Busy, but Back!

Sorry I have been absent for almost two weeks. It wasn't intentional. Work-related warning. If you're curious why I have been so busy, first it was this, then this, then after a good night's sleep plus a two-hour nap, this. I was exhausted by the time Sunday rolled around, to say the least! Then it was back to "normal" this week, which means I have been a waste of oxygen. This time of year just isn't any fun for me, but I'm muddling through.

Additionally, I'm still making friends with my new camera. It's awesome, but close-up detailed pictures seem to be a problem unless I have plenty of daylight to deal with. I'll get better with this camera, it's just going to take a little time and practice. Please bear with me!

I meant to take a sock update photo last night, but I forgot. Maybe tonight I'll take care of that. I'm just about to the toe on sock #1. Woo-Hoo! I'm also about 10" into my purple V-neck sweater and it looks awesome. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about it. Forgot to take a picture of that too. Yes, I suck!

So what have I been working on that I did remember to take pictures of? THIS!

While I enjoy the sock thing and the available yarns are fabulous, I don't see myself becoming a sockaholic. Socks are generally on teeneytiny needles and seem to take forever -- my current sock is on a US3 needle. These mittens are for a friend of mine (who asked for mittens. I generally don't knit for other people, but mittens are a long-time favorite) and I fell in love with the yarn -- and I got gage on a US7 needle! Well, the colorway at least. But don't they look great?

Here's a hand-free shot of the left mitten. Started on Sunday night, finished on Tuesday night. I even grafted the top of the mitten with a kitchener stitch. Took me two tries to figure it out, but I got it done! Ends are woven in and everything. Woo-Hoo! If said friend doesn't love these, I WANT THEM BACK! :)

Tomorrow is Friday, and I think I might have some Yarn Pr0n-worthy shots to post. No guarantees, but I'm gonna try. What else is on deck for tomorrow? I haven't decided yet if I'm going to ask to take the day off. I'll probably at least come in late so I can stop by Beach Knitting to visit Irma. I can't go on Sunday because I'll be in San Diego to watch the Steelers beat the Chargers! :)

Eventually, I'll head out to Monrovia since we're sewing at Sandy's house again. I need to finish my second set of blocks for the M&Ms mini group, which meets on Monday (at Sandy's house, again!). I'm taking my D1 for its first real use. Hopefully Lisa and Carol will be up for plenty of "how do I make this go again?" questions. Here's my first M&Ms block that I finished the last time we went to Sandy's house. :)

So that's about it from here. I'm going to try to leave at a decent hour today (I was here at 7:30, so that shouldn't be an unreasonable plan!) and get home early, at which point I'll take a few more in-progress shots and maybe a Yarn Pr0n or two. Hope to see you again soon!

PS: Does anyone actually read this thing? Comments are welcome! ;-)