How'd this happen?

I have very little on the needles.

I'm making Anna Bell's Old Shale Baby Blanket for a gift. This is an active project.

I've moved the Malabrigo Buenos Aires pattern cardigan into gift land - my mother requested a sweater, first time ever, and this was exactly what she was describing. She's even seen the sweater in progress and approves of the colors for her wardrobe.
I need to revisit the condition of this UFO and see what I need to do next. It could move into active project land soon. We're not holding our breath for completion here. Fall could be fine.

I've two other UFO sweaters in what Elizabeth of Sable calls hibernation.

I've wound up yarn for a pair of socks for an aunt I have two aunts on the sock list now, which is fun. Really. I'm not under pressure. One is always cold, and the other lives way the heck up north, where weather is almost always cold.

Seriously, though, the last 12 items I made were gifts.
How'd that happen? TWELVE.

I'm due for a knit for myself.
Trouble is, I can't think what it should be.

Swatched instead of knitting the blanket last night.
Moved some yarn around, since I needed to find the small computer bag I had in a bin behind the yarn bins. This because I bought myself a very small computer.

Seriously. First computer purchase EVER.
How'd THAT happen?

Laws of averages

This will be much like bringing an umbrella when it doesn't rain and forgetting the umbrella to find it pours. Odds are good, you know, that it won't snow any more up north, now that the gloves will be on their way their rightful new owner.

Then again, we are talking about Northern Minnesota.
Snow into April is still par for the course.



Fingerless gloves.
Merlot Heather in Cascade 220
Yellow Shepherd's Wool from Stonehedge.
Size 5 needles.

Insert note about the color being wrong.
More maroon, more gold, less light.

Fuzzy picture. Another average.

At last, I can attach the fringe!

The knitting has been done for awhile.

I just needed a break so I could do the fringe and not worry about the interruptions that come screeching in when you have to run here, do that, get that done, get more done, when am I going to get THAT done, and the rampant craziness in a schedule that makes you say argh!

Wait.
Where was I going with this?



Right.
Montego Bay Scarf, pattern by Amy Singer.
I get to finish it now.
Hurrah for breaks.

I really need a spring break.

4 more days.... I'm definitely counting down the days until break.
Definitely need the break FROM.

Definitely looking forward for the break TO this:



Definitely spring knitting!

This Photo Shoot is So Over

Even if the sewing isn't done, thought I'd catch a photo. Otherwise, I'll get them sewn and packaged and sent and once again, oops no photo....



Enter one Mr. Jones.



Seems I needed photo styling improvements.



Seems the resident Mr. Jones has heard about the local theatrical Mr. Jones and aspires to be a critic as well.



Seams undone on the flaps? Only half of the ends woven in?
Tacky.

(Still, they're done now and they'll head north ASAP.)
Broadstreet Mittens
Jawoll Color plus a little leftover red Lanett

Cold Proof

Proof there is knitting:

Today's March IS cold enough for a hat. Maybe I can get this hat done soon enough to send it to the cousin who lives much, much further north.

Then he can still wear it while it is cold enough for a hat.

Signs of Spring

Clocks sprung ahead, with much cursing.

Heavy rains cleaned my car, but the puddles and the potholes? Spare me having to use the spare, please.

I am finishing my holiday request knitting this month, come hell and high waters.

Mitts are done for the nephew, the next hat is underway, and then one last pair of fingerless gloves for an uncle. (Because you know it's spring if you're finishing the winter accessories.....)

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Choppy list, I know, but I felt like I needed one minute to show signs of life.

Thanks for the kind words in light of my bad adventures with food. Happy to say all is well now.

Helpful Kitchen Tip - OR - A Tale of Two Egg Cartons

Good eggs sink in cold tap water.

Bad eggs float in cold tap water.

Eggs from one carton were good.

Eggs from another carton were bad.

Guess which carton should not have been around at all.

Guess from which carton I'd been cooking. And eating.


Miserable long weekend. Thought I had flu.
Tested the eggs once I started to piece together the puzzle.
Urp.

Some day soon, knitting will return to the blog. I did a little knitting this weekend, as I tried to gather myself back into a human being.

Good night. I'm overdue for my nightly cup of tea. Home I go.

How to Schedule a Knitting Break

I googled the How-To language above on an impulse that might better have been used doing something else.

Not surprisingly, there are blog or journal notes from people taking a break FROM their currently frustrating knitting projects.

There are discussions of taking a break for wellness in a long stretch of otherwise uninterrupted knitting.

Here and there are a few sightings of other creative work done while knitting activity was on hiatus.

A few photos with feet up or tasty treats readily at hand speak to a nice holiday from everything, with knitting as the honored guest at the party.

Me, I need something of a lesson:
HOW can I GET the KNITTING back INTO my SCHEDULE ?!?!

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Why yes, I would love a little cheese with my whine.
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Meanwhile, everything's fine here.
Pardon me if I indulge in this hasty dramaqueen moment.
I'm simply announcing to myself that my hyper-productive schedule has swung its pendulum too far from the knitting zone. I may have to make myself close the door and knit for a half hour when it's supposed to be suppertime.

Sometimes it helps to say it out loud.
It also helps to have a piece of chocolate.

The sun is shining, and I have a cup of coffee.

Hope your morning is as kind.

It is fair to say that I often measure the quality of time by how productive it was. While I'm happy to say that my month away from the blog has been quite productive, I'm also delighted to out myself by saying that some of it was delightfully unproductive.

I am okay with this.

I also knit several things which escaped photographic archiving. This too I find to be quite alright.

This is both a quiet and a noisy week. I've come to the office daily. The first days were whirlwinds of welcome home and "eek! I've been waiting for you - I have a problem." This morning is blissfully quiet.

I'll be back with knitting content and other word noise. Today looks to be very productive; but first, some quiet blog reading and the rest of my coffee.

Happy Merry!

Will be absent for about a month. Traveling with students. Packing some knitting.

Have a happy and safe New Year!

Holiday thank you gift DONE

Holiday knitted gift #3 has been completed! This is a thank you gift for a colleague and friend who bailed me out one hot summer day when I had a shopping meltdown for a formal occasion.

Meanwhile, nothing like a little low-engagement clapotis knitting in a very pretty Manos Silky Wool to make one happy. Zipped this out in a week. A Week! Really. Finally set it out to block yesterday.

I changed nothing in my photo taking saving or posting, but for whatever reason, the last month's photos have been monster sized and won't conform nicely to the Blogger rules like previous ones have done (ie. large or medium). Therefore I give up and post the thumbnails. Click as needed.










Promptly packaged it up and sent it off via the delivery service of her kind spouse, also a colleague.

Things need to be simpler.

I can't decide which picture I like. One exposure better reflects the actual colors.
However, on my computer that one seems really too dark. This next one was taken with a different exposure. Neither photo is brilliant.


Yarn is Dream in Color Classy.
Color is Black Parade.
Pattern is Morningside Neckwarmer (Jared Flood's pattern)
Made this neckwarmer for an assistant when I had a set of bus trips - 8 hours at a crack - along with a good start on another gift. (That one's for another post.)

So naturally, when my brain can just about handle knitting a tube at best, I get myself painted into a corner wherein I have to make THREE hats by noon tomorrow.

I'm sewing them, at least.

STILL.

One more week and then the craziness I create will calm down.
I better go home. I have an a late night and a full morning of creative improvising ahead.

Done.

One show running, one scarf wearable.

Crazy, Busy, and Sneezy

Things are a little crazy, so I'm taking refuge in some garter stitch.

Knitting this Noro sock into a Baktus kerchief.

Meanwhile, to take a nice hint from Elizabeth, it's handy to have a photo or two in the can for a blog update during busy times. Whipped up this hat last month in about a day or two for a costumer's request.




I'm going to sneeze my way home. Thanks for the kind notes about the Wisp. I'm afraid I haven't been able to reply directly. Seems I don't have the blog set up to do that, and even if I did, I think my manners took a hike with Crazy, Busy, Sneezy, and the rest of the umpteen dwarves....

(ETA - since when have my photos been cropped like that in the posting? Honestly, the pictures show the whole hat! Something is different, either at photobucket or in Blogger. Oh well, not today's worry....)

Creature of Habit

I like scarves to be around my neck. The Malabrigo laceweight (Indigo) used in this project is perfectly suited to this.
In the blocking of Wisp, I wondered if I was really likely to do multiple tricks with it.

I puzzled over ways to button and to wear, and the truth is, this is what I'll do. It's what I usually do.

(The buttons are not as rosy as this side view shoes. They have a good iridescent shell quality, blues, purples - well suited to the subtle tones in the yarn. Seems that justifying photos is also a matter of habit.)

AAAARRRGH

At a time when you want to say AAARRRGGGH, it's nice to receive a gift that let's you say AAAAAARRRRR, instead.

Long time, no socks

Sock knitting returns:


Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill in Nantucket Red.
The color is less intense than pictured.
Figures, as the alternative picture was too washed out.

Discovered this Mystery Sock KAL at Ravelry. The pattern and knitalong are crafted and hosted by Through the Loops.

I'm on the cuffs. Not enough visual here to serve as a spoiler, though I'm happy to report I'm much further into the cuffs than pictured here.

Veggies & Leftovers

Karius, a neckkerchief
a Norwegian blog viral knit
- One skein of Claudia Hand Paint in "Eat Your Veggies"
- Leftover blues & greens from the Pomatomus socks
- Leftover green from petticoat socks
- a little more blue from a sample hank from the CTH people
- size 4 needles
- started with 4 and built up to about 60 stitches and back down





I might just make another silly little neckkerchief. I rather like it.

Cotton-Fleece-Instead-of-Hemp Market Bag

December gift done.
Yarn:
Cotton Fleece - Caribbean Sea, or some such color name
Amount:
1.5 skeins
Pattern:
Needles:
As prescribed.
Hemp Market Bag from Bag Style
Details, such as they are:
The gauge was naturally a bit larger than the yarn the pattern originally called for. Still kept on with the needle sizes and stitch count, as it is, after all, a bag. The body of the bag has fewer than the 20 esprit lace repeats, as I'd reached the measurement needed, and I didn't want it to be completely gargantuan.
Photo particulars:
Don't know why I decided I had to fold the bag in half lengthwise, but I did.


Might be birthday, might be holiday gift, but it is most certainly done.