Stranding everywhere!

Oh, my dear blog-friends, please don't think I've deserted you entirely! I've been around reading everyone's posts, hanging out on Ravelry, but for some reason writing a blog post myself seems to be at the end of my to-do list. (And we all know what happens to those hangers-on at the end of the list, no?) Thank you so much for all the get-well wishes, they really made my day, even through the Day-Quil haze I was in all week. I'm better now, for the most part, just a little lingering cough here and there as I finish clearing out the ol' lungs... I've always been really prone to respiratory ailments, and this wet freeze-thaw cycle Maine has been going through this winter is not helping. I didn't knit for a few days while I was ill, but I made up for it in the later part of the week. I'm nearly done with the sleeve for Autumn Rose, and I'm still enjoying knitting on it (which is very unusual; I'm generally sick of a sweater by the time I get to the second sleeve!) I finished my Embossed Leaves socks, and I love them so much!

Embossed Leaves socks, from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 Yarn: Araucania Ranco Multi, color 309 Size 0 (2.0mm) dpns

I made only a couple modifications to this pattern; I made the cuff longer by half a pattern repeat, which then gave me an extra half-a-repeat on the instep. It added just the right amount of length to fit my size 10 feet while maintaining the pattern so the leaf-shaped toe-decreases worked out too. On 2.0 mm needles, these socks are really rather slim, nearly too much so, but I do have narrow feet and socks have a way of stretching. The most knitting progress has been made on the mittens I'm making for the No More Humdrum Mitten Swap 2. It's been an interesting process so far, as I've put together my own color palette for the first time. A bit daunting, trying to make a nice combination outside of my own favorite colors. I'm using Knit Picks Palette yarn, and I used my marble kaleidoscope to help see the colors together. Here are the colors I ended up choosing: I'm knitting SpillyJane's Sea Mineral Mittens (Ravelry link, pdf here) and I picked colors that complement my pal's preference and also remind me of shells scattered on the sandy beaches where I grew up.

A close-up of the cuff.

First mitten finished.

I've rounded off the top of the hand and the thumb a bit, and added more colors, but otherwise I've followed the pattern. I really love them so far and expect to get the second mitten done this week. So, I believe a mid-winter resolution is in order: I am going to make every effort to blog more. I really miss you guys!

Snow Day(s), 1st Exam, Influenza, and other reasons not to blog

When I first started Knitting (with a capital 'K', as opposed to the knitting I learned as a child and dabbled in two or three times over a decade...) it was a response to the huge quantity of "free" time I found myself with when I married and became a stay-at-home mom. Not to say that moms don't have plenty to do; I suppose I'd just become conditioned to a life of juggling several jobs along with a social life, so keeping house and chasing kids still felt hectic, but with more time sitting around. I don't sit still well. I started knitting during all those times waiting, after bedtime, during Dora the Explorer... Now that my own schedule is full, and the kids' schedules are full, and my husband's schedule is full, I don't seem to have quite so much knitting time anymore. Not to say that I've given up entirely. Oh, no, not by a long shot! I sneak in a couple rows here and there, between perusals of that classic tome, "Applied Statistics for the Life Sciences," and studying for the first-quarter exam in botany. (I got an 88%, plus 10 extra credit points - not bad, considering it's a tough course.) But I think overall my knitting is turning from quantity to quality. I'm still enjoying working away at Autumn Rose. Though I'm still on the body, I'm one repeat away from setting it aside to work on the sleeves. It will be done before it's too warm to wear it. I got an undeniable urge to spin last week, and noting the lack of time I've had lately, I decided to give worsted-weight singles yarn a try. I used a 4-ounce BFL roving from Spunky Eclectic ("Grand Opening" colorway) and was very pleased to end up with a beautifully balanced 215 yard skein that reminded me a lot of Manos del Uruguay's yarn. I'd never trusted my singles as a knitting yarn before, but I'm a newly converted fan - it's bouncy, stripey, soft, and fast - it only took me one evening to spin. So over the next two nights, I knit myself a hat. Not so bad, eh? It was just in time, as we've had a bout of the snow/melt/snow/melt cycle which more often than not leaves me feeling damp and more chilled than I did in the colder weather of Alaska. I wish it would just snow a lot, then get cold and let it stick around. We've had a snow day (or early dismissal due to icy-slick roads) every week for the past month or so, and I've about had it. Supposedly, we're to expect another 4-8 inches of frozen precipitation this evening and tomorrow, but, as a teacher at the school said, "That means we're either in for a foot of snow followed by another thaw, or a dusting followed by sub-zero temps..." *sigh* (End of weather ranting. Sorry.) The other project I've been working on is a pair of Embossed Leaves socks, with the Araucania Ranco Multi yarn I received for Christmas. I made a pair of socks with this pattern for my mother a couple years ago, and am finally making myself a pair. I really love the yarn; it's soft but sturdy, and the colors come in short bursts that dance rather than pool. The first sock is actually done now (I took this photo a few days ago) and I've done the first repeat on the second leg. Not coincidentally, it also fits in well with the current Project Spectrum theme, "Fire." What else did I mention in my title? Oh, yes, the FLU. I'm not certain it's actually the flu that I've got, but it's a full-on knock-down drag-out something that's laid me flat since Thursday night. As Andy said, "You must be really sick, you haven't even been knitting!" Eek. Today the fever has gone down, but I'm still not feeling great. In fact, I think I'm going to take my box of tissues and crawl back into my wooby-hole on the sofa for a couple hours... Just wanted to check in at the blog before I start getting concerned emails... :) I'll be back in a couple days.