Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Citron

Without further ado (because I know the suspense has been killing you), it is with great pleasure that I give you Citron, aka the Big Red Blob of Doom:


Yes friends, I finished it. There were approximately eleventy-bajillion-zillion stitches on the needles at the end, and for a while I thought I had stumbled into some sort of blip in the time-space continuum, but binding off that final stitch was like attaining knitting nirvana.  I experienced a singular, blissful moment of clarity...

... swiftly followed by an overwhelming wave of hostility and disgust.  I couldn't get that f*$#ing shawl away from me fast enough.

It took me a full week before I could even look at it again, and another week to be able to sit down and weave in 6 little ends. And now it is finally and truly done.



I can't even begin to contemplate casting on for another shawl at this point, resolution be damned.  Since finishing my Citron I have gone absolutely WILD and cast on not one but TWO socks (I KNOW!  Get DOWN with your bad self!) and have been enjoying knitting on one or the other as strikes my fancy.


The pair on the left (which is not, in fact, as crazy neon orange as it appears in this photo) is the latest
Cookie A Sock Club sock, knit with Sweet Georgia CashLuxe Fine.  The pattern (inspired by Spock!) is fun and challenging and the yarn is absolutely divine.  The pair on the right is my Soccer/Swimming/AutoPilot knitting of the moment, a pair of plain vanilla socks knit out of NightFall sock yarn.

I'm sure I'll be serving myself up another slice of crazy-pie within no time, but until then I'll be happily knitting away on these babies.  Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Slog

There are a few reasons why I haven't written a blog post in a good long while.  First (and I know this is going to come as a complete shock to those of you who still frequent this space (*Cough* Dad *Cough*): I'm not exactly the bestest blogger in the whole wide world.  Second, well, I've been kept busy by other projects.

Like the garden...


I guess one could say I've dabbled in vegetable gardening since the kids were born, but this is my third year of "serious" gardening. The garlic is up, carrots are sprouting away, and the tomatoes (that I started from seed!!!!) seem to be managing fairly well despite the cool Spring we've been having up here.  I even spotted a few baby tomatoes out there this morning!


As I mentioned last time, I've also gotten pretty obsessed with cross stitching over the past few weeks.  Cross stitch is a bit of a vixen though.  It beguiles you with it's seemingly manageable size and all-round cuteness, so that you don't immediately realize what a MASSIVE time-suck it can be.  Stitching all those little x's takes TIME, my friends!

But if you really want to know what's been keeping me from posting to this knitting blog, I'll tell you: it's that I am absolutely bored to tears by the project I've been working on since, oh, forever.  Friends, I give you the coma-inducing red blob of despair:


Also known as a Citron Grand, which I'm knitting out of 1300 yards of laceweight.  It's going to make a great Christmas gift, and goodness knows I knew what I was getting myself into when I pulled those 3 balls of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace out of the stash, but MAN.  I've been relying heavily on my runner training, trying to suck it up and keep slogging along, telling myself that each row is one row closer to the finish line, and you know what? 

Not unlike 'round about the 15th kilometer in a half-marathon, my pep talks are starting to feel like total and complete bullsh*t.  I'm never going to be done.  This mind-numbing, soul-crushing torture is just going to go on (and on)  (and ON) forever. 


Happy pointless knitting that won't make the slightest dent in your WIP everyone! *Sigh*