January 18, 2011

What should have been just another day at work morphed into a summer vacation day, courtesy of snow followed by sleet followed by freezing rain, followed by rain. Seems like the entire state of Connecticut had the day off; at least the public schools did. What's a woman to do, but stay at home, where it's safe and relatively un-slippery, and knit?

Husband's new Market Bag

This safe, dry knitter finished the second of two market (aka string) bags, using up virtually all of some unidentified hand-dyed cotton boucle´ for which there is no other aesthetically pleasing purpose. The first of these bags is going to the safe, dry knitter's husband, who is in dire need of a new (well, replacement) string bag, as he (the husband) trashed another string bag (just how does he DO this? how do you unravel a string bag with grocery items?) that the safe dry knitter had graciously knitted for him last year.

The second string bag is going to the safe dry knitter's father for his 84th birthday. The safe dry knitter is not quite sure that the octogenarian dad will know what to do with the string bag, but the octogenarian's wife will, so that's okay.

Dad's Market Bag

Now to summarize the other knitting that's happened since the Tucson post. After finishing the Pimpelliese scarf, I cast on for the famous "Citron", using Sanguine Gryphon's Sappho I lace yarn. I finished that on the plane from Tucson to Chicago. I'm please with the finished product, and look forward to wearing it one of these chilly winter days.

Citron Shawlette on the blocking board

Detail of Citron Shawlette

 After casting off Citron, I began Romi Hill's Merope, the first in her 7 Small Shawls to Knit booklet. I used Swan's Island Sock Yarn in a lovely, subtle ice blue color. That shawl screamed on the needles, at first (it starts with 3 stitches, so of course it's fast!), knitting up so quickly that I was on Row 70 before I knew it. The finished shawlette gave me my first experience at blocking lace, and just as every lace knitter has ever explained, the process seems magical - you start with a lumpy bunch of stitches and end up with a crisp, defined piece of art!

Merope on the blocking board - pinned to within an inch of its life!

Detail of Merope

Merope

Merope after blocking

Merope Shawlette

Edge detail of Merope

Interior of Merope shawlette

After finishing Merope, I cast on a pair of vanilla socks for Zig's birthday. Yes, he's already gotten several pairs of socks from me, but you can never have TOO many pairs of socks, right? Right?

Horned Lizard and Sock

Zig's Vanilla Socks knit in Opal yarn

Well, I began this post 3 days ago, but life interrupted, so I'm posting on January 21st, 2011. And guess what? It's ANOTHER snow day (which is why I have time to write) here in northwestern Connecticut. It's lovely as it falls, covering the old, dirty snow with a layer of lacy white, but shoveling awaits, when and if the storm stops.

What's next for knitting? I just finished the South Seas Table Runner - it's soaking before I block it on the board. Still working on Rowan's "Brea", a pair of "Tree of Life" mittens, and Robyn Gallimore's "Bunny Hop" socks. More soon on all of these projects!