"Don't talk to me about Life." - Marvin, the Paranoid Android

 

Ever notice how Life occasionally whups you upside the head with a baseball bat, usually when you least expect it?  Thus it has been Chez AuntyNin recently, with more downs than ups.  Hectic is much too mild a term.

 

Because I hate whining, even if it's me doing it, I'll not post all the gruesome details, but just say that blogging will be rather more sporadic than normal for the next couple of months.

 

Knitting is still happening - finished the pair for the SeaSocks Swap last night, and will be casting on the February Rockin' Sock Club project tonight.  It'll be my first toe-up sock, also my first short-row toe and heel.  Wish me luck, okay?

 

Somehow, in the past few days, a lot of things have gotten themselves done, not least of which is actually taking pictures of FOs and getting them massaged for the blog.

 

Sorbetto finally got its fastenings this past weekend, so it can now be considered completely done.  Love these hook and eye clasps:

 

 

Later during the weekend, the current Sock In Progress (SIP) miraculously announced itself ready for toes, so it's done too.  Here's a detail of the baby cable rib:

 

 

These socks are definitely fraternal twins, as I didn't bother to even try to match starting points.  They're soft and warm, that matters more than matching to me.

 

My buddy Mmario is one of the world's premier knitting enablers (which is only a tiny part of why he's such a dear friend).  He has designed a gorgeous circular shawl pattern that looks a lot like the flower called Queen Anne's Lace.  The pattern is now in the process of being written up, and I'll be test-knitting it over the next few months (as if I didn't already have enough projects in the queue).   Still, there's all that lovely Zephyr in the stash, just begging to be turned into something pretty; what's a knitter to do?

 

Other projects are moving along, kinda, sorta, more or less.  The SeaSocks swap pair is coming along nicely, well into the gusset on the first sock, but will not be shown until after it's in its recipients hands.  There's a hank of Cabin Cove Mercantile's  hand-dyed fingering yarn demanding to be "next on the needles," though next after which of the currrent projects is ... um ... undecided.  The cotton top-down t-shirt has reached the knitting limbo stage; after seemingly hours of mindless "knitaround, knitaround, knitaround" it's still only six inches from the armholes (and it needs to be sixteen).  Sigh.  Still, unless something catastrophic happens, it'll be available for wearing this summer.  Assuming we ever get a summer, that is.

 

Now that a few projects are complete, our beloved enemy Startitis has arrived to visit me, trying to induce me to cast on about twenty new projects.  Thus far, I've managed to resist, but the combination of the Rockin' Sock Club yarn and the aforementioned Cabin Cove yarn will probably join forces with Startitis before long.

 

So many ideas, so little knitting time...

 

No, nobody's died over here at AuntyNin's Place, but the combination of midwinter blahs and loss of knitting mojo has left me with not much of anything blogworthy to babble on about.  Spring hasn't arrived yet, alas, so sunshine and bare sidewalks will have to suffice for today. 

 

The best thing that can be said about February is that it's finally over.  Enormous mounds of snow still lurk everywhere, left over from the Valentine's Day storm.   When the weather finally warms up and this stuff melts, some folks are likely to be flooded.  Let's hope it doesn't all melt in a couple of days.

 

The Sorbetto cardigan is almost complete, lacking only its buttons.  Why I don't just sit down and sew them on is probably connected with the aforementioned winter blahs and loss of knitting mojo.  Soon.  Really.

 

Socks in Austermann's "Step" yarn near completion; the second one is past the gusset and slogging down the foot.   The SeaSocks Sock Swap socks (just try to say that fast!) are begun, using a variant of the Feather & Fan pattern.  Sure hope my swap partner likes them.

 

After all the trials and tribulations that have beset Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Rockin' Sock Club this year, the first installment has arrived at AuntyNIn's.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a yarn whose colors are compatible with about 75% of my wardrobe.  It's almost as if they've been peeking in my closet, the colors are so right for me.  The accompanying pattern is for a toe-up sock, something I've not done before, so this will be something of an adventure. 

 

My buddy Mmario is finally writing up one of his designs, a circular shawl called Queen Anne's Lace.  It really does look a lot like the flower of the same name.  I've promised to test-knit it for him, as if I didn't already have way too many projects on the needles.  Still, there's some off-white Zephyr in the stash that looks like it will suit the pattern nicely.  Perhaps that can be a traveling project for my vacation.