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 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!

So I found my tapestry needle. It was not, as I feared, in the bag with some project that I barely started before abandoning it. No, it was actually in my handbag! It had fallen out of the little stitch marker pouch that I keep it in, so while none of the stitch markers fell out, the two thin tapestry needles I had in it did. No worries. It occurred to me when I got home from work yesterday that I should look in my purse before getting all crazy and tearing through my knitting projects, and sure enough, I saw two shiny little needles amongst the piles of stuff that fell out of my bag. I was busy last night (what kind of freak goes to the 10:45 movie showing after working until 9? That would be me…), so I finished up this afternoon during my break. Here is the finished product.

I am almost finished with my two-at-a-time socks. I did the last 4 inches of stockinette using the continental knitting method, and I’m really proud of myself. The socks are really cute, and I would have finished them completely, except I somehow left my tapestry needle somewhere. And I don’t even know where! I’m going to check the bag I used to carry the baby socks I made last month, because that’s the last time I remember doing kitchener stitch, but I somehow feel like I’ve had that needle more recently than that. So we’ll see when I get home. I’ll upload a picture once the socks are finished and the ends are woven in.

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!

Here are my socks right now. I’m really jazzed because I realized that being 60% of the way through a sock means that I am also 60% of the way through this project. I think that I will definitely use this technique in the future!