Man, I'm so happy this pair is done.

Gram's "Aliene" slipper socks are finished as of Tuesday, but I failed to take a picture before I gave them to her. The gift was already several days late and I was too anxious to give them to her before I took a picture.

Toe-Up "Aliene" stats:
Pattern: My own, featuring EZ's sewn cast-off.
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash. Less than two Balls Ballerina, and about half of one ball Capri.
Needles: Set of Five 3.75mm DPNs
Skills Learned: EZ's sewn cast-off. Plus, this is my first (and fully improvised!) pair of toe-up socks ever.

While I don't have any photos of the finished socks, I do have pictures of the second sock in progress, as modeled by Lolita's kitten, Artichoke.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

My next task is to finished Uncle Bobby's socks. Which have been laying around in my "to knit" box since like... September. I was thinking about frogging the first sock until I freed it from its white plastic prison and realised that it was close to half finished. So I'm trudgin' on. Men's socks at 9sts per inch make my wrists hurt, especially when I'm working double-time so they'll be ready for his birthday on the 17th.

Aliene Slipper Socks

Are 100% finished! The first pair, anyway.


Pattern: My own, using The Knitting Fiend's How-to for short rows.
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash. Significantly less than two Balls Wisteria, and only about half of one ball Deep Ocean. Neither color is nearly as yellow as it looks in the picture.
Needles: Set of Five 3.75mm DPNs
Skill Learned: Short row heels and toes!

I liked knitting these, even though it took me nearly a month and a half. I really enjoyed learning short row heels and toes, but on these socks (top down version) they left gaps at the corners. I am knitting my Gram's pair toe up, and the hole problem is much less noticable.

Finished project stats on those (hopefully) within the week!

I'm not actually a knitter

I am a chronic swatcher/frogger. Some people would like to call this a "Process Knitter."

I have some technical knowlege, I know a good deal of the jargon, and I "get" the in jokes. Shit, I can even eke out a finished object or two once in a while. However, my overall lack of ability to finish the things that I start is overwhelming and downright disheartening.

On some level, I've learned to acknowlege my condition and even start combatting it. Last year I finished five knitting projects: A lace bookmarkfor my mommie, a scarf for the best boyfriend ever, a pair of socks for an ex, a pair of socks for my grandfather, and a pair of socks for myself. By december 2006 I had cast on and made good progress on at least four more projects, only to let them languish in one of my various yarn boxes. I finished at least 10 swatches (including my first cables and my first slipped stitch color patterns), and began another 50 (later to rip them apart). I began learning how to spindle, and created my very first hand-spun yarn. I finished several books. I completed all my papers and passed all my classes.

I cooked a Christmas dinner (with the Best Boyfriend Ever, Lolita, and others).

This year I'm trying even harder.

I've set impending March deadlines for myself to finish projects left over from christmas, as well as my grandmother's birthday gift.

March 1: Slipper socks ("JUST LIKE YOUR AUNT LEENIE'S,") for Gram and Aunt Leenie (these will be finished in like a day if I just sit down and KNIT THEM).
March 16: Uncle Bobby's socks.
March 31: Uncle Chris's hat, Falling in Love socks for MEEEEEE.

I would also like to have at least one other knitting project finished by the April 6th, a pair of manly socks for my six-month-thingy with Owen, but I'm not gonna push myself to knit those. Even though I already bought the yarn. And I panic when I am under a deadline to buy a non-knitted gift. And I wouldn't know what else to get him.


My entries never make sense!

One out of three, two days remaining!

I finished Owen's scarf last night! (Pictures taken on my cell phone, so they aren't the best quality.)

Complete with tag, because I want him to remember who gave it to him.

Pattern: Karen Baumer's Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf
Yarn: The Cat's Meow Paradisio, "Olives" and some other beige color. Two balls of each.
Needles: Size 10 (6mm).

I'm nervous about giving him a gift that so plainly states "I CARE ABOUT YOU. THIS TOOK ME HOURS TO CREATE" but I'll get over it, eventually. Things are going really well with him, and I don't think that a simple scarf (no matter how much it says about how I feel about him) will scare him away.

I wonder if I'll be able to finish Aunt Leenie's and Uncle Chris's gifts before Christmas eve. I should be able to get U.C.'s hat done, but I haven't even started A.L.'s slippers.

Yay, Presents!

It's kind of been a while.

Not much knitting going on, unfortunately. Between school work and the new boyfriend and making stupid mistakes when I do start to work on something... I just haven't really had the energy.

I'm aching to do something with my first handspun (the lace weight bottle green merino from Annie May's Spin and Wool on eBay), so I decided on a super lacy scarf to take advantage of the fine gauge and the fact that there isn't much yardage. I chose a lace pattern and got to work, but my stitch count kept getting messed up. It's so frustrating.

I did buy myself some presents (which I had planned on linking to, but are no longer listed on the Yarn Wench's website) for getting a good grade on my English exam. Storm Cypress merino roving and Early Dawn Falkland roving. Both are totally gorgeous. I haven't yet touched the merino, but the falkland (though a little weird to work with... it seems more solid that everything I've spun before) I am absolutely in love with. I've never worked with hand painted ANYTHING before, and it is such a treat to watch the colors change and build on one another. Absolutely fabulous.

Meh.

I finally cast on for the first of my holiday knitting projects, Uncle Bobby's socks, and I've already messed them up a gazillion times. First, I decided it would be a really good idea to start the cabling on them at three thirty in the morning, and woke up to a complete disaster. Then, yesterday, I thought, "Well, I'm sitting here with five people around me, carrying on twelve different conversations at once... This would be the PERFECT opportunity to cast on for UB's Socks!" and I twisted the cast on (something I have NEVER done before!). And today, I got all of the ribbing done and about four rows of the pattern, and I crossed two cables in the wrong direction.

An uncooperative sock is the last thing I need on top of everything that happened this week.

La di da.

The Revised Complete Gift list:
1. Gram - Print o' the Wave Stole (Apparently, she's allergic to wool. But she's getting the thing with the yarn it calls for, like it or not.)
2. Grandpa - Cabled scarf and gloves. (Something pretty basic, nothing too showy. He's just not that kind of guy. And the glove pattern is in the book Gram gave me.)
3. Suzy - Felted purse (Cause I think she might get more use out of something less... jangly.)
4. Uncle Bobby - Really Damn Cool Socks. Bitches.
5. Dylan - Red "Cool Kid" hat. Something sporty.
6. Tyler - Blue and green cabled hat.
7. Andrew - Multi-Orange Fair Isle hat (something along these lines)
8. Nana - Meh. I'll think of something. Maybe a smoke ring.
9. Aunt Leenie - Fuzzy slipper socks (To the ankle, by request. I think I'll get slipper bottoms from Elann.)
10. Uncle Chris - Fisherman's watchcap (Maybe with a little anchor on it.)
11. Josh - Sweater vest. He'll probably get his late.
12. Mom - Pretty Beaded Scarf (for a pretty beaded lady.)

What have I been knitting, you ask? Honestly, nothing. Why? Because I haven't been shopping. Plus, you know, real life gets in the way of everything. Mom and I might be having a major upheval some time this autumn, I just started school (RONNIE IS IN MY ENGLISH CLASS ;B), things with Josh have been alright, but I'm always on the look out for trouble. So pfft. I just don't know. Hopefully I'll find some kind of motivation in the library tomorrow, I'm gonna go before class to look for patterns.

At the very least there's been a little spinning going on. Not that I have much to show for it (working with a spindle takes A LOT of time for me!), but I've been working through the bottle green roving that came with my spindle. I love the color, I love the process, I really love spinning AND I think that working with fiber rather than yarn is much more interesting, but... I miss knitting terribly and can't wait to get started on gifts.