These socks were a test knit, so I finished the first sock in a mad hurry, and then the second languished while I knocked out those 12 sweaters last year.

Pattern: Ellington by Cookie A.
Yarn: Less than 1 skein of Madelinetosh sock in Lapis
Needles: US 1.5 Knitpicks circulars
Modifications: none
Date Started: September 8, 2009
Date Finished: February 24, 2010
Time: Time: 12.25 hours for the first sock, 14 hours for the second sock for a total of 26.25 hours

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While the FO picture is late, I did finish the Geodesic Cardigan before the Olympic torch was put out.

Pattern: Geodesic Cardigan, Knitscene Winter/Spring 2010
Yarn: 2 skeins of Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl
Needles: Addi Turbos US 5
Modifications: I knit the sleeves flat instead of knitting the sleeve cap and then in the round down as written. I also have one more fold in the front than written, just because there ended up being room for it. Used grosgrain ribbon as facing for the front edges and bottom hem to make everything lie flat.
Date started: February 13, 2010
Date completed: February 28, 2010
Time: 15.25 hours for the body to the armholes, 2.25 hours for the back, 1.25 hours for the left front, 1.5 hours for the right front, 4.25 hrs for the first sleeve, 6.25 hrs for the second sleeve, 4.25 hours for the knitting finishing, 1.75 hours for the sewing finishing for a total of 36.75 hours.
Due to a yarn shortage, I had to cut two inches from the body of the cardigan and use that to finish the sleeve.

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I’m in Florida right now for work. Things start getting dicey tomorrow (and I have the infinite joy of having to report to work at 1 am on Wed), but I am armed with lots of knitting and some FO pics for the blog. I did get some knitting done on the oyster bay shawl on the plane ride over here:

Had to throw the hand in there since my nails perfectly matched the shawl. This is a fairly easy knit, which is good, as my brain is fried. The nice thing is that Brad is coming down for the tail end of my trip, so I will hopefully get back to Boston less fried than I normally am after one of these things.

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This is probably on the reserved side, given our history, but the more of these we come to, the more times we say “you know, I have some of that at home in my stash!”

My stuff is on the left. We both picked up 6 skeins of pinky cotton fleece for $13 at an out-of-business yarn store both. Sweet deal. Below that is Louet Gems, enough for five pairs of socks. For $25 (total). Ridiculous (and special thanks to Seltsame, who clued us into the deal and made my first purchase a violation to my sock yarn ban), In the middle of the pile is my Dream in Color Classy and Mission Falls 1840 for class (as well as a partially knit mitten). To the bottom right of that is Brooks Farm Acero for knitting the Counterspell Shawl (samples sell yarn! And patterns!). The yarn on top of that is sock yarn (again, broke the ban) from Anzula (totally Jessimuhka’s doing, she gave me the very effective knitterly sell, which wasn’t that hard since she had me at “feel this”). And the yarn at the very top is Madeleinetosh lace in Oxblood, which will eventually be Irtfa.

We went to a bead shop on Saturday, so I already have beads for the Brooks Farm shawl, though I’m not starting that any time soon. Must clear things off the needles!

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We accidentally fell upon a pretty cool area of San Jose, Santana Row on Saturday. We had actually skipped the market on Saturday because a) we were done buying yarn and b) we were done with the serious quantity of knitters. We managed to avoid a lot of shopping (any, really, despite the awesome stores around) and settled down at a wine bar:

Yes, we are outside. In FEBRUARY. Blows my mind.

Then we got adventurous and ordered a bottle to share:

This was a blended red, and quite yummy, and the sheep on the label TOTALLY endearing.

Then we had sushi at a restaurant that was too cool for us, what with the techno music and the scary women all club-attired out. The sushi was really good, and the green tea cheesecake… omg.

And while we were in California, I had to try Pinkberry, which seems to be so darned popular:

It was quite good. I think. See above picture of wine. And there may or may not have been sake bombs. Knitterly debauchery, I tell you. I should probably mention that despite knitting my sleeve cap ALL afternoon (over and over again) I had still not achieved a cap. I’m sure unrelated to the beverages. I knit it in the room after we got back so I could block it before I started seaming on my morning flight.

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Sure, I finished this in time for the Knitting Olympics (guess I kinda gave away the ending), but this sweater was not without drama. I finished my first sleeve:

Then progress on the second:

That little ball of yarn up there? That was all I had left. SO not enough. I ran out officially with 40 rows to go on the sleeve cap. After much agonizing with Marisa, and sending pics and chatting back and forth with Anne, we decided that the best option was to cut the bottom off of the sweater, as it had grown a little with blocking and it had some length to spare, whereas the sleeves really didn’t (they were already 3/4). So that of course meant cutting:

Not used to causing a hole on purpose!

It took quite a while to pick out that row, but it’s much better for yarn harvesting than just cutting the whole darned row.

Then of course it took me seventeen tries to knit that sleeve cap, which I’ll talk about a little tomorrow (I have to enjoy all of this blog fodder!)

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Marisa and I took an all-day twined mitten class on Friday from Laura Farson. Being super prepared what with my super awesome work schedule, I had to buy yarn for the class at the marketplace on Thursday night. I ended up with Dream in Color Classy and Mission Falls 1824.

The braids started from a mistake, but I liked them, so I kept them. The checks started driving me nuts in class, but that’s probably expected at the end of a six hour class. I am exciting about having these, as they’ll be super warm! Of course, by the time I finish them it will summer.

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February:
1. Make some progress on Elliot’s blanket. I am like, the worst knitting aunt ever. Not done – stlil a crappy knitting aunt
2. Finish up Ellington. Done (I owe pics)
3. Finish up Aphrodite. Done (I need to block this)
4. Do the final finishing on the Christmas ornament. Not done

Of course, I threw in an unplanned fingering weight cardigan, which I did in fact finish in time for the Knitting Olympics end.

March:
1. Take FO pics of Ellington.
2. Block and take FO pics of Aphrodite.
3. Make progress on Oyster Bay.
4. Make progress on Elliot’s baby blanket… SRSLY.
5. Make progress on spot check socks.
6. Do the finishing on the annual Christmas ornament.

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Before I left for Stitches West, I blocked the body of the Geodesic cardigan:

And then on the way here, I almost finished the first sleeve. The sleeve is written for the sleeve cap to be knit up from a provisional cast-on, seamed in, and then the sleeve to be knitted down from the provisional cast-on. That seemed like kind of a lot of slinging around of a sweater for a sleeve, so I just went ahead and knit it cuff-up.

I also finished up the Ellington socks before I left. I didn’t have time for a proper photo shoot (in good light), but I did have a moment to toss them on Lani for a sec:

Marisa and I have done the market preview here at Stitches so far – been a great time! We have class bright and early (twined mittens).

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This was where I was Sunday morning:

Right at the armhole split. I’ve since knit the upper back (almost entirely at KnitSmiths), but I guess my pictures will be a day behind. (Lani’s paw isn’t posed – she just has a knack for noticing where my attention is and getting right up there).

Three days of work and then Stitches West! I had the epiphany that I should bring my personal laptop and NOT my work laptop or blackberry. That probably seems intuitive for most people, but I honestly only thought about it yesterday. It helps that now I have a Droid (love it!) so I’m not tempted to use the smart phone capabilities of the blackberry.

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