Made It.

11:42 p.m. CST. The mittens have been done for about 1 hour and 38 minutes.



I've decided to do only one bird "in the hand." The pattern calls for a duplicate stitched bird on each palm, but I've discovered a few things while making these mittens, and the fact that I dislike duplicate stitch intensely is one of them. I'm calling it a design feature, a la the Yarn Harlot and Norma. (I'm sure others use that term, too, but those are the two that come to mind first.) But they're still done.

Of course, the mittens for NaKniMitMo weren't so lucky. Here's the left one.



You'll just have to imagine the right -- it doesn't exist at all yet.

It's Another Deadline

One mitten down.


46 hours to finish the next one...

Ta-Da!

Kate's Hat, now finished. (Mickey Mouse modeling, as per usual.)



The brim can be rolled (slightly more stylish) or folded (for extra warmth over the ears on cold days). I'm pretty proud of this because it's my first completed improvised pattern. I've got a couple other projects still on the needles, but this "pattern" actually works, and I've got the photos to prove it! \o/

(Does this mean I'm actually early for this week's post?)

Knitting Update

Don't you love it when I don't post on time, and then I just slap up a bunch of pictures of knitting? You do? Excellent!

Kate's Scarf




What do you mean, "that doesn't look like a scarf"? Okay, okay, is this picture better?





Kate's Hat


Well, it's started, at least.



Some more scarf sections.


The Red/Yellow/Orange-ish one is knit in the Fibonacci Series. If that means anything to anyone. Not quite what I would have chosen, but that's what the scarf's owner asked us to do. That's the last scarf I had to work for Group 6 -- now I just have to keep up with the tracking, since I'm now the moderator of that group. (Our original moderator stepped down.) The purple and brown sections are the last 2 sections I had to do for Group 23. As soon as I get my scarf back, I'm done with that group, too. Things are winding down for me, in the scarf line. I think that's a good thing, overall.



These three are from Round 2 of Group 26 -- the group that went so well that we decided to start again. This time we're using plant fiber yarns -- mine are all bamboo at this point. We're also sticking to purple and/or green. This should be a much lighter scarf -- more fashion-scarf than warm-in-bad-weather-scarf. I don't usually wear fashion-scarves, but this one may be special enough to negate that.



Some progress has been made on Deb's scarf and my Bird in the Hand mittens, as well.





The red line on the back is where the thumb is going to be. And the shapeless blob of red on the back is the bird that will be "in [my] hand". You know, when I get done duplicate-stitching it in there.


And that's it for this week. I'll try to post on time, on Thursday.

Swimming Against the Tide

Twilight. Whatever your personal feelings, many people have been bitten. I haven't read the books or seen the movie, but a large contingent of my friends are constantly revamping. Then again, there's another group of friends who don't like the books at all. I'm not going to get in the middle of a debate on the subject; I'm chosing a third options.

Lois McMaster Bujold. The Sharing Knife books. Buy them. Read them. I started the first book yesterday and stayed up all night, reading, no, devouring it. I'm currently about a third of the way through the second book and still going. I think I may sleep tonight, but it's quite likely that I'll just drop from exhaustion right on top of the poor book.

What Font Are You?

You are biergarten.

Some people have a misanthropic side. You, on the other hand, have it written across your face. It's not that you're in a bad mood, or that you're just naturally gloomy -- you just want to be left alone.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/helvetica/quiz.html

Unfortunately, it's not set up for blogs and the like, because there's no link to my results page. And biergarten isn't a font that Blogger offers (or Word), so I can't show you what it looks like. But for a 10-question quiz, that's a very accurate result. :)

Startitis

Startitis: The inability to finish (a) current project(s) because of the compulsion to start (a) new one(s).

I think I have the plural form. :) Proof?

Existing Projects and Deadlines
Deb's Scarf -- Christmas
Kate's Scarf -- Jan. 15 or so
2 Traveling Scarf sections -- within 3 or 4 days of receiving them, whenever that will be
Mom's Sweater -- LAST Mother's Day
Pansy's socks -- "whenever," but really, as soon as possible. She's already been waiting a few months.

In the past 48 hours, I've cast on for the Bird in the Hand mittens, for the Jorid Linvik knitalong that's ending on Jan. 31. I've also joined the NaKniMitMo (National Knit Mittens Month. Ravelers seems to have become very enamored of the NaNoWriMo-type abbreviation) knitalong, for which the deadline is Jan. 31. I suppose that I could count the BitH mittens for the NaKniMitMo mittens, but that really feels like cheating. And then there's the Hat of the Month group (12 hats in 12 months), for which I'm making the Who? hat -- also by Jan. 31.

And I'm not even mentioning my half-completed pair of socks for Warm Woolies. Or their 10 for 10 by 2010 challenge. Or my ribbon socks. Or my Knotty or Knice socks. Or that shawl that I bought yarn for. Or the proposed (but not yet started) second round of traveling scarves for Group 26. Or ... well, I'm losing track. But I'm sure there's more.

And the LotR Sock Club starts the beginning of February.

Oh crap. I just opened the desk drawer and discovered (again) the soaker pattern I was planning to use for the virtual baby shower at SOAB. For which the deadline was Nov. 30. And an afghan. (Yes, I have about 1/4 of an afghan stuffed in my desk drawer. What? Doesn't everyone?)

Has anyone else heard about Structured Procrastination? This frequently works for me. Unfortunately, Deb's Christmas scarf seems to be my most important project at the moment. And I'm seeing her again on Sunday.

Also, Eddie rocks!