One more day

Or, why I really should have thought a bit more about other projects while finishing up the honey baby blanket.

"One more day." That's what I have been telling myself for the last several days. One more day and I'll actually have something to show the blog. Of course, it's a bit tough to share new things (and by new things, I mean pictures) when weekends are the only chance I get to take pictures in natural light, but we'll ignore that for the moment, shall we?

So where was I? Right, I finished the honey baby blanket and then I . . . Well, I've almost finished a new pair of socks. The knitting is done - I just need to weave in the ends. Perhaps I should start taking bets on how long that will take. Actually, I really should get cracking on that since several of my go-to socks are showing some serious signs of wear. (Note to self: knit more socks)

I also almost finished Snug, an adorable and quick (when you sit down and work on it, not when you let it languish in the knitting basket) knit.

I've actually woven in the ends on this one but it still needs a bath and some buttons (and all of the ends need to be trimmed). I'll do a real FO post on this one when it's officially "done."

Let's see, I made some progress on my current black hole project, aka the alpaca cardigan that I'm making up as I go along. It took me a couple of days to work up the energy but I finally picked up stitches for the ribbing that goes up the sides and around the neck. There were a lot of stitches. I honestly don't know how many - I figured I would be more likely to finish that task if I didn't count (except for making sure that I had the correct multiple of stitches). I had some delusional hopes of finishing that sweater last weekend. This weekend may be a bit too ambitious, too. 

And then I frogged a few things. First, Bridgewater is off the needles and not in a good way. The pattern is lovely, the yarn I was using is lovely. But knitting garter stitch in alpaca laceweight yarn is not lovely. Not for me at least. I had to look at it too much in order to maintain something resembling a consistent gauge, and that cancels out much of the appeal of garter stitch for me: being able to knit while I read. There are several versions of this pattern on ravelry that are worked in malabrigo lace. I have a feeling I'll steal a page from that book once the stash diet is over.

I also frogged my Cardigan for Tadpole (loosely modeled on the popular Cardigan for Merry). I really liked how the yarn (dream in color smooshy) was knitting up in the pattern. But my sizing was off and I was agonizing about whether I'd have enough yarn for the hood. Plus, no matter how many times I started this project (3 or 4, I don't remember), I still couldn't get the join between the body and the cabled edges to look quite right. See that dip between the cable and the stockinette sections at the bottom of the picture? 

Ultimately, the pattern just didn't seem worth the amount of time I was putting into it. I'll give it another go soon (ish) in a heavier yarn. Now I'm flipping through Barbara Walker treasuries looking for a stitch pattern that matches the baby sweater idea I have in my head for this yarn. And if all else fails, this skein would make a lovely pair of Cookie A socks for me.

There's a secret project hiding in the wings, too, but it's for someone who reads this blog so I'm going to keep quiet about it for now.

Instead, I'll leave you with this since it's time for me to run and knit while watching the State of the Union:

(Nayyir and his toy beaver, who keeps him company while we're away at work)