Sorry for the looong absence, folks. All the annoying and stressful things in my life were happening at once, instead of politely waiting their turn. Things seem to be slowing down a little (hallelujah). The sock knitting has been going very well through it all.

Hedera, but Cookie A. I am really loving this sock and I'm glad I stuck with it, but for the love of Elizabeth Zimmerman, the gussets are taking forever. I'm stuck in a black hole of gusset decreases. There will be singing and dancing when I am finally done.

And this little beauty is based on Crusoe, from Knitty. I bought this yarn over a year ago from Strings and Strands because it was too pretty to resist. For a long time, it hung out on my desk, elegantly displayed in a decorative pitcher. I'm knitting it at a different gauge, and toe-up, because that is how I roll.
And, is it weird to think that your own toes are cute? It is? I thought as much. But look at that cute little pinky toe! This little piggie cried "wee wee wee!" all the way home! Ahem. OK, I'm better now.
Even the ball of yarn is pretty. It's doing the coolest thing right now where all the cool colors have pooled to one side of the ball

and all the warm colors have pooled to the other side.

I almost don't want to knit with it.

sproing!

Spring has officially sprung. We have a massive stand of honeysuckle blooming right outside my window, and the fragrance is incredible.

I keep using words like "heady" and "redolent". We are keeping the windows open all the time when we're home to make the most of this gorgeous (short-lived) spring weather. Consequently, I am just not feeling the winter knits anymore. The Brookside sweater has two finished sleeves and a half-finished body, but who wants to knit a brown and pink sweater, cotton though it may be, when the weather is this glorious?


And frankly, even though the Seraphim shawl is to the point where I can (finally) start the charts, and the Malabrigo laceweight is like knitting with spun happiness, my hands get sweaty every time I even touch the wool.


So they have both been blatantly thrown aside, packed away until autumn in their little plastic bags. (And yes, I did learn from past mistakes and make notes about where I was in the pattern, what needles I was using, etc. Good knitter. Have a cookie.) The Hedera socks have been taken out of hibernation and I'm almost ready to turn the heel on sock #1.


I've also been playing with two new sock yarns in beautiful spring colors.

Luxe Superwash Merino fingering weight that I've had forever. It was too beautiful to pass up.

And Dream in Color Smooshy, a gift from the wonderful Treats for Breathing.

I also, in the depths of my previous funk, decided to test whether my crappy mood was due to a lack of Brookside Yarn. Well, it wasn't, but these beauties came home with me, to make fun spring shrugs/little cardigan thingies.



I'm thinking something like this. Let the swatching begin!

(The kitties would like you to know that they were very helpful with the picture-taking process.)

real life is stupid and I'm against it.

Real life has been conspiring again to make everything No Fun. Between being busy with stupid boring (but necessary) crap, doctor's appointments, and work-related drama, I've been too busy and overwhelmed and exhausted to even think about blogging. Or do much of anything, really. Why is it that when you most need fun and a little R&R is when you're least able to have it? I'm sensing a conspiracy. (Doctor's appointments were not for any specific problem (unlike last time; ahem). I just had one of those weird convergences where all my regularly scheduled checkups fell into the same 10-day period. I feel like I'm ready to be shot into space.)
So, to break up the monotony of the whining a little, here's a cat picture. (Tactic shamelessly stolen from the Yarn Harlot.)


Work-related drama has made everything very fun and exciting around here. I've been stressed-out and nauseous for about a solid week. The problems seemed to arise from my steadfast refusal to read my coworker(s) minds, and my dogged insistence on coming in on time, instead of 20 minutes early. (Hey, I have to be at work early enough. Unless my boss tells me to, I am not coming in one second earlier. That's madness.) I know. I am a bad person and a worse employee. The storm seems to have passed for now; I'm still deciding whether or not I hate everyone I work with. Let's keep our fingers crossed that everything stays calm for a while. (And no, Oscar was entirely innocent in all this madness.) Here's another cat picture.


On the knitting front, I have accomplished absolutely nothing since blocking Patty's scarf, due to the above crap/drama, and pain in my hands due to overdoing it with Patty's scarf. I usually keep a range of projects in different sizes, gauges and materials on hand to prevent just this sort of thing, but I could not put this scarf down. It was absolutely addictive. I knit at red lights on this one; I just couldn't stop. It was a fascinating little knit and I'm extremely pleased with the results. My hands, however: not so much with the pleased. To make things worse, it was made from worsted-weight cotton knit to a tighter-than-normal gauge to make the cables stand out, so it's like tendonitis in scarf form. I'm sure I'll be fine; my hands are just kind of cranky right now.


Of course, not all the distracting things in my life sucked. My life has recently been consumed by rereading this


in preparation for this.


I finished it last night, and I could not be more pleased. Best books EVER.

A life in cables

Patty's scarf is finished, blocked, and ready to be gifted. I am so immensely pleased with how it turned out.

I'll report back on the recipient's reaction.