistency), but we’ll see if I end up gifting them at all.  I don’t think I have enough of the green sock yarn to do another, even small, one.   Maybe I’ll whip up a second tiny beige one on its own.  We’ll see.

More soon.  Cannot wait to show you my new yarn coming from WEBS - yes, Allison, I went for the bonus yarn and told the boys in Massachusetts to throw another few logs on the fire with my order (boys = boys or girls, logs = skeins, fire = pile of yarn).

Two words: Cash. Mere.

Cannot. Wait.

Yippity doo dah, my first pair of socks is officially done!

I had the dreaded well-loved second sock off the needles nearly a week ago, but it took me a wee while to get around to taking and posting the photos.

Pattern:  Braided Cable & Broken Seed Socks, by Lauren Lindenman

Yarn:  Trekking Pro Natura (75% new wool, 25% bamboo), almost one skein in color 1512

Pretty happy with these pups.  For my first figure-it-out-as-I-went pair, they’ve drawn encouranging compliments, for a pattern that’s not too tough:

From one of the middle-aged TSA guys at Bangor International Airport (yeah, I’m guessing that it’s barely international; maybe a few planes prance across the Maine border to Canada):  “Ohhh, what’re you making, there, miss?  Ohhh, that’s very pretty.”  Since when do these guys notice knitting?

From Bidie-In:  “Wow, I can’t believe this is something that can be made my hand.  It’s so intricate.”  Thanks, honey.

From Squeezer:  “When you’re done with these, can I have some that are cropped low at the ankle?”  In other words, “You adults wear dorky tall socks.  I want cool socks, like all normal people.”

Maizy also requested socks.  When asked the color, she said, “Umm, red.”  When asked how long, she said, “Maybe…up to here [pointing at her toes].  No, maybeeee…up to here [pointing to her upper thigh]“.  Ah, yes, thigh-highs - this is a niece of mine.

I like the cables on these because…well, I like cables.  The broken seed stitch around them has a really nice texture and feels nice on the old peds.  Substantial-feeling without being heavy in weight.

The yarn was very nice to work with.  Not splitty, not scratchy, not easily knotted.  Nicely spun, with a very slight, barely distinguishable heathery effect (I had this fiber up close to my eyes for quite a while, so maybe I hallucinated that part).

The color I like, but this is not shocking because a) I picked it out, and b) everything I pick out lately is either this shade of green (between sage and olive) or baby blue.  Often both.  Note that the pics of my socks here include in the environs my bag du jour (it’s colorful cotton, compliments of Target; I put the leather on the shelf for a few months to give it a rest), which is - green and blue.  Also in the pic is my baby-blue-covered phone, and yes, the green knitted socks. Not an intentional set up for the photo, but I suppose this strengthens the point.

One skein (459 yds) was plenty for this project.  Had 50-60 yds leftover; could’ve made the socks a bit longer, but they’re fine the way they are.  I like the idea of doing toe-up socks so that you can determine how long you can make them (if you’re good at guessing the halfway point of your skein after one sock).

Even better, you could do the socks two at a time on a circular needle, that way they have to stay the same length.

Well, yee-haw, it’s a good thing I have a book to show me how to do this, because that’s how I want to do my next pair, the Raindrop Lace Socks.  Those poor things are still hanging around at 0% completion since I set them up for Ravelympics, but I refuse to take the socks off of In Progress status because I’m going to cast them on any day. 

Any moment. 

Or day.

I am learning the two-at-a-time method via Melissa Morgan-Oakes, whose 2-at-a-Time Socks finally got cracked open from its perch on my bedside table.

While I’m telling you about it, I might as well make it a book review.

I like the way Melissa writes, and I like her thorough yet I-know-you’re-not-dumb approach with photos and enough words of description to get the concepts across.  She’s not claiming she’s split the atom with this method:  obviously it’s been done before, but she’s just compiling her thoughts on the matter.  With some pretty pics.

There’s a nice feature included for each design:  a close-up photo of the stitch pattern.  Detail like this is often overlooked, but it’s very helpful. 

Although - I might have been led down the garden path here.  She talked about teaching at WEBS in her intro; and given my Pavlovian repsonse to the mention of WEBS, I may have been predisposed to like her.

Stay tuned.  I’m still learning with little practice colors.

Anyhoot, the book itself has a lot of cutesy patterns that I could see becoming holiday gifts.  I didn’t buy the book for the patterns, just the technique, but I do like what I see.  Anything that makes the process of churning out a pair of socks quicker, thereby motivating me to actually cast on and motor through a project, is probably a good investment.

There’s a nice pattern for men’s socks in there - a pair he could wear to work.  Here are a smattering of those and other photos that caught my eye in the book:

Upon paging through this book herself, Squeezer again commented on how all of the socks are “too tall.”  I reminded her that this was the joy of knitting, my dear, that we can stop knitting when we want the socks to not get any taller. 

No worries, Squeeze - I hear you loud and clear.  Cropped-at-the-ankle socks are what the cool kids are wearing - I get it. 

[scurries off to tell Santa to cancel that order for too-tall socks]

Howdy, doody - the Girlfriend Tank is finished.

Maizy likes it, which is good enough for me.

Super simple to make.  I like the way the striping came out, even though I flew by the seat of my pants with it, alternating colors along the way, gradually working toward a higher white-to-blue ratio closer to the top (excluding the straps).

Pattern:  Short Snort Girlfriend Tank, by Wendy Bernard at Knit and Tonic (available free here)

Yarn:  Louisa Harding Coquette (blue, 2 skeins) and white acrylic baby-weight of unknown manufacturer from the stash

Time to complete:  about a week

Suggested alterations:  add a couple of decreases in each of the four rows coming up to the underarm area (prior to the 6-stitch bind-offs) to create a bit of a tighter fit and prevent accidental boob exposure

It's a high-fashion item

Upon being presented with this garment, Maizy asked, “What’s this thing?” in reference to the silver ring on the front bodice. 

I explained that this was a high-fashion item that would make her shirt more special. 

Later that day, she followed up with several other questions about high fashion, which I answered confidently, if not in a laughably unqualified manner.  

Once the tank was blocked, the two different yarn types flowed together much more smoothly, as one might expect. The few rows of solid blue that I’d done at the bottom came out just as I’d hoped; a bit breezy and airy looking, owing to the use of the lighterweight Coquette on its own.

Hot off the needles, unblocked, plenty of strap length

Fully blocked, shorter straps

Initially I made the straps plenty long, so that I could just shorten them to fit once Maizy could try it on.  The problem, as I had figured might arise, was a bit of unwanted boobage on display with the straps anything less than as short as they could be and still fit over her head. 

I shortened the straps to this short-as-can-be length and it looks much better, but any sudden movements and she’ll be flashing the general public.  Not that public toddler-boobage is the world’s biggest crime, but since she usually does wear a shirt when she’s out on the town…Sissy B may add a small dart tack  (½-inch or so) under each armpit to keep things contained.

All in all, it’s a cute little project that I hope will be a bit of bling for the wardrobe, even over a turtleneck on snow days.

I think she looks fabulous in it, but I’ve got major auntie bias.

I did embark on one other wee project recently, inspired by my sister’s a) craftiness and b) environmentally-friendly choices.  Months ago we made a trip to Jo-Ann’s during which we picked up some fabric for making cloth napkins.  She of course forged ahead with the project, churning out a number of cutie designs that have since replaced her paper napkin supply (she’s also gotten rid of paper towel - even with two little ones - using washcloths and towels to clean up all spills).  I on the other hand made no such progress.

Spurred on by the chance to use my mom’s feisty Bernina (Sissy B now keeps the legendary sewing machine at her place), I got down to it in making a few cloth napkins of my own.  That said, sis did end up doing most of the sewing while I was blocking my knitting.  But I did some of it.  And cut out the pieces and pressed the seams.  Not that there’s much of a pattern to these puppies, but we did follow Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing pattern, because we could, and because we like Amy and her phenomenal blog.

I dig these.  Not only are they pretty, but I can do my part by decreasing the unneeded consumption of paper products in our household.  The Napkins That Saved The World.

OK, one other funny thing to share before I sign off.

For Maizy’s b-day, her parents got her a Barbie Rock Star Guitar. 

Absolutely hilarious. 

It comes with a headet mike (think Britney) that really works, real strings to strum, and a number of not-that-annoying music tracks, which you can speed up or slow down to meet the mood. 

The frontrunner of the available songs it plays is “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Sissy B said that once she heard that, the guitar was immediately added to the shopping cart).  Maizy was very serious about her newly unveiled instrument, and she serenaded us with a full concert of her best material, complete with professional-looking shimmying, hopping, and facial expressions.  I think my favorite was the swaying - “Guys, I’m going to do a slow one now.”

Anyway, had to share.  Her leader-of-the-band rocker chick impersonation will forever be linked in my mind with the sparkly Girlfriend Tank that she sported around for us the weekend she turned three.  Happy Birthday, Maiz.

I’ve been all in a kerfuffle since the end of Ravelympics:  life, unfortunately, has come back to remind me that there are other things to do than knit. Like eat, which I do like. And sleep - also like. And get out of bed and go to work. Hmmmmmm. Small things like that.

On the home front, I finally cleaned up my area yesterday after it had been messy - messier than even my usual disorganization - since before vacation. The packing-my-suitcase process leaves my part of the bedroom cluttered because I toss everything on the bed that could be a candidate to pack, then put only those items that make the shortlist into my case (once I’ve had a gander at everything all splayed out), and then remove whatever doesn’t fit (even after sitting on it to get it zipped).

Of course all of the clothes that didn’t make the cut are swept off the bed onto the floor (where the pile is less noticeable from the doorway) and not put away properly - I always pack at the last minute, and therefore there’s no time to straighten - but what does it really matter? We’re leaving town! Who cares if the house is messy?

Oh, Bridge - how I love ya.

Upon return, you’ll be shocked to hear, it was all still there. In my attempt to make progress in adopting better habits, I “unpacked” within a day of returning (read: dumped case out on top of existing pile and placed empty case in closet). Then it’s back to work busybusybusy and tiredpoopedweary at night and nothing gets put away.  The ramifications:  going to work with wrinkled trousers and a shirt that marginally passes the sniff test.  Very Bridget Jones.  And I love Bridge, but what kind of life is this? Get it together!

So yesterday I did (yeah, and just a shade under a decade, all right). Clothes away or in the laundry, shoes back in the closet, balls of yarn back to the shelf or in a knitting bag, the floor once again in view. I knew there were some bills underneath all that mess, too - lying there dormant, just waiting to pounce on my checkbook once unearthed - and unfortunately I found them. Now all I need to do is pay the people who sent them.

Righty roo - after all that business of cleaning up, I deserved a sit. I had a glass of chilled tea (I prefer “chilled” to “iced” because it’s not your run of the mill Lipton Sun Tea I was enjoying - I decided to get funky with some Celestial Seasonings and stick my wee teapot in the fridge after it had steeped and cooled down a bit so that it would cool down further to reach “chilled”.  With a tea called Goji Berry Pomegranate Green Tea, it just doesn’t seem right to call it “iced tea”).  I put my feet up.  I watched the convention on the telly.

And then - I cast on my second sock of all time.

And why would I be casting this on?

Because I FINISHED MY FIRST SOCK EVER OF ALL TIME.  EVEREVEREVERERERERERER!

True, I did not accomplish the feat of finishing both Braided Cable and Broken Seed socks (plus another pair of Raindrop Lace socks that I had put down on my Olympics to-do list…um, yeah).  In the end it just doesn’t matter.  I’m so stinkin’ proud of that one sock that I’m not at all bothered by missing out on the gold medal.

This is what sockie looked like at the strike of the clock ending closing ceremonies Pacific time:

Needles down! Progress at end of Olympics

Not bad, really.  I’d finished the heel flap and just begun my gusset decreases. 

But I could taste victory (easier when it’s on your own terms).  The day before, realizing that the complete pair of socks just wouldn’t get done in time, I’d set the goal of finishing just that one sock by the end of the weekend. 

And I did it!  Yay for me!

Now I know this is small potatoes, really, and that many many people can knit two socks in one day - some while doing cartwheels, composing limericks and at the same time speaking in tongues (with a mouth full of Hubba Bubba to boot).  Yes.  But for me, this is a milestone, so I’m blogging about it.  That’s what bloggers do.

No waiting for good lighting to take this photo... couldn't wait to share my sockful joy

I do realize this isn’t an actual FO, even though I’m treating it like one.  I’ll come back and FO it up with the full pair very soon. 

In spite of these festivities, or perhaps because of them, I do admit to a bit of second-sock syndrome having set in.  After knitting up a storm over the weekend (and making excellent progress on my knitting callouses as well: middle finger left hand, first finger right hand), I only had one sock, folks.  I mean, come on - who wants to go through all of that again just to end up with the same thing?  The same gorgeous, cozy, pride-enducing, and (arguably most importantly) matching thing?

Well, after a day off the needles - even the most obssessive among us need a break sometimes - I was ready.  Plus, casting on was a great excuse not to go back to cleaning.

At least it’s going faster this time, and it looks better (not as loose at the joints of the dpns).  I think the second-sock syndrome has passed; I’m really chomping to finish this puppy now.  Then I’ll want to finish my Fisherman’s Sweater, which is bulky and as such should wrap up quickly.  Oh, but how I’ve been dreaming of other new and - gasp! - potentially simultaneous projects to cast on!  A few times in the last week I’ve just happened to find myself with some very nice patterns in front of me on a number of fabulous new sites I’ve found.

But more on that later.  I have a whole list of fabulous discoveries that I want to share with you, and I will certainly do just that at my next opportunity to gush.

Oh my heavens, I’ve been itching to get this blog out for the last two weeks. 

I’ve just returned from vacation with my extended family, which was truly wonderful - I spent a lot of time with actual people (instead of my laptop).  This is, I suppose, the point of taking a vacation with one’s family.   No matter how much one’s laptop is clearly jealous - sitting right there on the coffee table, whimpering in neglect and beckoning with the sweet, glowing ember of its power indicator - family (at least a fun one) beats computer.

Frankly, however, now that I’m again surgically attached to the internet, I’m giddy with delight.  I’ve been busting to share my Ravelympics progress. 

I’d heard about the Knitting Olympics before, and had seen shiny little medals adorning a few knitting blogs, but I was a bit in the dark as to what it all meant.  Obviously it wouldn’t take a brain surgeon to find out; but alas, laziness had won out over curiosity.  And, to be honest, I was a little frightened of the unknown:

• What kind of project was required for this?
• How would achievement be measured?  Would someone show up at my door to inspect my stitching?
• Would there be actual physical activity required? 

(pause to catch breath)

• Would there be a uniform involved?  Something without adequate coverage in the upper thigh area?
• Would I be flogged if I let the team down?
• Would sleep deprivation be involved?

On that last one, I did kind of hope I’d be pressured into knitting into the wee hours for days on end.  I’ll take all the help I can get when it comes to justifying knit-time.  If I took part in the Olympics, it wouldn’t be just me obsessing over my knitting, but, in fact, me and my country in our quest for the gold.

So I checked it out.  I found that the Knitting Olympics, as initiated years ago by The Yarn Harlot, is held only every 4 years in alignment with the Winter Olympics, and that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee wouldn’t be leading a Knitting Olympics for this summer.  Ah, stink.

But - shocker! - I didn’t have to look much further to find that Ravelry was all over it.  The first ever Ravelympics was kicking off very soon, apparently.  Maybe because the actual Olympics were going to kick off?  Still a bit suspicious, I landed on gloriana’s post and read about her taking the plunge, and I was jolted into action.  I marched over to Ravelry, figured out the rules (clicking on big obvious links called “Ravelympics” does tend to clear things up), and decided quickly on the following projects:

1. Niece gifts - I was inspired by gloriana’s niecie motivation, and conveniently, I’d recently found a pattern that would work well for both of my girls in their almost-3- and almost-1-year-old sizes.  The challenging part of these two projects would be not so much in technique, but in knocking them out quickly.  No dilly-dallying.  This is war, Peacock.
2. Socks! - This was the project coming to mind that most closely fit on the “challenge” element of the Ravelympics call to action.  I’ve lurked around blog posts with people cooing over socks for a while, but I’d never dipped my toe in that water.  I decided I’d try it.  Secretly I hoped that I’d get hooked and start cranking out socks with the same glee I’ve so enviously observed.

The patterns:

1. Little Girl’s Shrug
2. Braided Cable & Broken Seed sock
3. Raindrop Lace Socks

Little Girl’s Shrug

Casco Bay Worsted, 100% cotton

I picked up the Little Girl’s Shrug pattern at The Yarn Lounge in Richmond, Virginia, where I found myself a few weeks ago after passing through on business and visiting my dear friend Kimlee.  I loved The Yarn Lounge - I lingered for a loooong while and chatted with the lovely Melanie, not only about knitting but also about the indisputable merits of wine and cheese (oh, yummy).  I also picked up the perfect light summer cotton yarn for my two niece projects - on deep discount!  Purple for Maizy, pink for E-dot.

On my way back through D.C. a couple days after that, I stopped in at Knit Happens in Alexandria.  This LYS (Local Yarn Store) popped up on my radar after I found out about the Stefanie Japel design workshop they are sponsoring there the first weekend in November, just prior to her launch of Glam Knits.  I was gung-ho to splurge on a trip out to attend this workshop, but over the last couple weeks I’ve chickened out.  What if I can’t keep up?  Here comes that junior-high dodge-ball team-picking feeling again.

Neighborhood Fiber Co., Studio Worsted

Anyway, I drooled all over their yarn at Knit Happens and ended up walking away with a locally made yarn in a pretty deep purple variegated hue.  It may have helped that the sample knit for this yarn on display was designed by already-on-the-brain Knitting Pure and Simple, the maker of my Little Girl’s Shrug pattern.  This was a baby cardigan (pattern, incidentally, available free for download here), which in the store was modified to have buttons instead of ties as pictured on the website as linked above.  It was so darn cute I shelled over 13 smackers for 98 yards of the yarn they made it with.

Socks.  Well.  I happened to come across another couple of patterns at So Much Yarn the following week in Seattle (yes, I do get around), which was a shop recommended to me by knitsurg (the creator of a va-va-voom version of Stefanie Japel’s Orangina) on Ravelry.  Words can’t say how much fun I had in So Much Yarn, but of course I’ll give it a shot.  Beautiful, beautiful yarns, in a huge space, with lovely displays and a nice big table and workspace in back to peruse possible purchases and crunch the numbers on yarn yardage.  After meandering around in my comfort zone for a while (my comfort zone being just about everything except the sock yarn category), I broke down and asked for assistance in picking a good starter pattern and fiber for my Ravelympics sock project.  Theresa was very sweet and pointed me in the right direction in picking up the Braided Cable & Broken Seed Sock pattern, which has a lot of nice detail on techniques like the Kitchener stitch, and was designed by Lauren Lindeman, the owner of the shop.  I also picked up the pattern for Raindrop Lace Socks, which I liked a lot and decided to go for as an additional Ravelympics goal, in spite of Theresa’s concerned looks and comment that these socks might be “a little too advanced”.  Hmmmm.  I still think I can do it.

So - the update!  Boy, it took me a while to get to this part.

Cozy cardi

Before the button

Pattern #1, the Little Girl’s Shrug, I’m happy to report has yielded 2 FOs!  As I was with Maizy over my vacation, I hand-delivered her light purple cropped cardi, and my heart melted at her delight.  She strutted around saying how much she liked it, telling me once more for the road before she headed out at the end of our vacation, “Actually, Amy, I still really like this.”

Didn’t quite plan ahead with the button, so the purple sparkly number I picked out is going in the mail to her mom, along with the second FO, the pink one, for E-dot.  My flying fingers couldn’t quite finish off the arms on hers in time to give it to her before we parted ways.

Anyhoo, I really do like the way they turned out. 

front

The yarn, Casco Bay Worsted, was light and springy like the sample that sold me in the store.  Melanie at The Yarn Lounge told me there was no reason these couldn’t go in the washing machine.  Probably OK to machine dry as well, although there may be some shrinkage. 

back

I knit both shrugs on US 5 circular needles, with the tiny bit of arm ribbing completed on US 2 double-pointed needles.  The final fabric was soft and slightly textured to the touch.  I blocked each of these, but the purple one wasn’t quite finished at the time I declared it dry enough to let Maizy wear, so it could use a little more blocking to help the lace border, which I opted to use instead of plain ribbing on the body, lay nice and flat.

First ever cast-on for a sock

Pattern #2, the Braided Cable & Broken Seed sock, is in progress.  I admit to initial palpitations, as I had anticipated, working with all five US 2 double-pointed needles in my newly-purchased set per the pattern’s instructions.  It took me a while to get started, but I forged ahead, Helen. 

The picture on the right shows how far I got after over 2 hours of earnest work…yeah, not too far.  But immediately after I took that photo I made the decision to lose two of the needles.  Three was enough to comfortably get around the circumference of the sock, and it was much less of a headache.

I knit a bit more on the flight back from the Midwest where we were visiting family, but not a lot more because I had a happy and unexpected distraction - Lish, my aforementioned BFF, was on the same flight as me back to California, as she too had been back home for the weekend.  I didn’t know this until I saw her at the airport, at which time I was very pleased (and also feeling quite fancy and cosmopolitan with the bumping-into-of fabulous people in airports).  Hooray for happy coincidences and for cross-country airplane chats.

Right - for Ravelympics, it’s clear I’ll need to get my booty in gear to get through both socks (and at least start on my Raindrop socks, for pete’s sake) before the closing ceremonies.  I’m up for it.  I’m juiced at my progress so far.  There may be a lot left to do, but there’s nothing like pushing yourself in the name of knitting.  Stay tuned.