What To Do

What to do on Friday night, when my brain is fried?  Plain stockinette is good, but I've done a fair amount of that.  But when the knitting needles slowed down and I just found myself starting blankly at the pretty yarn- well.  Either it's time to go to bed (a valid if boring choice), or it's time to wind up some yarn.

I've been reasonably good about trying to knit from stash this year.  Aside from vacation yarn from Ireland, which I'm sure you agree shouldn't count.  And a few random skeins that hopped into my basket at Webs.  (All but one of those are knit now.)  But if there's a weak point, it's sock yarn. Because it completely bypasses the rule that I have to have a project in mind to buy yarn- it comes with an implicit project- socks!

And so.   There I was looking at Holly's site to pick out a skein I won in a knit-a-long, and it turned out that the skein I picked was very gregarious and invited friends along.

So I pulled out the yarn from my sock yarn bag, and added the skein of Leyden (that's the one skein left from my Webs visit earlier this year) and got out the swift and ball-winder.   Biscuit was delighted- he loves winding yarn.  We had a brief disagreement about the extent of his participation, and I then had to dissuade him from trying to wrestle one of the new skeins off the table, but eventually he was convinced to lie down and supervise.

And by the time I had wound up the skeins and petted them, it was time to go to bed.

This morning, Biscuit continues helpful by sitting on my lap while I write this post (he wanted to sit on the keyboard, but he was persuadable to the alternative).  And I have no doubt that I will have assistance as I return to knitting, baking and other household activities.

Progress Report

Shortly after my last post, I had an inspiration.  It involved Christmas, and since the recipient isn't a blog reader:

The pattern is the Asherton reversible scarf, and the yarn is some lovely squishy wool I've been saving for a sweater (but I have way more than is strictly required, so the scarf won't jeopardize that plan).

The sweater for myself has been blithely pushed aside in favor of holiday knits.  

And the travel sock, though neglected, has made a bit of progress:

I'm just past the heel on the first sock.

And now I must get back to my various projects and plans.  Christmas is only (eep!) a bit over two weeks away!    

Turn of the Season

This morning I got up to a dusting of snow, the first of the season.  Well.  Actually I got up at a quarter of 4 AM and drank a couple liters of laxative.  Having incautiously turned 50 this year, I was due to go in for my first colonoscopy this morning.  The snow was just the secret toy surprise of an already ...ahem ...shitty ...morning.   (Sorry, there's just no other word.  The procedure went fine, and I now have ten years to hope they come up with a better tasting prep solution for next time.  Blegh.) While I'd heard plenty about the prep and procedure in advance, the one part they failed to mention was the effect of swallowing two liters of chilled liquid when you're already feeling cold.  Brr.  It took me ages to get warm after that.  Before you ask- room temperature wasn't an option.  It tasted disgusting enough cold.

However!  To take my mind off other things yesterday (those being the meals I wasn't eating), I put on an audiobook and finished off the latest pair of mittens that fell out of my knitting bag, and a pair of socks.  See:

One pair of mittens in a four-year-old size.  Cute.

Speaking of cute:

Biscuit says hi.  He was cuddling up this morning while I was trying to recover from icicledom.

The socks were a good deal more work- I'd poked along through the first one and cast on the second a little over a week ago.  In between there was a long weekend with a house party and lots of board games and socializing, so I made it to the start of the heel over the weekend.  From the heel turn to the cuff was this weekend.   Pattern is more or less the Seeded Rib sock from Charlene Schurch.   These are for me, and with the chilly weather, I'm pleased to have them done!

And of course the very next thing to do was cast on another pair of socks!  Self patterning, because, fun, and it's good for a traveling project.

Next up- finish that danged sweater!  And also, Super-Secret Holiday Knitting.  Shhh...