Absenteeism

I have all sorts of excuses for why I haven't posted all week -- I had a sinus cold that knocked me out for the weekend, and then my HLM gave me a very early Xmas present (a MacBook, which I have been getting to know for the last couple of days.) Between one thing and another, I haven't gotten much knitting done, to report on. I finished one of my Knetted socks, and cast on for the second, but most of my other projects look more-or-less how they did last week.

I'll find something to show you, soon.

Banumpkin Bread

What do you do when you have a couple of blackening bananas on the counter, but not quite enough to make banana bread? Mix them with some pureed pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving, and you have Banumpkin Bread.

Slightly orangier in colour than ordinary banana bread, but the banana flavour still predominates: four thumbs up in our house.

Urban Hat

There is a famous pullover pattern by Patons, the Urban Aran pullover: Jared took it viral several years ago by altering it into a cardigan. Funny thing is that there is a hat in that booklet that goes with that pullover (it's in the photo, if you look.) It isn't even on Ravelry, so if anyone bothered to knit it, they haven't been bragging about it.

What can I say: I am a wimp, in wintertime.
I spend six months of the year shivering, with chattering teeth, bundled up under layers of woolens. Even though it hasn't gotten terribly cold, yet, I have felt the impending winter. Wind has been squeaking past my legion of hats, to chill my ears. I decided to do something about it, and I remembered this Urban hat. I had a couple of skeins of Berocco's worsted weight alpaca in my stash, and thought that surely a double layer of ribbing made of alpaca, knit at a nice tight gauge, would be sure to keep out the wind.

Mmmm nice and snug.

Startitis

I finished the hat a few days ago, but don't have a photo of it, yet. In lieu of that, here is some proof that I finally cast on a cardigan the other night. You may recognize the colour and know that it is the beginnings of the Honeybee Cardigan that I swatched quite a while back.

I also cast on a pair of socks yesterday (the latest from Cat Bordhi and the Rockin Sock Club.) Four projects on the needles: twice what I would normally have, and a definite symptom of Startitis.

This is a Hat

I am telling you that because no one in their right mind would look at this firm little tube of ribby knitting and think they were looking at a hat. Nevertheless, it is one, and it even fits my big head. I've checked. Several times.

All will become clear when it is finished, little grasshopper.

Pomegranate Socks

And then there were two.

The socks ended up lovely, although they are a tiny bit snug.
I'm sure that will sort itself out when I wear them for a while. If I knit them again, I would either go up one needle size or knit the larger size, just to have a little more give. I only knit two pattern repeats for the leg, rather than five, because I was pretty paranoid about running out of the Hazel Knits yarn (again.) I ended up with a fair bit left over, so I probably could have gotten another repeat or two in there, but they would also need to be a bit bigger around, if they were much longer, so perhaps it's for the best, anyway.

I knit them one at a time, on two circulars instead of on double-points. It's the first time I knit socks on two circs, and I have to admit that I found it a bit fiddly. I kept finding that the needle not in use would get tangled up with the other one. Perhaps I just need more practice. I'm sure other people would consider using five double-points to be fiddly, if they weren't used to it.

Cute socks. Warm feet. Now, what's next?

One Warm Foot

Well, the snow has arrived, as of yesterday, which makes me glad that I am working on several wooly projects, right now. I finished one of the Pomegranate socks yesterday before work, and blocked it so it would look pretty enough to show off. I haven't weighed the leftover yarn or anything, but I am pretty confident that I will have plenty to make the second one, especially because I shortened the leg by three or four repeats. The second one is barely begun, so I guess I'll have to find other things to show you, in the meantime...

Distraction

I have been knitting, and quite a lot, actually, but I really don't have much to show for it: mostly what I've been doing is knitting up the sleeves on a new yoke sweater I started, and they don't look like much, yet, being as they are solid black stockingette. I've nearly finished the first of my Pomegranate socks, and yes, I ripped out the whole lace mobius wrap (sigh) and I started the first (and probably only) knitted holiday gift I am making.

But let's look at something else today, shall we? I found the Family Trunk Project a year or two ago, but I don't think I've ever shared it with all of you.

Emily Johnson is designing a series of garments inspired by the folks in her family tree. Look here to see them. There is also a series inspired by literary characters. Look here to see all of her designs. They are really gorgeous patterns by a great fiber artist, and you can buy them if you like, but the really lovely part about it is that you can pay for the patterns either with money (how old-fashioned) or by telling her a piece of your family history. Different designs will cost you a different number of pages of your family's story, usually between 2 to 4 pages. What a great concept!

Sneak Peeks and Swatches

As I mentioned before, I decided to make a pair of socks with the leftover yarn from my Damson. I found this pair over at Knitspot and when I pictured it in this lovely shade of yarn, it looked to me like a row of tumbling pomegranates. Since pomegranates are one of the symbols of the season, I thought it might be nice to knit them up in time for Samhain.

This is the Lichen yarn from madelinetosh that I purchased at Sock Summit. The pattern is a lovely lace mobius wrap, which you can see looks quite stunning in this colourway. Unfortunately I am running out of yarn at an astonishing pace, and I don't want this to turn into another Damson. I have a feeling this one might make its way into the frog pond and be re-made into something else. A shame, since the stitch pattern has been a real pain, and I wish I'd have something to show for my perseverance.

This is an adorable little swatch for the Honeybee Cardigan, out of Socks That Rock Mediumweight in a lovely light blue-green called Nyame. I have high hopes for this one, once I figure out how to size it for myself -- that's where the swatch comes in. This cardi will get properly started once I figure out what to do with the lace mobius wrap situation.

There is also a yoke sweater on the horizon, which I did a swatch for last night but subsequently ripped out after measuring it. It was only boring stockingette, nothing terribly interesting, although the sweater itself should be pretty great when it's done.