Fo!

I've been on something of a finishing streak lately. I finished my Saroyan, and my Tardis Cowl.

Saroyan first! I knit it up in Malabrigo Twist in Taureg. Now, my love affair with Malabrigo is a long and happy one. Malabrigo Sock is lovely and soft and drapy. The worsted is soft and fuzzy and warm. But oh, the Twist! It's so soft and squishy and the colors are lovely and I never want to knit with another yarn ever again! I want to make a great big blanket out of it and snuggle underneath it and never come out.

I had some measure of problems with this project. (surprise, surprise, yeah?) Accidentally left this sitting out one night and my stupid cats got ahold of it. Woke up to find yarn all over the floor of the bedroom, yarn leading out into the hall and down the stairs, yarn all over the downstairs of the house. Let me tell you, you don't really comprehend just how much yardage comes in a skein of yarn until you see it all spread out like that. Of course, then came the epic detangling session, during with Yarneater and Kleptocat continued to try to make off with it.

Because they'd eaten part of it, my estimations for when I needed to start the decreases were off and I ran out of yarn two repeats early. But I threw in some extra decreases then bound off early and the difference between the two ends is hardly noticeable when it's worn, so I'm satisfied.

I can't wait until it gets cool enough to wear it. It's way too heavy to get away with wearing now. Sigh.

Then I also finished my Tardis Cowl. I was a bit nervous to knit a cowl. I'd never made one before and wasn't sure if it was something I'd actually wear. Now that I've finished it, I'm so in love with it. Knit up in Malabrigo Sock in Persia. The buttons I bought came from Natural Stitches here in Pittsburgh.

Now I'm working on my silk shawl made in bribe yarn. It's so lovely, and I wish I could afford to knit in silk all the time. Knitting it on Knitpicks Options is something of a recipe for insanity, but I'm managing, and the finished shawl (so far) is well worth a little effort. Mmmm, silk.

ketchup!

I really need to be better about blogging. I mean it this time. Really. Aw, hell, who am I kidding?

I've been in something of a knitting slump lately, which, quite logically, means that I've also been lacking in motivation to post in my blog about (*gasp!*) knitting! Since my triumph over the evil Quadrat, I've finished a grand total of.... one project.

Not to fear, however, I have also started a whopping six others. Yep, still me, still living down to expectations.

Project the first: Sweater! I picked up a few balls of James C. Bretty Marble Chunky in the rather lovely and subdued colorway Lichen. I got the fantastic idea into my head that I would knit a sweater without a pattern. Honestly, what could go wrong? I had this pretty mental image of a loose, comfy sweater I could throw on when I got chilly, and it would be soft and pretty and comfy and I would love it forever. I used my measurements to calculate my increases and decreases, and because I'm an idiot who didn't allow for any ease, the thing fits me like a second skin. But it's okay, really, because it's cute and has shaping, and my mental image of the finished sweater adjusted. Then I came to the sleeves. And because I'm also a lazy idiot, I decided I'd just knit them straight because I didn't feel like doing math. Did the first, and it looked like crap and fit like crap, so I ripped it out, and there my poor sleeveless sweater sits to this day, begging for sleeves. But by now, of course, it's the height of summer and I just don't feel like working on something I can't wear for months yet.

Project the second: Fingerless gloves for a friend. I started the first, and had to keep pausing to have him try them on. First one is now finished, second is cast on, I'm just lacking the motivation to keep going on it because, ya know, the whole summer thing makes me not want to work on winter stuff.

Project the third: Saroyan wrap. Bandwagon knitting for the win! This project actually started out with no small amount of promise. Knit in Malabrigo Twist in the colorway Taureg, it was fantastic. I loved the pattern, I loved the yarn, I loved knitting it. Then I left it out one night and Yarneater and Kleptocat got ahold of it. Let me just say this: you don't fully comprehend just how much yardage is contained in two skeins of yarn until you see said skeins of yarn spread out all over your floor. Both upstairs and downstairs floors. Yow. Saroyan, after an epic detangling session, is now sitting in timeout because, despite carefully calculating how many repeats I could get per skein, and the assurance that Other People on Ravelry made it with far less yarn than I started out with, I have three leaf repeats left, and quite definitely not enough yarn to finish it with. I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating on this. It's not as if waiting will make more yarn magically appear.

Project the fourth: Triangle shawl. Years ago I was given a skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody in an attempt to win back my friendship and support. (It was a rather good attempt, too. Any of you out there who would also like to buy my love, please take note.) Because it's much more expensive than any other yarn I've ever bought for myself, it spent quite a bit of time languishing on my shelf while I waffled on what exactly I would do with it. I eventually decided on a simply triangle shawl with yarn-over increases. This yarn is so fantastic, why hide it with a pattern? This one I'm actually savoring rather than procrastinating on. I'm only working on this when I'm in a good mood,because I want to have only positive memories attached to the finished project. (Unlike pretty much everything else I've ever made.)

Project the fifth: Socks! I started them, I lost interest halfway through the second pattern repeat. Same old story.

Project the sixth: Because I apparently am a glutton for punishment, and as if I didn't already have enough on my proverbial plate, I joined a KAL for the very lovely Tilting Tardis Cowl. We all know my track record with KALs, but I'm enjoying this one so far. I don't want to jinx myself, but this may be the one I actually finish! Fingers crossed!

Aaaaand if you made it through all that rambling, I feel that I should reward you with some pretty pictures. This is my one and only finished object. I modified the crap out of another Dane Shawl, and I'm really happy with the results. Yarn is Malabrigo Sock in colorway Persia. I ran out of yarn two and a half rows from the end, and ended up having to buy a second skein. I know, I know, having to buy more Malabrigo, how did I ever cope with such a tragedy?? But fear not, the remains of the second skein are slowly but steadily becoming my Tardis Cowl, and it looks lovely so far. I need more pics of my WIPs.

Anyhow, this shawl will soon find a new home with my very lovely mother-in-law, just as soon as I can get my lazy butt to a post office. Or the next time I'm in Tampa, whichever comes first.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Now to finish more things, and hopefully blog about my adventures knitting them!