staying ahead of the weather.

Over on Ravelry I'm part of an excellent group of hockey fans. We have a superfun playoff pool every year, and even though my picks were absolute crap this time around, I still came away with an excellent prize, Catalina Alpaca Silk. I admit I wound it up and started knitting away on a Saroyan almost as soon as I saw the stuff.



This is a lovely pattern, and very quick. The leaves are adorable. I admit that after I'd knitted about three leaves I started worrying that I was going to have a Leafy Thing Obsession. Be warned. There could be more leaves in the future, especially if I decide/have enough yarn to do a hat or mitts to match.



And speaking of obsessions:



Some of them will go to Children's Hospital, and I'll either sell the rest or give them as gifts. You see those yellow and blue ones? I love those madly. I may have to keep them.

last leafy blue post, I promise.

I have some better pictures, so.



It's very pretty, even though it's more of a scarf than a wrap, and I really wanted to make my mom a wrap.



Oh well: there are plenty of other colors, holidays, and patterns in the universe. She'll get a nice big wrap eventually!

blue leafy thing blocking

I finished it! Thank you, season two of The Wire. I may be thinking in profanities, but I don't think I would have gotten through that epic bind-off without you.

I couldn't get a decent shot of the whole thing blocking, but here are a few close-ups to give you the general idea.



I really like the leaves.



I'm kind of waiting till it dries (which it had better do soon, who blocks something on her bed at 8 pm, sometimes I am not clever) to see if the white/lighter blue bits look like pretty variations, or more like I splashed the shawl with bleach.



It might have been nice if the wrap was either longer or wider, but hey, that's what I get for messing with gauge. It's about a foot wide, maybe 14 inches, and it's all circular on my twin bed, so we'll see how long it is when I unpin it.



I hope it's a practical size--practical in the stage sense of 'working' not practical in the sense of 'sensible and useful.'

Whatever it is, it sure is pretty. It's a lovely design.

And best of all, it's done with over a week to spare! Go me!

lacy things!

I seem to be stepping back from my striping madness. You'd think this was good, but now I am indulging in some lacy madness. Apparently I obsess easily. Well, and I know that, that's why I started knitting in the first place, because even a weird stripe obsession is better than playing too much Minesweeper. Minesweeper only gets you carpal tunnel, not something you can wear.

Bear in mind that most of these items have been made in the last . . . oh, say three weeks. Maybe two.

First up we have an Annis. If you can successfully navigate the casting on of billions of stitches (I exaggerate: 363 stitches only) this thing is a breeze, and it's super pretty once it's finished. It's a gift for a friend.



Here's another shot of the Kudzu Shawlette. It really is a good bit further along than last time you saw it! It's just that you knit it the long way, so progress shows slowly. Mine's probably going to be very narrow, since I'm doing it in laceweight on size 4 needles. It's pretty, though, and it feels lovely. I'm hoping it'll be a decent size once it's blocked. I know, I know, I should have swatched. I prefer to live on the edge.



I had forgotten how much mindless fun big ol' triangle shawls are! This guy, Undine, has a very easily memorized stitch pattern for the body of the shawl, so it just zooms right along. I think I did this one on a size 6 needle, which only added to the zooming. This one may end up in the handmade grab bag at my grandma's this Christmas. (Please ignore the wiggly blocking.)



And lastly we have a hilarious receipt I found in my purse the other day.



It's stuff I bought at a card store, I swear!