WIP Wednesday: Plodding On

Halloween Tarot

The beige cardigan to end all beige cardigans is still with us, but I haven't bothered with a photo because, let's face it, acres of beige is boring. Instead, let's focus on the fact that apparently Christmas is 11 Fridays away. 

I think I'm going to need all of that time to complete Mini Diva's gift, the Howling Wolves Beanie - I don't like knitting in the round with skinny yarn on skinny needles. And in addition, it's stranded colorwork, which I hate. I must really love her or something.

On the plus side, the yarn - Lanas Stop Baby Wool (which I used before on the ginormous Romanesque I made) - is just so deliciously soft: if I ever finish this hat, it is going to feel fantabulous.

You can see why 11 Fridays doesn't seem like enough:

If you only feel a tenth of my pain, you will understand the torture I am suffering .....

FO Friday 163: Umm ....

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

So I seemed to have been really efficient this week - I have caught up on NaKniSweMo by completing the left front of the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan, which leaves me only the right front and a million miles of border to finish by next weekend.

I have also finished the last clue of the SusannaIC MKAL. Then for no reason whatsoever apart from an empty head, left it in a heap for two days before washing and blocking it. Not only did it take forever or nearly 3 hours to bind off (70 squillion stitches. Yes, I counted.) you can  imagine that blocking it this morning took quite a while as well; and now I have no sensation in my fingertips apart from pain.

I have mucked out Mini Diva's sty in anticipation of her return from her residential school trip later - but only reaped the rewards of one full black bag. I have even had some lunch. 

Then I sat around wondering why I felt like I had forgotten to do something - I had paid the bills and spoken to the landlady about the wet walls in Destructo Boy's room, so the ooky stuff was out of the way. 

And then, with only an hour left before Mini Diva's return, I remembered: I had planned to blog. So here it is. Worth the wait, wasn't it ?

No ?

OK, here, look at some pretty pictures of the Romanesque Shawl (Emily Ross) that I finished a while ago, and gifted (I'm sorry, Jill, truly I am, but the sound of your teeth on edge is kinda oddly appealing) the day I unpinned it to a lovely friend of mine who has been having a tough time recently, but still keeps smiling. I wonder if she might share with me those drugs she must be taking ?

If you remember, the yarn was Lanas Stop Baby Wool which I bought from one of my LYS', Jenny Wren's, which is well-stocked with a variety of good yarns at all price points, and is warm, welcoming and friendly too. No, she didn't pay me to say that - though if a ball or two of free yarn fell my way, that would be a lovely coincidence, wouldn't it ?

Now, pop on over to Tami's Amis to see who else has finished things ....

FO Friday 158: Back or Forward ?

Halloween Tarot

Well, yes, I am kind of cheating, it's true. I have no proper FO as such. This is as far as I have got on my Romanesque:

Pretty impressive, huh ? I am making the large version, which meant I had to run out and buy an additional 4th ball of the Lanas Stop Baby Wool.

This close-up is what is left of the 4th ball. You'll notice in the 1st photo, the shawl is still on the needles, ie. unfinished. This is because there are about 10 rows of approx. 400-odd stitches of the last chart left to knit. There is definitely not 10+ rows-worth of yarn remaining - we are on 560m and counting, and the pattern says it needs 402 - 805m. I hadn't noticed the 805m aspect of it until just now. This shawl is going to be mehusive, and I'm probably going back to buy another ball tomorrow.

Rip it back to your lifeline and make the smaller size, you say ?

In spite of my lack of any lifeline whatsoever, I am merciful today and allow you to escape intact and alive, to go view real FOs over at Tami's Amis ....

WIP Wednesday 166: Juggling

Halloween Tarot

Yes, you are totally correct - I have been unusually quiet: I'm sorry. Last week was mainly taken up with the hassles  grief  excitement of making sure the house was presentable for Destructo Boy's 8th birthday and sorting out the bits and bobs that surround such a celebration. 

You'd be surprised how judgmental a group of 8 year old kids can be - and what they tell their parents. I remember Mini Diva telling me about a particular child, that she thought his mother was either drunk or dead as he was always grubby and never seemed to have a coat or sweater (yes, I did stick my nose in and speak to the school when I saw him arrive like this on a wet, cold November morning). Which is why there was a panicked cleaning frenzy so we might appear as superficially normal as everyone else.

On Sunday, we actually took them ie. a group of 6 boys, 1 girl swimming for about 2 hours, then brought them back and fed them lots of sugary-additive type foods before handing them back. I did indeed put my bathing costume on and joined in the watery high jinks, while Titch aka DH bailed to the accompaniment of clucking chicken sounds .... quite frankly, I am amazed they I survived the whole experience. Destructo Boy tells me it was the best birthday party ever.

But back to the important stuff ! Clue 3 for the SusannaIC Autumn MKAL was released, and I had it done by Sunday evening:

I switched back to using straight needles, as although the Addi tips are lovely and sharp, they are quite slippery for laceweight yarn with no counter-balancing weight of work. Now the project is reaching a stage where it will have enough 'body' to resume using the Addis.

As you know, I am not one to sit idly. Well, I am ... but not with empty hands. So I have started a Romanesque Shawl - my choice of pattern kindly gifted to me by Emily Ross as a thank you for test-knitting her Arlington Shawl:

I am using a yarn from a Spanish company new to me, Lanas Stop Baby Wool, which is 25g/140m/153yds of lovely squooshy 100% extrafine merino superwash, competitively priced at £2.71/$4.33 a ball in my local posh LYS. Why yes, those are rather gorgeous Knitpicks Symfonie (Harmony in the USA) circulars that I am using. I found those old things at the bottom of the wardrobe, Titch. No, I don't promise, don't you know lying is a mortal sin ?

I had bought 3 balls, and of course found myself needing a fourth. So while waiting for Monday to pass and the LYS to open, I started Linda Choo's  Forest Pansy Shawl, using the Jamiseon & Smith lace 2ply that my MIL sent me from Shetland:

I have not been able to capture the true vibrancy of the color, more's the pity.

Well, yes, of course I have talked too much now, the pendulum swinging away from silence, and so must run to catch up with all these projects. After I have been over to Tami's Amis for tea and to see what everyone else is up to .....