Not much time or energy to post, but since I had the kid around and willing to model, I thought I’d share some pictures of the sweater in action. We had one of first really chilly mornings today, and when Nate saw that I was wearing a sweater, he wanted to wear his too. Why not? And he actually kept it on all day; he seems to really like it.

(You can click on any of the following pictures for a bigger photo.)

That’s all for now!

Maybe I’ll get better as time goes on. It’s not that I don’t think of things to write and reasons to update, it’s just that there’s so much else to do; and somehow I let the at least somewhat productive stuff that I like to do for myself to get pushed toward the bottom of the list. I end up just wasting so much time rather than doing something “useful.”

Oh well. I was all excited all day about doing a blog update, and now that I’m here I’m exhausted and drugged (migraine meds plus bronchitis meds, not fun for me) and struggling to remember what I wanted to write about.

But I have pictures, so I guess I can start there!

First up, Mother’s bag. Last time we saw this, it was just barely started. Now, it looks like this:

It still looks, to me, somewhat like a candy cane. And in fact, when Mother saw it while she was here escaping from the hurricane, she said “Ya know, Carrie, it does look kind of like a candy cane!” She was adamant, however, that she didn’t mind the candy cane factor and really liked it so far. (Now I’m stuck trying very, very hard to resist the temptation to line it in bright green fabric, since it’ll probably be around Christmas time when I give it to her. I think I’ll be able to resist, but it is oh so very tempting.)

Next up in the picture parade are the pictures of Nate’s sweater, actually 100% completed — zipper installed, ends woven in:

He wasn’t around to model it when I was taking pictures (outside playing golf with Daddy!), but it’s still pretty big on him. He’ll probably be okay wearing it this winter, but it looks pretty big — so I’m almost thinking he’ll be able to wear it next winter too (a girl can dream, right?).

Here’s a close-up of the zipper:

I am pretty ambivalent about the zipper; I’m still considering ripping it out and trying again. I don’t think it looks bad; it just doesn’t look good. So I’m going back and forth with myself over whether I’m going to do it again or not. Nate, however, LOVES it. He threw his arms around me the first time I put it on him after I truly finished it, saying “Mama! You made me a sweater! I love it! THANK YOU! Yay, I have a sweater!” And he’s asked at least four or five times to wear it (continuing summer weather notwithstanding). That makes me feel pretty damn good.

The final thing that I have pictures of is my new project — Kiri. I was going through lace withdrawals, I think — after doing Branching Out I figured out that I really, really love knitting lace. So I finally started, and I am loving it. I just finished my third repeat of Chart 2:

I am using Skacel “Merino Lace” laceweight yarn, in a very light gray/silvery color. It’s very nice so far; different than the Kidsilk Haze (which is what I used for my last lace project). I really loved working with the KSH (which I understand makes me some kind of masochistic freak) but this is definitely easier to deal with. The shawl is moving along very very quickly, more so than I imagined.

This is my first shawl, and my second ever lace project — much bigger than my first one. I think it’s a great pattern for me; I feel like I’m learning new things, I’m not getting bored, but it’s easy enough that it’s going by quickly and I’m getting quite a bit of “instant gratification.” (I’m sure that will change as each row gets longer and longer, but for now I’m reveling in how fast the thing is growing.) It took me a while to figure out how to make use of the stitch markers, since they need to change places on every right side row — what I eventually started doing was removing the markers on the WS purl rows. Since I figured that out and started using the markers, I haven’t had to rip out more than two or three stitches at a time because I’m checking my work so often. Usually, I’m really good at “reading” my knitting, but I’m only just getting to that point with this pattern — it took a while for it to “come together” in my head. Now that it has, this is nothing but joy to knit!

My goal is to have it done by the time my husband’s company holiday party comes around, so that this time I will have something to wear over my shoulders!

Well, shit. I thought I was going to have time to wax philosophical about the role knitting has come to play in my life, and how I’ve come to rely on it, and some other deep insights — but we apparently just dove headfirst into another crisis around my house. Oh hooray.

I finally (finally, finally) finished Mother’s socks last night. (I actually finished the knitting two nights ago, and finished weaving in the ends last night.)

And then went a little overboard taking photos:

That’s about a tenth of the pictures that I took. (If you’re feeling really brave, you can see my very scary ghost white legs, along with a more zoomed out view of socks.)

Some details:

• Yarn: Elann’s Sock It to Me, in Mom’s favorite bright red (I don’t know the actual color name)
• Needles: US size 4 DPNs
• Pattern: Retro Rib Socks, by Evelyn A. Clark, from the Winter 2004 Interweave Knits
• Time: I cast on for these sometime before Mother’s Day this year. I finished them on October 6. It took an embarrassing amount of time to finish them! Part of the reason was second sock syndrome; once I finished the first one, it took me a long long time to be ready to do the second one. The other part of the reason was simply life getting in the way.
• Modifications: I shortened the toe a little by starting my every row decreasing (instead of every other row) a little early. Other than that, I knit them exactly as written.

Once again, I’ve got a finished product that I’m very proud of. (I may have to give up this knitting stuff — if I keep feeling this accomplished and proud of myself, I’m going to end up really full of myself!) I put them on to check the fit, since Mother and I have very similar sized feet, and I did NOT want to take them off. I can’t wait to make myself a pair!

When we evacuated to Mississippi to get away from Rita, I took the finished first sock with me to have Mom try it on and see if the fit was as good on her as it was on me. She tried it on, said “Yes, it fits” and promptly took it off again without making any comment about how it felt. I was a little disappointed. But Nate was playing with her, and made her put it back on — and when I went back in there about ten minutes later, she said “Carrie! These are great; they’re SO comfortable. They feel really good! Once you finish these, I need a pair in blue, and one in black . . . ” Apparently, she just needed to wear it for a while to realize how glorious they are. When I told her that I wasn’t sure I could give them away after I tried the first one on, she decided that she needed to keep the first one with her “just to make sure you don’t get any ideas.” I managed to convince her that I needed the first one for comparison, to make sure that both socks came out the same.

She’d have probably been smarter to stick with her original plan of holding the first sock hostage. This is my very first pair of completed socks, and I’m really really (really really) fond of them . . . .

So, what’s next? I might continue working on Mother’s bag (last time we saw it, it looked like this and that’s exactly what it looks like now. This is a fun knit, but it’s been set aside for finishing the baby blanket and the socks. I’m looking forward to getting back to it. But I’m also craving lace again — my next lace project will be Kiri and I am really ready to swatch for that. Plus, I’m staring my first sweater for me right in the face. I’ve pretty much decided on either Rogue or Eris (some decision, huh?) from the girl from auntie. Now all I’ve got to do is get the yarn and get knitting . . . . maybe I’ll work on all three projects at once, since I don’t have anything else on the needles at the moment? (Oh yeah, and I really do want to start socks for myself . . .)

Speaking of sweaters: I finally got the zipper put into my son’s sweater, and I am working on weaving in ends! Photos to come next time. (Hopefully that will be sooner than the previous pattern of posting would suggest.)