Slowly Getting Back to Normal

Hello?   Anyone there?  Is thing still on?

I'm back.  Back in my house and moved in enough to actually think about knitting again.  The less said about the chaos of the last two weeks is probably better.  I'm in.  The house isn't perfect yet- we're living through a lot of "trades people" visits, but the point is I'm home.   If I get the longing to go roll around in my stash naked- I could.  In theory.  Not that that has actually EVER happened, but should the desire arise- I can do it.  (Probably best to do it when the tradespeople AREN'T here, but I digress.)

There has been a bit of knitting here and there- mostly to maintain sanity- but it's been light, so there isn't a tonne to report on.

I knit the final hat of the Pink Hat project.  I officially feel confident to say that I don't have enough pink yarn to get me through one more hat.  The final tally gets me to 18 hats for charity.  I'm pretty pleased with myself about that.

With the pink yarn gone, and a large part of my acrylic stash busted down, (GO ME), I actually procured some new yarn for the 2014 hat project.  (Which may begin in 2013 if I find myself just needing to knit a quick hat instead of something more complicated.)

 

This is one giant ball of yarn.  I'm probably going to HATE this colorway when all the hats are said and done, but I thought I'd try a new challenge.  This time I can knit any pattern I want- they can be the same or not- but I need to knit this ball down to nothing before the end of 2014.  (It feels weird and EARLY to be thinking that far ahead on this, but honestly- I didn't think I'd actually finish the pink project as early as I did.)

Move in day had many surprises, but the most pleasant one of all was my yarn from the Loopy Ewe showing up in my mailbox, the perfect "Welcome Home" present.

I wound the first ball, so eager was I get going on the project, that I realized I hadn't photographed the yarn until after!  Whoops!  It took me longer to actually sit down and swatch the Argyle blanket but as of today I've cast on the project and am ready to see where this yarn is going to take me.

The pattern is somewhat "involved", meaning it's going to be something that I have to pay attention to rather closely to avoid errors.  Hopefully it'll be a quick and painless knit.  It seems like a great project to "restart" my knitting mojo on a regular basis again.

The mitten is at a standstill.  I've knit about 8 rows on it since move in day.  The act of paying attention to this chart has been a little more than I can take surrounded by chaos.  And so, it's going to sit for a little while until things calm down for me here.  (But not to worry- I would like to get these done BEFORE the first snowfall... hoping of course that's not until AT LEAST Nov 1.  Work with me here weather!)

So- that's where we're at.  It doesn't look like much, but it IS something and it's a slow start to a more regular schedule.  (Hopefully that means a more regular blog schedule again.)  It feels good to be home- but it will feel better once everything is finished.

Glad you stuck around- I'm happy to be back!  (Fall feels so empty without knitting in your hands... how do Non-Knitters live like that!?)

Calm Before the Storm

Three. More. Sleeps.  We move home in three more days.  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am.  I can probably shock you a little though- I'm so excited about getting home that I've been unable to concentrate on knitting!

We are in the "calm before the storm" phase of things.  We're planning the move- but we aren't ready to actually do anything yet.  And so, I'm just sort of frantically passing the time until I move back into my space and make it mine again.  In my brain I'm planning where I'll put things and where things will go in their new spaces... and I can't do much else.  (Sleep included...)  Until then, sadly, this blog and my knitting progress will suffer.  Brace yourself, September could be a little slow on blog posts- but not to worry, I have EVERY INTENTION of coming back once we're settled back in and I can pick up my needles without the "I really should unpack that box" guilt.

There has been progress these last couple of days.  2 more pink hats have appeared.  (The easiest thing to concentrate on right now- hats!)

I'm so close to having these yarns used up!

I can safely say I've used up all of the light pink yarn, but I think I can still get in ONE MORE hat with what remains, if I wait until I can get access to my white leftover yarn at home.  So there will be one more hat, bringing this year's total up to 18 hats.  Not too shabby.  (I'm trying to think of what I'll do next year... and I have an idea... but that's another story for another day.)

I have also made progress on the mystery mitten- getting one off the needles (a sneak peek at the palm- because that's not what we're really all curious to see here) and casting #2 on.

I'm trying to motivate myself to sit down, even after I finish this post and just focus on getting the cuff finished and mitten started.  It would be REALLY nice to get to the thumb before the big move... but I'll have to keep you posted on that one!

I also, after many agonizing emails to my poor suffering MiL, chose a yarn for the argyle blanket.  I was unable to find the color I wanted in a local shop in town (I went to 3!) and so I ordered Ultra Pima from Cascade from the Loopy Ewe and will begin that project just as soon as the yarn arrives.  (And my house is in a reasonably finished state...)  The leaves are starting to change colors and I find myself really inspired to knit blankets again.  (This is my curse.)

Wish us luck on Thursday- I'm really ready to go home!