WIP Wednesday: Allaying the post-holiday gloom

While technically I am posting this on a Thursday, "WIP Thursday" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Instead, I'm taking the philosophical approach that time is bendy and a construct anyway and pretending that now is in fact yesterday. *clears throat, glances away shiftily*

To the WIPs! The first one is an oldie (six/seven years old at least) that I was inspired to pull out of its longterm hiding spot behind the couch when I got back home from Queensland and was cold. Since I took this photo I have sewn all of the pieces together and just need to knit on a garter stitch border. The problem I am having is that the blanket is so heavy and large that knitting on it is a logistical issue. I'm pretty excited about the finished project, though, so hopefully that will inspire me to push through the pain.

Sam works with a man who I just don't like. This man recently married and knocked up a woman who I also don't like. There's nothing really wrong with these people - they don't kick puppies or hate rainbows or anything - but they're just not nice or interesting. They're the kind of people who never respond to an RSVP or bother to turn up to a party or give you a birthday present, no matter how much you spent on the Christmas and birthday presents you gave them last year or how important the party is to you. They don't bother to remember your cat's name or your research topic or any of the little details that help build a connection between people. In short, they're just not my type of folk. However, Sam and he get on really well and so Sam asked me very kindly if I wouldn't mind pretty please knitting something for their soon-to-arrive baby. I would usually totally mind but fortunately I have the Shades of Purple blanket from last year that just needs a border and it's done. I do find it hard to motivate myself to work on a project for people who won't even say thank you but Sam doesn't ask for much, so I am doing it for him. I know he will appreciate it.

My final WIP of the week is a new project. When I got home from QLD I was super chuffed to realise I had run out of portable stockinette sock projects because I had finished them all! Yippee!  I immediately cast on a pair of bright and cheerful stockinette socks to help me deal with all the upcoming winter gloom. 

Until next week, adieu (I saw The Sound of Music on the weekend. I'm sorry but I just couldn't help myself).

Day 24: WIP Wednesday

Last week in an effort to wrestle my WIP pile into some sort of order, I decided to pick just two projects and concentrate on them. It worked! One of those pairs of socks is effectively finished (dear weaving in ends, why do you suck so much? love me) and the other one is almost complete.

Since this plan was so successful, I've decided to expand it to four projects and work only on those:

The Barefoot Dream socks are my new handbag stockinette stitch sock. They need to be done by December for my mum's birthday, so no hurry. The mitered square blanket now has nine of the 12 blocks joined. It's being held up because I need to unpick and restitch the first three blocks I joined and, I know it's childish but I just don't want to! The Rainy Day socks are almost done. These are the quickest and easiest socks I have ever made. I keep them next to the computer and pick them up and do a row or two whenever my computer or I am thinking and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, these are almost done. I have to start making more socks on 2.75mm needles!

The final project is the Herbivore that I cast on for during CAST ON MANIA then promptly forgot about. The yarn that I'm using, the completely divine Madelinetosh Pashmina in Thunder, was a gift from my friend Christian. I'm seeing Radiohead with him in three weeks (woot woot!!) and I'd love to have this finished by then. The last Herbivore I made only took me about five days, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I love watching the list of of WIPs get smaller and smaller in number...

24 down, 7 to go.

Day 8: Oopsie!

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that the reason I didn't post yesterday was because I forgot. No excuses except for plain old absentmindedness. I took photos, planned some words in my head, uploaded the photos to my computer then got so caught up in reading my new book (Feminism at the Movies, if anyone is interested. It's great, and theory-lite so very accessible) that I never got around to actually posting anything...oops!

Mind you, I didn't have anything super exciting to share anyway. I've noticed that this time around, Blogtober is turning into a 'this is what I did today' journal. Yesterday I had an appointment on campus so I decided to spend some study time in the library beforehand.  I gave my poor crooked back a rest and (for once) didn't lug the contents of my entire study to the library with me. Vital ingredients for study: pen and paper (I did not see one other person using a non-electronic device to record information in the entire packed library. I am clearly a dinosaur), water (important to stay hydrated), Blistex (using Blistex is like smoking - you should never start and once you do, it's almost impossible to quit) and knitting, for sanity purposes. 

On the subject of knitting, I have I ever told you how much I love knitting socks with 5-ply yarn and 2.75mm needles? I have basically just looked at this project and waved my arms in its general direction and it's already a third of the way up the foot! After the black never-ending socks of doom, this sock is a minty-green fresh breath of air. Although, disturbingly, how puffed up and deformed does my foot look in this photo? It looks normal in real life, I promise.

For an update on the mitered square blanket, I have finished all the vertical seaming of the blocks and now I just need to do the horizontal ones.  It takes me one episode of Big Brother to join two squares (I know! Don't judge me) so I figure by the time the next two housemates have been evicted, I should be ready to start the border. The only thing is that with the first blocks I did (the column to the far left) I used a different technique to the other three and so it doesn't look as good as the others. I'm trying to work out if I care enough to unpick and re-seam those squares. My perfectionist instinct says yes but the realist in me reminds myself that it took me five years to get to this point and that if I lose momentum it may be another five years till I get it back again...

In case you were in any doubt as to whether this photo is authentically mine (the consistently shitty unedited quality of the photo not begin enough), please note not one but two cat toys placed carefully between the blocks. Welcome to my house!

Eight posts down, 23 to go.

Resurrected & 2011 FO# 8: Hospital Socks

I started these socks in hospital.  I was bored, woozy and desperately in need of bright and cheerful things.

 The pattern is basically your normal sock with a simple lace panel on either side.  However, and this gives you an indication of how totally whacked out on pain killers I was - I could not even cope with a simple four-row lace pattern.  It was completely incomprehensible to me.  So, the pattern, the yarn and the needles got shoved into a bag and promptly forgotten about (the painkillers made it very easy to forget all sorts of things...).

Fast forward two months later, and I'm at home - bored, cranky and with horrible cold toes.  While unpacking all my bags from the hospital I spy a glaring yellow barely started sock (honestly, it's hard to miss - it's pretty freaking bright) and my prayers for occupation and toe-warming are answered.  One week later I have warm toes, have passed my time pleasantly watching old movies and knitting socks, and am generally all-around feeling much better.

I used my usual 64 stitches on this sock, but the combination of 2.5mm needles (I usually use 2.25mm) and the slightly-thicker-than-normal Jitterbug yarn led to these socks being just a tiny bit too big to wear with shoes.  It suits me though - I'm wearing them as bed/house slippers and I know that when I see their brightness, it's bound to make me feel a little bit happier than I was before.

Pattern: Pillars by Lisa Stichweh (Rav link)
Yarn: One of my favourites - Colinette Jitterbug in Vincent's Apron
Notes/Modifications: Used my own stitch count for the sock, a short-row heel and my own standard toe.

But, as they say in the classics - wait, there's more!  One of the benefits of moving (and there aren't many that I can see) is the chance to go through all your long-forgotten belongings that have been shoved into bags, drawers and boxes, and then forgotten about.   A long time ago (in October 2007, according to Ravelry), I started a mitered square blanket (honestly, I am an awful blogger.  This a major project which involves a huge investment of capital and time, and did I mention starting it? Did I discuss the process? Nope, I just made random mention of squares I was knitting.  Bad me!).  Anyhoo, when moving I found the 38 squares that I had finished for the blanket and realised that I only had 10 squares to go before I could start the seaming.  Admittedly, this did not make me pick up the blanket again, but did make it seem more possible that one day it would eventually be finished.  I stored it in the bottom drawer of the dresser.

Two weeks ago, Sam threw a bit of a tanty because, out of the six drawers in our massive chest of drawers, three and a half are occupied by my clothes and one is full of wool.  To appease him (and because even I can see that situation is not exactly fair) I pulled out the Mitered Square Blanket.  Since the wool and all the squares were out already, I thought it wouldn't do any harm to knit a few more squares.  Wham bam thank you ma'am, eight of the ten squares are finished and I should be ready to start the seaming tomorrow.  There is a chance that this blanket may be finished by October, meaning that it would have only taken a mere four years to finish the blanket.  A perfectly reasonable timeframe! My old knits, resurrected :)