I’d intended to get a decent amount of knitting done tonight,  and I think I succeeded. Of course, I probably would have accomplished more if I hadn’t received Walking Dead in the mail yesterday and decided to read the first 80 or so pages of that. Still, I’m pretty pleased with what I did do. For the next little bit (I hope), I’m going to be making the Alpaca Silk Bow Scarf from Boutique Knits (out of wool). I decided not to let the intarsia part of my new scarf scare me, so I Googled intarsia techniques until I felt like I understood what I was supposed to do (if not exactly how to do it), and plunged in. I’m going back to Continental knitting and doing the Norwegian Purl, so there’s all sorts of learning and adapting going on here. I had to frog twice; once because I still can’t count, and another time because my knitting was too loose. Luckily, I hadn’t done more than three rows either time, so it was no big loss. Seems like the third time is the charm, and I’m going to quit while I’m ahead here and get some rest!

Pattern: Alpaca Silk Bow Scarf

Source: Boutique Knits

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Greenline DK in Grapevine and Lilac

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?

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.

My mystery socks are coming along nicely. I really like this pattern, as I think I’ve said before. The odd things, though, is that I am somehow now more comfortable reading the pattern as words, and the chart form is confusing to me. I don’t know why. It’s not in weird notation, and I’ve been reading charts for years now. What is up with me lately? As is my wont, I have made some errors that I find inexplicable. I’m paying a ton of attention, I get the right stitch count every round, I haven’t unknowingly dropped any stitches, and still there are a couple of glaring imperfections. Actually, they’re just glaring to me because I know they’re there, but a lot of people have seen these babies, and they’ve all been in raptures about them.

I’m doing this pair two at a time, as I have been lately. I had to remove one pair from the circular needle when I dropped the stitches for half a sock and had to go back a few rounds, and it was nice to briefly have a pair of dpns. I considered doing one using the magic loop and leaving the other pair on the dpns. I do know people who will do a pair of socks at the same time, but not on the same needle, but I don’t want to try that method now. I’ll see how this pair comes out, and if there are appreciable differences, then I’ll consider it.

I’m now on twitter! Random, I know. Anyway, I’ve starting talking to other knitters there. I’ve given one encouragement about switching to continental knitting from English style. I’m really liking the way this has turned out for me, even though I sometimes still use English if I know I’m not paying a lot of attention or am tired and want the comfort of familiarity. I hope that, in time, I will go back to English style less and less until I don’t do it at all.

Okay, you may have noticed that I have a new site theme now. I just couldn’t take looking at the other one anymore. I’m not sure how long this will last, but I like it for now.

In knitting news, I am making great progress with the mystery socks and I love them! The yarn is so prettyful, and I love the way this is turning out. Although it pains me and I could go on about this forever, I shall say no more!