So, it's a new year, and my goal is to keep this blog updated far more often. No more disappearing for a month at a time. I'm calling it a goal, not a resolution because everyone knows that New Year's resolutions are really made to be broken.

So, I figure once a week is pretty good unless there's something really spectacular to report like new yarn. I don't have any of that today, but I do have more of Lady Eleanor:

I'm still enamoured of this project. The yarn is beautiful and I find myself almost tansfixed by the way the colour changes and the little rectangles come together like something woven. I think I'm going to have to try more entrelac in the very near future. Noro Silk Garden is very loosely plied, but I've only had it break on me once, and it was right at the beginning of a rectangle, so it was easy to reattach without disrupting the colour shifts. There have also been a couple of knots, but they weren't much of a problem until this:

This picture is terrible. I admit it. I've tried playing with it, changing colour contrast and brightness, and sharpness, but I keep getting a blurry mess. You can see the knot there, though. The problem I have is that it's got teal on the left side of the knot and purple on the right. The colours don't change that way. I'm going to have to attach a new ball of yarn here to continue or else there will be a weird purple on purple thing happening. Not the end of the world, but irritating.

Anyway. Onward. I mentioned quite a while back that I had knit myself a Shedir hat. I finally got around to getting pictures. Here's me getting ready to escape the office. Goes to show how devoted I'm trying to be to this here blog, that I would take the time on my way out the door to beg a colleague to take my picture.

I have a really little head, so hats don't usually fit me as written, but I followed the directions in the pattern almost exactly except for a couple of rows of ribbing that I omitted. It fits pretty well. There is a bit of a pook on top, but not as dramatic as some of the hats I see on old guys at the bus stop that remind me a bit of mushroom tops.

Here's a close-up of the pattern. It shows really well in this yarn despite the dark yarn. It's Zara by Filatura Di Crosa (I think and things are really slow here at the moment and my windows keep freezing on my when I try and search anything, so I can't check at the moment.) in a navy blue.

Turned out really nicely. I wear this hat everyday and it's nice and cozy without being itchy. There's a lot to be said for 100% merino wool. I should probably mention that the pattern is Shedir from the special breast cancer awareness issue of Knitty. I'd link to it, but like I said, super slooooow.

That's it for today. Hopefully I'll get photographic proof that Not-so-Kakhi Cables is finished and wearable soon.

First post of 2008

I can't believe it's already halfway through January. It's amazing how time flies when you're trapped on a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. That, incidentally, is my excuse for why it's taken me this long to return to my blog. It's not a good one, but there it is. There has been knitting since I last posted. The Not-so-Kakhi Cables has been assembled, but I haven't braved the modelled shot yet. I'm very happy with it though.

Remember how I had posted pictures of the blocking pieces? I was concerened about the Caleb monster mistaking damp wooly things on the bed for sleeping mats. He likes things that are wet, don't ask me why. So I left the room and kept an eye on the wee beastie, only to come back into the room to close up the computer and find this:

The Zara monster took note that my attention was elsewhere, and took advantage of damp knits with pins stuck in them. Cats!

So photos of the finished sweater to come, but in the meantime, I need to slog through all the knitting stuff of the last month. Be prepared for lots of pictures. The holiday season was upon us, so there wasn't as much knitting as merrymaking, so it's not too bad. First up there was this:

Where there is flaming pudding, there is booze. Consequently, no knitting.

Then there was this:

My sister recieved her Endpaper Mitts and was thrilled. Not so much about the modelling part, but that is the fate of anyone recieving knit gifts from a knitblogger, non? I think these turned out pretty darn well, even if I do say so myself. There is a bracelet on over one of them, I didn't knit something across the wrist. My dad thought I should point that out. Dads!

There was bus knitting:

The first of my Azure Socks. And then, because I don't like to knit the same sock immediately after the first, I finished these:

Southwestern Socks by Wendy Johnson. Mirasol Hacho yarn in the Coral Reef colourway. Me likes. How about a close-up?

The colour is better represented in the first picture, but this one shows the pattern a bit better.

So then I did this:

The second Azure Sock. No Second Sock Syndrome for me, no siree.

I got new yarn:

Trekking XXL in colour #182. This is all pretty olivey greens and mustardy yellow. Kind of makes me think of camoflauge. I'll keep you posted if my feet disappear into the undergrowth when I wear whatever socks this is destined to be.

And finally, because I finished my cardigan, I was allowed to start this:

Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. The yarn as you can see in the top right, is Noro Silk Garden. The colour is #244. I am in love with this stole (it's too wide to really qualify as a scarf). I was nervous about the entrelac, but it's fun. Take not of my saying that. This is just the beginning of the project. The bliss could still wear off. But until then. The knitting is engaging, the yarn is fantastic! I suspect this will occupy most of my time for a while. I can hear it calling me now. I gotta go.