Like a broken record!

I'm about 70% finished with the second sock (woot!), but it's not very good picture fodder. I'm a little more than 50% finished with the mystery project, pictured at left. I love working on this, but I'm trying to concentrate on gift knitting right now. I don't want to drive myself crazy, but I'd really like to make a scarf, two flower washcloths and a pair of mittens before Christmas. If only I could stop working until the New Year and just knit. Sigh.

In other news, I found a fall/winter use for the fabulous Rebecca tank I made last summer. I got tons of compliments on it, which was nice. And I felt very stylish in my new vest. So stylish that I decided I want to knit a proper one. Now I just need to find the perfect pattern.

And the time!

Productive!

That's my weekend in one word. Not only did I make vocabulary flash cards for the GRE, bake cookies, go grocery shopping, and take my dad shopping, but I also finished three projects! Woo-hoo!

Friday night I hunkered down and wove in all of the ends on the Rebecca tank. I even looked up the complete name of the garment: Sweater with Lengthways and Crossways Ribs. I love all of the literal pattern names in this issue of Rebecca (I don'’t have others to compare) , but this one is my favorite! Check it out!

Specs: Rebecca magazine'’s Sweater with Lengthways and Crossways Ribs from issue 25. 1.75 balls of Sirdar Breeze in light green. 3.5mm needles.






On Saturday, I washed the tank in the washer and set it out to dry. I celebrated the completion of one project by pulling out the supplies for another (Christmas stocking for nephew #2), and considered whether to cast on for something completely new, or finish up the Jaywalkers. Unable to decide, I chose option number three: make a dish cloth.


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Mock-Woven Tea Towel from Jimsy L Design. 1 ball Sugar and Cream cotton in the brightest colorway in the store. US7 needles.

The other day, I bought a few balls of kitchen cotton with the intention of making some dish cloths. What I love best about making dish cloths, is that I feel more freedom in color choice. I mean, the chances of my wearing lime green and yellow together are slim to none, but they make perfect sense for a dust rag.

Now here it is Sunday (I won'’t be able to upload this until tomorrow), and I found myself face to face with my lonely last Jaywalker. So, I finished that up, too!



Grumperina's Jaywalkers using Opal Rainforest yarn in Tiger. US1 needles.

I've said it before, and I'’ll say it again... these are the most comfortable socks I own. They are so snug! I love the wild pattern of the yarn, and it also feels nice. Modifications include changing the kfb for the increase portion to a lifted bar increase on each side, short row heel and short row toe (my first!). I have so much of the yarn left over, I'’m going to try to squeeze a baby hat out of it to donate to the hospital. Donating newborn hats is something I have always meant to do, but never got around to. Do you think the hospital would use such an unconventional colorway?

Word is there will be Internet access in my apartment at the end of this week! Will this translate into more updates? Tune in!

Actual Knitting Pictures!

These are hurried shots, taken this morning as I rushed around the apartment, late (per usual). First, the easy one:

Just the toe to go! These socks are very warm, and I can't wait to wear them this winter. Ooh! Won't they also be awesome for Halloween?!



Now for the hard one:




The tank and I are at odds again. I was so excited yesterday after I finished up the shoulders and took it off the needles. Then I tried it on. In a word: Wah. The arholes are too short, which makes the entire garment too short. I don't really know how I missed that! I'm not too upset about it, though. By my estimation, I'll only have to add another couple of inches, and the top of this tank, which looks pretty shapely, is actually just a rectangle. The ribbing makes the shape. Shortness notwithstanding, the tank looks cute! AND I think I'll be able to wear it this fall, also, layered under my brown corduroy jacket.

Speaking of fall fashion... reading Becky's blog has renewed my interest in fashion, and I've bought armloads of fashion magazines of late (though I've yet to purchase the September issue of Vogue, or, as I like to call it, the Bible). Is anyone else a little alarmed at the resurgence of leggings worn with belted sweaters and ankle boots? I look at those, and all I see is my favorite outfit from seventh grade: black leggings, belted tuxedo shirt (WITH bow tie), and black ankle boots. Or my favorite outfit from fifth grade: magenta oversized sweatshirt, black leggings, black Reeboks (I also had an oversized Mickey Mouse sweatshirt with the collar cut off that I worked with this look). And let's not forget my elementary school look of black leggings torn and fastened with safety pins, pink shirt with grid design, wacky shapes and tails. I might be legging'd out.

Seriously, it's for your own good.

I debated briefly with myself this morning over whether to take a photo of the Rebecca tank (I wish I could remember the name they gave it, it's so literal as to border on the ridiculous), and finally decided that it really looks pretty much the same as the last picture I took. Not that I haven't been working on it, it's just at that black hole stage where nothing seems to happen. I go around and around, and don't even seem to run out of yarn! Seriously, I haven't even changed balls yet! I haven't casted on for the second Jaywalker yet, because I'm afraid if I sacrifice one knitting minute to anything other than the tank project, I will not live to see it finished.

Last night, as I settled in to watch the end of A Sound of Thunder, I flirted with the idea of hitting up the stash for a new project. The crisp breeze of last afternoon had me thinking about fall, and Christmas, mittens and stockings. Maybe I could just cast on for one little mitten, maybe the tank wouldn't even notice. I gazed longingly at the door to the stash room, and picked up the tank. I knew if I strayed, I'd be punished severely. Maybe I'd find another break in the yarn, or get a terrible knot, or maybe, just maybe, it would become the tank that never ends, and I would be 85 years old, still working on this project, but knowing I'd never be able to wear it when it was finished. I worked a few more rounds.

I know it probably sounds like I'm down on the tank. Maybe you're asking yourself why I'm even working on it if I hate it so. But you just don't understand! I see the potential in this tank! I know what it could become, if only it would try to work with me! If I give up on it now, it will never realize the successfull tank it has inside! So I continue to work. Knit two rows, purl two rows, longing for the day I can begin armhole shaping.

Less heat, please.

I know the incredible heat has been the topic of blog-land for the last couple of weeks. Isn't it odd that it seems as though no matter where each knitter hails from, they are experiencing a heat wave? Could it be that we just find heat more insufferable because it interferes with our craft?

It's not interfering with mine. Much. Here's the tank so far:

The stitches do stick to the needles sometimes, which annoys me to no end, but I soldier on. The hardest part of this tank is its slow growth. That's stockinette striped with reverse stockinette. I'm not winning any races. But the finished product is so cute, I just look at the cheery photo in the magazine when I need a lift. (It's the first and third photo.) The sunlight did the color of this yarn no favors. It's actually a pale green, kinda minty, kinda sage-y. I don't usually wear or knit with green, but I find myself being more drawn to it lately.

I haven't cast on for the second Jaywalker yet, because the cotton tank is so much more brainless. My plan is to at least get the cuff (the part I like least) done this weekend. I can't wait to wear these projects!