Roped In

I've been quiet because my brain is too fried at the end of the day to give this blog the snarkiness it deserves. I just don't have it. We are doing a LOT of senior pictures, and praise be, the parents are ordering. Some of them big...and that means a lot of work for me. Say a kid is lucky in the complexion department - and let me tell you, at the age of 16 or 17, most aren't that lucky - and say they only have five zits. They order a four pose package, but pay to add a couple poses. They also order an eight picture folio, and a CD with 16 images...and only maybe four or five of the images for each overlap. Well, you do the math on how many blinkin' times I have to clear out those same zits. Wouldn't your brain fry too?

So to maintain what little semblance I have of what I laughingly call sanity, I've been knitting. Multiple things, but very little on my Orkney Pi. I just don't have the cajones for lace right now. What have I been working on, I hear you ask? How kind of you to take an interest.

First, some socks. Only my second pair, made out of Trekking in the Queen Kahuna toe-up on two circs method. Loving these, but I have about 2/3rds of the cuff to go.


Don't you love the color? Since I couldn't care less about these 'matching', I'm just working from both ends of the same ball.

Next is my emergency car knitting. This is the Irish Hiking Scarf, a freebie if you Google for it, and I'm doing it in the Rowan Tapestry I bought from Pat Kirkland at the RT&OF 1st Annual Hoot 'n Holler. Utterly yummy stuff that I'd recommend highly. Very soft but keeps definition.

This will probably be for my beloved Uncle Harry, who has gorgeous blue eyes, and who surprised me at my family reunion last week with a studio warming gift of a double frame set, mounted in a free stand with pivots on each frame. Means the world to me, especially since my grandfather originally harvested the wood from my grandmother's family farm. He knows nada about this, so I'm not under any gun. Oh, and I added a fourth cable for those of you who know the pattern.

Continuing my obsession lately with nice ropey cables, I had to cast on a sweater, my first real attempt at something other than a straight blocky no-sleeve dealy-job. LOL Melanie from Pink Lemon Twist recommended a book called A Fine Fleece, saying that it was a rare book in that she would happily knit most of the sweaters in it. I took a peek, agreed, and bought it. Very classic sweaters that will never go out of style, shown in both handspun and equivalent commercial yarns. I fell utterly in love with a sweater called "Gaelic Mist" - not much of a surprise given my love of all things Celtic. It kept calling to me, and insisted I needed to pull out the Cestari DK 3 ply I'd bought at MDSW (Maryland Sheep and Wool for the uninitiated...and don't ask about the initiation. It involves Elaine, lots of sheep and a Sherpa). I got it in a forest green to match my eyes :::batting same::: and really love it. My swatch was perfectly to gauge, and I cast on both sleeves at once.

I'm THRILLED with this and how it's working up. A bit more VM than you'd expect, but nothing unwieldy, and oh, how lovely the cables are. Yes, I flubbed a couple a bit but you don't have to wear it so shut up about it. I, perfectionist that I am, can live with it and so can you. I've done this much in just about a week....a very busy week...so that's good too. I'm above the elbow now.

The green is a bit lighter than actuality in this photo. The cables repeat like this at the base of the sweater, causing a bit of a natural shaping and peplum effect. Hide a multitude of sins, it will, and I've got 'em to hide. Here's a detail of the cable - yes, one that's exactly right:

I don't mind being tied up if it's for cables like these! Or for the DH, but that's another story. ;->