Checking in

There hasn't been much to post about lately. My projects are mostly stalled (the mittens, the socks) or going too slowly to merit an update (the seascape). Boring, huh? I have started a top-secret one-skein project for a swap partner, but there won't be details on that until I've sent it off.

Like I said, boring.

I have read a couple of really good books, though: In the Woods and The Likeness, both by Tana French. They're mystery/thriller types, but much more literary than I would normally credit the genre. I like character-driven novels, mostly, and these two had character development coming off the page in waves. The story wasn't too shabby, either. I definitely recommend reading In the Woods first, because it will make the second one that much richer. (One doesn't necessarily have to have read one to read the other, but I'm glad I read both, and in published order.)

I tried to make that last paragraph as interesting as possible to make up for the snooze-fest my knitting has become. (Note to self: work on the knitting so I don't have to subject my very few readers to more of this in the future.)

The Yarn Diet

JTK just brought home a 45-ounce bag of peanut M&Ms. And a bag of Hershey's dark chocolate Bliss Bites.

Damn him.

The WIP Report

Let's check in with the wips, shall we?

First up, the floozy socks. As we can see from the picture at right, I'm through the leg, heel turn, and am working on the gusset decreases. I would've liked the leg to be longer, but I'm worried about yardage on this Jitterbug. It's the first time I've ever used it so I don't want to take chances. I really like the yarn, though. I hope it's worth buying in the future. The pattern is pretty fun, too. I think they're going to be great looking socks. (I can already tell the color is going to be my rainy day pick-me-up this winter. It's soooo bright and happy.)


Next we have Seascape. Against all common sense, I'm loving this project. It's dark, it's fuzzy, it's lacy, and it's incredible. I'm not very far into it, but it's all I want to work on. So far I'm through the border and have started in on the first chart. (The blue lifeline there shows where the border stops.) It takes all my concentration, so I can only work on it when there are no children or husbands around providing distractions. Weirdly enough, I also really like the Kidsilk Haze. At first I was afraid I'd made a mistake using it (it's so fuzzy!) but now I think I've gotten the hang of using it. Love, love, love this project.


And then there are the blackberry mittens. Something had to suffer from this new promiscuous lifestyle I'm leading, and it's the mittens. If you scroll down to my last post, you can compare and contrast progress photos. See much difference? Me neither. I'm determined to get these to Jamie before it gets too cold, though, so I'm going to have to buckle down.

One of these days.