aw, it's my 400th post.

I should probably throw some kind of party, but I'm a slacker, so all you're going to get are some random pictures. And they're not even very good pictures, because I've abandoned my stripey mitt obsession for a bit of a lace fit.

First up we have a Kudzu Shawlette. Well, the very beginnings of a Kudzu Shawlette.



This is theoretically for my mom's birthday. I'm not entirely certain I like it in the laceweight, but we shall see. This is definitely a time when I should have swatched, but I didn't. Doom and destruction may ensue.

And this blob, which is currently blocking and much less blobby, is a Super Sekrit item for a swap, so you'll probably have to wait a while to see it. Suffice it to say that if you find a shawl pattern with an easily-memorizeable lace motif, and you do it in laceweight on US 6 needles, you can have a sizeable and decently impressive shawl in pretty much no time. (Except for the bind-off. The bind-off will take you forever, and you'll be really glad East Lynne is 60 chapters long.)



I'm thinking I'll make a similar black shawl for the handmade grab bag this year. I have sooooo much black laceweight recycled out of old sweaters, and, God help me, I still have one old black sweater waiting to be unraveled. No, wait, I have two. Dear God. Black lace shawls and wraps for everyone!

a repeat.

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret. Once again a gift, once again not blocked out to be slouchy.



This is a fairly soft acrylic blend, so I have a feeling that once it's been worn for a while, it will go a bit on the floppy side.

I still really dig this pattern. And I still want one for myself.

provisional cast-on joy.

I have never, ever, been able to figure out how to do a crocheted provisional cast-on so that the crocheted chain unzips neatly from my knit stitches.

But now, ha ha, thanks to the super-duper clear instructions for the Grace Lace Beret, I can do it! One simple phrase was all I needed: "pick up 60 stitches from the back of crochet chains." Winner!

And I'd thought I was doing well because I already had a random piece of crocheted chain in the right weight and length just lying around in my bag of scrap yarn. But no, now my lazy ass has learned a new skill, too.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about this. It will save me a lot of frustration in the future, I can feel it.

A Sparkly Blue Thing

If you look very, very closely, you can see a faint stripe in this yarn, but it's not quite enough to count towards my stripey projects. :)

Anyway, here's your first look at my Sparkly Blue Thing. The yarn is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, which appeared on my doorstep in a swap. It's soooo pretty I can't even deal.



The pattern is Something Lacy Shrug. I've been wanting to do something of this sort for a while, but most of the patterns I've found have had lace that seems a little bit 'granny' to me. I'm still not convinced that this isn't a bit granny.



I guess it's a granny with sass, though. The pattern calls for just a little bit of ribbing for sleeves, but I think I might make them longer, if it doesn't look silly. I should have plenty of yarn.

a quick stripey hit.

Tiny stripey sweater! I feel the need to bust out a tiny sweater every so often. This one is a keychain. It's got i-cord coming out of the sleeve and attaching to a key. I have no idea how practical this is, but it sure is cute.



Oh, and the yellow yarn? It's the stuff I dyed myself! It's maybe a slight bit too brown to be a real Pittsburgh medium-yellow, but I like it anyway. It hearkens back to the old Terrible Towels.

random round-up.

We had a primary election this week. I knew it would be a slow day, so I brought some knitting. Each of these items was barely started at the beginning of the day.

They grew a lot.



The scarf is in stripes, yes, but notice how I am weaning myself away from my solid stripes in the fingerless mitt. We've got a bit of colorwork going on! This mitt was the perfect thing to knit on Slow Election Day. It was just complicated enough that it was interesting (gotta love variegated yarn for that) but not so complicated that I couldn't figure out where I was when I picked it back up after registering a voter.



And I made a wee nerdy Green Lantern case thing for my brother's birthday. It's pretty cute. I didn't have time to block it, or it wouldn't look so squiggly. :)

Orange! (And perhaps some stripes. Because.)

Yeah, I say "orange" and then the first thing I do is fake you out with some blue. We'll just all have to live with it. Anyway, this is my wool/silk laceweight from NeuroticKnitterz. I dig it, and I think my mom will too. I'm trying to decide what sort of lacy thing I want to make out of it. Right now I'm thinking a half-circle shawl, but I haven't found one that I really, really adore.



The yarn is actually a good bit brighter than in this picture. It's sooo pretty.

Ok. On to the orange segment of the day! (Ha ha, get it? Orange segment? I just made an awesome salad with quinoa and cilantro and scallions and oranges, so I may have oranges on the brain.)



This is from my second-ever adventure in dying. I was overdying some light brown--it is now a coppery brown, which is much more me--and thought what the heck, I'll toss in some of this white Knit Picks Palette I have leftover from Christmas. I had three extra (more or less) skeins, and I really don't think I need that much white. I dig this orange, though. I think I also dig this dying thing, though I do not have a precise nature and will therefore probably never be very good at it.



And here we have some stripes! This is stripey yarn, in my defense. I saw it lying there a few days ago, and there wasn't enough to make into anything, not even a baby hat, so it became this wee little pouch. I don't know what I'll keep in it, but it sure is cute.