Viva Las Vegas

Because, even though I was in Las Vegas, of all places, I managed to get some decent knitting done, and buy a souvenir skein of sock yarn. I may make progress against this year's list yet!

Finished:

Checkerboard Scarf: Finished in Las Vegas on Monday, blocked at home on Wednesday, worn to work by Squid on Friday. I was afraid it would be a little too short, but it blocked out very nicely indeed, and he's not a big fan of Dr. Who-length scarves anyway.

Dragon-Scale Socks: Finished them this weekend, after putting some major length on them during my plane flight back from Nevada. I'll have to take a photo of them on my feet--I love how they turned out.

Requiring Finishing:

Baby Kimono: No change. Just haven't felt that seaming feeling.

Silk Garden Cardigan: Crochet successfully completed once I remembered the difference between a single crochet and a slip stitch. All it needs is buttons, but I'm strangely unable to find any I really like. Current front-runners are some plain matte brass ones at Borealis.

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: Up to about 60 rows complete on the main body, thanks to an all-Loot viewing of Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The Ferret Sock: No change.

Squid's Boundary Waters Sweater: I finally put together a plan for a sweater that Squid likes! With any luck, I'll have it ready for him to take to the Boundary Waters with him at the end of May--it's a basic drop-shoulder model, but I'm doing it in a 6x2 rib for a little variety, and making a high neck on it to keep out the drafts. We picked the lovely, soft, bulky but not-too-thick Plymouth Eco-Wool in a nifty chocolate brown color, with a nice green stripe. It's currently about 1.5 inches of one sleeve, so don't get too excited just yet.

Charity Mittens: I have a lovely charcoal skein of Manos del Uruguay that I'd bought for the original fluffy cuff mittens--before I found the awesome acid green llama that I ultimately made them out of. I decided to turn them into a pair of mittens for charity--all wool, for Afghans for Afghans.

The next pair of socks: I've been sitting on a skein of Trekking XXL color 100, for a while--but I wanted to finish my current socks before starting another pair. Hah! The time has come today. However, I was having a terrible time figuring out what size to cast on, so I had to actually swatch. (Gasp!) Looks like Wendy's standard toe-up pattern will be my choice at present, though I reserve the right to change my mind.

In the hoop:

Lauren Sauer Prework: Continuing my alarming trend of stitching nautical-themed stuff, I'm taking the "Mermaid's Menagerie II" and "Mermaid's Treasure Chest" classes from my Guild in April. I need to complete the "Sea Squirt Pincushion" and chest lid stitching prior to class--I'm about 60% done with the pincushion.

C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.

Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Listening to: My usual polyglot, with an extra helping of Tom Jones and William Shatner.

Gold medal, baby.

Behold, my prize for knitting obsessively in front of curling matches and speed skating for two weeks straight:



Finished:
Fair Isle Sampler Hat: My gold-medal project for the Knitting Olympics! It’s really awesome, and I’m so glad I took the challenge. This was just enough of a challenge to stretch my skills, but not such a huge undertaking that it drove me insane. If you look reeeeeeally closely at the finished object, you can see that I got a little puckery towards the pointy end, but I've chosen to forgive myself--the end was in sight, I had 40 or fewer stitches on doublepoints, and dammit, the gold medal was going to be MINE. As previously threatened--photographic evidence!




Charity Raglan Kid’s Sweater: Darn, it turned out cute. However, when I got to my very last two yellow stripes, I realized that I didn’t have enough yellow yarn. Since it’s a leftovers project, I was NOT buying another skein. So I found the leftover fringe I’d cut for the Harry Potter scarf I’d bought the yarn for in the first place, and Russian Joined it all together to make the last stripe. This just in: I am certifiable. But check it out anyway--I'd have loved this sweater when I was a kid:



Requiring Finishing:
Baby Kimono: Since nobody I know is having girl babies after all (there’s been a run on Y chromosomes in my circle of friends), I’m going to finish this up and donate it to Afghans for Afghans. So, I took it to Charity Knitting Sunday at Borealis and did some end-weaving, and picked up the next never-ending tie of doom.

Silk Garden Cardigan: All seamed! It’s going to fit after all, thanks to wet-blocking before assembly. Now, to figure out the crocheted edgings. Have I mentioned that crochet is my nemesis?

On the Needles:
Party-Time Apron: No change.

Dragon-Scale Socks: First repeat completed. I think these will be seeing more action now that the K.O.'s out of the way.

The Ferret Sock: No change.

Checkerboard Scarf: While catching up on the Battlestar Galactica episodes I'd skipped due to Olympic Fever (tm), I managed to put on several more repeats. I'd kind of like Squid to have it before the weather gets too warm. :)

In the hoop:
C.A. Wells Needle Cottage: No change.
Edward Scissorfish: No change.

Obligatory Cultural References
Reading: Still unable to get into reading at bedtime—I’ve been doing GAMES Magazine puzzles instead, and actually succeeding at those devilish little paint-by-numbers thingies.
Listening to: Goldfrapp, mostly, with a hefty peppering of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.