Taming the Beast

Recent cold snaps have been chilly enough for me to rescue my Saffron Cables afghan out of the bottom of the works in progress basket. The first pattern repeat is completed and the second is nearly halfway there, too. I've finally been able to find the pattern's rhythm and haven't had my eyes glued to the pattern charts. It makes for great TV knitting - lots of episodes of Monk and What Not to Wear have been sucked into this blanket. Bandit is trying to lay claim to it - every time I work on it, Bandit's on my lap with at least his head cuddled up to the completed work. Very cute, but it makes an all ready heavy project feel like it's made of lead! Sunday, I hope to be able to log a bunch of knitting hours on this between doing loads of Mount Laundry. :-/

I Me Me Mine

Knitting progress this past weekend was all about me. I did brave the snowfall Saturday morning to mail Grandmom's backup socks. Other than that, my knitting time was all about me, for me.

Hubs put the brakes on my late night shopping spree for solid color sock yarn from Knitpicks. Instead, I'm working through some of my stashed sock yarn which happens to be mainly earmarked for projects for myself. First up is a pair of Oak Rib socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. It's Opal Rain Forest yarn in "Fish". My attention was pretty lacking when I knitted the heel and heel turn and was 4 stitches shy of the pattern. Eh, design feature as long as I can duplicate it on the second sock.

Eh, not so fishy really.

Saffron Cables afghan also got some knitting time attention.

Up to row 41 on the first pattern repeat

Apparently, there's a mispring in the pattern. It calls for 3 75 row repeats, but it needs 4. *sigh* That means I'm only 13% completed on the cabled section. I could really have used a bulky weight wool/alpaca blanket this winter. I think I've opened another cream-colored blackhole!

Tonight's Bandit cuteness!

Bandit hanging out under my desk

The Lost Weekend

Looking back on this past weekend, all I remember was a lot of episodes of CSI and lots of knitting. Stressful week demands that I have a weekend to unwind, and that's exactly what I did for three days.

First off, I finished a pair of socks. I really tried to get these two socks to match up perfectly, but wasn't as lucky as my last attempt with self-striping yarn. Ssshhhh...these are a present that will be going in the mail tomorrow.

Plain ol' stockinette almost-matching socks

I realized Saturday night that I have a sock addiction. As soon as I kitchener stitched the second toe shut on the previous pair of socks, I casted on a new pair. Stitcking with the general grumpy, stressed-out mood I was in last week, I chose the Madder Ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. I'm using my new Lantern Moon DPNs on these and am enjoying them quite a lot. Definitely grippier than the Crystal Palace DPNs though.

Grrr.....Madder Socks

Sunday, I reserved a big chunk of time for knitting for me, myself, and I. Since it was 12° outside, the motivation for knitting a thin lacy scarf wasn't there for me. However, I did resurrect my Saffron Cables Afghan from the depths of the WIP basket. It was definitely bulky weight wooly afghan weather, and I was able to crank out 10 new rows of knitting until my hands felt like they were falling off.

Ready for Row 25, only a bajillionty left!

MMMMM...cabley goodness