Friday, January 20, 2012

Work proceeds apace

My 12-in-12 challenge is going fairly well so far. I've got my first submission all ready to go. I haven't sent it off yet, though, because my second submission is going to be to the same publication, so I'm going to wait until both are finished and then send them off in a single package. The second submission is proving a little trickier because it takes way more swatching and planning and perfecting. But hopefully it'll turn out okay. I'm pretty excited about both of them.

After that I will be going full-tilt on things that need to be done for February. I've already made good progress on one thing: the Parfait cardigan I started back in June for the daughter of one of my bestest friends. Her birthday is in February, so that's the perfect time to give it to her. (And I made it in a pretty big size for her, so the fact that she's had half a year of growth since I started is not going to prevent it from fitting...I hope.) I'm on the very last tier before the neckline and am very pleased so far.

In progress, 2012-01-20

The other thing that's in February is my anniversary. In honour of it, I will be gifting my husband with a cardigan...for me.

I know that sounds weird, but there's a perfectly logical explanation. Bear with me.

Years ago, my MIL gave me Elsebeth Lavold's "Designer's Choice book one: The Viking Knits Collection" for Christmas, and enough Silky Wool yarn to make myself pretty much anything in it. (Later on she also gave me the PERFECT buttons for it, so I'm completely set.) I can't remember when I started it, but it was probably shortly after I got the book. I've been working on it excruciatingly slowly in fits and starts ever since - I think I have the back done and one side almost done at this point. And the amount of time that it's taken me to finish it has been absolute torture for my husband, who thinks it's a fabulously sexy cardigan and has been salivating at the prospect of seeing me in the completed garment this whole time. :)

Therefore, as a love present to him, I am planning to have it all done in time for our anniversary.

To that end, I went hunting for the book yesterday...and couldn't find it. This seemed very strange to me, since I was fairly sure where I had left it lying around and it was in absolutely none of the many logical (and some illogical) places I looked for it. I began to suspect, therefore, that perhaps my husband had taken it? To work on something for me for our anniversary, perchance? (He has admitted that my gift is going to be a knitted one.) So when he came home, I mentioned that I'd been looking for it (under the pretext of finishing off a different project I've got that also uses the book), and...wouldn't ya know it...he managed to "find" it really quickly. Now, I could be completely wrong about my suspicions, but the facts of the situation do make it a reasonable theory, I think. I have no idea what he'd be making, though. He's not a fast knitter, so I don't think he would be trying a sweater or cardigan. Maybe it's the Gram cap, or mittens, or the Tyra hat. We shall see.

And in between all this proposal-preparing and deadline knitting, I've been making some progress on other stuff. DD1's socks now both have legs:

In progress, 2012-01-20

And I'm getting ready to start the legs of the socks for DD2.

I haven't made any progress on DD3's giraffe toy, but I did at least take a picture of the one measly hoof I've done so far:

In progress, 2012-01-15

And I started and frogged the Tyrolean Mittens from Marcia Lewandowski's book "Folk Mittens". This is as far as I got:

Prior to frogging, 2012-01-15

I started them as a charity project for my LYS's charity knit night, but firstly, it turns out that charity knit night has now turned into just a regular knit night, and secondly, even though I went down to a sport weight yarn from the called-for worsted weight yarn, the mittens were still coming out really big. I love the pattern a lot, so I'll have to try again another time at a smaller gauge.

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