Stitches South. It's a dangerous place

Yes, I am fail blogger. I know.  But I just got back from Stitches South (note, post was postponed till proper yarn pictures could be taken, thus explaining why this is being posted 2 days after Stitches South ended, and 4 days after I actually went) and felt I should warn anyone ever considering going to a stitches event... it is a dangerous, dangerous place.

Imagine, tons and tons of yarn in an enclosed space.  There are yarn fumes, lots of them.  There are gorgeous handdyed skeins, heavily discounted skeins (and bags!), spinning wheels, nifty knitting notions, books, handknit scarves, shawls, and just about anything you can think of that involves fiber.

I went in with a budget of only the cash I had in my pocket.  I came out with...
One skein Miss Babs "Yummy" handpainted sock yarn in color Mallard Var.

One skein Acero from Brooks Farm Yarns, color ?  variegated green/blue/purple  (again sock yarn)

One addi lace turbo size 2 circular
and that was all my cash

But I did have my credit card and well, 2000 yards (10 skeins) of Araucania Pomaire cotton yarn color 19 was just too pretty and 2000 yards for 54 bucks!  That's a shawl and a summer top right there.

So yes, budget FAIL.  But I did the math and a top and a shawl for that cash, I'd pay about that or more in a shop and this way I get the pleasure of knitting it.

In other news, the skin issues continue.  I can't knit laceweight yarn right now, so instead I've been working on the Ice Christmas socks and cast on a new shawl.  I have decided on a new crafting goal though... one thing done a month.  Hopefully that will help me keep my WIPs from exploding.

Pictures of WIPs

Sadly, I appear to have developed a rash/blister thing on the thumb and first two fingers of my right hand which pretty much prevents me from knitting.  But I did get pretty pictures of WIPs, so I will share those...

Here we see the Nubby Trinity shawl in closeup.  Look at those colors.  So pretty.  It's sitting on a brown pillow to really show them off.

The Trinity shawl in a tree, which really shows a) how big it is and b) how airy it is.  Laceweight on size 10 needles makes for a great texture in this pattern.

And the Ice Christmas sock.  This one's now done, and I have started on its mate.  And yes, it's in the same tree.  A creative photographer I am not.

Knitting.

Not been doing much of that lately. Mostly been working on job search and playing WoW. Thus my Olympic socks, well, I have about two inches of one cuff done. They've become my D&D project, especially since I MUST get something else done before Anachrocon.

The Nubby Trinity Shawl. I started it in September to have an example of a colorful Victorian piece, and thus it needs to be done before I give my talk.

I also have been remiss with picture-taking. It is sad when I can't identify my Ravelry projects because I can't remember the names and there's no picture. So tomorrow has officially been designated...

Melfina Takes Pictures of Projects day, with a side order of Melfina attempts organization. Should be fun.

What to do for the Olympics?

I did get the Edwardian Boat Socks done, and here is a very bad picture. Sadly, the only camera I have right now is my laptop's web cam, and that makes it a bit challenging to take sock pictures. But, yes, that is me.

And since the Olympics start Friday, and I have yet to finish knitting a pair of socks for the month, I thought it seemed like a good idea to find a pattern I like. I wanted something with a bit of interest without being too complicated, and I couldn't really find anything in cookie a's book that fit the bill. Finally I hit knitty and found...
Pyroclastic. I like the simple to knit yet complicated-looking lace, and the nice detailing. I think it will look splendid in this...

I suppose I should be panicking...

With less than two days left to go, the Edwardian Boating Socks are not done. In fact, I haven't even finished the heel on the second one. Instead of frantically knitting my hands off, I cast on for another pair of socks. In my defense, I did get some KnitPicks fixed circulars for Christmas and wanted to see what I thought of them. I like them quite a bit, but sadly the sock on them must get frogged. After all, mesh cable socks don't really work. I'm either going to use the same yarn and go down to a size 0 (adapting the pattern) or find a thicker yarn in my stash. Sadly, both my size 1 needles are in use (Edwardian and Eunice), so it's size 2 or 0.

I'm also trying to get into SAM 09. I'm hoping that that will help motivate me to actually get socks done. I have learned some good lessons from the boating socks (basketweave does not work with alpaca, if I hate the color of a yarn and dislike the pattern it's really hard to get a pair of socks done, and I like the lace addis for socks much much better than the normal ones), but at this point I just want them off the needles.

I do think the Boating Socks are a great pattern for handpainted yarn, just not Imagination.

Yes, I continue to fail at blogging. But not at knitting, well, not all the time.

I've kinda wandered into Revolutionary War recreations, and have now made 2.5 pairs of socks. The .5 may get frogged so I can use the yarn for another sock pattern I like better, but we'll see.

I recently acquired Sock Innovation by Cookie A, and I've decided my New Years Project is to knit all the patterns in the book. Yes, I like them all that much. I'd like them even better if they were toe-up, but I understand why they aren't, and it's not a huge deal one way or the other. I'm starting with Eunice, knitted in Knit Picks Imagination Sock Yarn in the Looking Glass colorway, on an Addi Lace Turbo size 1.

I've also got the Edwardian Boat Socks on the other long circular, and I'm knitting them for a knit-along. I'm halfway through the first foot and the deadline's the end of December. I've altered the pattern, adding an extra purl stitch between each of the three center arrow rows, and am making the foot plain. The top of my foot is sensitive, and this pattern seems to take all the softness out of the yarn. It's certainly a nice pattern for variegated yarn though.

I still have three shawls on the needles, the Lehe, the half square in trinity stitch, and a pattern from Knitting Lace Triangles, but all three are on hold, more or less. The Lehe just doesn't hold my interest for long, the trinity is difficult to work with for long periods of time (really thin yarn and size 10 needles not the best combo ever) and I can't find Knitting Lace Triangles.

Good thing I now have two pairs of socks on the needles, right?

Anyway, pics of at least one WIP...

I'm a bad blogger

I have been knitting, but I quit my job, got heavily into World of Warcraft, and well, talking about knitting kinda fell by the wayside.

I've made my first pair of socks, the shell socks from Knitter's Guide to Yarn, and they don't fit right. Too much fabric in the heel. Very comfy aside from that, and at some point I will brave snipping the knitting and kitchering it back together. I've never cut knitting before, nor have I kitchered, so that'll be slightly panicky.

As far as wips I've already talked about...
the Swallowtail is hibernating.
The shades of grey peacock has been frogged. It's a lovely pattern and I would heartly recommend it to a new lace knitter (3 rest rows to one lace row make it easy to tink back or frog back as needed), but I need a bit more challenge with my lace. I've cannibalized the yarn and it will become the Lehe Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia.
The Falling Waters shawl is done, and needs to be blocked.
The Canopy scarf is still a wip. I'm not sure at this point if I want to finish it, or use the yarn for something else.

New WIPs coming in another post, with pictures. It may be a day or so. I just had surgery last week, so moving fast isn't my forte right now.