Love-Those-Cables, baby -Viking Bag, completed

Things have been a blur with housemate interviews, etc. I've taken to working on projects during interviews. I think someone's reaction to my whipping out knitting tells me something about them. Sean, my housemate, was with me as I started wrapping up my Love-Those-Cables, baby -Viking Bag. He was duly impressed. He rocks.

Here's the bag, completed:


I'm not gonna lie - I loooooove it. Karen is a genius. She designs wonderfully - as further evidenced by the absolutely beautiful son she also recently created.

Anti-climactic...

Ho hum, so I finally finished the Must Have Cardigan. I dunno. I feel like I ought to feel pretty darned happy. It's finally done. I busted tail on it and it's finally done. I should be happy or something, right? Instead, it's like: *yawn* eh, it's done *yawn* . May be a sign of the blah feeling I've got going generally now. Or it could be that this sweater simply ran its course with me a long time ago and now I can't even muster the energy to feel anything about finishing it. In any case, here it be:
I actually finished it last night, but wasn't motivated enough to take a photo. Today, I snapped one and it's not even a super good one at that. Maybe I'll try for better photos once I am feeling better.

Hump Day

It's a slow moving Wednesday here. I am super sluggish.

Quick update on the Viking Bag:
Words cannot express how much I adore this pattern. It is one of the first projects I am close to shameless in pride over. Karen is brilliant and that center cable delights me.

My dear Mamma-san has now requested a hat to go with her scarf. It was a simple garter stitch, so you'd think 'no problem-o.' But, the yarn is all gone and was bought in Nova Scotia. Oh, and I've never made an actual completed hat before. Sigh.

WIPs

There's a lot going on right now, so this will be another drive-by posting. Just need to organize what projects I've got in progress now.

Still working on the dang-blasted Must Have (been feeling particularly masochistic to try to make this) Cardigan. Everything is done except the last half of the second sleeve and sewing the sleeves in. All other finishing that could be done sans sleeves is complete. The problem is that I've lost all love of knitting this sweater. It holds no appeal other than I want it to be done and I want the bloody sweater. Fall has already started to make an appearance and I want that sweater as my Fall staple.

Started Caden's 2008 sweater. I am making the Devan Cardigan using this yarn:

It is ridiculously close in color to his 2007 sweater:

Apparently, I really love the idea of deep blue to match his incredible eyes. What can I say? I'm a sucker for his eyes.

Here's my progress thus far (it is limited):
that's the back in the middle there.

I've also cast on the Viking Bag with the good women from the Ravelympics team. One of the team members designed the bag. It is lovely. Karen (the designer) is so clever! I am using this yarn.

It was 50% at Vickie's, so I snatched some up. I am having some difficulty knitting with it. It is largely felted together and very, very stiff. So stiff that if I hold what I've knit up thus far by the needle side, the rest sticks straight out. It is heavy and stiff and does not really lend itself to cabling, but....well, did I mention it was 50% off???

It ruins my fingers to knit this in more than short spurts. So here's my slow progress thus far:I'm about 1/3 the way through with the knitting if I want a cutie purse. I don't think I can do more than that. But, isn't the center cable fun? Karen is due to have her first baby any day now. I guess that means I need to get on top of a welcome-to-the-world gift to send off to Denmark!

One of the other good women from the RavGames (I need an acronym for this: GWFTR. There I feel better already) sent me some of her gorgeous hand-dyed yarn that I had been coveting. It is called Pink Lemonaide and it is sooooooo insanely pretty. Michelle really knows her stuff! I started my first DayFlowers and Leaves scarf with it. However, I am really struggling with the whole dental floss yarn with larger needles thing. I've had to frog it several times and am now petrified that my attempts at lace knitting will hurt my pretty, pretty yarn. It is resting.

I'm also working another pair of Broadripples with yet another Cascade Fixation yarn. My love of this pattern and yarn continues unabated. Several work people dropped broad enough hints that these socks may well end up being my Secret Snowflake holiday gift.

I started to tinker a bit with my Mingus Socks that went so awry. I am not sure they can be salvaged.

Finally (I think), I began work on the Amanda Hat, using this yarn:
This Malabrigo is a farking dream yarn. It is sooooo soft and delicious! No photos of the hat itself yet. I'm not sure I love it as much as I want to and am going through some sort of torture-myself-with-cables thing. I am considering frogging this altogether and casting on the Coronet Hat instead. This is also an intended gift.

Oh! And another of the GWFTR sent me some scrumptious hand-spun and included all sorts of goodies. Check this out:
Seriously? It's like the most generous gift ever! Leah rocks! In the center live the handspun/handdyed yarns - gorgeousness. I just love the colors she has going there. The blues and yellows mixed with sweet browns are a particular favorite. To die for. The bottom three are super pretty mohair/mohair blends to make sachets. They are delicate, sparkly and such fun. Rounding it out - yep - that is fiber to spin! Oh me, oh my. The GWFTR have been encouraging me to try my hand at spinning. Apparently Leah was not content to simply encourage me. Oh no, she sends absoutely divine fiber. They are soft and fluffy and I just want to touch them all the time. Indeed, the fawn coloured fiber is an alpaca/merino blend that was so indescribably soft that I had to break the tiniest bit off and place it in my bra so I could have it all day long. Heaven.

Bre-Bre's Birthday Monkeys

So, a couple of people asked about my niece's socks. It was super nice how cool and generous a few folks thought I was in giving her my beloved Broadripples. Thanks for thinking well of me.

However...

... the Broadripples remain mine for now. Let me be clear: if she wants them, I'll certainly give them to her. I love her immeasurably, could deny her nothing, really. But, as it turns out, upon reflection I felt the colors were a bit garish for any but me to truly love.

I'd wandered into my favorite LYS and the ever-wily Vickie had some gorgeous MadelineTosh sock yarn displayed right at the door. I saw a most gorgeous red. It was so lovely, I immediately knew it was a perfect color for Breanna. But, it wasn't inexpensive, so I tried to resist, looking around at any and all other red sock yarns in the store. I tried to buy another - also lovely and less costly - yarn, but the MadelineTosh was captivating. The picture truly does it no justice.

Naturally, spurred on by my love of Bre and the insane gorgeousness of yarn, I bought it.

I'd queued about 400000000000000 sock patterns on Ravelry. I was smitten by everything Cookie A. designed but felt not quite good enough to try her patterns. They are works of art, truly. The way she uses the various methods of the two basic stitches is just mind-boggling. I've admired and admired and thought: 'Someday...when I'm a better knitter...'

Well, someday turned out the be the day I needed to knit socks so cool that Bre would choose them over my dearly loved Broadripples.I think I did it!

I give you "Bre-Bre's Birthday Monkeys:






I love them! I can utterly understand why this pattern is the sinlge most popular pattern on a site with untold numbers of patterns. Once I 'got it' they were a super fun knit.

Take a little lookie at the greatness of the pattern and the way it complements the yarn.
Oh joy, the Broadripples may well remain mine, mine, mine and Breanna gets a most excellent, lovingly made gift for her Sweet Sixteen.