getting back into the swing of things

Until last night it had been a week since I had picked up my knitting needles. Every time I looked at the cardigan in its bag, my brain just said, "nononononono, don't wanna." So last night I decided to try an entirely different project and see how it felt. And it ended feeling pretty good.



Pattern: the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft Aran in red (two strands held together), two skeins, on size 11 circular needles
Notes: This was my second time making this hat. This one fits much better on my head, and it's lovely and soft and warm. I'm very pleased. I also finished it in about four hours.



The color is somewhere between the two pictures; when I picked it up in the store it looked bright red, but last night when I was working with it it felt almost burnt orange. So it's somewhere in between.

I'm not sure what I'm going to try next, but it was nice to get something accomplished.

Please Mr Postman, look and see

Now, this is what I call a good mail day.



I received my very gently used Lexie Barnes Lady B bag, in the "Little Miss Perfect" pattern. I've been coveting this exact bag for a couple of months now, ever since I learned of its existence, but the pattern's long been discontinued. I got lucky and was able to buy this one off of someone on Ravelry, and it is so me, it's scary. I love it. So, even though I'm getting no knitting done (still), at least I'm not-knitting in style.

And I also received my 100th anniversary edition of Anne of Green Gables. I'm a tiny bit disappointed, since the picture made it look like the book cover was going to replicate the original 1908 edition, but it's only the dust jacket that does. But it's still a lovely copy, with the original illustrations and an introduction by Lucy Maud Montgomery's grandchildren, so I'm happy to have it go alongside my 21 year old copy on my bookshelf.

the man in the moon

Three posts in three days--it must be a lunar event. Oh, wait, it is. Here are some pictures I took of the lunar eclipse tonight.

are socks always finished late at night?

I won't say my knitting mojo has returned, but between a bottle of wine and the first season of Doctor Who on dvd, I managed to finally finish the socks!



Pattern: Basic Stockinette Sock, with an eye-of-partridge heel
Yarn: Regia Bamboo, the majority of two skeins, on size 1.5US Inox circulars
Notes: These are a tiny bit big around, but if I had gone four stitches down, they might have been too snug. But they are the right length at least. There's some pooling in the leg of the second sock that I can't explain but overall they came out well.



I love how propping my feet on my desk is the only place I can get decent light in my apartment at midnight.

A ratty interlude

Yesterday the ladies and I went down to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year celebrations. There was dim sum and firecrackers and lots of dancing dragons.











And the group of us in front of the Chinatown gates:



Happy year of the rat!

Knitting that's not my own

Looky! Cassandra finished my Secret Spook project--the Endpaper Mitts!



She's named them Beezelbub and Lucifer, after the wear and tear making them took on her soul. But they're beautiful, and they fit, and I love them. So, thank you, Cassandra!

You may be starting to think, "huh, I haven't seen any knitting from you lately, Alexis." That's because you haven't. My knitting mojo has vanished. I can only manage to get anything done when I'm out with people, so any projects are moving very slowly. I've got a pair of socks 2/3 of the way done that are just creeping along, and a sweater that is only moving since it's done in bulky yarn. Here's a little peek at that:



Some more yarn also showed up in the mail this week (don't worry, I've been destashing as well):



These are Regia Canadian colors in Quebec and Toronto. I've kind of got a thing for all things Canadian (I blame this on frequent ingestion of L.M. Montgomery novels at an impressionable age) so when I discovered Regia had done a series of colors named after Canadian cities and provinces I had to get some. Except they did them a year ago, so finding them was a little difficult. But I succeeded! I'd still love to find the British Columbia or Vancouver colors, but these will do very well for now.

Of course, I need to get my knitting mojo back to actually knit with them...

Pretty pretty

I've got nothing to show you in terms of knitting right now (though I have been working away on a couple of projects) so, here, look at the pretty yarn...

I got this in a swap on Ravelry.



It's hand dyed merino/silk sock yarn. Aren't the colors lovely?

Then I went to big sale at A Good Yarn on Saturday with Catherine. Here's what I came away with.

2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Glenwood (I coveted the Baltic Sea as well, but they only had one skein left. At least I thought it was Baltic, but now I'm looking it up, and the color isn't the same. Hmm.)



3 skeins of Berroco Jasper, which I've been wanting to try.



And 3 balls of Cashsoft Aran, unearthed from the bowels of the sale bin.



Oh, wait, here's something I made. Catherine had a Super Bowl party last night, and I made cookies. Chocolate cookies shaped like pretzels, to be exact. I figured they were appropriate for a sports party. I'm a dork.



Recipe is from here.