Any Day Now...

A quick post before I head to the store to pick up more tissues:

I have a bad sinus infection, so bad that I have coughed so much I've strained my back. Nice, huh?

In more uplifting news, I'm approaching the end of the shawl. I'm very excited to be finishing something else this year. Who knows? Maybe I can crank out two more items before the year ends.

Roughly speaking, I'm at about 80% on the shawl. I


My moms doing so-so. She goes for more testing Friday and then, for some insane reason, she won't get the results back for about 2 weeks. I need to do more research but I didn't think biopsy results took that long.

Anyway...I'm trying to decide what to cast-on once the Comfort Shawl is finished. I'm debating about the Flower Basket Shawl, Icarus, or Kiri. I was all set to knit Icarus but now I'm back to my fickle self.

We also have friends who are now the proud parents of a new baby boy. I've been thinking about kniting baby booties and a hat. I may eventually make a blanket but I just can't right now.

Recently I promised my son a sweater but not with a specific deadline. He hasn't mentioned it again but I know he remembers. I've thought about casting-on again for the Wonderful Wallaby or even Fife.

I'll think about it tomorrow.

A Little Knitting, A Little Frogging

Greetings and Salutations!

I've begun a few posts only to delete them. Unpredictable as life is, I thought I would seize this quick quiet moment I have for a short update.

I've been knitting contentedly on the Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl. Because I've been somewhat distracted lately, I keep making mistakes which has made this project take much longer than it should. There are several rows which have been knit 5 times, maybe 6. Fortunately, there has been a lesson learned. When I embark on an intricate lace pattern I will use stitch markers and not rely on my memory for row count.

Currently, I'm on row 116. I think I will need to knit 186 rows to get the size I want. Since the yarn I'm using is a cotton blend and I won't be doing any heavy blocking, I'm knitting more rows than I would if I were knitting with a material that were more responsive to the blocking process and if I didn't actually want a heavy shawl.



I'm hoping to finish by the end of the month. I have quite a few commitments and knitting is not my number one priority.

Once this shawl is finished, I had planned to try to knit a shawl in a lace weight yarn. The plan was to knit something pretty and lacy for me. My mother's health is not the best right now which means I may instead just knit something for her.

For October, I had planned socks for Socktoberfest as well as a couple of other items. However, with my knitting time being so limited, I have surrendered to the fact that it might be best for me to concentrate on one project at a time. All other knitting irons were removed from the fire.

Speaking of irons that were removed, I thought I'd give another glimpse of what should have been comfy little sockets/footies. It still pains me that I had to frog the pitiful little subject.



It felt wonderful on my foot. The splitting, unfortunately, was just to much to bear. I'm still undecided on the fate of the yarn and which yarn I want to try for this pattern.

There will be more socks in my future. I just don't know when.

At least I'm knitting.

So Sleepy

I look forward to each weekend thinking that I'll get lots of rest AND lots of things accomplished. With each passing weekend, instead, I seem to get busier. I don't remember my parents having so many commitments and functions to attend.

The knitting is progressing slowly. Now it seems I only get to knit for a few minutes during breaks at work. This is not condusive to speed.

After helping my son with homework, it will be time for bed as I can barely keep my eyes open. It's been this way for a few days.

There will be a full post after I'm well rested...and after I stop looking at people's projects in Ravelry.

Socktoberfest

Socktoberfest 2007 officially begins today. This year, it's a little less structured with those wishing to participate posting their pictures in Flickr. My plans were to finish the Breeze footies and to knit the Eastern European Footlets. By my guesstimations (I know that's not a word)I'd be able to finish both projects before the month ended.

Things have changed.

First, I no longer love Panda Cotton. The honeymoon is over and I'm not sure if we'll be seeing one another again. The balls I have in my stash my have to find a new home.

Eager to be able to slip the soft sockettes/footies on to my feet, I merrily knit. The yarn would split. I'd retrieve the stray plies and reknit the stitches. It kept happening, sometimes causing me to rip out the progress I'd made to start over.

Today, with the heel turned and the gusset finished, although I was knitting carefully, I somehow dropped a few of the plies when knitting a stitch. I didn't panic considering the yarn plies had been retrieved countless times before. This time, unfortunately, as I tried to pick up the lost plies, I dropped the rest of them. Then the stitch ran. Then more stitches came off the needle and were dropped while I was trying to fish for the original lost stitch. It just kept getting worse from there.

Now, I'm feeling a little torn. I had come so far. I had even begun to knit a few rows of the lace pattern. I can't begin again. Not now. It's just happened too many times. If this yarn didn't feel so good I would probably hate it. I can't decide whether or not to try to rip back farther back to the beginning of the gusset to try again or if I just need to pick a new yarn for this project.

I'll post pictures of the fiasco laterr.

Until I decide, I think it's time to pick a new sock project. Since I don't have the proper yarn for the Easter European Footies I think I may try the Crooked Cable Socks by Sockbug, Feather and Fan Socks by Judith Sumner, or Dublin Baby Socks by Ryan Morrissey.