This morning, up real early and still trying to clear my ears, I’ve added gravatars and tags to my comments, cleaned up some formatting and other such nonsense. I’m also trying to integrate the booklist as a database table with an eye to eventually making it a full-fledged plug-in.

Reaching Back

Some knitting did get done last year, but not all of it got photographed. This is a shawl I gave J’s mother last χmas (2007).

This triangular shawl was knit in elann.com’s worsted weight Peruvian Highland Silk in Antique Blue, using the Crystal Pattern from Barbara Walker’s A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, p.266, and a generic triangular construction.

I also finished three socks.

The grey are from two skeins of Regia I bought not realizing I needed to two of each color. I had one cuff done before I realized that. Those are worn by J. The gold is half a pair I have yet to complete for my older niece in Koigu KPPPM. Not particularly practical, but soft and regular in its patterning. I will start and finish the other when I get over this cold.

Resisting

I keep picking up Jane Sowerby’s Victorian Lace Today. I’m so tempted. I’m resisting; it is only a month and a half until the Χ–thing and there is no way I’m finishing a shawl in six weeks. I’m down to one or two conference calls a week and staff meetings are down to a minimum.

Work, though, is why I have nothing to show. Unless you are interested in SQL scripts and funds transfer pricing analyses. I do have a lovely cap plodding along in a Tunisian rib with cables in a smaller sort of gauge. Lots of knitting with very little progress. And a Manos de Uruguay Cotton Stria scarf at work for those conference calls I’m not having. Nothing significant enough for photos.

I now have a laptop for work. Which I carry home every night in case I should finally come down with a cold or the flu and be compelled to stay home. I haven’t yet, but I check my e-mail and end up wasting time at home that I could be wasting at work.

Question

If you are knitting a hat with cables and ribbing, is it better to decrease into the rib or the cable?

Feather & Fan

This is Feather & Fan, in the alternate version with the yarn-over cable. I am somewhat happy at how it turned out. I am also happy that I have actually finished it. The last 20% took forever.

One hundred twenty thousand plus stitches, followed by a crocheted bind-off that was less painful than I expected, but still excruciatingly small. I do admire it though. And I keep looking at other things I could bind off with miniscule chains.

Above you see the blocked product. Which could have been better done, I know. There is no place in this apartment large enough to pin out a 72″ diameter shawl. I had to make a frame, staple an old sheet to it and baste the shawl to the sheet with upholstery thread—which accounts for the slight imperfections in the directions of the fans. It’s not really noticeable off the frame.

I took it to the LYS this afternoon; I had promised to bring it in some time ago, and I wanted to reward myself for having finished it (which I did, unfortunately). Yes, I enjoyed being praise for my knitting by other knitters. Best afternoon I’ve had in ages.

A Round of Apologies

I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you, particularly those of you who wrote thinking I might have dropped off the face of the earth. I didn’t; I just got stuck. Stuck at work. Stuck on F&F. Stuck in a rut of procrastination. I am a champion of procrastination.

I’m now on 8 straight months of procrastinating about going to the gym. Soon I should be able to roll there. I have been biking—27 miles last Saturday—but I’ve been eating more.

My Downstairs Neighbor is a Homophobic Jerk

And he’s an architect in New York?

And that’s it for tonight.

Carroll Gardens… Gowanus… Sunset Park… Bay Ridge… Bath Beach… Bensonhurst… Coney Island… Brighton Beach… Sheepshead Bay… the Knapp Street sewage treatment plant… some neighborhoods whose names I don’t yet know… Midwood… Kensington… Windsor Terrace… Park Slope and home. Barely winded. In high gear. Mostly.

Got to scare a pedestrian, too. He was crossing against the light and not looking. I can be loud when I want to.

Feather & Fan is at 80%. Twenty rows and the crocheted binding to go.

Last Sunday’s Route

Twenty-four and half miles, following on 20.5 the day before.

Feather & Fan

Less than 25% remaining. I’m sorry, it is tedious. It is nice though.