Not so much. In seventeen days I got one sock finished. Not a pair of socks, ONE sock. And I was past the heel to begin with! There’s not really that much left to be done on any of these projects, I swear. The edging on the shawl, seaming and stuffing of the bear, duplicate stitching of details on the hat, and the little bit left on one sock plus the second. I literally have nothing else to do all damn day, what the hell happened??

I guess I can blame part of it on pain meds tho that seems like a cop-out to me. Really, I just couldn’t get into it. It’s like…if I have a deadline, even one as arbitrary and pointless as this (I mean, it’s not like it really matters that I didn’t get it done!) it makes me feel pushed and I hate feeling pushed. Hate hate hate. So even tho this was just for fun and only a “competition” with myself I think that looming deadline screwed me. Stupid, yes? Yes.

But, I did get that one sock done I’m totally happy with it even tho there are some obvious problems. You can see in this picture where the toe was done on four needles instead of the two she talked about in the pattern. I tried that, like 5 times, I just couldn’t get the hang of how tight it seemed working on only two. It was so much easier for me when I went ahead and did it on four but I’ve never been able to get rid of those ladders between needles. I’ve read and tried all sorts of different ways to help that but the only thing that’s ever worked for me is knitting the next stitch on the next needle when I’m done with one needle. Did that make any sense?? Anyway, I didn’t want to try that here because I was terrified of losing my place with the stitches constantly moving, I suck with stitch markers on :dpn:s. In the end I don’t really care, it’s my first sock ever and I love it I just turned the heel on the second so for these socks the largest part of pattern knitting is still ahead of me. I can’t remember how many repeats I did on the foot, I also suck at taking notes while knitting, but I think it was around seven or eight – double what I did on the ankle. Still, once I get into a rhythm I found it to be a pretty quick knit. Surely to :fsm: it won’t take me another seventeen days to have a pair!

Of course, part of me is asking myself why I bother when I won’t be able to wear the pair as a pair for 3 months or more…

I finally turned my first short-row heel!! I was confused as hell at first but finally (after four tries) got it with the help of the Cat Bordhi videos on YouTube (Wrapping & Turning parts 1 and 2). Learned something besides short rows, too – my bamboo :dpn:s suck for socks Not pointy enough, I keep screwing up stitches because of it. I am not going to stop and wait until I get different needles, tho, cuz I’m terrified that different needles will completely screw up my gauge and I’ll have to frog. Not a chance in hell.

The pattern suggests 6 repeats of the chart but I did four. I seriously dislike long socks, all I wear – ever – are ankle socks. Can’t stand having that much of my leg encased for some reason. So these’ll be short and I’m starting to wonder just how much of this yarn I’m going to have left over. I have no clue what I’ll do with it if it’s not enough for another pair…tho I’m sure I’ll find something!

And here’s North Roë as far as I’ve gotten. I realized after my last post that I’d miscounted the repeats and had to frog some – I had 6 repeats but the repeats are supposed to be for two sets of the chart, so really I only had three. Not a big deal, I just did what I needed to get 4 actual repeats of chart 1 and called it good. Then I got stuck. It’s not like chart 2 is difficult. It really isn’t. I just can’t seem to get even a single row done without forgetting a :yo:! I feel like a total bonehead, especially since I had managed to get a few before I had to frog! Argh. So, I put in a lifeline where chart 1 ended and put it away for a little while.

Here’s another thing about this pattern with this yarn. I’ve been reading Ravelry (heh, like I do anything else these days!) and loving all the lace related posts (very bad for my queue) but everyone seems to say that highly variegated yarn like this one isn’t good for lace because it “fights” with the pattern. I can see what they’re talking about but…that’s actually part of what I like about it. At first glance I see this crazy mish-mash of colors that I love all together, but then I look closer and there’s the pattern with all the different colors mixed up in there. It’s isn’t truly natural, I guess, but it does suggest the natural world because nothing is only one color. I love that about this yarn but now I wonder if I’m the only one who’s going to love this. Not that it matters, I’ll wear it proudly if I can ever get it done, but I do think about it. Am I just crazy? Am I missing some color-vs-pattern gene?

I’ve been thinking about that more the past couple days since I signed up for Secret of the Stole III I’ve always wanted to do one of these secret things but I keep finding out about them too late, I was so psyched when I found this one and it was still open! The designer says not to choose highly variegated yarns for it which leaves me in a quandary of sorts. I don’t really like single colors, it’s something I’m finding out about myself the more I knit. I just love color so much that I want as much of it, in as many variations, as I can get. You know how people laugh about their kids choosing mis-matched clothes to wear? A lot of the time I love those outfits! Within reason, I mean. There are some things I don’t like, I do have some taste, but I love mixing it up like that. It’s why I fell in love with the Trail yarn in North Roë. So for this I’m trying to find something that doesn’t have too many colors, something that’s very subtle, but still has some interest for me. Right now I’m torn between two colors of KnitPicks Shimmer – Sunkissed and Cumulus. I’ve got beads picked out for either one -Cream Soda for Sunkissed or Pewter Lined Crystal for Cumulus – and I’ll be ordering my stuff Monday or Tuesday. Squee!!!

Here’s a hint for ya – reading the entire chart is a big help.

See, there’s this column of knits at the very far left edge. I missed it entirely. I wondered why there would be double :YO:s but, hey, it’s my first “real” lace project. What do I know? No one else seemed to have problems with it, so I did some looking around at how to deal with double :YO:s and felt pretty good about having figured it out. It didn’t look quite the same as the other projects on Ravelry but I figured blocking would make it right. Heh. So, I got through 3 repeats of the first chart before I noticed that little column and the lightbulb smacked me upside the head.

Happily, I am now done with the first chart (did 6 repeats) and am happily working on the 2:nd:. Of course, it’s giving me fits. I really need to remember that I should not knit at 1 in the morning. On the other hand, I’m getting really good at tinking!

Other than all that, tho, I really do love this pattern in this yarn. It’s always changing, blocks of color here and continuously changing stripes. It’s really cool And all the problems will just give me an even larger sense of satisfaction when I do finally get it done!

So let’s talk about that time-suck, shall we? Actually, I guess there’s not much to say. If you’re on, you know why it’s a time suck. If not…I’m not exactly sure what to tell you except GO ALREADY!

I feel sort of bad for not being more active on the site. I have a browser tab open for it all day, every day. I’m constantly reading and looking for patterns, but somehow I just can’t make myself post more in the forums. Even the 103 (!!!) I’m a member of. I guess I still have a ways to go to get back to being comfortable in a public place.

It’s doing wonders for getting me organized, tho. I’ve actually put up pictures! Halfway decent ones, even. I still have :FO:s to put up but my :WIP:s are all there. I think.

Speaking of :WIP:s, it’s all because of Ravelry and my own site that I’m not getting more done! Well, that and startitis. I did finally manage to get the four squares I promised to the Atheist & Agnostic Crafters group but that’s about all. Of course, two of the things I’m working on are shawls…kinda large. One of which (Luna Moth) is being knitted in a wonderful alpaca that’s entirely too hot to work on right now

I’m really loving the other shawl, tho! It’s North Roë knit in KnitPicks Gossamer Trail (no longer available) so it’s much easier in the heat. Especially since I’m not all that far into it. The colors are just gorgeous! Yummy It took me several tries to figure out the pattern, there are some mistakes but not insurmountable ones. After that it’s super easy to do as long as you keep track of the repeats. Which, of course, I keep screwing up…but I still love it

Other than that I’ve been knitting super basic garter stitch cloths based on the info in No Pattern Knits. You know, where you cast on one stitch and then increase and decrease to get a square or whatever? I’m all proud of myself for figuring out rectangles for hand towels Sent some off to the A&AC group (for the mom of a very sweet little preemie), made a few for the house, did another to match my sister’s market bag (which, um, was supposed to be an xmas present…) Love super easy stuff I can work on without looking!!

OH! I picked up A Gathering of Lace from the library today I’ve been on the wait list for months and now that it’s finally here I’m just drooling over the beautiful patterns. I knew there’d be some I’d be dying to work on, it seems like every time I look through the pattern browser (you know where) the shawls I’m most attracted to are from this book. Now I just gotta pick one…or get someone to buy the damn thing for me