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There are pictures, but I haven't offloaded them from the camera. There will be more pictures tomorrow, assuming I don't forget the camera in my insanity.

I've deemed all my knitting too mindless and zen. The lace shawl is too easy, the Mother's Day feather and fan socks are the same, and everything else is stockinette. Grr. And I've got way too much swirling around my head to just play stockinette, which is sad for me. Because I was liking the zen.

So who can help me? Who's got a charming and absorbing pattern that will take all my brainpower when I'm not thinking about work?

Fibery Weekend

There are no pictures. The husband absconded with the camera this weekend 'cross the country. If you want pictures of the Phoenix NASCAR race, those we (probably) have, but pictures of my fiber antics are nonexistent.

I spent Friday night and Sunday on the sofa knitting. And watching Doctor Who. I had no idea, but it's seriously awesome. The Who, that is. The red sweater now actually looks like a sweater, it has sleeve holes and everything. That's seriously awesome too. Of course, it was perfectly temperate on Friday when I lit into it, and Saturday it was cold and nasty and ergh. I totally blame the sweater. Nevertheless, it's moving along and I luuurve it. I was afraid the stockinette would be boring, but it's not, it's peaceful. It's zen.

Saturday was The Fiber Event in Greencastle. I went with a list and spent time with the stash before going, so I actually didn't spend as much as I thought I would. Bonus: I won a door prize, some 600 yards of mohair boucle in red and purple. It's yummy and while it's nothing I would have chosen for myself, I think I'll have fun with it. I scored some Trekking HandArt, which I am totally psyched about. It's currently displayed on my mantel, it's so pretty and bright green (the Brazil, I got Atlantik as well, and it's yummy and also on the mantel)!

I also tried a wheel and I may need one. I'm reading up and doing a little research. I've been reading Abby Franquemont for a while, and I vaguely want to study at her knee and have her be my spinning guru.

Long day, there were cakewaffles for breakfast. It was fun. Returning to work and math today was less so. Meanwhile, there's a math event this weekend, so I'll be absent from Mad Knitting. Although I'm sure the red sweater and the socks in progress will come along as well. Oh, and there's a yarn shop a couple blocks from the host campus, so yay for knitting tourism.

That's all I've got. Mid-first sock on two pairs, mid-sweater, a few smaller things floating about. Multiple half-formed ideas, as always.

Oh... Wow!

Reason number 256 that I'm still a new knitter: as I was finished up with the end-weaving on my shawl on knit night, Mandie said that it would grow when I blocked it. I agreed, but in my secret knitter heart, I didn't know. This stuff is bamboo and cotton and ELASTIC, and I wasn't sure that the secret blocking magic would really work. If it was wool, sure I had faith that it would grow, I saw that happen on my first sweater (whoops, sleeves are a bit long there), but this thing was a different animal. After all, this is what it kind of looked like:



(Note that photo is from when the knitting was finished, in January.) Even with the ends woven in, it still kind of looked like a big piece of ABC bubblegum. That said, I was still going to block it and see what happened. So Friday I strung crochet cotton through the sides, gave the thing a good soak and squeeze, and pinned it out on my guest bed.

And this afternoon, this is what I have:



I get it now. This is very very cool. I think I need to do it again.

Update

Slippery socks are finished!



I love them. They're fantastic. They took what seemed like forever, but they're so worth it. There's no rest rows, the pattern alternates slipping stitches and twisting stitches, row-wise. And they're around seventy stitches around, on ones. And so so happy and bright. Yarn is Woolly Boully Softie in Lunamoth, I got it at the Loopy Ewe last fall, and it's perfect for this pattern.

Anyway, since they've been finished - the knitting ended last weekend, the ends were woven in Thursday at knit night, I started a new pair of patterned socks:



The pattern is Feather and Fan, from the book Socks, Socks, Socks. The yarn is Regia Bamboo, and it's interesting. And I'm less than a week in, and to the heel flap already. These are seriously flying. They're going to be Mother's Day socks.

Still working on the black and grey ribbed socks - they had to be ripped and reknit, so I'm not yet done with one, and the raglan wrap cardi. I also started a crocheted pillow that Chris is getting a real kick out of, and truthfully, so am I. It's colorwork cartoon characters and I'll have pictures when it's done, right now it just looks messy.

Anyway, that's my story. What's yours?

Safety Green!

I dig green. Somewhere in eighth-grade art class, I realized how many awesome colors green is. Hunter, kelly, lime, puke, they're all shades of green, right?

In grad school, the best one to me got a name. Lime is good, neon is good, but when we were issued freakishly bright yellow-green t-shirts as Science Olympiad staff, we were informed the color was Safety Green.

I've been flirting for months with some neon yellow Dale of Norway in Mass Ave's clearance room. I bought some of the neon green. And sometime over the summer, I picked up a box of McCormick Neon food coloring for just the purpose I put it to this weekend.

I have about 100 yards of safety green wool. Cool, huh?



Seems like just the thing to play with to make the nasty icy grayness of the world seem a little better.

On the Horizon

I'm thinking Mother's Day socks for my mom, birthday socks for my mother-in-law. Mathy housewarming/hostess dishcloths for a friend who just bought a house and is planning the Auburn alumni not-exactly-fake mini-conference we try and have annually. So that's May, June, and July. There's the space invaders scarf for the husband, which probably is going to happen eventually. It would be good to have that for his August birthday, except he won't use it in August, so I may put it off till Christmas. Plus I want to finish the red wrap sweater before the semester's out - we're at midterm now.

Which means that my half-term class is about over. My night class has been over for a week, and so my effective workload starting in two weeks is half what it has been. Which means that I will have more time to knit, starting soon! (I've got a section or two worth of algebra to prep for this week, I'll have tests in all four classes to grade starting Monday, but after that, I get a week off! Yaaay!)

Pictures, finally!

Finally a good-ish picture of the finished cabled socks:


Single Slippery Sock:


The socks that mean nothing to me:


New work socks:


and the Winter-Prolonging Cotton Sweater:


Next time, we'll talk about the list of gift knitting I'm working up for the spring and summer...