this post has no direction . . .

the cable sweater needs to sit in the time-out chair today.

no new pictures of the cable. i still need to rip it back and re-do; i still can’t believe i did it wrong again . . . that’s what i get for knitting in front of the computer.

well, i just couldn’t keep my hands off the trekking XXL this week. i started those socks over last weekend, right after i brought home the yarn. i hadn’t knit with commercial sock yarn in several years, but i was curious to know what all the fuss was about. and i’m here to tell you, the fuss is well-deserved; this yarn is a pleasure to knit with both in the hand and to the eye. in fact, i think everybody in my class went home with at least one ball after feeling up my leg.

here sock #1; my one teensy-tiny criticism would be the torqueing i am getting on the ribbed cuff. i am hoping that will straighten out after washing. anybody have any input on that?

it’s an absolutely gorgeous day, so i took them outside to photograph. sunlight just does SUCH a better job for pictures than indoor light!
and a shot of my short-row heel for Persnickety Knitter.

she is going to do a research project of sorts on sock heels. go read her blog.

i also knit just a few rows on the holly sock (hmm i like that name!).

like i said, just a few rows. i might just be trying to see how sloowwlly i can knit this one . . . it’s called holly because that’s supposedly the color of the yarn; one of the 1980s colors.

while i was rooting around in my yarn closet yesterday, i decided to check on my UFOs. (persnickety’s query about moths made me a little nervous; thought i should check. phew, no moths) i only have four truly unfinished objects. one is a wrap i made for our wedding. after the wedding, i took out all the bind-offs so i could add on to it (why? i can’t remember). then, for some reason, i never did the work! honestly, i can’t remember why (maybe it was missing something and i just didn’t know what). and it’s a gorgeous wrap of K1C2 richesse et soie and douceur et soie. it’s practically edible.

we got married over thanksgiving weekend and it was my outerwear for the event (i also made the top to my outfit; if you beg me in comments, i’ll show pix. heehee!). i think we went to work out of town for a year right after that, and several projects got put aside. like this one

this is another wrap from that time. i am always cold, and i am fond of wrapping wool around myself to keep warm. not just shawls, but i have a few sarongs as well, which i wrap around my hips right over whatever clothes i am wearing (it works!). this is one that literally needs only a few more rows and some leather ties, as i remember! can you imagine that i abandoned it? but i think our plans changed, literally, overnite and we had to pack and get to a jobsite. my big projects just got left in the dust, i guess. i was planning on fulling it a little after the knit stage is done; not sure it really needs it though . . .

and then there is this one.

this one is more complicated. it’s a shawl based on a pattern from one of the modern lace knitting books by mariane kinzel (maybe rose garden? not sure). it’s knit with a laceweight wool yarn meant for weaving (as in forstmann wool for weaving coat fabric). i was working on this up until a very painful and disruptive series of events in 1996. i put it away and never really thought seriously about finishing it.
til yesterday. i’m warming to the idea . . . i mean, it’s pretty! and delicate. hmm. we’ll see.

the fourth UFO is a pine green zip-front sweater that i like. i think i have 2 sleeves done and maybe the back. i can’t think of one thing that went wrong or that i did not like. the only thing i can think of, is that, as i neared the encounter with stitching in the zipper and making a short-row shawl collar, i got scared-off. that’s how old this is; i still had enough wits to be awed by untried knitting territory!

maybe that’s what happens when you leave something long enough. you mature, and the stuff that scared you earlier just doesn’t have the same grip on you any more.