Back to reality

Thanks, guys, for the compliments on DD2's cuteness! I am actually quite surprised that we haven't all melted down into puddles around here yet, because she is cutecutecute like that pretty much all the time; and when you throw in the audio - adorable squeals and babbling - it just gets downright ridiculous. The best is when DD1 eggs on her giggles by making faces and jumping up and down. That's hands-down the BEST part of having more than one kid, when they find joy in each other. I am particularly lucky in that area because they adore each other. It's actually quite shocking, the lack of sibling jealousy/resentment in my home. (I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.)

(Okay, I'll pause here to get over my vorklemptness. Talk amongst yourselves. Startitis: sign of a creative and inspired knitter, or classic indication of a dilettantish procrastinator? Discuss.)

Alright, I'm back.

Although, speaking of cute, how great is this kid?

Well, as we all know, the crunch is coming down, with barely more than a month to go before The Big Holiday. Jo made me feel sooo much better about my current bout of Startitis by telling me I was not the only one. (Yes, I'm equally as bad!) The J really hit the nail on the head when she wrote, "non-pressure knitting isn't nearly so much fun as it is when you've got other things you should be doing!" How true it is. Lady, I'm sorry you are feeling a lack of inspiration right now...maybe you should try whipping up some Christmas knitting, that will probably make your other WIPs seem curiously appealing. Or, maybe look at other people's projects? (Hey, Elyse recently visited and found my Persian Tiles shawl inspirational, thank you so much, Elyse!) For inspiration, I prescribe a healthy dose of Ravelry. :)

Ragna for brother

No additional work has been done on this since the last entry, and I am resolved to keep it that way. I must admit that I had this crazy idea in the back of my head that if my gift idea for him this year didn't work out, I would somehow be able to whip up this sweater for him in time. (An intricately cabled sweater with a 50" chest and numerous other Christmas projects to complete. Yeah. My self-delusional abilities know no bounds.) However, I was fortunately able to get what I wanted to get him this year on eBay more-or-less within budget (a 1GB MP3/MP4 iPod knockoff...he will love it and I will be the best sister ever; it may even top last year's triumph, which was the Russell Peters 'Outsourced' DVD). Therefore, Ragna as a backup plan can now fall to the wayside.

Really.

Shut up, I'm serious.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

I did it. I got out the iron, ironing board and a wet towel, and did what had to be done. We now have pleats on the darts:



I also did a little steam ironing of the collar so it would generally stay put instead of sticking straight up.

As a bonus, I used the iron to hem the new kitchen curtains. They no longer drag on the ground - hurray!

I've also cut up the sleeve steeks. Next up: sewing them in. Blech.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

One sleeve down!



And one sleeve in progress:


(pictured next to sleeve #1 so you don't think I'm recycling photos)

Self-patterning socks #whatever for DH

I think someone's trying to tell me something. And that something is, "STOP WORKING ON THESE SOCKS ALREADY AND GET BACK TO YOUR PRIORITY KNITTING!!!"

First, as I mentioned in my last entry, I lost the fourth needle, so work stalled. But then I found it while taking photos for the blog, so work proceeded. Then I broke the tip off of one of the needles. Did work stall again? Hell, no. Turns out I can still use a DPN for socks if there's only one tip. Lifted increases are harder when the broken needle is the left hand needle, but it can be done. So I kept at it and made good progress. I really like the striping - I haven't even come to the end of a full colour cycle yet!



Unfortunately, yesterday evening I broke the other tip off of the same needle. And that definitely screws me.

Jack and Jill for DD1

I had originally started casting on with some leftover variegated yarn from another project. It's got lovely turquoises and lavenders in it, and it matched beautifully with some lavender sportweight that I have more than enough of kicking around in my stash. Alas, it became pretty obvious just casting on that there was not enough of the variegated left, so I had to try again with something else. Here's what I came up with:



Not bad. I think DD1 will like it. I just have to crochet the edges (including buttonholes) at the back, find some buttons and sew them on.

Inside-out comfort socks for BIL#1

Finished off the top ribbing on the leg today and cast off. I had DH (whose feet, as you may recall from previous descriptions of my detective work in this area, seem to be slightly longer and possibly thinner than his brother's) try it on. Alas, it was too long, although otherwise a good fit. I needed to remove six rows to make it fit DH, so I figured removing eight rows would be good for BIL. So I was faced with the prospect of cutting part of the foot and grafting it back together.

Most unfortunately, I decided to get fancy and graft before cutting. I thought this would make it easier. It did not. Once I got to the cutting part I found it was extremely hard to figure out where to cut, and I also found that some of my grafting had spliced some of the strands I was supposed to be getting rid of. All in all, it was an unmitigated disaster and I went through a fair bit of Grafting Hell before getting back on track. I now have one completed sock (although ends still have to be woven in).

Self-designed hat/mitts for Ariel Potwin

We got a call yesterday from my MIL, who told us that DH's cousin's wife had recently given birth to their second daughter. I had originally intended to make overalls for them, but I procrastinated on that way too badly, so instead I'm going to send them a hat-and-mittens set of my own design that I finished a while back but haven't given to anyone yet. It's very cute and I hope they'll like it.