Feral Knitting

I’m not sure how it got to be February already. Oh, wait, yes, I do know. We spent most of last month battling an epic cold. Oh, and then there was the tailbone incident, which apparently wasn’t even funny to watch. Seven weeks later and it still hurts at a certain angle. Yikes. I do wish that I could have watched it, though. I think I would have had a good laugh at my own expense.

We spent some time on the Island over Christmas. This was a bit challenging with non walking child and a very eager and nervous dog, but it was nice to get a change of scenery. But wow, traveling with a baby is ridiculous. The car was stuffed, just stuffed, and I think one bag of it was not his. Strollers, high chair, food, diapers… oh, and of course, something to amuse him with when he invariably becomes restless in his car seat. Over all, though, everything went quite smoothly. And the weather was lovely; I think it was eight degrees on Christmas day, and brilliantly sunny.

Anyway, I actually have finished some knitting.

Exhibit a: Mud Season, modified with a longer sleeve. Easy pattern, kind of what I’ve made before, but relatively quick and easy. The yarn is Scotian Silk, and it has been languishing in my stash for over a year. I had some other Scotian Silk in an unfortunate colour, and told myself I needed to knit that up before rewarding myself with the nicer one. I think I ended up frogging about four projects with that awful colour, and finally ended up crocheting a lap blanket (no, I won’t show you. It’s ugly.) and thus could finally work with the nicer colour. It is lovely yarn, but has pilled quite a bit upon first wearing. This might level out, though. And is it ever warm! Anyway, I am just glad to finally get a garment done. It feels like forever since I have successfully knit a garment. I used some of the leftovers for a pair of Fetchings for Melissa, but neglected to photograph those. No matter, everyone has seen about a billion Fetchings, and it was probably time I knit up a pair. (btw, wasn’t keen on the peasant thumb, but that’s a whole other discussion that nobody is probably interested in.)

Moving on. Exhibit b:

This is a fairly large blanket crocheted out of Cascade Ecological Wool. It’s not blocked or washed, and won’t be until the weather gets nicer, as I have no appropriate space to dry it. I have turned to crochet lately as it is easy to put down, and can’t be catastrophically destroyed as easily as knitting. Because yes, I have a little monster in my life who literally creates chaos where ever he goes.  Lovely child, but very busy. Anyway, it’s big and warm and I like the colours, even though I ran out of some of the brown, which is painfully obvious on the last row.

Exhibit c:

I’m taking a bit of a risk here, as it is Judy’s birthday very soon and I haven’t given this to her, but I am going to suspect that she isn’t waiting with bated breath for me to update my blog, and might not notice this until after her birthday. If you don’t, Surprise! You’ll see it for real very soon.  I didn’t add the more detailed photo, but it’s a scarf, crocheted (yep, quick, keepin’ it real) with two colours of Malabrigo Silky Merino and one of Manos Silk Blend. I hope she likes it. My favourite part is the fringe, with is long and colour blocked the same way. I’m a bit worried about the colour. For some reason I was compelled to knit in purple. I don’t know why, and I really hope that she finds it agreeable.

Alright, one more. This one I’m on a strict timeline for, as my opportunity to deliver this comes on Sunday. Which reminds me, I need to do a lot of knitting tonight. Hopefully I can stay awake.

Exhibit d:

The pattern is on Ravelry, it’s called the Garter Yoke Baby Cardi (not Cardigan, type that in and you get some other ickier sweater) and it’s so cute! The baby is a girl, so I went whole hog on the red and pink. I have some adorable bunny buttons to finish it off. I really need to finish it, though.

I am also working on a Damson using some Malabrigo sock I bought a few weeks ago. I was quite certain I already had some Malabrigo sock, and overturned the stash looking for it, then spent a lot of time standing on chairs and peeking into top shelves and crawling around on the floor looking under beds and large chairs, searching through purses and checking pockets, but the Malabrigo Sock in Tiziano red was nowhere to be seen. So I got a skein in a colour called Rayon Vert. I don’t know what that means. In my head I have translated it to green raisin, but I’m probably way off. On the skein it’s not too impressive, kind of dark purplish… but knit up… Glee! So gorgeous! Little peeks of green and a delicate wash of purple… I am completely enamoured. And then, when won over, I found the prodigal skein! It was hiding under the couch with an embarassing amount of dog fur and a noisy toy that somehow got “lost” there. I did many happy dances. Now I can make two Damsons! But of course, finish the baby sweater, and Sue’s present first. Priorities!

Here’s one more shot from our trip.

Happy knitting, everyone!