project complete!

It is always encouraging when I actually finish a project. I have more FOs than UFOs, but a few days ago, it seemed like ages since I had bound anything off (without the bind-off being a step that was to be followed by picking up stitches and doing some more knitting).

Fetching is finished. The gloves are really pretty, too. I learned the basics of cabling and how to do a picot bind-off, which was a lot of fun. These are a little warm to wear in June, but it's a good time to be knitting them. I knit about half of one Friday night, and all but the thumbs and a few rows of the second one yesterday. I finished them this afternoon.

I worked on Shipwreck yesterday, too, but I was hanging out in the park with a bunch of other knitters and it was mostly too warm to work with alpaca. I want to finish it but it's taking a while. I am thinking about making my border smaller. I am a short person and it's already going to be a big shawl. I'm not sure about it, though. I almost want to take it off the needles so I can get an idea of just how big it's going to be, but the work that would involve makes me cringe. I'll have to make up my mind eventually.

they are fetching, aren't they?

I started a new project today. I was reading Knitty's newest issue, and the contest for pictures in next year's calender gave me an idea. I got one of those pictures in my head that involved a pair of fingerless gloves that I knit back in February. So, I set the photo up, looked at my gloves, and realized it would not work.

These gloves are serviceable, and I love them because they were the first thing I made that really seemed worth the time I spent on them (unlike the red acrylic horror of a sleeveless top that I haven't frogged because I don't know what I'd do with all the yarn). They don't look so good after I wore them while biking to the class I was teaching on freezing mornings and after being shoved in the bottom of my backpack while I was busy trying to knit a hat during a boring worldview class. I used a soft wool knit at a tighter gauge than recommended. The result has been a pair of gloves covered in pills. I tried lightly felting them to see if that would help (and if it would make up for the gloves, despite being knit in a small size, still being too big for me). They felted a little, enough to make them even warmer and for the colours to meld a bit, but not enough to stop pilling. They look...rustic.

Since I still wanted to take a picture for this contest, I figured that there must be a different pattern out there that I could knit well before the deadline. That's when I found Fetching. Fetching is a lovely pattern that is knitting up very quickly. I have had the yarn since somewhere around 4 pm today (well, yesterday, technically). I did some reading, played a couple rounds of Race for the Galaxy with my husband, went out to dinner, read my husband a couple chapters from New Moon, chatted on the phone with my sister-in-law about what she should bring to university (a stapler is an excellent tool), wasted some time on Ravelry, and still managed to make it about half-way through the first glove, while watching clips from Oklahoma in order to get a song out of my head. It is my "learn to cable" project. The cables are easy for a beginner like me and the result is delightful. I did have to frog the first couple of rows and cast on again because the original design is too big for my small hands. My version has been reduced in circumference by a third.

I love the design so far, and I think more cables will follow in other projects. I might need to take a short break from the pattern because it's been over a month since I've used metal dpns on a project with such a small circumference, and I held on too tightly at first. My thumb is feeling the strain.

I plan to take a couple of projects with me tomorrow to the park, where everyone from knitting group is meeting for world-wide knit in public day. I've knit in public before (on the bus, in the doctor's office, during lectures, at the library), but it should be fun. Fetching will probably come with me, as will Shipwreck. Shipwreck is close to being finished, but it will probably be a couple more weeks before it's done. I have one small project I have to start and finish within a week so Shipwreck will likely be on hold for a day or two.

yarn and books

My squid is over half-way done! He's rather adorable. I'll have to take a picture. I still haven't figured out how to do the last half, though.

In other works-in-progress, my Shipwreck shawl is coming along nicely. I have about 30 more rounds to finish in one section, and then the last section, which should be fairly simple.
This picture was taken a couple days ago. It's hard to see much detail because it's still on the needles. I can hardly wait to see it when it's finished and blocked. I do love the colours of this yarn. I chose the yarn because the grey, blue and lavender, with the occasional streaks of purple and green, reminded me of the ocean. It seemed in keeping with the name of the shawl. It was the first time I'd ever bought so much yarn for a single project.

My next knitting adventure will be socks. I'll make a pair for myself and then a pair for my father-in-law for Christmas. If they knit up quickly enough, I'll make more for other people. I'm excited. My in-laws always give really great Christmas presents, so while I like giving people presents, I'm not always very good at choosing gifts. Nice handknit socks sound like a good start. This Christmas, maybe I'll even learn to like coffee more (not that I hate coffee, I just prefer tea, and my father-in-law loves coffee the way I love loose-leaf tea and good alpaca yarn).

Well, in addition to being a yarnaholic and a tea addict, I'm also a bibliophile. I just started Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. It's quite an enjoyable read. I've read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, re-read Persuasion (my favourite Jane Austen), and tried to struggle through Emma (she gets on my nerves so I have to stop reading). I have the Complete Works out from the library right now. Northanger Abbey reads like a satire of Gothic novels. I like it. Knowing very little of the story is nice because I enjoy surprises in books (although less so in reality).