Catching Up I: Holiday Yarniness

Since we have been completely gobsmacked by the Holidaze, I am once again dreadfully behind in blogging. Last time this happened, I did several short catch-up posts rather than slogging through it all. So here we go. In no particular order.

There may have been some post-Christmas stash enhancement. Kitty Daddy and the kidlets gave me a gift certificate to my local LYS (as opposed to my favorite LYS, more on that in a bit). Since I seem to be going through the toes and heels on all my socks at once, I opted for some sock yarn acquisition. The first is Colinette Jitterbug (just like the No More Stinkin' Winter socks) in Raspberry:



I have already started THE viral knit from Last Saturday Knitting (Charade), except toe-up instead of top-down and a different toe and heel. Yeah, so that's basically just taking the texture from the pattern. Pattern, Schmattern. Heh.

I also got two other skeins of sock yarn, On Your Toes one turquoisey and one pinkish.





Okay, the difference between the local LYS and the favorite LYS...the local one is just a mile or so from our house and they do have some mighty fine yarns, but I finally figured out one reason that I just don't like them as much as the Sow's Ear (other than Late Night, that is). The owner must have almost diametrically opposite tastes in color from me. I go in there and look at the pretty yarns and touch them and ogle them, but I have always had trouble when it comes time to pick something out. I finally figured it out this time. Another discovery is that they buy stash yarn and sell it on the cheap, so I may have to keep my eye on that inventory...

It goes without saying that the favorite one is the Sow's Ear. The best thing about the Ear is, by far, the people, both knitters and staff, but I also have a much easier time finding things that simply must follow me home. At Late Night last Friday, I used a little Christmas cash to buy "It Itches" by Franklin (LOVE IT!!!) and these:





It is possible I may be developing a wee bit of a Peace Fleece problem. But really, I can stop any time...just one more skein, 'kay? Or two...or maybe a sweater's worth. No really, any time. I can stop any time...

Yep, this winter has apparently gotten to me

Yesterday, I went to Woodland Studios to spend a Valentine's Day gift certificate from Kitty Daddy and the crew, while the crew waited for me at the local library a couple of blocks over. Last time I was there I debated long and hard over the Colinette Jitterbug, but wound up deciding on Kitty Man socks and a couple of big ol' skeins of Trekking. So, after cuddling and petting my way around the yarn selection, I was drawn once again to the Jitterbug. There were at least a half a dozen gorgeous colorways that I had admired back in August, but yesterday, I was drawn to a colorway that I would normally find pretty obnoxious (as in beautiful colors, but nothing I would ever imagine on my feet). However, I could not tear myself away. I'm not sure the photo is nearly as garish as the real thing:

but I couldn't put it down. I cast on for it last night. I also partially blame MollyBeees for imprinting my brain with gorgeous, vibrant sock yarn. Hers wasn wasn't neon though.

There are signs of spring here...balmy weather in the 30s (and actually up to the 40s today!!!!), sun that provides both light and heat (not just light), running water from thawing snow. Yes, the snow drifts are still huge, but it feels pretty darn springy to me! Of course, then I talk to my parents in the Pacific Northwest, where it is in the 60s and mom is out working on her garden. See why I need the neon?

Oink, I say, oink!

Last night I finally made it to the Sow's Ear late night knit. Although it was an all-nighter this time, I only made it 11:30 or so. While I knit, the Beeb flirted and worked the room. As near as I could tell, he charmed all comers! I think it qualified as a "mom's night out" as the only kid with me can't move and can't talk back talk.

Although I have enough projects to keep me more than busy, I took advantage of my (mostly) kidless state to cast on a new project. I started the chain mail armor in New Knits on the Block. I am trying to do this for Bug for Christmas. Although I got a good start on it, I'm not sure I have enough Bug-free knitting time to keep it a complete surprise. The fact that I was starting to make mistakes on [yo, k2tog] was my cue that I had exited my productive knitting hours and entered my productive sleeping hours.

One especially fun part of knit night was getting to meet some of the local knit-bloggers that I read, including Molly Bee, Chocolate Sheep, and Dale-Harriet (and Lovely Daughter with whom Beeb flirted shamelessly!).

An up-to-now secret WIP...

I have had a project "on the needles" for a while now, but haven't been widely advertising the fact. There have been a couple of similar project that have wound up (non-voluntarily) in the frog pond, so we didn't want to advertise too soon! We are about 1/3 of the way done and expect to bind off and weave in ends sometime mid-September. Here is a progress photo as of yesterday and here is a picture from three weeks ago. Based on how previous projects like this have turned out, I'm guessing it will be pretty cute!

CO: A sweater for Mollie

Kitty Daddy feels that Mollie dog has been left out of the woolly goodness resulting from me knitting, so he suggested that she desperately needs a sweater. Since I had some Cascade 220 left over from Daddy's Hawkeye scarf and socks, she will be getting a sweater that coordinates with her Daddy, so the two of them can look so spiffy out for a walk on a cold winter's day. Since Mollie is a wee mini-dachsie, she has weird proportions and doesn't fit very well in ready made, so I will be using Esther Bozak's "The Original Custom-Fit Dog Sweater" to make one just for her! I have swatched and measured, so I'm ready to go.

Bug's sweater is almost done...after the third try on the neckline shaping, I'm hoping third time's the charm. The first time I did short row shaping and managed to space off the fact that just doing short rows leads to ugly gaping holes. Frog back to beginning of shaping. The second time I did some beautiful Japanese short rows and promptly discovered that there was now way Bug's head was going to fit. Not even with a giant shoe horn and considerable force. Frog back to beginning of shaping again. This time I did the shaping to make a bigger hole and (here's the kicker) tried slipping it over his head before starting on the neckband! I still have to finish the neck band, but it's getting close. The bad news is that after frogging back the second time, I let it sit for a couple of days and forgot to switch back to the larger needles I used for the entire body from the smaller needles I used for the ribbing. Frog a fourth time? Nah, we'll just call it a "design feature"