WiP … Thursday?

Oops. I kind of missed Wednesday, didn’t I? Sorry about that.

The end of the ultra-marathon is almost here. One week from today, I will be home from Indy and expect to be a blubbering puddle of goo, napping all day until I have to head to the LYS job.

Meanwhile, I’ve done some work on the BFF socks, but not enough to make it look like progress, so I’ll spare you a picture. More waiting around means more progress on the Miss Babs socks …

Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. I took the picture Wednesday AM and by the time I realized it was out of focus, I wasn't willing to re-shoot.

I even finished the first one at a softball game on Tuesday! I need to write down my master numbers for this sock and stick them in my sock knitting bag, but meanwhile, I remembered my number for D and was able to cruise along from there.

In other news, shawls go much faster once you’ve gotten through the lace panel and are mostly knitting stockingette. See?


Still love the yarn and the project. I’m on skein #5 of 7 and I’m starting to decrease even more rapidly. I don’t know if I’ll take this project with me on the trip, but I just might. I could work on it in the hotel.

Speaking of which, I gotta do some writing and even more packing. Off to the races tomorrow!

WiP Wednesday: Progress!

Hi! Two weeks ‘til I get my life back. Yay!

Meanwhile …

Got in a bunch of theater time on ye olde plain vanilla sock last week


Yay for moving right along.

Most of my knitting time went to Margarethe


Well, until Sunday when I managed to drop stitches while moving my lifeline. Oops. But after a trip to the Lace Hospital (my LYS, where lace knitters live and work!), it’s back and doing just fine. I have four patterned rows left before I’m in the Land of Stockingette. I’m actually really looking forward to that!

And, between when I had to put down my shawl and when I was able to pick it back up, the BFF sock got a bunch of air time. Yay, Progress!


As you can see, I got a couple inches past the lifeline for the heel. And in case you can’t see the actual change in pattern on the left-hand side there, here’s a closeup


Yay, progress!

WiP Wednesday

More short bursts of waiting time have let me finish the heel turn and flap on my Miss Babs socks


I did throw the heel lifeline in on my BFF sock, so there’s progress being made there as well.


I was chugging along on my Margarethe shawl until Friday night, when I had to fudge to finish Row 9. I took it with me to work, where Michelle diagnosed my problem. On Row 1. DOH! I ripped back to the garter stitch and went back to work. So far, so good. I’m through Row 14 and chugging right along. It’s almost time to start decreasing! On Sunday it was really feeling like the shawl was knitting me, but I’m getting better. And faster!


And now, back to the writing. Three more weeks. I’m almost there!

WiP Wednesday: Dear BFF

So there has been significant progress on my plain vanilla sock. Waiting for things here and there equals progress. I’ve finished the heel turn, now I’ll be decreasing away as time permits.


And my BFF socks got some air time at my two knit nights last week. On Friday night at my Borders group (soon to be moved. Store is closing. Sad panda!) I was cranking along, and I’m finally within a few rounds of putting in the lifeline for the afterthought heel.

I was certain I’d be cruising on the leg shortly after I got home from the store on Saturday night. Well …


But then I went to work on Saturday. And we hosted the lovely and talented Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens (distributors of The Fibre Company yarns and authors of the amazing new book “Vintage Modern Knits”) for two classes and a book signing/trunk show.

The trunk show was my downfall.

They had every finished project that appeared in the book as well as a few others of their patterns. All day Saturday, Kate was wearing her Margarethe shawl. It’s a Faroese style shawl and it DOES have some lace, but it’s pretty minimal. And I just fell in love with the thing.

So I spent the afternoon and evening ringing up tons of Fibre Company purchases four our wonderful customers. As I kept watching the various colors of Road to China Light walk out the door, I realized that my options for colors for the shawl kept dwindling. As the evening came to a close, we had enough stock in one color that I loved to make the shawl. (Oh. I kind of wound up playing "let's make a deal" with a customer so she didn't sneak three skeins out from under my nose, but everybody left happy, so it's OK!) So I jumped on it!

I got home, wound two skeins, swatched and cast on 410 stitches. (Well, OK. It was supposed to be 411, but I fixed that before it was too late)




So, Cristi, I got a little sidetracked. I promise I’ll get back to task very soon. But last weekend? That shawl was calling my name. Sorry!

WiP Wednesday

I am not trapped under something heavy. I was just way, way beyond busy all of last week. If it wasn’t optic yellow or covered in dirt (translation: softball-related), I just plain did not have time for it last week.

As expected, I did not take one single stitch during my trip. I know some knitters are crazy-productive on the road, but I’m not one of them. I get on a plane and I want to read or sleep. That’s it. That’s the list.

So that actually makes it a little good that I didn’t have time to WiP Wednesday last week. Otherwise I’d have nothing to show you today!

The BFF socks are coming right along. With a little luck, I’ll throw in my lifeline for the heel at knit night tonight.


And then I will feel less guilty that Cristi is a Speed Machine.

The plain jane Miss Babs socks are cranking right along. They’re perfect for brainless knitting, which everyone needs every so often.


You may have noticed that those socks are no longer on DPNs. We went to see “Hair” at Heinz Hall shortly before the big trip, and one of my Signature DPNs tried to make a run for it. Thankfully, it got stuck one row in front of my seat. Which was good. I was picturing myself trying to explain to the Hubster why I was crawling under seats at Heinz Hall for an hour after the show. So those bad boys went back on my circs almost immediately.

That’s about it from here. I’m still super busy (but in much better spirits!), so I have to get back to the writing that pays the bills. Later, taters!