A little bit, and a little late

Yes, yes, I know that my knit blogging has been woefully neglected in recent weeks. Okay months. Unfortunately, what I have to show now is not all that I had intended to show....




Question: What do you do when you realize that half the knitting pics you tried to download to your blog file never made it, just vanished into the ether? Scream? With my daughter cornering the market on that extracurricular activity, it wouldn't even be noticed. Cry? I'm tempted, merely from losing documentation of one project in particular that I'd worked *so* hard on. But, you know, my brother just got his car stolen, with his *laptop* inside. I think I'd feel a bit frivolous crying, comparing mine to *that* loss (he's doing fine, BTW).

So, I guess I'll tell you about the things I can't show you, and I'll show you the rest. I'll get over it :).

First up, the item whose lost pic nearly brought me to tears: the Wrap Around Cardigan for my gig wtih Schaefer Yarns. I don't really like wrap-arounds, but this ended up being really cute (you'll have to trust me on this, because I can't even find a pic on their site). It's made with Schaefer's Judith yarn, which is 100% alpaca, in the colorway Rosa Parks. The yarn was easy to work with, but the construction took a bit of time, as it includes a front band that is worked separately and sewn in, then has four i-cords that attach to the fronts and sides for fastening. You know, for the wrapping part. I gotta say, I was very proud of that sweater :).



Next, the London Beanie for a friend, with no pic of my own to show :(. It was my first adult-sized hat and came out really nicely. I was told that it fit, too, which is a bonus :). Made with one skein of Cotton Ease in the Violet colorway (not my pic, either),




but I eliminated the stripey parts of the pattern. She really liked it :).

Now, my daughter's socks that I thought I'd never finish. If you remember, in November, they looked like this:

And in early March, they looked like this:








Kind of a problem, considering I wanted them for the spring. So I put all else aside and worked on these exclusively, finishing them just in time for Easter:








These were made with one skein (much less, actually) of Marks and Katten's Clown yarn, which is 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool and 15% nylon. I used the Child's Lovely Lace sock pattern from a slightly aged Paton's book, Happy Feet. The yarn is a bit stiffer than I'd like, and it doesn't give much on her foot, as you would expect from many cottons. I do still like the idea of cotton or cotton blend socks for kids, and I'm pretty sure I can find a cotton that gives a bit more. I want to try this again. My daughter likes them, but I think the stiffness gets to her as well, and they don't really fit into her shoes :(. That's a bit of a problem, since you kind of need shoes to go out. So, since Easter, they've been really fancy house socks.




Next, my latest work for Schaefer, the Winter Bag made with Schaefer's Laurel. This is a 100% mercerized pima cotton, in the colorway Frida Kahlo. I had lots of trouble with pooling on this bag in the beginning:







and I ended up splitting the one skein I had into two and working with two balls, switching off on random rows. All in all, it turned out pretty well:









with much less going on in the pooling department, and frankly, aside from the pooling, it was a fun knit. I also really love working with mercerized pima cotton, even more than any wool or wool blend, so this was a treat. Hmmmm, mercerized pima cotton kids' socks? Maybe?








Finally, something I am actually working on right now! Progress on the much-talked-about-and-finally-begun Moderne Log Cabin blanket, which used to look like this:
and now is starting to look like this:









I was a doofus and forgot to place something in the pic for scale, but I can tell you that the measurements in this pic were about 39 inches long and 38 inches wide...that would be a bit bigger than a baby blanket so far. And maybe in the next pic I'll actually get the stray yarn ends out of the way, who knows?



So, I thought I had more to show, but this will have to do til I finish that blanket, whose endless garter stitch rows fill every waking hour these days. I'm not kidding. Really. I'm not (help me!). I'll *try* to remember to take more progress pics as I get further along. Hey, I hear you laughing out there...don't misunderestimate me, I blogged twice in two weeks!!!