10 March 2011

Not to Decide is To Decide

I am working on gloves for my nephew but stopped on finger the second because I'm disatisfied. Can't decide my next step.

So I have a needle case of needles and four skeins of yarn, two unwound hanks of stash yarn for a pair of colorwork skeins, a cake of yarn long in the stash, and another cake of yarn I had wound up in the store because I was going to knit it THAT DAY. In October.

So I'm starting everything. Swatching. Starting. I have several days coming up where I have to arrive early and then sit and wait, so I want plenty of knitting options.

I decided I want to have several small knitting projects going right now so I'll have knitting to do when I can't decide what to do about one of them.

Socks, mini shawl, and more socks. And all for me, because that, I decided, was due.

09 March 2011

It's a Holiday if I Say So

Made this for a dear friend and colleague who moved away. Should have made it earlier for the winter. Then again, she and her husband were purging household goods like mad for the move, so it's good not to have added to their worldly goods prior to the move.

They're in warmer climate now, but this is still a suitable spring gift for those greyer spring days.

The yarn is Mountain Colors River Twist. The color - Grasshopper, I think. Picked it up at String Theory in Glen Ellyn. Used a pattern developed by and for Knit 1 in Chicago. Bought this in the fall, so it expired “purchase for specific project” shelf life and moved into stash. I knit the yarn doubled and wanted something fast to move stash from storage to done. Use up the skein. Have a small ball about racquetball size - just enough for a garnish somewhere.

I loved the colors in the skein. This was a good lesson in color theory for spinning. The yarn twists have some sparkle. I doubled the yarn and effectively muddied the sparkle. So it goes. And so it goes away.

Happy Gift-Goes-In-The-Mail Day! I'm celebrating, no matter how quiet the party for this party of one.