Two at Once!

I knew I'd never have the patience to finish all my projects before I plunged into learning how to knit two socks at once on two circular needles. I mean, I did buy that on-sale JoAnn's yarn the other day and I got an extra size 6 circ. I even boiled some water and straightened out a bit of the curl in the new needle so it's not so much like knitting with a Slinky! It's not so difficult once you think about it; it's very logical. Look--two rounds! I only frogged it once. Now I just have to learn to make the stitches a little tighter so there's not such a big gap, then I'll be all set.

I also cast on, knit the cuff, and started on the leg of the second Wool Ease sock. It's brown, cocoa brown, and dark green--dull, boring colors to knit in winter. But it's cold and snowy and I need warm feet, especially at work. And the sun came out yesterday, for the first time in over a week. I can knit any color; it's sunny!

And for my dearest Valentine of a husband, I'm knitting a dark brown dishcloth with a bat on it. He feeds the cactus-fruit-eating fruit bats in Bonaire and wanted some sort of bat souvenir but there weren't any. So I'm making him one. Shhh. It's a secret.

Baby, It's Cold Outside--and Snowy Too

Now that it has stopped snowing (for a day or two) I can take a break from shoveling and post my knitting from last week. I have to say I'm crazy about knitting in the round, on circulars or on DPNs; I love it. So I found a hat pattern in last fall's Knit Simple magazine for an earflap hat with a sassy tassle on top. Loved it. I looked and looked at Patti's Yarn Shop for big fat yarn to make it out of. I liked the look and feel of Lamb's Pride Bulky which was still too thin but Patti suggested I use two strands together. Duh. Bought a skein of red (of course) and one of charcoal. Sat down after supper that night, fired up the size 15 circs and knocked it out. It was so toasty warm it called out for matching mittens. Naturally I had bought the last skein of charcoal so I thought I'd make charcoal cuffs and a red hand. Great idea, right? Except I tried a new pattern from the same magazine and it was too small, which I only realized after I had closed the top and cut the yarn. Drat. Frogged that. Then I thought I'd just use the Quick & Easy Holiday Mitten pattern I got at Links & Loops holding two strands, charcoal and red for the cuff and all red for the hand. It kind of worked out but I had more charcoal than cuff on mitten one, so I had to make mitten two match. Close up it looks a little odd; far away it looks pretty good. I'm happy and my fingers are warm; that's the point, right?

Just so you'll have an idea of how much snow we got Sunday and Monday, here's a picture looking down the street. Notice the row of icicles on the gutter? The second picture is to show you how deep the drift just at the steps is. Thank heavens for snowblowers; without my big red Yard Machine we'd be hip-deep in the white stuff.

Finished With Forbidden Love--For Now

It was fairly quiet at work yesterday and after supper, and I finished the last (for the moment) pair of Forbidden Love Wrist Warmers. Yay! They will go into a take-out box and into a ricocheting Mickey Mouse box to be sent to a writing friend who just fixed up her first dedicated writing room. A girl needs her own space. I do love that pattern and the yarn is a dream to work with, not splitty or sticky, just right.

I also took some close-ups of the cotton vacation socks so you can see how interesting the striping is. I love that the old color comes back in little spurts for a while and the new color foreshadows itself. It needs a little more nylon or elastic or something because it's pretty saggy, but I wore the socks on the way home from Bonaire last Friday and they were comfy for all that walking, which is a very good thing and must be the acid test for handmade socks. Good job, me.

Sunday at the Frog Pond

I was feeling very accomplished and smug and speedy yesterday. (That's always a bad thing.) I had pulled out the second mitt of the Forbidden Love Fingerless Mitt, v. 5, and started knitting (on row 6) while watching CBS Sunday Morning. There were two pages with the pattern on them in the bag (it's a one-pager); they looked the same; I chose one and started knitting. I continued knitting while talking with DD on the phone (for as long as we wanted) and throughout the day. 'Long about 5 PM I looked at the row counter (48) and looked at Mitt #1. Hmm, they looked about the same length and I was just getting to the "bind off 4 sts for the thumbhole" part on Mitt #2. That's when I tried on Mitt #1 and held up Mitt #2 next to it. Same length. Drat. Rechecked the pattern. Turns out the one I didn't choose has many fewer rows between decreases and before the thumbhole part. Dang it. I stuck a needle in the fabric where I needed to frog back to and started ripping out, cursing my carelessness. I got down to the place to pick up stitches and realized that I couldn't do it because of the extreme fuzziness of the yarn. That meant I had to frog the whole of Mitt #2 and begin again. Of course, I had woven in the beginning tail because it kept getting tangled in the working yarn. I couldn't find it to unpick it; I had to cut it off. That meant that Mitt #2 isn't starting at the same color point as Mitt #1. Not that it matters, but I was feeling pretty smug that they were going to pretty much match (see above).

This is what happens when you get cocky--you end up sinking one day's knitting (42 rounds!) in the frog pond. Beware!

Finished Sock!

I discovered the other day that sock gussets are boring, even more boring than long cuffs or the foot. And I definitely need Kitchener stitch practice. But I managed to finish the first of the Wool-Ease socks, modeled by DH's shapely foot. Thanks, Dear.

I'm not sure what the Feb. Dishcloth KAL is making but I'm loving the colors.

Bloggers Poetry Reading

I saw this on the Yarn Harlot's blog and I thought I'd play along.

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading
WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2008
WHERE: Your blog
WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day
HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.
RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun.

Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.

Purification

on the night of the
new moon in april,
i ready myself for
spring cleaning.

while the earth
renews herself,
i search the winter-clogged
corners and open myself
to the zephyrs
of the season.

Pettiness is swept away first,
followed by
jagged-toothed Gossip.
flinging them to the wind
lightens my heart.

old Grudges and
Disappointments are escorted
to the edge of the property
and
kicked out.

kindling a fire with
Arrogance and Pride,
i dance around it with
Envy and Jealousy until
they reel dizzily
into the flames.

Selfishness nips at my heels
until i bundle it into an
old sheet and
put it out
with the trash.

Sympathy and Charity
are gently bathed and
nestled in soft flannel.

and Healing are rubbed
with scented oils to keep them
supple and lithe.

my soul dances lightly through its
clean house ready to
face a new year,
smiling and singing softly.

Barbara Malcolm

Scuba Knitting

With some careful pre-planning I managed to combine two things I love to do: scuba diving and knitting. It's a little hard to see but I have my five-inch Bryspun DPNs and the remains of a ball of dishcloth cotton. I'm not saying I'll make a habit of it but it was fun to do for a minute.