Hamako

I only missed a week, but it feels so good to be linking up with the yarn-along again! Things have been crazy around here, but I've been knitting. In fact, the very first thing I did after finding out two weeks ago that we might not be able to get our new house was cast on a second baby blanket. It gave me something to do with my hands, and a way to prepare for these babes even as we were unsure of where we'd be bringing them home to.

Knitting has slowed down a bit since we realized we could get the house after all, but I've been plugging away, row by row. 

The pattern is Hamako, which wasn't on my shortlist for the last blanket, but I was so intrigued by the texture that I had to cast on. I am using Malabrigo Rios in Cumparista, which is a very rich, deep red. (In some lights it does take on a purplish tinge, which Keith isn't too happy about; he doesn't think it's very manly. ;) )

Reading has slowed down as well. I am still working my way through older issues of Dappled Things; I'm hoping to finish them in time to pack them up for the move.

Linking up with Ginny.

Yarn Along--Malabrigo March

I know I'm a day late for the yarn along, but I want to link up anyway. I've been knitting this

for Malabrigo March. The color is Lotus, and it's a bit less purpley than in the picture. I might be able to finish it by the weekend. The book is Greenstone. Keith gave it to me for Valentine's Day; it has a slow, rolling pace which I am enjoying. It's set in New Zealand and has a different flavor than anything I've read before.

Meanwhile these mittens are patiently waiting for me to finish with the shawl so I can give them their thumbs. Since I already knit a pair for myself with these exact same colors (which the camera doesn't capture very well), I am probably going to give them away. Which will make me a little sad. So they need to go to someone who will really appreciate them. ;)

Also I've been knitting hexipuffs. So far I have 78. They are about to outgrow their home; I'm not sure where I'm going to keep them!

Shawls, mittens, minis!

Wow. I haven't linked up to a yarn along with Ginny in ages. I have been knitting, quite a bit in fact. But on Wednesdays I have Bible study, and then since my mom watches Michael while I'm gone I visit with her after getting back, and by the time she leaves it's Michael's grumpy time of day (which usually coincides with when I have to make dinner). So I haven't had time to take pictures or blog on Wednesdays.

But Bible study was canceled today, so here I am!

Way back when, I was supposed to do a knitalong of Bigger on the Inside with some friends. Two of them finished in August, and the third in December. I cast on this month. Whoops.

See the TARDISes??

 I thought the ribbed border was boring so I am doing a lace edging instead (using a pattern from a stitch dictionary and this tutorial) but it is going to take forever. Good thing I'm a(n) obsessive fast knitter.

Meanwhile, two other friends and I are doing another knitalong, this one for mittens. I am a bit more on top of this one. :) I have been itching to knit the Mystery and Manners mittens for some time, and I had this beautiful skein of Malabrigo lying around. You know those skeins of yarn that are just so lovely you agonize over what to knit with them because it has to be the Perfect Project? Well, this one is finally wound into it's tidy yarn cake and ready to knit.

I love peacocks. I LOVE Flannery O'Connor. So I think that makes this the Perfect Project.

(And yes, they are for me, even though my friends are knitting for their husband and their child.)

Also I received a mini-skein in the mail today as part of a swap. It was a good day.

Yarn Along--Finally!

I have, in fact, been knitting recently--oftentimes with a baby sleeping across my knees--but it's harder to get up and chase sunlight around the apartment with a camera while holding a five- or six- or seven-week-old, and also my husband often takes the camera to work with him.

But today, Michael has slept through my shower, my lunch, and my doing the dishes, and he is STILL sleeping, so I am taking full advantage of that fact. :)

My pre-birth knitting projects (like Michael's elephant) haven't budged in the past month or two. But I did cast on a shawlette (Cloud Illusions by Book Knits) and a cowl (To Infinity and Beyond by Joji Locatelli).

The latter is for a knitalong; I'm using Malabrigo sock in the colorway Persia. Mmmmm, Malabrigo. ;) This skein was an impulse buy: I couldn't not have that color. (There may or may not also have been enablers in the yarn shop with me telling me that the color was "so you, Rosemary!") The problem with buying yarn on impulse because it is too beautiful not to is that then the pattern must live up to it: it has to be perfect, and perfect for this particular yarn. And of course, it must use only one skein.

So far this cowl fits the bill. It has cables and lace in a pattern that I feel works well with the variegated colors of the yarn.

My Kindle Touch has been getting good use, especially since I can borrow e-books from the library. Style, Sex and Substance is a wonderful book, and I'm really glad I bought it. It's worth the money. (How could it not be, with Jennifer Fulwiler and Simcha Fisher contributing?)

And now I'm off to see how much else I can get done while baby is sleeping.

(See what other people are knitting and reading at Ginny's yarn along!)