Well, lookee what we have here

It showed up in the mail yesterday evening and I had it read before I turned in. Last night also happened to be SnB at my LYS, so I brought it along. The cartoons got a lot of laughs.

So - an instant classic, I'd say. If you get your hands on a copy, I particularly recommend "The Underpants Knitters of Great Fussing-on-the-Wold".

Even more exciting, though, was the news (from the comments) that my friend Gillian has spawned for a second time! I'm so happy for you!!! Many, many congratulations, this is fantastic and glee-inspiring news. Alas for not sharing a birthday with me, but yeah, they do seem to have a mind of their own on emergence timing.

And on the knitting front, we have pretty much nothing to do with Christmas. I'm not sure whether I'm procrastinating to increase the challenge factor, whether I'm no longer taken with the projects I set for myself, or whether I'm simply a total moron. You decide.

So what have I been working on?

Alpaca sox for DD1

Dunzo.

DD1 is still semi-keen on my using some of the remaining yarn for socks for her sister, but has also begun angling for Barbie clothes instead. I assured her I could do both with the remaining yarn. Seriously. I can't remember exactly how much I have left, but it's quite close to half the original skein.

Ragna for my brother

Okay, this is Christmas knitting, but it's hardly seen any action at all. The good news? I found the book with the pattern. The bad news? It had disappeared again this morning when I was trying to be a good little Christmas knitter and pack it so I could work on it during the commute. After scouring the house for it and almost making myself late for my morning train, DH (who had generously assisted in the search) theorized that he thought he'd seen it in DD2's nursery. Where she was, at that moment, sleeping...restlessly.

Bugger.

Needless to say, I did not end up packing the sweater today.

On the plus side, it is at least now to the point where I can begin shaping for the neck.

Justin's Blanket

Some time ago, I think I mentioned that it was my plan to make sweaters for the children of the sister of one of my best friends. This was my meagre attempt to express my serious, serious gratitude to the children's mother for letting me have - completely free, although of course I offered to pay her - all her kids' outgrown clothes.

Unfortunately, it appears that the children are heat generators and never wear sweaters because they are never cold enough to want to wear them.

In response, I pointed out that I could knit the kids anything, and that it didn't have to be warm sweaters, it could be cotton hoodies, or (for the girl) a cotton dress, or hat/mitts/scarf sets...whatever. Knitting has almost infinite possibilities.

Recently, I received the reply that the kids could really use afghans for snuggling under while watching television. Bingo! Here was something I could totally do and have a lot of fun with.

The boy's favourite colours are red and black, and I found a super-cool-awesome pattern: the Spiderman Blanket (first pattern in list) by AnneM. In keeping with the colour scheme I was given, I'm using red and black only instead of the more technically-correct-for-Spiderman red, blue and black (my husband keeps harping on the fact that the lack of blue is incorrect; I keep telling him where to stuff it), and bought a bunch of red Canadiana acrylic from Patons and black Berella "4" from Bernat.

So far?



Really cool pattern. Unfortunately, I've kind of hit a wall - I now have too many stitches to fit nicely on the cable needle. I am using a Denise needle for this, though, so it ought to be a simple matter to add another cable insert, right? Well, that would certainly be the case if I could find the second join that came with the freakin' kit!!! It really does seem to have vanished into thin air and I have no idea where else to look. I thought perhaps I could buy one of those extra cables, because my LYS carries them...but do you know that the extra cable packet does not include an extra join piece?!? Does that make any sense! Augh!!!

Ahem.

As for the girl's blanket, I'm still waffling on what to do. Several ideas are swirling in the brain. I may design my own or use an existing pattern. Stay tuned.

Black socks for some guy

This morning, since I'd hit a wall on the Spiderman blanket and couldn't find the pattern for my brother's sweater, I had nothing to bring with me on the commute. The despondency this infused me with cannot be understated. In desperation, I grabbed some black sock yarn and sock needles and started up a new pair of men's socks once I got on the train. No idea who's getting these. Maybe my dad. Maybe my husband. Maybe...I don't know. Perhaps my brother, if I can't find the damn pattern book for the sweater I'm trying to make him...