I'm also tempermental

I think I'm going to frog the sweater. I just don't like the striping, but I didn't like to give up that much progress just like that. I asked a few friends for their opinions on the subject, and everyone voted for frog. I'll let it sit a day or two, and meanwhile, it's back to the socks for me.

Well, I never said I was monogamous.

I'm afraid that I am going to have to abandon my beautiful socks for a little while, much to my disappointment. I have another project with a much closer deadline. I decided to knit the Owls sweater for the cables on your chest KAL, and the deadline is next Monday. This is all I have:

So I need to get crackin'.

I have a new MO for holiday knitting

Remember that pic I posted yesterday of the sock? I just finished it. FINISHED.IT. Holy crap, that's a personal record for sure. I watched 3.5 MASH DVDs this weekend, and knit like the wind. I have decided that I will be doing all of my holiday knitting to a MASH soundtrack, effective immediately.

Please forgive the crappy iPhone pic. I'm too lazy to get out the ol' digital cam. I gotta go CO the second sock-it would be a shame to fall victim to second sock syndrome after setting a new record lol.

A cowl and a sock walked into a bar...

My nifty little Christmas knitting deadline countdown informs me that I have only 33 days to finish my holiday knitting, so I've been knitting like a fiend. That doesn't mean I can't be distracted by pretty shiny new projects for myself though. A week ago Thursday, the lovely Muriel (bffofwendy to those in the plurk/ravelry world) decided that we should do a friendship KAL. She had secretly gone and bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo silky merino, and all we had to do was pick a pattern. I would never have picked a cowl, because, to be honest, I thought that cowls look a little ridiculous and stuffy. With only 1 skein of yarn each, we had to pick something relatively small, so we ultimately decided on the Noble cowl (rav link).

I knit a little bit faster than Muriel does, so I gave her a decent two day head start. It's not my fault that she frogged her progress and started over. Anyway, I finished it on Tuesday. A picture was demanded of me wearing it, so I'll post it in all of its iSight awfulness. I think it looks pretty good on me despite the camera:

I decided to knit a slightly smaller size than the pattern called for by removing 1 pattern repeat. I also didn't knit the last 14 rows, because I am pretty small and didn't want to suffocate in the darn thing. Here it is in properly photographed glory:

Moving on to holiday knitting, I'm knitting a pair of socks for a friend for Christmas. She has no idea that she's getting socks, so I hope she'll like them. I'm knitting Wendy's Lace and Cable Socks using Tempted's Bah Humbug Good Grrl.

I've had to frog the past 2 socks I've tried to knit because I simply didn't like the pattern. It is a wonderful breath of fresh air to knit a pattern that I love. I started the pattern portion of the sock last night, and I've already completed 2 full pattern repeats! I hope these will knit up quickly. I'm slightly worried that I won't be able to give them away.

On my holiday knitting to-do list:

1. I need to finish my Owls sweater by Nov 30th in order to be eligible for prizes in the KAL. I have 1 sleeve left before I start the owls portion (circles the shoulders). Cross your fingers that I can find the motivation to finish it.
2. I wanted to knit a pair of socks for Mom. I have the yarn, but I'm not sure what pattern to do.
3. DH should probably get a pair too, although hopefully he'll understand if I'm not finished with his until January.
4. I'd like to knit an Odessa hat for another friend, but I'm not sure.

Happy (slightly early) Thanksgiving, and good luck to anyone else under a knitting deadline.

I have excellent frogging skills

I was knitting along, minding my own business. I worked on Mom's mock cable socks at SnB last night. They looked like they might be too small even though I went by the length. I continued to knit anyway. I then proceeded to FUBAR the heel flap (ok, I could have just ripped out the heel and fix it, but I was already frustrated with the sock, so I declared it FUBAR). Then I tried the sock on, and it fit me perfectly. That is all fine and dandy, except for the minor detail that Mom's feet are 3 sizes bigger than mine. I had initially planned to only frog down past the gusset and just make the socks longer. After long consideration (a whole 30 seconds), I just decided to frog the whole sock. I wasn't really happy with it anyway (it almost never takes me a month and a half to knit half of a sock). I looked through Wendy's book last night, and I found a few patterns that could be cute with the yarn I'm using (Tempted Good Grrl Circle of Friends). I guess I'll be starting fresh this weekend.

I'm off to spend the weekend at Tempted's house again. I love going to my happy place. :) I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Stan's done!

Last night I finished my Stacy Shawl (aka Stan)! It took me approximately a week and a half. It obviously still needs the ends weaved in and blocking, but I am finished nonetheless.

What am I going to do next, you may ask? I am going to cast on another shawl, of course. I also have a lot of Christmas knitting to do, and I have to finish my Owls sweater by Thanksgiving.

Moving right along

Here's the progress so far on my stacy shawl. I've just started chart C. I'd like to think that I'm halfway done, but since each row is longer than the last one, I'm fairly certain I'm only 1/3 done. I had to switch over to a 47" cable just to stretch it out enough to be able to photograph it nicely.

Here's a closeup of the pattern:

I can barely believe that November has already arrived. Last night I realized that my owls sweater for the cabled sweater KAL is due on Thanksgiving, and I am totally guilty of neglecting it for any pretty new distraction to come along. I keep thinking of Christmas presents for everyone, but I'm beginning to realize that I cannot make everything I want in time. I should have started a long time ago I think.

PSA: My stacy shawl has been christened "Stan."

My Stacy

Here is my progress on my stacy shawl. I just finished chart A, and I am loving it. The shawl is sold as a kit-you get the pattern and 2 skeins of Tempted Luxe Grrl. I love the simplicity of the pattern and the softness of the yarn. The colorway is Sidra. The only change I made was to do a twisted long-tail cast on instead of a provisional cast on, so one small part of the border will be thicker than the rest, but I can live with that.