Catching Up

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted last. Life went just a little crazy (okay, a lot crazy) and I lost track of time. So sorry about that.

Anyway. Hubby took me to Black Sheep Gathering last month, and we had fun. There were a few things I missed from other years (no Angora bunnies on display, nor were there Alpacas, bar two out front). I noticed there was a huge increase in fiber for sale, compared to actual yarn for sale, which struck me as interesting. I guess spinning's becoming more and more the thing to do. Too bad I can't do it (no, really, I tried. My hands hurt like crazy when I use a spindle, and since I have neither room or money for an actual spinning wheel, I'm not likely to find out whether I can do it that way instead).

Socks!

Well, I finally took the plunge after much searching for a pattern that might work for me. Since I'm fairly inept as of yet, at understanding and tweaking patterns, it needed to be very cut and dry for me. I couldn't really find one, but the girl on Ravelry came to my aid, and pointed me to a wonderful tutorial and a recipe rather than a pattern. Isn't that the same thing, you ask? Yes, but not quite.

I Did It... I Think

I took my first stab at blocking today. Not entirely sure if I did it right, but it seems to have worked.

Hey, MsKathy, I remembered to take before and after pictures, just so you could see. Hope it helps.

Before blocking:

Eep!

Am casting on for Tongues of Fire. I'm a little intimidated, but it looks fairly simple as far as lace patterns go. There's a knit-a-long on Ravelry, so I'm hoping to be able to join in and get this done. Have no recipient in mind as of yet. I just want to see if I can do it.

Wish me luck!

Progress!

I've finally gotten the hang of this pattern without constantly having to count my stitches, which makes me happy. What makes me even happier?

This:

I'd guestimate I'm about halfway through my skein right now, so it's looking to be a decent length scarf. And pretty! I'm loving how the colors are working up, and the pattern, too. So simple, and yet...

Showing Off WIP

Well, I frogged the first attempt at the Feather and Fan scarf (yes, scarf. I read the name wrong, earlier. It is, in fact, a scarf), but have made some good headway with it now.

The pattern itself is fairly easy to memorize. Less easy is not accidentally adding stitches. Oh well.

See? I know it's not easy to see, given the lighting and the backdrop of my laptop screen, but you should get a fair idea. I like how it's turning out. At first, I was iffy on the combination of yarn/pattern, but it seems to be working out well enough. The yarn itself is yummy to work with. So soft. *sigh* Love it. Almost don't want the scarf to come to an end. Lucky for me, I still have a ways to go before it's done.

Oh, I found a picture of the yarn pre-wind (though no longer all nicely rolled up. It gives a better idea on the colors, though).

Isn't it lovely?

Selfish Knitting

Going to cast on for something for me. Maylin gifted me with two specially dyed yarns, inspired by At The Deep End. The first, as you have seen, I made into a crocheted shawl. The second (which was actually the first version of the yarn) took a while longer to talk to me.

I think I have finally figured out what it wants to be. At least, I hope so. I'm going to try to make this simple Feather and Fan Shawl. Since it's a rectangular shawl, I should be able to knit until I run out of yarn. It looks simple enough, but I'm a lace-novice, so we'll see.

Wish me luck!

Interesting

So I was doing laundry at my mother-in-law's today, and working on my shawl. My oldest nephew (who's staying with her for the time being) walked in and saw me. Last time, he saw me knitting the fingerless gloves, and he was interested in those, too.

Today, he asked if I would make him gloves, too. He wanted to have a pair just like the ones I made for MIL (same "pattern" as the ones I posted about, but in Duck's colors; they're on Flickr). I told him I'd think about it, but I wasn't making any promises.

Then, I showed him some cool patterns for amiragumi on Ravelry, and he got all sorts of excited. Not asking if I could make some for him, but I planted the seed for him to learn, and now he wants to learn crochet so he can make gifts, just like I do. I told him to ask MIL, because she crochets better than I do, and (far as I know, at least) can understand patterns, whereas I don't. (Sorry, MIL)

I'm curious to see whether this'll amount to anything. After all, he's an eleven year old boy, who's generally excitable and will talk your ear off about any ol' thing. We shall see, I suppose.

Still, it was interesting. I actually kinda hope he learns. It'll be good for him, I think.

 On another note; I got to wondering about Christmas. I've got a few things in mind already for a few people (and let me just say how good it feels to be in this mindset again), and am pleased to know that I'll soon be done with the first of them. And I have ideas for more. Well, technically I suppose I'm done with one already, since it's already a FO, but yeah, you know what I mean.

I am still trying to work out what to do for certain people, but it's only just February - I still have plenty of time. As of today, 325 days, as a matter of fact. So far, I think I'm doing pretty good.

So what about you? Do you have anything planned for Christmas already?