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 meant to finish weaving in my the ends of my OpArt Blanket. Really, I did. It was too hot to do anything outside, so it seemed like a good idea to try to be useful in here. Unfortunately, I seem to have left my tapestry needles at work after my last In Stitches meeting, so that idea went out the window. Then I tried to work on A’s socks, but by now I sort of hate looking at them. I think I’m going to go back to one sock at a time. Aside from the first pair I made, when I was still learning what I was doing, I’ve never let nearly this much time go before finishing a pair. I considered starting my Buttony Sweater that I bought the yarn for last year, but I haven’t ever made a sweater before, and I wanted to learn more about sweater construction before I start; it seems that the pattern is pretty bare, and others who’ve knit it stated that they had or wished they had added some shaping. So that was out the window. AND THEN I decided to do the gauge for a new scarf that I wanted to start, but I couldn’t find any size five needles, which at first seemed insane, until I realized that most of my size 5s are circulars, and I think the one straight pair that I own is in use by an In Stitches member (not like I know who, though).

Well, there’s always tomorrow, right?

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?

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 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’m not going to finish the OpArt blanket in time for tomorrow’s baby shower. It’s getting pretty big, and I’m up to 668 stitches total. I’d probably have pulled an all-nighter and finished it, anyway, but then I remembered that I’d still need to block it, and it definitely wouldn’t have been ready in time for the shower tomorrow at noon.

Still, no worries. I decided to use that old baby shower standby, the booties. Not just any booties, though. I am using (what I hope will be) leftover green and white from the blanket to make booties that are reminiscent of old school socks. I’ve made enough booties that I don’t really need a pattern at this point, so I’m just kind of winging it, and throwing in a short row heel because I hate myself.

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.