Command Performance

"We ran out of internet," they say. "Make more!"

I know I've been lax in the posting department, but give me a break!

Here's some stuff I made.

It's a cupcake! I love useless stuff. I love knitting useless stuff. In fact, I bought a whole book about knitting useless stuff.

Here's what my next useless thing will be.

Piggies! The best part is that you sew snaps on the baby piggies' noses, and the other end on the sow's tummy. They're so damn cute!

Here's something else I made.

It's another calorimetry--who's surprised? I really enjoy the way the variegated yarn worked with this pattern. This is yarn from Mom's stash--thanks, Mom!


I cast on the Second Ho, and as you can see, I haven't gotten very far. I haven't had the time and quiet necessary for knitting the cuff. I'm going to make the time soon, though.

Finally, I'm working on a hat! I'm planning to donate it once it's done. (I have to admit, I'm getting a little bored with this hat.)

I'm still working on my bias scarf, but I don't have any new pictures of it.

I'm not feeling terribly clever or witty at the moment, but here's some new internet! Happy knitting, everyone.

New Sickness

Obviously, in view of the fact that I'm now taking antibiotics for my ear infection, sinus infection, and conjunctivitis, and am starting to get over those ailments, I've been bitten by another, more serious bug.

Startitis.

I've got it bad.

I think it's probably because of all my new yarn. I have pretty new toys--I want to play with them! Most tantalizing of all, I bought my first laceweight. A totally new challenge. So I got to thinking about lace, and I asked a few people about good lace projects. Someone mentioned that Ice Queen is pretty popular. So I went and took a look at it, and it's lovely; I started plotting, and reading the pattern, fantasizing about my gorgeous, soon-to-be-realized new Ice Queen... and then I noticed the pictures of the bottom edge. I am very much not in love with the big scallops. The smaller ones at the top are perfectly acceptable, but not the huge ones. Not for me. I thought for a second about modifying the pattern, but then I decided that for my first real lace project, I should try to find a pattern I won't mess with--and therefore likely mess up horribly.

But at this point I've been picturing myself all elegant and '50s movie star-esque in a wimple/cowl thing, right? So I go to Ravelry and search for patterns. I think I've decided on one: Wavy Feathers Wimple. (Although I hate the term "wimple." Makes me feel like I'm considering joining a cloistered order, or something.) The picture on that page doesn't show the lace well at all; if you're on Ravelry, there are some good pictures there. The pattern includes directions for either laceweight or fingering weight, so I could use my pretty new laceweight... or I could go completely crazy and use some of the Knit Picks Gloss (merino/silk) that I picked up at the same time, therefore saving all the laceweight goodness for a large-scale project like a stole. In fact, I think I will use some of the Gloss. Now I just have to decide which color! (It'll probably come down to "Which color do I least want to make socks out of?")

I'm dying to start this thing--I briefly considered running home at lunch to pick up needles and yarn, so I could at least cast on before I leave work at 5! Never mind that I have all evening free to cast on and knit to my heart's content--I seriously considered giving up my eating time in favor of project-starting.

Oh, and I also want to cast on the piggies tonight. It is the pattern for today, after all.

Startitis: It's no joke. Protect yourselves and your families.

Ahhh!

I feel better now.

I didn't start the piggies yesterday, after all--I was too busy with my new, glamorous accessory. (In the end, I went with the Gloss, in "Woodland Sage.")

First my time was occupied by winding the yarn into a ball.

In my next life, I'm getting a swift before I get a ball winder, instead of the other way around. Or at least I'll be sure to learn the lesson that patience pays off. Maybe that way I won't end up with a huge tangle of beautiful yarn that I eventually cut in order to allow me to start knitting with what I have managed to ball, depending upon the kindness of strangers to untangle the remaining mess for me. Okay, not "strangers"--my friend Aaron. He's pretty strange, though. (Thanks, Aaron!)

This yarn is fabulous to work with, and I'm using my new ebony dpns. I'm so ridiculously satisfied by knitting this! I was sitting there last night, knitting along, all serene and pleased... and suddenly I noticed that I had finished the first round of lace, but my stitch marker was one needle ahead of where I was. Rats. But I refused to let that small setback damage my serenity--I just moved my stitch marker, and continued on. Peaceful. And suddenly, I had one too few stitches. Crap! Oh, well--I just knit that last one, instead of ssk-ing. On the next round, I had one too many stitches. Dammit! The solution? SSSK. Ta-da!

If anyone says a word about my promise to myself to go back and fix errors instead of knitting over them, I'll smack that person.

I figured out what I did to mess up, and I vow not to let it happen again. My feeling is that if someone is looking closely enough at my head covering to spot a small error in two rows of the bottom half of the first lace motif, that person is way too interested in my neck and should either get a life, or a wooden stake through the heart. So there.

Because the rest of this thing is going to be beautiful, error-free, and serene, dammit.