May-kin' It Work

When we last left this blog my mojo was waivering... the warm weather proving to be a huge distraction and my desire to get anything done less than "keen".  Whelp- the weather continues to be not hideous and so, alas, my progress is a little less than exciting.  I don't have much to tell you.

My May plan was to get the mystery project done by May 31.  I'm still tracking positively on that front.  Both mittens are complete except for thumbs, so this week I need to work on the thumbs.  OH?  Did I mention that I hate thumb knitting?  Mitten knitting is A OK.... thumb knitting is yuck.  I hate the fiddly little fingers.  That's probably why you'll never see me knit gloves, so many agonizing fingers.

As much as I love these mittens and they're turning out pretty awesome- I'm worried that aren't "super stars" and they aren't "contenders".  So the real question is do I try to whip something up in the very small mean time or just enter what I have for this year and regroup for next year?  Please don't get me wrong- these look great, but I'm not sure they're show stoppers.  I need a good show stopping inspiration!  (Although MiL did find what will likely be my project for next year, so thanks to her!)

The  blanket is at a stand still.  I have hardly touched it.  It was going to be my second entry and I suppose now that the mittens are nearly done I could refocus on this and grind it out.  But UGH- I'm just not feeling it right now.  I need to finish it by mid July as the baby is due then,so I might need to have a sign up sheet for people to come by and just kick me in the pants to keep me working on it.

I did also start a new little project for an expecting mom at Parker's school.  She's adding a little boy to her brood of little girls, so I thought I'd make her a hat and some booties.  The booties are just getting started but the hat is already done and OH it's cute!

Pattern: Cabled Teddy Hat by Marinda Lariz (newborn size)
Yarn: Mission Falls 136 Merino Superwash (discontinued- but YAY stash yarn!)
Needle: US 6
Notes: I really REALLY appreciate the thought the pattern designer put into the decreases at the top.  It was clever and smart and makes the hat look more polished.  I will likely knit this hat a million other times- and potentially for the new babies next year.  (It's a little early to commit to that project right now...)

Next up are a matching set of booties- which are equally as adorable as this hat.  I need to finish this little present by June 18, as that's the last day of Parker's school for the year.  (*insert shocked expression here*)

I will hopefully be back soon to tell you I finished those mittens on time and that there's all kinds of new and exciting stuff in the hopper coming!  Stick with me, these lapses in mojo rarely last long- and I still manage to grind a few things out in the mean time!

Missing Mojo Part 15,984

Spring is sprung...
The grass is ris'...
I wonder WHERE IN THE HECK THIS BLOGGER IS?

Oops.  May 13 and this is my first May post!  Sorry guys!

This seems to happen around the same time every year.  Spring comes and around and shines it's lovely sunshine rays down and my brain goes "I cannot. knit. another. stitch."  This inconviently happens, it seems, everytime I have actual knitting deadlines to meet or when I'm in thick of a project and it starts to lose some of it's "hey this is new and fun and challenging and exciting and woo!" shine.

Gentle reader, I have to admit, there have been several days in the last 2 weeks when I haven't even touched my knitting.  *gasp* *clutches pearls in terror*  I've been distracted getting my backyard bloomin' (and spending too much time covering it up every night because it keeps getting too cold! grrrr) and cleaning up my house to really sit down and focus on knitting.

That's not to say that there hasn't been any progress, it's just, not the usual "look how productive I've been" pace you've become use to from me.

The mystery mittens are shaping up well (and even fit the right sized hands!) and I'm on track, (if I get my mojo back) to finish them for the end of June.

Got any ideas on what theme I went with this year?  Here's another spoiler shot....

Sadly my husband, who's June birthday these were intended for, accidently ruined himself on the surprise when he was syncing up my iphone and saw pictures.  I'm disappointed that my attempt to go covert was ruined but I'm hoping that maybe he'll try to stay away from all of the surprises and still have something unexpected to look forward to for his birthday.  *ahem* HINT *ahem*

The blanket pace is looking rather bleak....

So you have reference for it- here's a pic of what it looked like the last time I posted a blog post...

YIKES.  Not much.  I need to finish the mittens and kick into high gear on this project.  The one small kudos I can give myself is that I have stayed on top of the end weaving in and it won't be horribly overwhelming when I do finish this project.

I'll try to be better.  I'll try to ramp up the progress here and make this an interesting blog again- but until then you'll have to endure my little lapse of ennui until I can really start grinding out stitches again.  Until then- happy SPRING and enjoy the sun, I know I have!