My addition to eye candy friday:

Tequila. This is a pure “indulgence” photo - and one I’d really like to partake of more times than is probably wise.

As far as not eye candy — I am working on the worlds ugliest dischcloth. I had some Peaches & Creme stashed from waaaaaaay back, in color “pink lilacs” — a combination of pinks, purples, and white. Everything I’m really working on is on little needles with little yarn, so I wanted something mindless and quick to work on when my brain wants to disengage. So I decided to try out a dischcloth — worsted weight yarn on US size 7 needles — just what the doctor ordered. I’m working it in a feather and fan pattern (which I’ve never done before, and yes, I realize is not going to give me an actual SQUARE dischcloth). It’s fun, and I’m enjoying it.

But my gods what an UGLY creation. The colors, alone, are hideous — enought to make me thing “what in the FUCK were you thnking, Carrie?” — and then there’s the pooling on top of that. Hideous personified. But. But. It makes me grin every time I pick it up to work on it. And it’s going so FAST! So I’m pretty happy with it. And, after all, it’s going to be used for menial labor — how pretty does it have to be? It’s more than enough that I’ll get a kick out of it every time I see it.

Progress so far:

Icarus is growing, slowly. Mother’s bag is . . . .well, thinking about growing. Even more slowly. Hedera is pretty much being saved for “out” knitting — which means not getting much time.

In other news, I joined Lolly’s Socktoberfest.

I just really like the idea, and I’m pretty sure I’m never again going to be without a pair of socks on the needles, so it seemed like a good fit for me. I’m hoping to have the second Hedera done within the first couple of days of October, and at least one other pair (for Lily) compeleted by the end of the month.

We’ll see how that works out!

back again . . .

It seems this blog is often more about absence than presence. I’m working on accepting that, as it seems to be the best I can do.

As usual, the good news is that even though I’m not blogging, I am still knitting. I’ve got a couple of new projects, in addition to the old ones, and even one finished object!

Boring update first — Mother’s bag. This is such slow progress. It feels like I can knit forever on it and it just doesn’t grow. At all. That makes me want to tear my hair out. So this seems to be, again and again, shoved to the bottom of the WIP basket. However, I have finally reached the end of the first balls of yarn — and it all had to go somewhere, right? So that must mean that, despite what it feels like, progress is being made.

I doubt that this looks any different at all than the last progress photo of this candy-cane bag, but for the record here it is:

I’m thinking of making this my “at computer” knitting project rather than my socks. It is pretty mindless knitting, and maybe if I’m otherwise engaged while knitting it I won’t get so frustrated at its lack of apparent progress. I WILL have this finished by Christmas. Sigh.

I am also still working on the second Hedera sock. Progress so far looks like this:

That’s nine repeats of the lace pattern done on the leg. This one is not moving nearly as quickly as the first did, but I am still having great fun knitting it. Nate has begun Spanish classes, and I took Hedera with me to the second class (I thought I’d be having to participate, which is why I didn’t take it to the first class). The other mothers in the class were a little taken aback by my knitting at first, but once they realized that I would still be participating in the conversation, it didn’t seem to bother them, which is good. That will give me a 45-minute solid block to work on these at least once a week, so hopefully I will be done with the second sock soon. I find myself surprisingly tickled with the fact that these are for me, that soon I will be wearing my own handknit socks. I can not wait!

I think my next-up socks (for Lily, for real this time!) will be the Embossed Leaves pattern from one of the relatively recent issues of Interweave Knits (I don’t remember precisely which issue).

Okay, next in line — a finished object! These are for another friend of mine — Fetching handwarmers from Knitty, knit in leftover Kathmandu Aran yarn from Rogue.

I like these so much that I started another pair, out of a yummy soft green yarn that I had one skein of in my stash. It’s a DK weight, so they have a completely different feel than these do. I’ve finished one, and will be starting the second very soon. Pictures when they’re done.

Finally, my big new project:

Even the little details look just yummy, as far as I’m concerned. This is the Icarus pattern, by Miriam Felton, from the Summer 2006 Interweave Knits. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the pattern and the name (in fact, I’m not sure that the name isn’t the majority of my attraction to it, but I’m weird like that). When I started seeing finished shawls pop up in blogs, and saw how lovely they were, I knew I neeeeeeeeeeeded to knit this. I was craving serious lace anyway, but I think I may have been soured forever on Kiri. So I cast on for Icarus about a week ago, using Misti Alpaca Lace yarn in color 7120, a lovely subdued blue-green color, and US size 4 needle. (Much as I love my Denise’s, when I was swatching for this I was desperately craving some of these!)

I have, so far, completed 3 repeats of Chart 1.

This part of the shawl is pretty much brainless knitting — I’m finding the pattern so easy to read it’s almost impossible to screw up. I did have one error which I *gasp* didn’t go back to fix — I would have had to tink two long rows, and I was able to fudge a fix that I think is almost completely unnoticeable (hubby couldn’t pick it out, either). Other than that, the only issue I’ve had is forgetting to put in a yo, and that’s easy to fix on the next row — no ripping or tinking required. So I’m very much enjoying this knitting.

I think that’s all I’ve got on the needles right now. I just ordered the yarn to make my shrug for my little sister’s wedding in February. I decided on the Knitpicks Andean Silk in Pitch. I’ll have a look at it when it gets here and decide if I like it enough to use it for that purpose. This is the first purchase I’ve made from KP, so I’m anxious to see how I like the experience.

I bought Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush earlier in the month and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I haven’t decided which pattern I want to make first, but there are a few I plan on making. When I purchased it, I had a nice chat with the lady in line behind me at Border’s. She told me she had made several of the patterns from it, and really enjoyed them, so we talked a bit about knitting. She was somewhat surprised at how recently I started knitting, and gave me a card — apparently she does private lessons, and will also meet with you to help you “fix” your knitting. It was pleasant, and for some reason, surprising. I just don’t know many knitters in real life, so running into one in such a random manner was quite unexpected.

I hope to be back with finished socks soon!

My Gramps, my last remaining grandparent, died exactly a week ago.

I have been traveling (to Mississippi) and dealing. There has been some knitting done, but I’m not up to sharing it right now — I’m still pretty emotionally wiped out.

Just wanted to update on where I’ve been.