Long time no comment

I haven't responded yet to any of the comments I received in the last week. So here we go.

In response to my entry about giving The Perfect Gift, jkh said she bowed down to my gifting abilities. Clearly, I forgot to mention in my original post that, although finding that wonderful 'click' with the right gift is very important to me, it doesn't always come easily. :) And some are more difficult than others. My dad, for example, is a notoriously tough person to find good gifts for. I am still completely inspiration-less for him this Christmas, and I have no time to knit him anything. So don't think this stuff comes easily to me. I love it, but it's sometimes tricky.

Susan (who I'm assuming is this Susan) responded to my panic post with good wishes. For which I thank her profusely. :) It's actually not going too too badly right now. She also asked if I was subscribed to Knitty's designer list. The answer is no...but, now that I know of its existence, that isn't a bad idea. (Like I have time in my life for more email, but what the heck.) I do have another not-for-my-book design that I want to do pretty soon...maybe I can submit that, especially if they're putting together an actual book. I am intrigued. I am also severely pressed for time...but I'm intrigued. We shall see.

Secret Garden cardigan for niece

Ahhh. Done. Monday saw the completion of the left front edging, the right front edging, the weaving in of all ends, the choosing of a button (gorgeous, and from my own button stash to boot: mother-of-pearl set in a brushed nickel rim...or, if it's totally fake, that's at least what it looks like) and the sewing on of said button. Tuesday evening I soaked it in Eucalan to soften it up and then blocked it. The blocking was a bit of a challenge because the cardigan was way bigger than the blocking measurements said it should be. Oh, well. The child is not going to stop growing, so I'm guaranteed that it will fit her some time...even if that day is years in the future. Anyway, who cares, it's finished. I am revelling.

More and better pictures when the thing is actually dry. Yes, over 24 hours later, it's still pretty damp. Stay tuned.

(And sorry about the electric green. Those are our 'crap towels,' which I put to use for less noble purposes than drying off the bodies of my family.)

Cape Cod sweater for MIL

Good work forging ahead on this yesterday...but I fell down again today thanks to many tangles (insert swearing here). However, the very cool part is that I have started the underarm gussets. The patterned underarm gussets. I'm so totally jazzed about doing patterned underarm gussets. (For the moment, I'm ignoring the fact that the gusset pattern doesn't start until about ten rows in - thinking about that would reduce my jazzedness.) This will shortly be picture-worthy again.

Lacy shawl/whatever for baby Muth

It is with a sick heart that I admit here on this blog that I am probably not going to make this in time for the baby's birth. Heck...with all the projects I have planned, I'm not even sure I'll make this in time for the baby's first birthday!

The problem is that the lace is just not as nice as I want it to be. I know, I know, lace always looks like nasty noodles until you block it. I don't think that is my problem. The problem is that I used the wrong lace pattern to punch out the shawl's design motif, and it just looks weird, even when I stretch it out to see what it would look like post-blocking. I think I know what the right design should be, but even then I'm not sure it would look that good.

The problem is that the motif is not one which uses nice, 45-degree angled lines, thus creating a nice smooth edge along the outline of the shapes - which, from all the lace stuff I've looked at and the designs I've come up with that ended up looking like crap, appears to be necessary when working images in lace. So I'm either going to have to: a) do more lace research to come up with a way to do the motif which will actually look good; b) rework the motif so that it has 45-degree angled lines; or c) come up with a totally new motif which does have 45-degree angled lines. Any way you slice it, I have to frog everything I've done so far, redesign my chart, and give up the idea that this will be done before the baby comes.

I care not.

Okay, I do care...but not enough to let it stop me from producing the shawl the way I want it to look. I have a vision, dammit. Woe betide anyone who gets in the way of that.

So instead, this particular baby will be getting something else. I think I'm going to cobble together some celtic-looking cables (possibly of my own creation, possibly lifted from some of Elsbeth Lavold's Viking stuff), and do up a blanket instead. Fast.