Knitting by Numbers

Number of major Christmas gifts still not finished knitting: 1
Number of individual (modular) units making up this project: 84 (!)
Number modular pieces knitted so far: 26
Number of additional minor gifts I'd like to do, ideally: 10
Number done: 0
Number of "gift A": 8
Number of "gift B" (which is a sweater for a gorilla :): 1
Number of "gift C" (which is a scarf for a dragon:): 1

Number of all of these that are for readers of my lil blog: 10

Number of posts actually containing current knitting pictures said readers of blog can expect before Christmas: very very few.

In other news, I wore my hat on the long walk from the parking lot to work this morning, and at 34 degrees out it kept me nice 'n toasty. And not itchy! Yay, baby alpaca!

To tide the blog over, here's a picture from June of my first magic loop sock. I finished it a few days later. There is not yet a second sock, which is why I haven't really posted about the project. But eventually there will be! Hey readers, what's the longest you've taken between 2 socks of a pair?

FO: Peekaboo Cloche from Lace Style

Here she is... finished on Sunday, blocked on Monday (isn't that part of a children's rhyme?). The washing/blocking really made it super-soft and drapey, which is good and bad; I love the softness, but kind of wish it had a little more structure. It's definitely a bit too big; I'm considering folding it in on itself a bit, but will probably test wear it a few times. Should have gone down a needle size! Ah well, I have a small head :)

The only good pictures I could get were in the bathroom (best light) with no flash. So excuse the inanity of this one:

And here is the lovely pentagon decrease at the top:

I've come to the conclusion that I really like lacework - the way the pattern develops, the interesting stitching - but I don't think I'd have the time for anything bigger than this hat. I was coming home from work in the evening and getting 1, maybe 2, lace rows done, which is not conducive to quick finishing by any means. And the rows were only 90 stitches long! (er, wide?). But I look forward to doing more patterns with lace edgings, sleeves, etc. And part of me really wants to try a shawl, and see the transformation from unblocked clump of super-fine yarn to blocked majesty of intricate patterns. But it would take abso-freakin forever. So, probably I'll just live vacariously through lace knitters like Titianknitter, who is also a French Horn teacher!

So here are the stats on this hat:

"Peekaboo Cloche" from Lace Style.
Yarn: Misti International's Misti Alpaca Suri Silk (80% baby alpaca, 20% silk - decadent!). Peridot (green) for the inside, Amethyst (purple) for the outside lace, and Sapphire (blue) for the bottom 1.5" of the inside and top 3" of the outside. It's colorful :)
Needles: For the inside green stockinette: 3mm, which is either US size 2.5 or 3 depending on who you ask. For the outside, purple and then blue lace: US 4 / 3.5 mm.
Gauge: Only the stockinette inner layer gauge was specified, and a I hit stitch gauge at 13 st/2", but was woefully off at 17 rows/2 inches when it should have been 22 rows/2 inches. This was partly why it ended up big (also, as noted above, I have a small head!)

Lace Hat continued...

I'm almost almost done with the Peek-a-boo Cloche from Lace Style. I've now officially run out of purple for the top outer layer (just before the decreasing starts, dang, that would have been a better breaking point). But the blue will do, and it's so nice and squishy and soft, and almost done... Of course the nice thing about working magic loop on a long circular is that you can pull the needle ends out, leave the cable in, and try it on!

See the green poking through the lace? It's actually a bit brighter - like new spring leaves - in person. Yum.

Oh, and I ordered a ball winder (snicker) from Joann.com using a 50% off coupon. Yay! I am not particularly fond of winding the skeins by hand, so this should be useful, considering some of the stash acquisition that has occured recently.. And we may try to make a homemade swift as well... we (mostly Andy) built a workbench in the garage last spring, but it hasn't gotten much use yet. This might be a nice first major project for it. Check it out in Andy's much-neglected blog (scroll down 3 posts to the one labeled "Workbench!" - it's homemade blogging software and doesn't let you link to just one post)

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? What the heck?!?

Frust-lace-ion

Taking a break from my hat to do a little blogging. I got comfortably into the lace outer shell pattern (well, 7 rows in, enough to start to get a sense of the thing), dropped a couple of stitches, must have left my guard down and didn't pick them up correctly, and ended up with a huge hole and several lonely horizontal strand waving at me. Gah! So I just ripped it back and am in the process of trying to get the stitches up on the needle again. Lesson: Lace in front of football = not a good idea, even if you're not paying particular attention (Dallas / Philly; we're just recovering from hosting a Pats/Colts game party).

But, in related news, the twins for whom I knit the booties of a few posts ago were here for the party, and their parents told me the booties are not too small! Yay! I had dropped them off with their dad at work on Friday. I am promised pics in action, but in the meantime, do admire the cuteness of Zach and Izzy - I especially like the halloween costume pics!

Anyway... as a diversion from the lace-tastrophe (OK, I'm being dramatic, but it's fun...), I wanted to point the small but wonderful readership of this blog over to my college roomie KT's blogiversary contest! Give her an idea or two for Christmas knitting (she's looking for fave patterns for fingerless gloves, bulky hats, bags, felted bowls, and other things) and you might win! And of course, if you have a blog, you can get another entry for posting about the contest there. She's also got mad free patterns if you're looking for some inspiration of your own.

OK. Break accomplished. I think I'll head to the living room and knit to music instead of football. Speaking of music, I'm bummed - the Decemberists just cancelled their tour. We were looking forward to seeing them again in December, though at least we just saw them in July at a rocking outdoor show in Portland. They say that an unspecified bandmember is ill, which in any other band would be code for "in rehab", but since they play the music they do ("hyperliterate Prog Rock" according to Stephen Colbert) I tend to believer them at face value. Feel better, unspecified Decemberist!