It is, in fact, a sweater. Here is my dirty red sweater of guilt (guilt, because I should be finishing those socks). Please note the totally awesome cables that I am doing without cable needles (thanks to Grumperina, who rocks, although I won the most darling set at the LYS holiday swap).

I’ve decided that it’s not procrastination if you’re knitting something else while avoiding the original item.

Up with cables!

Down with boring patterns!

Down with excessive striping!

I cleaned up last week, not really in honor of Independence Day, but more because I couldn’t stand the sight of my dresser anymore. I decided that there are a few things I want to accomplish in July, and that includes finishing things that I’ve been working on for a long time. Number one on that list is my Op Art blanket, which I’ve been working on since October. The baby it’s for is almost 6 months old; I do feel a little bit ashamed, although previously this shame wasn’t enough to spur me into action.

Over the course of May and June, I slowly worked the final rows of the second color, and tonight I finished the last few rounds with it. I’m up to 720+ stitches, and I frankly don’t understand any of those brave souls who consented to make the larger blanket. Right now I’m about to bind off using the main color. Then I’ll have to worry about the weaving in and the blocking, but for now I’m just going to be proud of this accomplishment.

I’ll rest on my laurels for a day or so, and then get back to the socks I’ve been making for Amy Sue since January. I feel slightly better about those, though, because I warned her ahead of time how slow I can be at finishing things. I want a pair of socks for me, though, and I’m not allowed to have those until I’ve finished hers.

Oh! And I also need to finish the baby beanie that I’m making with the knit group I lead at work. This is our inaugural group project, and it would probably look bad if I didn’t finish it, right?

My current period of knitting ennui has lasted longer than I expected. I haven’t made anything new in a long time (except the newborn hat that I did with my group at work). I did get a great pattern from this nice woman in Boston, but then I lost the paper that I wrote it on. UGH! I will have to phone the shop again and see if she can help me remember what I was supposed to be doing. I’ll probably start finishing stuff soon, seeing as I have so many UFOs from which to choose.

Actually, though, I haven’t done much of anything lately but read and work out. Both good things, I guess, but I’ve missed a lot. The only show whose season finale I saw was Chuck, so now I have about two months’ of tv to catch up on. Well, at least I’ll have something to watch when I’m catching up on my knitting.

I haven’t posted here in a long while, mostly because I haven’t worked on anything recently. I still have not finished poor baby M’s OpArt blanket. I’m home sick today, so I am going to work on it right now before I lose my motivation and ignore it for another two months. I have just decided that I’m not allowed to post about the awesome yarn I just bought until I finish the blanket, so maybe that will provide a well-needed nudge in the right direction.

I tried not to give up on my sodera/hedera/touch my monkey socks, but I think I kind of just did. The problem was that the yarn did not feel good to my fingers whilst knitting, which I think we can all agree is quite a problem to have. Also, I have kind of an insane number of socks that I need to be making soon, and I was starting to resent this particular pair for monopolizing my size 1 circular needle.

Just now, I pulled out the size 1 dpns and painstakingly transferred that sock to those needles. Now, at least, I can get a jump on all of the socks that I really want to make (in pairs!), without having to worry that my size 1 circ is out of commission.

I am supposed to be making socks for Sue, Marie, and my cousin Steph, although I think that poor Steph has been waiting for over a year and should probably get hers first.

Then, and this is so awesome I can hardly stand it, my Opal Harry Potter “hedwig” sock yarn came in the mail today and it’s just as lovely as I remember. I don’t know yet what pattern I’m going to use, but those socks are for ME!

I signed up for Interweave Press’s “Knitting Daily” email because, why not, right? I don’t usually read them the day that they arrive, but I have gmail automatically start them, so that I can find them when I want to. I was casually glancing at my inbox, not paying too much attention, when I saw the starred message with a subject of “Are You A Knitter Who Likes to Quit?”

I was like, Hallelujah! It’s good to know that I’m not alone. It’s not like my lack of consistent knitting progress keeps me up at night, but I sometimes wish that I wasn’t such a slacker. I know that it’s a question of willpower, but if I am going to focus on improving such an integral part of my personality, knitting is probably not the avenue I’m going to use to do so.  So, encouraged, I opened the email, and at first couldn’t figure out why a picture of a blanket occupied a large portion of the screen. Then I looked at the subject again. “Are You a Knitter Who Likes to Quilt?”

Of course I couldn’t get that lucky!

I was able to go back and change all the pictures in my posts from those on the Blogger servers to those that I uploaded to WordPress. In general, it doesn’t make much of a difference, but in reality, I need every bit of space that I can wring from Google without ponying up extra cash, and now I’ll be able to delete that album. Here’s what I’ve been working on lately: one mitten (Subway Mitten pattern), finished, and horribly oversized (now palmed off on my dad, or will be whenever I finish the second); a pair of socks using my lovely Brooklyn Handspun (prettier to look at than to knit with, although I no longer loathe it); and the ever-present OpArt, which is growing, but not nearly as quickly as it should be, given the kid is expected somewhere in the next 3 weeks.