Another new project

We were going over to a friend's house a week or so ago and I realized that I wanted an easy knitting project that I could do while chatting, drinking and watching TV. Frankly, most of my projects right now require careful attention or counting or otherwise don't lend themselves to casual knitting. So... I cast on again.

I had a bunch of acrylic yarn in the garage that I'd started a Tunisian crochet afghan with. There were a couple of things wrong with that -- I was getting a lot of RSI from doing Tunisian crochet, and a whole afghan's worth was going to take forever; and Tunisian crochet, being very dense, uses a LOT of yarn. There was no way I had enough for a Tunisian afghan.

I hadn't done very much -- about two panels out of a planned five or six, and they hadn't been edged or joined. So I decided to start over and knit the afghan.

I really wanted the look of cables, but I knew I didn't have enough yarn for that. So picked a simple lace pattern that, unblocked, has something of the look of cables. This is acrylic, so it's not going to block out. It would look different blocked, and I might try that sometime with wool, but frankly I like it just like this:

I have been naughty.

Good thing it's not near Christmas or Santa would yell at me! I have been casting on new projects without finishing old ones. There is so much to show you that I keep neglecting to show it all in blog postings. And I won't fit it all in this one either.

One fast knit was this little hat for my friend Ronise, who's undergoing chemo. This is the kind you can wear a scarf under, but it's also alpaca so very very soft if it wants to be next to the skin.

My aunt gave me a beautiful ball of Filatura di Crosa Gioiello that she bought in Italy, requesting I make it into a scarf for her.



Well, 200m of yarn isn't much, so I knew it would have to be lace of some sort. I decided to make Red Skies at Night [Ravelry link], and I'm enjoying the knitting process — it's a nice lace pattern, just complicated enough to keep your attention, but easy enough to relax a bit — but I am not liking the fabric at all.

I'm thinking I need to use smaller needles (these are US #4s) and maybe a more-stockinette pattern, something like a small version of Clapotis. Just not sure. Any opinions? This just doesn't seem like it's doing justice to the yarn.



More new stuff in the next post!

Welcome to the Teenies!

And Farewell to the Noughties*, at last. A decade I am really not sorry to see the back side of.

I know it's been ages since I posted. First I went on a little road trip and visited The (sadly blogless) Grace, and Earin and her menagerie. Why no photos? Because when I got home from the trip, my nearly-new 8gig SD card had a corrupted directory sector. In lay terms, that means your computer or camera can't properly read the disk, even though your data is still on there. Rob is working on some sort of computer program to pull out the photos but in the meantime, I can't share with you. Earin has some photos on her blog, though.

But I bought another card when I got home! So I can at least show you the yarn I bought on the trip, just a little bit of Mini Mochi (which I'd heard about and not seen before):

Really the operative phrase is "not touched", because this yarn is mind-bogglingly soft. I bought two balls of each of the colorways above. The ones on the left are for socks for my friend Pat; I don't know about the ones on the right, yet. It was just too pretty to leave behind.

Rob got some nasty bug — either a really bad cold or swine flu — followed by a sinus infection, but he was over it in time for us to have a great New Year's Eve party.



We had three sets of house guests, including Becky, Mike and Jen, and Jess (all the way from Australia). Here is Becky at the wheel of our friend Greg's awesome Tesla:

And here is Jess admiring her investment in a pair of Jimmy Choo's:



I've managed to come down with my first sinus infection since the surgery. I'm pretty down about it, but I am getting a little bit of knitting done. I finally finished the mitts for James in Afghanistan:

Though I've just heard that (1) he's coming home early, at end of February and (2) he has to work in a room he refers to as "the boiler room" because it's so hot. So I'm not sure how much use these will be to him, but I might send 'em off anyway. I don't know what else to do with them — they certainly don't fit me!

Hope your Teenies outdo your Noughties!

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* – a book by my friend Tim which is really worth a read