Just under the wire FO

Ages ago I joined Kat's UFO Challenge, and though I have been finishing quite a few things, I've been one sorry lame ass about posting them. But this one is for July...



A Kiri Shawl made of 900 yards of raw silk, fingering weight. It is beautiful, no? I'm completely in love with it. The pattern was easy and very clear and I would recommend it to anyone.



This shawl should've been finished ages ago, as I was moving along on it at quite a clip, but then I got to the edging. I have a secret suspicion that I have an edging curse. Everything was perfect. As I said, the pattern is very clear, and I had no doubts in knitting right along...when I got to the center stitch of the first row of edging, I was off. I tinked it back, thinking that I had some brain malfunction along the way, and did it again. No dice. Off again. This went on for a loooong time, alternating with bouts of shawl neglect, during which I convinced myself that when I picked it back up it would be fine, everything would work.



A few weeks ago, I was determined to finish the thing. I loved it and I wanted it. I went back to the pdf file, counted stitches here there and everywhere. Finally, I checked my chart against the written instructions, not really believing that the chart could be wrong, but I couldn't think of anything else. Confusion set in on the first 5 stitches. I went back to look at the pdf chart again and realized that the day I printed it, my printer must've been on red strike. It hadn't printed those little red YO's that frame the edging pattern. It didn't print ANYTHING in those spots, so I was knitting them. Once I added them in, everything went quickly and swimmingly again. And now I can honestly say that my printer has something against my knitting. Terd.



So, my weird word of advice about this lovely shawl? Make one, and make sure you have red ink in your printer.

Freezing cold FOF and UFO

Holy mother is it cold out there today. If ONLY I could have stayed wrapped in my nice warm bed. Starbucks opened FORTY FIVE MINUTES late. This was NOT good news for the morning, especially since the first thing I thought when I woke up was "This is a venti-day."

I started a Microbiology class last night. The teacher was good, but intense. It's a little tough for me to be coherent past 8, so to still be trying to LEARN at 9:30? Eeeck! We'll see how that one goes.

I don't think I mentioned it yet, but due to the frightening and growing piles of unfinished objects in my apartment, I joined Kat's UFO Challenge!

This month, I went easy. Instead of finishing, I completely unfinished and returned the yarn to its state of "full of potential" instead of tied up in a nowhere project. A while ago, I made this bag for SP8.

I loved this bag A LOT and I didn't really want to send it away. But I did, convincing myself that I could dye some more recycled sweaters and make myself one. But the beginnings just weren't making me happy, so this:

Is now this:
Ready for a new adventure.

I also have the February recycled FO for today. (Early! Can you believe it? It will never, ever happen again. Knitting is definitely therapy.) And before you think "Wow, those are big calves, YES I have huge calves. Those nifty knee high boots rarely fit me. Boo-hoo.)

Can you believe I found that yarn sitting in a dumpy old thrift store sweater? It's beautiful and screamed knee socks to me. It's a little high on the acrylic (I think 70% Acrylic and 30% wool) so I'm guessing my feet now REEK! But they're too pretty for me to care. And on a day like today? They are doing excellent work at keeping the bottom parts of me warm.

The yarn was a bit thicker than sock weight, so I use size 4 needles and made up the pattern as I went. (The pattern is coming...I wanted to post it today, but I don't have my notes and I don't want to screw up the numbers!) In case you can't see, there's a cable running from the toe to the top. There is also another cable running from the heel to the top. I knit them toe-up because I wasn't really sure how much yarn I had. It was a women's sweater and I lost a bit to a cut v neck. Turns out, I had plenty. Maybe even enough for another pair of socks for my sister (who was quite jealous of this sweater find)! I'll try to get that pattern up on Monday. Have a lovely weekend! And stay warm!